Champion, please stay!

Chapter 167, page 165: Two of the Four Shooting Guards Break Through Defense
Ariza only released his grip on the Yishui jersey after the final whistle blew.

Yi Shui glanced at Tie Zha with disdain: What do you take me for? Do you think I'm the kind of person who would secretly rush over to score two points after the opponent has given up?

You have a really good eye for people...

Even after the match ended, the cheers and shouts from the fans continued!

After Kobe missed a shot, bringing his field goal percentage to 15 of 31, and the Lakers gave up, the big screen switched from the game footage to a leaderboard—the NBA's all-time rookie single-game scoring rankings.

Yi Shui scored 58 points, tying Wilt Chamberlain for the most points in a single rookie game in history!

Actually, D'Antoni had arranged for Yi Shui to take that last shot; he was just one shot away from scoring 60+ points in a single game.

But before going on stage, Yi Shui called his teammates together and left a second option.

The situation was even more difficult than he had anticipated. He had barely stepped onto the court, and before he could even inbound the ball, Odom had him glued to his skin; when he went to screen for Gasol, Gasol immediately relentlessly guarded him; and Kobe charged at him as he went to screen Gasol…

When the score was reversed earlier, Yi Shui made two reckless plays, scoring one and drawing one foul, for a total of 4 points. He had already used up all his energy and simply didn't have the strength to run back.

Fortunately, there was a backup plan, allowing Curry to receive the ball directly in the corner where he has the best shooting accuracy. The elementary school student did not disappoint him, hitting the game-winning three-pointer.

However, when Yi Shui saw the opponent's formation, he also hoped that Odom could cover for Curry. If that happened, he would definitely choose to elbow the old blacksmith and rush in to receive the ball and go all out...

Reporters surrounded them, asking questions related to the 58 points.

"It's a bit of a pity to be just one goal short of 60 points, but victory is more important."

Better at scoring than Kobe? Are you kidding me? He once scored more points in just 30 minutes of play than I did tonight. But who can predict the future? I just think someone will eventually surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in total points.

The greatest rookie of all time? I'll work hard.

the other side……

Kobe broke down: "How am I supposed to evaluate Brook's performance tonight? How am I supposed to evaluate it? He scored 58 points, he's the greatest rookie of all time, okay?!"

...

The live interview only had a few short questions, but things were different after the match.

This time, Yi Shui actually saw New York at four in the morning, and the national sports channel broadcast a live program for him in the middle of the afternoon back home...

Fortunately, he wasn't the only one in New York who saw the news at 4 a.m. From the team owner to the management, to the trainers, to the players... everyone was preparing for the show at 2 a.m. and going on air at 3 a.m.

However, when Yi Shui asked if he could invite the whole team to record the show, he was thinking that everyone would suffer together. Unexpectedly, everyone, including the boss, was very excited and even thanked him!
Yi Shui went straight to bed when he got home. He didn't wake up until almost 1 p.m. on the first day of the new month. He picked up his phone and saw a bunch of missed calls and text messages.

He called back those he was close to and texted those he wasn't so close to. After a while, he finally came to his senses, silently recited a command, and the system screen appeared before his eyes.

"The Holy Land Pact... has defeated the Lakers. Congratulations on receiving the reward: Stamina +1. Your stamina has increased from 91 to 92. Your stamina talent cap has reached the historical level (95)."

"The next generation... Your score: 58 points, Kobe Bryant's score: 46 points, completed, congratulations on receiving the reward: Pull-up Jump Shot (Kobe Bryant version)."

Yi Shui remembered that this was the third stamina point he had obtained. His original stamina talent limit was 92, and now it had reached his original limit. Fortunately, stamina points would also raise the limit, so he still had 3 points of room for improvement.

Thinking back to last night, he played the same 44 minutes and took the same 30+ shots, but in the end he couldn't even break free from Ariza to score two points. And the old blacksmith, who also had to defend him, was still able to run out of space to lift the ball and shoot despite Ariza's close defense and Wilson Chandler's pursuit... It's truly enviable.

He reviewed last night's game and said, "I must say, championship-level teams are really strong, and they have a higher margin for error than the Celtics. He scored 58 points, Curry also had 10 points in half a quarter, and they almost got overturned."

Three years of rational science, two consecutive championships at their peak, they were indeed formidable. It was only in the latter half of the second quarter that Phil Jackson made a blunder in the rotation, trying to play the same kind of 'brainless double-team' as their team.

This kind of double-teaming isn't something you can just pull off casually. Cheeks spent a long time figuring out how to balance double-teaming and rim protection.

Thinking about the Lakers' defense last night, Yi Shui discovered something that was different from what he had expected—Fisher's overall defensive performance was much better than Farmar and Shannon Brown!

In one-on-one defense, Old Fish is definitely a liability, but he hardly hinders the defense on the wing. He has a good grasp of the timing of double teams and help defense, especially in blocking players who are driving forward. This reminds Yi Shui of Hayes, who is a roadblock.

After getting up and taking a shower, Yi Shui called his usual family restaurant nearby to order takeout... He went to his study, turned on his computer, and checked how the news was praising him.

This time, the scenes on both portal websites and forums were extremely harmonious.

There was still a Final Four game last night, but several portal websites still put his 58-point performance on their front page. The Final Four game report was on the bottom front page, and the NBA Player of the Month award was even on the second page below.

Yi Shui won Rookie of the Month for the fifth consecutive time in the Eastern Conference; in the Western Conference, Rose also completed his third consecutive win, firmly establishing himself as the 'second best rookie of 2008'.

Mike Brown and George Karl were named Coach of the Month.

LeBron James and Pau Gasol were named Players of the Month.

Seeing Gasol win the award, Yi Shui thought about how this top power forward played for the Grizzlies for six and a half years and only made the All-Star team once. Now with the Lakers, he's a guaranteed All-Star reserve, and this season he's sure to make the All-NBA team and has already won a Player of the Month award…

On his side, his scoring performance in March, thanks to last night's 58 points, raised his average score in 17 games to 28.7 points, but he only got 1 out of 13 votes, becoming the background for King.

He faced the same situation as Wade and Howard last month: his personal performance reached a new high, but with a record of 10 wins and 7 losses, he certainly couldn't compete with James' 12 wins and 3 losses.

Upon seeing the video of the old blacksmith yelling "He XXX scored 58 points!", Yi Shui felt delighted.

Yi Shui also saw reports related to Carter. This morning, a reporter called Carter and asked, "The Great One got his second 50+ point game and caught up with your 50+ point record...", but the call was hung up.

Carter wasn't the only one who was relentlessly questioned by reporters, but he was singled out because his reactions were always different from others.

Yi Shui muttered to himself, "These uncrowned kings really don't miss any opportunity to stir up trouble."

After browsing the news for a while, Yi Shui saw that the topic of him being the "strongest rookie in history" was getting more and more popular, but the promised "passing on the torch of the scoring king of the era" was something the media hyped up before the game to attract fans to watch the game, but they never mentioned it after the game.

His team didn't hype up this topic either, after all, the old blacksmith's 62 points in three quarters and 81 points in a single game are there for all to see, it would be too shameless to try to piggyback on it.

...

After finishing his meal, Yi Shui felt that he had recovered enough, so he went to Madison Square Garden to practice.

It's already 4 PM, so there's no time for a full training session. But that's okay. Their schedule is easy in April. They don't have a game until the 3rd, so there's still time for a full training session tomorrow. The main reason is that he can't resist practicing Old Blacksmith's pull-up jump shot.

Last night, Kobe showed off all sorts of flashy moves when he pulled up for a jump shot from close to mid-range, and he wanted to try out his pull-up three-pointer while running around the three-point line.

At 8 p.m., Yi Shui returned home on time, turned on the TV, and watched his old teammates' crazy third and fourth place matches.

He hopes his teammates can go even further, ideally defending their title, so he can also be a member of a 'two-time champion' team.

Two hours later, Yi Shui jumped up excitedly!

亚德21分10板、肯巴-沃克18分9助攻、罗宾逊12分、塔比特6分13板4盖帽、戴森11分……哈士奇队以85比79险胜密歇根斯巴达人队，与北卡焦油踵队会师芝加哥！
Yi Shui ran back to her bedroom, grabbed her phone, and called her teammates. She couldn't go to the event, but she could at least offer verbal support…

(End of this chapter)