After such a long time, both teams had undergone considerable roster changes.
For Real Madrid, Sun Hao was making his first start. For FC Barcelona, both Gasol and Navarro had entered the starting lineup.
During pregame warmups, Sun Hao and Gasol started chatting again.
"I looked into that great man you mentioned. He was as great as Cervantes."
"Cer... you like literature too?"
"I like reading when I have nothing to do. It calms the soul. Jiménez lets people feel true sorrow, while Lorca makes people feel joy from the bottom of their hearts."
"I... still prefer 2K."
Their affectionate pregame interaction seemed particularly strange amid the tense atmosphere surrounding the game.
Especially to Barcelona's veteran players.
Not only had they failed to prank Gasol, they had not even been able to compete with him. Now, they could only watch as Gasol did whatever he wanted.
Sure enough, talented people could do whatever they pleased.
Sun Hao and Gasol's chat was merely a small interlude during warmups.
Most people did not even notice it.
Most of their attention was on the game that was about to begin.
This time, the home court was in Barcelona.
Just like the season's Opening Game, the arena was packed. The excitement on Barcelona fans' faces was no less than that of Real Madrid Team fans back then.
Real Madrid and Barcelona had always drawn this much attention.
During the pregame introductions, after the two teams' starters were announced and greeted one another, Sun Hao patted Gasol on the shoulder as they shook hands.
The last time the two teams met, Sun Hao had only played during Garbage Time and had not gotten to compete on the court with Gasol.
Now that they were both starters, they could finally have a proper battle.
But once the game began, neither of them was the main character on the court.
As newcomers, their job at the start was simply to run errands.
Gasol won the tip, and FC Barcelona attacked first.
On the first possession, Gasol set a high pick and roll. Navarro drove inside off the screen and went up for a floater.
Navarro would later earn the nickname The Bomb, and a major reason was his unstoppable floater.
But that was in the future. Right now, he was still somewhat raw.
His floater over Gabajosa missed, and Gabajosa turned to secure the rebound.
Barcelona's first possession came up empty, but they got back quickly and gave Real Madrid no chance to start a fast break.
Prigioni organized the half-court offense, but Gabajosa's shot after receiving the ball was also stopped by Gasol.
Just like every game Sun Hao had played before, European basketball had no Defensive Three-Second Violation, yet every team still focused its offense on the interior.
The closer one got to the basket, the higher the shooting percentage—at this time, that was an unquestioned truth not only in Europe, but even in the NBA.
Gasol was young and inexperienced, but he was big. As a substitute before, he had not matched up against Gabajosa.
Now that he had become a starter, Gabajosa's intimidation in the paint had clearly diminished.
The two teams launched into a full-blown defensive battle from the opening tip.
By the halfway point of the first quarter, the score was 6-6.
But every collision on the court was physical. Though the efficiency was low, the fans were enjoying themselves.
Gasol finally got a chance to display his footwork in the paint. He spun and squeezed past Gabajosa for a shot. Though it missed, he used his long arms to tip in his own rebound.
8-6. Barcelona Team took its first lead over Real Madrid Team.
Cheers shook the arena.
More than half the season had already passed, and Barcelona Team's performance had clearly been inferior to Real Madrid Team's.
Under those circumstances, unlike Real Madrid Team, which had been forced to change starters due to injuries, Barcelona Team had begun promoting young players early.
This was Sun Hao's first start, but it was already Navarro's eighth and Gasol's sixth start.
Now, the results were immediate.
It was completely different from the Opening Game, when they had been crushed from the beginning. They had even gained the upper hand!
Laso also realized that Gabajosa could not gain much of an advantage over Gasol. He raised a hand and signaled a new play.
Sun Hao's expression brightened when he saw the new tactical signal. They were going to run an outside play!
European basketball was strict about tactics. If a player did not follow the coach's instructions on the court, even a team's core player could be substituted out at any moment.
Back in the Plata League, he had gotten fired up once because he had "mistaken someone for Jocelyn," enjoying the privileges of a star player for once.
But this was La Liga, Spain's highest-level league, and Jocelyn was not here.
So even when the team's offense could not get going, he did not act recklessly. He had been waiting, and now he had finally seen what he wanted.
"Barcelona! Barcelona!"
After Barcelona Team took the lead, the home fans' momentum soared. Led by the DJ, they shouted in unison to cheer for the home team.
Prigioni directed the offense in the frontcourt as Sun Hao ran around screens from the left side, looking for a three-pointer.
Gabajosa successfully screened off his defender on the right. Sun Hao came curling around, and Prigioni's pass arrived immediately.
Prigioni had secured his place as Real Madrid's starting point guard because of his excellent passing.
Sun Hao caught the ball and immediately launched a three-pointer. His release was quick, and the switching Gasol did not have time to close out.
The ball left his hand, tracing a high arc through the air.
Swish!
A crisp sound rang out.
Sun Hao's three-pointer fell cleanly through the net, and the shouts in the arena came to an abrupt halt.
The shot was clean and decisive, like a bucket of cold water falling from the sky and instantly dousing the fans' excitement!
Seeing Sun Hao score, Laso's tightly furrowed brow finally relaxed.
Though he had never seen Sun Hao play this way before, any style that put the ball in the basket was a good style.
On the other end, Navarro targeted Sun Hao with a drive, trying to exploit his height advantage.
But Sun Hao gave him plenty of resistance, and Navarro's floater still failed to go in!
Gabajosa secured the defensive rebound and turned to pass to Prigioni.
With the Fast Break Finisher Badge in effect, Sun Hao sprinted downcourt. He caught Prigioni's long outlet pass from the backcourt, shook off his defender, and finished the layup... in!
He had personally produced a 5-0 Scoring Run!
That stretch not only helped Real Madrid Team regain the lead, but put them ahead by three points!
"%￥%...#...#"
Barcelona Team's head coach was furious, screaming at his players from the sideline.
They had worked so hard to gain an early advantage, only for it to be erased by some short player who had come out of nowhere—and he was yellow-skinned, too!
He found that hard to accept!
His anger had an effect. Barcelona Team visibly tightened its defense against Sun Hao's off-ball movement.
Sun Hao no longer got the comfortable shooting opportunities he had earlier.
The game once again descended into a defensive struggle. Not only were there constant clanks, but there were several 30-second violations as well.
The score between the two teams remained unchanged.
On one Real Madrid Team possession, Gabajosa had no opportunity inside and flung the ball out to Sun Hao at the last moment.
At that point, Sun Hao was at least more than a meter beyond the Three-point line.
To most players, this was a spot from which a shot could not possibly be taken.
Even Sun Hao's defender had already turned around, preparing to crash the defensive boards.
Sun Hao got the shot off before the buzzer sounded.
Time was tight, but his form was true.
Though this shot was from farther away, he was already used to being the Strongest Scapegoat Savior.
And with Infinite Range in hand, he was not nervous at all.
The ball traced an incredibly high arc through the air.
As it descended, it came down faster and heavier, like a long-range cruise missile.
Swish!
Before the disbelieving eyes of the home fans, the basketball dropped cleanly through the net!
At that moment, Sun Hao was the strongest Scapegoat Savior in the universe.
Barcelona Team's head coach froze.
This... could fucking go in too?!
After scoring, Sun Hao silently raised a hand and made a Blowgun gesture.
That felt amazing!
He had finally experienced what Curry felt after draining a super-long three-pointer.
He felt like he could shoot through the Earth!
Laso clenched his fist excitedly. His trust had been rewarded!
The players on the bench erupted. Their assists were finally within reach!
Including the five straight points he had scored earlier, Sun Hao already had eight points in the quarter.
His scoring matched Barcelona Team's entire team total!
Barcelona Team's head coach hurriedly called a timeout.
Because of Sun Hao's height, and because he had barely played when the teams met for the first time, the coach had hardly paid attention to him, much less prepared specifically for him.
But after this stretch, he realized he had underestimated his opponent. At the very least, Sun Hao's three-pointer was far better than he had imagined.
If he did not call a timeout to make adjustments, Sun Hao might really carry the game away by himself!
After the timeout, Navarro finally made a floater and scored his first points of the night.
On the next possession, Sun Hao ran another play and took another three-pointer.
The shot missed, but Gabajosa tipped in the rebound.
Sun Hao's hot shooting had pulled Barcelona Team's entire defense outward.
With more space on the court, Gabajosa no longer needed to force his way past Gasol one-on-one, and he had more room to operate as well.
At the end of the first quarter, Sun Hao was 3-for-5 with eight points, the game high.
From that quarter alone, Barcelona fans had already remembered this sixteen-year-old guard who stood just over 1.7 meters tall.
But they did not expect that Sun Hao's performance would not be limited to the first quarter.
Or rather, he was not truly just a Three-point shooter.
After being tightly defended on the perimeter, his shot fakes into drives, as well as his cuts and backdoor movements off screens, were all outstanding.
With the Silver Grade Basketball IQ Badge, along with the Bronze Grade Pick and Roll Evasion and Pick and Roll Master Badges, he remained effective on the court.
After Sun Hao became a starter, Laso also saw his true strength, and he could not hide the smile on his face.
For a seventeen-year-old player to perform like this, it could only mean one thing.
This young man... was the thigh he would have to cling to in the future!
In the end, Real Madrid Team defeated Barcelona Team again, 71-61.
In his first game as a starter, Sun Hao recorded 17 points and 3 assists.
And those 17 points allowed Sun Hao, at sixteen years and nine months old, to break La Liga's single-game scoring record for players under eighteen!
A sudden thought came to me: I've decided to give you all a couple of Cheesy Love Lines every day, so you can experience what it feels like to have a girlfriend.
They say humans have 206 bones. But whenever I meet you, I have 207.
If you get it, remember to vote with your recommendation tickets~
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