Chapter 242 No Frills

Back to the basket, turn, bank shot.

No beauty.

Nothing special.

Even less in the way of complicated, superfluous routines.

This was Tim Duncan's offense, time and time again, that made Big Ben grit his teeth in frustration, yet feel utterly helpless.

It was a strange feeling.

Because it felt like Big Ben was doing everything right on every defensive possession against Duncan.

But Duncan was always able to beat him by just a hair.

Yet, as the game went on, the more focused Big Ben became on defense, the more he felt that Duncan was simply unfathomable.

In front of his ten-centimeter-high afro, Duncan was like Mount Everest.

"I feel like I'm watching a young Michael Jordan and a young Hakeem Olajuwon playing on the court."

TNT's Smith's commentary partner, Derrick, said with emotion during the second quarter when Su Feng and Duncan were once again trading blows.

Smith, on the other hand, felt that Derrick's description wasn't quite right.

Because in Smith's view, they should be described as a "down-to-earth version of Hakeem" and a "lagging version of Jordan."

However, in order not to ruin the commentary atmosphere and discourage his commentary partner, Smith did not refute Derrick. Instead, he continued,

"Once, when Larry Bird retired, people searched everywhere for his successor.

Once, when Magic Johnson retired, fans complained that they would never see such imaginative passes again.

However, after Larry and Magic said goodbye to the NBA, people discovered that there was still Michael Jordan.

And now, I think fans don't have to worry about who they should watch after Michael and Hakeem retire."

It must be said that English is indeed limited in its descriptive ability.

Because Smith said so much, but Sun Zhidao from CCTV summarized it in just one sentence.

"To truly know who are the leading figures, look to today!"

At the Air Canada Centre, in fact, compared to Big Ben, whose mentality was slightly collapsing, Bowen was the one who was truly beaten into Su Feng's shape.

In this life, because of changes in his growth trajectory, this Bowen was slightly different from the Bowen in Su Feng's memory.

For example, although Auerbach did not object to Bowen using some dirty tricks when defending, Auerbach, knowing that he did not have many days to live, did not want to leave the league with a handle to suppress the Celtics after he was gone.

Because no one knew better than Auerbach what that little old Jew, Stern, was trying to do.

In Su Feng's previous life, after failing to get Duncan, it was based on his understanding of Stern and his declining health that Auerbach chose to retire directly.

Therefore, dirty is dirty.

But if you were to say that Bowen had any bad intentions towards Su Feng tonight, that would be just mindless slander.

You know, after winning the championship with the Bulls last season, Bowen also has dreams now, okay?

However, in the face of Su Feng's gorgeous offensive skills, even if Bowen used his elbows and tripped him, he couldn't stop Su Feng from completing his shot in front of him.

Moreover, what was even more terrifying was that Su Feng, who was in excellent form tonight, made a bunch of shots that Bowen thought were lucky.

No way.

Before the rise of the Four Shooting Guards, and before the 03 generation and 3-and-D players like Ariza entered the league, there was indeed a vacuum period on the NBA's wings.

Therefore, even if he hadn't trained his "strength" to its peak, Su Feng didn't have many natural enemies right now.

Plus, with Su Feng's understanding of the future, he had already bulked up in advance, making him even harder for players like Bowen, who were good at close-quarters defense, to stop.

Therefore, as the game went on, Bowen was completely convinced by Su Feng tonight.

"Coach, are we really not going to double-team Su?" Karl asked Auerbach from the Celtics' bench.

"Double-team?"

Listening to his disciple's question, Auerbach sighed.

If he could double-team, he would have done it already!

Unlike last season with the 76ers, this season, Su Feng had obviously strengthened his ability to directly lean back for a turnaround jumper in the high post.

And in that position, the Celtics simply couldn't double-team him.

Because...

The Raptors have a bunch of shooters on the perimeter this season.

Whether it's Old Curry or Nash, both are freaks with three-point shooting percentages exceeding 40%.

"If he can really beat us to death, then let him beat us to death."

During halftime, looking at the score of 50 to 62, Auerbach said decisively to Karl.

After the first half, Su Feng had already scored 24 points tonight.

On the other side, Duncan also had 18 points.

If excellent interior players in the NBA are the guarantee of a team's floor, then exterior players like Su Feng can be understood as the guarantee of a team's ceiling.

Here's a simple example.

The Rockets during the Yao-T-Mac era were always able to produce stable regular-season records when Yao Ming was healthy.

And when T-Mac was in top form, they could also create myths like the 35 seconds, 13 points comeback, and the 22-game winning streak.

…

After halftime, the game continued.

At the start of the third quarter, Duncan carried Big Ben and used his "random throws off the backboard" skill to knock Big Ben's afro down by 5 centimeters.

In Su Feng's previous life, when watching Duncan's offensive highlights, you would always get the feeling that this unremarkable man was incredibly lucky.

Because Duncan's random throws under the basket really made no sense at all.

After all, there would be a happy beast in the future who would use practical actions to prove that it was because of predecessors as bad as Duncan that he embarked on a path of no return.

But in reality, in this life, after coming into contact with deeper levels of basketball skill training, Su Feng knew very well that shooting randomly was not just throwing, and fooling around was not just messing around.

Unlike that happy beast's real "hard hand," Duncan had been honing his hard-hand shooting skills during his college days.

And the biggest advantage of this shooting method was that once you had formed muscle memory through long-term polishing, within a certain range, your shots would not only have high stability, but also a high hit rate.

Therefore, in a sense, once Duncan entered inside the free-throw line, his offense also had no dead angles.

And in this life, Su Feng's choice of the two-motion soft and hard hand shooting style was even harder to master than such a pure hard hand.

Because a soft hand is more suitable for long distances and a hard hand is more suitable for medium and close distances, in order to freely switch between them in a two-motion shot, Su Feng had to put in far more training than ordinary people.

And this was also the reason why Su Feng's hit rate could only be explained by quantum mechanics most of the time.

Because from the very beginning, he had chosen the most difficult path.

A path that was even more difficult than Jordan's.

And on this road, his only friend was his high school classmate.

But as a "Human Kobe Encyclopedia," Su Feng knew better than anyone that even a ruthless person like Kobe had never been able to fully master this shooting style in his entire life.

However, although this road was difficult, as long as he succeeded, Su Feng would be able to take off his steady disguise...

And do whatever he wanted.

Let's bring the camera back to the court first.

In the third quarter, the situation that Auerbach was most worried about still arrived.

When that Jordan, who was just coasting in the first half, also went berserk in the third quarter...

Auerbach really wanted to ask Davis:

Did you save the entire universe in your previous life?

This season, Davis, who had gained weight, always felt that he had talent but nowhere to use it.

Because whenever he took out his tactical board to play a game with his opponent, the game would already be over before the opponent could make a move.

In the third quarter, despite the Celtics' tenacious resistance to the Raptors under the leadership of young Duncan...

But unfortunately, there were two immortals dancing together on the Raptors tonight...

One Su Feng might not be able to beat the Celtics to death, but what if there was another Jordan on the Raptors' side?

At the end of the third quarter, when a certain North Carolina alumnus detonated the Air Canada Centre with a earth-shattering dunk, the game was almost over.

74 to 96.

The Raptors entered the fourth quarter with a 22-point lead, making all Celtics fans feel a despair from the depths of their hearts.

And at the beginning of the fourth quarter, noticing that the Celtics still hadn't given up, Su Feng's continued presence made Celtics fans feel that the Raptors had never won before.

Fortunately, before Auerbach called it a day, Duncan's block on Su Feng brought some comfort to Celtics fans.

At that time, Su Feng, who wanted to use Duncan as a background, clearly underestimated the young Duncan's defensive control.

As a result, those who walk by the river often get their shoes wet.

Even the best old drivers can get caught for speeding, right?

It's just that in Su Feng's opinion, Duncan's block on him was definitely a foul!

Ha, don't believe it?

Su Feng's hairstyle, which was messed up by Duncan, was the best evidence.

Of course, because he was already leading by too much at the time, Su Feng was too lazy to argue with the referees.

In the end, after the two teams put on their "garbage players" to practice, the score of the game was 95 to 116.

In this game, Su Feng scored a game-high 38 points, plus 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, and 2 assists.

Jordan also had 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Nash, who played well in the second quarter, contributed 9 points and 10 assists.

Carter and McGrady combined for 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists.

And Big Ben, whose hair was almost gone after being hammered by Duncan, had 2 points and 12 rebounds.

On the Celtics' side, Duncan had a team-high 30 points and 19 rebounds.

Marbury was the Celtics' second-best player after Duncan, with 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 8 assists.

As for Ray Allen, who was ground down by Su Feng for the entire game...

Sigh...

For shooters, statistics don't matter!

What matters is that Ray Allen made outstanding contributions to the Celtics by "consuming" Su Feng in this game!

After the game, in interviews, Auerbach and Karl both complimented the Raptors.

And after tiredly rubbing each other's backs with Big Ben, Su Feng went to eat tacos with Little James.

Speaking of which, you don't know until you see it up close.

Damn, 14-year-old James, wearing his "Phenomenon" series, already looks almost as tall as Old Curry.

Although Old Curry's "196" centimeters of height is not entirely accurate, James' talent is indeed beyond compare.

Because while most 14-year-old boys are still thinking about how to practice their jumping to touch the rim, James has already begun to study whether he should use a windmill or a 180-degree turn to dunk.

Moreover, according to historical records, in the summer of 2000, James would grow to about 201 centimeters.

In addition, when he was 16 years old, he also accepted Michael Jordan's invitation to participate in a training camp composed of NBA players.

Then, at that training camp, 16-year-old James not only held his own against many NBA players, but even defeated some players in one-on-one matches.

But...

Looking at Little James, who was eating tacos and making strange noises, Su Feng felt that he had led this kid astray.

Especially when he saw James cherishing the "Phenomenon" series that he had given him...

Oh!

Damn it!

Eh, wait...

Hold on!

Staring at James, Su Feng suddenly thought of something.

He smiled and said to James, "Do you like the 'Phenomenon' series? LeBron."

Little James nodded, "I like it. In my opinion, 'Phenomenon' is the best shoe in the world."

Perfect!

Although he didn't know how the future would change, Su Feng could be sure that if he could pull James into the "Phenomenon" camp, he wouldn't be short of money in the future, even if his investments failed.

In addition, because "the.king" nickname was cursed, Su Feng had long wanted to return the nickname to James.

Therefore, in Su Feng's opinion, it was time to develop Little James into his shoe tool man!

So, touching James' head, Su Feng promised James that day:

"After you enter the NBA in the future, how about I invite you to endorse 'Phenomenon'?"

Upon hearing this, the young James almost dropped the taco that was still in his mouth.

This...

At this moment, James felt like he was the chosen one.

Because in this world, was there anyone luckier than him?

Oh my god!

His idol, LeBron James, the NBA regular season MVP, was actually inviting him to endorse his shoes?

For James, who hadn't even seen more than five figures of US dollars at this time, Su Feng's invitation was extremely shocking...

"I... can I really play in the NBA in the future?"

It was worth mentioning that after a long silence, listening to James' question with wide eyes, Su Feng felt that James and Little Yao were both cursed.

Are you superheroes all crazy...

If you can't play in the NBA, then are the NBA games I've watched fake?

However, in order to show his seniority, Su Feng still smiled and touched James' head and said:

"Of course, as long as you stick to your dream, you will definitely succeed."

Hearing Su Feng's patient persuasion, James swallowed and said:

"Then after I enter the NBA, will you really invite me to be your shoe spokesperson?"

Seeing that this kid thought he was teasing him, Su Feng then smiled and said, "Of course, when have I ever lied to you?"

"Pinky swear! Adults can't lie to children!"

"......"

…

ps: The next update will be a little later, okay? (Well, those who can't wait can go to sleep first!)