Basketball miracles

Chapter 106 [40+10 Consecutive Times! A Deadly Weapon!]

The NBA regular season continued, with the Lakers easily defeating the Mavericks 135-118 at home, marking their third win against their opponent this season.

肖途延续了全明星正赛的好状态，表现炸裂。他出战40分钟，19投13中，三分球5中2，罚球16中13，砍下41分16篮板4助攻2抢断3盖帽。

Xiao Tu has a long way to go before accumulating 100 missed shots, but against the Mavericks, he doesn't need any shooting buffs; he's simply unstoppable, like a god descending to earth.

Because the Mavericks' interior players are weak, lacking a center to protect the rim, Xiao Tu can easily rack up stats. Barkley also had a breakout game against the Mavericks, scoring a career-high number of points.

Xiao Tu is very experienced in manipulating data.

Has he never eaten pork but at least seen a pig run? The NBA of the future may have a dedicated style of play focused on padding stats.

The strategies of Tian Ji's horse racing, traveling at off-peak times, and playing only in half the court to create fast break opportunities are all examples of how players can still put up impressive statistics at 40, as long as they are shameless and don't play defense.

Xiao Tu is a rookie, so of course he wouldn't go that far. His secret to racking up points is to increase his shot attempts against teams with poor paint defense. As long as his scoring efficiency is the highest on the team, his teammates won't complain about him taking too many shots.

In the two previous matches between the two teams, Xiao Tu was matched up against the No. 4 rookie Sam Perkins, and his similar physique gave him a significant advantage.

In this game, Mavericks coach Dick Motta decided to change his approach and focus on offense, making 208cm tall, 100kg blue-collar center Kurt Nimfes a substitute and starting 206cm tall Kendrick Perkins at center.

This arrangement eliminates the need for Perkins to match up against Xiao Tu, allowing for better spacing on offense. While Perkins' shooting ability is far superior to Nimfes', this approach only strengthens the offense, making the team's interior defense even weaker.

Perkins is at a height disadvantage against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which allows him to keep the opponent outside the penalty area, but he cannot help his teammates with defensive cover or assistance.

Xiao Tu was matched up against Jane Vincent, who is 201cm tall and weighs 100kg, for a significant period of time, giving him a physical advantage. Although Vincent is strong, he is too short. After cutting to the basket, Xiao Tu could easily get a shot off in the paint, and no one on the Mavericks could block him.

Xiao Tu's performance on the counterattack was even more sharp, easily dominating Vincent one-on-one. He repeatedly forced his way past Vincent to score layups, converting two 2+1 plays.

As it turned out, assigning highly mobile players to defend Xiao Tu was ineffective; shorter players could only keep up. Xiao Tu didn't need to dribble past anyone; he could simply use his body to crush his way into the paint and shoot, his superior jumping ability making him immune to interference.

Vincent fouled out in the final quarter, looking dejected and helpless.

Xiao Tu set a new career high with 16 free throw attempts throughout the game. Once he gets going, players who are physically weaker than him have no choice but to foul him, and they have to go all out to stop him.

Xiao Tu also grabbed 9 offensive rebounds, more than defensive rebounds. The Mavericks' plan to use a shorter forward to face the basket and pull Xiao Tu out of the paint worked, but it couldn't stop him from grabbing offensive rebounds.

The Mavericks' offense was highly efficient, holding on until the final quarter before falling behind. This suited Xiao Tu perfectly; otherwise, his playing time would have been too short to reach 40+ points.

After the match, Xiao Tu indeed received a silver treasure chest, and the 40+10 stats would allow him to upgrade the chest's quality.

Moreover, he was incredibly lucky and unleashed a basketball technique while showering in the locker room—a fadeaway jump shot!
After receiving the initiation, Xiao Tu was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Byron Scott, who was showering nearby, asked, "What funny thing have you thought of?"

"I played well today, so I'm in a good mood. I feel like scoring is getting easier and easier," Xiao Tu said with a smile.

Scott laughed and said, "You score so easily, everyone envies your physical abilities."

Scott's physical attributes are equally excellent, but he can't compare to Xiao Tu's; he has to rely on technique to score. People with exceptional physical abilities don't need complex techniques. Little did they know that Xiao Tu was actually happy to have acquired those skills; if he's willing to practice, his basketball skills will be quite good in the future.

Xiao Tu was somewhat disappointed that he acquired this technology a little too late.

If he had acquired the skill last summer and practiced his fadeaway jump shot five times harder, he would definitely be much more confident now and could probably score 5 more points per game.

The fadeaway jump shot technique is usually launched from a position around 45 degrees to either side of the edge of the paint. When jumping, the player tries to lean back as far as possible to avoid the defender's block, and then shoots the ball at the highest point of the jump.

Players can use fadeaway jump shots from other positions, but certainly not as often as from the 45-degree angles on either side.

Even among "fadeaway jump shot masters," the difference in their shooting motions varies. Some are incredibly graceful, while others resemble a crab. Therefore, Xiao Tu believes this move isn't easy to master. Even if he achieves a perfect form, he must cultivate good habits and master the shooting posture. Without a good form, even with a fadeaway mid-range shot accuracy of over 50%, Xiao Tu won't be able to use it.

When it comes to fadeaway jump shots, the first name that comes to mind for fans is Michael Jordan, followed by Kobe Bryant.

The Bulls didn't have a particularly strong center to execute their tactics, so the championship-winning Bulls' "triangle offense" revolved around Jordan, the 198cm shooting guard.

Given Jordan's size and strength, he couldn't force his way to the basket like an inside player, so his main scoring method became the turnaround fadeaway jump shot from outside the paint.

After countless hours of unseen practice and refinement, Jordan perfected this technique. Coupled with his accurate mid-range shooting, the devastating power of his fadeaway jumper began to astound the entire league, and he won ten scoring titles through one-on-one play!

For a player to master the fadeaway jump shot, the key is to have excellent jumping ability and a perfect shooting form. Xiao Tu possesses both, making the fadeaway jump shot a very suitable technique for him.

Xiao Tu only needs to familiarize himself with the shooting motion and practice regularly to improve his mid-range shooting percentage. Considering his height and jumping ability, he will be harder to block than Jordan.

In the future, no one will focus on practicing this offensive technique because the release area is an inefficient scoring zone. In the 8s and 90s, when the rules favored one-on-one battles between star players, the fadeaway jumper was a deadly weapon.

When Jordan at his peak used a fadeaway jumper, whether it went in or not was a matter of touch, and had little to do with the opponent's defense.

Xiao Tu wanted to master this move as soon as possible. If he could master it before Jordan... just thinking about it made him laugh.

This is truly following someone else's path, leaving them with nowhere to go.

However, unlike Jordan, he can't keep taking endless mid-range shots. He won't forget what the most efficient scoring method is; mastering long-range shooting is the key, and it will work in any era.

He had already planned his strategy: focus on three-pointers and drives to the basket, supplemented by mid-range shots and isolation plays on the weak side.

What makes Xiao Tu happiest is that the fadeaway jump shot is also suitable for small forwards. Although small forwards generally have average jumping ability, they are 201cm tall with shoes on and have a wingspan of 221cm, giving them an advantage in terms of physical attributes.

He's only focused on two techniques so far, so his arsenal is a bit limited. But he believes that mastering the Euro step and fadeaway jumper will be enough to dominate in this year's playoffs, so he doesn't need to worry about anything else for now.

Silver chests are relatively easy to obtain; Xiao Tu estimates that as long as he wins a game in the playoffs, he'll get a silver chest.

However, he didn't have time to practice any more techniques he acquired; trying to do too much at once would be counterproductive. He hadn't even mastered the Euro step; he only used it occasionally in counter-attacks.

At the post-match press conference, a group of reporters asked Xiao Tu to share his thoughts.

Including the All-Star Game, Xiao Tu has scored 40+10 in two consecutive games, which is something to be proud of.

Xiao Tu completely overshadowed Magic Johnson today, while the other two superstars had their expected stats. Fans believe that if he puts in a little more effort, he could become the team's leading scorer this season.

Xiao Tu remained humble: "With the help of my teammates, I'm becoming more and more confident and willing to take on offensive responsibilities. I was in good form today, so I took a lot of shots."

The reporter asked, "Will you be making more appearances in the future?"

"It depends on the coach's arrangements. I will continue to improve in the future, and 41 points is definitely not my limit."

The reporter asked, "Many people think you haven't taken enough shots this season. What's your opinion?"

Xiao Tu shook his head and smiled, "I've already taken quite a few shots because the Lakers have many offensive options. Sharing the ball makes it easier to win. Whoever has the best touch on the court takes more shots. If the ball is concentrated on one person, I think the opponent can make targeted defenses."

The Lakers can win easily; there's no need to complicate the game.

Concentrating the ball in one's possession is never a good thing, except for the triangle offense. That's a tactic that creates one-on-one opportunities for star players, resulting in two players taking multiple shots and role players fighting tooth and nail on defense.

The Lakers won't play like that in the short term. Riley prefers to move the ball around, which makes their offense much more effective.

(End of this chapter)