Chapter 463: Surpassing Jordan Is No Dream

"Come on! Make this shot."

Kobe's fury, tempered by time, has faded; he rarely lashes out at teammates on the court now. The teammates who follow him say he's become more easygoing.

When Kobe was defending, he instinctively glanced at the replay on the overhead screen, which clearly showed that before Fan Xi's drive, he had already signaled with a hand gesture, Huaiti Seda and Mili Xiqi set a crossing screen, Huo Huade foolishly ran to help guard Fan Xi, but in fact missed everything… Mili Xiqi blocked Gassol.

It looks like a simple tactic.

But the mastery of timing and tacit understanding reaches a level the Lakers can only dream of.

Perhaps Kevin Durant is right; the Lakers only appear impressive.

Kuaisuan achieving 76 wins and making history isn't just luck as the media claim. Their attention to detail is just that precise.

Jie Ke has always been renowned for his bizarre tactics.

In reality, Kobe knows that Fan Xi's true strength lies in his control of details… Though he constantly performs miracle‑like upsets, like when he was still with the Lakers, all the Lakers' starters were injured, yet he still led the team to defeat the Three Giants. Some call that a miracle, a classic underdog victory. But Kobe knows Fan Xi cleverly seizes local advantages to dismantle the Heat's overall superiority.

Just like this time.

Fan Xi's drive is a local advantage, and Mili Xiqi's and Huaiti Seda's alert mutual screens are also local advantages.

The Lakers have high talent and strong defense.

Yet they can't stop it.

Chris Paul dribbles quickly to the frontcourt, and he and Gassol execute a high‑pick‑and‑roll, using Gassol's body as a screen; he bursts forward. Paul's style differs from Fan Xi's; Paul is more traditional, preferring to coordinate with teammates. Rather than tearing the defense single‑handed like Fan Xi, he likes to shift the opponent's defense and launch attacks amid the movement.

That style of play is smart.

Kobe Bryant quickly breaks free from Deng Taiqiongsi's defense; per the set play, he receives Paul's pass and continues driving inward, drawing the opponent's defense.

But at that moment, Kuaisuan maintains an immovable steadiness.

Kobe stops abruptly, shoots… Swish!

It lands cleanly.

After the basket, Kobe's gaze shifts to Fan Xi, his expression angry, a sign of contempt. He stares at Fan Xi: "Are you sure you want to defend me this way?"

"Isn't this exactly what you've always wanted? Kobe, you've always wanted to be Jordan. As your good friend, I suggest Coach Maikelbang apply the Jordan Rule to you."

Fan Xi spreads his palm.

As Kobe's good friend, he always manages to anger Kobe.

Kobe bites his teeth, swearing that Fan Xi will pay for his slick talk.

But, back to half‑court.

Fan Xi breaks through Sheng Baoluo's defense again… Sheng Baoluo is hailed as a league‑wide elite two‑way point guard, once selected to the First Defensive Team. Yet against Fan Xi he's useless; Fan Xi passes him like a morning road.

Fan Xi's ball‑handling is more refined than Paul's, his dribble's center of gravity is extremely low and highly varied; his physical condition now even surpasses Paul's, and most importantly… Fan Xi's height and weight dwarf Paul's by a tier.

This leaves Paul with no way to block him.

Fan Xi pierces the defense, sprinting straight to the paint.

The Lakers have sufficient defensive judgment for this set; it's the play they rehearse most in scrimmages.

Kobe quickly switches defense, aiming to catch Fan Xi off guard.

But just as Kobe silently follows, Fan Xi suddenly stops, executing a Stop-and-Go Jump Shot.

Kobe knows it may be a fake, yet he can't help his balance; he darts forward, getting to Fan Xi's side.

Kobe is just exposed.

Fan Xi's ball is immediately passed to the corner.

Deng Taiqiongsi sprints over, receives the ball and shoots.

Ron Artest's poor lateral movement fails to block.

Swish!

Three‑point shot scores.

A sense of helplessness wells up inside Kobe.

Fan Xi's two consecutive assists happen right under Kobe's nose.

And the moves used differ little.

This time, after slipping past Paul, he draws Kobe to help defend. Deng Taiqiongsi and Jimmy Butler set a crossing screen; the Lakers' defensive rotation is slow, Fan Xi seizes the fleeting chance, passes to the corner, creating an open shot.

That's Fan Xi's individual skill and his extraordinary tactical control.

Kobe often marvels: how is this guy's brain built, how can he anticipate ahead?

In Kobe's mind, Fan Xi is already the highest‑IQ player on the court.

Facing a guy like this requires total focus and effort; any hint of slackness would cause disastrous results.

Turning back, Kobe goes one‑on‑one with Deng Taiqiongsi.

Deng Taiqiongsi is a tough defender, yet Kobe dispatches him easily, shaking his left shoulder, turning right, then stepping back and leaning, completing a mid‑range jump shot with fluid grace.

"I don't believe you'd keep letting me go one‑on‑one like this."

After the basket, Kobe firmly says to Fan Xi.

Then he sees Fan Xi's gentle, steadfast smile. Fan Xi tells him: "Stop the nonsense, Kobe. Jimmy, Kawhi and the rest are waiting for you."

He's a scoundrel.

Kobe curses inwardly.

Kuaisuan indeed has natural soil for the 'Jordan Rule'; they possess three distinctly styled perimeter defenders: Deng Taiqiongsi, Leonard, and Butler. Though Kobe doesn't believe a 'Kobe Terminator' exists, rotating to guard these three is truly a tricky task.

Kobe isn't directly matched with Fan Xi, but he watches Fan Xi calmly execute another drive; this time he penetrates deep into the paint, jumps, and in the air achieves a perfect stretch, his aerial glide both elegant and sustained.

It's what Kobe has long dreamed of—he's always wanted to hang in the air like Jordan. Lacking that talent, he never expected Fan Xi's aerial ability to be so formidable; Fan Xi calmly weaves past Huo Huade's defensive coverage, pulls back and drops the ball into the hoop.

Kobe hasn't seen this type of player in ages; he begins to realize Fan Xi is ruling the league with his unique methods.

Even though Kobe is confident he can punish Fan Xi in any one‑on‑one, now he must acknowledge a new fact: Jie Ke's dominance over the game has already surpassed his, and this is still the early stage of his glorious career.

Kobe begins to believe Fan Xi can reach the goal he once imagined but never achieved: surpassing Jordan.

Returning to halftime, Kobe sprinted, drawing the defense, he created space for Paul; Paul and Gasol combined, Gasol easily shook off Huaiti Seda's defense, and he finished with a left-handed layup.

This is the Lakers' talent.

At this moment, besides Fan Xi, there was also Butler. The Lakers' talent at the three jump-shot positions far surpassed the Clippers', and even at point guard and small forward, it wasn't a Lakers' weakness, merely because Fan Xi was too strong.

Looking back, Fan Xi raised the tempo, he led the team in a sprint, Kobe was amazed at his tempo shifts in the game, even more amazed at the chemistry between the Clippers players and Fan Xi.

It was like a vibrator instantly shifting from first to fifth gear.

Only the person who was shaken knows.

The Lakers are that person who was shaken.

Kobe, with great experience, kept up with Fan Xi; he tried to lock down Fan Xi as the offensive initiator, but before Fan Xi even entered the three-point line's radiation range, he had already passed the ball, he passed it to Mili Xiqi, Mili Xiqi dribbled toward the paint, and as Howard flew in, he tossed the ball to the side where Butler was, Butler made a quick cut and finished with a dunk.

This made Kobe feel very frustrated.

Obviously, aside from Fan Xi, the Clippers are just a bunch of players around seventy points; why do they together exhaust the Lakers' eighty- to ninety-point players and still can't defend?

The Lakers strengthened their offense.

Paul fearlessly drove into the paint; although he rarely shoots near the basket, this time he charged into Mili Xiqi's defense like carrying a sack of explosives, and Mili Xiqi drew a foul.

The Lakers' offensive tempo underwent some subtle changes.

Afterward, Paul indeed increased his personal impact, Paul and Gasol also became tenacious, and with Kobe continuously outputting on the wing, the Lakers' offensive momentum was strong.

On defense, they also executed well; it can be said they strictly carried out Larri Brown's tactics.

But the effect wasn't very good.

After the first quarter, the Lakers led 27–25 by 2 points.

Kobe returned to the bench, his breathing somewhat uneven. In the first half of the quarter, Deng Ty Jones clung to him like a mad dog; in the second half, Leonard frenziedly tangled with him. The toll on his stamina was huge.

He took the towel handed by the ball boy, wiped his forehead sweat haphazardly, glanced at the big screen above. He saw Fan Xi's first-quarter stats: 5 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal.

Almost every offensive play involved him; he controlled the game's tempo without showing off.

What made Kobe sad was that the Clippers didn't even put Nowitzki on the court in the first quarter.

He had a Don Quixote–like feeling, but he was absolutely not pessimistic.

He faces any desperate situation with grit-clenched teeth and stubborn will, a trait cultivated since his childhood in Italy. But unlike his former self, now he is willing to believe in his teammates' strength.

Kobe also doesn't know when this change occurred, but he always can recall Fan Xi in the Lakers' championship season.

He thought… it should be the change Jie Ke brought him.

"We need to keep attacking in the second quarter. Based on my understanding of Jieke Fan, he will definitely change the lineup in the second quarter; he has already begun preparing for the finals. He is a smart person, and smart people always like to show off their intelligence. So we will take advantage of the gap when he changes the lineup and crush them in one fell swoop."

Kobe firmly presented his own idea when D'Antoni indicated he wanted to change the lineup.

In the end, the team chose to trust Kobe.

The second-quarter game started soon.

Sure enough, the Clippers changed to a new lineup: Rubio came on, Fan Xi returned to the two position, three was Leonard, four was Nowitzki, five was little Jordan.

Actually, this should have been the Clippers' starting lineup.

Kobe entered the game, saw Fan Xi walking toward him, and gave him a cold glance.

But he saw Fan Xi raise his eyebrows at him, smiling and saying: "Jackson will thank Uncle Jie Ke, because Uncle Jie Ke gave his dad an extra two weeks of vacation."

Kobe stared at Fan Xi and said sternly: "Don't feed me trash talk, Jie Ke; you know it won't affect me—I will destroy you."

"No, Kobe. I advise you not to say such things; you know better than I that the Lakers are beyond saving. Your team-building approach has been wrong from the start. Imagine if I were on your wing—would you need to fight this hard right now?"

Fan Xi is someone very good at talking.

Kobe had long known this, so he simply turned his head away and refused to chat with that guy.

At the same time, Paul quickly broke through Rubio's defense on the other end; then Kobe made a quick dash, trying to move in to support Paul, Fan Xi hurried to follow, but who knew that after Kobe launched, he immediately reversed course and ran out.

Fan Xi hurried to turn, but at that moment Paul passed the ball to the corner.

Kobe helped Artest block Leonard; Fan Xi wanted to provide help defense but it was already too late—Artest fired like an old machine gun, slow… swish!

It hit.

The Lakers scored 3 points.

"You've learned bad habits, Kobe."

Kobe turned his head, hearing Fan Xi speak to him.

"Just like you learned."

Kobe returned the remark to this little younger brother.

When he's on the court, he always says a lot.

Even if it's a life-and-death battle.

"But you can't change anything." Fan Xi chatted with Kobe while running back.

Kobe followed Fan Xi.

Suddenly Fan Xi made a sudden stop, Kobe also stopped abruptly, then Fan Xi darted quickly into the paint, and Kobe followed.

Just then, Rubio on the perimeter passed the ball to Nowitzki.

Nowitzki received the ball and shot from a high position… boom!

The German king's first shot tonight missed; Kobe hurried to box out Fan Xi. Fan Xi quickly turned, but by then Dwight Howard had already grabbed the rebound.

"Jie Ke, I know you too well—you've grown up under my watch." Kobe trashed-talked to Fan Xi.

The two teams' gap widened to 5 points, and the Lakers still had possession.

The Lakers fans at Staples Center grew increasingly excited.

They seemed to see hope of victory.

But afterward, Gasol's forceful single move, after shaking off Nowitzki, was disturbed by Leonard flying in, the layup clanged off the rim. Little Jordan grabbed the rebound and passed it to Fan Xi.

Kobe hurried to press up, but who would have thought that Fan Xi, with the ball unsteady, directly threw a behind-the-back dribble, getting past Kobe, and he surged forward with fierce acceleration.

Kobe chased hard, but his speed was no longer what it used to be… people grow old, and their legs age first.

Moreover, the cunning Fan Xi had already passed the ball as soon as he entered the three‑point line, and Nowitzki caught it beyond the arc and fired……swish!

It went in.

Kobe furrowed his brows, feeling upset, thinking that if it were his younger self he would surely have chased down that ball, and Fan Xi could not have created a fast‑break opportunity—the game's moments shift in an instant, and being off by a single step can put you several steps behind.

Kobe then held the ball and went one‑on‑one against Fan Xi, punishing him with his precise jumper.

Then he said to Fan Xi, "Little guy, dare you go head‑to‑head with me?"

He saw a flicker of excitement on Fan Xi's face, but this seasoned guy quickly calmed down, smiling as he said to Kobe, "Kobe, stop always thinking about going one‑on‑one with me. We're not the same type of player, Ke Huai, next you guard Kobe."

"Don't play tricks with me—I'm Zhongguo. If you want Jie Ke Xun to be smarter on the court, you have to let him learn from me."

Even after falling back, Fan Xi kept trash‑talking Kobe.

Kobe shook his head helplessly; he really couldn't use the goading tactic to lure Fan Xi into a trap.

Just as this guy said, he's as sly as a fox on the court.

He really hopes Jie Ke Xun will learn from Jieke Fan.

If my own basketball skills were combined with Jie Ke's basketball IQ, surpassing Jordan would definitely not be a dream.

…