“En.”
At that moment, Carlo clapped his hands together, got up, and said to everybody, “Hey, guys! Let’s go all out today! Montenegro, don’t lose sight of the ball!”
“It’s not your turn to say that to me yet,” Montenegro thumped Carlo’s chest with his fist.
Every person on court was staring at the basketball that was about to be thrown into the air.
Just when the ball was about to fall, Montenegro and Thomas both jumped. Montenegro’s burst in that instant was astounding. He was quicker than Thomas by half a palm and steadily pushed the ball in Nie Chuan’s direction. As Wright was defending near him, Nie Chuan was wary of his speed. After judging the direction of the ball, he jumped to get the ball then ran without any hesitation.
As soon as it began, the rhythm of the game was driven by Nie Chuan. Everyone thought that he was going to penetrate through the defensive zone of the other team. However, he made a very fast long pass that passed the opposing small forward and power forward and was accurately delivered to Carlo who was almost under the other team’s basket.
Carlo smashed the ball in, the sound resounded through the stadium. DK had taken the first goal of the game.
The team members watching from around the court were all stunned.
“Wow…… wasn’t that only a couple seconds? DK’s offense is too fast, isn’t it almost impossible to defend?”
“The truly fast one is that black haired one right? Our point guard couldn’t even catch up to him. And his long pass…… my god, it passed by our small forward and power forward’s shoulder!”
“Yeah, that height was very subtle. It requires people to turn to be able to intercept it but by the time they do, it’s already too late.”
Carlo happily double high-fived Nie Chuan. “Ah so happy! Allen’s first pass in the game was for me!”
Ewing pushed Carlo’s head away and said with distaste, “Enough already! Keep playing!”
Wright stroked his chin and watched Nie Chuan’s figure with a smile.
Thomas came over and patted Wright on the shoulder. “Hey, keep that kid under control.”
“Of course.” Wright bent over and supported himself on his knees, “I almost let him experience our CBU’s speed.”
When the game resumed, Nie Chuan spared no effort in running, bringing the ball into the opponent’s area before sending it to Ewing who was standing outside the three-point line.
“No good! It’s Ewing!”
However, just when Ewing was about to take off, he heard a “pa” sound as someone pushed the ball out of his hands from below. Reece’s shout of “Defense!” made Nie Chuan suddenly react. It was the other team’s point guard, Wright.
Wright’s speed was astonishing. Nie Chuan ran with all his might but could only follow behind him, unable to find any opportunity to intercept the ball.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The coordination of this offense was much more complicated than the one that DK had made previously yet, from beginning to end, it was controlled to be within five seconds, as if countering the quick offense that Nie Chuan had made just before.
As Nie Chuan was exhaling, Wright had already come up to him and smiled. “Not bad. However, that wasn’t my full speed just now.”
Nie Chuan knew that Wright wasn’t bragging. During last year’s match, his quick passes and cuts combined with the offense of Owen Wishaw completely obliterated DK’s defense. Speed is Wright’s edge.
Wright got the ball again and pivoted twice to change direction. The more Nie Chuan tried to keep up with the other’s rhythm, the more obviously he was shaken off.
He had the feeling that he was being played around with by Wright.
Wright had already sped up and bypassed Ewing but Reece caught up and quickly defended against him. Wright’s speed didn’t weaken at all. Rather, he cut into Reece’s left before instantly switching back to the right, his movements fluent and nimble. However, in that instant when he was about to break past Reece, nobody was able to clearly see how Reece was able to unexpectedly flash in front of Wright once more and cut off the ball before quickly rushing to the basket on the other side.
“Defense——” Thomas shouted.
Unfortunately, Reece had already entered unmanned territory. Like an arrow, he passed the double defense of the opposing power forward and small forward. Everyone thought he was going for a dunk but he didn’t even jump. Instead, he turned and passed the ball to Ewing who was on the three point line.
Ewing took off. With practically nobody to defend against him nor anybody to interfere, his three-pointer entered the basket without any suspense.
Nie Chuan stood in place, watching Reece’s figure in a trance.
The one who accompanied him in dribbling practices everyday was precisely Reece. At that time, he already felt that Reece’s speed and reaction time was very fast. Through this match, he realized that Reece wasn’t just fast, he was inconceivably fast. When accompanying him during practice, Reece didn’t bring out his full strength.
Nie Chuan had originally thought that Reece would also receive tempering when spending time practicing with him. Now, he realized that it was only one-sided guidance.
When Reece looked at him, Nie Chuan tensed.
It’s not that I didn’t give it my all! I’m just not Wright’s opponent ah!
“Carlo, time out.” Reece glanced at Carlo.
Carlo understood Reece’s intention and made a timeout gesture.
Everyone returned to the sidelines and began drinking water while discussing how to cooperate next.
Nie Chuan dug out a piece of chocolate from his bag but before he could open the wrapper, his fingers were held by Reece.
Everyone was looking over. Ewing was a little worried that Reece would criticize Nie Chuan, he was about to go over when he was stopped by Carlo.
“The one who has been practicing with Allen is Reece so the one who understands Allen’s technical characteristics the best among us is also Reece.”
Nie Chuan met Reece’s eyes as soon as he looked up. His eyes were calm, without any trace of waves, but there seemed to be a force brewing within them that threatened to overturn everything.
“Xiao Chuan, your performance wasn’t bad.”
“Thanks.”
Reece kneeled in front of him on one knee, his eyes which were level with his made Nie Chuan feel like a child who needed to be coaxed by an adult after a defeat.
A pair of warm hands suddenly enveloped Nie Chuan’s ankles and Nie Chuan’s heart abruptly stopped.
“But you forgot who you were and got overtaken by Wright’s rhythm. You haven’t played as the real you yet. None of the advantages that belong to Nie Chuan have been brought out.”
“My advantages.”
“Your jab steps.”
Reece’s palms slowly moved up along Nie Chuan’s ankles and came to his calves. “Your sense of space and distance when facing a defender.”
Nie Chuan’s blood rushed to the places that Reece’s hands touched and all his lax nerves seemed to intertwine at that moment.
Reece’s hands arrived at Nie Chuan’s knees. “And your control over your inertia. These are what we have practiced for a long time, it’s where you and I are the most similar.”
Yes, stop when you want to stop, this was what Reece had specifically taught him during their practices.
“What does it matter if it’s similar…… I’m a long way from you,” Nie Chuan smiled helplessly.
“No. Your sudden stops are within my expectations the majority of the time but one out of ten will surprise me.”
Nie Chuan swallowed, Reece’s words were very serious.
“En……”
“There’s also your bilateral directional changes as well as your ability to cut in with both your left and right hands. I’ve been watching you. You have no fixed orientation, you’ll make Wright spit blood.”
He didn’t know if it was an illusion but Nie Chuan thought he saw a faint smile on Reece’s lips.
“En,” Nie Chuan nodded.
Reece’s hands loosened before moving to both sides of Nie Chuan’s ears. “There’s also your field of vision as well as everybody’s positioning in your mind.”
“I won’t forget.”
“Very good.”
Sitting on the opposite side of the court while wiping off his sweat, Wright looked suspiciously in Reece and Nie Chuan’s direction. “What are they doing? Teaching that newcomer by hand?”
“That kid plays basketball pretty well but he lacks maturity and many aspects require experience. For a promising seed like this, however, it’s best to prevent it from sprouting.”
“I know. He should feel lucky that the one he ran into wasn’t Owen or he’d lose even worse.”
The whistle sounded and the game continued. Wright flexed his wrists and stepped forward.
As soon as the game resumed, CBU succeeded in seizing the ball again. When Wright cut in with the ball, Nie Chuan closely followed after him. Wright wanted to break through the other side with the ball but Ewing was defending one of his teammates while occupying a favorable position. He stopped in a hurry and was about to jump and shoot directly but as soon as he lifted the ball in his hand, Nie Chuan intercepted it.
Nie Chuan was in possession of the ball while Wright followed closely to defend.
His lips pulled into a smile.“You want to get past me?”
The one I need to pass is you!
Nie Chuan took a step back, widening the distance between them, before immediately doing a cross dribble to quickly cut to the right while staring into Wright’s eyes.
Wright was about to intercept the ball but Nie Chuan controlled his movement and took a step back before abruptly stopping and taking the position for a jump shot.
It was impossible to shoot from this distance but before Wright could respond, Montenegro had already received the ball and quickly brought it to CBU’s three-point line. In the face of Thomas’s defense, he passed the ball to Carlo who then scored again.
“Hey, did you see that! That black haired guy was so fierce just now! Wright got cheated by him!”
“Wasn’t it just a coincidence?”
_____________________________
MadMadamMims: Nothing like a little massage to loosen NC up 😉
Re: Yes, for a “big battle” 😉
Thanks for the chapter.
I love this novel
😍
Thank you for the chapter 😍
Thank you for your chapter.😍
😉
Thanks for the chapter!!!
Nie Chuan you can do it!! 📣 woop their asses! Thank you for the chapter!
Nie Chuan is a natural! He’s not that tall, but he is pretty physically gifted too. With some hard work and a bit of guidance (from Reece), he’s going to be a pretty scary player too. Even better, because he’s not physically imposing, it would be easy to underestimate him. I’m excited to watch him grow as a player. Thanks for the update!
Thank u for the chapter! 💕
Reece you sneak!
You cope a feel didn’t ya
Good pep talk and Reese even snuck some tofu. Go go go!! Thanks for the chapter!
Reece silently eating tofu ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)