The longest river

Chapter 90 "Troublemaker"

Yang Shuai's three-pointer boosted the Pacers' morale, and Schmitz held his nerve and withstood Mourning's low-post attack.

While Mourning was very strong, he was still far less dominant than O'Neal in the low post.

Schmitz secured the defensive rebound, giving the Pacers a chance to tie the game.

The shouts of defense rang out again from the stadium.

This time, however, it wasn't out of excitement for high morale, but rather out of anxiety for an unfavorable situation.

Riley had also lost his godfather demeanor at this point, and was waving his arms vigorously on the sidelines, directing the team's defense.

The Heat are currently ranked eighth, but they are only one game ahead of the ninth-placed Hornets.

If they ultimately fall out of the playoffs, especially by the Hornets, then his entire season's performance will become a joke.

With the combined influence of fans and coaches, the Heat's defensive intensity on the court continued to rise.

Moreover, after several rounds, they gradually became familiar with the Pacers' offensive adjustments.

The Pacers failed to create any good scoring opportunities during this offensive run.

Yang Shuai's last-second fadeaway three-pointer, despite the defense's pressure, missed.

It was a long rebound, which Schmitz eventually grabbed from the high post.

Because Schmitz had already launched several attacks from that position, he instantly attracted the attention of several Heat players.

It was at this moment that Schmitz made another unexpected choice.

Instead of passing the ball back to Robertson to continue organizing the offense, he threw the ball directly at Yang Shuai and moved in Yang Shuai's direction at the same time.

Because of the difficult shot he just took, Yang Shuai is now about a meter away from the three-point line. In addition, he just missed the shot, so Danilovic, who was guarding him, wasn't paying attention to him.

The ball was successfully passed to Yang Shuai, and Danilovic refocused his attention on Yang Shuai.

Because Yang Shuai had just made a long-range three-pointer, his defense was positioned very far forward.

Yang Shuai dribbled the ball and changed direction to the left, and Danilovic followed suit to the left... crashing into Schmitz's screen.

Schmitz actually ran to the three-point line to set a screen for Yang Shuai!
This incredible move left the audience stunned.

But even more outrageous things happened next.

After Schmitz successfully blocked Danilovic, Yang Shuai did not choose to drive inside to exploit the mismatch against Thomas, but instead took the shot directly.

He shot from a meter away from the three-point line!
Everyone present was stunned.

This type of shot has certainly happened before in the NBA, but without exception, it was always a last-minute shot forced by the time running out.

However, there was no "14-second shot clock" rule in this era, and after Schmitz grabbed the offensive rebound, the Pacers had a full 24-second shot clock.

However, Yang Shuai just threw it!

Even the well-informed Ernie Johnson was stunned by this choice.

Albert, standing to the side, tried hard to suppress the corners of his mouth from turning up. He had already organized his thoughts at lightning speed, ready to give Yang Shuai, this reckless rookie, a good dressing down.

Because it was an extremely long three-pointer, the trajectory and arc of the ball were higher than a normal three-pointer. It was like a shooting star flying from outer space, plummeting rapidly after reaching its highest point.

A huge commotion erupted at the scene.

Because although the ball was from a long distance, its trajectory was very straight, making it look like it was going in!

"Shh!"

With a crisp click as the ball swished through the net, Yang Shuai hit another long-range three-pointer.

The Pacers have tied the score!
The crowd was in an uproar; Yang Shuai's two consecutive three-pointers were simply outrageous.

“Incredible!” Ernie Johnson exclaimed.

Albert, however, choked on his words and coughed.

Yang Shuai couldn't hide his excitement and pumped his fist.

So this is what it feels like to make a super long shot in a game!
It's much more enjoyable than what you see on TV.

No, it was absolutely awesome.

Although the absence of a no-handcheck rule in this era makes shooting three-pointers much more difficult than in the era before he traveled through time.

But that doesn't mean you can't take action.

Otherwise, those three-point shooters wouldn't exist, let alone a superstar like Miller.

In this pick-and-roll three-pointer tactic, once the defender is screened, you can't stop the shooter from getting the shot off.

Not to mention that Yang Shuai's shot was an extremely long three-pointer.

Riley called another timeout.

This time, it wasn't because of tactical adjustments, but because Yang Shuai abruptly stopped the game.

Yang Shuai turned to face the Heat's bench, and the Heat's bench players' expressions changed drastically.

"Are you really that scared by a newbie?"

Yang Shuai didn't mean to criticize this time; he was just saying what he really felt.

"Negative energy from Chris Gatlin +86".

"Negative energy from Rex Chapman +98".

"Negative energy from Worshan Leonard +66".

……

It seemed as if an invisible wall of resentment was rising up in front of Yang Shuai. When Yang Shuai left the field, he gave Schmitz another high-five.

His three-pointer was partly due to his hot hand, but the key factor was Schmitz's screen.

Aside from time travelers like him, probably only Schmitz would do something like that tonight.

After all, Schmitz truly became himself tonight.

"What are you doing?!"

Yang Shuai walked to the bench with a smile, but was greeted by Brown's barrage of questions.

Yang Shuai was stunned.

I just scored such a morale-boosting goal, and instead of praising me, you're questioning me about why?
Is your head fucking wooden?!

"Don't think that scoring a lucky goal is the right thing to do. We have a new 24-second shot clock, so we need to play according to the team's tactics!"

Seeing Yang Shuai's defiant look, Brown continued to scold him.

"If we play according to the team's tactics, we're already down by 10 points!" Yang Shuai retorted directly.

Screw tactics! If it weren't for him, Schmitz, and Robertson adjusting their playing style, the Pacers would never have tied the score.

Even if Brown's hair is half-gray, he shouldn't be so old and blind that he can't see what's happening on the court, right?
Yang Shuai's retort stunned everyone on the Pacers team.

There was nothing wrong with what Yang Shuai said, and they all knew that, but the problem was that Yang Shuai publicly criticized Brown.

Brown is known for his strict team discipline, and this was a direct attack on his most sensitive spot.

As expected, Brown's face was extremely grim. He didn't say anything more, but when the timeout ended, he immediately substituted Yang Shuai.

After Yang Shuai left the court, the Pacers' momentum immediately came to an end.

In fact, it was already clear in the play before Yang Shuai was substituted that the Heat had a way to deal with the Pacers' adjusted tactics.

While Riley's nickname "The Oracle" might be a bit of an exaggeration, he's not just a figure of speech.

Yang Shuai's unconventional long-range shot was what forced Riley to call a timeout; as the saying goes, even a master can be overwhelmed by a flurry of punches.

But now Yang Shuai has suddenly been substituted off the field. You can tell how happy Riley is by looking at him with surprise and an uncontrollable upturn of his lips.

"What happened? What is Larry doing?" Ernie Johnson was completely stunned, because Brown's actions made it seem like he didn't want to win tonight's game.

Unfortunately, he was partnered with Albert instead of Hubie Brown at this moment, so no one was there to answer his questions.

The on-site photographer also captured Yang Shuai on the sidelines.

Yang Shuai was sitting on the bench, bored and biting his fingernails.

Was his behavior just now impulsive?
Of course it was impulsive. Any other rookie player would know that even if they were angry, they shouldn't talk back to the head coach in public.

But other rookies are other rookies, and Yang Shuai is Yang Shuai.

That's his character.

Just like when Scott advised him to take the initiative to ease the tension between his teammates but he chose to confront them head-on, or when Paul advised him to communicate with Brown but he chose to improve his defense, if he hadn't responded just now, he wouldn't be himself.

And to be honest, he had been unhappy with Brown since the beginning of the season.

Although it turned out that Brown's initial intentions were not personal, Brown also did not put much effort into developing him.

If Brown had told him to improve his defense earlier, he wouldn't have had to go through all that trouble.

If he had improved his defense earlier, the Pacers wouldn't be under so much pressure regarding their record, and Miller might not have gotten injured.

This series of events is actually a chain reaction.

Yang Shuai did not get any playing time in the following games, and the Pacers eventually lost.

"Larry is an excellent coach, and every time I play against him, I am impressed."

Riley couldn't suppress the smile on his face after the game.

What seems completely incomprehensible to a normal person appears perfectly normal to Brown.

After all, compared to the outcome of a regular season game, even if it affects the team's ranking, it is far less important than his prestige within the team.

A head coach who leads the team with discipline will quickly lose control of the entire team once he loses that authority.

After the game against the Heat, the first thing Yang Shuai did was call Vaccaro.

After learning of Yang Shuai's idea, Vaccaro rushed to Indianapolis the next day.

"Do you really want to leave Indiana next season?" Yang Shuai said on the phone, referring to his decision to choose the final option of being traded.

“I’d go crazy if I kept playing for that Larry guy.”

For Yang Shuai, the experience of this game was actually more difficult to accept than the issue of playing time.

As a time traveler, his playing habits are inevitably influenced by the playing style of the future. Brown's restrictions on this and that are essentially putting shackles on him.

It would be better to switch to a better team, even if it means starting all over again.

“You mean you don’t want to work with Brown anymore, right?” Vaccaro said, lighting his cigar again.

Yang Shuai nodded.

Vaccaro took a puff of his cigar and put it down: "Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be a transaction."

"Ok?"

"We can first give the management a choice: you or Larry, choose one."

(End of this chapter)