Chapter 333: Kobe Who Must Be Strong All His Life

128–101.

That was the final score, looking like a preseason game.

Thunder therefore ended their playoff run.

Although they had brilliant moments and beautiful displays of talent, their season has come to an end.

The oath‑bound Thunder rolled in with the wheels of history and then faded away.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both refused interviews; it's a fact they cannot accept. Neither thinks they are weaker than Fan Xi, but now Fan Xi is the victor.

Fan Xi entered the league later than both of them, yet he rose to fame after them.

When they first met Fan Xi, they felt a bit superior; Durant even gave Fan Xi a famous watch. But now they have to look up to Fan Xi.

"We will come back, I swear!"

Durant growled in the locker room.

This is the obsession of the youngest scoring champion in history; he never showed this before. Now Fan Xi has cornered him, and his competitive spirit is intensely awakened.

He wants to reclaim his glory.

After energizing the Lakers and the Heat, Fan Xi has also ignited the Thunder's core fighting spirit.

The NBA league is getting more exciting.

After swearing, Durant called his boss: "It's time to prepare for next season; we need to recruit in the summer. We can't continue like this. We can't miss the fight for the championship."

Durant's voice was loud.

The reporter, standing far away, recorded it.

Meanwhile, Fan Xi was chatting with Oklahoma media. "There's no issue between them; James and Russell are great players and will surely become league superstars. Their debate is limited to basketball tactics," he said.

Fan Xi answered the Oklahoma City reporter's most pressing internal‑conflict question: the series is already lost, and if the second and third brothers keep quarreling, it will be painful.

"We will spend two days celebrating this series victory, then focus on the next opponent. I don't know whether Dallas will advance or Memphis will pull off a comeback."

"What Gilbert said represents the team to some extent. But I don't think we're second in the Western; I think we're first in the Western, first in the whole league."

When Fan Xi finally answered the ESPN reporter's question, he told him firmly.

That sentence also made Kuaisuan's goal clear: the championship!

Although this is common knowledge, now it finally has Fan Xi's definitive seal.

After the interview, Fan Xi returned to the locker room, where a celebration ceremony awaited him.

Kuaisuan easily overcame the lower ranks, drawing ever nearer to the championship, and the team became a sea of joy.

Everyone is reveling in the excitement of advancing.

"Jie Ke, if we face the Mavericks, can we sweep them?" Gilbert suddenly asked Fan Xi loudly.

Fan Xi smiled and glanced at Nowitzki.

Nowitzki laughed heartily and said forcefully, "We must sweep them. You have no idea how much those guys have upset me. I need to show them that without me cleaning up after them, they can't function. And Mark, that boring guy—I can't wait to see the terrible expression on his face."

Nowitzki is a meticulous German who never jokes around on the team.

But when he does joke, it's still quite humorous, a dead‑pan humor.

You can't even tell if he's telling the truth.

Stephen Nash was the first to burst out laughing; he understands the German king best.

Sweep.

And so it was decided cheerfully.

Nowitzki even sent a text in front of everyone to Mark Kuban: "Sir, prepare for the sweeping broom. Love, your Dirk."

After the text was sent, Mark Kuban replied quickly with two lines, both profanity.

Gilbert Arenas, as Kuaisuan's media officer, also cursed at the post‑game press conference.

"Look, I told you so. No one can block our stride, not even God, damn it. Because we are the gods of the court, and we wield the divine whip to punish anyone who doesn't obey."

"See? Thunder is the example."

Arenas's rant drew a chorus of boos from the crowd.

If the law weren't here, he'd definitely get a good beating.

Arenas seems to have no idea how to rein it in.

He never had the notion of "leave a line for future encounters."

It's a double‑edged sword, but Kuaisuan needs such an unofficial spokesperson.

After Arenas arrived, Fan Xi relaxed a lot; someone bombarded the media for him and also siphoned off some firepower.

"We are already considering the opponent for the round after next!"

When Arenas said that, it was suddenly earth‑shattering.

The sentence instantly became the next day's basketball media headline.

No one in history has ever been so arrogant.

Although Tracy McGrady never joined Kuaisuan, his spirit arrived in Los Angeles, descending upon Arenas.

…

Fan Xi saw the media reports and was initially stunned, wondering if this was too arrogant.

But after thinking, Arenas's words were just a fact. So when General Manager Ku Pu Qie Ke called, he calmly said no further external explanation was needed.

Then Fan Xi received a call from Tai Lei Si Wu Fu Te, who told him that she had recorded all the crazy studio footage from that day and planned to add some of those samples to their duet song, assuring it would enhance the track's vibe.

Um…

Fan Xi felt uneasy, wondering if this was a bit too arrogant.

But he isn't a professional producer, so he chose to trust Tai and let her handle the production.

Anyway, most American pop songs are like that; when translated into Chinese they rarely pass domestic review, it's just that sort of thing.

Fan Xi only hopes she doesn't sample those weird sounds.

The Little Duke is essentially an Eastern person; he follows a restrained and conservative code of conduct.

Taylor said she believes in her sampling technique; she guarantees that people won't hear the breathing inside, she emphasizes that she only wants to sample the conversation in its ultimate state. I love you, me too.

Fan Xi heard such a conversation.

Indeed, in that situation, it is even more full of deep feeling.

From an artistic perspective, it is absolutely art.

…

The Mavericks and Grizzlies game is still ongoing; at the Grizzlies' home court in Memphis, Memphis won the fifth game, and they now lead 3:2.

Mark Gasol is clenching his fists, he solemnly declares: I will defend the community's honor.

The Mavericks also issued a pledge; Griffin, as the new leader of the Mavericks, gave a speech: Keep the victory in Dallas.

In the West, only they are still playing the first round.

Their delay gave the other three qualifying teams extra rest.

Fan Xi found Kobe Bryant; he drove to Kobe's mansion under the pretense of delivering wine.

Recently an Italian businessman, to get closer to Fan Xi, gave him a bottle of red wine. Fan Xi doesn't understand wine, but Kobe does, and he is half Italian.

So, Fan Xi went to Kobe's house under that pretense.

They hadn't exchanged three words before they went to the training hall to practice.

Fan Xi recently obtained Michael Jordan's stabilizing artifact; he is strengthening his ball-handling offense ability.

Who in the world has the best ball-handling offense ability? Kobe.

Kobe naturally knows Fan Xi's intention in coming over; they are still opponents, but he can't help it. As a fighting maniac, facing Fan Xi's boast 'I will 11:0 KO you,' he immediately took off his jacket.

The two went to the arena to play one-on-one.

11:3, 11:5, 11:6.

Kobe won three straight games.

When Fan Xi was eagerly preparing for the fourth game, Kobe refused to play.

He said to Fan Xi: 'I won't fall for your tricks again. You've been stealing my techniques.'

Fan Xi furrowed his brows: 'Is it that obvious?'

'Damn it.' Kobe then swore: 'Whatever way I attack, you attack the same way; is there a more obvious case of stealing learning?'

Um… it seems a bit blatant.

But Fan Xi firmly refuses to admit he is stealing from Kobe, emphasizing: 'These are all things I learned from watching Jordan's tapes; how could that be stealing? If I were stealing, you'd be about the same.'

Look, my back-down move is not as smooth as yours.

Saying this, Fan Xi performed a back-down one-on-one move, shaking his shoulders then a leaning-back jump shot.

The move is indeed smooth; Fan Xi's leaning-back jump shot technique is in the same lineage as Jordan's.

Under the standard of being more like Jordan, Fan Xi is indeed more like the authentic version than Kobe.

Kobe smirked dismissively: 'Your learning talent is so-so.'

He doesn't want to admit that, just like watching Jordan's tapes, Fan Xi learned better than he did.

But Fan Xi is now only superficially similar, while Kobe has already established his own system, integrating it with his own attack.

In offensive firepower, Fan Xi is far inferior to Kobe.

'Your recent shooting seems more accurate than before.' Kobe affirmed Fan Xi.

Fan Xi, 'shamelessly,' said: 'There are no shortcuts; it's all the result of hard training.'

Kobe raised his eyebrows, nodded, he likes hardworking people, because he himself is a hardworking person. He said: 'This is the meaning of your signing Arenas. His shooting training indeed has a system; he is an NBA player, one of only two who relied on postnatal effort to forge themselves into top shooters.'

Kobe's remark was praising Arenas, but in fact he was also praising himself.

Fan Xi, on the contrary, didn't ask 'who is the only one.' He said: 'Gilbert originally didn't advise me to come find you; he said you know all the moves I know, and also said you can't teach me anything.'

Who said that!!!

Kobe flew into a rage at that time.

He turned around and began correcting Fan Xi: 'Just now your back-turn leaning-back jump shot looked smooth, but it has at least five loopholes; you're just seeking superficial smoothness, making it easy to be limited.'

…