After the pregame warm-ups ended, the starters from both teams took the court one after another.
The Student Team won the tip-off and got the first possession.
They seized the opportunity on their very first possession, with an outside player quickly knocking down a three-pointer.
Just as Raul had reminded them before the game, this team played fast and focused on offense.
When Real Madrid Team brought the ball into the frontcourt, it went to Sun Hao right away.
Sun Hao had already established himself as the leader of his team, and Raul had specifically instructed him before the game today.
Unlike the previous few games, he was the team's primary offensive option from the opening tip.
He studied the Student Team's defensive positioning. Their coordination was lacking, and even their basic positioning was poor.
He called for the center to come up to the top of the key for a pick-and-roll.
The opposing center stayed inside the Three-Second Zone.
Sun Hao seized the chance and launched a three-pointer before his defender could get around the screen.
It was a completely uncontested shot.
The ball spun through the air in a high arc.
"Swish!"
With a crisp sound, the basketball went straight through the net.
Sun Hao immediately answered with an answer ball!
The Student Team pushed the pace again, but Real Madrid Team was prepared this time, and their attack failed to score.
On the other end, Sun Hao used another screen to shoot a three-pointer.
The opposing center still did not come out!
It was not that the Student Team looked down on Sun Hao. Three-pointers simply were not valued much in this era.
And Europe had no Defensive Three-Second Violation, so centers basically stayed camped in the paint!
So long as the center set a solid screen and the opposing guard was not very good at fighting through it, this simple guard-center pick-and-roll was practically unstoppable.
Sun Hao fired again.
The ball was still perfectly on line.
The fans in the arena had already opened their mouths in anticipation.
"Swish!"
Another clean three-pointer!
Cheers erupted throughout the arena.
Sun Hao had brought his scorching pregame shooting touch into the game!
He had already made two consecutive three-pointers!
This style was different from the previous few games, but it was far more exciting to watch!
After making the three, Sun Hao turned toward the stands. Jocelyn was there, waving her arms hard as she cheered him on.
Seeing that, he felt another surge of adrenaline.
The Student Team went back to pushing the pace.
Their guard called for a screen and pulled up before it was even set.
This style really did resemble the NBA's run-and-gun offense.
"Slap!"
But before he could shoot, his hand suddenly felt light, and the ball that had been in it was gone!
Sun Hao had stolen it!
With his adrenaline still pumping, he was in a state of absolute excitement.
It was not just his shooting touch. His entire body was performing far above its usual level.
No one expected Sun Hao to make a direct steal like that.
By the time the guard realized what had happened and tried to chase him, Sun Hao had already crossed midcourt on a Fast Break.
He was unbelievably fast.
With the help of the Fast Break Finisher Badge, everyone else could only watch as he sped away for a layup.
Cheers rose again, especially from the fans holding Sun Hao's KT boards, who waved them with incredible enthusiasm.
Including that Fast Break, Sun Hao had scored 8 points in less than two minutes!
That touch, that form—it was simply unbelievable!
The Student Team still failed to score on their fast-paced attack.
Sun Hao's red-hot form had stirred up his teammates' enthusiasm.
They could not contribute much on offense, but they could defend!
Real Madrid Team launched another Fast Break. It was Sun Hao again, and he was even faster running without the ball than with it!
The center threw a full-court pass.
Though the pass was not particularly good, Sun Hao still ran over and caught it, then raced to the basket and scored before the defender could block him!
10–3!
Every point Real Madrid Team had scored since the opening tip had come from Sun Hao!
Sun Hao had scored 10 straight points by himself to start the game!
The Student Team's head coach, Decavo, could no longer sit still and walked over to the sideline.
The Student Team missed another shot in the frontcourt. Real Madrid Team's defensive intensity was extremely high now!
"Get back! Get back!"
Decavo shouted from the sideline.
Sun Hao had beaten them twice in a row in transition already, and he did not want to see a third time.
His shouting worked. The Student Team got back on defense in time this time.
By the time Sun Hao brought the ball into the frontcourt on the Fast Break, two Student Team players had already retreated into position.
After seeing them, Sun Hao did not accelerate toward the basket. Instead, he suddenly came to a stop beyond the three-point line.
The stop was so abrupt that the Student Team players, still sprinting back on defense, could not stop in time.
By the time they slowed down and came to a halt, Sun Hao had already released his shot from outside the arc.
The fans in the arena lit up.
Sun Hao was pulling up for a transition three!
Without a certain degree of body control, an ordinary player simply could not make that kind of shot!
Before the 2019 World Championships, the Chinese team played a warm-up game against the Brazil team and trailed by 3 points late in the game.
China had possession, but Zhao Rui drove the Fast Break into the frontcourt and did not take the transition three. Instead, he missed a Fast Break layup and was heavily criticized afterward.
That was a typical case of lacking the ability to shoot transition threes.
After training for so many years in the system, Sun Hao's physical abilities and ball-handling far surpassed those of players his age, and he already possessed that ability.
Of course, whether it went in was another matter.
The shot looked a little too strong after leaving his hand.
A transition pull-up three was much harder than an ordinary three-pointer.
Fortunately, the ball's trajectory looked quite straight.
"Bang!"
The ball hit the backboard, then bounced into the net.
Sun Hao's transition three went in too!
He had started the game 5-for-5, and his hands were on fire!
The cheers in the arena reached a peak, and quite a few fans were practically ecstatic on the spot.
Sun Hao had scored 13 straight points!
And it had taken less than half a quarter!
Tonight, he was going to set a new league scoring record again!
After making the shot, Sun Hao looked at his hand and smiled.
Even he found this scorching touch hard to believe.
But it felt great!
He turned to look at Jocelyn in the stands again.
For the first time, he realized just how powerful love could be.
Sun Hao's style with the Youth Team was similar to how he had played back home, centered on three-pointers and Fast Breaks.
That style was basically unstoppable in lower-level leagues.
Fast Breaks were Sun Hao's scoring floor, while his ceiling depended on his outside shooting percentage.
Though he had scored plenty in the previous games, he had not taken many three-pointers.
Take his first game against Barcelona, for example. Most of his points had come on Fast Breaks.
But with his outside touch burning this hot tonight, his scoring might enter territory he had never reached before.
At that moment, Jocelyn looked at Sun Hao as he looked at her, placed both hands over her chest, and made a heart shape.
It was as if Cupid's Arrow had flown over and pierced Sun Hao directly through the heart.
His mental state suddenly surged, and his face flushed red.
The hot blood inside him was already rolling beyond his control!
The Student Team finally scored on a breakthrough, ending a scoring drought that had lasted nearly half a quarter.
But on the other end, it was still Sun Hao. With his blood boiling, he launched a three-pointer directly over the defense in the frontcourt!
"Swish!"
It went in again!
16–5!
Sun Hao's sixth shot since the opening tip went in too!
He had scored all 16 of his team's points!
By himself, he was a whole team!
In the stands, Jocelyn was growing emotional as well.
Even when she had watched games live in the NBA before, she had never felt like this.
Watching basketball used to be entertainment, but watching Sun Hao now felt personal.
The better Sun Hao played, the happier she became.
It was a strange feeling, but it was exactly how she felt now.
The Student Team called a timeout.
Decavo knew he had to curb Sun Hao's scoring momentum.
More importantly, however, the Student Team's offense was having problems too.
Defense had never been their strength, but if they could not get their offense going either, they would definitely lose tonight.
They might even surrender by halftime.
After the timeout, there was an obvious change on the court.
The Student Team began slowing the tempo. They no longer blindly pursued Fast Breaks and instead began playing in the half court.
That adjustment made Real Madrid Team somewhat uncomfortable.
After all, it was difficult for a team to possess two different styles at the same time.
Take the NBA as an example: Don Nelson's Mavericks and Warriors, as well as D'Antoni's Suns, were unstoppable in run-and-gun basketball but terrible in the half court.
Then there were Popovich's Spurs. Half-court play was their strength, but they were not known for Fast Breaks.
Yet the Student Team suddenly displayed two entirely different styles, which was incredible.
But it was not completely impossible.
European basketball was inherently built around half-court play. The Student Team had changed that norm by playing fast and running and gunning, but it was hardly strange that they could still play their old style.
The Student Team exploited a weakness in Real Madrid Team's half-court defense, and their forward cut inside for a pass and two points.
Real Madrid Team's defensive success early in the game had depended more on aggressive pressure and ball pressure.
That was very effective against fast-paced offenses, but it was not nearly as effective in half-court defense.
Half-court defense depended more on a team's overall defensive ability.
Real Madrid Team was not bad in that regard, but the Student Team excelled offensively, making them difficult to completely contain.
That was also why Raul had set an offensive battle strategy before the game.
When Real Madrid Team pushed the ball into the frontcourt again, the Student Team sent a double-team the moment Sun Hao got the ball.
Though Decavo coached in the youth league, he was not lacking in ability.
Sun Hao did not Forceful Attack. Instead, he chose to pass early.
His teammate took the pass and easily scored on a layup.
The Student Team's defense had been average to begin with, and after double-teaming, it was full of holes.
Sun Hao's passing was ordinary, but he had the aid of the Basketball IQ Badge.
Once he noticed the double-team, he moved the ball early.
Decavo could only shake his head on the sideline.
Real Madrid Team could not defend the Student Team well in the half court, but conversely, the Student Team could not contain Real Madrid Team either.
The Student Team scored again in the half court, but Sun Hao came back down and delivered another assist in the frontcourt.
Sun Hao or the rest of Real Madrid Team—the Student Team now faced a difficult choice!
The one who had to answer that question was naturally head coach Decavo.
In the end, he gestured for the team to abandon the double-team and stick with man-to-man defense.
Compared to Sun Hao's outside three-pointers, leaving players open on defense hurt morale more and made scoring easier.
Sun Hao's touch had indeed been red-hot from the opening tip, forcing him to adjust his defensive strategy.
But a player's hot hand was hard to sustain.
Once Sun Hao's touch cooled off, it would be time for the Student Team to counterattack!
The Student Team still had some offensive coordination in the frontcourt. After a mid-range jumper went in, the score became 11-20!
Both sides began trading set offenses, and the Student Team managed to hold their own against the Real Madrid Team!
On Real Madrid's possession, Sun Hao saw that the opponent had abandoned the double-team, so he called for another screen. Once it came, he pulled up for another three.
The shot was slightly off and clanked off the right side of the rim.
But Sun Hao did not just have good feel tonight. He had good luck too.
The ball bounced up, then dropped into the basket on its second bounce!
Sun Hao's seventh shot was good too!
He had already scored 19 points in this quarter!
Ruthless!
Yet Decavo's expression relaxed considerably at that moment.
Although Sun Hao had made that shot, it was clearly different from his earlier ones.
All of his previous shots had been clean swishes, showing that Sun Hao's touch was scorching hot.
But that last one had involved more luck.
Or, put another way, Sun Hao's touch had already begun to cool.
His earlier judgment and choice had been correct.
Sun Hao sensed it himself as well.
When a player got hot on the basketball court, his teammates needed to keep feeding him the ball.
On one hand, his touch was good and his chances were higher. On the other, it helped maintain his rhythm.
That was common knowledge.
After going two straight possessions without taking a shot, Sun Hao's touch inevitably began to fade.
He turned to look toward the stands again.
The fans at courtside were still cheering for him, while his supporters continued waving his oversized KT boards with all their might.
And Jocelyn.
The first person he saw when he looked into the stands was Jocelyn among the crowd.
When Jocelyn noticed Sun Hao looking at her, she raised her hand to her lips and blew him a kiss!
Just like before at the Bernabéu, Jocelyn was fired up again!
Sun Hao felt another Cupid's Arrow shoot toward him.
The last arrow had merely struck him, but this one pierced straight through him!
He felt his heart stop for a beat before pounding wildly, as though it were about to leap out of his chest.
It was more than his blood boiling. Even the hairs on his body were standing on end.
He was excited! Extremely excited!
Smack!
The result of that excitement was that, while the Student Team was running its play, Sun Hao suddenly jumped out and ripped the ball from the opposing guard's hands, just as he had stolen the ball from Rodriguez in his Youth Team debut.
Before the opposition could react, he was already sprinting from the backcourt to the frontcourt on a Fast Break, finishing with another layup!
Sun Hao's 21st point of the first quarter!
Decavo's brow furrowed so deeply that he could have tucked a pen into it.
Besides threes, Sun Hao was this damn good at steals and fast breaks too?!
He shouted at the players on the court, reminding them to protect the ball.
When the Student Team attacked the frontcourt again, their offensive focus clearly shifted to the side opposite where Sun Hao was stationed.
But that approach weakened their half-court offense, and they failed to keep scoring.
When possession came back around, Sun Hao handled the ball in the frontcourt, called for another screen, and rose for another shot.
The arc on this shot was especially high. As it came down, it barely even touched the net before dropping straight through!
His 24th point of the quarter!
Decavo was completely stunned.
He looked at Sun Hao as though he were looking at a monster.
Was Sun Hao's shooting touch the stock market? It dipped by a few points, then immediately hit the daily limit again?!
But no matter who it was, they would have struggled to understand.
Perhaps only Sun Hao himself knew it was because of Jocelyn.
Jocelyn was the Strongest Support tonight!
"What the fuck are you sons of bitches doing?! Put the damn ball in the basket! You sons of bitches!"
After coming back to his senses, Decavo finally lost control of his emotions and began showing off his Spanish profanity.
The phrase "sons of bitches" was relatively common in football circles.
Whenever Barcelona and Real Madrid played El Clásico, no matter which side won, thousands of fans would gather in the streets to hurl organized insults.
Decavo had little to do with football, but his profanity was very Spanish.
After all, the players on the court were students, and students had an innate fear of adults, especially when that adult was the head coach who held their fate in his hands.
As though a whip had cracked fiercely across their backsides, the Student Team players lowered their heads and charged forward, the ferocity on their faces completely different.
Once they reached the frontcourt, it was obvious that the Student Team had greatly improved both the quality of their screens and their execution of the plays.
An outside player seized the opportunity and knocked down a three-pointer.
That three came at the perfect time.
Earlier, the Student Team had cut the score to 11-20. The nine-point gap had kept the game in a deadlock.
But after Sun Hao buried two more threes and added a steal-and-fast-break, personally producing an 8-0 Scoring Run, the situation changed instantly.
Nine points and 17 points were entirely different kinds of deficits.
One was close to single digits, while the other was close to 20!
But with that three-pointer, the 17-point gap became 14, easing their mental pressure considerably.
And after being "whipped," their defensive intensity also increased.
One of Sun Hao's three-point attempts missed, and a teammate's layup also rimmed out.
Meanwhile, although the Student Team failed to score on two consecutive possessions as well, they drew fouls both times and earned 4 points.
After Decavo unleashed his Spanish profanity, the Student Team answered the Real Madrid Team with a 7-0 Scoring Run.
As that Scoring Run ended, so did the first quarter.
The score stood at 28-18.
But the fans were not focused on the score at that moment. They were focused on Sun Hao's individual scoring!
Sun Hao had exploded for 24 points in the first quarter!
That total not only broke his own Youth Team record for points in a single quarter, but also broke the Real Madrid Youth Team's all-time record!
It was a quarter worthy of being recorded in Youth Team history.
More importantly, Sun Hao had not attempted a single free throw that quarter, yet he had made six three-pointers!
That was unbelievable not only in the European League, but in leagues around the world!
Such a long, long chapter, loooong! No one should be saying it was short today!
Since it was so long, shouldn't I get some recommendation votes as a reward? Drop some chapter comments too, love you all!
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