Barkley grumbled to himself, Come on, man, we're just putting on a show here. Why are you getting so into it? That's enough. I've already lost face once.
At the same time, Li Chen was eager to find out whether he could break the record.
If he could break the record, he would be able to drink Functional Drinks every day.
The S-rank Skill Li Chen had obtained today was passing. His teammates' shooting percentage increased by 20% when they received his passes.
That was why the Clippers' offense was flowing so smoothly and their success rate was so high.
The second quarter began.
The Kings got the ball first. Bibby dribbled across half court and easily blew past Li Chen.
Andre Miller came over to help on defense, and Bibby passed the ball to Chris Webber.
Webber turned and hit a jump shot.
The teams switched ends, and Li Chen quickly dribbled the ball across half court.
Bibby pressed up against him, playing extremely aggressively.
At the same time, the other Kings players tightened their man-to-man defense, doing their best to keep the Clippers from comfortably receiving Li Chen's passes.
Seeing no passing lanes, Li Chen had no choice but to grit his teeth and drive toward the basket.
But just then, Bibby suddenly reached out and knocked the ball out of Li Chen's hands.
Bibby was a skilled stealer. Stripping the ball from Li Chen was child's play for him.
However, Li Chen knew his own limits and had stayed alert, so Bibby's steal attempt failed.
After securing the ball, Li Chen thought to himself, That was close.
Just then, Bibby pressed up against him again.
Li Chen suddenly turned and jumped for a shot.
His move caught Bibby off guard. Then a thought suddenly occurred to him.
Is this guy going to pass? Thinking that, he couldn't help glancing toward the basket.
At that moment, he saw Michael Olowokandi leap high into the air. Olowokandi dunked the ball over Divac.
Chen-Olowokandi connected again, and the fans erupted into a deafening roar.
The Kings went on offense, and Bibby brought the ball up.
The Kings' strategy now was to go after Li Chen relentlessly. No matter who Li Chen was matched up against, they were going to attack him. It was like they lived to eat, sleep, and beat Li Chen.
"Hahaha! Kenny, Chen is the worst defender I've ever seen."
Kenny Smith could only smile wryly. "Yeah! Chen definitely needs to work on his defense." But then he changed tack. "Still, his strengths more than make up for that weakness."
Barkley had no response.
"Look, Bibby's at it again. He's blown past Chen's defense once more. Fuck! What just happened? How did Li Chen send Bibby's shot into the stands with that huge block?" Barkley was stunned.
The big screen began replaying the play in slow motion.
After Bibby got past Li Chen, he sprinted straight toward the basket.
Li Chen could only trail helplessly behind him.
But then Bibby and Li Chen jumped at the same time, and Li Chen suddenly made a strange move.
He reached out. No one understood what he was doing, but the next moment, something incredible happened: Bibby seemed to have planned it with Li Chen. He put the ball right in front of Li Chen's hand and let him swat it away.
"My God! What are we seeing? He read the play! That Eastern Kid predicted Bibby's shot. Could it be true that people from the East really know magic?"
Bibby, still shocked by the block, asked, "How did you do that?"
Li Chen thought for a moment. "Um... luck, I guess!"
It really had been a coincidence. When he and Bibby jumped at the same time, an inexplicably powerful feeling had come over him.
He had somehow known that Bibby would raise his arm at that moment.
And so...
The second quarter ended with the score at 68–60. The Kings had fallen another four points behind the Clippers in the quarter.
Li Chen's stats were: 1-for-3 shooting, 3 points, 1 rebound, 18 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
Li Chen was fairly pleased with his stats.
He'd only scored three points, but that was because he hadn't taken many shots. Today, he was after assists.
He felt that the Functional Drink would bring him endless benefits in the future.
Today was a great chance for him to break the record. He might not get another opportunity like this, so he had to seize it.
After halftime, Li Chen returned to the court instead of resting.
In the second half, Alvin Gentry took Elton Brand and Michael Olowokandi out to rest, sending Wang Zhizhi and Odom onto the court.
Seeing this, Li Chen's lips curled into a slight smile.
Odom thought to himself, This is bad. He could already imagine what was in store for him.
Sure enough, things went just as Odom had expected.
Even when Odom was wide open with nobody guarding him, Li Chen pretended not to see him.
He kept feeding the ball to Wang Zhizhi and the others.
This made Odom furious, and he even got into a confrontation with Chris Webber of the Kings.
In the end, they each got a technical foul, and that was that.
By the end of the third quarter, Li Chen had already reached 29 assists.
"Oh! My God! This man really did it! Let's congratulate Chen in advance for breaking Skiles's record," Barkley said.
But inwardly, he thought, Fuck, good thing I didn't make that bet, or I'd have lost again. No, from now on, I'm going to be Team Chen. Otherwise, that bastard Kenny will lead me around by the nose.
Alvin Gentry was surprised to see his team's reserves holding their own against the Kings' starters.
Of course, he had also noticed that Odom and Li Chen didn't seem to get along. He would have to look into it after the game.
Kings coach Adelman was also dumbfounded. Could anyone believe that an offense-first team like the Kings had been beaten by one man?
In the end, the Clippers won the game, 131–115.
Elton Brand had a career-high 30 points and 5 rebounds.
Andre Miller, Michael Olowokandi, Corey Maggette, and several other players scored in double figures.
Wang Zhizhi had also reached double digits, which was worth mentioning.
Odom, who had been targeted throughout the game, posted an impressive stat line of 0-for-1 shooting, 0 points, 1 rebound, 0 assists, 0 blocks, and 0 steals.
Li Chen finished the game with 12 points, 32 assists, 1 steal, 2 rebounds, and 1 block.
He had achieved the first double-double of his life.
Li Chen was also named player of the game.
As he had hoped, Li Chen received a D-rank Passing Skill.
However, Li Chen didn't care about any of that. What he cared about was the Functional Drink.
Back in the locker room, he impatiently opened the system and entered the Functional Store.
He eagerly looked toward the only available item, the Functional Drink.
The Functional Drink icon was now lit up.
At the same time, another gray icon had appeared beside it.
The icon showed a figure: Allen Iverson.
It was a skill—Iverson's signature move.
Li Chen tapped the icon, and a brief description appeared before him.
[Breakthrough Skill: Unmatched Left]
This was Iverson's classic crossover move. Even if you knew he was going to drive to the left, you still couldn't stop him.
This skill was simply a god-tier move for getting past defenders!
Li Chen was thrilled at first, but then felt helpless. To obtain this skill, he had to break three legendary records. He had only one point so far, and who knew how long it would take to earn the other two?
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