The longest river

Chapter 106 Show Number 13 Cries After Being Beaten Up
Long Beach, like Inglewood, is a satellite city of Los Angeles, except that one is located southwest of Los Angeles and the other is due south.

However, compared to Inglewood, Long Beach, as a port city, is much larger. Although it is a satellite city, it is the seventh largest city in California.

After arriving in Long Beach with the Pacers, Yang Shuai checked into a local motel, the environment of which was comparable to the Circus Hotel where he stayed in Las Vegas.

This is also a major characteristic of the Summer League, because it is not an official event and the teams pay for it themselves, so they naturally try to save money wherever possible.

Yang Shuai also didn't sleep well all night because the room was poorly soundproofed, and the sound of the four-wheel alignment next door was like it was right next to his ear, and it kept making noise for most of the night.

Fortunately, the Summer League only had one venue, and their game was the last one in the morning. He took advantage of the waiting time to catch up on a long nap on the bus.

Half an hour before the start of the match, they began preparing to enter the competition venue.

This competition was held at the Pyramid Arena at California State University, Long Beach, one of Long Beach's landmark buildings.

However, before they even went inside, they were drawn to a huge poster at the entrance.

It's really hard not to be drawn in, because it's a full 30 feet tall!
In front of the poster is a large fountain, which you can see even from a great distance.

And the person on the poster, yes, is Yang Shuai.

The Pacers players were stunned, including Carlisle; they had never seen such an extravagant poster before.

In fact, Yang Shuai did not expect that Vaccaro had indeed told him that Reebok would do a pre-event promotion for his signature shoes at the Summer League.

However, the scale of this publicity campaign is quite large.

It is no exaggeration to say that anyone who enters this venue cannot help but be drawn to it.

This "forced lighting" approach has a huge publicity effect, but it also generates a lot of hatred.

Yang Shuai's signing of a new 3000 million yuan contract with Reebok, plus a share of sneaker sales, was already enviable enough. Now, this latest move is enough to make anyone green with envy.

Before entering the stadium, Carlisle couldn't help but remind Yang Shuai to be careful and protect himself on the field.

He wasn't worried about Yang Shuai's performance; second-year stars usually dominate the Summer League. He was afraid Yang Shuai would get injured.

Yang Shuai nodded. In fact, he said he quite liked Reebok's provocative behavior.

His main purpose in playing in the Summer League was to earn points, but with Vaccaro's actions, he can save himself a lot of trouble.

When they entered the venue, the match was still going on.

The game currently underway is between the Lakers and the Chinese men's basketball team.

The Chinese men's basketball team is also one of the participating teams in this year's Summer League because they will be participating in the Olympics in Atlanta in a few days.

When Yang Shuai saw all those Asian faces on the field, he felt an unprecedented sense of warmth.

Although the national team was already terrible in the era before he traveled back in time, it's hard for a Chinese person not to feel emotional when seeing their own national team in the United States.

Moreover, the national team at that time was not bad.

Because the era was so far removed from his own, Yang Shuai could only recognize Battulga and Wang Zhizhi on the court.

However, the most dazzling player on the court at this moment was "China's Jordan" Hu Weidong.

As soon as Yang Shuai sat down, Hu Weidong unleashed a powerful dunk during a fast break.

That made him feel a little dazed; he had forgotten when he last saw a Chinese defender play like that in his past life.

Or perhaps you've never seen it before.

The Chinese men's basketball team was initially trailing the Lakers by about 15 points, but they made a series of successful defensive plays and rallied to close the gap to 74-80, forcing the Lakers to call a timeout.

During the timeout, Kobe, who was coming off the court, noticed the Pacers team entering the court and then saw Yang Shuai.

Yang Shuai reached out and greeted Kobe.

Although Shaquille O'Neal showed the potential to contend for the top spot last season, Kobe Bryant remains the current number one.

Moreover, he no longer had the same worries as before. After all, the better the relationship off the court, the stronger the contrast when provoking the opponent on the court, and the greater the emotional fluctuation.

Well... after the timeout, Kobe scored 10 points in a row, completely dominating the Chinese men's basketball team.

To be fair, aside from being as thin as when he first entered the league, Kobe has made great progress in all aspects of his abilities.

Basically, as long as there is a pick and roll, the Chinese men's basketball team's defense will collapse, and the players who come to help defend cannot keep up with his pace.

One particular play was the most obvious: Sun Jun, nicknamed "Tiger King," who was helping on defense, was directly dunked on by Kobe Bryant while he was on the move.

In the end, the Lakers defeated the Chinese men's basketball team 105-85.

Kobe scored 22 points, while Hu Weidong scored a game-high 30 points.

After the game ended, the Pacers players went down onto the court to warm up.

Kobe did not leave with the Lakers; he chose to stay and watch Yang Shuai's game.

When he saw Yang Shuai warming up, he went up to greet him.

"How was my performance just now?" It was clear that his outburst was because he had seen Yang Shuai.

"It's alright." Yang Shuai nodded.

"Not bad?" Kobe looked surprised; he thought Yang Shuai would definitely praise him.

"Adou, you still don't understand what kind of place you're about to enter," Yang Shuai said earnestly.

"I know, I'm ready!" Kobe was clearly unconvinced.

Yang Shuai smiled and didn't say anything more. Kobe's mentality is good; it will help him earn points in tomorrow's game.

The Pacers' opponent today is the Warriors' mixed team.

The reason it's called that is because it's not just made up of Warriors players; it also includes rookies from the Trail Blazers and Hornets.

To put it simply, the Summer League wasn't as formal in this era, and some teams wouldn't specifically form a team for it, but they still needed to develop their rookies, so they created this kind of team.

The most talked-about player on this team is this year's 13th overall pick, Kerry Kittles.

This year's draft lottery picks are mostly interior players, with only three wing players: Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, and Kittles.

So even though he was the 13th pick, he was still the third-ranked wing player among this year's rookies.

Kittles, nicknamed "Mosquito," graduated from Villanova University. Although he is slender, he has long arms and a graceful playing style. His three-pointers are especially sharp, making the opponent feel like a mosquito's sting.

Another point is that he is also a player from Ohio, but he was in the class of 1992. He completed four full years of college before entering the draft.

At the start of the match, his eager eyes revealed his inner desire.

You might think that players from the same state in the NBA all teach and mentor each other like Robertson, but in reality, players from the same state are more likely to step on Yang to achieve their own success.

The eye-catching poster, in particular, intensified his desire to an unprecedented degree.

However, Kittels soon suffered a major setback.

In the very first round of the match, he was completely overwhelmed by Yang Shuai.

Yang Shuai drove over Kittles to the paint and delivered a powerful dunk over him.

Kittles may have a really smooth playing style, or his three-pointers may be very accurate, but he is really too thin. He is thinner than Kobe, and even thinner than when Yang Shuai first entered the league.

Yang Shuai has gained weight from 92 kg at the end of last season to 98 kg in nearly two months since the end of the season in May.

He has already completely overwhelmed Kittels in terms of physical strength alone.

Because it was in Los Angeles, many fans who came to the event were there for Kobe, and they were still immersed in Kobe's previous wonderful performances.

But with just that one goal, Yang Shuai brought them back to reality.

Kobe, however, looked on with a furrowed brow.

Because he was wondering if he could withstand the impact of Yang Shuai if he replaced Kittels.

"How did you become a lottery pick? Aren't they afraid you'll get smashed to pieces on the court?"

After completing the dunk, Yang Shuai immediately got down to business.

During the transition from offense to defense, Kittles attempted to drive to the basket using a teammate's screen, but was immediately caught up by Yang Shuai and blocked with a powerful shot, also being knocked out of bounds.

The fans at the scene were stunned.

Although Kittles is a rookie, he played all four years of college before entering the NBA, but he doesn't seem to be a match for Young at all.

Moreover, Yang Shuai really showed no mercy.

After Kittels finally managed to get up from the ground, Yang Shuai walked right up to him and continued his trash talk: "The thing I hate most in this life is mosquitoes!"

At this moment, not only the Pacers players on the court, but also the Warriors players were shocked.

They must have heard plenty of trash talk to be able to stand on this stage, but Yang Shuai's trash talk is truly amazing from every angle!
Halfway through the game, Kittles was already completely outmatched.

However, Yang Shuai's output continued unabated.

Because of Carlisle's request, Yang Shuai had exclusive possession of the ball, which was like a dream come true back in Cleveland High School, where once he got the ball, he would just go for it.

Towards the end, the Warriors' league coach couldn't stand it anymore and substituted Kittles out of the game.

Immediately after leaving the court, Kittles broke down emotionally, covering his head with a towel and shaking uncontrollably.

Yang Shuai actually made Kittels cry!
This scene left the audience stunned.

Both were drafted 13th overall, but from a different draft class. One of them beat the other to tears... This is definitely going to be a legendary moment in Summer League history.

Kobe was stunned.

However, he was even more shocked by Yang Shuai's strength. You know, when he was trying out for the Nets, Kittles was also there, and Kittles showed that his immediate ability was stronger than his.

Given how strong Yang Shuai was, what he said to him earlier, is the NBA really that terrifying?

After Kittles left the court, many people speculated whether there was some past grudge between Yang Shuai and Kittles, since both of them are from Ohio.

But when the substitutes came on and Yang Shuai played the same way, they knew it had nothing to do with personal grudges; Yang Shuai was there to crush everyone.

At that moment, the huge poster that had initially aroused their envy transformed into an immense pressure.

That oppressive aura began when Yang Shuai made Kittels cry and didn't dissipate until the end of the match.

杨帅在自己的夏联首秀贡献了40分10板2助攻4抢断3盖帽，带领步行者队以98比68血洗了勇士联队。

If Kobe's 10-point run was spectacular, then Yang Shuai's performance was absolutely breathtaking.

As for the injury that Carlisle was worried about, it never happened.

When people are angry, they act impulsively, but when they are afraid, their minds go blank.

(End of this chapter)