Chapter 121: Securing a Spot in the Quarterfinals (Part II)

Tur Gung slipped past the Central Yu Province Youth Team player’s block as nimbly as a storm petrel wheeling through the air, then passed the ball to Hawule beneath the basket before he could land. With no defender in sight, Hawule rarely found himself with such an opportunity, and he sprang up for a dunk.

Although Hawule stood only 1.96 meters tall, he weighed 105 kilograms. Fortunately, his strength and explosiveness were decent, allowing him to complete the dunk—barely.

After his “barely-made dunk,” Hawule threw back his head and let out an excited howl, surrounded by a group of so-called professional players wearing expressions of astonishment and embarrassment.

The professional players of the Central Yu Province Youth Team were now thoroughly humiliated and frustrated. Four minutes had passed, and they had scored only two points, both from free throws. Their opponents, meanwhile—a group of students who could hardly be called professionals—were playing with remarkable flair, combining inside and outside attacks and putting up thirteen points in four minutes.

The head coach of the Central Yu Province Youth Team wore an ashen expression. He simply could not understand how five professional players could lose to five university students. In his mind, putting five professionals on the court should have allowed the team to crush everyone. After all, they were the only team in the tournament starting five professional players, all of whom stood over two meters tall. Yet virtually everyone within the Central Yu Province Youth Team knew that this elementary-school teacher, whose elder brother happened to be the director of the Physical Education Administration Center, was truly unsuited to be a coach.

Watching the situation from the sidelines, Wang Lei could not help smiling. There was a prevailing notion these days that anyone could become a coach, provided he had talented players at his disposal. But only those who had actually worked as coaches knew that being a professional coach was no easy task. Without sufficient tactical understanding and a keen eye, becoming a competent coach was extraordinarily difficult.

This Frontier Province Youth Team had been built by Wang Lei from the ground up. From recruiting staff and inviting players to basic training and later tactical development, he had devoted an enormous amount of effort to the team.

Many professional coaches had their own unspoken hardships. Some even aged prematurely because of the pressures of coaching. Heart disease and cerebrovascular disorders threatened the lives of countless coaches. Competition in the professional arena was so fierce that no one could become a good head coach without tremendous effort.

The game continued. Although the Central Yu Province Youth Team held a commanding advantage in height, basketball had developed to the point where height alone could no longer guarantee dominance. The Frontier Province Youth Team had a mismatch on nearly every position, and Tur Gung in particular could toy with his opponents with ease, relying on his dribbling and changes of direction.

On defense, the Frontier Province Youth Team held firm in a zone defense, repeatedly trapping the ball handler and severing the connection between the opponent and the ball.

Compared with the Central Yu Province Youth Team, which had been assembled only shortly before the qualifiers began, the Frontier Province Youth Team possessed a level of cohesion that its opponents could not hope to match.

The five young players from the professional team each wanted to rescue the squad through individual ability. None of them believed that any teammate posed a greater threat than he did, so their offensive strategy was essentially simple: whoever had the ball took a shot; if he could not, he passed it on.

As a result, when they encountered the Frontier Province Youth Team’s constant double-teams, they could not even create enough space to shoot. How were they supposed to continue playing?

By the end of the first quarter, the Frontier Province Youth Team had built a sixteen-point lead. Wang Lei had even taken Tur Gung, Cai Aihong, and several others out early, giving players who usually saw little court time a chance to play.

When the second quarter began, the Central Yu Province Youth Team made the rather bizarre decision not to make any substitutions, leaving all five starters on the court.

Relying on individual ability, the Central Yu Province Youth Team narrowed the gap to single digits during the first half of the second quarter. Wang Lei then sent the starting lineup back in, and over the next four-plus minutes, the Frontier Province Youth Team launched another offensive surge. A sixteen-to-four run completely crushed their opponents’ spirit.

At halftime, the Frontier Province Youth Team had once again established a twenty-two-point lead.

By then, the outcome was essentially no longer in doubt. The Central Yu Province starters were already playing listlessly. Their so-called head coach stood on the sidelines, pounding his tactics board and shouting at the top of his lungs, but what difference could it make? A fair basketball game did not lie. The spectators could see perfectly well who was playing well and who was not.

Some of Wang Lei’s fans came to like Tur Gung after watching the game. The young man, who had just turned seventeen, drew plenty of attention with his unusual appearance and stylish skills.

There were many players who were good at basketball. But players who were good at basketball, handsome, and possessed something of a manga protagonist’s aura were exceedingly rare. Tur Gung fulfilled every beautiful fantasy cherished by shut-in girls and female fans of romantic male pairings. Thus, once the second half began, every time Tur Gung touched the ball, a wave of screams rose from the sidelines.

The Frontier Province players resting on the bench were growing indignant. That little rabbit was playing far too flamboyantly. He was stealing all their attention.

“Don’t be in such a hurry. I’ll take that kid out in the fourth quarter and let you show off instead. How about that?”

Wang Lei keenly noticed what the players were thinking. They were all young men, and there were plenty of beautiful girls along the sidelines. Although most of those girls had originally come to watch Wang Lei, more and more of them were now focused on Tur Gung. That was enough to set the substitutes’ imaginations running.

Wang Lei dared to say this not because he was being arrogant. The game had already become more or less suspense-free. Three minutes remained in the third quarter, and the gap between the teams had reached twenty-nine points. Some of the Central Yu Province starters had even begun deliberately seeking fouls because they could no longer endure the game.

Some members of the Central Yu Province Youth Team had considered taking revenge on the Frontier Province players. But after weighing the consequences, they ultimately did not dare act. The Republic’s basketball authorities dealt extremely harshly with violence on the court. Anyone caught deliberately committing retaliatory fouls or engaging in violent conduct would face suspension and fines at the very least; in more serious cases, they could even be held legally responsible.

Before Wang Lei embarked on his professional playing career, the Republic had witnessed a notorious incident of on-court violence. During the final moments of a championship-deciding league game, a visiting player deliberately injured an opponent. The home team’s players rushed forward as one, and the entire court descended into chaos. In the confusion, a visiting player was struck in the head and knocked unconscious. He ultimately died from his injuries.

The incident shocked the nation and the world. Both teams received severe punishment. Their qualifications to maintain professional clubs were revoked, and several players involved in the brawl were banned for life.

After that incident, the Republic’s basketball community adopted a policy of zero tolerance toward violence on the court.

The game ultimately ended in an easy victory for the Frontier Province Youth Team. The thirty-four-point margin also made the Central Yu Province Youth Team the greatest laughingstock of the youth basketball tournament at the National Games.

Meanwhile, with two consecutive victories, the Frontier Province Youth Team secured a place in the quarterfinals one round ahead of schedule.