thefictionvixens Chapter 136
Chapter 136
"Then who's the best?" Cheng Yuxin tilted her head to look at him.
"Me," Lin Feng said expressionlessly.
Cheng Yuxin paused for a moment, then laughed loudly, startling the cat in the next room.
The Bulls' playoff run was unstoppable. They swept the Miami Heat 3-0 in the first round, averaging a margin of victory of 23 points per game.
They easily defeated the New York Knicks in the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals, winning by seven and eleven points respectively.
But the third game was an unexpected one—at Madison Square Garden, Ewing scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Starks scored 30 points by himself.
Jordan scored a playoff-high 46 points, hitting crucial shots in the final quarter to force overtime, but ultimately lost by three points, suffering his first loss in that year's playoffs.
Lin Feng was reading this report at Liu Jian's house.
In Liu Jian's living room, there was an 18-inch Panda brand color TV. The TV cabinet was covered with a white lace cloth, on which sat a porcelain swan with a faded red ribbon around its neck, probably hung up sometime during the Chinese New Year.
Liu Jian's father likes to watch sports news, and every night at seven o'clock sharp, he tunes the channel to CCTV without fail.
Lin Feng happened to be there that evening, so he watched for a while.
The television screen flashed footage of the Bulls vs. Knicks game.
The arena was packed with people, their bright orange jerseys flowing under the lights. Jordan broke through from the baseline, executed a mid-air layup, and the ball banked in. The hang time was incredibly long, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
Liu Jian's father sat on the sofa, legs crossed, a cigarette between his right fingers. A long ash had accumulated, hanging in mid-air, about to fall onto the sofa. His eyes were fixed on the screen, the ash suspended there as if solidified.
"Jordan's shot was incredible," he said, his voice filled with genuine admiration.
Lin Feng hummed in agreement.
"But the Bulls lost a game," Liu Jian's father flicked away his cigarette ash, pointing at the screen with his other finger. "Look at the Knicks' defense. Ewing, Oakley, Mason—they're all tough opponents. The playoffs are different from the regular season. In the regular season, you can win with talent, but in the playoffs, you need willpower."
He paused, turned to look at Lin Feng, and his gaze held the scrutiny of someone with experience.
"It's just like when you're playing a competition. When the skills are about the same, it comes down to who wants to win more."
Lin Feng knew that Liu Jian's father was referring to the match involving Zhao Lei.
"Yes," he said, "I've got it."
In the CBA, the first season's finals ended back in April.
The Bayi Rockets defeated the Guangdong Southern Tigers 2-0 to win the first CBA championship in history.
With a record of 22 wins and 0 losses in the regular season and 26 wins and 0 losses throughout the entire season, maintaining an undefeated record, no one has broken this record since.
Lin Feng noticed a name in the news article: Wang Zhizhi.
That year, Wang Zhizhi was nineteen years old, three years older than Lin Feng, and was already an absolute mainstay of the Bayi team.
In the finals, he averaged more than 20 points per game, dominating the paint. The Guangdong team's center simply couldn't stop him; it was like an adult beating a child.
On the morning Zhou Jianguo came to practice, Lin Feng mentioned Wang Zhizhi to him.
Before dawn, it gets light earlier and earlier in Beichuan in May. By 4:30 a.m., the east is already turning a pale white.
The stadium lights dimmed in the morning light, like candles burning out.
Zhou Jianguo was stretching when he heard Lin Feng's words and paused his movements.