Chapter 167: Brewing a Ultimate Move

The Clippers' starting lineup: Cassell, Xinghui He, Quinton Ross, Gasol, Kaman.

Maggette remained sidelined with an injury, and Mobley returned to the bench.

The Lakers' starting lineup: Smush Parker, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Elton Brand, Chris Mihm.

The players walked to center court, getting ready for the tip-off.

The head referee, Steve Javie, walked up to Xinghui He and Kobe, who were standing close together, and said, "He, Kobe, I'm keeping a close eye on both of you tonight. Don't try any funny business. I won't go easy on you just because you're star players."

Steve Javie was the most hated referee among Spurs fans, surpassing even the bald-headed Crawford.

Because of his tough officiating style, sharp eyes, and zero tolerance for flagrant fouls, he was quick to blow the whistle.

This was extremely disadvantageous for the Spurs, who often felt restricted in games officiated by Javie.

In games managed by Javie, the Spurs' win rate was far below their average.

Right now, Steve Javie was directly issuing a warning to both Kobe and Xinghui He.

He certainly did not want to see the two get into a fight during this highly anticipated matchup.

Given Kobe's current state of anger, that was entirely possible.

"Don't look at me, ref. You know me, I never fight," Xinghui He said.

Unfortunately, Javie completely ignored these words.

Never fight? Then where did McGrady's bloody nose from the day before come from? Did it magically appear just from seeing some beauty without her clothes on?

"Hmph."

Kobe let out an imperceptible sound, leaving it ambiguous whether it expressed disdain, acknowledgment, or something else entirely.

Shortly after, Javie tossed the ball into the air. Mihm tipped it away, and the Lakers advanced the ball.

"Hello there, reneger," Xinghui He initiated.

This left Kobe feeling deeply frustrated. He felt he had gotten the short end of the stick because Javie was clearly favoring Xinghui He.

After all, Javie had stopped him from using the rough tactics he originally intended to employ, yet he didn't stop Xinghui He from talking trash. This was completely unfair.

"Shut up, clown. I never acknowledged that bet," Kobe retorted.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Xinghui He responded.

[Anger points from Kobe Bryant +30.]

The ball was passed to Brand. Brand used his bulk to back down Gasol, carved out space for himself, and sank a mid-range little jumper.

Though the form wasn't particularly pretty, Brand's shooting percentage with this play style was quite decent.

The shot went in.

Brand clenched his fist inwardly. In this game, he needed to prove that he was better than Gasol, and he needed to prove that the Clippers were out of their minds for trading him.

Even though he had been the one who requested to leave, he still wanted to prove the Clippers were wrong.

"You can't win games when you're paired with a softie," Kobe said, using Gasol's performance to mock Xinghui He.

Unexpectedly, Xinghui He suddenly burst out laughing, leaving Kobe speechless.

He found Xinghui He's threshold for humor to be absurdly low and completely inexplicable.

He had merely called Gasol soft—what was so funny about that? What was so funny? Wasn't that a universally acknowledged fact?

Xinghui He simply found it amusing how much he had scrambled history. Kobe, who originally loved Gasol so much, was now actually mocking Gasol for being soft.

This was truly hilarious.

The Clippers attacked, and the ball found its way into Xinghui He's hands.

However, his one-on-one isolation against Kobe this time yielded no results, forcing him to pass the ball back to Cassell.

Kobe hadn't been wasting his time lately. When Xinghui He was at the gym, Kobe was at the gym; when Xinghui He was in bed, Kobe was still at the gym.

Having thoroughly studied Xinghui He's technical characteristics, Kobe could now proudly crown himself the Terminator of Cousin.

Whenever Xinghui He tried to drive, he found no opening; whenever he wanted to shoot, there was no space.

Judging solely by this single possession, one could even say Xinghui He was completely locked down by Kobe.

"Get away from me. Why are you clinging to me like a pet dog?" Xinghui He complained, mocking Kobe's defense as dog-like after failing to break through.

"Shut up, you fly," Kobe countered.

"Hello, Mr. Poop," Xinghui He said, extending his hand in a handshake gesture.

Instead of denying his identity as a fly, he seized the opportunity to solidify Kobe's identity as a pile of poop.

After all, flies were naturally drawn to circle around poop.

His words and his handshake gesture directly caused quite a few fans in front of their televisions to burst into laughter. There was nothing more entertaining than star players roasting each other.

"When it comes to trash talk, Cousin still holds a slight edge," Charles Barkley chuckled. No matter what, being a fly was still slightly better than being poop.

"It's already impressive enough that Kobe can trade a few words of banter with him. Anyone else would probably have a mental breakdown by now," chimed in Smith, one half of the He-Fawning Duo.

On the court, the game continued.

After Cassell missed his shot, the Lakers launched a fast break.

Kobe raised his hand asking for the ball.

Even with a second option on the team who averaged 17 field goal attempts per game, Kobe had not reduced his own average shot attempts.

Of course, he had his own grievances.

Nearly ten years into his career, he had yet to win a scoring title.

How could he possibly dare to compare himself to Jordan, who had won ten scoring titles, or genuinely claim to be Jordan's successor with that resume?

This season was his best chance, and he couldn't afford to miss it.

What frustrated him, however, was that in previous years, scoring titles could be secured with twenty-something or low-thirty points per game, but this season, even 35 points per game wasn't a safe bet.

Right behind him, Allen Iverson, averaging nearly 34 points per game, was in hot pursuit.

With the 76ers having no hope of making the playoffs, Iverson had completely let himself go, his eyes fixated solely on the rim.

The only one suffering was Kobe, who had to chase the scoring title while balancing the team's record. It was a true dilemma—difficult, harder still, and a thousand times more complicated.

Kobe played isolation against Xinghui He. Driving past Xinghui He was difficult, so he had to rely on his back-to-court game.

He inched his way to his sweet spot, turned, leaned back, and released the shot.

The ball went in, and Kobe breathed a sigh of relief.

The pressure on his shoulders was far greater than most people imagined.

"Clown, you guys are already down by 4 points," Kobe taunted, leaning on his lead.

"4 points? Why do I feel like it's only 1 point?" Xinghui He continued his usual act of putting on airs.

His famous quote from the game against the Rockets had already become a running meme. Many fans now joked that because of Xinghui He's clutch gene, the Clippers essentially started every game up by three points.

Kobe, who paid obsessive attention to Xinghui He, was naturally aware of this meme.

However, at that moment, Kobe wished he had never heard of it, because ignorance would have spared him the annoyance of Xinghui He's arrogant flair.

Yet he did know, and as a result, a wave of annoyance involuntarily welled up inside him.

The Clippers attacked. All four starters were heavily guarded, leaving only Quinton Ross isolated in the corner, looking rather lonely.

Xinghui He passed the ball over, and Ross, left with no other choice, hoisted a three-pointer.

Three-pointers weren't his specialty, but when the team's leader passed you the ball, you had to shoot. Securing an assist for the boss was more important than anything else.

To everyone's surprise, Ross swished the three-pointer, making him grin from ear to ear.

A single shot had accomplished two-thirds of his scoring quota for the entire game, especially since his season average was less than 6 points.

"Now you guys are down by 2 points. Nervous yet?" Xinghui He smiled.

"......" Kobe.

There was simply no reasoning with someone so utterly shameless.

The Lakers attacked, and Kobe continued to control the ball.

He resumed his post-up game, prompting Ross to rush over for a double-team. Kobe immediately whipped a pass to Odom.

Ross tried to recover and defend, but it was already too late.

Odom drained a mid-range jumper.

Whether Kobe passed the ball or not depended entirely on whether he felt like getting an assist.

The Clippers attacked, and Xinghui He clanked an iron brick.

In response, Kobe drained another shot.

"Clown, it's 4 to 0," Kobe said, this time keeping track of their personal scoring battle.

"Shut up, I'm not interested in comparing that with you. I'm a team player," Xinghui He retorted.

He hadn't planned on using any items in this game, and trying to outscore Kobe under those circumstances required a bit of luck.

Lacking absolute certainty of winning, Xinghui He simply chose not to compete.

If you don't compete, you can't lose.

When his words were translated and broadcast, it utterly stunned tens of thousands of viewers.

They never imagined there would come a day when Xinghui He would actively tell someone else to shut up. It felt completely out of character.

In the past, it was always other people telling him to shut up.

Moreover, Xinghui He's brazen claim that he was a team player was quite absurd.

"A team player averaging 3 assists?" Kobe asked with a smile.

"......" Xinghui He never expected Kobe to be so invested in his statistics that he remembered them down to the exact number.

Seeing Xinghui He get the worst of the trash talk, Barkley and the audience were laughing hysterically.

Seeing Xinghui He get shut down in a trash-talking exchange every now and then felt quite entertaining.

On the court, the Clippers attacked. Gasol's shot was contested by Brand, and it missed.

Turning back around, Brand scored another basket in the paint via a post-up.

The score reached 3 to 10, with the Clippers falling behind by 7 points.

It was a very ordinary start, but Xing-haters were ecstatic, reacting as if they had already witnessed a Clippers loss.

"Hey, how come you guys are trailing?" Kobe asked.

"Unless you tie my shoelaces for me, I refuse to speak to you," Xinghui He replied.

With no other choice, Xinghui He brought up the past again, using Kobe's broken promise to get under his skin.

This made Kobe grit his teeth, utterly unable to find a counter-argument.

The game continued. The two temporarily halted their verbal sparring and focused intensely for a few possessions.

Driven by the play of Xinghui He and Cassell, the Clippers slowly clawed the score back to 11 to 13.

Clippers possession: Xinghui He ran frantically off-ball, with Kobe chasing him wildly behind.

However, the player initiating the offense always held a slight initiative.

Ross and Gasol set consecutive screens for Xinghui He, which inevitably slowed Kobe down just a fraction.

At this moment, Brand was the closest defender to Xinghui He and should have rushed over to help defend.

However, Brand was simply too slow.

If he could move like the wind while carrying 125 kilograms of bulk, O'Neal probably wouldn't even be his match.

Xinghui He found an opening, catching and shooting the ball instantly—the ball spent less than half a second in his hands.

The basketball swished cleanly through the net with a crisp sound.

14 to 13, and the Clippers completed a comeback.

"It's 8 to 7 now," Xinghui He walked up to Kobe, grinning as he reminded him of their personal scoring tally.

Refuse to speak? What a joke.

Of course he refused when he was behind; now that he was ahead, he naturally had to seize the chance to gloat.

"Your shamelessness leaves me speechless," Kobe said.

"Right back at you. You're the one who went back on your promise in front of countless people," Xinghui He shot back.

Xinghui He didn't get to stay happy for long, though. Over the next two possessions, the Lakers went on a 5-0 run.

During that stretch, Kobe even contributed a three-pointer.

"It's 8 to 10. Anything you'd like to say?" Kobe asked.

"When your kids grow up, I'll tell them the story of how you lost to me and refused to honor your bet," Xinghui He said.

Neither player's trash talk could truly break the other, but Xinghui He had essentially managed to neutralize Kobe.

For any team in the league, if they could use a single player to completely neutralize Kobe, their coach would do it without a second thought.

In other words, although Xinghui He's performance tonight wasn't dazzling, it was already a passing grade.

However, as the game progressed, the point differential between the two teams steadily widened.

By the end of the first half, the score was 47 to 59, with the Clippers trailing by a full 12 points.

For two evenly matched teams, overcoming a 12-point deficit was no easy task.

What's more, the Lakers were clearly in better rhythm.

During halftime in the locker room, the atmosphere among the Clippers remained quite cheerful.

Kaman and Cassell even teamed up to tease Xinghui He: "He, your trash talk wasn't very effective today, you didn't even manage to truly anger Kobe."

"Good grief, you guys have the nerve to talk to me. I tied Kobe up all by myself, yet you guys still got blown out by your matchups. I'm embarrassed for you," Xinghui He retorted.

"We're role players. Getting blown out occasionally is totally reasonable. You're the star; if you don't blow your matchup out of the water, that's what's unacceptable," Cassell argued brazenly.

Gasol was still a bit unaccustomed to this quirky locker room culture, unable to tell whether they were joking or genuinely criticizing one another.

Therefore, he didn't dare to speak up casually and chose to stay quiet and observe.

"If you guys are going to talk like that, I'll have to unleash my ultimate move in the second half. If that pisses Kobe off enough to actually start a fight, you guys better pull him off me in time," Xinghui He said.

He genuinely had a trick up his sleeve that could make Kobe go ballistic, though he wasn't sure if the situation would remain controllable afterward.

Getting into a physical fight with Kobe would result in a suspension, which wasn't worth it, but refusing to fight back would easily make people label him soft.

The team already had Gasol; adding another "Sister He" would tilt the team's yin-yang balance too heavily toward the soft side.

At these words, everyone's eyes lit up.

They believed Xinghui He wasn't bluffing; after all, Xinghui He had already driven plenty of people berserk before.

What they were weighing now was whether provoking Kobe and triggering a confrontation was worth it.

"Go for it, He. It's all for the team's victory," Kaman expressed his full support.

Shortly after, the others chimed in as well, giving Gasol the eerie feeling that he had wandered into a gangster den.

Outside the arena, TNT and several other TV networks were analyzing the performance of both teams in the first half.

On ESPN:

"Facts have proven that letting Brand go in exchange for Gasol was utterly foolish for the Clippers. Not only are Brand's stats prettier than Gasol's, but he is also much tougher, making him far more valuable in the playoffs."

"I think we can even go ahead and congratulate the Lakers. Although their current seed is still relatively low, I doubt any team would want to encounter them in the postseason. They just might pull off an upset and charge all the way to the Finals as a dark horse."

"As for the Clippers, just let their clown put on a show and sell tickets. Some teams in this league chase glory, while others are simply responsible for comedy."

...

Kobe fans and Lakers fans listened to these remarks with immense satisfaction and wholeheartedly agreed.

Even though, in reality, they didn't understand a single thing.

Over at TNT, the narrative was completely opposite.

Barkley stated: "They're only down by 9 points. Is that a lot? Not at all, that's just three three-pointers."

Hearing Barkley mention being down by 9 points, Xing-fans instantly smiled.

They loved this running meme, which could always be used to highlight how powerful and invincible Xinghui He was.

"I think the Clippers can pull off a comeback in the second half. Cousin is a player who thrives when playing from behind," Smith agreed.

Fueled by the predictions of both major networks, fans grew even more excited for the second-half action.

In fact, some fans tuned in midway through, causing the program's ratings to climb even higher.