First in scoring

Chapter 10. Let’s take another look
The name Andy called was Tony Thomas, the head coach of Compton High School, where DeRozan was about to attend.

Thomas shook his head: "No, if I go to greet him he will definitely be nervous, and then I won't be able to see this side of DeRozan, and it might even affect his performance... I didn't expect to see such an interesting scene when I returned to Hidden Mountain to rest for two days before school starts."

Andy retracted his gaze from Zhang Yang and said, "Aren't you worried? Although DeRozan is very talented, the three people on the opposite side were also geniuses in the past. You should know them too."

Thomas smiled and said, "I have recruited them before, but they didn't come to my school. They were pretty good junior high school students at that time, but they were far behind DeRozan. Although they are older, they haven't had professional training for a long time, right? And DeRozan has Harden as his helper, the fat guy. Don't look at his appearance, his talent is not worse than DeRozan. It's a pity. If Harden also chooses to stay in Compton, I won't have to worry about choosing a helper for DeRozan in the next few years... By the way, who is that Asian, Andy, is he from your school?"

Andy: "I know him. He's my friend's kid, named Jack. He went to Hidden Hills Middle School where I work for elementary and middle school. He's now in a private high school halfway up the mountain."

The son of a friend of a friend? He seems to have a good relationship with DeRozan, so Thomas feels there is a possibility of poaching him.

As a high school coach in that damn place called Compton, he was always thinking about poaching players.

Thomas said: "He has a great body shape, better than DeRozan, how strong is he?"

Andy rolled his eyes at his workaholic friend and replied, "He plays baseball and is the leader of the Jeet Kune Do Club. Anyway, I've never seen him play basketball."

Thomas: “Huh?”

...

DeRozan was not at a disadvantage when fighting one against three, but he didn't win either.

Ultimately, the outcome will be determined by the game.

There are still differences between gangsters. If it were other gangsters, they might even fight after a quarrel like the one just now. But these three brothers said they would use basketball to decide who is better, and they really did it. The arrogance of their former geniuses is still there.

Russell Jones set the rules of the game. Everyone played half-court 3-on-3, best of three, with a tiebreak in each game.

At the beginning of the game, DeRozan lost the finger-guessing game to Jones. Andrew, the older brother of the Myers brothers, made a shot from the free throw line, and Jones' team attacked first.

DeRozan passed the ball to Jones at the free throw line and took a step forward to guard inside the top arc.

King vs. King at the beginning!
Maybe his throat was tired from the previous quarrel, Jones didn't even say a word of trash and just started fighting.

Jones's dribbling was very cool, with all kinds of fancy moves, which was very entertaining and caused cheers.

Not only does it look good, it also easily angers the opponent. DeRozan pressed forward and tried to use his body to stop the opponent from continuing to play tricks.

Although DeRozan is still ten years away from turning 14 and is more than four years younger than Jones, he is much bigger than Jones.

But this is what Jones was waiting for. He made a beautiful behind-the-back dribble to avoid DeRozan and accelerated forward!
It was too late for DeRozan to turn around and catch up, Jones was really fast!
Zhang Yang cut off Andrew's receiving line while retreating. Jones dodged Zhang Yang with a jump step and entered the basket. He switched the ball to his left hand and made a layup!

Listening to the crowd shouting "Little Iverson", Zhang Yang put his hands on his hips. To be the most famous gangster in the neighborhood, Jones does have some ability.

In the offense and defense transition, DeRozan singled out Jones.

DeRozan's title of "the best junior high school student" is not undeserved. He used his height to fake a shot to trick Jones into defending him, then he broke through with one step to the side, stopped suddenly at the free throw line, and made a mid-range jump shot to tie the game at 1-1.

The action is picturesque!
Zhang Yang clapped his hands twice. Well, he decided that when he redeveloped his shooting skills later, no matter what else, he must change his posture to a cool one.

There were onlookers shouting 'Little Bryant'... a virtual duel that neither Iverson nor Kobe himself knew about?

The cheers of the crowd just hit the spot for DeRozan and Jones, as Kobe and Iverson were their idols. In the next few rounds, the two continued to attack each other, and the game started with a 3-3 draw, and then Jones' team began to gain the upper hand.

The Myers brothers are both 190 cm forward players. After playing a few rounds and getting familiar with DeRozan's offense, the younger brother Isaiah, who has more athletic ability, is getting better and better at pinching and double-teaming DeRozan.

Moreover, Jones and the Myers brothers coordinated well in offense, and it was actually very simple to play. But the simpler the game is, the more effective it is.

DeRozan's team was also double-teaming, but due to the lack of a clear defensive coordination method, the effect was far less effective than the opponent. As for offensive coordination... the morning training was in vain.

With Andrew hitting a three-pointer after receiving a pass from Jones, the score was 10 to 7 and Jones' team won the first game.

During the break, the three players from Jones' team celebrated proudly, while on DeRozan's team, even Harden, who was laughing, had an ugly expression on his face.

It seems that just the two of them cannot beat the three former geniuses on the opposite side.

If it was a formal game, playing for 32 minutes, their chances of winning might be greater, but in this half-court 3-on-3 game of 5 points... DeRozan scored 10 goals and Harden scored goals, they played very well, but the opponent had already scored goals at this time.

As for Zhang Yang, he didn't play any role at all in the first game and was just there to make up the numbers.

Zhang Yang was also very anxious at the beginning, and was really a drag, but after fighting for two more rounds, he calmed down and did what he could do - observe his opponent.

After the first game, he thought for dozens of seconds. After DeRozan and Harden's most explosive emotions had passed, he called the two together and said, "I have thought of a tactic that may win. Do you want to try it?"

Zhang Yang's calm tone made DeRozan, whose mentality was on the verge of exploding, seem to have found his backbone and quickly calmed down.

DeRozan tried his best in the first game. He did not lose to Jones in singles, but he lost in the end. He only hesitated for a moment and then nodded to accept it.

'Jack has a tactical talent' was already etched into his mind that morning.

Harden has no opinion. When DeRozan is anxious, he gets anxious. When DeRozan calms down, he calms down. When DeRozan accepts Zhang Yang's arrangement, he naturally chooses to accept it as well.

Zhang Yang didn't waste any time and talked to his two friends about his tactics and strategy...

The edge of the field on the empty half.

Andy: "Those three guys played OK. Your new talented players might lose today. DeRozan is good, Harden is also OK, but they are too inexperienced, and Jack is holding them back."

Thomas: "Those three guys were junior high school geniuses after all. DeRozan and Harden just finished junior high school. It's already pretty good that they can be better than those three guys who are a few years older than them. We definitely don't have as much experience as them, but..."

Andy: “But what?”

Thomas looked at Zhang Yang who had called DeRozan and Harden together to talk about something, and responded: "In terms of personal ability, it is definitely Jack who is holding them back, but from another aspect... let's wait and see..."

Thomas didn't care about the outcome of this game at all. If DeRozan won, he would be very happy. If he lost, it would also be a lesson for this kid. Several contacts during the recruitment period made him realize that DeRozan looks low-key, but is actually very arrogant. Such a character needs some small setbacks to hone. If everything goes smoothly all the time, and he encounters a big setback one day, something might go wrong.

This thought only flashed through Thomas' mind. Compared to winning or losing, he was more curious about something - was the movement of the baseball player named Jack just a coincidence?
……

……

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(End of this chapter)