My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 804: Having fun alone is not as good as having fun with everyone
After seeing the top basketball arena in North America, the Hong Kong Coliseum seems too rudimentary.

It even made Wei Dong think that the sports venues in a prefecture-level city like Shangzhou in 30 or 40 years would surpass this level.

Although he hasn't been there much, his security colleagues have frequently attended various concerts and other events, and there are many photos of them there.

The Hong Kong Coliseum, built in 1983, was touted as having a huge reputation in mainland China.

In truth, in Wei Dong's eyes, it was just like that first five-star hotel in mainland China in Guangzhou—neither rustic nor modern, and lacking in quality.

So Wei Dong was able to easily detach himself from the situation and take pictures everywhere, especially the passageways, public spaces, restrooms, and beverage and shopping areas between the venue and the competition site.

Since the competition is to take place within a few kilometers, it's essential to deliberately avoid repetition and create something new.

In this respect, he has a huge advantage, since the Hong Kong Coliseum has already been established there and can be attacked with unlimited firepower.

Sure enough, Chow Yun-fat was laughing and joking with a group of celebrities on the sidelines, and even acted like a basketball arena owner, communicating and gesturing with the players.

Even before the show started, it drew cheers and applause from all sides.

Watching both sports stars and celebrities is a win-win situation, it's truly delightful.

Cheng Lang silently followed Wei Dong, watching the scene before him, which resembled boiling water.

Li Xuehong followed Qin Yuye and Shen Cuiyue on the other side.

Wei Dong then turned back to observe her: "Pay attention to experiencing this feeling. We will strive to build a stadium like this in Pengzhen in the future, and do the same in Jiangzhou and Shangzhou. In the future, we want to see this vibrant scene everywhere in the mainland, so that everyone can enjoy this social prosperity."

Li Xuehong pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded and said she understood.

She was older and had experienced many hardships and struggles.

Because of the noise in the venue, Wei Dong spoke his dialect quite loudly, which Shen Cuiyue and Qin Yuye could understand. They even exchanged glances without saying a word.

Cheng Lang heard it too. After Wei Dong leaned back on the railing of the platform to look at the whole audience, he said in his Sichuan accent, "The next few decades will mark the beginning of China's national destiny."

If these words came from the mouth of a top-notch feng shui master, wealthy people would probably take them as gospel and try every means to make money from them.

Wei Dong merely sneered: "Where is there so much national fortune? Where was national fortune when so many people sacrificed themselves? Reform and opening up were the result of decades of groundwork, industry was built by countless people carrying heavy loads, agriculture was achieved by the sweat of hundreds of millions of farmers, and war was won by countless soldiers fighting to the death. If there is national fortune, it is those people who have it. Attributing future victories to national fortune is essentially a disrespect to these people."

Cheng Lang glanced at his lord in surprise. In all his decades in Hong Kong, no one had ever disrespected him like this.

Wei Dong watched as the players entered the field: "Old Cheng, I have another great general in the mainland, Cheng Mingxian, whom I also call Cheng. He led a third-tier factory in the mountains for decades, working quietly and unnoticed. He followed me to fight his way to Beijing. Just when we were starting to achieve some success, he was sidelined for various reasons. Now I'm bringing him to Shanghai to lead the automobile industry, and he hasn't complained at all. These are the people who bring national fortune. So-called national fortune is accumulated little by little by ordinary people under the right guidance. There is never any such thing as luck!"

Cheng Lang fell silent, lost in thought.

Just like the Hong Kong basketball team doesn't know what they're playing.

The Hong Kong region is not considered a national team, but it does have a representative team that can participate in Olympic competitions. These teams are strong combinations drawn from the strongest professional leagues.

Even if he can't beat several opponents outside, he can at least walk sideways in Hong Kong.

This young dunker, not yet eighteen, may be fierce, but he's always been alone.

They will try every possible way to isolate him.

Even the best power forwards and centers are helpless if they can't get the ball.

So at the start of the game, several players desperately tried to keep Kemp out of the team's sights.

They almost never entangled with him; the taller players circled around him to block and defend, while the smaller players skillfully squeezed him, preventing him from getting a chance to pass the ball to Kemp.

You can relax a bit more when playing in a four-person room.

Anyway, we won't give Kemp the chance to dominate like that.

Finally, Hardaway stepped forward.

What's it like to be among the top ten ball handlers in NBA history?

Elusive!

Legend has it that Hardaway suddenly had a breakthrough around his junior and senior years of college, no longer obsessed with fancy ball control, and his assist numbers soared from three or four per game to more than ten!

This data alone shows how selfish he is on the court now.

As a point guard, to only provide three or four assists per game on average, how stingy is that!
So Hardaway, who hasn't quite figured it out yet, is like the ball is glued to his hands. He dribbles forward from the mid-court, moving in front of and behind him, between his legs, taking crossover steps, and crouching around his body.

A variety of dazzling dribbling moves.

The 10,000 to 20,000 spectators were originally there to see the powerful dunker, but this short, stocky guy turned out to be incredibly entertaining. Because his skills were so remarkable, the HK players couldn't help but repeatedly rush in to try and disrupt his attacks.

He easily dodged and changed direction to jump over them all...

This is a master of crossover in the decades-long history of the NBA, the pioneer of the crossover move.

Messi is the best at changing direction on the football field, but even the King of Football can't match the average person's hand control over the ball.

Basketball control is inherently much more complex and varied, and when a person's arms are outstretched, the range of control variations is much wider than that of their feet.

If you add the movement of the upper body and feet, the range of dribbling control increases exponentially.

If you move to a higher level, you'll squat down, bend your knees, and lower your body, with changes in your posture, which doubles the difficulty of dribbling.

Finally, there's a continuous series of crossover movements...

It's roughly the square of a regular dribble, square of a dribble, and square of a dribble again.

For the average enthusiast, it's already quite an achievement to be able to smoothly spin the ball between their legs without hitting their balls.

Hardaway saw that he appeared to be half-squatting, with the ball going between his legs and his upper body leaning to the side, clearly intending to break through in that direction. Just as the defender shifted their weight to him, the ball went back between his legs to the other side, easily passing through the side where he had lost his balance.

Others dribble between their legs to look good or show off, but he uses that moment to deceive people.

The man who contracted AIDS, now the NBA's top superstar and highest-paid player, later commented: "If you hear two 'thumps' when Hardaway is dribbling, you're basically done for."

As fast as lightning!

Finally, a layup!
At this point, Shawn Kemp became Hardaway's assistant, as he spread out the defense under the basket.

This allows Hardaway to easily score layups against only one or two, or at most three, penetrating defenders.

A height of 1.8 meters is not outstanding in professional basketball, but when you are controlling the ball and dominating your opponent, you still choose the safest option, a layup, in order to ensure a high success rate.

Hardaway didn't even bother with mid-range shots, let alone three-pointers. He would simply drift past the defenders like a gust of wind, then jump slightly and take three steps to make a layup.

Then, with a smile on his face, he didn't make any big moves and jogged back to the midfield to wait.

The entire audience was stunned!

It felt like the other nine players, including his own, were standing there like dumbfounded plum blossom stakes, as he swiftly dodged past them. Before anyone could even react, was this wave of attack already over?

When the helpless HK player served, the stands seemed to wake up and burst into heartfelt amazement, then shouted in unison, "Go for it!" hoping for another chance!
Meanwhile, officials from the HK Basketball Association couldn't wait to squeeze over and nod vigorously to Wei Dong, saying, "Okay, okay, you must take him along!"
Let's figure out a way to get the paperwork done!

It's quite obvious that if the difficulty of defending a team with only one Shawn Kemp is 30 or 40 out of 100, then with multiple Hardaways, it would probably soar to 70 or 80!
If Kemp was a fierce warrior, a powerful and unstoppable tank, then Hardaway was an assassin, a master of unpredictable cuts and layups.

But if three or four players were to double-team him, especially at the moment of a layup, when the tallest defender was forced to abandon Kemp and rush over to slap him, Hardaway would just flick his wrist and gently toss the ball to the unmarked Kemp...

Well, this guy is like a catapult that's been fully charged up, and he suddenly bursts out with a powerful two-handed slam dunk!
The audience gasped when they saw Hardaway dribble past someone, gasped again when he got slapped while making a layup, gasped even more when he made a stylish pass in mid-air, and finally gasped when they saw him dunk. They were so amazed that they could hardly breathe, their trachea was filled with a series of exclamations!

fantastic.

The remaining three players chuckled and split into left, center, and right, standing in their most comfortable spots along the three-point line. If Hardaway drove in, he would be blocked and forced to pass, and the taller player would desperately try to keep Kemp on his toes.

The ball can reach the perimeter, and they can hold onto it firmly while no one is letting them shoot!

There have even been classic instances where the ball was quickly passed two or three times in quick succession from the three-point line to an open player, allowing him to calmly sink the shot.

When masters clash, they rely on various teamwork strategies. But here, two top masters are using a devastating attack, capable of tearing apart any defensive tactics.

By halftime, the HK professional elite team had already started to crumble.

There is an objective fact that, compared to Europeans and Americans, East Asians generally have a smaller frame and shorter limbs, making it harder for them to build muscle. As a result, they are weaker in physical confrontations, and their explosiveness and endurance are also slightly inferior, which puts them at a disadvantage in basketball.

What's more, these two are among the most talented and top-tier individuals, even among Black people.

What's the point of fighting?

Just surrender.

Fortunately, during halftime, Chow Yun-fat and the HK Basketball Association officials stood in the center of the court and announced that Shawn Kemp and Tim Hardaway, whose ancestral homes are Bermuda and Anguilla respectively, are both citizens of the British British Colonial Territories of the BDTC. Therefore, after friendly negotiations, they agreed to change their nationality and join the HK team to compete in this year's Asian Championship!

The entire audience erupted in excitement!

Even the athletes from the HK elite team immediately perked up, really?
With such an expert leading the way, we can finally look forward to something!

(End of this chapter)