SSD 40. Qinghuo vs Yangsheng: Turning Point

“That surprise block just now was brilliant!” Pan Yuan looked at Zhu Xuyao, eyes crinkled with her smile. “I could practically see the change on their players’ faces the moment it happened.”

Zhu Xuyao scratched his head, cheeks slightly flushed, just about to say something modest when Fang Ruihan walked over and tapped him and Pan Yuan on the shoulders, his face unusually serious.

“Did either of you notice? Tian Yi seemed a little… off today.”

Zhu Xuyao paused. He exchanged a glance with Pan Yuan. Both of them had complicated looks on their faces.

“Captain,” Zhu Xuyao began tentatively, “you mean…”

He hadn’t finished when a sudden commotion broke out nearby. The three of them turned and saw Xu Fanming glaring wide-eyed at He Jiang. The atmosphere between the two was visibly tense.

Were they arguing again?

Zhu Xuyao frowned. At such a critical moment in the game, the last thing they needed was internal conflict. Pan Yuan patted Zhu Xuyao on the shoulder and gave him a look: “Go talk to them.”

Zhu Xuyao smacked his lips, stepped forward, and was just about to say something to break the tension when he caught what He Jiang was saying.

He Jiang was looking straight into Xu Fanming’s eyes, speaking with calm conviction.

“…the fatal flaw in No. 9 on the opposing team.”

Fang Ruihan, who had been drinking water nearby, overheard the line. He froze, then slowly set his water bottle down.

Pan Yuan also lowered her camera. She turned toward He Jiang, a look of surprise on her face.

“You… you mean…” Xu Fanming wiped his face in shock, muttering, “Hack-a-Shaq…”

Hack-a-Shaq!

The phrase immediately sent a flood of memories crashing through Fang Ruihan’s mind. It was like a moment of sudden clarity. Every doubt and question clearing away in an instant.

From the very start of the game, as team captain, Fang Ruihan had naturally felt how exhausting this style of play was. But he had never found a clear way to break through the deadlock. Now, He Jiang’s words were like a guiding light cutting through the fog, waking him up in an instant.

Thinking back, in their first scrimmage against Yangsheng, He Jiang had been the quietest one among them, yet also the one who observed the most.

Back then, maybe He Jiang hadn’t truly taken the game to heart the way he did now. Maybe his participation in that scrimmage had been more like solving a puzzle for fun. He played however he pleased, and once he had satisfied his curiosity, he quickly lost interest and chose to leave the court. Like a top student reading a math problem: once he figured out the approach, the result was already a given. The mystery was solved, so there was no longer any need to go through the motions of writing down the full solution.

Perhaps even then, He Jiang had already discovered Tian Yi’s, or rather, Yangsheng’s fatal flaw.

And now, it was finally time for them to pick up the pen and complete the problem.

“Yangsheng is a team built entirely around Tian Yi as its core,” Fang Ruihan stepped forward and said in a firm voice, his gaze burning. “Their players rely on him far too much, to the point that Tian Yi’s personal condition directly affects the performance of the entire team.”

The group fell into thoughtful silence.

“Their coach has clearly noticed this as well,” Fang Ruihan continued with a small smile. “That’s why they’ve been deliberately trying to weaken Tian Yi’s role in the lineup during this match. But in our last scrimmage, the coach wasn’t present. The players were playing purely on instinct, which is why the issue became so obvious.”

“So,” Wen Qin looked up and concluded, “if we want to break through Yangsheng, we have to start with their linchpin, Tian Yi.”

Zhu Xuyao stepped forward and asked, “Then the Hack-a-Shaq strategy Fanming mentioned earlier means…”

“‘Hack-a-Shaq,’ as the name suggests, is a tactic from NBA games. Back when Shaq O’Neal was dominating the paint but had a major weakness in free throws, Don Nelson, then head coach of the Mavericks, devised this intentional foul strategy against him,” Fang Ruihan explained, glancing at Zhu Xuyao. “In short, it means deliberately fouling a poor free-throw shooter off the ball to send him to the line, lowering the opposing team’s scoring efficiency.”

“Poor free-throw shooting…” Wen Qin murmured.

“During the practice match,” He Jiang stepped forward under the team’s puzzled gazes and spoke slowly, “Fanming fouled No. 9 and sent him to the line. I noticed then that his reaction was overly furious, almost as if he were humiliated. As for the two free throws, the first floated wide, and the second veered toward the backboard. Later on in the game, he kept subtly avoiding situations that might lead to free throws. Which means his accuracy from the line is likely poor, or rather, his set shot skills are very weak.”

“Exactly,” Fang Ruihan added, “When I was defending him just now, I noticed the same thing. At that moment, I had him tightly marked, and a pass risked interception, yet he still didn’t opt for the safer move of taking the shot himself. He chose to gamble and pass to a teammate instead. That tells me that at least when it comes to set shots, he lacks confidence. In other words—”

Tian Yi’s free throws are awful.

As the words sank in, everyone began recalling more and more details. No. 9 Tian Yi was a guard, but most of his scoring seemed to rely on three-step layups, hop-step finishes, and driving into the paint to push the ball up. Rarely did he shoot from range or rely on set shots. Now it all made sense. This was proof that Tian Yi had little confidence in his shooting skills.

That incident during the previous practice game, when Xu Fanming accidentally tackled Tian Yi and got called for a foul, might explain Tian Yi’s uncharacteristic anger. He had likely been afraid that Xu Fanming had seen through his weakness in free throws.

“Brilliant!” Zhu Xuyao shouted. “He Jiang, you’re incredible!”

Being able to stay calm in the ever-shifting pressure of a game and pinpoint the opponent’s weakness so precisely was the mark of a seasoned and sharp basketball player.

He Jiang smiled casually and looked over at Xu Fanming. Xu Fanming, cheeks flushed, took another sip of water and wiped his mouth. After hearing the breakdown from his teammates, he finally understood He Jiang’s intention. The more he thought about it, the more it clicked. Thinking back, there had been several moments when He Jiang had subtly hinted at Tian Yi’s flaw. But back then, he had not paid any real attention, much less stopped to consider what those words actually meant.

God He really was God He. The only one to blame was his own oblivious self.

“Actually, I noticed it too,” Fang Ruihan said with a sheepish laugh.“Tian Yi’s moves are flashy and varied, but there was always something that didn’t sit quite right… After hearing He Jiang explain it, I finally understood. You can’t just rely on instinct when playing. You need to think and pay attention to what’s really going on out there.”

The five of them exchanged looks, grinning with knowing, playful smiles.

“So—” Pan Yuan raised her camera with a cheerful glint in her eye, “you all know what to do now, right?”

Just before heading back onto the court, Xu Fanming took another sip of water, his ears still red as he called out to He Jiang.

He Jiang lifted an eyebrow. Xu Fanming looked embarrassed. He scratched his cheek and looked away. “You were planning to remind me earlier, weren’t you?”

“I was waiting for you to figure it out yourself.” He Jiang glanced in Tian Yi’s direction. “But during the first two quarters, I kept quiet because I wanted to see if No. 9 had come up with a new trick to make up for the gap.”

“So? What did you see?”

“Spreading the core responsibilities, redirecting attention.” He Jiang turned back to Xu Fanming and gave him an innocent smile. “A pretty decent smokescreen. Too bad it still couldn’t hide his flaw.”

Xu Fanming could not help but sigh. That sly, smiling tiger.

But it was thanks to this sharp-eyed, ruthless tiger on the court that they had been able to uncover Yangsheng’s weakness.

He Jiang really was an exceptional player. Maybe… there was still a lot they could learn from him.

“What’s with that look?” He Jiang reached out and gave Xu Fanming’s hair a good ruffle. “You staring at me all starry-eyed, did you fall for me or something?”

Xu Fanming’s face darkened. He cursed silently at how shameless this guy was. Whatever shred of admiration he had just felt instantly vanished without a trace.

“Cut the crap!” Xu Fanming smacked away He Jiang’s perverted hand. “Focus on the game!”

He Jiang rubbed his reddened palm with a pitiful expression. This little raptor of his wasn’t someone to tease during a match. Any dirty talk would have to wait until afterward, when he could whisper it right in his ear.

Xu Fanming was quiet for a moment, then suddenly spoke again.

“Back in the practice game, when you suddenly said you wanted to sub out,” Xu Fanming looked up at him, “was it because of this?”

He Jiang stared at him in silence for a while, like he was searching for the right words, weighing how to answer without touching Xu Fanming’s sore spots. The two of them locked eyes for several long seconds before He Jiang finally scratched out a hoarse “…yeah.”

Xu Fanming’s face darkened. “I can’t tell if you’re just arrogant or plain self-centered.”

“Both,” He Jiang said with a smile. “But that was before. Now I just want to play ball for real and get you on national TV.”

Xu Fanming turned red and gave He Jiang a kick. The way he said it made something feel a little off.

He Jiang never wanted to join the team. He never cared about playing properly either. But now he had not only joined, he even said he wanted to help him win and get him on TV. It should have made Xu Fanming happy. And it did, at first. But then he remembered the weird things He Jiang had done to him the other day, and that shadow crept back into his heart. He could not quite name the feeling.

He had no idea how any of this love and romance stuff worked. He Jiang said he kissed him because Xu Fanming had kissed him first, but he had been drunk that night. He really wasn’t used to the weird things He Jiang did to him. And aside from hitting or kicking him, Xu Fanming honestly had no idea what to do with him.

The more he thought about it, the more it turned into a never-ending mess. Xu Fanming did not want to keep stressing over things he could not figure out, so he simply shoved them aside. Once he stepped onto the court, his mind and body were entirely focused on the game, with no room left for anything else. He liked that feeling of total concentration. So all those frustrating things about He Jiang could wait.

At the very least, in today’s game, he was determined to play beautifully and leave no regrets.

The third quarter began quickly.

“You’ll become the strongest small forward one day.”

Just before the whistle, He Jiang looked toward Xu Fanming’s retreating back and said with a soft smile, “Take your time growing up, baby.”