bookbashuk Chapter 22 Rhythm Master
Chapter 22 Rhythm Master
2008年11月29日，晚8:00。
Madison Square Garden, New York.
Knicks vs. Portland Trail Blazers.
This is a war of rhythm.
At the start of the game, the Knicks were like a pack of wild beasts released from their cages, trying to overwhelm the Trail Blazers with their relentless run-and-gun offense.
But they soon discovered that this team from the northwest corner was like a giant sponge.
Roy dribbled forward. Faced with Li Xiangbei's aggressive close marking, he didn't accelerate; instead, he slowed down.
He dribbled like an old man taking a stroll, his pace extremely slow, but every shot landed precisely where Li Xiangbei couldn't reach.
"Trying to steal the ball?"
Li Xiangbei seized the opportunity and suddenly reached out and grabbed.
As if he had foreseen the future, Roy defused the vicious steal with a simple back-to-the-ball maneuver. Then, taking advantage of Li Xiangbei's forward lean, he executed a half-turn, slowly dribbling past the defender.
There was no dunk, no sudden stop. Roy drove into the paint, and facing David Lee who was helping on defense, he sent the ball into the basket with a seemingly ordinary but actually unpredictable underhand layup.
"brush!"
2:0.
Throughout the entire process, Roy's expression remained unchanged.
In the following rounds, Li Xiangbei felt as if he had punched cotton.
He tried to use his explosive power to charge in, but Roy faked him out; he tried to draw an offensive foul from Roy and even got into position, but Roy stopped at the last second before physical contact and made a pull-up jumper.
That level of control over his body was simply outrageous.
"Hey, robot."
Taking advantage of the dead ball situation, Li Xiangbei walked up to Roy and tried to distract him with trash talk.
"Is your engine oil leaking? Why are you moving so slowly? Do you need me to lend you some lubricant?"
However, Roy didn't even lift an eyelid. He simply adjusted his arm guard silently, then turned back to defend. It was as if Li Xiangbei was nothing more than thin air, or a boring background noise.
This complete "ignorance" made Li Xiangbei feel an unprecedented sense of discomfort.
This is even more infuriating than exchanging trash talk with Garnett.
……
Section 3.
Li Xiangbei realized that conventional defense and psychological warfare were completely ineffective against this expressionless man.
Then we can only use the most primitive, clumsy, but also the most effective method.
A war of attrition.
He stopped trying to steal the ball and stopped conserving energy to help defend. He turned into a real mad dog.
Whether Roy had the ball or not, whether he was receiving the ball in the corner or in the backcourt, or even when he was tying his shoelaces, Li Xiangbei stood half a meter in front of him, staring intently at him.
Roy went to the bottom corner, and Li Xiangbei followed to the bottom corner.
Roy went to communicate with the referee, while Li Xiangbei stood by and listened.
Roy went to the technical desk to wipe his sweat, and Li Xiangbei handed him a towel.
This kind of all-around, no-blind-spot defense takes a huge toll on physical strength.
For an ordinary person, this is practically suicide.
But Li Xiangbei is no ordinary person.
By the end of the third quarter, Roy finally began to change.
Between free throws, he stood with his hands on his hips, his chest heaving noticeably. Sweat streamed down his indifferent face.
"Huff... huff..."
Roy's breathing became erratic.
"What's wrong, Brandon?" Li Xiangbei leaned closer and whispered, "You seem a little out of breath."
This time, Roy didn't ignore it. He turned his head and gave Li Xiangbei a deep look. For the first time, a flicker of emotion appeared in his eyes.
……
The final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter.
The score is 100:100.
The Trail Blazers have possession of the ball.
The strain on his stamina did affect Roy's shooting percentage, with several of his signature mid-range shots missing the target in the fourth quarter. But in this decisive moment, the man known as the "Yellow Mamba" remained the most dangerous presence on the court.
Roy held the ball at the top of the arc to reduce the time pressure.
Li Xiangbei spread his arms wide, like a spider covering him.
5 seconds.
Roy has started!
Instead of breaking through, he used Aldridge's body to create an extremely solid screen.
Li Xiangbei was blocked for a moment, but he forced his way through the cover.
But in that instant, Roy didn't move inside; instead, he jumped from two steps inside the three-point line!
This is his trump card! It's a replica of the game-winning shot against the Rockets!
Li Xiangbei lunged forward with all his might, almost managing to pin Roy's fingertips down.
Despite extreme fatigue and interference, Roy's posture in the air remained textbook perfect.
Shot.
The basketball traced a high arc in the air.
"brush!!"
Hollow through the net! 2 points.
100:102.
There are 0.8 seconds left.
Roy landed, still expressionless. He simply raised his right fist coldly, as if he had completed a routine clock-out.
This is the true killer. This is the power of silence.
The Knicks requested a timeout.
……
Pause time.
D'Antoni is holding a tactical board.
0.8 seconds, that's practically an impossible task.
Everyone was looking at Li Xiangbei.
Li Xiangbei was drinking water. He threw the bottle on the ground and wiped his mouth.
"Stop drawing those complicated runs, Mike."
Li Xiangbei stood up, his eyes burning with a frenzied rage.
"Throw the ball to me."
"Leave the rest to me."
D'Antoni paused for a moment, looking at Li Xiangbei's determined eyes, and finally gritted his teeth, erased all the tactical lines, and only drew a big arrow pointing to the basket.
"Alright! Throw the ball into the sky! Let's create a miracle!"
……
The last 0.8 seconds.
Serve from the sideline.
Randolph stands on the sideline and takes the inbound pass.
The Trail Blazers' defense was impenetrable. Batum and Aldridge stood in front of Li Xiangbei.
The referee whistle blows.
Li Xiangbei made a move.
Instead of feinting, he directly rammed Batum, who was trying to block him, with his shoulder!
This is a big move, but in such crucial moments, the referee usually won't call it.
Li Xiangbei broke through the gap and sprinted back towards the halfway point.
"Throw!!"
Randolph threw the ball forcefully towards his own half.
That pass was too long!
Li Xiangbei! He leaped into the air.
He had no foothold in the air.
[Guaranteed Credit Limit: Activate]
Li Xiangbei twisted his waist forcefully in mid-air, grabbed the ball with one hand, and at the last moment before losing his balance, threw the ball hard towards the basket!
"beep--!"
The red light comes on first.
Followed by.
"boom!!!"
Goal!
The referees gathered together to watch the replay.
On the big screen, slow motion was played over and over again.
The red light hadn't even come on yet when the ball left Li Xiangbei's fingertips!
A difference of 0.1 seconds!
Goal stands!
103:102, a last-minute winner!!!
"It works! The decisive blow is effective!!"
The noise from Madison Square Garden was enough to shake Manhattan to its core!
Spike Lee jumped onto the scorer's table and started tearing at his jersey.
Commentator Mike Brin:
"Bang!! Bang!!! What kind of incredible shot was that?! An alley-oop three-pointer to win the game!! In 0.8 seconds! Li Xiangbei turned himself into Superman! He stopped time in mid-air!"
"Roy's near-game-winning shot was cold-blooded enough! But Li Xiangbei... he chose to be the final hero tonight!!"
On the field.
As Roy watched the replay on the big screen, a wry smile finally appeared on his face, which had always been as expressionless as a playing card.
He shook his head and walked towards Li Xiangbei, who was still sitting on the ground.
Roy reached out and pulled Li Xiangbei up.
"You're crazy."
Looking into Li Xiangbei's eyes, Roy spoke for the first time.
Li Xiangbei got up, patted his butt, and grinned.
"You're pretty tough too, Brandon. That ball... you almost turned the library into a library."
Roy paused for a moment, then his lips curled up slightly, revealing an extremely rare smile.
"Next time I come to Portland, I'll install soundproof glass in the library."
After saying that, the two bumped fists.
This is a battle of ice and fire; there are no losers, only two great hearts beating.
After the game.
The entire United States is talking about this incredible 0.8-second game-winning shot.
Meanwhile, Li Xiangbei received a mysterious text message from across the ocean on his phone.
"Xiao Li, you played well. Interested in coming back to China to chat? About the 09 Asian Championships, and... that national team."
Li Xiangbei looked at the text message, his eyes becoming deep.
That was a thorn in his side. It was also a piece of history that he, as a time traveler, had to change.
"Yao Ming... Yi Jianlian..."
Li Xiangbei gripped his phone tightly.
"This time, I will not let the tragedy repeat itself."