score maniac

Chapter 43: A Massive Upheaval

A Landslide Victory! “A Come-From-Behind Victory! The Kings Rout the Bucks, Rookie Shines Brightly!” After the game between the Kings and the Bucks ended, some media outlets immediately ran headlines like this. We don’t know if Evans was thrilled, but there was one person who was absolutely ecstatic. “Hahahahahaha—!!!” In the T-Stage broadcast booth, laughter as loud as a barbell echoed through the room. “I told you so! I told you the NBA needs talent like this! Hahaha! When have my predictions ever been wrong??” A round, bald man sat in the center of the studio, his chubby hands spread wide as he reclined comfortably in an armchair. Leaning back slightly, he looked down on everyone with an air of superiority, his smug expression sweeping across the room. “Ahem… um…” Beside the fat man, another bald man—clearly much shorter—cleared his throat and said awkwardly, “Actually, your track record with predictions has been pretty dismal…” “No way!” The big guy immediately gave the shorter man a knuckle sandwich, his round eyes widening as he declared, “I’ve been playing basketball for so many years—apart from ‘that guy,’ I don’t take orders from anyone! When have my predictions ever been wrong? Huh??” “Charles, do you even know…” Kenny Smith couldn’t take it anymore. Rubbing his head, which was still sore from Barkley’s knuckle sandwich, he rolled his eyes and said, “Fans call you the Pelé of basketball!” “That’s right, the King of Basketball!” Barkley was quick to run with the analogy… “Pfft! You’re the King of Bad Predictions!” Smith spat. “You, man, you can’t see the big picture at all, yet you’re always spouting off with wild predictions. Ever since you became a commentator, when have you ever been right? Tell me yourself.” “I…” Hit where it hurt, Barkley’s face turned a bit sour. He paused for a moment, then decided to mask his embarrassment with anger: “I don’t care! Anyway, my prediction this time is definitely spot-on!” “Haha, all right, all right, you two clowns!” The host standing nearby couldn’t stand it anymore and shook his head with a laugh: “Charles, what did you just say? You said you believe ‘Slick’ can become the scoring champion??” “That’s right!” Barkley shook his round head and nodded solemnly. “In him, I see a killer instinct I haven’t seen in a long time! Only the very best… Chen is a truly versatile player with endless potential, but he has one fatal flaw: a lack of killer instinct!” Everyone still remembered those words, and even Kenny Smith—in a rare show of agreement—nodded in support of his friend’s assessment: “That’s right. It wasn’t just you who saw it that way; quite a few media reporters raised that point back then, too.” “From having no killer instinct to gradually finding his own killer instinct and entering an unstoppable scoring mode—how long did it take Chen?” Barkley continued, “Five years! It took Chen a full five years to find his killer instinct, and it was only after he figured out how to unleash it that he truly overcame his nemesis—the Los Angeles Lakers!” As is well known, Barkley had a love-hate relationship with Kobe. In the early stages of Kobe’s career, Barkley couldn’t stand this young man with the afro. But as Kobe’s career progressed, the legendary Sir Charles gradually came to recognize him as perhaps one of the most fearsome scorers in league history. In Barkley’s view, a true scorer needs the obsessive determination of players like Kobe and Jordan. In other words, it’s that killer instinct. “How many times—just how many times—have we witnessed Kobe and his Purple and Gold squad use that extreme, almost obsessive killer instinct to take down Chen and his Philadelphia 76ers?” Barkley’s gaze grew somewhat distant, as if he were lost in thought: “We watched Chen grow step by step. Even in the season he first scored 100 points, he still couldn’t get past the mountain that was Kobe. No matter how hard he tried, how much effort he put in, or how much he took on the entire game himself, he just couldn’t stop Kobe.” As he spoke, Barkley held up a single finger and said with a serious expression, “A pure scorer needs to be ‘unreasonable.’ And that ‘unreasonableness’ is often what takes down the ‘most reasonable’ players.” “Hmm… Although that’s a bit extreme, there’s some truth to what you’re saying,” Smith mused for a moment before nodding. “All-around stars like Chen and Le Bron, with their extraordinary skills, can run away with the regular season and charge forward unstoppable. But when it comes to crucial playoff games, if they can’t bring that kind of historic, top-tier killer instinct, it’s indeed very difficult for them to truly reach the pinnacle.” “Exactly!” Barkley said. “Even Duncan, who’s known for his fundamentals and consistency, has that killer instinct in clutch moments. That near-quadruple-double against the Nets in the 2003 Finals, that three-pointer against the Suns in the 2005 playoffs, the way he single-handedly dominated Dan Pier Diop against the Mavericks in 2006—even though they lost in the end, but that was Manu’s fault—and that game-winning mid-range jumper in the 2007 Finals… That’s Duncan at his absolute best.” “And the reason he never managed to win back-to-back championships is precisely because he couldn’t maintain that killer instinct at all times. That’s the difference between a powerhouse and a dynasty, between a championship contender and a league champion. And this slick-haired guy…” Barkley suddenly turned around, pointed at Gu Yu—who was dominating the game on the screen—and his tone grew impassioned as he exclaimed excitedly, “He’s a natural-born killer!” “If that’s the case, I’d say Nick Young has killer instincts too—does that mean he could become the scoring champion as well?” Smith chuckled softly. “Don’t interrupt me! Anyway, anyway…” Barkley’s face flushed as he said, “Anyway, just you wait and see!” With a “click,” he turned off the TV, and Gu Yu suddenly felt a bit dazed. Leaning back comfortably against the bed, he stared at the small patch of ceiling above him as a strange emotion welled up in his chest. “Is it just Barkley…?” He’d scoured every media outlet, combed through every forum, and searched Twitter to the point of exhaustion. Gu Yu never found a single other person who supported him. “Arrogant,” “low IQ,” “nonsense,” “overestimating his abilities”… That remark he made in the final moments of the game against the Bucks, as expected, caused a huge uproar. From the internet to television, from newspapers to radio, almost everyone expressed deep disdain for Gu Yu’s bold and boastful statement. Even though it was only his second Summer League game, Gu Yu scored 28 points in the final quarter and was temporarily ranked third in scoring on the Summer League leaderboard. But in the U. S. , there have been far too many instances of sharp-shooting players who were unstoppable in lower-tier leagues. People have grown accustomed to seeing those NCAA stars and European league dominators struggle to adapt to the NBA, only to leave the league in disgrace within a few years. People have long grown accustomed to the forlorn figures of players like **J. J. Redick, Adam Morrison, and Da Juan Wagner**. The fate of pure shooters in the NBA seems to be that of forever serving as backboards for the league’s physical behemoths. As a result, people no longer harbor any hope—not even the slightest. Will I, too, end up on this path…? “Even with this system…?” Raising his hands, Gu Yu studied the lines on his palms intently. With a system like this—and the miraculous ability to hit every shot—is there anyone in the world who can stop me…? The answer to this question was laid bare before Gu Yu three days later, during the final match of the Summer League. At the same time, another solution to this dilemma presented itself.