area51novel Chapter 24: 5 Battles, 35+ Points! Smash All Doubts with the Ball
Chapter 24: 5 Battles, 35+ Points! Smash All Doubts with the Ball
On a crisp winter morning in Oakland, the thud of basketballs hitting the wooden floor of the Warriors' training facility roused us earlier than the rising sun outside the window.
Lin Hao's jersey was already soaked with sweat, clinging tightly to his back, and the new brace wrapped around his left ankle gleamed mattely under the lights. Three days had passed since the league released its voting survey announcement, and in those three days, the hashtag #InfluencerVoteKing# had sprung up like wildfire, with headlines across American sports media filled with mockery and skepticism directed at him.
The Bleacher Report photoshopped his suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) and canned peaches into props for a circus clown, with the headline "The Tragedy of the NBA: A Suona-Playing Internet Celebrity Is About to Become the All-Star Voting King"; in the TNT studio, Kenny Smith shook his head while holding a data board: "A second-round pick, averaging 24 points a game, wants to be the voting king? I can't find any other reason besides vote-rigging in the Chinese market."
Even on domestic basketball forums, there were voices praising Chinese basketball to the point of "killing" and "don't bring shame to Chinese basketball," which came at them like needles.
"Canned Food Bro, stop practicing! These sons of bitches are pure double standards!" Richardson ripped off his headband and slammed his phone onto the chair. The screen still showed Pierce's interview, in which he bluntly stated, "A rookie who hasn't even played in the playoffs doesn't deserve to be an All-Star starter. What else does this kid have besides a suona?"
"Now that I'm the vote leader, they can really keep nagging." Lin Hao caught the rebounding basketball, flicked it with his fingertips, and the ball grazed the net and went in cleanly. His movements were as steady as if he were frozen in time. "They can say whatever they want. Instead of wasting time arguing with them, I'd rather shoot a couple more three-pointers."
He bent down, picked up a can of yellow peaches from the sidelines, unscrewed the lid, forked a piece of peach, and popped it into his mouth. The sweet juice slid down his throat, easing the slight soreness in his ankle. The system's "Smash the Doubts" mission was still flashing in his mind: in the final five regular season games, average 30+ points per game and lead the team to at least four victories to 100% heal his old ankle injury and permanently increase his shooting proficiency by 20%.
Having spent over a decade as a youth training coach in his previous life, he understood one principle all too well: all doubts can be shattered by basketball.
"The next five games are against the Kings, Mavericks, Trail Blazers, Timberwolves, and Grizzlies—all tough teams in the West." Head coach Musselman held the schedule, his brow furrowed. "These guys are definitely going to target you relentlessly, and the media is waiting to see you crash and burn."
"I can't turn this around." Lin Hao put the canned food aside, picked up a marker, and quickly sketched on the tactics board. He clearly marked the defensive weaknesses of the five teams and the technical habits of their core players in just a few strokes. "Bibby always drops his left shoulder when he breaks through on the right, Nash will pass the ball to the corner eight out of ten times after a pick-and-roll, Payton loves to reach out to steal the ball when he gets faked out, Garnett always leaves the baseline when helping on defense... I can figure out these guys' patterns with my eyes closed."
He looked up at his teammates who had gathered around him, a smug smile typical of Northeasterners playing on his lips: "Five games, I'll lead you guys to victory. Not only will we win, I'll show the whole league whether I deserve this vote leader title or not."
The first of the five final games is in Sacramento, where they will face the fourth-ranked Sacramento Kings on the road.
At the pre-game press conference, Sacramento Kings point guard Mike Bibby, nicknamed "The White Devils," sneered and made a bold statement in front of the entire nation's cameras: "I'll show him that his regular season hype is worthless in the face of playoff competition. He wants to be the top vote-getter? He'll have to get past me first."
As expected, Bibby delivered on his promise and launched a fierce attack on Lin Hao from the start, employing a series of crossover dribbles and pull-up jumpers, each move aimed at breaking down Lin Hao's defense. However, he didn't realize that every move he made seemed to be written all over Lin Hao's face.
The moment Bibby lowered his shoulder to drive to the right, Lin Hao had already moved laterally to block his path, precisely slicing the ball with his left hand for a clean steal. He then turned and launched a fast break. Two Kings players rushed back to defend, only to watch as Lin Hao stepped inside the free-throw line, took off, and slammed the ball into the basket over the helping center!
A dunk!
The entire venue fell silent for a moment, then erupted in deafening gasps.
Lin Hao clapped his hands after landing and shouted at Bibi, who was staring dumbfounded on the sidelines, in fluent Northeastern dialect: "That's it? White Devil? You're like a traffic light, your next move is written all over your face!"
Throughout the game, Lin Hao held Bibby to just 4 of 15 shots, while delivering a spectacular performance of 36 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals. In the final moments of the fourth quarter, he hit a long-range buzzer-beating three-pointer over Bibby's tight defense, leading his team to a 108-102 comeback victory and their first win.
In the player tunnel after the game, Bibby stopped Lin Hao, shook his hand, and his tone, devoid of pre-game arrogance, was filled with genuine admiration: "Your defensive anticipation is the most outrageous I've ever seen. I underestimated you before; you deserve to be an All-Star."
The second game was back in Oakland, where the Warriors faced the Mavericks, with future two-time MVP Steve Nash on the opposing team.
In the domestic live broadcast studio, Zhang Qingying sat in the commentary booth, dressed in a simple white shirt, her eyes filled with determination. Before the game, her agency had repeatedly warned her to "remain neutral" during the commentary and not to publicly speak up for Lin Hao, lest it damage her image. But before the game started, she still addressed the national audience, saying word by word: "I believe in Lin Hao. He's never been some internet celebrity; he's a Chinese player who has established himself in the NBA through his own strength. All doubts will be shattered by his basketball skills."
The words spoken in the studio reached Lin Hao's ears via the phone. During the pre-match warm-up, he made a suona gesture towards the camera, his smile impossible to hide.
This game became a high-stakes duel between two top point guards. Nash's passes were unpredictable, while Lin Hao's playmaking was flawless; when Nash hit consecutive three-pointers, Lin Hao responded with a drive and dish to his teammates for consecutive dunks; when Nowitzki led his team to tie the score, Lin Hao kept the score close with a series of accurate mid-range shots.
The game ended with Lin Hao racking up 38 points and 12 assists, leading his team to a 115-104 victory over the Mavericks. Nash and Nowitzki came over, hugged him, and said with smiles, "Your rhythm and basketball IQ are nothing like a rookie. You deserve the All-Star stage."
On the night the competition ended, Zhang Qingying sent Lin Hao a message with only one simple sentence: "I knew it, you never disappoint." The differences in their previous ideas vanished at that moment.
In the next three matches, Lin Hao completely unleashed his killing spree.
Against the Trail Blazers, facing the relentless defense of legendary defensive stalwarts Pippen and Stoudemire, he scored 34 points and made 7 steals, tearing apart the Trail Blazers' backcourt and leading his team to a narrow victory.
Against the Timberwolves, facing Garnett's tough defense, he scored 37 points and grabbed 8 rebounds with a combination of inside and outside shots. In the final moments, he hit the game-winning two points over Garnett's block, leading his team to win this tough game.
In the final game against the Grizzlies, he focused on playmaking and orchestrating the offense, dishing out 15 assists and scoring 31 points, leading his team to a resounding victory over the Grizzlies and securing their fifth consecutive win!
After five games, Lin Hao delivered explosive stats of 35.2 points, 8.1 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game, with a field goal percentage of 54.3% and a three-point percentage of 42.7%. He led his team to a five-game winning streak, securing the Warriors' fifth place in the Western Conference standings.
These five matches ignited the entire internet.
On Baidu Tieba in China, countless fans spontaneously organized suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) support activities. University basketball courts and amateur basketball courts were filled with fans playing suona versions of "A Man Should Be Self-reliant" to cheer on Lin Hao. The hashtag #SuonaSongSupportsLinHao# directly topped the Weibo hot search list. Fans from his hometown of Chaoyang, Liaoning, even booked a landmark screen in the city center, playing Lin Hao's game highlights on a loop and chanting slogans like "Northeast big shot, bringing glory to our hometown!"
On the afternoon of the same day the five-game winning streak ended, the NBA headquarters officially released a statement, clearly written in bold black font:
"The compliance investigation into Lin Hao's voting data for the 2003 Atlanta All-Star Game has been completed. Verified by an authoritative third-party organization, the entire voting process was genuine and valid, and there was no evidence of any vote manipulation. Lin Hao was officially elected as the 2003 All-Star Western Conference starting guard and the league's leading vote-getter with 2487632 votes."
The announcement caused an instant uproar across the internet!
The media outlets that had previously mocked him the most quickly withdrew their press releases overnight and changed their tune to praise Lin Hao, saying "he has made NBA history." The stars who had previously expressed doubts deleted their interview posts, and many even publicly congratulated him.
Because everyone knows that Lin Hao has made history like never before – the first second-round pick in NBA history to win the All-Star vote in his rookie season.
In the Warriors' training facility, Lin Hao had just made his 500th three-pointer of the day when the system's crisp notification sound rang in his mind, like firecrackers during the New Year, clanging and banging incessantly:
[Ding! Host has completed the temporary main quest "Smash the Doubts"! Averaging 35+ points per game in five matches, leading the team to five consecutive victories, quest completion rate 100%!]
[Rewards: The host's old injury to the anterior talofibular ligament in the left ankle is 100% healed! Chronic Achilles tendon strain is completely eliminated! Shooting proficiency is permanently increased by 20%! All physical attributes are temporarily increased by 10%, lasting until the end of All-Star Weekend!]
A warm current instantly spread from my ankle to my entire left leg, and the lingering soreness completely disappeared. With a gentle push off the ground, I felt like I had inexhaustible strength, as if I had been freed from shackles that had weighed me down for more than a decade.
Lin Hao looked down at his palm, then looked up at the NBA championship banner hanging on the wall of the training hall, his smile growing wider.
Just then, head coach Musselman walked over, holding a tactical board, and said to the whole team, word by word, "From today onwards, the Warriors' offensive tactics will be entirely led by Lin Hao. Unlimited shooting freedom and tactical adjustment rights on the court are all handed over to Lin Hao."
The entire locker room erupted in deafening cheers. Richardson was the first to rush over and pat Lin Hao hard on the shoulder: "Canned Food Bro, you're awesome! This should have been done a long time ago!"
Lin Hao smiled and pushed him away, taking out the well-worn youth training notebook from his pocket. His fingertips gently traced the words he had written countless times on the title page:
Chinese basketball will succeed someday.
He closed his notebook, looked up at the window, and saw the California sun shining brightly.
The All-Star Weekend in Atlanta is waiting for him. And he's going to make everyone remember this name from Northeast China once again on that stage where the whole world is watching.