I just play ball

Chapter 1 Last Chance

On the evening of March 3th, at the Staples Center, the fourth quarter of the game between the Lakers and the Pacers just started.

On the right elbow, Kobe put his back against Lance Stephenson, waving and shouting at the top of the arc.

Seeing this, Nash hit the ground and passed the ball, and Kobe bent over to catch it.

Lance suddenly circled forward, pressing with his left hand and pushing hard with his right.

Kobe's center of gravity was out of balance, and he staggered and almost fell.

The fans booed immediately, and several Lakers players gestured to remind them of the foul.

The referee didn't blow the whistle, Kobe immediately stabilized his body, pulled the ball and turned around, easily passed Lance clean, dribbled the ball with his left hand and rushed into the three-second zone with two strides, ignoring the hope of raising his hands to defend. Bert, force a jump.

boom!Another dunk!

The Lakers lead 83-82.

In the arena, the cheers were like thunder!
Li Yue, who was dozing off on the bench, woke up instantly, his eyes were loose, like a lost lamb.

After the wonderful replay was played on the big central screen, this picture happened to be captured.

There was a burst of laughter at the scene, and several audience members behind Li Yue talked loudly, as if they were telling him deliberately.

"If your level is too low, don't waste your time and occupy the team's spot. CBA is the right choice."

"Genius players are afraid of shooting, and talk about yip syndrome, my husky is laughing at it,"

"Chinese players just can't do it. It seems that their cheap products will break with the slightest touch."

Li Yue heard it in his ears, his face was calm, and his heart was not feeling well.

He was born in a family of athletes. His grandfather practiced sprinting, his grandmother practiced long-distance running, his father practiced volleyball, and his mother practiced synchronized gymnastics.He inherited the excellent genes of the whole family, with speed and explosiveness, strong strength and endurance, excellent coordination and flexibility.

When he was nine years old, he happened to watch the first game of the 5 finals on CCTV01. Iverson scored 48 points and led the team to win the OK combination. His fighting spirit made him fall in love with basketball completely. .

Since then, he has put in hours of practice and learned quickly just by watching videos.

Relying on his physical advantages, he dominated Shitiao Street in his hometown and defeated all the elementary school students.

Entering junior high school and high school, he was the absolute main force of the school team.

The students boasted that he has the footsteps of Dameng, the touch of Yao Ming, the coordination of Tracy McGrady, the speed of Iverson, the big heart of Jordan, and even his appearance has the level of Rubio's peak eight points, only missing LeBron's muscles. But he went to the United States to enter a famous basketball school for further study, but he was not recognized.

Even so, he is still a talented player in the Chinese media and the hope of the future of Chinese basketball.

But since he was drafted by the Lakers, he has been plagued by injuries in his first year as a rookie, and has never been able to play in official games. He occasionally played a few summer league games and preseason games, and his performance was mediocre.The Los Angeles defenders in the NBDL played pretty well, but the statistics are mainly reflected in assists, with few balls and shots, and their teammates are strong and failed to prove themselves.

In this case, his aura of genius disappeared, and all kinds of praises left one after another.

At that time, the fans just thought it was a pity, but this season the Lakers introduced Nash and Howard to win the championship. As a result, the start was dismal. He was plagued by injuries again. The fans hoped to trade him and sign other players to strengthen.

The Lakers management also wanted to do that. Fortunately, Kobe and Gasol were able to keep the core, but he also became the target of some extreme fans, thinking that he was a symbol of the Lakers management's dereliction of duty.

Trash and coward became synonymous with him, and his NCAA results were also belittled as good luck and pecking at each other.

Even his second uncle in the United States is often joked by neighbors and colleagues, asking him the secret of not being laid off.

Today's game, the situation is so anxious, he actually dozed off, so it was inevitable to be ridiculed again.

But almost no fans knew that he received a call from the coaching staff in the afternoon and learned that Jamison was temporarily absent and needed him as the third substitute to replace him. Regardless of his fatigue from the NBDL game, he immediately flew back to Los Angeles from Houston.

At the same time, he also learned from his agent that today may be his last chance. There are 18 games left in the regular season. The Lakers are very likely to lay off him and sign other players in order to ensure that they will reach the playoffs.

For this reason, he specially notified his second uncle and invited his family to watch the battle.

But the Pacers fought hand-to-hand as soon as they came up, the pace of the game was quite slow, and there were a lot of fouls, which was drowsy.

The two teams took the lead alternately. For the entire three quarters, he never got a chance to play. In addition, on the plane back to Los Angeles, he had been studying the Pacers' style of play and player characteristics without taking a break. He almost fell asleep just now.

In a daze, he dreamed that he would be laid off immediately after the game, and he returned to China to open a sports equipment store in his hometown. Relying on the former NBA players as a signboard, the business was very hot. In the second year, he married his crush in junior high school. Live a happy and happy life, from the future hopeful star of Chinese basketball to a greasy middle-aged fat man.

If it weren't for Kobe's dunk, which caused the audience to cheer and pull him back, maybe he would have dreamed of more beautiful scenes.

The moment he woke up, a thought of giving up flashed in his mind, and then he felt confused.

With injury as a legitimate reason, you can give up professional basketball in an open and honest manner. You don't have to train hard every day, you don't have to accept fans' doubts, you don't have to fight with a bunch of black and tough, you can eat hot pot casually, and play games to your heart's content.

However, he quickly discarded that idea and persisted until now. It is a pity to give up. Even if he is cut, he must continue to struggle. Unless he is 35 years old, he cannot become a qualified NBA rotation player.

He wants to slap those extreme fans in the face, but now he can only hope for garbage time.

...

On the court, the Lakers attack.

Nash took the ball to the frontcourt, passed it to Artest on the right, rushed to the free throw line and used Howard to cover and cut inside.

George Hill followed Nash closely without leaving any room for receiving the ball.

Artest passed the ball to Howard, Hibbert defended very fiercely, and returned with several strong plays without success.

The basketball was back in Artest's hands, and Jodimix sprinted over the top of the arc, and the two crossed screens.

Back and forth, with only 8 seconds left in the attack time, Artest waved his hand to signal the team to open up space.

Facing Lance's defense, he put on a three-threat posture, with his left foot as the axis and his right foot making continuous steps.

The two confronted each other for a while, and Lance went around to the left like lightning, completely emptying the right.

Artest decisively raised his left hand, stepped down the ball, and rushed towards the inside. Lance fell to the ground with a crash.

Beep!The referee blew his whistle and called Artest for a foul.

Lance was lying on the floor grinning, and without waiting for his teammates to pull him, he got up on his own.But before he could stand still, Artest pushed forward with his knees and knocked him to the floor.Lance's smile disappeared suddenly, and he punched Artest's leg.

The two wrestled together immediately, the referee quickly called a stop, and one of them gave a technical foul.

The game entered a timeout, Kobe withdrew his gaze from the field, turned to look at Li Yue: "How is your injury?"

"The body has fully recovered, and the doctor said that the psychological state will be observed for a period of time."

"That's good, I'll blow them up right away..." Kobe hesitated to speak, got up and walked towards the technical stage.

Li Yue shrugged slightly, knowing that Kobe wanted to buy him playing time, but he was afraid of hurting his self-esteem and didn't finish his sentence.

But the Lakers are currently behind. Even if Kobe hits consecutively, the Pacers will play until the last moment, and he will not be able to get even a second of playing time. The fate of being cut seems inevitable.

Now that the matter has come to this point, Li Yue instead calms down and thinks carefully about what to do.

...

In the TNT studio, various physical measurement data of Li Yue were displayed on the big screen.

Barkley: "Judging from the statistics, apart from Li Yue's thin body, other conditions are considered excellent."

Ernie: "He is very smart, able to organize offenses, and is good at running open to create easy layup opportunities for himself. However, due to yip syndrome, he takes very few shots and his shooting percentage is also very low."

Kenny: "I think he still has hope. He just turned 21 today, as long as he can overcome his mental obstacles."

Barkley: "The premise is that he doesn't continue to get injured. If it doesn't work, it's best to give up professional basketball."

...

The time-out is over and the game continues.

The two teams continued to fight hand-to-hand, the movements were very large, and the offensive efficiency was quite low.

Beep!There was another whistle, and the referee called Lance a thug foul.

Artest made two free throws and the Lakers trailed by three with 4.6 seconds left in the game.

Artest walked towards the free throw line with a straight face, Li Yue followed the fans and stood up to cheer and encourage.

Lance clapped his hands next to him, spamming nonsense continuously, speaking as fast as a machine gun spraying bullets.

Li Yue only heard one sentence clearly: You will be pardoned.

Artest ignored it at first, but for some reason, he suddenly hit Lance with his head.

Lance seemed to have been prepared, and immediately pushed back with both hands.

At this moment, Artest was suddenly ignited like a powder keg, and rushed towards Lance.

Players from both sides hurriedly pulled the two apart, and the referee hurriedly blew his whistle.

The situation was quickly brought under control, and the referee walked to the technical platform and put on his earphones to watch the replay.

Li Yue sat down and watched the referee with all the fans, nervously waiting for the result of the penalty.

Soon, the referee put down his earphones and walked to the Pacers' bench to discuss with the head coach Frank Vogel. Then assistant coach Brian Shaw came to the ear of the two and said something, and Vogel nodded happily.

The referee returned to the technical table and made technical foul gestures at Artest and Lance respectively.

As the DJ broadcast, the fans at the scene sighed for a while, and Artest was expelled from the field for two technical fouls.

Fortunately, the technical foul free throw and Lance canceled each other out, and the Lakers still retained their last glimmer of hope.

Just as Li Yue was guessing how the coach would arrange it, the DJ broadcast sounded again.

"According to the rules, the Pacers chose Li Yue to replace Ron Artest to perform free throws!"

　Ask for tickets, the completed work "The Lakers Championship" is welcome to collect and read.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)