Chapter Sixteen: A Hat Astounds Everyone

  Rockets request timeout, Adelman wants to set up a tactic, trying to delay the time until the last moment to hit, not giving the Lakers a chance to counterattack. As long as the ball goes in, they can take down the game. If it doesn't go in, they'll fight for overtime.

  "Jackson was making his final defensive deployment. 'Radmanovic down, Ye Feng up. Odom is in charge of defending Bateer, Ye Feng defends the inside line, if they don't make a shot, grab the rebound and call a timeout, the Rockets may choose to break through, when assisting defense, be careful not to foul.'"

  Ye Feng was entrusted with a critical task, his heart racing violently as if he had just finished running 100 meters. He deeply felt why stars need a big heart. The game was nearing its end, and he only felt tense when defending, let alone those who executed the final shot.

  Brian Cook's defense is too trash, Kwame Brown often makes mistakes at critical moments, can't be trusted, so Jackson decided to let Yi Jianlian play and put Odom in the small forward position. Believing in Yi Jianlian's defense is Jackson's courage.

  "Are you guys ready? The car has been driven to the edge of the cliff! Will the Rockets kill the Lakers or will the Lakers drag the game into overtime? If it goes into overtime, it's undoubtedly more beneficial for the Lakers. Yao Ming only scored two points in the fourth quarter, and he seems to be running out of energy."

  Yao Ming's biggest weakness is his physical endurance. His body type makes him consume more energy than other players in a 40-minute game, and he often becomes exhausted and unable to continue playing effectively. If the game goes into overtime, his power will be further reduced.

  Barkley looked at the data and still targeted Kobe. Kobe has already scored 43 points, and he still found fault with him. "If Kobe's free throws were more accurate today, maybe the Lakers would have won this game. He had 25 free throw opportunities but only made 17. Today, as soon as a Rockets player touched Kobe, they would be called for a foul."

  The timeout ended, and the players from both teams took to the court. Seeing the No. 74 jersey appear on the court, the commentator exclaimed in surprise, "What's going on? Is the Lakers trying to satisfy Chinese fans' wishes at the last minute by letting them see the long-hyped China Derby? I wonder what Yao Ming is thinking now that he sees Ye Liang taking the court."

  Yao Ming's only thought was that he hoped McGrady would throw the damn ball in. In the end, it was either you die or I perish. At this time, a small mistake would bury the team's efforts for the whole night, and no one wanted to lose at this critical juncture if they still wanted to sleep soundly.

  Yue Feng took a look at the Rockets' starting lineup and saw that Chuck Hayes was the power forward, which made him feel at ease. Hayes is an oddity in the NBA, being one of the shortest players to play in the post, with his 198cm height often playing center. His role on the court must be to fight for rebounds, there's no way the Rockets would let him take the last shot, unless Adelman has gone crazy. The other four players are Alston, McGrady, Battier, and Yao Ming, all of whom could potentially shoot.

  Yue Feng has been considering that issue. Will the Rockets let Battier take the last shot? Should I let go of Hayes to defend against Battier? This is a bold idea, if the Rockets really set up Battier for a shot and Yue Feng defends it successfully, he's a hero; but if the Rockets pass the ball and he loses his man or fails to protect the backboard, he's a sinner.

  He observed Battier's eyes, firm but not like he was about to make the final shot. While McGrady's eyes always looked like he had too much to drink and hadn't woken up yet, unable to discern anything.

  Yue Feng guessed wrong, Adelman's tactics were to let McGrady receive the ball and play one-on-one. In the second half, McGrady had already found his touch, scoring 28 points, Kobe might not be able to defend against him.

  Ye Feng didn't know, he decided to take a gamble and go all out against Batiel, he needed an opportunity to be a hero.

  The game restarted, with Battier responsible for throwing the sideline ball. Yao Ming made a screen for McGrady without the ball, and McGrady ran to the three-point line, received the pass, and after shaking off the defender, both Yao and Hayes arrived at the low post, drawing the Lakers' interior defense while preparing to grab the rebound and score on a fast break. Kobe Bryant got around Yao Ming's screen to guard McGrady.

  The entire audience held their breath, and time seemed to slow down at this moment. McGrady had already obtained a good shooting opportunity under Yao Ming's cover, but Bynum didn't provide any help defense and went back to the inside line with Yao Ming. Kobe was having a hard time keeping up with McGrady due to being one step behind. Unfortunately, McGrady hesitated, thinking that shooting at this moment would be too early and give the Lakers a chance to counterattack. So he pretended to shoot and chose to dribble instead. Kobe took advantage of the opportunity to get close to him, opening his arms wide to block his path. McGrady tried to shake off Kobe with several crossovers but couldn't, so he passed the ball to the right side.

  On the right side, Alston screened out Odom for Battier on the perimeter. Bodying up is a weakness of Alston's and he isn't suited to play help defense, but as long as he could delay Odom by half a second it would be enough. Battier ran out beyond the three-point line and received the pass at a 45-degree angle, with Fisher rotating over to him.

  The two men had a big height difference, and Bati immediately chose to shoot a three-pointer with 5 seconds left. This time he grasped the rhythm well, feeling that it was bound to go in.

  Battier saw the positive Odom, Fisher, but ignored the weak side. McGrady passed the ball and Ye Feng immediately opened up to Hayes, who rushed towards Battier from the baseline. If Battier's attention was all on this shot, then Ye Feng had been paying attention to Battier since he came on the court.

  He's really going to throw it, I can make it! Ye Feng jumped up with all his might in the sprint... His intention was to cap, but when he jumped into the air, he found that his long arm and the ball were too close, so Batty saw an unforgettable scene, his shot was directly caught by Ye Feng's two hands from the air.

  A synchronized gasp echoed through the stands. Not just the fans, but also the players on the court were stunned for several seconds. McGrady was dazed, Kobe shook him off and sprinted full force towards the Rockets' half-court with only three seconds left.

  Ye Feng fell to the ground and threw the ball to Kobe with one hand. His passing level was really bad, the speed of the ball was fast, but it was passed too low. Kobe rushed two steps forward, bent down to catch the basketball, adjusted slightly, turned around, and didn't have time to aim before throwing the ball out with one hand. The whistle for the end of the game sounded just as the ball hit the backboard and bounced into the hoop!

  Killer! 94 vs 92.

  Kobe buzzer beater killed the Rockets! The Staples Center is boiling, while the Rockets players are stunned, they can't accept losing in this way, previously the worst scenario they could think of was going into overtime...

  Yao Ming was the most frustrated person in the whole arena. Before the game, he chatted with Ye Feng, a conversation between an old-timer and a rookie. Yao encouraged Ye to play well and be confident, while Ye joked that it's hard for him to get playing time. But after the game, Yao fought hard to score 30 points, grab 7 rebounds and make 4 assists, but still couldn't match the value of Ye's single big block shot, all the attention was stolen away.

  The Lakers were almost always behind, but dramatically completed the reversal at the last moment, achieving a season-opening win. The substitute players rushed into the field together, surrounded Ye Feng in the middle, and slapped his back wildly. Odom was the most excited, if this ball was made by Battier, he would be responsible for it.

  I really covered Battier and assisted Kobe's game-winner? Even now, Ye Feng still can't believe it's true. Thinking back to that moment, he feels like he's too awesome.

  The big screen on the stadium replayed the previous attack. The moment McGrady passed the ball, Ye Feng started to move, and before Battier shot, he had already jumped up in advance. This was not accidental, but a planned defense based on excellent anticipation.

  Jackson walked up to Ye Feng's side and patted his shoulder, saying softly: "Good supplementary defense."

  Ye Feng has done a great job in winning the game. The result of winning is much more important than executing tactics.

  Kobe also came to Ye Feng's side and smiled: "Well done, coach should give you more playing time."

  "Thanks." The coach and team leader all said good things about him, he believes that in the future it will definitely be better to get along.

  Surrounded by his teammates, Ye Feng returned to the locker room and received a congratulatory call from Gabriela. He chatted on the phone for a while, went late into the bathroom, came out after showering, and found that many reporters had already entered the locker room, while he was only wrapped in a towel around his lower body...

  These reporters all came to interview Ye Feng, and their cameras were all focused on him as they snapped away wildly.

  "Yefeng, may I ask what you think of this ball?"

  "Was it a coach's arrangement that you made such a wonderful cap in the last moment of the game?"

  "What's your feeling about helping the Lakers win in the first game?"

  "What's your feeling about winning the China Derby?"

  Ye Feng held a towel with one hand and pointed to the camera closest to him with the other, saying: "My feeling is, can't you let this lens be a bit further away from my crotch? Can we wait until I put on some clothes before interviewing me? It feels like we're shooting a porn movie."

  Team members burst into laughter, Ye Feng took his clothes back to the bathroom to get dressed, sat down on a chair, and accepted interviews from reporters, patiently answering questions, with a feeling of becoming famous overnight.

  "As for the thought process, Ye Feng said: "The person I want to defend is Haynes. He doesn't have much attacking ability. At that time, I saw Bateer had an open space and felt he was going to shoot, so I defended him. My idea was just to cover him, didn't expect the jump timing was just right, and then easily grabbed the ball, maybe God wanted us to win this game."

  A Chinese journalist asked: "Winning the China Derby, are you happy?"

  "Everyone is overestimating me. Yao Ming is an All-Star player, and I'm just a substitute's substitute who played for 13 seconds. If the coach could increase my playing time to 13 minutes, I would be so happy that I wouldn't be able to sleep. The gap between Yao Ming and me is immeasurable, his performance in the paint today was dominant."

  Ye Feng took the opportunity to flatter Yao Ming a few words, but in his heart he was secretly laughing. He had already asked for Yao Ming's phone number and said they would have dinner together when they were free, and soon he planned to send a text message to comfort Yao Ming's wounded heart.

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