Chapter 135: Madison Square Garden

On February 5, the Clippers flew to New York and arrived at Madison Square Garden.

This was a basketball shrine in the hearts of countless fans. Any star who failed to put up a huge score at Madison Square Garden would hardly dare call himself a superstar.

As the players entered the arena, He Xinghui received a smattering of applause.

There were many Chinese people in New York, and almost all of them were natural-born He Xinghui fans.

At the same time, quite a few Knicks fans were dreaming of trading for him.

Rumors had already circulated that James Dolan had approached the Clippers about acquiring He Xinghui, offering an extraordinarily generous package and allowing the Clippers to choose any player on the Knicks’ roster.

These people made up the main body of the crowd welcoming He Xinghui.

In response, he waved to them.

He knew the Knicks’ results would be dreadful for the next few years. Their fans had no franchise star worth supporting, which made them an especially easy group to win over.

While He Xinghui received cheers, several Knicks players were greeted with boos when they were introduced.

Fans here were reputed to be among the most demanding in the league, with very little patience.

The moment a player performed poorly, they would show no mercy and shower him with boos.

Playing basketball in such an atmosphere came with enormous pressure.

The brief warm-up ended, and both sides prepared for the opening tip.

The Clippers were still using their most frequently deployed starting lineup. They had already begun preparing for the playoffs.

At point guard for the Knicks was Stephon Marbury, a man known as the Lone Wolf.

That nickname had been influenced by factors off the court. In reality, Marbury had averaged around nine assists for years.

Setting aside the two disappointing seasons at the end of his career, he had averaged eight assists per game over the course of his career.

How could anyone call that selfish?

The media mainly labeled him selfish because his off-court life was a spectacular mess, and his thought process was bizarre.

In 2005, he seduced a Knicks intern and had sex with her in a car. During the courtroom arguments and presentation of evidence, he actually described the intimate details in vivid fashion, as if he were bragging about them. He nearly made the judge explode on the spot.

That, along with such things as using hard drugs, feuding with teammates, clashing with coaches, and quarreling with the media...

With such an unlikeable image, people naturally viewed his performances through tinted glasses.

After he went to the Chinese Basketball Association and was freed from his off-court troubles, the Lone Wolf immediately transformed into Commissioner Ma.

The harm an off-court life could do to a professional athlete was plain to see.

The shooting guard was Jalen Rose.

He had once again carried everything on his own and had not requested time off.

At small forward was Maurice Taylor, an utterly unremarkable player whose career had been perfectly ordinary.

At power forward was Channing Frye, a fellow member of He Xinghui’s draft class and the eighth overall pick.

He was a player who reached his peak the moment he entered the league. His rookie season was more or less his high point, and no later season would surpass it in scoring.

No one knew yet that he had already exhausted his potential. Instead, many people were optimistic about his future.

At center was Eddy Curry, nicknamed the Little Shaq—a player with talent visible to the naked eye who had never managed to fulfill it.

He possessed Shaquille O’Neal’s height and weight, along with a soft touch around the basket. Supposedly, he could even perform a backflip.

What kind of terrifying sight was it to see a man weighing more than 130 kilograms do a backflip?

Simply by living off other people’s expectations of his talent, he managed to keep collecting huge contracts. He was practically the winner of life.

If he could shamelessly ignore the fans’ abuse, he could live a very carefree existence.

The referee was checking the players’ positions in preparation for the tip-off.

Only then did He Xinghui notice that Jalen Rose was wearing something resembling a pair of headphones.

Well, damn.

He Xinghui could only marvel at it.

Someone had previously suggested that the best way to deal with He Xinghui’s trash talk was simply to put on headphones.

However, no player had been willing to lower himself to that extent.

Doing so would be tantamount to admitting to viewers around the world that one’s mental fortitude was inadequate, that one was afraid of He Xinghui’s trash talk, and that one had chosen to run away from it.

Apart from people with absolutely no shame, most ordinary players simply could not bring themselves to do such a thing.

Down on the sidelines, Larry Brown was so furious at Jalen Rose’s equipment that his face had nearly turned black.

“Wait, Ref. Is it within the rules for him to wear something completely unrelated to basketball?”

He Xinghui interrupted the referee’s toss.

He had no choice but to raise the objection. After all, he would be matched up against Jalen, and he needed to accumulate rage points.

If Jalen Rose were really allowed to do this, would He Xinghui not be suffering a huge loss?

Even worse, what if the other players saw that the trick actually worked and began copying him? Would that not render his system completely useless?

His words immediately made players from both teams burst out laughing.

Over at TNT, the matchup against the Knicks was a major event, so they had once again brought in the lip-reading expert Audland—making this his third appearance.

Audland translated the exchange in real time, sending Charles Barkley into a jubilant dance.

“Nice work, Jalen,” Barkley said with a loud laugh.

These days, his public persona had become “He Xinghui’s obnoxious friend.”

On the one hand, he often loudly acknowledged He Xinghui’s greatness. On the other, he repeatedly hoped to see He Xinghui embarrassed on the air.

Smith, by contrast, was a pure He Xinghui fan.

“Well, I don’t think that actually violates any rules,” Smith said hesitantly. He genuinely could not think of a rule against playing basketball while wearing headphones.

“Of course it doesn’t violate any rules. Other players wear masks, protective gear, and headbands. He’s finished now. Without the boost from his trash talk, his ability will be cut in half.”

Barkley was ecstatic. He could once again see hope that He Xinghui might suffer a setback.

Besides, the very idea of a league superstar losing to a pair of headphones was so ridiculous that it practically begged to be laughed at.

It was not only Barkley. The He Xinghui haters and fans watching at home were laughing as well.

The haters were laughing smugly at the prospect of He Xinghui being countered.

The fans were laughing happily because they found the whole situation amusing.

On the court, the referee hesitated for a moment before saying, “He, no rule explicitly states that headphones are forbidden.”

“Damn. I don’t think any rule explicitly says you can’t bring a wrench onto the court either. Should I bring one to my next game?”

He Xinghui grumbled.

“In theory, that’s true. Of course, if you use the wrench to hit someone, it would definitely be a foul.”

The referee was rarely humorous, but he made an exception this time.

“Fine. I’ll try it next game,” He Xinghui said through clenched teeth.

The referee was the highest authority on the court. Since he had ruled that the headphones were not illegal, there was nothing He Xinghui could do.

Of course, the main reason was that He Xinghui felt the headphones had both advantages and disadvantages and might not actually be effective.

They prevented Jalen from hearing the trash talk, but they also prevented him from hearing his teammates, making communication and coordination impossible.

“Destroy them. We can’t let anyone think headphones can limit me,” He Xinghui told his teammates.

Originally, he had felt that it did not matter whether he scored heavily in this game.

Now, however, he had to crush Jalen Rose. He could not let people believe that wearing headphones worked, nor could he allow more players to imitate the tactic.