Junior Basketball says

Chapter 116

After defeating the Stanford Cardinals, Xu Hao and the others did not return to Phoenix for a rest, because their next game was still an away game-going to Berkeley, also in the Bay Area, to challenge the University of California Golden Bears.The only good news for them is that the distance between Stanford University and the University of California is not far, and the schedule can be a little easier.

The Golden Bears were also not considered the top team in the Pacific Ten Schools League, but Xu Hao did not underestimate their opponents at all.After coming to Arizona State University, he still maintained the habit of running a simulated game in the system before the start of the next game. When he led the team to "fight" with the Golden Bears for the first time, the game was blocked twice. Drag into overtime.

In Xu Hao's view, all the players including himself did not make any mistakes, but the team was entangled with their opponents until overtime before deciding the winner. From this we can see the strength of the Golden Bears.What makes Xu Hao even more afraid is the small point guard in the opponent's lineup - Jerome Randall. Although he is only 1.78 meters tall, Randall's speed in the game is extremely fast. Like a flash of lightning, sometimes it is difficult for even Xu Hao to catch his incomparably swift figure.

And the data shows that Randall is also the top scorer and assist leader of the Golden Bears. His importance to the team is self-evident.If he could be strangled, it would be a breeze to win this game, but Xu Hao did not have 100% confidence.

Xu Hao has been thinking about how to limit Randall, but before the team came to Berkeley, he got a dumbfounding news from Coach Evans: Randall announced that he would miss the game because of a sprained ankle. Contest.

This made Xu Hao dumbfounded. He poked Harden on the side and asked in a low voice: "Then this game is a sure thing?"

Harden gave him a strange look: "Who said that? Do you think other players at the University of California are dead?"

Xu Hao waved his hand and said, "Randall is their undisputed core player, as well as their team's leading scorer and assists leader. Imagine how much the absence of such a player due to injury will affect the Golden Bears? It's just collapsed." Half the sky!"

Before Harden could answer, he heard Evans say loudly: "Xu, James, what are you two talking about?"

He quickly raised his hand and said: "Xu told me just now that we can easily win the game if Randall is absent."

Evans nodded and said: "Yes, this is what I want to say. Although I insist that stars cannot determine the outcome of a game, it is a pity that the University of California is such a star-dominated team. Randall They are an indispensable core player, in the game he missed last season, Cal only won one game, this time we got lucky."

"But I would rather not have such good luck..." Xu Hao muttered to himself.In his opinion, it is a bit ineffective to win when the opponent's core players are injured. He has no interest in the big gift package of the University of California.But that's part of the game of basketball, if you want to play every game, then you don't get hurt!

This is why there is almost no precedent for a single-core team to win the championship in the history of the NBA, because their core players have taken on too many responsibilities, and these overloaded burdens will one day crush him, the nightmare of the team at that time Here we go.

Until the game started, Xu Hao was still a little uninterested, which also caused him to be intercepted by his opponent twice in a row.Although the Golden Bears failed to take advantage of the opportunity to attack in transition, it also scared Evans into a cold sweat.Such a situation was rare in previous games. Seeing Xu Hao's listless look, Evans frowned and replaced him.

After Xu Hao left the field, Evans pulled him to his side and asked in a deep voice, "Xu, are you feeling unwell?"

Xu Hao shook his head and whispered, "No, I just don't think...this game is not challenging."

Evans quickly understood, he couldn't laugh or cry, he didn't know whether it was good or bad to have such a player who felt sorry for his opponent... Evans thought for a while and asked: "If you are injured, what do you think? Will our opponent show mercy?"

"Obviously not, because we still need James!" Xu Hao said naturally.

Evans almost fainted. He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Forget it, I won't continue with the hypothetical. In today's game, I hope you can understand one truth. Professional competition is a matter of life and death." Yes, there is only one final champion. Maybe you have often heard the saying that friendship comes first and competition comes second, but I want to tell you, this is all nonsense."

"Yes, if the opponent's player is injured during the game, we can indeed show humanitarian care. But after they leave the field, you have to play the game as you want, otherwise you are the number one fool in the sky. !"

"It's not your fault that Randall got hurt this time, so what's there to be sad about? Take a break and get the hell out of here and do what you're supposed to do and lead the team to wins, listen do you understand?"

Xu Hao's eyes gradually became clearer. He nodded in shame, stood up and sat back in his seat.Seeing Xu Hao's relieved look, Evans smiled and shook his head. In all the years he has been coaching the team, what kind of player has he not seen?But he has never seen Xu Hao like this. Maybe this is part of their oriental culture?
After convincing himself, Xu Hao still put up good statistics in this game. He scored 25 points, 17 rebounds and 7 assists in 9 minutes of playing time, and the team also won 83-61.However, his score can only rank third in the team. Both Harden and Hayward are higher than him.

As the main player of the Golden Bears, Randall also watched the game from the sidelines, but what he didn't expect was that after the game was over, the Chinese in the opposing team would come over directly.Randall thought that Xu Hao was here to provoke him, but Xu Hao hugged him directly, and said in English: "I hope you recover soon, Randall, I look forward to the next fight with you."

Randall, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Pacific Twelve Schools League in the future, mentioned this meeting more than once. He said that Xu Hao, the "Chinese basketball emperor" who was still very young at the time, left a deep impression on him, which was also the foundation of their friendship. beginning……

(End of this chapter)