The League's Best Player

The Jaguars' game against the Flying Waves ended in a decisive Jaguars victory. The other games of the round had also concluded one after another, leaving only the defending champion Sendai Wanderers' home game against Hokkaido Lavender, which had gone into overtime.

At the start of overtime, Lavender's point guard—the Star of Tomorrow in the head coach's eyes—Zhongyuan Qujiang struck first. He hit two consecutive mid-range shots and stretched the lead to four points.

"Xiandao won't just stand by!"

That was what Wanderers head coach Zhuangsi Xiti thought. As he watched Xiandao on the court, Coach Zhuangsi's eyes were full of confidence.

"Steady, everyone! We're still ahead!!" Lavender's head coach continued shouting from the sideline, urging his players on.

Wanderers point guard Otake Shunta dribbled the ball across half court.

"As a veteran, what Otake needed to do most now was control the tempo, avoid turnovers, and get the ball into the hands of players he could trust, such as Xiandao."

Coach Zhuangsi looked calm on the surface, but he was constantly analyzing the situation on the court.

Otake indeed waited for Xiandao to come receive the ball, just as Coach Zhuangsi had expected.

Xiandao stepped up to receive it. Guarding him was Lavender's forward and defensive specialist, Ye Liuduo, who stayed glued to him.

"I won't let you catch the ball again!" Ye muttered under his breath. Though Ye was not particularly strong, his long arms and legs gave him an enormous defensive range!

Xiandao and Ye began jostling for position beyond the three-point line, showing just how fiercely every possession was contested in overtime.

But Xiandao still had a slight strength advantage over Ye, and he signaled for Otake to pass.

Sure enough, after Xiandao pinned Ye down and leaped, he received the ball with difficulty. Upon landing, he saw Ye still crowding him closely. Without adjusting, Xiandao lowered his center of gravity and drove, blowing past Ye in a single step.

"Damn it, don't even think about it!" Ye quickly chased after him.

As Xiandao drove to a step inside the three-point line, he suddenly slowed again and pulled the ball back with his right hand! His feet followed with a step-back to the three-point line. The entire sequence was fluid, with a touch of streetball flair, like a dance—yet it was also highly practical.

Ye was completely thrown off by Xiandao's sudden stop-and-go, losing his balance and nearly getting shaken to the floor.

"Xiandao!! He's taking the three!!!"

The commentator was beside himself at the sight of Xiandao shooting.

Swish!!! A perfect shot.

Just as overtime began, Xiandao shook his defender and buried a three-pointer.

"Completely stopping Xiandao is harder than climbing to heaven..."

From Lavender's head coach's words, it was clear that Xiandao's baskets truly made people despair.

Zhongyuan brought the ball up and organized the offense, again using a pick-and-roll with center Miyake Jiang. Qianli remained stationed in the paint. Just as Zhongyuan broke free of his defender and prepared to shoot, Xiandao suddenly appeared in front of him!

"Once, twice—but not a third time, rookie!"

Xiandao's words revealed his determination on defense.

Zhongyuan remained calm and did not panic because of Xiandao's sudden help defense.

"You should be guarding someone else!"

Zhongyuan passed the ball to guard Guangu, the player Xiandao should have been defending. Xiandao's help defense had left an opening!

Guangu caught the ball and launched a three!

"Rebound!"

Perhaps due to fatigue as well, Guangu's completely open shot was wildly off. The moment he released it, he knew it would not go in and hurriedly called for his teammates to grab the rebound!

Clang, clang!

Sure enough, the ball missed and did not bounce far. Qianli secured the rebound.

He passed directly to Xiandao, and the Wanderers launched another fast break.

After getting the ball, Xiandao saw that Lavender's defense had not yet set up and decided to attack in transition. He dribbled while observing the court, not pushing the pace too quickly. Lavender's players were scrambling back, and no one stood in Xiandao's path.

"Get up on him! Stay on Xiandao! Don't let him score again!!"

Lavender's head coach was so anxious he was practically about to walk onto the court.

But a strange scene unfolded. Aside from Xiandao, all the Wanderers players rushed into the paint in a single wave. Lavender's players panicked and followed them inside, leaving no defender within three meters of Xiandao, who stood at the three-point line with the ball! How could Xiandao miss such an opportunity? He came to a stop, steadied himself, and calmly fired a three!

Swish!!

The transition three went in!

"Yeah!!!"

The crowd erupted again. A minute earlier, the Wanderers had been down by four. Thanks to Xiandao's two consecutive threes, the team now held the lead.

"Ah..."

Lavender's head coach helplessly spread his hands, his brow tightening. He was clearly dissatisfied with that defensive possession.

But Lavender's most important task now was to score and suppress the Wanderers' momentum.

Zhongyuan dribbled the ball. Perhaps because the game had gone into overtime, his stamina was beginning to fail him. After all, he was still a rookie. Unable to shake Otake's suffocating pressure defense, Zhongyuan handed the ball to Guangu, who came up to receive it.

At the left-wing forty-five-degree three-point line, Guangu faced Xiandao's defense. He did not quite dare to make a move, but he stayed crouched low, ready to explode at any moment!

Xiandao knew Guangu was left-handed, so he leaned his body to the left, forcing Guangu to drive with his right hand!

"Guangu!! Watch the clock!! Miyake, hurry and set a screen for him!!"

Seeing his team's offense stagnate again, Lavender's coach directly instructed them from the sideline.

Hearing the coach, Miyake indeed ran over and set a screen on Xiandao's right side—Guangu's left side.

"Great screen!"

Seeing Miyake block Xiandao, Guangu immediately took off and indeed drove in with his left hand.

Xiandao went around Miyake and prepared to chase Guangu down.

Guangu did not look at the clock, but he knew very well that there was little time left. If he drove any farther in and could not get a shot off, time would truly expire. So the moment Guangu drove to the baseline, he rose for a jumper.

"You're thinking too simply!"

Smack!!

At the instant the ball left Guangu's shooting hand, Xiandao touched it from behind. It was not a full block, but it took all the force out of the shot, and the ball was already slowly falling in midair.

Tweet!

The referee's whistle sounded at that very moment.

"Defender number seven, shooting foul. Offense number one, two free throws!"

The referee's words and hand signals were perfectly clear. Xiandao's block had become a foul.

Xiandao stood there stunned, hands on his hips and a conflicted expression on his face. He stared at the referee, unable to believe the call, then looked up at the big screen, waiting for the replay.

"Boooooo!!!"

The big screen showed the replay of the "foul," drawing furious boos from the entire arena!

From the slow-motion replay, Xiandao had clearly flicked the ball just as it was being released and had not touched Guangu's shooting hand. But because it was a left-handed shot, it may have obstructed the referee's view to some extent. There was no way to change the call. A referee's whistle was also a major factor in deciding a team's victory or defeat.

Xiandao was still arguing with the referee. It was necessary to make the referee realize that this had been a mistaken call.

Guangu stepped to the free-throw line.

"Boooooo!"

The entire arena again erupted with unsettling boos!

But Guangu's ability to handle pressure was truly strong. He steadily made both free throws, and the two teams were tied again at 96!

The Wanderers attacked.

Again at the left-wing forty-five-degree three-point line, Xiandao faced Ye. Ye was extremely wary of Xiandao's shot. If he pressed up too tightly, he feared Xiandao would blow past him. So after arranging the help defense behind him, Ye firmly stayed in front of Xiandao, constantly disrupting him.

Xiandao did not call for a screen, seemingly studying his route of attack.

"Double-team!" Seeing Zhongyuan suddenly run toward Xiandao, Otake shouted a warning.

Xiandao caught sight of Zhongyuan out of the corner of his eye, then lowered his center of gravity and prepared to drive.

Sure enough, just as Ye had expected, Xiandao lowered his body and drove, bursting past him in one step. Ye had no time to stop him at all.

"Haha, Xiandao took the bait. If he drives in like that, he can only get surrounded in the end. Forget shooting—passing will be difficult too!" Seeing Xiandao drive, Lavender's coach was overjoyed.

After getting past Ye, Xiandao continued charging into the paint. Lavender power forward Sangyuan Shaopeng and center Miyake Jiang had been waiting for him for a long time, but Xiandao seemed utterly fearless. He picked up the ball with both hands and prepared to lay it in!

"This guy is looking down on our interior defense too much!"

In Lavender's head coach's eyes, Xiandao was knowingly walking into a tiger's den.

"Interesting!"

Xiandao said with a smile, though the two men before him were imposing, as if they wanted to devour him.

Xiandao gripped the ball in his right hand. Was that posture... a dunk??

Sangyuan and Miyake jumped at the same time, one in front and one at his side, directly trapping Xiandao. In that situation, forget dunking—Xiandao could not even touch the rim.

"What~~~!!!!"

Miyake and Sangyuan cried out in shock at the same time, because Xiandao had suddenly vanished from their sight.

Xiandao truly looked like an astronaut wandering through space, floating in midair. In stark contrast, Miyake and Sangyuan had already begun to descend, while Xiandao completed a hanging, drifting double-clutch layup in the air. He perfectly evaded the defenders' blocks, switching from the left side of the basket to the right before banking the ball in.

Lavender's head coach stood dumbfounded, completely stunned. He could not believe everything he had just seen.

Tweet!! Shooting foul! The basket counts, and he'll get one more free throw!!

The referee blew the whistle. On this possession, Xiandao had truly taken points back from Lavender, with one crucial free throw still to come.

"This is Xiandao's ability. Many of his unbelievable shots are brought out by his opponents, so even I do not know where Xiandao's limit lies or what other moves he can make. With Xiandao performing normally, the team fears no opponent. But if an opponent can awaken Xiandao's immense desire to win, then across the entire league, there truly may be no one who can contend with him!"

Zhuangsi understood his prized disciple extremely well. Rarely, he rose to his feet and applauded Xiandao's spectacular basket. In his heart, there was one more sentence.

"To put it bluntly: Xiandao is the best player in the league today."