Can I Play Again?

"Ball boy?" Barnes looked surprised.

If Zeller had said Tang Tian was merely a player without a scholarship who had then earned one through a comeback, Barnes would not have been so surprised. But if he had been a ball boy before, that meant Tang Tian had no talent at all, yet he could still play on the court. That was genuinely interesting.

"Want to give it a try?" The man running the game was just an ordinary businessman and did not know Tang Tian. Seeing the crowd getting so worked up, he felt a little excited.

If no one else stepped up, the crowd would soon disperse. But now that someone more popular had come out, there would only be more people.

Tang Tian nodded, took out five dollars from his pocket, handed them over, and walked to the shooting spot.

It was half a court, and he could choose any shooting position. He could even switch spots, but every shot had to be released within five seconds, and the interval between shots could not exceed five seconds either. The rules were simple.

"John, how many do you think he can make?" Kendall Marshall wanted to bet Hansen again.

"Five to seven, maybe. Other than that freak Jimmer and Klay Thompson from Washington, I don't think anyone in the league can shoot better than Harrison," Hansen said after hearing what Zeller had said.

"John, I should remind you that he made seven Three-pointers in the game against Georgetown University," Zeller said.

"Uh, really? Then he might actually beat Harrison. He's a three-point shooter?" Hansen was somewhat surprised. Shooters were usually on the skinny side, but Tang Tian looked quite solid, almost like someone who played Power Forward.

"Yeah, and he only took seven shots," Zeller added.

"Hiss!" Hansen sucked in a sharp breath.

"Seven for seven, twenty-one points?" Even Barnes looked surprised. Georgetown University was no weak team, yet they had allowed one opposing player to score twenty-one points on seven shots?

That was not merely interesting. It was unbelievable.

"Forget it, I'm not betting with you." Marshall waved his hand, deciding against it. This Tang Tian sounded hard to figure out.

"Come on. Then let's bet on fifteen shots. He can't possibly make more than that freak Jimmer, right?" Hansen had just lost money, so there was no way he would let Marshall give up so easily.

"Fine. I'll bet he can't make fifteen. If he gets past fifteen, you win. Ten dollars."

"Deal!"

While Hansen and Marshall talked, Tang Tian had already chosen the three-point spot at the top of the arc and begun shooting.

Catch, aim, jump, straighten his arm, snap his wrist. The entire shooting motion flowed in one smooth sequence, just as fluid as it was in the Training Facility.

Swish!

The ball went cleanly through the net.

The crowd erupted in cheers.

Seeing how steadily Tang Tian had made his first shot, the man running the game knew he had skill. He quietly stepped aside and sent a message to the planted shills in the crowd, telling them to be ready to stir things up later.

"Looks like he's got some skill." After watching Tang Tian's first shot, Barnes nodded in approval.

Tang Tian paid no attention to the reactions around him and continued with his second shot at his own rhythm.

Swish!

Nothing but net.

The third one.

Swish!

Nothing but net.

The crowd began cheering, but later they fell silent, simply watching Tang Tian put on a show.

Tang Tian quickly finished the balls in the smaller half rack. He had already made eight in a row, more than Barnes had made earlier.

As he shot, a thought crossed his mind. If he trained for it, could he enter the NBA Three-Point Contest?

But he immediately dismissed the idea. His release speed was too slow. He would definitely have no advantage in that kind of timed competition.

Shooting while thinking, he had unconsciously finished fourteen balls.

Every one had gone in cleanly, and he looked completely relaxed.

Of course he was relaxed. When he practiced in the Training Facility, one set was more than this.

"This guy's kind of a freak!" Marshall felt that the ten dollars he had won might be going right back.

"If we run into him in the tournament, that could be troublesome." Hansen played Power Forward. At that moment, he cared less about winning ten dollars than about a potential matchup.

Tang Tian made his fifteenth shot as well.

At that moment, everyone stared at Tang Tian without blinking.

Fredette had missed on his sixteenth shot earlier, and that had been the most anyone had made that day.

Tang Tian paused for a moment.

"One more! One more!" The planted shills at the sidelines thought he was about to stop and immediately began egging him on.

Barnes turned back at the sound and frowned slightly, but he said nothing. Those people were annoying, but he also wanted to see Tang Tian's limit.

Tang Tian had no intention of stopping. Honestly, he even felt that one thousand dollars was too little.

For his sixteenth shot, Tang Tian caught the ball and shot again.

The shooting motion was just as smooth, and the ball's arc was equally perfect.

Swish!

The ball went cleanly through the net again.

The on-site fans burst into cheers.

Tang Tian was as steady as a shooting machine!

The man running the game was getting nervous now. He could use shills to egg people on and make them keep shooting until the end, but there was a limit to that end. If Tang Tian made twenty straight shots, the grand prize of one thousand dollars would be his.

Who knew where this godlike shooter had come from? He was ridiculously accurate.

If Tang Tian really took away one thousand dollars, he would be giving up all the money he had earned today, yesterday, and the day before.

"Seventeenth shot!" he deliberately shouted louder.

The shills immediately got the hint.

Tang Tian released his seventeenth shot. Just as he was about to shoot, the shills suddenly began yelling chaotically.

It sounded like cheering, but it was clearly meant to distract him.

Swish!

But Tang Tian was completely unaffected. The ball still went cleanly through the net.

"Shut up!" Barnes turned around and shouted at those people. He had had enough. They were plainly there to cause trouble.

Basketball players were already tall, and Barnes had several big men standing beside him. Those people immediately did not dare to yell anymore.

Tang Tian's eighteenth shot.

Swish!

Nothing but net again.

The man running the game could not help wiping away sweat. The guy had taken so many shots. Weren't his arms sore? Wasn't he tired?

The nineteenth shot.

Swish!

That pleasant sound of the clean make rang out again.

The onlookers could no longer hold back their cheers. This was simply incredible!

"One last one," Marshall said, swallowing nervously.

"Yeah." Barnes nodded. He suddenly found himself full of anticipation for Tang Tian making all twenty.

The man running the game stared at Tang Tian nervously as well.

The twentieth shot.

The same motion, the same arc, and the same sound.

Swish!

Tang Tian had won one thousand dollars!

The crowd instantly went wild. Cheers and whistles rang out without end. Finally, someone had won those one thousand dollars!

Tang Tian smiled and turned around, looking at the deflated businessman.

"Can I play again?" he asked.