Someone in the audience seats in the stadium exclaimed, "Hey! Have you noticed? Lin has changed. He dyed his hair, has three band-aids on his face, wears Venom Air Force One basketball shoes, and has changed his jersey number. He wore No. 6 in the last game, but why is he wearing No. 10 tonight?"
"Oh... God! I was just about to say this change. What is Lin doing? Why dye his hair like this? But it looks good."
"You guys have never seen the world. Lin is imitating Sakuragi Hanamichi right now. Haven't you noticed?"
Several black girls stared at Lin Feng with sparkling eyes.
I have to say that Lin Feng's eye-catching red hair is handsome and cool.
Rodman, the big man on the Bulls back then, had a strange red hair and grabbed wonderful rebounds in every game.
Just grab the rebound and give it to the bald guy No. 23, and the championship will be secure!
"Sakuragi Hanamichi? Lin is Sakuragi Hanamichi! Oh my God... He looks so handsome. I like the current Lin!"
"Hahaha, I like him too. He's very handsome. This is the first time I feel an Asian man's face can be so nice!"
Not only black girls liked the current Lin Feng; white girls were also cheering for him.
…
The teammates on the court had a tacit understanding. After Lin Feng won the jump ball, they passed it to him immediately.
"Open up space and give me one-on-one play," Lin Feng said.
He received the pass, clapped his hands once, and directed his teammates' movement with his other hand.
He needed enough space to isolate the opponent's point guard, beat him, and quickly increase the score.
Due to Lin Feng's brilliant performance in the last game, his teammates now subconsciously obeyed his commands.
Unconsciously, Lin Feng began to exude the aura of a team leader.
After dribbling the ball across half-court, the Albuquerque Thunderbirds' main defender, Croft, immediately ran up and guarded him closely.
Croft was a good defender and had once been selected to the second all-defensive team.
As a short point guard, being selected for the second defensive team was considered a relatively significant achievement.
Croft's greatest defensive attribute was his tenacious, relentless pressure.
Throughout the entire game, he stuck to his opponent like a dog with a bone, not giving them any comfortable space to shoot.
He moved very quickly, was good at driving to the basket on offense, and was adept at cutting off the ball-handler's driving lanes on defense.
The head coach of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, Morey, had already arranged tactics against Lin Feng before the game.
He instructed their number one defensive player, Croft, to closely guard Lin Feng and not give him any comfortable shooting space.
As long as they could neutralize Lin Feng, it would only take a few minutes to defeat the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
Morey had studied the video of Lin Feng from the previous game and made targeted adjustments, confident that they would sweep the Los Angeles D-Fenders out.
"Hey! Yellow-skinned monkey, do you think I won't recognize you just because you dyed your hair red? You're still a rookie. You scored a triple-double in the last game. I can only say you were lucky," Croft taunted.
"Or maybe those guys on the Fort Worth Flyers are just worse and dumber than you. You won't gain any advantage against us."
Croft was draped all over Lin Feng, guarding him tightly while simultaneously trash-talking.
Faced with his taunts, Lin Feng was too lazy to respond.
Holding the ball with both hands, he leaned forward and took a series of probing steps.
The probing step offensive technique was often used by top shooting guards such as Kobe, McGrady, and Carter.
First, observe the defender's position, then choose to drive or shoot directly.
Lin Feng had just activated several new skills, including the training jump shot and side-step jump shot, which worked best with the probing steps, making it the ideal offensive method against Croft.
"Swish!"
Suddenly, Lin Feng moved. Under Croft's suffocating defense, after taking a probing step, his body shifted to the left.
He took a side step, similar to Harden's step-back many years later.
This created some space to shoot, and he released the ball directly over Croft's outstretched hand.
The first commentator at the broadcast booth exclaimed, "Oh my God! Lin Feng chose to shoot directly over Croft's head. Can he score?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the basketball drew a beautiful arc in the air and swished through the net!
"Oh... Lin made the shot, and it went in! BANG!"
The second commentator added, "That was a perfect shot. Lin is getting stronger and stronger. I seem to see the shadows of Kobe and McGrady in him."
"Ahhh!"
A burst of warm cheers erupted from the audience.
Lin Feng's slender figure landed on the ground, his shooting hand still perfectly in form.
Only when the basketball went through the net did he lower his standard shooting hand and rub his nose with his thumb, just like Bruce Lee.
Then, he shook his finger at the closely guarding Croft, as if to say, "Come on! You almost defended me!"
Croft was furious. He never expected that in the first possession of the game, Lin Feng would sink a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
"Baby, you are awesome! Keep it up. As long as you win this game tonight, you can do whatever you want with me when you go back!"
His girlfriend Su Muqing stood up excitedly, waving her hands.
When Lin Feng ran back to his half of the court, he winked coolly at Su Muqing.
This caused the female fans in the stadium to scream, and they all thought that Lin Feng was winking at them.
The game continued. Croft chose to attack with the ball, and on the defensive end, he was tormented by Lin Feng.
This time on offense, he was determined to regain his footing and rely on his extremely fast first step to blow past Lin Feng and complete a layup.
"Hey! Red-haired monster, watch how I humiliate you this time. That's not how you play basketball!" Croft yelled.
He performed a series of between-the-legs dribbles, showing off his skills in front of Lin Feng.
Although his dribbling skills weren't as polished and exceptional as Allen Iverson's, he was a top dribbling expert in the NBDL Development League.
The number one player who usually guarded him was always blown past by Croft and sadly became just another highlight reel.
However—
At this moment, he used the same trick against Lin Feng, but Lin Feng wasn't fooled at all. He allowed Croft to make a series of fake moves and dribble the ball without even blinking.
Seeing this, Croft was very frustrated. He decided to try and drive directly to the basket.
Commentator No. 1: "Croft can't seem to shake Lin Feng's defense. He wants to attack the basket directly."
Commentator No. 2: "Croft is known as the Allen Iverson of the NBDL Development League. The speed of his first step is something that an Asian player like Lin Feng cannot match."
"Oh my God, Croft successfully penetrated the restricted area! He tried to make a layup, or a backhand shot! Croft was fired up! He was completely fired up! His basketball pride wouldn't allow him to lose to a Chinese player, and he couldn't tolerate being completely outplayed by a Chinese player in a one-on-one matchup!"
"Croft..."
The two commentators were talking excitedly when they suddenly saw a shadow rushing out from behind.
Croft's speed in driving to the basket was indeed very fast. He rushed into the penalty area, and the Los Angeles D-Fenders' third-string center was unable to react.
He simply watched Croft pick up the ball for the layup.
However, at that moment, a figure suddenly rushed out from the wing. It was Lin Feng, who had deliberately allowed Croft to break into the penalty area.
In fact, based on Lin Feng's footwork, Croft had no real chance of getting past him into the penalty area.
He was able to penetrate because Lin Feng let him in on purpose.
The purpose was to give him a spectacular block.
When Croft thought he was in the clear, Lin Feng rushed out from the wing with incredible speed.
The moment Croft went up for the layup, Lin Feng jumped high, seized the opportunity, and swatted the basketball away.
It was a textbook block, and the referee looked carefully and confirmed that it was not goaltending.
The moment the basketball had just left Croft's hand and was rising, Lin Feng rushed in from the side and cleanly blocked it.
So, it was a perfect block and had nothing to do with illegal interference.