The longest river

Chapter 8 First Show of Strength
That night, the school's basketball gym, which can accommodate 3,000 people, was packed to capacity.

Despite the disappointing performance of Cleveland High School this season, it has not affected the support of local fans.

All of this is because campus basketball has a strong fan base; fans' children play here, or have played here before, or have played here themselves.

NBA teams often experience low attendance at their home games due to poor team performance, but this is rare in college basketball.

Looking at the densely packed audience in the stands, Yang Shuai, who was standing on such a big stage for the first time, couldn't help but feel a little restless.

Especially when they saw Rondo's family sitting in the center of the stands, they couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

If a game with 3,000 spectators is like this, I wonder what it will be like in an NBA game with 20,000 spectators. It's really something to look forward to.

During the opening ceremony, Posey's appearance was met with boos from the fans, a sign of respect from his city rivals.

Percy is a year younger than Luther, and like Yang Shuai, he is an eleventh-grader, but he is much more famous than Luther.

这赛季他场均能够轰下20.4分8.7篮板3.5助攻助攻3.8抢断1.8盖帽，钱柏林高中在他的带领下高居克利夫兰赛区第二。

He has already received offers from Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati.

Yang Shuai's gaze also lingered on Bosie.

As a genuine member of Generation Z, his knowledge of players from the early 00s was very limited, but he had indeed heard of Posey.

This is because when the Cavaliers won the championship in 2016, Posey was the Cavaliers' assistant coach, and he was featured on live television and introduced.

However, he had no idea what type of player Posey was during his playing days.

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both teams took to the field one after another.

As soon as the game started, the fans in the stadium began to cheer for their home team in unison, led by the DJ, instantly creating a high-energy atmosphere.

With the home advantage, Cleveland High School started strong, scoring a perfect 6-0 run and forcing Chamberlain High School to call a timeout.

If they continue playing at this pace, they are very likely to be able to avenge their previous defeat at home.

However, after the timeout, the situation on the court changed dramatically.

When Posey returned, he first broke into the Cleveland High School's paint with a drive, drawing fouls and scoring two points from the free-throw line to help the team stop the losing streak.

In the very next possession, he stole the ball from Luther on the perimeter and finished with a fast break dunk to help his team close the gap.

Meanwhile, at Cleveland High School, Luther's ball-handling offense was repeatedly thwarted, and the team's offense became extremely stagnant.

Yang Shuai's gaze was also drawn to Bosie.

He now understands why Luther was dunked on by Percy before, because Percy's talent is far superior to Luther's.

In an NSAA game, each quarter lasts 8 minutes. With 6 minutes remaining in this quarter, West City High School had already taken a 12-8 lead over Cleveland High School.

Posey scored 8 points by himself.

"Defend! Defend!"

Despite the unfavorable situation on the court, the DJ rallied the fans to continue cheering for the home team. Just then, Posey made a cut to the basket, received a pass from his teammate, and leaped into the air.

At this moment, only Luther was still in a defensive position. However, perhaps the familiar scene triggered his DNA, and he actually dodged the oncoming Percy!
"Oh!"

Posey completed a one-handed dunk and roared excitedly at the sidelines after landing.

A commotion erupted at the scene, and morale plummeted instantly.

It's not shameful to get dunked on in basketball; what's shameful is losing the courage to defend.

Johnson raised his hand to call a timeout.

He flew into a rage after the players came down, clearly very dissatisfied with the defensive play.

After finishing his rant, Johnson substituted Young for Luther.

"Negative energy from Mike Luther +58".

Luther didn't dare say anything to Johnson, so he could only vent his negative emotions on Yang Shuai.

When Yang Shuai entered the field, Lin Xiulan let out an excited shout, attracting curious glances from the surrounding fans.

It was at this moment that some fans noticed Luther had been substituted, and the person who replaced him was a tall, thin man with yellow skin.

They instantly understood why Lin Xiulan was cheering, but their reaction was not excitement, but confusion.

Luther's performance was certainly embarrassing, but what's the point of replacing him with an Asian player?

Not to mention Cleveland High School, you couldn't find many Asian players even if you put all the high schools in the US together!

"Negative energy from Todd Claxton +8".

"Negative energy from Charles Daye +7".

"Negative energy from James Posey +19".

……

Hearing the system notification in his mind, Yang Shuai smacked his lips as he entered the arena, then looked at the faces on the opposite side of the court, faces full of displeasure, as if they had been offended. He suddenly realized that there was a reason why the system had chosen him.

His yellow skin, in this era, no matter which stadium he's on, is an innate sacred body that automatically triggers negative energy.

After the timeout, Cleveland High School's offense resumed. Rondo dribbled the ball up half-court and then passed it directly to Yang Shuai.

After receiving the ball, Yang Shuai glanced at the defense and chose to shoot a three-pointer.

He didn't feel much when he played one-on-one with Luther before, but after playing pickup games for the past month, he realized one thing: the importance of three-pointers in this era is far less than he imagined.

If you don't score two goals over your opponent, they won't even bother to defend against you.

Take this particular play for example. He was standing outside the three-point line, and the person defending him was at least a meter away from him.

However, this scene caused quite a stir at the scene.

American high school basketball doesn't have many tactics; it relies more on the individual abilities of star players. When Luther was on the court, he controlled the ball most of the time.

Because Yang Shuai replaced Luther, he took on Luther's tactical role.

And Yang Shuai started by throwing up inconsistent three-pointers?
This is utter nonsense!
"Shh!"

However, as the basketball swished through the net, the initial commotion instantly turned into cheers.

This Asian player can actually sink three-pointers!
And the cheers continued to rise, because after Yang Shuai made the three-pointer, he extended his right hand, curled his little finger and ring finger inward, and straightened the other three fingers, while shaking his body, making the three-point celebration gesture of "The Bridges".

Although they had never seen this kind of celebration before, Yang Shuai's innate confidence made them realize that this Asian player on the field was completely different from any they had ever seen.

Yang Shuai also received another wave of negative energy.

He appeared to be celebrating, but in the eyes of the Chamberlain High School players, he was actually mocking them.

Rondo smiled and high-fived Yang Shuai as he retreated on defense.

High school students generally don't play basketball at night, and the students from Qianbailin High School suffered because of this.

Yang Shuai's three-pointer reignited the morale of Cleveland High School, while Chamberlain High School was unable to execute any plays and could only pass the ball to Posey.

Posey's individual ability is still outstanding; he repeatedly changed direction to get past the defender and drove straight to the basket.

As he jumped to make the layup, he saw Yang Shuai coming over to help defend.

However, he did not choose to pass the ball, but instead took the shot ahead of time.

Yang Shuai's three-pointer just now was indeed unexpected, but considering the physical attributes of people of Asian descent, it makes perfect sense for him to work hard on three-pointers to secure a place in the league.

But Yang Shuai has absolutely no chance of blocking that shot, and neither does Luther.

That's what Percy thought, but what happened next was far beyond his imagination.

"boom!"

Amidst the gasps of the fans at the stadium, Yang Shuai delivered a thunderous block!
This block shocked everyone on the court except for Rondo.

How can this be!

Posey got blocked by an Asian player?!
And that wasn't the end of it. Before Posey could react, Yang Shuai jumped again to grab the defensive rebound, then turned and launched a fast break.

The Champagne High School perimeter players reacted and tried to stop him, but they quickly realized that Yang Shuai was much faster than they had imagined, and they were simply too late.

Straight-line speed, a physical attribute that doesn't show a significant improvement on the stat sheet, actually provides a substantial boost to fast-paced attacks.

Yang Shuai made a fast break to the frontcourt, looked back and saw no one chasing him, so he gradually slowed down. When he reached the three-second zone in the frontcourt, he pulled the ball up with his right hand, jumped up and performed a one-handed tomahawk dunk.

"Oh!"

The basketball was slammed into the hoop, and the entire stadium erupted in cheers.

Not only because Yang Shuai scored 5 consecutive points to help Cleveland High School regain the lead, but also because Yang Shuai's performance slapped them in the face and gave them a high.

From now on, if anyone says that Asian players can't play basketball, they'll have to fight them!
"Who is he?"

This is the most direct question on the minds of all the fans at the scene.

It might sound unbelievable to others, but they still don't know the name of the home team player who's dominating the field.

It was at this moment that the fans around Lin Xiulan were the first to react and began to ask her questions.

Lin Xiulan was still not fully recovered from the shock.

Although she had previously spent money to buy bicycles for Rondo and Yang Shuai to support them in playing basketball at local courts, she didn't actually know Yang Shuai's basketball skills, and she hadn't even asked Rondo.

Because essentially, what she did wasn't an investment in Yang Shuai, but rather that after two months of getting to know him, she had come to regard him as her child.

Moreover, although the American basketball system is mature, the competitive pressure is unprecedented. The chances of changing one's fate by playing basketball and making it into the NBA are not much different from winning the lottery.

However, she suddenly realized that Yang Shuai might be a basketball prodigy.

So when she came to her senses and faced the questions from those around her, she said with pride, "His name is Yang Shuai, and he is my child."

(End of this chapter)