All I Really Want Is To Play Basketball - Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Strongest Chicken Soup, System Version 7.0 Is Here!

Two days had passed since Lower Merion won the Pennsylvania High School Basketball League.

After the team returned to Philadelphia, the players were “worshipped” by the entire school.

That was especially so for Su Feng and Kobe, who had become invincible heroes in the hearts of many of their female schoolmates.

In the female schoolmates’ minds, Su Feng and Kobe’s silhouettes were something like this:

Look, that man with good looks that surpass international boundaries riding a rainbow cloud! He’s Su Feng, whose name is known throughout Pennsylvania!

Look, that handsome black man riding a white horse with extremely horrifying basketball ability. He’s the great Kobe Bryant!

“Are they the Philadelphia Twin Towers? I love them!”

“Ahhhh! They’re so handsome I’m going to faint!”

Anyway, Su Feng felt that he had to pay more attention to his safety recently.

If not, he would truly be in too much danger.

Well…

Of course, Su Feng’s sexual orientation was normal.

It was just that he had seen everything before in his previous life.

Without mentioning the dozens of Terabytes of Japanese “data” he had downloaded, the sheer number of “ex-girlfriends” Su Feng had in his previous life was enough to form an independent regiment.

Besides, Su Feng was not Brother Yunlong[1], he could not change his equipment after “firing his cannon” every night.

So in this life, after devoting his heart and soul to basketball, Su Feng discovered that he had already learned to resist all temptations and achieve nirvana.

Basketball is my girlfriend!

Basketball is my one true love!

Basketball can bring you riches and ladies fair as jade.

“Su, can you hurry up? The NBA is broadcasting Michael’s highlight reel and matches tonight. We still need to train, there’s not enough time!”

Kobe, who was preparing to go to the court to train after going through a day’s lessons with his new “invincible hero” identity, turned back to look at Su Feng.

Su Feng nodded. After wiping away the saliva at the corner of his mouth, he caught up and said, “My cheat… Oh no, Kobe, I’m coming!”

…

And just as Su Feng was playing happily with Kobe…

New York, Madison Square Garden.

As a key match that was broadcast to all of America, the matches between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls in this era were always hotly discussed.

The Knicks’ star player, Pat Riley, who had a head of oily, slicked-back hair and was known as the “Al Pacino” of the basketball court, looked at Jordan before the match and asked jokingly, “Michael, can you still score 50 points in a match now?”

Jordan, who was tying his shoelaces at the time, raised his head to look at Riley.

And even the graceful Riley could not help but have the corners of his mouth twitch a little.

Did I…

Just say something that would cause my death?

Thus, the match started.

Michael Jordan, who was wearing the number 45 jersey, used his exquisite basketball skills to conquer this holy land of basketball.

Facing his old opponent John Starks, although he had not regained his peak form yet, Jordan still used his own method to tell the world:

Your grandpa is still your grandpa.

In the first period, after Jordan scored consecutively, the commentator, Marv Albert, exclaimed, “He’s being very aggressive, and wants to get 50 or maybe even 60 points tonight!”

Albert’s prediction quickly became reality.

Jordan scored 9 out of 11 shots in the first period and 20 of the 31 points the Chicago Bulls scored in the first period.

After the half ended, he had already scored 35 points.

During the half-time break, Knicks legend Earl Monroe, who was sitting beside the court, accepted an interview and commented, “It’s like he never left.”

In the next half, Jordan scored another 20 points!

In the entire match, the “Old Gangster” Michael Jordan scored 21 out of 37 shots, including three out of four three-pointers and 10 out of 11 free throws. He got his first 50+ since returning!

55 points!

As for the New York Knicks, although Ewing had also scored 36 points, it ultimately became a helpless scream of anger on the top of the Empire State Building.

113 to 111. After the Chicago Bulls defeated the New York Knicks, those who were still doubting Jordan chose to remain silent that night.

And in front of the TV, after watching the epic Knicks vs Bulls match with Kobe, Su Feng took a long time to calm down.

Su Feng was not idolising the past and looking down on the present. He was looking at the facts…

Every era has their own legends. Under the restrictions of the hand check rule, only this man could score field goals for fun.

Jordan was not perfect, because he had missed over 9,000 shots throughout his career.

He had laid bricks in many matches before, and Jordan liked to gamble. In fact, he was a famous disser…

In the future, when he returned for the second time, Jordan once shattered the “glass hearts” of many youngsters with his dissing.

However, so long as you looked back at this era, you had to admit that Jordan was brilliant.

Of course, even the brilliant “Old Gangster” probably did not expect that in Philadelphia, a Black Mamba and bricklayer had set their eyes on him.

“I really want to enter the NBA more quickly!” Kobe exclaimed excitedly.

Su Feng expressed his agreement.

This time, he truly agreed.

That was because Su Feng knew that Jordan was going to retire after the Chicago Bulls’ second dynasty. And when he returned for the second time in the future, he would no longer be as strong as he was now.

As a passionate basketball lover, Su Feng also really wanted to have a one-on-one with Jordan.

After all…

Our goal was Jordan!

…

After Jordan activated “God Mode” and descended upon Madison Square Garden, the climax of the 94/95 NBA season arrived.

During this period of time, other than going to school obediently, Su Feng and Kobe woke up at 4 AM every day to enjoy Philadelphia’s sunshine.

Clang, clang, clang!

What was worth mentioning was that Su Feng received a birthday present from Kobe on April 4th, the day of his 17th birthday.

He received a pair of first-generation Jordans that had lots of sentimental value.

“So, you like them, don’t you?” After all, to buy those shoes, even Kobe had to spend a lot of his pocket money.

Su Feng nodded and strangely felt a little touched.

“It’s good that you like it. Now I can thrash you without feeling any stress.” Kobe added.

Su Feng was speechless.

Alright, I’m not touched anymore!

Besides, other than receiving a birthday present from Kobe, Su Feng celebrated his birthday with Kobe’s family in the Bryants’ home.

Right now, Joe Bryant found Su Feng pleasing to the eye no matter how he looked at him.

That was especially because the kid could make a good steak.

Well…

In reality, when Kobe was little, whenever Joe Bryant said Kobe’s name, he would think of that extraodinarily delicious steak he and his wife once ate.

Kobe beef… was really delicious!

…

In the blink of an eye, it was already the middle of April.

The offseason matches of the 94/95 NBA season started…

In the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls did not face too much trouble in the first round of offseason matches.

Although they lost once to the Charlotte Hornets, the Chicago Bulls still advanced to the semi-finals of the Eastern Conference with an overall score of 3 to 1 in the end.

And their next opponent was the Orlando Magic, who had O’Neal and Hardaway.

In the Western Conference, compared to other teams that had displayed that they had the ability to win the championship, the Houston Rockets had to play 5 matches against the Utah Jazz before securing their victory.

Hmm… in the 90s, the first round of the NBA offseason matches used a best of 5 competition system.

As the defending champions, the Houston Rockets trailed the Utah Jazz 1 to 2 as they started their legendary offseason match journey.

The two “elders” of the Utah Jazz were just one step away from success. The Dream Olajuwon joined forces with “Hang Glider” Drexler, who had joined the team in the later half of the season. The duo scored 81 and 64 points respectively in the last two matches and helped the Rockets turn things around and advance to the semi-finals of the Western Conference.

However, after they advanced miraculously, people all felt that this Houston Rockets team was done for.

Because they were way too drained after the first round.

You might not believe it.

But right now, only their head coach, Tomjanovich, and a few old players of the Houston Rockets believed that the rocket could still take off…

Tomjanovich’s ultimate was about to be ready. Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls were knocked out in the semi-finals!

The young Orlando Magic team secured their victory in six matches.

Even though Michael Jordan could score 30+ points per match in this series, the gap between the two teams’ free throw lane players and the fact that Jordan had not recovered to his peak form decided how this series would go.

In the first match, Jordan made eight mistakes. In fact, in the most decisive moment of the match, the Orlando Magic’s shooting guard, Nelison Anderson, stole the ball from him.

After the match, Nelison Anderson also said that famous quote, “Jordan in the number 45 jersey was not as good as Jordan in the number 23 jersey.”

Jordan was agitated due to that quote. In the second match, he switched back to the number 23 jersey. Of course, the NBA punished the Chicago Bulls because of that.

That was because the NBA did not allow teams to switch jersey numbers during a season without the NBA’s permission. Moreover, the “Old Gangster’s” number 23 jersey had already been retired long ago.

However, even though he put on the number 23 jersey again, the “Old Gangster” could not return to his peak form.

The Chicago Bulls lost to the Orlando Magic two to four. Instantly, all sorts of articles mocking and dissing the “Old Gangster” for becoming a mortal again were published.

This was what public opinion was like. When you were successful, even your faeces would smell like roses.

But when you were down in the dumps, even if you dealt 2,200 damage in the League of Legends World Championship, you would still have people dissing you…

Ah, no, it actually seems correct to diss someone if they did that.

Cough, back to the topic.

After the Old Gangster and his Chicago Bulls got eliminated, an epic comeback was happening in the Western Conference.

In the Western Conference’s semi-finals, just like people predicted before that, the Houston Rockets, who were already on the decline, were pushed to the edge by the Phoenix Suns once again.

In the fourth round of the Western Conference semi-finals, after the Suns beat the Rockets 114 to 110, Barkley might have busted open the champagne to celebrate. Anyway, all of America’s media and even Houston’s local media thought that this Houston Rockets team was finished.

After the match, Phoenix’s media mocked the Houston Rockets’ head coach, Tomjanovich, “Rockets, oh, Rockets, when will you be first in the Conference, when?”

And now, Tomjanovich, whose ultimate had finished cooling down, responded with a calm expression on his face, “Never underestimate the heart of a champion!”

In Philadelphia, even though he knew things would progress that way, even Su Feng felt fired up after hearing Tomjanovich’s famous quote.

The last kilogram of fuel for the Rockets’ take off had already been prepared.

Never underestimate the power of chicken soup for the soul.

That was especially so in the 90s, which was full of people with “eight-grader syndrome”.

Tomjanovich’s chicken soup was different from that of the future chicken soup master, Rivers. One could only describe it as horrifyingly effective.

That’s because…

This was an outburst that was released after being suppressed for an entire season.

From the start of the season, people dissed them by saying they lost their way after winning the NBA in the previous season. After Jordan returned, people mocked them by saying there was no way they could defend their title. But despite that, Tomjanovich was like a sage and did not respond to any of that.

Even though they secured the transfer of Drexler, this Houston Rockets team showed no signs of being about to take off.

In the first round of the Western Conference offseason matches, although they beat Utah Jazz, who had Malone and Stockton, the Houston Rockets, who were on the decline, quickly “showed their true colors” and were beaten head-on by the Phoenix Suns team led by Barkley and Johnson.

But in reality, this was all within Tomjanovich’s plans.

In the regular matches, after the Rockets showed signs of fatigue, Tomjanovich was clear that the Rockets team made up of old players could not fight for a high placing in the regular matches like the youngsters.

So laying low and staying low-key became the theme of the Houston Rockets for the entire season.

After Drexler joined, Tomjanovich knew that the Houston Rockets team needed time to gel. Hence, they needed to keep laying low and remaining low-key until they had no other choice.

Now it was time to motivate those old boys.

Tomjanovich’s words completely fired up the entire Houston Rockets team.

Following that, they charged forward into the horizon.

A classic comeback was about to happen.

In their following matches with the Suns, the Houston Rockets won three matches in a row and fought their way into the Western Conference finals in one fell swoop!

In the Western Conference finals, the Dream was going to face his old rival, Robinson, who was one of the Four Great Centers.

And what was worth mentioning was that the Dream also started solidifying his position among the Four Great Centers during these offseason matches.

In last year’s finals, the Houston Rockets won and the New York Knicks lost. The Dream laughed till the end, while Ewing cried atop the Empire State Building.

Meanwhile, in this year’s Western Conference finals, the Dream, who had an average score of 35.3 points per match alongside 12.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 4.2 blocks per game, completed thrashed Robinson, who had an average score of 23.8 points per match alongside 11.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.2 blocks per match.

The Houston Rockets won and the San Antonio Spurs lost.

Now the Dream had already beaten two of the Four Great Centers.

He was going to the finals. And his opponent was the youngest of the Four Great Centers.

The Orlando Magic’s Shaquille O’Neal.

In reality, if you look back at the finals of 1995, you will discover that the Orlando Magic did have a chance to beat the Houston Rockets.

There were two matches with a point difference of four points or less. And in the other two matches, the Orlando Magic had a chance to equalize even in the fourth period.

However, after Tomjanovich said “Never underestimate the heart of a champion”, their destiny had already been sealed.

The young Orlando Magic team lacked experience and they were far less ambitious than the Houston Rockets team full of experienced players.

…

Time flew by, and as the NBA offseason matches got increasingly intense, Su Feng and Kobe were improving rapidly in the past two months too.

“Oh, right, Su. You’re also cheering for the Orlando Magic for the finals right?”

Even though he was once hurt by Hardaway, after remembering the good-natured and cute fatty who was not a fatty yet, Kobe felt warm and fuzzy in his heart. So, for this finals, he supported the Orlando Magic.

Su Feng discovered that Kobe was a huge jinx.

Last year, he supported the New York Knicks, and this year, he supported Orlando Magic.

And if Su Feng remembered correctly, Kobe would become a crossover jinx and jinx FC Barcelona’s second dream team.

It was common knowledge that Kobe was different from other Americans. Because he grew up in Italy, his love for soccer was only second to his love for basketball.

In Su Feng’s previous life, Kobe once said that if he did not play basketball, he would choose to play soccer. And his favourite team was AC Milan. They would eventually lose to RC Deportivo La Coruna first and then Liverpool in two Champions League finals in the 21st century.

Moreover, Kobe would become very good friends with Ronaldinho in the future.

Therefore…

Ronaldinho “sought death” one day and invited Kobe to the Camp Nou to watch a match.

In the end, Barcelona, who were still sweeping across Europe the previous year, strangely ended their domination of Europe.

Of course, this was due in part to Ronaldinho’s rotten personal life.

But the most important thing was…

The match Kobe watched at the Camp Nou, if Su Feng remembered correctly, was the one where Barcelona lost the La Liga title…

In the 06/07 season, because Real Madrid and Barcelona had the same number of points but Real Madrid had more wins, Barcelona had to win their final match of the season, while Real Madrid lost their final match of the season in order to win the La Liga title.

And everything originally went according to how Barcelona fans wanted things to go. Real Madrid conceded a goal in one match and Barcelona scored a goal in their home game…

However, after the cameras suddenly took a close-up shot of Kobe, who was in the VIP room, the two matches’ situations suddenly completely changed.

In the other match, Real Madrid suddenly came alive. Reyes and Beckham broke the deadlock for Real Madrid and helped them come back to win the match 3-1.

Because of that, it did not matter how many goals Barcelona scored any more.

Cough. Kobe, your support is poisonous!

Actually, Su Feng originally did not believe in the mystical.

But after learning of Huang Xudong and Zidane on the internet, Su Feng felt that there were some things which were indeed unable to be explained by science.

“No, I support the Houston Rockets,” Su Feng replied.

“Why? Don’t you like Shaquille?” Kobe asked.

At first, Su Feng wanted to reply, “Who wouldn’t like Shaquille?”

But Su Feng thought about it and replied with, “But I like coach Rudy’s quote ‘Never underestimate the heart of a champion’ more.”

“Alright, then it seems like we’ll have to decide the victor between ourselves in terms of predictions as well,” Kobe said while looking at Su Feng.

Predictions?

Then Su Feng would not be boasting when he said he could use his winnings to buy a beachfront villa just by not betting for the team Kobe supported.

“There’s still a few days till the start of the finals. We can’t slack off during this period either!” Kobe shouted to Su Feng on the court.

Su Feng nodded.

There was no way they would slack off. There was no way he would slack off in his entire life. Brick Shot Points were awesome and pleasing to the ear—Su Feng loved bricking shots.

Clang, clang, clang!

…

Su Feng did not think that he had underestimated his training intensity and the boost his cheat Kobe would bring to him in the end.

After all, although Su Feng was improving, Kobe was improving too!

When playing with a 1v1 master like Kobe, Su Feng was happily farming Brick Shot Points while getting thrashed.

Therefore…

You might not believe it.

He did not even need to wait until his graduation in grade 12. Before his summer vacation started, Su Feng’s brick shot system had already been officially upgraded to the last version it could be upgraded to before he entered the NBA.

Version 7.0!

Was even the system unable to resist the will of 7?

“Master: Su Feng. Nationality: Chinese. Age: 17.

Height: 192.5 cm (198cm). Weight: 79.5kg…”

“Master’s current proficiency (NBA draft first round pick level), Short-range shooting: 45 (68), Mid-range shooting: 74 (80), Three-point shots: 76 (80).Fadeaway shots: 70 (75), Shots after dribbling: 60 (70).

“Passing: 24 (48); Vision: 23 (51); Ball control: 51 (57); Dribbling: 50 (58).

“Horizontal movement: 79 (89); 1v1 marking: 78 (92); Stealing: 57 (82); Blocking: 40 (65).

“Jumping: 64 (75); Power: 37 (46); Backboard rebounds: 30 (40); Speed: 74 (75).

“Master has currently equipped the shooting action: Steven Curry Grade A University Shooting Pack.

“Special techniques equipped: Kobe’s fadeaway shot (Golden Epic); Current level: NBA draft second round pick level.

“Special techniques not equipped: Shammgod (Original version).

“Master has equipped badges: Sun Flame.”

One had to admit, Kobe was horrifyingly effective as a cheat.

Because after this upgrade, Su Feng was actually still able to use his remaining Brick Shot Points to max out his potential.

But…

Looking at his defending and dribbling stats, Su Feng felt a little sad.

Defending genius, dribbling idiot?

“It seems like I’ll have to look for opportunities in the future then,” Su Feng exclaimed internally.

Moreover, in version 7.0, Su Feng discovered that he could see more statistics now.

This also made Su Feng believe that if he could complete the “The Path of Talents” mission, he would be able to see even more detailed statistics in the “Genius” system.

After all, Su Feng felt that the brick shots system was very reasonable when assigning his proficiency.

Because after this upgrade, when checking his power stat, Su Feng discovered that there were a few interesting explanations under it…

These few explanations basically told Su Feng that his potential for his power stat was affected by his weight, muscle mass, body fat percentage, and other factors.

Moreover, if Su Feng grew too heavy in the future and wanted to develop into a tank, his other stats, like speed, would decrease proportionally to the increase in his power stat and body weight.

His stats were all related to one another.

In other words, other than increasing his potential through the system, Su Feng could find other ways to break the ceiling by himself.

Of course, this was under the condition that the system did not set up a firewall for Su Feng.

Taking this version 7.0 system for example…

“Under version 7.0, you are unable to further improve your potential (including through triggering missions and other methods). You need to complete the main mission of entering the NBA and upgrading the system first to be able to check your potential for the next stage.

“This system doesn’t allow unreasonable actions like training in college for four years and maxing out the system before entering the NBA after all.

“So… Kobe doesn’t have this system too, right?”

Su Feng suspected after remembering how Kobe could not wait to enter the NBA…

…

[1] Brother Yunlong is a famous Chinese soldier