Chapter 328: Strength Is Shoot To Score
“Li, he’s actually managed to score from shooting that far away!”
Shen Qingyan, who was watching the game with Su Li from the courtside, was pleasantly surprised to see the ball pa.s.sing cleanly through the hoop. She had obviously not expected that Xiao Luo could have scored the basket with a jump-shot half a meter outside the three-point arc.
“It’s pure luck,” Su Li said.
Luo Pingxiang and Su Xiaobei, who was standing next to them, were cheering excitedly.
Back in the court, Yang Hongzhi had just retrieved the ball, and smiling, he swaggered toward Xiao Luo and said, “Not bad, you’ve got a good start…”
Xiao Luo looked at him impa.s.sively and didn’t say a word.
“Okay, then, Let’s continue.”
Yang Hongzhi pa.s.sed the ball to Xiao Luo, then resumed a defensive stance, he did not believe that Xiao Luo would actually score another one from outside the three-point line. He was convinced that the previous shot was purely luck and not made with skill.
The moment Xiao Luo had received the pa.s.s, he bent his knees and jumped on the spot again. He held the ball with his left palm supporting the side of the ball and right hand behind the ball, just above his shoulder, and his elbow bent a ninety-degrees. He kept his eyes fixed at the hoop as he transferred the momentum from the leap to drive the ball through, then straightening his elbow and his wrist straight over the top in the follow-through to the shot.
It was a perfectly executed shot…
Despite antic.i.p.ating the shot, Yang Hongzhi could still not get to the ball in time and watched helplessly as the ball left Xiao Luo’s hand. The ball traveled in a precise arc once again and scored with that familiar thud.
Another three-pointer right into the basket!
This time, both Shen Qingyan and Su Li were visibly shocked, but they wondered if this shot was another lucky one.
Yang Hongzhi wasn’t impressed. In fact, he was vexed, and the expression on his face showed—he looked like he was forcibly fed with prison gruel.
One of his bodyguards picked up the ball and pa.s.sed it to him. He held the ball with both hands and forcing a smile, said, “well, well, a consecutive three-point shot, Mr. Xiao, seems like you’ve been practicing a bit.”
Xiao Luo could not be bothered to respond; as Yang Hongzhi had tried to humiliate him, Xiao Luo was now mentally prepared to return the gesture—he would utterly destroy him. Xiao Luo did not have to redeem the system’s basketball skill as he was already above average player. However, both King of Mercenaries Const.i.tution and Yi Jinjing did enhance his abilities and pushed his skill level to a whole new height. In his current form, he’d be able to even take on NBA players, let alone Yang Hongzhi.
“If you can score another, you’ll have my respect!”
Yang Hongzhi threw down the gauntlet, he wasn’t going to allow himself to make the same mistake. He was a little more aggressive now and forcefully pa.s.sed the ball to Xiao Luo.
He put the second basket down to his own lapse rather than Xiao Luo’s ability, and this time he did not lower his stance as much, staying slightly upright to make the jump quicker for the block.
And just as he read it, Xiao Luo was again going through the same motions as expected, jumping immediately after receiving the ball to shoot. Yang Hongzhi smirked, stomped his feet, jumped high in the air, and slammed his right hand down at the ball. His intention was to block the shot as hard as possible—partly to quell his anger and because he knew it’d undoubtedly look impressive.
He may have been too ambitious and fixated with looking impressive, as his blocking hand was just shy of a few centimeters as the ball sailed over him. And before he could even turn, he heard the familiar thud; just like the previous shots, it went through the hoop cleanly once again.
Three tries, and three baskets, and all taken from outside the three-point line!
As Yang Hongzhi cus.h.i.+oned his landing with bent knees, he still couldn’t believe what had happened. He timed his block to perfection this time, and yet, Xiao Luo still got the shot through, how was that even possible?
The two bodyguards were equally stunned as this was the first time that they had seen anyone score three consecutively shots, let alone three-pointers when playing against their young master.
“Li, where did you find this man, he’s quite interesting!”
Shen Qingyan started to take notice of Xiao Luo more seriously for the first time. Initially, she expected Xiao Luo to be absolutely destroyed by Yang Hongzhi, but the opposite seemed to have held true.
“I met him at Jiangcheng during my last concert.”
As Su Li spoke, her eyes were on trained on Xiao Luo, and she was surprised by what she saw. She knew better than anyone that Yang Hongzhi was a genuine sports fanatic, and he had even hired renowned coaches from CBA to train and mentor him in basketball. Besides, he was very active in kickboxing and went to the gym regularly, making him extremely fit, physically. One could say that, when it came to basketball across the Xiahai area, Yang Hongzhi was virtually invincible.
“Yay! Daddy’s the greatest… fighting, daddy!”
Su Xiaobei was jumping up and down excitedly, clapping her tiny hands and cheering for her daddy, Xiao Luo. Standing next to her, Luo Pingxiang was equally animated.
But to Yang Hongzhi, hearing that cheer was a mortal stab to the heart. His mouth twitched in spasms, and he could no longer retain his smile. Furiously, he snapped at Xiao Luo, “Do you only know how to shoot?!”
“Shooting is my strength, that’s how you win a game!” Xiao Luo retorted, clearly intending to get under his skin.
Yang Hongzhi’s face darkened with rage, and he no longer smiled. “Fine, continue then! Let’s see if you can land every single shot!”
His bodyguard threw him the ball…
Yang Hongzhi had now pushed Xiao Luo further toward the mid-court, and Xiao Luo was now nearly one and a half meters from the three-point arc. At such a distance, the probability of scoring a basket was much lower, even for a professional player.
“Let’s continue!”
Yang Hongzhi took a deep breath and pa.s.sed the ball to Xiao Luo.
Xiao Luo smirked at him, then without any hesitation, he jumped immediately to shoot after receiving the ball, just like how he had done it in the last three.
Despite the longer distance, Xia Luo’s shot was an exact repeat of the previous three, and it almost seemed like the basketball had grown a pair of eyes and was guiding itself toward the basket.
Then, the fifth shot scored…
The sixth shot scored…
The seventh shot scored…
And even the eighth shot landed! Both Shen Qingyan and Su li could not believe what they had just witnessed and were now truly awed, to the point they had to catch their breath. All eight shots were executed with the same technique—all scored by a jump shot taken outside the three-point line. Although there were no exciting pa.s.sages of offensive and defensive play nor the clash between bodies, the perfect execution of Xiao Luo’s technique was more than a treat to watch.
Yang Hongzhi’s two bodyguards kept rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
Only Su Xiaobei was cheering out loud for Xiao Luo–she knew in her heart that her daddy was awesome and would score every ball consecutively.
Yang Hongzhi’s state of mind was a rollercoaster ride that started off with disdain, then he was surprised, shocked, and finally driven to anger. At that moment, Yang Hongzhi looked like he could swallow Xiao Luo up alive. From the third shot on, he had been trying to block Xiao Luo’s attempts, but each time it floated only centimeters from his fingertips, before going through the hoop.
The score was now, eight to zero, and Yang Hongzhi was seething, what a humiliation it was to him.
“d.a.m.n catfis.h.!.+”
Yang Hongzhi muttered a curse and stared hard at Xiao Luo; if he did not hate Xiao Luo before, he did now.
Xiao Luo chuckled at Yang Hongzhi—here was a man who readily insulted others but was not mentally tough enough to be abused himself.
“There are two more shots!”
Yang Hongzhi hissed through clenched teeth, and he gripped the ball hard in his hands and stared viciously at Xiao Luo.
Xiao Luo had a faint smile on his face. He raised his index finger at Yang Hongzhi and then gestured by curling it back to signal for him to pa.s.s the ball.
…