Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 457 Thanks to Tang Sen
On the sidelines, watching O'Neal winking and making faces at him, almost excitedly showing off his dance moves, Tang Sen felt incredibly strange.

It's an evil practice!
This is definitely a crooked and unethical approach.

And this kind of evil and crooked practice originated from himself.

It's foreseeable that tomorrow's newspapers will be full of reports about O'Neal finally solving his free throw problem and shooting free throws with one hand on his hip.

He will inevitably mention himself.

At this moment, Tang Sen truly felt that his reputation was about to be ruined.

It suddenly occurred to me why, in Journey to the West, Patriarch Bodhi told Sun Wukong not to mention his name outside.

It's a bit embarrassing.

This type of free throw is incredibly impactful.

There was a gasp and discussion in the stands.

The referee was stunned.

On both sides of the penalty area, Camby's eyes widened, and he tugged at Xavi next to him, asking what was going on.

Why is this guy shooting free throws like that?

Harvey sighed, thinking to himself, "Don't you read the media reports?"

The media had already reported that O'Neal had been practicing his free throws extensively.

So when he committed fouls before, Harvey was intimidated. He knew Tangsen's Midas touch; since he had helped O'Neal practice free throws, he was sure he could improve.

He just didn't expect O'Neal to make that kind of penalty.

It feels like a joke.

The players who went to training camp definitely knew that O'Neal trained like this, but everyone kept it a secret.

Harvey was understandably taken aback when the news was made public for the first time.

He also grew to admire Tang Sen more and more.

How did they manage to come up with such a free throw method and get O'Neal to accept it?

When O'Neal received the ball and put his hands on his hips again, it proved that he didn't act on a whim.

The cameras in the media area behind the backboard were practically exploding with clicks.

Nobody paid attention to the first ball, and nobody reacted to it.

Who knew O'Neal would come with such a big one?

In a flash, it went in again.

O'Neal walked back with his arms raised high, as excited as if he had won the championship.

He wants to see who will dare to say they can't shoot free throws, and who will dare to "Hack-a-Shaq" again.

Let those old bastards, Nelson and Popovich, cry themselves to sleep in the bathroom after they see the news tomorrow.

Your tricks are useless now; the last chain on the great white shark has been broken.

No, there's one more!
That's mid-range.

O'Neal had a sharp eye; from now on, if anyone said they were just a human stake outside the paint, he'd have to give them a piece of his mind.

Overjoyed, O'Neal turned around and smacked Camby on the head again.

He even had a strange feeling that losing weight was really great, that he could run and jump again.

Soon, O'Neal found an opportunity.

He pulled up to the free-throw line, raised his arms to block Allan Houston, and then dribbled the ball toward the paint.

Harvey quickly came to cover.

Houston also clung to O'Neal as he chased after him.

Just then, without turning his head, Kobe deftly flicked the ball backward.

It was delivered precisely to O'Neal.

After the pick-and-roll, O'Neal quickly stepped back, finding himself in an unguarded position.

Upon receiving the ball, muscle memory made him instinctively lift it, his feet slightly rising, his back straightening, just like a zombie coming back to life, and with a jolt, his wrist flicked the basketball away.

Although this shooting form is far less elegant than a free throw with one hand on hip, O'Neal tolerated it for the sake of the shooting percentage.

There was a clang.

The basketball bounced into the hoop.

George Carr, who had just sat down, jumped up again, dumbfounded.

At that moment, he had only one thought in his mind: Is this still Shaq?

Barkley, who was commentating on the game, echoed the same sentiment.

"WTF!" The series of beeps on the TV showed just how shocked Barkley was when he saw the shot.

Barkley dismissed O'Neal's previous free throws with his hands on his hips as just him being playful and showing off.

But at this moment, seeing O'Neal make a mid-range shot was as impactful as waking up to see a news report saying that O'Neal had turned into a woman.

Because that's not like Shaq at all.

Of course O'Neal could shoot mid-range shots. He could also go one-on-one against Jordan, dribbling between his legs, then backing down and faking left and right before turning around and shooting a jump shot.

But that wasn't a competition.

A free throw is a mid-range shot, especially a mid-range shot when there is no one guarding you.

Throughout his career, O'Neal's free throw percentage has been around 50%.

If his free throw percentage is this low, you can imagine how low it is when he's being guarded.

So the conclusion is clear: O'Neal simply doesn't have a mid-range shot.

He can make a hook shot from 10 feet, but he can never make a standard jump shot from 10 feet.

"Tang, what exactly did you do?"

"Shaq, damn it, what are you doing? Why are you training in new technologies?"

Barkley yelled at the camera.

This feeling is like a student who is a poor student in class suddenly starting to study after returning from summer vacation.

The sense of incongruity was too strong.

But despite the jokes and banter, Kenny Smith couldn't help but say, "If Shaq really improved his free throws and even his mid-range shot, I don't know how powerful he would be."

Ernie Johnson quickly interjected, "Don't forget, he also lost weight."

Losing weight alone is already a powerful weapon; now that two shortcomings have been addressed, it's terrifying to even think about.

In fact, Shaquille O'Neal is terrifying enough as he is today.

In the first quarter, O'Neal, who had been resting and holding back for a month, was eager to put on a crazy performance in today's opening game, and his offensive desire was frighteningly strong.

In the first quarter, he tore apart the Nuggets' interior defense, scoring 15 points in the quarter alone.

What's really scary is that he made one mid-range jumper and all four of his free throws.

In other words, based on the original O'Neal, at least 4 points are extra.

After losing weight, O'Neal's physical fitness also recovered significantly.

He sat on the sidelines for a few minutes, then quickly put on his gear and went back into action.

By halftime, he had already scored a total of 26 points.

Camby had four fouls on him.

O'Neal maintained this form until the end of the game.

He was unstoppable to begin with, and it wasn't the finals, so there wasn't a situation where two or three people would hang on him.

He could beat Camby, who was unable to take care of himself, in a one-on-one fight.

Harvey's double-teaming had a limited impact.

In this situation, 47 points and 14 rebounds were O'Neal's final performance.

The Lakers defeated the Nuggets 112-100.

As expected, the match was reported by many television stations later that day, without even having to wait until the next day.

The next day, a photo of O'Neal shooting a free throw with one hand on his hip became the front page headline of the Los Angeles Times.

This brought tears of joy to many Los Angeles fans.

For years, every Lakers fan has felt a pang of anxiety whenever they see Shaquille O'Neal standing at the free-throw line.

Moreover, especially during crucial moments, seeing O'Neal's bewildered and frustrated expression made him feel stifled and uncomfortable, and Lakers fans felt even more stifled.

But O'Neal just couldn't get rid of this habit.

But now O'Neal has changed!

Not only can he shoot free throws, but he's also lost weight, and to everyone's surprise, he can shoot jump shots.

So the Los Angeles Times headline was very direct, not praising or exclaiming that O'Neal could shoot free throws, but rather a huge sentence.

Thank you, Tang Sen!

In their words, Lakers fans all over the world should thank Townsend for O'Neal's transformation.

At the same time, the prestige of being the top basketball trainer continues to increase.

(End of this chapter)