The next morning, Real Madrid Team set off for Paris, France.
This was also Sun Hao's second visit to the City of Romance. The last time, he and Fernandez had come here to watch the World Cup Final.
Returning to a familiar place made everything feel especially familiar.
After getting off the plane, Real Madrid Team took a bus to the hotel. The driver was a local and took them around several tourist attractions.
Interestingly, while driving around, they unexpectedly spotted Virtus Bologna.
Unlike them, Virtus Bologna, led by their head coach, was sightseeing around the scenic area.
Everyone approached games differently. Some teams, like Real Madrid Team, rested at the hotel and trained after arriving; naturally, others, like Virtus Bologna, relaxed by sightseeing before the game.
There was no right or wrong way—only different attitudes toward the game.
The following evening, both teams appeared at Bercy Arena.
The twenty-thousand-seat arena had long since been packed to capacity.
Ancient Rome had ruled Europe for over a thousand years, and France had been one of its major territories.
The gladiatorial arenas of Ancient Rome were world-famous, and that culture had endured to this day.
You could see it from the arena's structure. The seats at Bercy Arena were extremely steep, making it look much like a canyon.
Fans sitting there and watching the game felt as though they were watching a gladiatorial arena in Ancient Rome.
The NBA Jazz's home arena, EnergySolutions Arena, used the same design.
By making use of the canyon effect, it concentrated the fans' cheers into the court as much as possible.
The players on the court were surrounded by cheers, as though they were constantly being injected with Doping.
Of course, to visiting players, it was explosive, distracting noise.
The Jazz's home court was one of the NBA's famous Devil's Home Courts, and Bercy Arena's design had the same effect.
Since this was a neutral venue, the seating arrangement tonight was even more interesting.
Along the north-south axis, the arena was split in two. Real Madrid fans sat on one side, while Virtus Bologna fans occupied the other.
The two sides were like crowds shouting across a river. Once the game began, the scene was bound to be spectacular.
After both teams entered the court, every player felt an invisible pressure from the atmosphere.
Yet among them all, Sun Hao was unusually calm.
It was not that his mental fortitude was strong enough to completely ignore the atmosphere around him. It was simply that he had seen scenes like this many times in his previous life.
Most NCAA games were like this.
That was also why, although the NCAA's influence was nowhere near the NBA's, its game atmosphere completely crushed the NBA's.
Sun Hao remained composed, but before warmups began, he spotted two familiar figures by the court.
Gasol, Ginobili, Danilovic—he had already met those European stars from this era in his memories. He had not expected to see the remaining two here at courtside as well.
Coming to Europe to play basketball really had been a good choice.
After warmups ended, the two teams entered the player introductions.
For Real Madrid Team, the Trident of Prigioni, Sun Hao, and Gabajosa started together.
For Virtus Bologna, Ginobili and Sasha Danilovic started together in the backcourt.
Besides them, Virtus Bologna also had someone Sun Hao had his eye on: Marko Jaric.
Jarić was 2.07 meters tall. In history, he played seven seasons in the NBA, averaging 7.1 points and 3.6 assists per game. He was a rather capable Shooting Guard.
But what caught Sun Hao's attention was not Jarić's NBA performance, but his wife.
Adriana Lima, a world-famous supermodel, Victoria's Secret's top model, with a signing fee ranked among the top three in the world.
Interestingly, Real Madrid Team was overflowing with Point Guard talent in its backcourt, while Virtus Bologna was overflowing with Shooting Guard talent.
With one side starting two Point Guards and the other starting two Shooting Guards, this Semifinals matchup was interesting from the lineups alone.
After the player introductions, both teams went through their final pregame warmups, and the atmosphere in the arena continued to heat up.
As the starters from both teams took the court one after another, the Semifinals were about to begin.
At that moment, the spectators on both sides could no longer hold back. They began cheering and shouting, the two waves of sound overlapping from left and right, and the players on the court already felt as if their ears were about to burst.
A blazing basketball atmosphere.
The referee's whistle sounded. Gabajosa leaped high and tipped the ball back toward his half, officially opening the Semifinals.
Prigioni brought the ball up and organized the offense, while Sun Hao ran off the ball around the perimeter.
The two teams had been in the same Group Stage and had faced each other before. Virtus Bologna had prepared for this, and Ginobili chased closely behind Sun Hao.
Perhaps because Sun Hao had touched his head during their last meeting, Ginobili had deliberately grown his hair out. It was noticeably longer than before.
But he was still as slippery as a loach. He navigated consecutive screens and stayed tightly behind Sun Hao.
Sun Hao did not get an offensive opportunity on the first possession.
After running a pick-and-roll with Gabajosa, Prigioni drove inside and kicked it out. Gabajosa pulled up from the free throw line for a mid-range jumper over Danilovic.
Swish!
Gabajosa scored on his first shot!
He looked to be in pretty good form.
Virtus Bologna's offense began with Ginobili handling the ball and organizing.
At that moment, he noticed that Real Madrid Team's defense had changed since their previous meeting.
The defender assigned to him had changed from Prigioni to Sun Hao.
Real Madrid Team had actually sent the 1.8-meter Sun Hao to guard him!
Looking at Sun Hao, who was a head shorter than him, Ginobili immediately chose to back him down.
But he quickly discovered that Sun Hao was much stronger physically than he had expected.
They had matched up plenty of times in their previous game, but Ginobili had been defending Sun Hao then. Since Sun Hao's offense mainly relied on shooting, they had barely had any physical confrontations.
Ginobili bumped him twice but could not move him. He turned to face up, crossed over, drove, and went into a Euro Step.
It was his favorite way to score, but he soon realized that he could not get past Sun Hao!
Just as he took the second step and prepared to rise, Sun Hao got into position defensively and met him with contact.
Sun Hao's anticipation was far too accurate!
Or rather, he knew Ginobili too well.
Especially after their previous matchup, Sun Hao now had a more complete understanding of Ginobili's current skill set.
But Ginobili possessed outstanding flexibility. After absorbing the contact, he adjusted in midair and floated the ball up despite losing his balance.
Basketball talent came in many forms—height, wingspan, vertical leap, and more. Physical flexibility was one of them too.
Ginobili and Kobe were both prime examples of that kind of talent.
The shot drew gasps from the fans, and it also made Spurs assistant General Manager R.C. Buford drool.
Ginobili had been drafted by the Spurs that year, but the team had chosen to let him develop overseas while observing him.
Now that Ginobili had led his team into the UEFA Champions League semifinals, the Spurs had naturally sent someone to scout him and decide whether to bring him over next season.
Buford's presence showed just how highly the Spurs valued Ginobili.
Smack!
But just as he finished marveling at the play, a huge hand flew in from the side and swatted Ginobili's shot straight out of bounds!
A beautiful block!
Gabajosa!
His form tonight was not merely pretty good!
That block instantly ignited the Real Madrid fans in the arena.
Because of Sun Hao's sudden rise, they had nearly forgotten the core of this Real Madrid Team's frontcourt!
Virtus Bologna inbounded the ball, but Danilovic's outside three-pointer missed.
Gabajosa turned and snatched the Long Rebound out of the air like a monkey trying to grab the moon.
He was in exceptionally fierce form today.
Real Madrid Team attacked again. Sun Hao came off a screen to receive the ball, but before he could shoot, Ginobili was glued to him again.
Ginobili was determined to hound him all night.
At that moment, Sun Hao saw Gabajosa Posting Up inside and immediately fed him the ball.
After receiving the pass, Gabajosa backed down once, spun, and squeezed past the opposing center. Seeing the opposing power forward rotate over to help, he rose and smashed the ball toward the rim with both hands.
Boom!
Like a heavy bomb, Gabajosa viciously hammered the ball into the basket.
4–0!
Gabajosa had scored all of the team's opening points!
And from that finish, it was clear that he was a little fired up tonight!
Ginobili called for a screen in the frontcourt. After the switch, he drove inside and deliberately leaned into Gabajosa before putting up a shot.
Smack!
To everyone's surprise, Gabajosa blocked Ginobili again!
And this time, it was a head-on one-on-one block!
After the block, Gabajosa roared at Ginobili, looking every bit like a wild beast.
He had gone crazy!
Yorg! Yorg!
The Real Madrid fans at courtside began cheering for Gabajosa.
His performance at the start of this game had truly exceeded everyone's expectations.
Virtus Bologna's head coach Messina frowned deeply at this point.
They had already been at a disadvantage in the frontcourt matchups, and now Gabajosa was in such great form. They were in trouble.
Just as he thought that, Gabajosa set a screen for Prigioni, rolled to the basket, received the pass, spun, and put up a little hook shot.
Swish!
The ball dropped cleanly through the net.
Gabajosa had scored six straight points to open the game!
Blocks, consecutive blocks, a thunderous dunk, a little hook—he was like O'Neal had possessed him, taking whatever he wanted!
Watching Gabajosa's dominant performance, Sun Hao suddenly remembered something.
Prigioni had been playing ordinarily today and even looked somewhat out of strength.
Sun Hao remembered that when he had treated everyone to dinner for the first time, Prigioni had mentioned his wife and child.
But Gabajosa had not seemed to have either, and with that gloomy demeanor, there was no way he could have gotten a girlfriend before Prigioni.
This guy had to be single, just like in Sun Hao's previous life!
That seemed to explain it.
Rumors had been spreading outside that I was secretly living with Shui Duan.
Let me clarify something.
That was not a rumor.
Before you continue