Chapter 22

"Sir, actually, you don't have to take care of me like this."

Fan Xi walked to Phil Jackson's side; he said to Phil Jackson in a gentle and sincere tone, his expression full of gratitude.

This made everyone around feel puzzled; everyone thought Phil Jackson was deliberately targeting Fan Xi... otherwise, why would he sub in three point guards in a row, and only let him play at the end.

Phil Jackson didn't say much; he was not a head coach who liked to explain.

He said to Fan Xi: "Do you have the confidence to deal with John Wall? I won't arrange for Pau Gasol to play with you."

Gasol was not playing.

The bench was in an uproar; after all, it was Gasol who held things up in the first quarter today. If Gasol wasn't playing anymore, who would the Lakers take as the core? Could Fan support the Lakers?

Everyone felt Phil Jackson was deliberately creating problems for Fan Xi.

This was setting him up.

Fan Xi accepted it very calmly.

Phil Jackson arranged for him to have Derek Fisher, Matt Barnes, Luke Walton, and Lamar Odom as partners.

This was a relatively small lineup.

Phil Jackson's tactical requirement was: run, and give the ball to Fan.

This was a great deal of freedom.

He let Fan Xi exert his own strengths.

This was a kind of deep love.

Phil Jackson could be said to have taken great pains.

The Zen Master had done in-depth research on Fan Xi; he knew Fan Xi was fast, had passing ability, and had a foundation in shooting. This kind of ability was very suitable for playing in a fast-paced rhythm.

Therefore, he deliberately paired Fan Xi with such a lineup so that Fan Xi could perform.

And before this, he also let the other three point guards pave the way for him, using their "clumsiness" against John Wall to set off Fan Xi. Next, as long as Fan Xi had an eye-catching performance, he would be secure.

It's just that the Zen Master took great pains but didn't know that Fan Xi was no longer the same person he was before; he now looked forward more to the fighting in positional warfare, because his explosive power was now at the level of peak Shawn Kemp.

What is explosive power? Explosive power is the instantaneous burst within a square inch.

It is in the meticulous positional warfare that energy is best reflected.

And for Fan Xi, he wasn't doing it to show off himself; although the "accompanying the prince to study" lineup Phil Jackson arranged was to help him, Fan Xi hoped more to defeat the Wizards, rather than highlight himself.

Victory is the most important thing.

However, this is also fine.

Only when the sea is in turmoil can the true character of a hero be revealed.

Beep!

The whistle blew, and the second quarter began.

When Fan Xi finally stepped onto the court, the on-site audience immediately became noisy; they were finally going to see Fan Xi play.

However, at this time, John Wall remained on the bench.

The substitute player subbed in was Kirk Hinrich.

Kirk Hinrich was a point guard traded this season; he was a representative player of the '03 generation. His style was known for being steady, and his defense was also relatively tough. Before Derek Rose entered the league, he had always been the locker room leader of the Bulls, once leading a group of elite soldiers and fierce generals like Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Nocioni to defeat the defending champion Miami Heat in the playoffs.

At that time, his physical quality and court awareness were at his professional peak, and he once had the title of "Wade Killer." Because he could limit the Flash Wade, who had extremely amazing explosive power and speed.

When Phil Jackson saw Kirk Hinrich on the court, his brows wrinkled slightly; he was slightly worried.

Barnes passed the basketball to Fan Xi; he said to this little brother he felt a connection with: Relax, don't be too tense.

Fan Xi smiled.

He held the ball to the frontcourt, and Hinrich quickly defended him.

His physical quality had declined significantly due to age and injury, but his defensive experience remained. When he stood beside Fan Xi, Fan Xi felt great pressure.

Fan Xi carefully sorted things out; he slowly dribbled the basketball in front of him, changing direction in small increments back and forth to test the reality of the defense.

Hinrich didn't fall for it; he didn't bite on the fakes.

At this time, Fan Xi started first; he quickly rushed to Hinrich's left side. At this time, he hadn't released all his explosive power, only about seventy percent.

But this move was already enough to make Hinrich dizzy; he had a very strange feeling: he even felt the shadow of the Flash Wade from back then.

He hurriedly stepped to follow... if it were him at his physical peak, perhaps he could have blocked Fan Xi's pace.

But at this time, he was already half a beat slow.

At the same time, Fan Xi suddenly took a second step forward; this time, he used eighty percent of his explosive power.

The second step was faster than the first.

In order not to be completely shaken off, Hinrich could only put all his center of gravity forward, following without reservation. At the same time, as an experienced player, he was also prepared for a change of direction... because back then, Wade often changed direction at high speed.

However, as Fan Xi felt Hinrich's center of gravity lunging forward, he immediately stopped abruptly and fiercely took a step back... In this step, he used one hundred percent of his explosive power, like a thunderbolt sweeping through. Between advancing and retreating, he was already about one and a half meters away from Hinrich.

Fan Xi jumped directly to shoot... Hinrich went to block, but it was already too late; he couldn't overcome inertia, and he had no strength to jump to block.

He could only watch helplessly as Fan Xi shot the basketball in an incomparably comfortable way.

He tilted his head back, watching the basketball draw a beautiful arc from the sky... Swish!

Hit.

Incomparably soft.

The head referee raised three fingers.

There was a sigh on the scene.

Kirk Hinrich's eyes looking at Fan Xi were filled with awe.

He originally thought Fan Xi was just a bubble blown up by the Los Angeles media; the reason he could defeat the Bulls was just because no one knew him.

However, the shot that killed him head-on just now made him feel infinite threat.

This little guy has something.

In terms of the sense of proportion between breakthroughs, he was not as good as Wade; details like agility, coordination, and dodging were all comprehensively behind.

However, Fan Xi's explosive power and speed surprised him; he saw the shadow of Wade.

Most importantly, Wade's step-back jump shot was not as firm as his, nor was his shooting percentage as high.

Kirk Hinrich had been fighting Wade since 2003; he had a very precise judgment of Wade's combat power.

This guy had at least eighty percent of the combat power of rookie Wade.

The Lakers had found a treasure.

At the same time Hinrich gave such a judgment, the CCTV broadcast room across the ocean was boiling.

The host almost jumped up.

"This is Fan Xi, this is Chinese power, power that cannot be suppressed, contributing as soon as he plays! Phil Jackson should clearly understand this point; only Fan Xi can save the Lakers!"

His voice was very imposing.

It also stirred up many viewers in front of the TV; similarly, some viewers felt disgusted.

As the saying goes, one fan is worth ten haters.

Sometimes overly exaggerated praise is actually a negative harm.

However, if Fan Xi could make this praise solid, it would become well-deserved appreciation.

Does Fan Xi have this strength?

Many sober domestic fans were actually questioning it; they had watched the games of too many superstars, and they instinctively didn't believe a yellow-skinned point guard could perform those exaggerated feats.

"Don't underestimate this little guy."

Arenas, sitting on the Wizards bench, said to John Wall: "His shooting level is very high, and he completely controlled Hinrich's defense just now; it's very remarkable."

John Wall seemed indifferent.

He felt that the shot just now was nothing remarkable; it was just a step-back jump shot.

This is the difference between a rookie and a veteran; rookies often can only see superficial things, while veterans can see through the essence.

Jack has become stronger!

The old fox Phil Jackson turned his head; he exchanged glances with Lao Wente.

They read the same thing in each other's eyes.

They smiled tacitly.

Fan Xi's progress was very important to them.

Bang!

The Wizards' rotation lineup was very bad; there was a reason they were at the bottom of the East... because of Arenas's huge contract, their salary space was severely locked, not allowing them to make gains in the free market.

Hinrich shot with difficulty under Fan Xi's defense, and then clanked it.

Odom grabbed the rebound, and he immediately passed to Fan Xi.

Fan Xi was fast as lightning, killing into the frontcourt like a flash; Hinrich failed to keep up with Fan Xi's pace. Their physically gifted McGee hurriedly came to help defend.

But Fan Xi used only a simple layup fake to trick him into jumping... leaving the middle wide open.

Fan Xi threw the basketball into the sky, Barnes attacked from the left, flew into the air, and smashed the basketball fiercely into the hoop.

A perfect alley-oop.

Crisp and violent.

Fan Xi played, and they chased back 5 points in a row.

Beep!

The Washington Wizards hurriedly requested a substitution.

John Wall couldn't hold back anymore; he hurriedly rushed up, wanting to have a good fight with this former loser.

He wanted to let him know: the protagonist is always the protagonist, and the supporting role is always the supporting role.

When in the NCAA, John Wall stepped on his reputation as a defensive expert to rise, eventually becoming the number one draft pick.

Now, Fan Xi had made a name for himself again. John Wall had long since calculated in his heart that if he could step on Fan Xi again this time, maybe he could defeat that holdover Steve Blake from the Los Angeles Clippers in the Rookie of the Year voting.

Along with John Wall, Yi Jianlian also entered the game.

Subbing in Yi Jianlian was naturally for the sake of the not-insignificant number of Chinese fans in the arena, as well as the vast Chinese market.

Tonight's game had the slogan "Chinese Derby."

Sure enough, Yi Jianlian's entry made the CCTV broadcast room excited again, and the viewers in front of the TV also became excited.

Ever since Yao Ming was injured and left the court, there hadn't been a decent Chinese Derby in the NBA.

Now that Fan Xi and Yi Jianlian were on the same stage, they finally got their wish.

Fan Xi and Yi Jianlian greeted each other in Chinese; although they didn't know each other at all before, in a foreign land, being able to have comrades of the same skin color was a precious thing.

Yi Jianlian also smiled at Fan Xi.

At this time, John Wall had already killed over aggressively.

When Wall stood in front of Fan Xi, the home arena immediately became excited. Many manic fans even stood up and shouted to fight and kill.

"Kill this Chinese Fan!"

"John, shake him down!"

"Super Wall, kill him!!"

"Roar roar! Make him pay the price!!"

"..."

This kind of sound was endless.

It was a common way of applying pressure in away games.

Lamar Odom and Matt Barnes both looked over with concern; they were worried that this little brother would be affected.

However, what they didn't expect was.

Fan Xi actually smiled and said to John Wall in a serious manner: "John. Your fans have high expectations for you; if you can't kill me, wouldn't it be very shameful?"

Fan Xi used a move of shifting the pressure, transferring the pressure of the scene to John Wall.

"I'm an undrafted player anyway; I have nothing to lose. You are the first pick!"

Fan Xi continued to talk trash.

These words hit the nail on the head; it was impossible for them not to affect Wall.

But Wall was very tough; he said: "I could beat you up before, and I can do it even more now. Getting past you is like walking on the street in the morning, exploding you is like cutting a knife into tofu..."

John Wall was just talking, but Fan Xi suddenly didn't play by the rules, stepping up directly to steal the ball.

John Wall was disturbed; he hurriedly stepped back and shifted direction.

But Fan Xi had already pressed up, not giving him space.

He hurriedly changed direction, thinking he could easily shake off Fan Xi.

But he didn't know that Fan Xi at this time was no longer what he used to be; his explosive power came from Shawn Kemp, the most violent power forward in history, and his speed came from the peak Allen Iverson, the only super small player in NBA history to beat contemporary shooting guards with speed.

Although Fan Xi's agility, coordination, and flexibility were still not as good as Wall's, it was enough to give Wall a hard time.

Wall's change of direction was blocked again.

He was a bit clumsy, falling into a quagmire.

Fan Xi kept trash-talking in his ear.

Pass the ball! Pass the ball! Pass the ball!

Like a monk chanting scriptures, John Wall was extremely annoyed.

He turned around directly, attempting to throw a super three-pointer.

Who knew, just at the moment he turned around, Fan Xi's left hand slashed out a hand knife... Pop!

The basketball was knocked down on the spot.

John Wall was suddenly a bit soul-less... a steal, he was actually stolen from.

He was caught off guard; he had never expected himself to be so embarrassed.

And at this time, Fan Xi was already holding the basketball that originally belonged to him, sweeping toward the frontcourt like lightning and wind.

When this scene of a one-on-one direct steal happened, the Lakers bench was stirred up; Lao Wente stood up tremblingly, clenching his fists and roaring for Fan Xi.

And countless Lakers fans in front of the TV, and countless Chinese fans across the ocean.

So satisfying!

Before this, everyone said Fan Xi couldn't do this, couldn't do that.

Everyone thought the new number one draft pick John Wall would kick Fan Xi's butt hard.

John Wall himself also arrogantly treated Fan Xi as a piece of fish meat for him to slaughter.

But now!

Steal!

Face-to-face steal!

One-on-one direct kill!

John Wall turned around, and the light boat had already passed ten thousand mountains.

Fan Xi rushed across half-court and into the three-point line.

Everyone was waiting for his violent dunk.

However, Fan Xi didn't do that, but rushed to the basket and paused for a moment.

Then he used the simplest layup to put the basketball in, and after scoring, he even caught the ball and placed it gently on the floor.

Fan Xi was very polite.

But at such a time, politeness was more hurtful than any arrogant move.

John Wall's eyes were about to split.

His teeth were chattering.

The home fans were sighing uncontrollably, followed by bursts of helpless boos.

But so what, Fan Xi had already raised his hands high and high-fived Matt Barnes who ran over.

His first confrontation with the new number one draft pick was a complete victory!

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