Chapter 282: Arrogance exposed, you

Seeing Fan Xi fall heavily to the ground, the head referee hurriedly called a timeout after Butler scored.

At the same time, Leonard and DeAndre Jordan rushed over, anxiously asking Fan Xi if he was alright.

Fan Xi's face was full of smiles; he shook his head, though his head still ached a little.

But his heart was filled with joy.

Because the teammate he had just activated was: Steve Nash.

He had obtained the thing he had dreamed of: all of Steve Nash's experience and techniques for "inside-to-inside" and "inside-to-outside" passing within the paint. His court vision had become three-dimensional and expansive.

Previously, the Lakers had applied the "Jordan Rules" to him, which restricted Fan Xi's ability to initiate and finish on the offensive end.

It had bound Fan Xi up, as if he were shrouded in an invisible, massive net.

But now, as Fan Xi gained Steve Nash's passing ability, he truly possessed the most important talent of a top-tier point guard... even if it was only a portion of Nash's talent.

It was enough!

Fan Xi on the offensive end was already a weapon that could tear apart defenses; previously, over 67% of his offensive finishes were completed within 3 feet of the basket. Now, with his MVP-level passing skills in the paint, his lethality would reach a terrifying level.

It was equivalent to Iverson's finishing in the paint combined with Steve Nash's passing in the paint.

Fan Xi would completely unleash the offensive talents of Butler, Leonard, and even DeAndre Jordan and Kwame Brown, creating easy opportunities for them to attack the rim.

Instead of letting them exhaust all their strength, or even risk their lives, to fight for opportunities.

Beep!

Mike Brown helplessly requested a timeout over there, even though the point gap was narrowing.

However, he was truly feeling a bit desperate now.

He worried that if the players kept playing this hard, injuries would occur; he had always been a head coach who cared deeply about his players' physical condition.

"Jack, I don't think there's any need to keep fighting like this. At the end of the day, this is just one game. The Lakers have a roster advantage; if they win, let them win. We are still young, we have plenty of opportunities. Doesn't your country have an old saying: 'A gentleman takes his revenge, ten years is not too late'?"

Seeing Fan Xi come over, Mike Brown hurriedly pulled him aside, persuading him with genuine sincerity.

He didn't want the team to keep playing like this.

In his view, this was an asymmetrical war; the Lakers were relying on superstars holding machine guns to strafe the Clippers, while the Clippers had at most Mauser pistols. Although the Clippers were playing heroically and showing a fearless attitude, Mike Brown was truly afraid of permanent injury.

However, Fan Xi's face was full of smiles; he was very relaxed now.

He looked up at the scoreboard and said, "It's only a 7-point difference now; the probability of winning is very high."

"Mike, I can't wait ten years. However, we could let the Lakers be the 'gentleman' and let them ponder every day what 'ten years is not too late' means."

Fan Xi patted Brown on the shoulder, carrying a strong spirit of optimism.

Mike Brown was deeply moved; the optimism Fan Xi showed at this moment was, in his view, a kind of romance that transcended the spirit of competition.

Brown had worked with LeBron James for many years; he used to think that the pinnacle of a player was the James type. But now, he knew that Fan Xi was the pinnacle of an athlete.

"But, I'm worried about you getting hurt. If you suffer an injury, that would be our greatest loss," Mike Brown said with immense worry.

Fan Xi smiled again.

He raised his eyebrows, said nothing, and just patted Mike Brown on the shoulder.

Then, he turned around and said to his teammates, "Next, let's win this game together. Merry Christmas."

Fan Xi displayed unprecedented relaxation and confidence.

He knew that the game had undergone a fundamental change.

"There is no suspense left."

Bill Simmons stated flatly on television: "The Clippers have reached a dead end; every second from here on out will be the Lakers' devastation of the Clippers. If I were a Clippers fan, I would turn off the TV right now and happily go welcome my Christmas gifts."

"So as not to ruin the good mood of the entire Christmas holiday."

Bill Simmons even offered advice to the Clippers fans in front of their TVs.

Frankly speaking, there were indeed many Clippers fans in front of their TVs who accepted his advice.

Because, judging by the game situation, the Clippers had truly reached the end of their rope; the Clippers needed to exhaust all their strength, even adopting the posture of a trapped beast, just to catch up by a point or two.

And because of their gorgeous superstar roster, the Lakers were playing more and more easily.

The camera cut to behind the Lakers bench, where Jean Bas was already laughing until she leaned back and forth; she showed the laughter of a winner.

Magic Johnson, sitting next to her, was a bit more reserved, but it was clear that he was also enjoying the success of the moment.

And on the Lakers bench, Dwight Howard was actually exaggeratingly imitating the scene of Fan Xi falling down.

Chris Paul was even pretending to perform chest compressions on him... he was probably imitating Scarlett or Taylor Swift.

It was quite humorous.

This scene made the Clippers fans, Fan Xi fans, and Asian fans in front of their TVs... feel very uncomfortable.

This was frivolous mockery.

This was serious provocation.

Everyone felt a fire burning in their hearts; they hoped that Fan Xi could truly, truly create a miracle again, stepping all these smug faces under his feet, mixing them into a pile with dirty, foul-smelling garbage, and flushing them into the sewer.

Beep!

The whistle blew, and the game began.

Fan Xi didn't rest; he still took the court with Butler, Leonard, Kwame Brown, and DeAndre Jordan.

But at this moment, their expressions were completely different.

Their mentality had also become more confident.

Because Fan Xi told them he would put the victory in their pockets.

Some of them didn't believe in God, but no one didn't believe in Fan Xi.

Santa Claus's gifts might be fictional, but the Duke's Merry Christmas was definitely real.

The Lakers didn't make any adjustments either; they remained with this lineup.

They wore relaxed and comfortable smiles on their faces.

Although Fan Xi had stolen the ball from Paul in the previous possession, Saint Paul didn't mind at all; he knew that tonight was enough to drive Fan Xi into the mud, from which point on he would no longer be worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as him.

Paul had already recorded 18 points, 13 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks tonight. Although his stats were a cut below Fan Xi's, but... victory was the most important chip.

Moreover, his assist count was 2 higher than Fan Xi's.

For a point guard, assists were more important than scoring.

After tonight, Chris Paul had enough confidence to declare to the whole world: What kind of point guard is Jack Fan?

He brought the ball to the frontcourt, skillfully suppressing the tempo; time was on the Lakers' side.

Subsequently, he passed the basketball out to Kobe Bryant, who was positioning himself on the strong side.

Kobe received the ball and played back-to-the-basket against Leonard.

Leonard followed his rhythm step by step, and, at the moment Kobe turned around, he made an extremely clever judgment; his astonishingly long arms swatted at Kobe's basketball, although he didn't knock it away.

Kobe's rhythm was disrupted.

Kobe could only pause; he looked at his teammates around him, trying to pass, but found that the paint was already blocked by Kwame Brown and DeAndre Jordan like an iron chain across the river.

Although Chris Paul was wandering on one side, he didn't dare to pass it out.

In the end, he chose to force a fadeaway shot, but there was no room left to jump.

Leonard exerted great interference on him.

Bang!

The basketball hit the rim.

Fan Xi rushed into the paint; Kwame Brown and DeAndre Jordan had already cleared the space for him, and he leaped up to easily grab the rebound.

"Fast break!"

The Duke of Los Angeles shouted, and the four Clippers youngsters rushed toward the frontcourt like arrows released from a bowstring.

The Lakers hurriedly retreated.

Their retreat speed was very fast.

However, after Fan Xi changed direction at the top of the three-point arc to trick Paul, he cut straight into the paint. Howard hurriedly came over to help defend again, but Fan Xi reached the basket, suddenly stopped, and made an upward shooting motion with his body; Howard subconsciously took flight.

But Fan Xi only lifted his body, while the basketball was backhanded by Fan Xi... fiercely slammed into the ground, rebounding strongly.

Immediately, Jimmy Butler arrived on the scene; he leaped at the perfect moment to catch the basketball and then slammed it fiercely toward the rim.

As Jimmy Butler flew through the air, Howard was being pulled downward by gravity; he couldn't possibly exert force to jump a second time in the air... unless he knew the Wudang Ladder Cloud Jump from Chinese Kung Fu.

Poof!

Butler had already collided with Howard's upper body, his left hand pressing down hard, landing right on Howard's head, causing Howard to subconsciously shrink into his neck... Boom!

The basketball blew up the rim.

It formed a sharp contrast with Howard's turtle-shrinking posture.

This was the third time Howard had been dunked on in this game.

Each time was more embarrassing than the last.

At the start, he was dunked on head-on by Fan Xi.

Then he was dunked on head-on by the "bust" Kwame.

Now he was dunked on into a shrinking turtle by Butler.

"What kind of bullshit first center is this?"

Butler roared loudly at Howard after landing.

Releasing his mockery to the extreme.

Howard was so angry and embarrassed that he pushed Butler forward; Butler performed a "flopping" art on the spot, staggering back five or six steps.

Kwame Brown, standing nearby, made a move to rush up and give Howard a couple of hits.

The head referee hurriedly intervened.

He blew his whistle, without hesitation, and Howard received a technical foul.

The first center's first game with the Lakers ended right there, leaving the court with a humiliating, pathetic, and incompetent image.

He received two technical fouls.

He didn't even wait to receive his sixth foul.

In this game, he recorded 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 1 steal, but at the same time, he was dunked on 3 times, received 2 technical fouls, and 5 personal fouls.

Very comprehensive.

Very embarrassing.

It formed a sharp contrast with his big talk before the game.

However, the Lakers fans still gave him applause.

Thinking he performed quite well.

D'Antoni hurriedly subbed Murphy onto the court.

The point gap narrowed further.

However, the Lakers still didn't feel the water surface becoming cold.

They still believed they could easily handle the Clippers.

Jean Bas even said with disdain: "They only know how to play these despicable tricks."

However, Magic, sitting beside her, could no longer feel a shred of joy. He looked up, watching the replay of that goal; the more he watched, the more nervous his heart became, and his pupils turned fearful.

A fearful conjecture formed in his mind: Damn it, could Jack actually pass the ball?

This ball was too spiritual.

It was a passing technique he had never seen in his career; in the past, his passes were at most short, flat, and fast, but this ball blended fast break, paint, bounce pass, no-look pass, and alley-oop.

The strangeness and agility presented by this pass were of historical top-tier quality.

On this court, he believed only Nash could make such a pass.

Looking at the entire league, perhaps only two or three people would dare to do this in a flash of inspiration.

"Hope... this was just a stroke of genius Jack made randomly when pushed to the edge."

Magic Johnson murmured silently.

Changing sides to fight again.

Chris Paul and Pau Gasol ran a pick-and-roll; he killed into the paint, but when he went for a floater, he was frantically swatted out by DeAndre Jordan, Bang!

The basketball hit the rim.

Kwame Brown leaped up, overpowering the white player Murphy to grab the rebound, and fiercely raised his elbows, letting out a roar.

Looking every bit like a beast in the paint.

This was Kwame Brown's 13th rebound of the night.

He undoubtedly played beyond expectations tonight; at least tonight, no one dared to call him a "bust" number one pick.

If he was, Howard wasn't far off.

Kwame Brown passed the basketball to Fan Xi.

Fan Xi brought the ball forward; when he reached the three-point line, Kwame Brown came up to set a screen. At this moment, Paul took a step back, committing a fatal mistake.

Although Fan Xi's jump shot while holding the ball wasn't steady yet.

However, his open shot was accurate as hell.

Once Paul retreated, he jumped up and shot... without even looking... Swish!

Three-pointer hit.

The point gap instantly narrowed to 2 points.

The momentum of the Clippers fans at Staples suddenly rose, and as Fan Xi coldly raised three fingers on the court, making a strategic "OK."

Everyone knew the Duke was going to go berserk.

"At the critical moment, the eternal God!"

Robert Jr. roared loudly in the stands.

Like all the excited Clippers fans, he wanted to prove to his father: stop looking down on people, don't think you're always right, don't think that following the rules will lead to success. Screw your success; what I've always wanted is a wonderful life, not sitting in a cubicle drinking coffee and enjoying so-called flattery.

His father looked at his roaring son, then looked at Jack Fan, who had hit the three-pointer and raised three fingers but had a calm expression.

He suddenly thought of Fan Xi's previous fall, the desperate, life-risking charges one after another.

"Perhaps, I misunderstood my son. What he is obsessed with is not a fairy tale of reaching the sky in one step; what he wants is a life of chasing himself and transcending authority."

Old Robert muttered to himself.

He was very moved.

Although, he was a Lakers fan.

Beep!

The Lakers had to request a timeout; D'Antoni felt unprecedented panic, watching the great situation be crushed in the blink of an eye.

Panic also appeared on Jean Bas's face; she had seen how fierce Fan Xi could be in his crazy state, and at that time, she had cheered for Fan Xi's miracles.

Now, there was only fear in her heart.

And just at this moment, a finger pointed straight at her.

She subconsciously looked over; Fan Xi's face was as cold as a killer's.

Then, she clearly saw Fan Xi's lip-reading: "You're finished!"

Fan Xi was like God, judging from high above,

Arrogance exposed.

Jean Bas trembled all over; if not for the back of the chair, she would have fallen down.

And at this moment, the whole world saw Fan Xi's action and Jean Bas's panic.

Because the camera was not only broadcasting across the US, but also globally.

This was the first intersection between Fan Xi and Jean Bas tonight.