One Year Left to Play-Chapter 148 - 46: A Gentleman’s Revenge
The teamwork finally came together!
After Zhang Hao scored, he immediately turned around for defense, not showing any particularly excited expression.
Because he knew this was his opportunity.
Kenny Anderson was actually more excited than Zhang Hao. After rushing back to defense, he enthusiastically reached out to high-five Zhang Hao, and Zhang Hao reluctantly high-fived him back.
Once he found the way to score, Zhang Hao was no longer so anxious, and he wasn’t even eager to show off his shooting and athletic abilities.
Compared to these, on the court, even if it’s just an intra-team practice game, he always wants to win!
This desire for victory was a crucial factor that gave Pierce a genuine sense of recognition when Zhang Hao first joined the Inglewood High School basketball team.
During the following period, his teammates easily felt this.
A beautiful dunk for an and-one, followed by an excellent movement and mid-range shot, Zhang Hao fully showcased his threat.
His two characteristics—physical talent and mid-range shooting—were all displayed.
But then he mainly focused on creating opportunities, only seeking his scoring chances when Kenny Anderson was connecting the offense and identified good chances.
Otherwise, he would predict the possible movements of his teammates, and the defensive moves of the opponent, to create opportunities by moving.
This unleashed the rich knowledge of movement routes hidden in his mind!
He didn’t intentionally try to do this, but the accumulation of his skills allowed him to instinctively act during the game!
The gap between the two teams widened instantly, Kenny Anderson’s organization of the offense became more smooth, PJ Brown and Graham had better opportunities for scores and shots.
In turn, their successful plays disrupted Team B’s already poor defense, giving Zhang Hao even more opportunities!
After a few plays where morale peaked, Team A completely took control! Everything clicked!
As the first half approached the 17th minute, Zhang Hao got another chance. Though initially, it wasn’t a good opportunity, his teammate—Jason Williams—moved defensively to the charge line arc!
Zhang Hao maneuvered around Vaughn Fleming and dashed towards the basket; Kenny Anderson saw this scene and knew exactly what Zhang Hao planned to do!
Kenny Anderson also got excited and seized the moment, tossing the ball towards the front of the basket...
Zhang Hao jumped from within the dotted semicircle at the free-throw line, slamming the ball into the basket over a frightened Jason Williams trying to yell "Pressure off!"
A revenge, from dawn to dusk!
After Zhang Hao completed the dunk over Williams, Team B’s coach called a timeout!
Thanks to Zhang Hao’s dunk, Team A brought the score to 44 to 29, extending the lead to 15 points, leading Team B to call a timeout.
Mid-range shots 5 out of 3, 4 out of 3 near and under the basket, and 3 out of 4 free throws; after spending more than 5 minutes as a benchwarmer, Zhang Hao went on a rampage scoring 15 points in almost 12 minutes!
Standing by, coach Butch Baird watched Zhang Hao’s performance gleefully! It was even better than he had imagined!
Zhang Hao’s ability to adjust during the game, utilize his skills, and read the game... these aspects are also talents!
Wanting to continue watching Zhang Hao showcase his talents, but unfortunately, the timeout Randy Whitman signaled meant the starters wouldn’t play anymore, and Butch Baird felt a sense of regret...
Besides feeling excited, the reporter from Guangdong Sports, who was helping with filming, was also thrilled.
He was a basketball fan, with childhood dreams of playing basketball.
Later, because he grew to only one meter seventy, those dreams shattered... but he still liked basketball, chose a media-related major in college, and became a sports reporter after graduating, with experiences of interviewing alongside the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team.
This time, he was assigned to the United States to film Zhang Hao’s first practice game, and he was full of anticipation.
However, in the first few minutes of the practice game, he actually felt disappointed, mainly because he had very high expectations, but Zhang Hao initially performed poorly.
Especially when Zhang Hao was dunked over by Jason Williams, which made them more desperate. A characteristic among Chinese people is being very extreme, thinking poor performance means the worst...
But unexpectedly after that dunking moment, Zhang Hao suddenly just exploded!
After missing the first shot, Zhang Hao went 6 for 8 in the following shots, racking up 15 points, and the reporter from Guangdong Sports started contemplating how to write the news—a Chinese basketball player moving towards international recognition.
