Chapter Ten Basketball After School

  Lin Xiaoyu sat on the edge of the basketball court, her head tilted back and the water bottle mouth above her open mouth, pouring water into it. After drinking a few gulps of mineral water, Lin Xiaoyu handed the half-full bottle to Yang Tianxiao beside her. Yang Tianxiao, also drenched in sweat, took the bottle and drank from it without using his mouth, just like Lin Xiaoyu.

  Lin Xiaoyu is now a second-year student. After a summer vacation, Lin Xiaoyu's school uniform, which was originally two sizes larger than him, has become very fitting. The sleeves that looked like opera costumes and the pant legs that dragged on the ground are no longer visible. The line drawn by Lin's father to measure Lin Xiaoyu's height on the door frame in his room has been raised by several centimeters during the summer vacation. Lin Xiaoyu is now 1 meter 63 centimeters tall.

  Lin Xiaoyu's improvement was not just in her physical appearance, but also in her basketball skills. After school started, Lin Xiaoyu became a top player in her class, and except for Yang Tianxiao, no one else could match up to her. This was largely due to the fact that during summer break, Lin Xiaoyu had practiced basketball every day with Yan Nang, who looked like a boy, on the court and also installed a mini hoop in her small room. Lin Xiaoyu's hand feel for shooting hoops was so impressive that even Yang Tianxiao, who had played basketball for several years more than Lin Xiaoyu, felt inferior to her.

  It's now the time for school to be dismissed in the afternoon, Lin Xiaoyu and Yang Tianxiao and other classmates are playing basketball on the school's basketball court as usual. Because Feicui Middle School has only eight basketball courts, there are many students playing basketball, so there are many people surrounding each basket. Usually three or four people form a team to play in one half of the court, generally with five balls as the standard, losing means going down and waiting for the next round, while the winning team continues to face new opponents on the field.

  There are five teams of four players each on the court where Lin Xiaoyu is playing. Lin Xiaoyu and his teammates have just been defeated. On Lin Xiaoyu's half of the court, there is a team that is extremely powerful and has always dominated the court. They have already beaten Lin Xiaoyu twice.

  "Xiao Yu, later you'll have to help me defend a bit, I alone can't guard that person wearing the Lakers jersey." Yang Tianxiao said to Lin Xiaoyu beside him, but his gaze was fixed on a person wearing a purple Lakers jersey running with the ball on the court.

  That's the one wearing a purple Lakers jersey, who brought the ball from the right route and broke through to the basket, easily getting rid of the defender, then scored with a single-handed dunk in front of the opponent who came to fill the defense, another team was defeated.

  "En, okay." Lin Xiaoyu replied. Lin Xiaoyu could see that the person wearing the Lakers jersey was very good at playing basketball. This person looked like he was a few years older than himself, probably a high school student, and his height was about the same as Yang Tianxiao's 178cm, but his physical strength and ball skills were much better than Yang Tianxiao's. It was almost as if this person single-handedly defeated the other teams.

  It was soon their turn for Lin Xiaoyu and his teammates to take the field again, with their opponents still being that team wearing Lakers jerseys.

  Lin Xiaoyu slowly dribbled the ball, and the defender was a slightly taller high school student. This person's skills were not bad, and his body was much stronger than Lin Xiaoyu's. Under the blue sky, Lin Xiaoyu had eaten a lot of losses, but Lin Xiaoyu's speed and arc of breaking through with the ball also made this person scratch his head in frustration.

  Yang Tianxiao and the person wearing the Hubei team uniform were matched up. Lin Xiaoyu's other two teammates were his classmate "Four Eyes" and Li Chunqing.

  The "Four Eyes" ball skills are generally much better than their opponents, which is also the biggest weakness of Lin Xiaoyu's team. However, "Four Eyes" occasionally shoots cold arrows from the outside to help Lin Xiaoyu score a few points.

  Li Chunqing has a strong physique that is not typical of a middle school student. Although he is a few centimeters shorter than Yang Tianxiao, his robust body gives him an advantage on the rebounding board, and the tall and thin player who is matched up against him can't even get a few rebounds in front of him. This is also one of Li Chunqing's greatest strengths for Lin Xiaoyu's team, but unfortunately, Li Chunqing has very poor ball-handling skills and basically has no scoring ability. He can only make three-pointers from the bottom of the rebounding board, which makes Lin Xiaoyu hesitant to pass him the ball for offense.

  Lin Xiaoyu dribbled the ball with a slight swing, shaking off his defender, and made a 45-degree breakthrough to the bottom of the basket from the right side. Lin Xiaoyu then used his forward momentum to take two steps and make a high-arcing layup with both hands, showcasing his already highly skilled move.

  Just as Lin Xiaoyu's right hand was about to exert force and throw the ball high into the basket, a hand suddenly stretched out from above Lin Xiaoyu's right ear and covered the basketball that had just left her hand, pushing it out of bounds.

  Lin Xiaoyu was also knocked to the ground by this sudden appearance, and Lin Xiaoyu saw clearly on the ground that it was the person wearing the Lakers jersey.

  "Are you okay?" The man in Lakers jersey reached out his hand and helped Lin Xiaoyu up from the floor.

  "It's okay, you jumped really high." Lin Xiaoyu said, getting up from the floor and patting her clothes.

  "Hehe, let's continue then."

  "Xiao Yu, are you okay?" Yang Tianxiao asked with concern as he rushed over from the other side of the backboard.

  Lin Xiaoyu rubbed her slightly painful buttocks and said: "I'm fine, let's continue playing basketball."

  The ball is still in Lin Xiaoyu's hands. Just after being capped, she continued to dribble and attack. The person defending Lin Xiaoyu was slower and less skilled than her, and Lin Xiaoyu easily shook him off. Lin Xiaoyu again rushed into the three-second area near the basket, and with a quick stop, she made a jump shot. That purple figure in Lakers jersey flew up from beside Lin Xiaoyu to block the shot.

  But the hand that was raised high did not touch the basketball, Lin Xiaoyu's emergency stop jump shot turned out to be a fake action. At the moment when Lin Xiaoyu jumped up and covered himself with Lakers jersey, he pulled down the ball that was originally held up, and made a ground pass to give the ball to Yang Tianshuo who was at the right side of the basket. At this time, Yang Tianshuo, who had no one defending him under the basket, easily dunked the ball into the hoop with a light tap.

  The team that scored continued to have possession of the ball, and Lin Xiaoyu passed it to Yang Tianxiao, who was one of the four best players on their team.

  Yang Tianxiao received Lin Xiaoyu's pass at the top of the free throw line and faked out a few times, but couldn't shake off the defender wearing Lakers jersey. Yang Tianxiao then drove directly to the basket, but the defender was very close and on point. With no other choice, Yang Tianxiao had to make an uncomfortable stop-and-go jump shot. The forced shot hit the front of the rim and was grabbed by a tall and thin player who was boxed out with Li Chunqing at the bottom of the basket.

  The tall and thin player immediately passed the ball to his teammate beyond the three-point line. This kind of half-court game, once out of the three-point line, means regaining the right to attack and can start attacking immediately.

  The person who received the ball outside the three-point line is the target of the four-eyed defense. These high school students' coordination on the court is much better than that of Lin Xiaoyu and others in junior high school. The person who received the ball outside the three-point line immediately passed it to a teammate who ran to the empty space on the right side, and Lin Xiaoyu quickly defended. However, the person did not take a shot but instead passed the ball into the middle. At this time, the person outside the three-point line was making a straight cut from the three-point line to the middle, leaving the four-eyed defender behind. Yang Tianxiao, who was near the basket, immediately came over to defend, and the person who broke through the middle immediately passed the ball to the person wearing the Lakers jersey on the right side of the basket. Yang Tianxiao, who couldn't get back in time to defend, could only watch as the opponent scored with a three-step layup at the basket.

  The opponent who continued to have the attacking right, relying on their skilled cooperation and the outstanding ball skills of the Lakers jersey, scored twice in a row, pulling the score to 3-1.

  The person wearing the Lakers jersey started a one-on-one with Yang Tianxiao. Yang Tianxiao focused his attention on this opponent, knowing clearly the gap between himself and the opponent, he had never successfully defended against this Lakers jersey in a one-on-one situation before.

  The person wearing the Lakers jersey made a quick move to the left, shifting Yang Tianxiao's center of gravity, and then broke through from the right side with his right hand. Yang Tianxiao quickly adjusted his center of gravity and closely guarded him. However, by this time, the Lakers jersey had already passed Yang Tianxiao by half a body length. The person in the Lakers jersey held the ball with both hands, took two steps forward, and was about to score under the open basket.

  Just as the person wearing Lakers jersey lifted the ball up, a hand suddenly stretched out from his right side and snatched away the basketball he had just lifted to his waist.

  The owner of the hand was Lin Xiaoyu, who had come to reinforce the defense. Lin Xiaoyu's individual defense was average, but his team defense was excellent. Those who often played with Lin Xiaoyu had experienced the feeling of being left empty-handed when driving to the basket. On the court, Lin Xiaoyu's steals were like a thief's quick and accurate moves. However, the Lakers jersey's dribbling was quite stable, and it took Lin Xiaoyu several attempts before he finally succeeded in stealing the ball for the first time.

  After stealing the ball, Lin Xiaoyu quickly dribbled out of the three-point line and immediately passed the ball to Siyan on his left side. Unattended, Siyan scored a mid-range shot to tie the score at 2-3.

  Lin Xiaoyu's hands moved swiftly, the basketball alternating between them. The opponent defending Lin Xiaoyu had a serious expression, staring at his movements. Unfortunately, he could only stare, as Lin Xiaoyu suddenly pushed the ball to the right and quickly passed by the person who was still seriously staring at him on the left side. When the defender tried to turn around to defend against Lin Xiaoyu, Lin Xiaoyu had already left him with a distant back view.

  Lin Xiaoyu, who had shaken off his defender, drove into the paint and threw the ball high out of his hand before the opposing player could provide support. This high throw was one of Lin Xiaoyu's most familiar scoring methods. From the moment he released the ball, Lin Xiaoyu knew from the feeling on his fingertips that the ball would fly into the hoop.

  Lin Xiaoyu has a very accurate feeling about throwing the ball and shooting, although many times this kind of shot is always at odds with Lin Xiaoyu's desire to score, but Lin Xiaoyu feels extremely accurately about the feeling of releasing before going in.

  The basketball soared high into the air, slowly rotating as it drew a beautiful high arc in the sky before passing through the round hoop without any obstruction and falling to the ground.

  Three to three, it's a tie.

  The game continued, and it was still Lin Xiaoyu's team's turn with the ball.

  Lin Xiaoyu continued to control the ball and launched an attack. But now the situation is a bit different. The person defending Lin Xiaoyu has changed, it's that guy wearing the purple Lakers jersey. He abandoned defending Lin Xiaoyu's teammate Yang Tianxiao, who was the tallest on the team, to defend against Lin Xiaoyu, who was more than ten centimeters shorter, this change made Lin Xiaoyu a bit unexpected.

  Lin Xiaoyu faced this teammate who was one level stronger than herself without feeling nervous, and it seemed that Lin Xiaoyu, who feared neither heaven nor earth, rarely showed tension. At this moment, when facing a strong opponent, Lin Xiaoyu's heart felt a kind of excitement instead.

  After all, when you can defeat a stronger opponent than yourself, the sense of achievement like conquering the absolute peak will fill your entire chest. It's incredibly delightful.

  But the premise of defeating the strong is that you must become stronger.

  Lin Xiaoyu was very passive under the Lakers' defense, and those easy breakthroughs that worked earlier seemed to have lost their effect in front of this Lakers jersey. On the contrary, Lin Xiaoyu almost had the ball stolen by his opponent.

  Fortunately, Lin Xiaoyu practiced with a tennis ball at home every day during the summer vacation and developed a very good sense of control. It can be imagined that Lin Xiaoyu can shuttle back and forth with a tennis ball that is not much bigger than an egg and has great elasticity, so when Lin Xiaoyu plays with a basketball that is just right in volume and elasticity, it feels very natural and effortless.

  The Lakers jersey defender became more and more airtight, pressing closer to the body. Lin Xiaoyu couldn't shake off the opponent's defense, but his shooting rhythm wasn't disrupted. Seeing that he couldn't break through the opponent, Lin Xiaoyu wanted to pass the ball to his teammate for an attack, but others were also tightly defended, all adopting a strategy of not letting them receive the ball. It seems that the opponent had planned to let the Lakers jersey defender guard Lin Xiaoyu and gain possession.

  Lin Xiaoyu was forced to the baseline near the three-point line, a dead spot on offense because Lin Xiaoyu's right side and back were bounded by the baseline and sideline, in front of her were tightly guarded teammates, only the left side had space to dribble. However, going left meant moving further away from the hoop, and Lin Xiaoyu was extremely unskilled at dribbling with her left hand.

  At this time when Lin Xiaoyu was in a disadvantageous position, the Lakers jersey defender strengthened his defense again, forcing Lin Xiaoyu to become a bit flustered.

  Helpless, Lin Xiaoyu had to move the ball to his left in an attempt to get out of this unfavorable position, but the timely fill-in by the Lakers player forced Lin Xiaoyu back to his original position.

  Lin Xiaoyu dribbled the ball back to his right hand, then slapped it to the left again, attempting to break through to the left. However, a Lakers player took another big step to block Lin Xiaoyu's path. But this time, Lin Xiaoyu didn't bring the ball back to his right side like before; instead, he gently pushed the ball forward with his left hand, and the basketball slowly bounced on the ground, passing under the Lakers player's crotch as he spread his legs apart. As soon as the ball went under the opponent's crotch, Lin Xiaoyu quickly ran around the opponent's right side.

  The Lakers jersey that was split by Lin Xiaoyu's crotch suddenly turned around to see Lin Xiaoyu turn around and score easily with the basketball that had rolled under his crotch, scoring a basket in the empty basket.

  Before Lin Xiaoyu scored the goal, a burst of applause had already erupted from the crowd outside the field who were watching the game while waiting to take the field.

  This crotch shot is really too beautiful, in the eyes of these spectators on the court, Lin Xiaoyu just used a fake action to make the Lakers jersey person take a step back and expose the gap under his crotch, then accurately passed the ball through the opponent's crotch, after shaking off the opponent, he made an easy and handsome layup, the whole movement was smooth and had a very elegant and carefree flavor.

  Everyone in the arena has a deep understanding of the strength of the Lakers jersey, and when they see Lin Xiaoyu, who is small and has a childish face, easily break through the defense with a seemingly effortless and contemptuous move, they can't help but marvel at Lin Xiaoyu's brilliant ball skills and applaud enthusiastically for his wonderful goal.

  As soon as Lin Xiaoyu scored the ball, Yang Tianxiao rushed into the basket and patted her shoulder, saying excitedly: "Too beautiful, Xiaoyu! How did you practice this move? This ball is too beautiful!"

  "I don't know how I managed to pull off that move either." Lin Xiaoyu's words left Yang Tianxiao somewhat surprised.

  Lin Xiaoyu didn't know how he suddenly thought of passing the ball through his opponent's ** at that time. When Lin Xiaoyu was defended by his opponent and got a little flustered, he suddenly saw the gap exposed by his opponent when he stepped out with one foot, and involuntarily pushed the ball towards that gap, and also involuntarily bypassed his opponent to score.

  The score is now 4-3. Lin Xiaoyu and her team have already taken the lead by one point. If they can win just one more point, they will be able to knock their opponents out of the competition.

  Lin Xiaoyu passed the ball to his teammate, Four Eyes, from beyond the three-point line. The Lakers jersey-clad player was still defending Lin Xiaoyu. That person didn't seem to be annoyed by Lin Xiaoyu's playful crossover, instead giving him a thumbs up and saying: "That pass was really beautiful, but next time I won't let you get past me like that."

  Lin Xiaoyu smiled slightly at him and replied with a hint of embarrassment: "At that time, I didn't know how the ball got past you either."

  The Lakers jersey wearer was a bit surprised by Lin Xiaoyu's answer, because at that time he noticed that when Lin Xiaoyu passed the ball through himself and then circled around his own side, there was no awkwardness or luck involved in the action. Moreover, when defending against this person, the ball-handling feel of this person is one of the best among those he has seen, and even with all his might to defend, he couldn't get the ball out of his hands. He still had some confidence in his defensive ability.

  The Lakers jersey wearer looked at Lin Xiaoyu's delicate face with a hint of childishness and knew that Lin Xiaoyu was telling the truth. Suddenly, the Lakers jersey wearer felt that this young boy would definitely be a great player in the future, even now his own ball-handling skills were not as proficient and agile as this little boy's.

  Siyan passed the ball to Yang Tianxiao, who was outside the three-second zone. Without the Lakers jersey defense, Yang Tianxiao faced the same person who had just defended against Lin Xiaoyu. Yang Tianxiao used a fake dribble to shake off his opponent and immediately adjusted his position to make a jump shot at the edge of the three-second zone.

  However, due to being tightly defended by the Lakers jersey earlier, Yang Tianxiao's shooting hand seemed not to have found its feel yet, and this uncontested shot went off the rim, with the rebound grabbed by the tall and thin player matched up against Li Chunqing.

  Yang Tianxiao was very disappointed with himself for missing the shot, but Yang Tianxiao no longer had time to regret the missed shot. The opponent had already passed the ball several times and handed it over to the Lakers jersey player who started a new attack.

  The Lakers jersey player received the ball at the free throw line, didn't dribble but slightly adjusted and came up with a jump shot. The rolling basketball flew high over the fingertips of Yang Tianxiao who jumped to block it, and fell empty into the basket.

  Four all, two teams tied. It's time for the final ball to decide the winner.

  The initiative is in the hands of the opponent. Lin Xiaoyu and the other three people started defending very hard.

  The Lakers jersey man was near the free throw line again, he slightly adjusted and suddenly held the ball with both hands to prepare for another mid-range shot.

  Yang Tianxiao immediately flew up to interfere, not allowing the Lakers jersey to shoot easily.

  When Yang Tianxiao's feet left the ground, he found that the person in Lakers jersey didn't throw the ball out, but instead quickly pulled down the ball held on his head and took a dribbling breakthrough.

  When Yang Tianxiao's feet landed on the ground again, that Lakers jersey had already taken two steps to the basket.

  Lin Xiaoyu saw Yang Tianxiao being shaken off and immediately left his defender to go under the basket to help Yang Tianxiao fill in. The Lakers jersey player, facing Lin Xiaoyu who was half a head shorter than him under the basket, did not take advantage of his height and bounce to force a shot, but instead made an emergency stop jump shot.

  Lin Xiaoyu knew it was hard to cover his opponent, but when he saw the Lakers jersey in front of him preparing for a jump shot, he instinctively stretched out his right hand and jumped up to block.

  Just as Lin Xiaoyu's toes left the ground, the Lakers jersey holder pulled down the basketball from above his head to his waist, wrapped it around his back with his right hand, and made a beautiful behind-the-back pass to accurately deliver the ball to his teammate who was unguarded under the basket on his left side.

  The person who got the ball was Lin Xiaoyu, who had let his guard down to make up for Yang Tianxiao's defense. But for some reason, whether it was due to nervousness or a lack of skill, he actually missed a shot from under the basket with no one defending him. The rebound was grabbed by Li Chunqing, who was quick on the uptake.

  It seems that Lin Xiaoyu is a bit too big to die, and they quickly turned from defense to offense. The Lakers jersey guy was still staring closely at Lin Xiaoyu, who couldn't bring the ball in either, so he handed it over to Yang Tianxiao for an attack.

  Yang Tianxiao was originally good at dealing with someone whose strength was obviously inferior to his own, but once Yang Tianxiao received the ball, the Lakers jersey would always go to make up for the defense, making Yang Tianxiao feel a bit unconfident in his offense.

  Under the Lakers' supplementary defense, Yang Tianxiao's layup was biased and came out, fortunately, the backboard was obtained by Li Chunqing. The ball was passed to Lin Xiaoyu again.

  Lin Xiaoyu had no good way to defend against the Lakers' jersey, and the previous lucky break that allowed him to score past Lin Xiaoyu was now difficult to repeat. Lin Xiaoyu could only carefully control the ball near the three-point line, looking for teammates who were open.

  Yang Tianxiao ran to the three-point line to make a simple block for Lin Xiaoyu, and Lin Xiaoyu took advantage of this block to create space and rushed directly under the basket. However, next to Lin Xiaoyu, that Lakers jersey was still half a body length away, tightly defending him.

  Lin Xiaoyu threw the ball high towards the hoop under the Lakers' tight defense, and the barely thrown ball flew out of the basket, but the flight trajectory was far from where the hoop was.

  The basketball flew over the basket from Lin Xiaoyu's hand on the right side of the basket and flew to the left side of the basket. On the left side of the basket, outside the three-second zone, a tall and thin man was using his body to block Li Chunqing who wanted to rush into the basket to grab the rebound, while waiting for the basketball that had flown over the basket to fall into his own hands.

  At this time, a figure rushed to the basket, in front of the tall and thin body, jumped up with both hands, holding the basketball that had just fallen below the backboard. The hands holding the ball exerted a slight force upwards, and the orange-yellow ball that was falling down slowly flew up again, collided with the backboard, and steadily fell into the basket.

  The owner of those hands was Yang Tianxiao, who rushed in from the free throw line. When he saw Lin Xiaoyu throwing the ball high, he rushed to the basket and completed a beautiful alley-oop with Lin Xiaoyu, with whom he often played together and was familiar with his passing style.

  The score was also frozen at 5-4 after this goal, and Lin Xiaoyu's team successfully knocked down the team that had never been knocked down on this field.

  Lin Xiaoyu and Yang Tianxiao high-fived each other on the court to celebrate their victory.

  The person wearing a Lakers jersey walked over and said to Lin Xiaoyu: "Classmate, how long have you been playing basketball?"

  "It's been three months." Lin Xiaoyu found it a bit strange that this person would ask her this question.

  "Wow, you're really good at playing basketball. You've only been playing for three months and you're already at this level, you're amazing." The person in the Lakers jersey was a bit surprised to know that Lin Xiaoyu had only been playing basketball for three months. He knew what his own level was when he first started playing basketball three months ago.

  Lakers jersey From Lin's performance just now, I thought Lin had been playing basketball for several years. Because when he made that last shot, he saw Lin throwing the ball with his eyes on his own back rather than the hoop, and he knew that the little boy with a childish face was passing the ball instead of shooting. He couldn't help but be surprised that someone who had only played basketball for three months could have such a skilled touch and such sharp observation and passing ability.

  What if this little boy were playing basketball at his age? The Lakers jersey in his heart seems to have some expectation.

  When she heard the other person praising her, Lin Xiaoyu smiled slightly with a hint of embarrassment.

  "I have to go, let's play basketball together next time. See you." The Lakers jersey friend bid farewell to Lin Xiaoyu.

  "Well, goodbye." Lin Xiaoyu had a bit of admiration for the Lakers jersey's impressive ball skills. Lin Xiaoyu felt that this Lakers jersey didn't seem to be using its full strength when playing against him, as it only defended its own route and didn't try to use physical advantages to overpower him like others who were physically stronger. Seeing the Lakers jersey effortlessly handle Yang Tianxiao, who had better ball skills than himself, Lin Xiaoyu suddenly felt that this high school senior wearing the Lakers jersey was unfathomable.

  Lacking a powerful opponent, Lin Xiaoyu and the four of them easily defeated their opponents one by one on this court until the distant western sunset glow scattered across the court, when everyone left, Lin Xiaoyu and his team had not been knocked off the court.

  Lin Xiaoyu and they brought the joy of playing ball, reluctantly bid farewell to ride their bicycles on the way home.

  (ps: Now Xiaoyu's ball skills are a bit rubbish, but they will slowly grow up. Please pay attention to it later. Just give me some votes, thank you)