The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 83 - 81 What Kind of Look Is This! (Third Update)

Chapter 83: Chapter 81 What Kind of Look Is This! (Third Update)

Kobe naturally didn’t go to argue with the referee.

It’s just a regular season game after all!

Not to mention that it wasn’t necessarily a foul by Su Wan.

Even if Su Wan did commit a foul...

It’s normal for there to be a wrong call. It’s not like he could just kneel down and beg them to change the decision, right?

As long as the referee didn’t blow the whistle, it was a good play.

On this point, his view was the same as Michael Jordan’s.

The most important thing was...

He had just thrown such a hard elbow himself. If we’re being serious, it could already be considered an elbow strike, and the other side just retorted with a "That’s it"?

He couldn’t let Su Wan outdo him.

"Did you skip a meal or something?" Kobe barely held back the urge to gag.

This son of a gun really played dirty!

When it was the Lakers’ turn to attack again, Kobe directly asked for the ball. Su Wan didn’t watch him to receive the pass but closed in proactively, resulting in a bit of shoving. Kobe, with his back against Su Wan, asked for the ball with one hand, while stealthily pulling Su Wan behind him with the other hand, to prevent Su Wan from suddenly attacking and stealing the ball when Atkins passed it to him.

Plus, the referee’s blind spot was right where his hand was holding, totally out of sight.

This is all skill. Just learn it!

The moment he got the ball, Kobe swiftly turned around and posed in a "three threats" stance, trying to push Su Wan back.

But Su Wan didn’t care whether it was "three threats" or "four threats," continuing to press closer.

Are you kidding me here?

What "three threats" have you got, Kobe?

It’s just single player post play, isn’t it?

Kobe truly hadn’t expected Su Wan to be so aggressive. He didn’t even have space to dribble down, so he had to step back to create some distance between him and Su Wan.

By now, he was outside the three-point line. Su Wan didn’t dare to pursue further, as it would give Kobe an easy chance to breakthrough.

Kobe could clearly see Su Wan’s hesitation, pretended to penetrate, tapping his toes lightly and quickly rose for a three-pointer.

As the ball went in, the entire place erupted in cheers.

"It’s like I’m just doing shooting practice!" Kobe wore a provocative smile.

Sure enough, without opening "The zone," facing a player of Kobe’s level meant there was virtually no threat.

So then...

It was time to activate it!

Since joining the league, this was the first time Su Wan had activated the "The zone" mode not even two minutes into the game.

Aside from not letting Kobe look down on him, considering the Pacers’ strength, as long as Kobe was suppressed, there was no problem with them pushing the game into "garbage time" by the end of the third quarter.

With Su Wan’s current stamina, activating "The zone" meant he could play through the entire first half. Plus, with the halftime break, lasting the next two and a half quarters seemed manageable. Of course, by the end of those two and a half quarters, Su Wan would collapse on the bench.

This was truly an all-out "spending to the last drop" battle!

Like Su Wan had just done, Kobe also didn’t give Su Wan any easy chances to receive the ball.

Moreover, his ability to entangle and decipher Su Wan’s "post-up receiving" was much better than Su Wan’s, not giving Su Wan any easy opportunities to "receive in the post."

Under the shoving, there came various exaggerated movements.

The magnitude of contact between the two players made the sideline referee glance at the lead referee with a questioning look:

Should we blow the whistle as a reminder?

This was almost more intense than the playoffs themselves!

Yet the lead referee wasn’t panicking at all. David Stern had already clarified the officiating threshold for this game:

Be strict with others, but for these two "turn a blind eye," as long as they don’t start fighting, all is good.

Having no chance to receive the ball on the wing, Su Wan decisively moved behind Tinsley to receive the pass, and Kobe, like a hunting hound, closely followed him. As Su Wan received the ball, Kobe attempted a "curving overtaking" move, seeking to steal it directly.

Just as his hand was about to touch the ball, Su Wan spun around on the spot, narrowly avoiding Kobe’s "eagle’s talon snatch."

But Kobe’s offensive didn’t end there. Staying close to Su Wan, he continued to try for a steal.

While stepping back, Su Wan was dribbling rapidly from between his legs, his cool display raising a wave of murmurs from the stands.

They disliked Su Wan, but at that moment, Su Wan truly looked cool.

The Los Angeles crowd was like that, let alone the entire Pacers team. Tinsley, with his street playing background and ball control mastery, wished he could run up and bump shoulders with Su Wan right then and there.

These exclamations made Kobe more impatient, yet they calmed Su Wan even further.

While dribbling between his legs continuously, he was always watching Kobe’s movements. As Kobe impatiently took his next step forward, and just as Su Wan was about to step back over the midcourt line, he made a decisive move. With a flick of his hand, the ball successfully got behind Kobe.

Under his crotch!

The "Crossing Soul" move, "Under the crotch dribble"!

Kobe’s reaction was fast enough; he quickly turned around, but he was still not as swift as Su Wan.

In that instant, the "Little Flying Knight" could feel Su Wan’s overall driving ability had strengthened considerably.

This set of maneuvers was truly "limit-pushing"!

"Bang!"

Chris Mimm tried to block the shot, but when Su Wan leaped in front of him, he gave up.

As a white center, he lacked the aggression of a Foster, which made his lack of physical talent all the more glaring.

Su Wan slammed it home, with Kobe following his jump to the very last moment. Yet even the "Poison Snake" couldn’t find a way to retaliate against Su Wan’s powerful dunk.

He became just a "background board" for Su Wan’s play.

"Nice job, Uncle, you totally toyed with that guy!" Artest yelled from the sidelines, then acted as if he hadn’t noticed the look Kobe was giving him.

Odom had never worshipped his childhood friend like this before. He really wanted to ask Artest, with Kobe staring at you like that, are you really not scared at all?

Lakers counterattacked, with Kobe completely fired up. Phil Jackson’s successor, Frank Hanbren, tried to calm him down, but failed. If Phil Jackson had seen this, he would have sneered:

I couldn’t manage it with nine Championship Trophies, what makes a rookie promoted from assistant think he can?

Coaching Kobe at this time was unquestionably a difficult task.

"Don’t worry, Frank, I’ll teach that guy a lesson for you!" Su Wan was eagerly waiting for Kobe to receive the ball.

Frank didn’t respond to his comment.

He knew Su Wan wasn’t really trying to help him, but was further enraging Kobe.

And he really knew how to get under Kobe’s skin...

This time Kobe received the ball one step outside the three-point line; last round he had noticed that Su Wan didn’t dare to follow.

He wanted to confirm if it were true.

If it was, then by exploiting this psychological point, he was confident he could keep Su Wan pinned the entire game. That’s what "Super scorers" do, you can’t let them find any of your defensive weaknesses.

But this time, as soon as Su Wan saw Kobe get the ball, he closed the distance immediately.

Kobe’s previous feeling became more apparent:

Su Wan’s physical fitness had indeed improved, and his body control was simply incredible.

After two fake moves, Kobe had almost faked out Su Wan, but the guy immediately adjusted his center of gravity and was back in front of him in a flash.

Does he have to be so exaggerated?

"Bang!"

Unable to shake Su Wan, Kobe was surprised; his plan for a breakthrough suddenly muddied and his feet tripped on the free-throw line, with Su Wan still in front of him. With no sight of his teammates, he elbowed hard, pushing Su Wan away, but at that moment, the young O’Neal came in time for a block, slapping the ball away before Kobe could shoot.

The ball flew past both their faces.

Almost at the same time, both men lunged for the ball.

The desperate charge elicited gasps from the entire court.

Su Wan returned an elbow, hitting Kobe in the ribs, and gained position. He reached out early for the ball, but misjudged the distance slightly. His hand touched the ball, but only with the tip of his longest finger.

At that moment, Kobe slapped the ball, hitting Su Wan’s finger as well.

"Argh!"

Kobe thought Su Wan would get to the ball first, so his intention was to knock it away, not to pull it in.

With great force, he hit Su Wan’s finger, causing the ball to go out of bounds and Su Wan’s middle finger to be visibly dislocated:

Injured!

"Fxxk!"

Su Wan cursed, unclear whether it was directed at Kobe or just from the pain.

A flicker of guilt passed over Kobe’s face, but it quickly returned to normal. His stomach still hurt!

This kind of intense confrontation was inevitable...

Should he sit out for a bit?

Thinking this, a hint of regret shown in Kobe’s eyes; the rookie had surprised him today, and he was enjoying this passionate confrontation.

Although it had only been a few rounds, Kobe had decided that, after the game, he would tell everyone that the rookie had earned his respect.

At that moment, the Pacers’ team physician also came over, relieved to confirm that it was a dislocated finger— he had been quite worried that it was a fracture. They prepared to help Su Wan to the locker room for treatment. Sweating from pain, Su Wan heard he was to go to the locker room and cursed, "Such a fuss over nothing?"

He didn’t indulge in the "King’s return." freewёbnoνel.com

Or rather, he didn’t take pleasure in the idea of making a "King’s return" show over something as minor as a dislocated finger. What was the difference between that and going to the hospital for a splinter?

It was just a dislocated finger!

Just pop it back into place, right?

"This..." The physician was in a difficult position; he really didn’t dare to proceed.

Seeing that the physician hesitated, Su Wan grabbed a towel, clenched his teeth and forced it back into place. Before crossing over, his grandfather was the village’s barefoot doctor and knew some techniques for this kind of thing.

A "snap" was heard, the swelling in his finger faded.

Su Wan moved his finger around a bit; it felt a little "loose," but there was no pain. It should be fine.

Time to continue!

He was also enjoy the confrontation with Kobe.

It was only when he shifted his attention to others, he noticed everyone was...

What’s with those looks?

Why were they all staring at him as if they had seen a ghost?