Chapter 140

When jealousy in one's bones turns into envy, admiration naturally follows.

Jack Fan's dreamlike experience during this period made the equally young Bynum develop an irrepressible "sense of longing." What he longed for most was not Fan Xi's success on the court, but Fan Xi's influence off the court. When those goddesses of actresses lined up on the sidelines to kiss Fan Xi, Bynum was extremely envious.

As a hot-blooded young man, as a young star who could handle two call girls in a nightclub.

His biggest wish right now was to get more women, more famous women.

He dyed his hair into a green afro to attract people's attention. This animalistic behavior was a bit like a peacock spreading its tail to attract attention.

However, humans are not peahens.

This kind of unconventional aesthetic is actually hard to gain mainstream approval.

At least Scarlett Johansson thought Bynum was a monster.

When Bynum shouted at her that he was the one who set the screen for Fan Xi, her first thought was: "Ugly monster, don't come over here."

She even hoped Fan Xi wouldn't deal with this "monster."

If Bynum knew this, he would definitely be heartbroken.

But right now, there was someone on the court who was quite upset.

This person was Kobe Bryant.

He had been hurt invisibly.

Because Bynum hadn't set a screen for him just now, but instead ran out to set one for Fan Xi, what did that mean? It meant Bynum's relationship with Fan Xi had already surpassed his relationship with him.

Kobe felt inexplicably irritable.

He didn't know the underlying logic of his irritability.

But he vented his anger on Jason Terry. He stuck to Terry like glue; Terry found it difficult even to move off the ball... This shows how terrifying an angry Kobe is. He is one of the few people in NBA history who can make opponents collapse on both ends of the floor.

Jason Terry couldn't participate in the offense.

The Mavericks' perimeter lacked a key link. Jason Kidd drove inside the three-point line himself but was ruthlessly pressured by Fan Xi.

He had no choice but to pass the ball to Nowitzki.

Nowitzki played one-on-one against Pau Gasol; Gasol raised his level of focus to the maximum this time.

Nowitzki played stumblingly, sending the ball out with a fadeaway jump shot... Bang!

Clank.

Missed.

Tyson Chandler attempted to grab the offensive rebound but was firmly boxed out by Bynum. Fan Xi cut in from the middle, leaped up, and secured the rebound.

This was another tacit understanding between him and Bynum.

As a point guard, Fan Xi grabbed the rebound at the first opportunity, effectively reducing the intermediate passing links and playing a productive role in pushing the counterattack. (Peak Westbrook was often criticized for stat-padding rebounds, but in reality, it was the Thunder's tactic at the time to let Westbrook grab rebounds to speed up the counterattack rhythm.)

Fan Xi arrived at the frontcourt quickly.

Although the Mavericks followed up actively and quickly, for this group of old men, increasing the pace meant accelerating the rate of physical exhaustion.

They didn't like this style of play.

Yet Fan Xi was deliberately creating it.

After quickly dribbling across half-court and running the Mavericks players in a circle, he stabilized the rhythm and passed the ball to Kobe. Kobe played one-on-one on the strong side, while he wandered back to the weak side.

The game returned to a set-offense mode.

The Mavericks head coach cursed on the sidelines; he sensed Fan Xi's "malicious intent"—this was treating the Mavericks' old men like dogs.

But, cursing aside, no matter how hard he cursed, there was nothing he could do.

Kobe played one-on-one on the strong side, drove into the free-throw line to attract a double-team, and quickly passed to Fan Xi. Fan Xi received the ball and continued to attack; the Mavericks had no choice but to continue collapsing their defense.

However, before Fan Xi drilled into their defensive pocket, he quickly threw the ball toward the paint.

Bynum leaped high, grabbed the ball with both hands, and slammed it into the rim... Boom!

Lakers scored 2 more points.

Another collaboration between Fan Xi and Bynum.

This time, Fan Xi essentially fed the ball into Bynum's mouth.

Bynum had just reached the open spot when Fan Xi's ball arrived, very comfortably, so Bynum performed a long-lost alley-oop.

The Mavericks' rim was hit by their aerial attacks one after another.

Their coaching staff scratched their heads one by one.

This was too difficult.

Kobe was already hard to deal with, Gasol was also an All-Star player, plus a white shooter Deng Liwei outside the three-point line to space the floor. Now, Jack Fan seemed to have formed a connection with Bynum again.

This... where should they start?

The Lakers suddenly became a seamless steel egg.

Kenny Smith exclaimed on TV: "Why do I feel like the current trend is the exact opposite of what was said before the game? Although Kobe and Bynum are indeed having conflicts and they look very incompatible, when did Jack become so in sync with Bynum?"

"Jack Fan and Bynum joining forces has an even better effect on the Lakers than Kobe and Bynum working together."

Kenny Smith's statement made Barkley agree.

However, Barkley made a shocking remark that startled the Lakers fans in front of the TV: "Jack and Bynum are suddenly so intimate; are they trying to marginalize Kobe? With the two of them joining forces, it's very easy to make Kobe tactically marginalized."

Hmm?

Kenny Smith frowned.

He hadn't thought in that direction before.

Previously, he had been thinking that Fan Xi and Bynum were like fire and water, and then Bynum had a conflict with Kobe; he felt that if Fan Xi and Kobe worked together in this game, it wasn't impossible to defeat the Mavericks.

But now, Fan Xi and Bynum were suddenly working together.

This completely confused him.

When Charles Barkley worriedly suggested that Kobe would be marginalized, he immediately woke up... Yes, doing this really could marginalize the Lakers' strongest offensive weapon.

As Charles Barkley discussed this issue as a bystander, Nowitzki assisted Stojakovic in hitting a 3-pointer, the two white players stabilizing the situation for the Mavericks.

Switching sides to fight again, Fan Xi still gave the ball to Kobe to handle first.

Kobe dismantled Jason Terry's defense like a master butcher, drove into the paint, and passed the ball to Gasol. Gasol attempted a floater... but was disrupted and missed.

Bynum swatted the ball away from the side.

Fan Xi quickly grabbed the ball and immediately passed it straight into the paint again.

Bynum received the ball; before Chandler could react, he had already jumped for a violent dunk!

Fan Xi's pass was unexpected, and Bynum's reaction was swift and timely.

The two executed a beautiful time difference.

Causing the Dallas Mavericks' defense to fail from the inside out.

More importantly, the tacit understanding of their cooperation actually exceeded that of Kobe and Pau Gasol in this round.

Lao Wente frowned on the sidelines.

This was originally a happy thing, but he said to Phil Jackson: "Won't Kobe be furious?"

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