Basketball Terminal

Chapter 118 The Great Emperor
With little suspense, the game quickly became garbage time, ending in less than two hours. The players left the arena around 4 PM, shortly after dark. Outside the arena, a group of people wearing masks and holding signs could be seen protesting. They weren't protesting against NBA games, but rather against a shooting that occurred on April 11th.

A Black man named Daughter Wright was pulled over by police in downtown Brooklyn, a suburb of Minneapolis, for an expired vehicle registration plate and improperly hung items. Because Wright did not produce a driver's license or insurance card, the police decided to arrest him. Wright resisted arrest, and the officer drew her gun. The officer, believing she had a Taser (left-hand side), actually pulled out a handgun (right-hand side) and shot and killed Wright.

It's been countless how many times police have pulled out their guns and killed people, especially Black people, in the United States. This latest incident has naturally sparked nationwide protests, particularly among the Black community. As the league with the largest Black player population, the NBA certainly had to take action. Therefore, the Nets vs. Timberwolves game, originally scheduled for the evening of April 12th, was postponed to 4 PM on April 13th.

After the game, the protesters hoped to use the NBA broadcast footage to spread their slogans and protest messages across the United States, generating sufficient impact. Li Wei, sitting on the bus watching all this, was already used to it; it was just another day in America.

The same incident that happened in Minnesota in 2020, where George Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck, caused a huge uproar. NBA players spoke out, and riots broke out in Minnesota, with arson, looting, and free shopping. In the end, nothing came of it. A year later, the same thing happened again.

NBA Black players have spoken out in support of the Black community and condemned police brutality, but the number of police officers killed or shot in the line of duty is equally significant. In the short term, this is an unsolvable problem in the United States. Moreover, a major motivation for Black players to enter the NBA is to escape their impoverished communities and move with their families to better, safer, wealthier neighborhoods, integrating into high society.

As the team bus drove away, a few protesters remained, holding signs and persisting in the cold Minnesota wind. Their actions were far more civilized than looting and vandalism.

The entire Nets team flew to Philadelphia overnight on a chartered plane. Li Wei left Luo Ping behind to handle Leeann Chin's contract signing; soon, he'd have a large sum of money in his account again. Coupled with his excellent performance in the game, Li Wei was in a great mood. So good that he temporarily forgot about the difficulties facing the next game. That's how the NBA is; it doesn't give you much time to savor the previous victory before you're immediately facing the next one.

The schedule is undoubtedly tough for the Nets, with back-to-back away games. The coaching staff has decided to rest Kevin Durant and field Kyrie Irving in the next game. Durant is quite unhappy with this decision; he doesn't want to rest, he wants to play. The next game against the Philadelphia 76ers will be a battle for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, with both teams currently tied. The winner will take the lead.

This kind of game, where they're vying for the top spot, has a completely different impact than playing against a weak team like Minnesota. Durant wants to make a difference in this kind of game.

However, Nash was adamant that the team needed rest, especially since it was a back-to-back game and an away game. When it comes to stubbornness, no one can sway Nash; if he says no, he means it. With each victory, Nash's control and authority over the team grew stronger, showing glimpses of what a great coach he might be.

In a good mood, Li Wei saw Durant being asked to rest and quietly leaned over to Nash to ask, "Coach, can I rest next game? It's a back-to-back on the road, I'm a little tired..."

“No way!” Nash refused firmly, saying, “Young players need to play more, what’s the point of resting?”

My heart is old…

"Shut up. But you won't start the next game; you'll be a substitute."

"Being a substitute is great! Substitutes should play more games, I like being a substitute."

Not only will Durant miss the next game, but Blake Griffin, a long-time injury patient, will also be sidelined. While with the Pistons, he played through the playoffs with an injury, which aggravated his condition and prevented him from ever returning to his peak. After a period of rehabilitation following his move to the Nets, he was finally able to play, but he will be used sparingly. With these long-term injury patients resting, the able-bodied players will naturally be rotated around, playing in different positions.

With Griffin absent, the Nets' bench is too thin. Nash knows that no matter how well the starters are assembled, they are no match for the 76ers, whose roster is very complete. However, the 76ers' bench has always been their weakness, and this can be exploited.

So, we're playing Li Wei as the sixth man to try and put up a fight against the 76ers during transitional periods. Then, we can put Li Wei back on the court in crucial moments to try and secure a win. If we really can't win, the Nets can accept a loss.

"What a brilliant idea! It reminds me of the ancient story of Tian Ji's horse race! Coach, have you been studying Sun Tzu's Art of War lately? I feel your strategies have improved again." Nash briefly explained the reasons and thought process behind the substitutes to Li Wei, and Li Wei praised him without hesitation, making Nash a little embarrassed.

It's just a simple rotation adjustment, just to make the bench more sturdy. Is it really that significant?
Obviously not. Li Wei was just making things up to flatter Nash and make him happy. In his heart, he thought that playing as a substitute in back-to-back away games was indeed a good idea. The 76ers were currently the team with the best record in the East, and their roster was complete. Sitting on the bench and observing for a while would be beneficial for his performance.

Li Wei never fights unprepared; knowing yourself and your opponent is essential. Preparing for a match involves not only looking at the opponent's previous performance but also at the current situation. Who is in good form, who is performing poorly, who looks listless, and who is full of energy—all of these will determine how Li Wei plays on the court tonight.

Li Wei isn't a "bully who picks on the weak and fears the strong," avoiding those in good form and targeting those in poor form; on the contrary, he does the opposite. He acts as a firefighter to cool down those in good form, and forces those in poor form to have more possession and play more, taking advantage of their misfortune.

This is called striking after the opponent has made a move.

Upon arriving in Philadelphia, Levi called Trima, who was staying at the same hotel. Because of a match the next day, Levi refrained from having sex with Trima. No matter how Trima tried to seduce him, even performing a seductive striptease, Levi resisted. Finally, Trima had to put her clothes back on and said, "You're a ruthless person. A ruthless person can definitely achieve great things."

"You can't just look at the present; the next game is very important."

"You've been playing exceptionally well lately, and everyone's been talking about you."

"Thank you to Turner TV for the interview, and thank you for your recommendation, which gave me the opportunity to showcase myself."

"Will you stay and sleep with me tonight?"

"No, you'll definitely seduce me. I absolutely can't let my legs give way in the next match."

Victory and outstanding performance can be addictive. Some people, after winning a game, think about taking a breather, realizing they've achieved their goal and can finally relax. But others, after winning, want to win even more; after performing well, they want to perform even better. This is because they enjoy victory, enjoy their excellent performance, and are unwilling to accept defeat again.

Just like winning a video game championship, some people choose to relax at a karaoke bar with young models for a few rounds, while others choose to play a few games to unwind. The former's success is temporary, while the latter makes success a habit.

Li Wei is slowly experiencing the joy of victory and outstanding performance, as well as the psychological pleasure brought by the high level of public attention. He can resist the temptation of having a beautiful woman in his arms, because winning the game and performing well is even more satisfying. As the competition progresses and the playoffs draw closer, Li Wei's dates with women are decreasing. Unless he absolutely needs a normal outlet, he prefers to stay home watching game videos and studying tactical details.

That night, Li Wei agreed to Tiandi Zhenli's request to sleep with her, and Zhenli promised she wouldn't bite him. He woke up normally the next day, and Zhenli indeed hadn't done anything to Li Wei. However, the observant Li Wei noticed damp stains on the sheets, and that night he felt a gentle, familiar hand caressing him.

"This woman is even more perverted than I imagined... but I like her."

On the evening of April 14th, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, a highly anticipated game took place: the battle for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Philadelphia 76ers are on fire this season, signing Dwight Howard and Danny Green, who were rejected by the defending champions, in free agency to bolster their frontcourt and backcourt depth. The team's head coach has been changed from the ineffective Brown to the championship-winning Doc Rivers!
While Doc Rivers is known as the "King of Comebacks," having been reversed multiple times in the playoffs from 2-3 and 1-3 deficits, it's also true that leading a series 3-2 or 3-1 is a skill in itself. Furthermore, Rivers' regular season performance has been consistently good; he has led his teams to over 900 regular season wins, just shy of the 1000-win milestone. As one of the few Black coaches who were originally players, Rivers is highly regarded in the league. His quick return to the 76ers after being fired by the Clippers following consecutive comebacks speaks volumes about his reputation within the industry. Fans' perceptions often differ from industry norms. Fans focus solely on on-court performance, while coaches consider many more factors when choosing a coach.

It seems that bringing in Rivers was the right decision for the 76ers. The 76ers are on the path to winning the championship, and Philadelphia fans still believe in the process.

Kevin Durant, who hadn't had enough of the previous game, was once again sidelined. Kyrie Irving started, along with DeAndre Jordan, Jeff Green, Tobias Harris, and Landry Shamet. Nash started Shamet because of his shooting ability, which could create more space for the team. Furthermore, Shamet's recent performances have been good, deserving a starting opportunity.

Chiozza, who performed well in the last game, will likely remain on the bench. He's on the coach's radar, but not fully integrated; his shooting and height are significant weaknesses. He's effective against weaker teams like the Timberwolves, but in a crucial game like the 76ers, he'll probably have to stay on the bench again.

Compared to the Nets' depleted roster, the 76ers have a full complement of players and a formidable lineup on paper. Their starting lineup includes Joel Embiid at center, Tobias Harris at power forward, Danny Green at small forward, Seth Curry at shooting guard, and Ben Simmons at point guard.

The 76ers, like the Nets, just played a game yesterday, defeating the Dallas Mavericks on the road. Embiid scored 36 points against the Mavericks' interior defense, leading his team to victory and bringing the 76ers' record to par with the Nets. The Cameroonian center recently recovered from injury and, after a period of rest, is clearly in excellent form.

In the previous game against the Mavericks, he drew fouls early on, making all 6 of 6 free throws, and finished with 14 of 15, laying the foundation for the 76ers' victory. While reviewing the game tape, Li Wei realized that this seemingly large and imposing player was a penchant for drawing fouls, and that he needed to be careful on defense.

The NBA arena is becoming increasingly open, and tonight there were over 4000 fans at the Wells Fargo Center, creating a lively atmosphere that will likely motivate the players and help them perform at their best. However, the jerseys worn by both teams tonight were truly awful. The 76ers wore white jerseys with large bells around their necks, and aside from some stripes along the edges, there were no other decorations.

Li Wei thought to himself that NBA jerseys, once designed and developed by Nike, were truly ugly. They released all sorts of versions—commemorative, retro, urban, etc.—but most of them reeked of cheapness, euphemistically called minimalism. Some even displayed nonsensical postmodern art, making it hard to tell if they were basketball jerseys or promotional shirts. Moreover, the 76ers clearly didn't understand Chinese feng shui. Printing a giant clock on your jersey is like sending yourself to your doom—how could that possibly turn out well?
The iconic black star jersey worn by Allen Iverson when he led the 76ers to the NBA Finals remains a timeless classic in the hearts of fans.

The Nets' jerseys weren't much better. Plain black with "Nets" printed on it, no logo whatsoever—worse than even high school jerseys. And the numbers were circled in white. Li Wei thought to himself, "Thank goodness I'm wearing number 0. Look at Jeff Green wearing number 8, with a white circle around it, like a black eight-ball!"
Li Wei strongly suspects that Nike takes kickbacks in the design and manufacturing of its jerseys, outsourcing the design layer by layer, ultimately subcontracting it to fashion design students as summer projects. He also alleges that the manufacturing process is shoddy, using Vietnamese-made jerseys instead of Chinese-made ones, resulting in jerseys that tear easily and rip upon impact, with extremely questionable quality. No wonder he still frequently sees fans wearing classic jerseys from the past on the sidelines, rather than the so-called trendy designs of today.

However, Embiid's playing style is both modern and retro, seemingly at odds with his physique. Like Towns, Embiid prefers to finish with outside shots, which is his modern side. The difference is that while Towns likes to shoot threes, Embiid prefers the increasingly outdated mid-range shot, which makes him seem retro.

So there's a strange situation in the league now: the 13-19 foot mid-range, a shooting zone once dominated by guards and forwards, is now being shot most frequently and accurately by a center.

The 76ers are not only strange in this respect, but they also have another strange thing: while guards all over the league are shooting three-pointers like crazy, with some guards averaging double-digit three-point attempts per game, their core point guard is a guy who can't shoot three-pointers and doesn't even attempt them. That guy is number one draft pick Ben Simmons.

These two oddities make the 76ers the most unique team in the entire league. A center who doesn't like to go inside, paired with a point guard who doesn't shoot three-pointers and can only score inside, this unique combination of guard and center can only be fielded by the Philadelphia 76ers.

After the jump ball, the game began, with the 76ers gaining possession first. Their opening strategy was refreshing. They focused their ball possession on Ben Simmons, who used his speed to exploit gaps in the Nets' defense and Embiid's presence to drive to the basket and score. The Nets missed from the perimeter. Ben Simmons then backed down and drove towards the basket, while Embiid stood at the top of the key, sticking out his back and raising his hand in a shooting motion.

It's a classic low-post inside-out play, but unlike the classic version, the "inside" player is a guard, and the "out" player is a center. This unusual tactic is cleverly executed. The key is that DeAndre Jordan, worried about Simmons one-on-one with Irving, went to help defend, completely leaving Embiid open. Simmons passed to Embiid, who caught the ball and drained a three-pointer!

Li Wei, watching from the sidelines, shook his head. Despite Ben Simmons' 2.06-meter height, he might not be able to handle Irving in the post. Irving is adept at defending big men, and DeAndre Jordan clearly hadn't considered the situation. The Nets quickly scored as well; Jeff Green on the wing received the ball and drained a three-pointer. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought it was Durant.

The 76ers had a clear advantage at the start, but instead of focusing their attack on Embiid, they concentrated the ball on Simmons and Tobias Harris. Because both Simmons and Harris were mismatched against Irving and Joe Harris, the 76ers used these mismatches to create scoring opportunities for other players, a strategy that proved very successful at the start.

Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons repeatedly used their height to dominate their opponents in the low post, passing the ball inside to their teammates for easy baskets. If the opponent didn't double-team, they would exploit mismatches against smaller players, a tactic that made the Nets struggle early on. Their 3-2 zone defense seemed unable to effectively counter this kind of targeted mismatch attack.

Offensively, the Nets played too simply, relying solely on Kyrie Irving and Jeff Green's individual skills to force shots and solve defenses, as their outside shooting hadn't found its rhythm. After shooting so accurately against the Timberwolves in the previous game, a dip in form was expected this time. The game went into an official timeout after Joe Harris was called for a foul on Ben Simmons during a defensive play.

Five minutes into the first quarter, the Nets trailed the 76ers 10-15, unable to find their rhythm on either end of the court, a worry for Nash. He knew it was time to bring out his key weapon. Although Levi's performance never quite met his expectations, as long as they seemed to be winning, it wasn't a big problem.

Li Wei came on as a substitute for DeAndre Jordan, who was a bit sluggish on defense. Actually, Jordan did a good job guarding Embiid; it's rare to have a center of similar size to challenge him. Moreover, Embiid isn't known for his speed, but rather for his outside shooting, which gave Jordan a headache. Under the basket, Li Wei did a decent job limiting Embiid.

As soon as Embiid saw DeAndre Jordan leave the court, the recently popular number 0, the Chinese-American player Li Wei from Inside the NBA, entered the game. Embiid became interested and stared at Li Wei from head to toe before inbounding the ball. Li Wei rolled his eyes at him and said, "What are you looking at?"

"You really know hard qigong?"

"Yes, do you want to give it a try?"

"Uh... Oh, let's play well and have a good game."

Embiid thought of Levi breaking bricks and stones on TV, wondering if he would break me in a little while.
Ben Simmons inbounds the ball, Embiid comes over to receive it, and a handoff is made to Embiid. Facing Levi, Embiid tentatively dribbles a step inside.

Embiid is a truly massive guy, especially his upper body, which is wide and thick. Levi looked at least three sizes smaller in front of him, making one wonder how to defend against such a matchup. As a result, Embiid charged forward with the ball, making a small movement with his right arm to protect the ball, which brushed against Levi. Levi was thrown backward and fell to the ground, sliding a meter or two.

The referee blew his whistle, calling an offensive foul on Embiid. Embiid was shocked; he hadn't used any force at all! How did he fall down like that?! The referee was just looking for a foul; Simmons had been faking it. Now, Levi was doing a great job, perfect positioning, so naturally, he should call a foul on the Nets.

"Don't you know hard qigong?"

"Yes, doesn't that make you seem even stronger, Your Majesty?"

Embiid was speechless for a moment, unsure whether Levi was praising him or mocking him.

[In the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Bide, the Emperor lightly swept Wei, causing him to fall. The Emperor exclaimed in surprise, "Aren't you skilled in qigong?" Wei replied, "I am skilled in qigong, but if I were to use it, wouldn't that demonstrate Your Majesty's great strength?" The Emperor was pleased, but then sensed something amiss.]

(End of this chapter)