whirlwind basketball

Chapter 201 Youth Competition (16)

"I...I'm an amateur..." Li Yifan said dully.

"Don't listen to him talking nonsense, he's too humble." Mao Qingcheng rushed to say, "He has won two national championships, and he is an assistant in this year's invitational tournament.!"

Mao Mama said "Oh" and asked, "For the invitational tournament??"

"Yes." Li Yifan nodded.

"Not bad! But you have thought about the difficulty of the American team."

It was at this time that the American team came.

The members of the University of Los Angeles basketball team glanced at the American team on the sidelines, some with expressions of disdain and some with respect.

One team member said: "Just play for fun? Anyway, it's boring to practice like this all the time, and I'm afraid there won't be any sense of confrontation."

The thin guy said coldly: "No, our American team will go all out!"

The University of Los Angeles, this year's NCAA championship team, had no less than 10 lottery picks in the team, but they did not participate when the US team showed signs of failure. Therefore, it can be said that the strongest strength of Los Angeles is the strength of the US team.

Li Yifan stood there blankly. He never expected that the US team would fight Los Angeles. No matter how you put it, it was unbelievable.He was very excited and very lucky to witness such a strong game tonight!

"Ross how do we play?" Los Angeles varsity Okafor asked.

A player steps up.He looks almost the shortest player on the US team, but he has a strong physique, full muscles, slender calves, and is full of athletic vitality.As he walked, he said, "Of course we will play 21 points in the game and play three games in one game!"

"Damn it!" someone from the US team said, "Aren't you tired, Kobe? You just finished the game today and you still want to play the whole game?"

"What's the point?" Kobe laughed and said, "That team is too inexperienced and boring! I have nowhere to vent my energy!"

Okafor turned around and walked back to the players of the Los Angeles school team to whisper a few words, and then walked over and said: "Our players have been training for hours and are tired. It is impossible to play the whole game. Let's play half the game. I will find three How about three-on-three individually?"

Ross nodded: "OK!"

According to Rose, a dozen or so players from the US team gathered to use the method of turning the ball to decide which three players will play, which is the most fair.Li Yifan found out that they actually used this method of drawing lots to decide the candidate, and he couldn't help but sweat down his spine.

The basketball spun quickly under Rose's hands. The players of the US team stood in a circle and stared expectantly.

With a "snap", Rose patted the basketball with his big hand and immediately stopped spinning.

"Okay! Makui Lifei!" Rose said.

"Yeah!" Maku Yilifei, who was [-] meters tall, jumped out of the queue happily with a bright smile.

"Come again!" Rose spun the basketball again and casually pressed the direction of the observation eye.

"Good! James!" Ross reported.James, who was [-] meters tall, walked out of the queue.

"Wait!" Kobe stepped forward and pressed Rose's hand, "Let me transfer the last spot, but I can't let you cheat!"

They all laughed, and Rose walked to Kobe's side with his hands spread out, still indifferent.

Kobe grabbed the basketball with his hand and twisted it vigorously, and it spun quickly on the ground.Li Yifan looked at him through the gap between them and found that although Kobe was relatively short, his palms were so big that he could almost catch a basketball.

"Stop!" Kobe suddenly slapped the basketball and pointed at Rose next to him!

A smile appeared on Rose's face and he was about to walk out.Kobe grabbed Rose's arm in a hurry, "Don't, don't! Boss, give me a chance?"

Okafor of the Los Angeles school team waved to Rose: "Come on, we haven't played for two years!"

Ross walked over with a "huh" and said, "I won't go up and let them play if I have a chance in the future. This is Kobe Okafor. He is the captain of the Los Angeles basketball team. He turned out to be the main center of our American team."

Kobe called out obediently: "Brother Okafo, please take care of me."

Okafor looked at Kobe with a "hmm".

"Let's get started!" Rose said, "1 points, one round and three rounds to decide the winner!"

While speaking, Maku Yilifei of the US team had already walked to the center line to play the ball.Kobe ran over to ask Maku Yili to pass the ball and the game started.

Although Kobe is a freshman, it can be seen from his ball control that his ball is very good, stable and powerful, and he has obviously undergone formal training.Mao Ma Ma greeted him, Kobe's green eyes suddenly changed and he bent over to make a breakthrough.

Li Yifan watched intently.

Kobe's left hand suddenly flicked back and the whole person rushed straight to the inside!It was neither Yuan Fan's lightning style nor Xu Jian's light style, but an unstoppable and unscrupulous forceful breakthrough!His muscular calves obviously provided enough explosive force to drive his body to shoot out like a cannonball!
The first feeling is fierce and the second feeling is fast!

Mao Mama was obviously not physically prepared. Kobe reacted consciously the moment he started it, but his body couldn't support it. In a daze, Kobe forcibly passed his left side and rushed over!

Without warning, Kobe stepped into the penalty area and rose directly from the ground!

He pushed forward with his left hand and held the ball in his right hand, swung his arm fiercely in the air and dunked towards the basket!
"Don't even think about it!" Okafor stepped into the penalty area and jumped up.His nearly two-meter height jumping in the air is really scary!
"Yeah!" Kobe slammed into the basket with a roar!

His strong body hit the air with a dull sound, but Okafor also roared and intercepted the basketball in Kobe's hand in mid-air.Kobe's offensive faltered, his two hands pressed on both sides of the basketball, and it seemed to pause for a moment, and then Okafor waved the basketball and flew out of Kobe's hands!

"Beautiful!" All the watching Los Angeles players cheered!
The ball slapped too far straight out of the center line.Ma Kuili ran over to pick up the ball.

"I said Kobe," said a member of the US team, "How could you be so arrogant in front of the big brother in our school? Did you get taught a lesson?"

The players on the US team all laughed.

Kobe shook his sluggish hand and smiled: "Teach and teach! It's really enjoyable. I used to bully tall people. Today I was bullied by tall people. I will come back next time!"

Okafor also rubbed his hands and said: "The jumping ability is good but too reckless."

Mao Mama chuckled twice, "Young man is not bad, come here and do a few tricks."

Kobe had already taken the basketball from Maku Yilifei at this time, and was walking towards Mao Mama, saying polite words: "This big brother can give me some advice." But the expression on his face obviously didn't let the other party give advice It means that he suddenly took a step with his right foot, then patted the ball across his crotch and changed hands like a tiger, breaking through from the right side of Maomama!

Mao Mama was ready this time, but he still didn't stop Kobe!

When his right chest brushed against Kobe, it was obviously knocked away, so the movements of his hands and feet were all affected, so he could only scream and watch Kobe straight into the penalty area again!
"Come on again!" Okafor roared and already slanted into the penalty area. His movements were flexible and his steps were vigorous, he really didn't look like a giant who was nearly two meters tall.

"Don't panic!" Mao Mama turned around and cut back before Kobe started, blocking the opponent's breakthrough line with a frustrated step.As expected, he is also a player of the Los Angeles school team. Brother Mao Qingcheng's basketball skills are nothing to say.Li Yifan couldn't help but secretly shouted "Hello".

But Mao Mama and others did not expect that when Kobe was in trouble, his left hand dribbling the ball suddenly swung the ball along with others, changing hands drastically, and the timing was so clever that Mao Mama was completely shaken. over!
The ball has not landed and the person has already vacated!

Mao Mama has no chance to come to block again, but Okafor still grasps the opportunity so accurately, only a little slower than Kobe's take-off.Even if it is a little slower, with Okafor's height, it will bring huge interference to Kobe!
Pictures flashed in Li Yifan's mind: What would I do if it was me!
Kobe held the ball in his right hand and pulled it up to an amazing height, but he was still under Okafor's control, and he was about to be hit again!
In mid-air, Kobe suddenly retracted his abdomen and shrunk his waist, and abruptly pulled down the basketball that was sent up. With incredible waist and abdomen strength, he changed the ball to his left hand at the moment of being in the air!When Kobe began to fall, his left hand moved up gently. Okafor watched the basketball change an angle and continue to fly up, and he couldn't help being shocked!
"Strike!" Li Yifan couldn't help shouting, at the same time the basketball fell into the basket!
Fortunately, Li Yifan's yell was particularly loud in the empty basketball arena, because most of the other people's yells came after Kobe scored the goal.After landing, Kobe looked at Li Yifan with a satisfied smile, then extended a thumb and smiled at Li Yifan.

"You..." Mao Qingcheng pushed Li Yifan and pretended to be angry, "Why do you applaud others? Didn't you agree to only cheer for my brother?"

Li Yifan scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "This... this ball is really beautiful!"

"It's really the wave behind the Yangtze River pushing the wave ahead!" Okafor teased Rose, "A rising star has taken your trump card position!"

Ross spread his hands blankly and said nothing.

"As expected of Team USA!" said a Los Angeles player.

Ross laughed dryly: "Don't be intimidated by our freshman! In fact, the best skill in our team is this rookie. The rest of us are just playing tricks to scare everyone. I'm sorry!" He actually bowed his hands A pair of people in the rivers and lakes.

Li Yifan couldn't figure out why this sentence was true or false.If Rose is telling the truth that Kobe is the best player on the US team, then think about it a little bit; if Rose is laughing at himself that Kobe is just the tip of the iceberg, then the strength of the US team is quite terrifying.

Li Yifan watched the competition in the basketball arena with a complicated mood.The U.S. team trio headed by Kobe did not lose the slightest bit in the face of the Los Angeles school team trio.Because of Kobe's presence, the U.S. team is even more eye-catching. He has a very strong desire to attack and has demonstrated extremely comprehensive personal abilities.

Slam dunks, hand changes in the air, fadeaway jump shots, and even some basketball moves that are difficult to describe in common terms are secondary.Li Yifan was shocked by Kobe's steady control of the ball, quick change of direction, and precise timing. What is especially impressive is his proper use of his body.

Costa mistook Li Yifan for Kobe for a while, which is undoubtedly a compliment to Li Yifan.But after seeing Kobe's ability, Li Yifan has to admit that this person is far better than himself in many aspects.The most important point is that both Li Yifan and Kobe have a very similar ability to stay in the air (this is also an important aspect of Costa's misunderstanding), but Kobe has obviously been able to skillfully use this ability to 100% use it in offense.But Li Yifan often does it occasionally in a flash of inspiration.

This shows that the training Kobe has received since he was a child is very formal. His body and skills are all created through long-term training.As a junior high school student, Kobe, who has attracted the attention of thousands of people, is undoubtedly the key training object of the American team and is destined to be a dazzling new star in the American basketball world. The future is limitless...

The score on the field quickly reached 8:8, and it was beyond imagination to be able to draw with Los Angeles.Kobe was energetically jumping and dribbling the ball, facing the already panting Mao Mama, who was about to launch an attack, when a sudden cry came from behind Li Yifan, so frightened that Li Yifan almost fell off the bench!

"What are you doing!" A middle-aged man in his 50s or [-]s stood at the door and yelled at Kobe, "You guys sneaked here to play ball? What are you playing in the middle of the night! If you have nowhere to vent your energy, run around the playground at night. Twenty laps!"

Most of the players on the US team turned pale. Kobe obediently put down the ball and listened to the coach's lecture.

Their coach yelled a few words and walked out. Some players of the US team also hurried out of the arena. Let's meet again sometime!"

Okafor nodded with a smirk and patted Bryant on the shoulder meaningfully.

Mao Mama was sweating profusely, walked to Mao Qingcheng, sat down, took a look, and Li Yifan suddenly remembered something and said to Kobe: "Young man, there is also a player who participated in the qualifiers and just passed the second round. Which team is it... ...Youth training team, right?"

Li Yifan replied awkwardly: "Yes."

"Youth training team?" Ross, Kobe and others who were about to leave the arena looked back at Li Yifan, "Did you tie our three teams?"

Li Yifan could only respond: "Yes."

A look of surprise clearly flitted across Rose's face.

"Not bad!" Kobe glanced at Li Yifan.

"But next time, the members of our first team will definitely not let you go."

When Li Yifan opened his eyes the next morning, he felt a heavy feeling of excitement and nervousness pervading the youth training team.Wang Siyang and Smith, who were drunk last night, immediately woke up seven or eight minutes after hearing the news from Li Yifan that the next opponent was the German team!

They had just had breakfast and coach Wang Tao came back from the competition organizing committee. When he walked over with a serious face, Li Yifan understood: the German team is indeed the opponent for the next battle!Sixteen into eight games, the youth training team is about to face the strongest enemy ever, and it is likely that they will pack up and go home tomorrow.

The German team, a strong team in Europe, is known for its iron and blood. It is evenly matched with Spain in the European League, but Spain's long-term combination is obviously better, so Germany can only be deflated.

But if their strength is compared with the youth training team.Just don't know, because both teams are similar styles of teams, and they may be better.

"All we can do now is to actively prepare for the game and do our best to play this game well!" Coach Wang Tao said shaking his head.

The assistant coach shrugged and asked, "Is there a way to get tape of their games?"

Coach Wang Tao thought for a moment and said: "Give me half a day and I will find an old friend." After speaking, he hurried out.Looks like he has a way of getting the tape.

At 1 o'clock in the morning, under the leadership of the assistant coach, they went to the Los Angeles National Gym and did various equipment training according to the instructions of the assistant coach to adjust their physical condition.The amount set by the assistant coach is much less than usual because the most fearful thing at this time is that the training with too much injury will not have any effect.

Li Yifan did more than an hour of equipment training and felt his body heat up.

"Okay!" The assistant coach looked at his watch, "Let's go back and have a rest first, and then we can eat."

The youth training team went out sweating profusely while discussing the upcoming German team.

.......
Time passed by, and Coach Wang Tao glanced nervously at his watch from time to time.

Thin beads of sweat oozed from the foreheads of the youth training teams, and the heat from their bodies burned up, which achieved the warm-up effect desired by the assistant coaches.Coach Wang Tao saw that Li Yifan trained very seriously and did not have any accidents, and finally put down a big stone in his heart for the time being.

"It's 03:30..." Coach Wang Tao whispered.

Li Yifan, who was shooting, took a breath and put down the basketball in his hand.Everyone looked at the assistant coach.Half an hour later, no one will be nervous about facing an unprecedented super strong enemy.Not being nervous means giving up completely and the youth teams have never given up on any game.

The assistant coach looked at his watch with a very calm face, "It's good to warm up and let's go out!"

A group of people filed out and simply wiped off their sweat before boarding the bus with the packages they had prepared.The driver of the bus also knew that the players were going to play a very difficult game today, and deliberately got out of the car and patted them on the shoulder one by one to encourage the youth training team.

The bus started to head to Los Angeles, which is only a few kilometers away.Although the streets of Greater Los Angeles are full of traffic, it only takes ten minutes at most to reach the destination.

The car was silent, the assistant coach frowned in thought, and the youth training team all looked out the window.Their expressions seemed indifferent, but they were actually very nervous.

The only thing the youth training team can rely on is their agility and tacit understanding.For the German team, this youth training team is not worth mentioning at all, and it may have the mentality of underestimating the enemy and not knowing it at all.Just hit them by surprise.

Li Yifan closed his eyes and rehearsed more than a dozen tactics of the assistant coach in his mind.The tactics designed by the assistant coach are often aimed at the German team and always start with Li Yifan and finally create the best chance for Li Yifan.Obviously Li Yifan has become a key figure in this game. If the youth training team is a dark horse, Li Yifan is the dark horse among dark horses.

They were shocked when the car stopped!
The small open space in front of the basketball arena was almost filled with black crowds. It turned out that a bus had already parked there. Li Yifan could clearly see a group of tall players in purple jerseys getting off the bus.It is the German team.

Surprisingly, not only were there so many people, there were even several reporters holding cameras and microphones. As soon as they saw the German team's bus, they ran up to take the first shot!

Among the crowd, Li Yifan saw that Dirk.That is, the guy who looked very good in the video yesterday.This guy is not as low-key as other team members at all, he is high-spirited and keeps waving to the crowd, his excitement is beyond words!
Li Yifan and the others stood outside the crowd, ignoring them, silently watching those basketball stars who were struggling to advance surrounded by flowers and cheers.The treatment of the two parties can be described as very different.

"Over there too!" someone shouted.Many of them don't know where the German team is playing against as if it doesn't matter and just use "there" instead.Some people looked back and didn't care.

The youth training team saw this situation and stood there without moving. Unexpectedly, a reporter squeezed out of the crowd and walked over and handed the microphone to coach Wang Tao: "Hello, may I ask you to play against the old champion team in this round? How do you feel about the German team? Will you be nervous? What are your plans?"

Coach Wang Tao said with a sophisticated smile: "Of course we will be nervous and we don't want to meet such a strong opponent so early. But we will go all out and do our best."

The reporter actually laughed out loud: "You can't win the game even if you try your best. This is the ending of all the teams that have confronted the German team. I wonder if you, Spain, are mentally prepared for this?"

"Huh?" Coach Wang Tao was taken aback. "Spain?"

"Aren't you Spain?" The reporter was also taken aback.

The assistant coach suddenly said coldly: "The team you mentioned went home for dinner the day before yesterday. We are the Huaxia Youth Training Team, please find out the situation before you come to interview!"

"Ah?" The reporter was confused, "Didn't the youth training team be eliminated in the first round?"

The assistant coach snorted coldly and waved his hands: "We're going in and the game is about to start. Don't waste time doing gossip!"

The youth training team held back their laughter and followed the assistant coach to squeeze through the crowd, leaving the reporter still talking to himself in a daze: "Youth training team? It's obviously Spain, what's going on?"

As soon as he entered the arena, Li Yifan was even more surprised. When he visited the day before yesterday, the arena was still dilapidated and simple. Today, luxurious scoreboards are hung on a row of rostrums.There are even more crowds of people inside, and there are all kinds of slogans such as "The German team is invincible and rushing forward".

While Li Yifan was looking around, a loud voice suddenly came from the speakers: "Please keep order, the audience is about to start. Today is the third round of the World Youth Championship, with the German team facing each other..." The man paused for a moment as if trying to recognize his name "Youth training team!"

(End of this chapter)