Does It Count as a Game-Winner?

Alvin Gentry immediately called a timeout and began drawing up a play for the final possession.

But when he saw how dejected the players looked, he felt a little displeased. He was just about to berate them when—

Seeing his teammates' downcast expressions, Li Chen tried to encourage them. "Don't look so dejected. It's just a regular-season game. Besides..."

He pointed at the countdown on the scoreboard. "We've still got three seconds, haven't we? Lady Luck hasn't abandoned us yet."

Alvin Gentry nodded in approval. He liked that Li Chen refused to give up.

Before any of the other players could respond, Odom sneered, "Hmph! Easy for you to say. We don't even have a single All-Star Player on this team. Who's supposed to take the final shot? You? Rely on that so-called luck of yours? Or your Open Three-Pointer? Wake up! The Pacers aren't going to give you a chance to shoot an Open Three-Pointer."

Odom's words offended everyone in the room, and he immediately regretted saying them.

As the saying went, once words were spoken, they couldn't be taken back.

Odom could only swallow the bitter consequences of his words.

At the same time, he kept reassuring himself that he was leaving next season anyway.

Sure enough, all the players were furious when they heard Odom's remarks. Even Alvin Gentry's face darkened.

Li Chen walked up to Odom, who had been making snide comments.

"What? You want to fight?" Odom taunted him dismissively.

Li Chen smiled without answering. Instead, he said, "How about we make a bet?"

Odom paused, then asked instinctively, "Bet on what?"

"Whoever loses treats the whole team to a night at the club. You in?"

Alvin Gentry's face turned dark. Damn brat, talking about going to a nightclub right in front of me. You've got some nerve.

Though Alvin Gentry was displeased, he knew Li Chen was using this to turn the team's anger at Odom into motivation.

Thinking that over, he swallowed the scolding he'd been about to give.

When Odom saw that Coach Alvin Gentry wasn't stopping him, he nodded. "Fine."

Seeing the players' dejection vanish without a trace, Alvin Gentry secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Then Alvin Gentry said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Give the ball to Chen."

Li Chen nodded.

He had no confidence at all, but there was no way he could back down now.

The referee blew the whistle, and the timeout was over.

Meanwhile, in the TNT broadcast room—

Barkley spoke passionately. "Let's see if the Eastern Kid, Li Chen, can work another miracle and hit a game-winner against the Pacers."

The Clippers fans watching the broadcast were looking forward to it, too.

Miracles were always so captivating, so full of promise.

The whistle blew, and the Clippers inbounded from the frontcourt.

But the Pacers had clearly prepared their defense carefully, leaving the Clippers no chance to pass the ball in.

Andre Miller held the ball in both hands. He tried several times to pass it out, but never actually followed through.

On the court, Artest stuck to Li Chen like glue, as if he wanted to hang off him.

Li Chen, near the free-throw line, was at a loss. This guy was way too clingy. Was it really normal for a grown man to be this clingy? Li Chen grumbled to himself.

Just then, a flash of inspiration struck: he thought of how to box out for a rebound.

His feet moved rapidly, and he got between Artest and the basket, keeping Artest behind him.

At that moment, Andre Miller, who had been watching Li Chen's position, fired a quick pass.

As he caught the ball, Li Chen leaned his back into Artest, used the contact to turn, and slipped past him toward the basket.

The whole sequence took just 1.2 seconds, leaving him a full 1.8 seconds to attempt a little floater.

Artest, beaten, gritted his teeth. Fuck, he'd gotten past him after all.

But there was no way he was letting Li Chen shoot, Artest roared inwardly.

So Artest grabbed Li Chen and wrapped him up in a flash.

The move caught Li Chen completely off guard, and the two of them tumbled to the floor together.

A moment later, the referee blew the whistle.

Li Chen glared and shouted, "You bastard, let go already! Damn it, are you into men or something?"

After cursing at him, he forced his way out of Artest's arms.

There was no helping it. Nobody knew better than Artest just how accurate Li Chen's floater was.

So the foul had been absolutely necessary.

The game clock stopped at 0.2 seconds.

Artest fouled out and left the game.

Odom stared in disbelief. Was Artest an idiot? Why would he foul?

Then he looked toward the court, hoping Li Chen would miss the free throw.

Li Chen stepped up to the free-throw line.

He wiped the sweat covering his face with his jersey, then dried his palms.

Taking the ball from the referee, he let out a long breath and calmly sank the shot.

The score was tied at 104–104.

His teammates came over to slap his hand, urging him to relax and not put pressure on himself.

Elton Brand reassured him, "Chen, it's okay if you miss. We're already tied. We'll go to overtime, and we can definitely beat the Pacers."

Li Chen pursed his lips and shot back, "What, you think I'm you?"

Elton Brand felt like he'd taken ten thousand points of damage.

Just then, Li Chen calmly sank his second free throw.

The Pacers gave up, too. With only 0.2 seconds left, there wasn't enough time to get a shot off.

The Clippers narrowly beat the Pacers, 105–104.

Barkley let out a long sigh of relief. Good thing he hadn't made a bet, or he would've lost again.

In this game, Pacers center Little O'Neal played 40 minutes and recorded 25 points, 1 assist, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Reggie Miller played 35 minutes and scored 18 points, with 2 rebounds, 10 assists, and 1 steal.

Artest, whose job had been to guard Li Chen, finished with 7 points and 3 rebounds.

For the Clippers, Elton Brand and several others scored in double figures.

It was worth mentioning that Wang Zhizhi, who came off the bench, earned praise from Coach Alvin Gentry.

Li Chen played 48 minutes, scoring 32 points and recording 10 assists, 1 steal, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

He made all three of his three-point attempts for 9 points, scored another 9 from the free-throw line, and went 7-for-16 on two-pointers, shooting over 50 percent.

"Congratulations to Chen on his triple-double and Player of the Game award."

"Li Chen didn't get that many rebounds this game," Kenny Smith joked with a laugh.

"Fifteen isn't that few. I swear on a donkey's butt that the time he got 56 rebounds was a fluke."

Kenny Smith grinned wickedly. "Charles, we'll remember that. If Chen gets 56 rebounds again, don't forget your promise. Hahaha!"

Barkley wished he could slap himself. He'd let his mouth run just now, but there was no backing out now. Gritting his teeth, he glared and said, "That's right. I said it."

Kenny Smith nodded with a mischievous grin, then added, "Oh, and congratulations to our Eastern miracle kid, Li Chen. He was named Western Conference Player of the Week after averaging 29.7 points, 17 assists, and 24 rebounds, with a 56.3 percent shooting percentage."