jdhmnovel Chapter 3 The Lucky Star Smart
Chapter 3 The Lucky Star Smart
The Rockets' bench players all stood up. Shen Jing stretched out his arm, showing off his biceps. Green waved a towel and shouted something. Starting center Wood clapped and looked up at the big screen above the court, seemingly waiting for the replay.
On the Celtics' bench, several players instinctively covered their heads, seemingly unable to believe what had happened.
The stadium erupted in cheers, with several male fans even taking off their shirts to celebrate!
Penguin Live Room.
"Wow, that ball control is amazing."
"This king is one of our Chinese, right?"
"That behind-the-back dribble and step-back pass was incredibly smooth."
"Wang Xiucheng's ball control skills are definitely more elegant than Crawford's."
"Silas is a bad influence. Why doesn't he give Wang Xiucheng more playing time?"
"Compared to Wang Xiucheng, Kevin Porter Jr.'s dribbling is a mess."
"The replay is here, wow, he's really handsome. Wang Xiucheng is the most handsome, no arguments allowed."
"Haha, look, Uduka's eyes are practically popping out, haha..."
On the scene, Udoka looked at Smart, who had just gotten up, in disbelief.
Smart was actually faked out; he's been on the All-Defensive First Team for two consecutive years.
Seemingly sensing Uduka's gaze, Smart shrugged, looking like he had no idea what was going on.
Wang Xiucheng and Christopher high-fived in celebration, then Wang Xiucheng ran back to his own half to defend.
The large screen in the air gave Wang Xiucheng a close-up shot.
His cool face and handsome appearance with a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead deeply touched the hearts of countless female fans at the scene.
A teenage girl, oblivious to the melting ice cream in her hand, stared at the big screen with a lovesick expression.
Her father, standing nearby, looked helpless as he took photos of his daughter's unruly appearance with his phone.
The plump aunt, who looked to weigh at least 200 pounds, kept twisting her waist and blowing kisses at the big screen.
Even as the game continued, these fans did not stop.
The Celtics are inbounding the ball, and there's only a little over a minute left on the clock.
Wang Xiucheng rubbed his hands together, staring at Smart who was walking towards him.
He knew Smart was determined to get his revenge; he couldn't accept being outmaneuvered by a rookie, especially one on a two-way contract.
Sure enough, Smart dribbled to the top of the three-point arc, and the rest of the Celtics spread out.
Clearly, Smart is going to take on the solo role.
"Kid, don't think you can really fool me..."
Snap!
Wang Xiucheng slapped Smart's hand, interrupting him.
With a "beep," the whistle sounded.
Wang Xiucheng committed a foul by hitting the opponent's hand.
Smart was dumbfounded. He looked at his reddened hand with a look of utter disgust.
You have no sense of martial ethics!
Everyone else has spread out; this means it's a one-on-one fight. Don't they know the unspoken rules of the basketball court?
It's one thing for you to foul me during my drive, but what's the point of fouling me beforehand?
Smart, his face darkening, went to the free-throw line, staring at Wang Xiucheng standing right next to him, feeling a surge of anger.
"What are you looking at me for? Hurry up and shoot the free throws, I need to grab the rebound," Wang Xiucheng said.
Smart took the ball from the referee and said, "What do you mean? Are you saying I can't make the shot?"
“I didn’t say.” Wang Xiucheng shook his head.
"That's what you mean. Do you know what my free throw percentage was last season?" Smart said in a deep voice, "71%."
"And the more crucial the moment, the more accurate my free throws become, even more so than Tatum and Jaylen Brown..."
beep!
The referee's whistle blew, interrupting Smart's words.
Free throw time expired!
puff!
Udoka, who was drinking water on the sidelines, spat it out, and Tatum and the others stared in disbelief at Smart in the distance.
A huge burst of laughter erupted from the audience.
Smart looked at the referee with an innocent expression, "I didn't exceed the time limit, I'm much faster than Giannis."
"If you two want to chat, you can go off the court and talk all you want. Now get back to the game, my prostate is rebelling." The referee forcibly took the ball and then gave it to Smart, completing the procedure.
Wang Xiucheng found it somewhat amusing; this referee was quite something.
Smart had a gloomy face, glanced at Wang Xiucheng again, and wanted to say something, but held back.
He dribbled the ball twice, spun it, lowered his shoulder, and threw it...
With a thud, the basketball hit the rim and then fell towards Wang Xiucheng.
Wang Xiucheng stepped forward, intercepted the ball, and sprinted towards the attacking third.
Wang Xiucheng's physical attributes are quite average, as can be seen from his attribute panel, but his speed is as high as 74, and his 10-meter speed is around 7 seconds.
So once Wang Xiucheng gets going, most people in the NBA can't catch up with him.
However, not being able to catch up doesn't mean you can't stop them.
Smart grabbed Wang Xiucheng's arm, pulling him back to his original position as he was just airborne, leaving only the basketball flying forward.
With a whistle, the referee blew his whistle again, a foul.
Smart quickly let go without explanation and returned to his own half of the court to stand by the free-throw line.
Wang Xiucheng breathed a sigh of relief; two free throws, one of which would complete the task.
Standing at the free-throw line, receiving the ball from the referee, Wang Xiucheng heard Smart muttering incessantly, "It won't go in, it won't go in, it won't go in..."
Swish!
Wang Xiucheng made the first free throw, making it 107-95.
Wang Xiucheng breathed a sigh of relief; the mission was complete.
Without pressure, Wang Xiucheng missed his second free throw. Smart jumped high to grab the rebound but collided with his teammate, allowing Wang Xiucheng to get the rebound.
Instead of shooting himself, Wang Xiucheng passed the ball to Garuba under the basket.
Garuba suddenly slammed home a dunk, scoring two points.
Smart rubbed his chest where he had been hit, received the ball from the opponent, dribbled across half-court, set a simple screen, and took a three-pointer before the 24-second shot clock expired, but it missed.
Garuba grabbed the rebound, slowly dribbled across half-court, abandoned the attack, and began to run down the clock.
The whistle blew, and the game ended.
The Houston Rockets lost to the Boston Celtics 97-107 at home.
Tatum scored 31 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, while Rockets rookie Jalen Green scored 30 points, including 8 of 10 three-pointers, an incredibly efficient performance. It seems that after a year of tanking, Houston has finally found its cornerstone.
It's worth mentioning Kevin Porter Jr., who started at point guard, and scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-7 from three-point range, which seems quite efficient.
However, Porter Jr. only delivered 3 assists but committed a whopping 8 turnovers.
There were some minor mishaps during the match, so the players from both sides didn't have the courtesy of shaking hands with each other.
Both teams' players entered the player tunnel and left the field. Smart was the last to leave, and then he pulled Wang Xiucheng aside by himself.
"I won't let you get past me next time." After shaking hands with Wang Xiucheng, Smart jogged off the court without waiting for a reply.
This made Wang Xiucheng smile helplessly; Smart was truly his lucky star.
In less than three minutes, Wang Xiucheng completed all the tasks on Smart.
This is even with Christopher, that troublemaker, around.
Once I make a lot of money, I'll definitely treat Smart to a meal.
Penguin Live Room.
The match ended, but the live stream didn't shut down immediately, so the chat was flooded with comments.
"Don't ask anymore. Wang Xiucheng has 1 point, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds, with a plus-minus of +6."
“王修承只打了2分多钟，这要是打30分钟，不得拿15分30助攻30篮板啊。”
"You're really good at math, I'm so envious."
"If Silas were a human being, he would let Wang Xiucheng play for 15 minutes in the next game."
"Yeah, Porter Jr. is a mole. Eight turnovers. Even my grandma would be better than him."
"When is the next match? Whoever has the bigger dick should tell us."
"On the 27th, we're playing the Mavericks away from home at 8:30."
"Was Smart doing this on purpose? He kept fouling, and Wang Xiucheng only dribbled the ball once..."
……
Wang Xiucheng's stunning appearance, lasting less than 3 minutes, began to spread among Rockets fans in a small circle.