The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 56 Giant Beast + Giant Beast = ?

In the players' tunnel, the starting lineups of both teams met.

O'Neal had mixed feelings when facing Tang Bei.

He was thrown hard last time, and it hurt for days. He hated Tang Bei to death.

He originally wanted to suppress Tang Bei with his performance on the court and vent his anger, but he did not expect that his debut would be worse than Tang Bei's.

This made him feel very frustrated. He clearly had better basic skills and technique, and more experience playing the game, so why did he perform worse than Tang Bei?
"Luck. If we had different opponents in our debut, like the Hornets against the Heat or the Magic against the Bullets, our performances would definitely have been different."

With that thought, O'Neal felt his confidence rise, and he snorted angrily, "Tang, get ready to get dunked on by me."

Tang Bei said expressionlessly, "Get ready to fall at my feet."

O'Neal was furious and extremely resentful when he thought about that rookie camp game, where he fell to the ground twice in a few minutes during a confrontation with Tang.

He said indignantly, "I'm not convinced. You must have pushed me. You made a dirty move, but the referee just didn't call it."

"If you lose, you have to admit it. Can't you handle losing?"

Tang Bei naturally wouldn't explain what "using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds" or "the technique of disrupting the center of gravity" meant; these would become his signature moves in the future.

Of course, there were also some minor tricks. The Aikido throw technique consists of four steps: entry, transition, control, and push-out. The elbow movement is the control, which further disrupted O'Neal's center of gravity.

But given the intensity of competition in the NBA, let alone such petty tricks, elbowing is commonplace. O'Neal is just making excuses for himself.

"Who can't accept defeat? Let's play again," O'Neal said angrily.

Then the home and away teams took to the field and began warming up.

On the sidelines, Magic general manager Pat Williams and Hornets general manager Dave Twitchick shook hands and greeted each other.

A few months ago, he used the number one pick to select Shaquille O'Neal in the draft, but Shaq O'Neal's debut performance was not as good as Tang Bei's.

Although no media outlets have questioned his draft decision yet, he is holding his breath and hopes that O'Neal will prove his draft decision was correct with his performance tonight.

At eight o'clock, the competition begins.

At center court, the basketball is tossed high into the air.

O'Neal, with his greater experience in jump balls, tipped the ball away first, giving the Magic the offensive advantage.

Muggsy Bogues is only 1.6 meters tall, which puts him at a significant disadvantage on defense, but he is also very hardworking. He often uses close marking as his main defensive tactic, and last season he averaged two steals per game.

Magic point guard Skiles carefully dribbled the ball to the top of the key, observing the situation on the court.

On the left low post, O'Neal knew his absolute strength was no match for Tang Bei, so he didn't force his way in.

He used his greater experience than Tang Bei to make off-ball runs, constantly moving around the edge of the restricted area, trying to get past Tang Bei and then into the basket.

That's absolutely right. Tang Bei has played less than twenty real games, while O'Neal has played at least three hundred games over seven years, from high school to college, giving him far more experience than Tang Bei.

Just then, small forward Scott ran over, and O'Neal seized the opportunity. He immediately used his teammate's body as a screen, made a sudden back cut from the left side, got rid of Tang Bei, and then cut into the penalty area.

Luckily, Skiles, who had dribbled into the right elbow area, passed the ball to him.

"boom!"

He caught the ball and sprang up, delivering a powerful two-handed slam dunk over the basket, instantly slamming down the Hornets' backboard.

"Beautiful! Shaquille O'Neal unleashed a powerful dunk, truly displaying the might of the Great Shaq," said Albert excitedly.

As a legendary defensive center, Bill Russell immediately commented:
"The core reason for Tang's defensive failure this time is that he did not guard the movement of other Magic players, he only focused on O'Neal, his awareness of help defense was poor, and his ability to defend pick and roll was poor."

Larry Bird chuckled and said, "He can't read the Magic's offensive tactics, so he can't play anticipatory defense properly. This shows a lack of technical and tactical ability, which is in line with his rookie status."

On the court, Tang Bei moved to the left low post, with O'Neal inside, while Larry Johnson was in the right low post, trying to get position and the ball.

Burgos dribbled past defenders from the edge of the box, broke through to the right elbow area, and then changed direction to drive into the penalty area.

His quick breakthrough drew the attention of Magic power forward Jeff Turner, creating a small open shot for Larry Johnson.

Larry Johnson received a pass from Muggsy Bogues, and Jeff Turner rushed back on defense, leaping to block the shot just as Johnson was about to take it. With a clang, Larry Johnson missed the shot, resulting in a +1.

O'Neal and Tang Bei battled for the rebound, with O'Neal having better anticipation and securing the defensive rebound, allowing the Magic to attack.

"Bang!"

Magic shooting guard Nick Anderson missed one shot.

Tang Bei grabbed the rebound in the backcourt, and the Hornets launched an attack.

In the frontcourt, the ball fell into the hands of Kendall Gill on the right wing three-point line.

"What the hell!"

Tang Bei is positioned on the left wing in a low position, which is the weak side. It seems he won't have a chance to receive the ball again this time.

Kendall Gill ignored Larry Johnson's call for the ball, drove hard to a point inside the three-point line, and then pulled up for a jump shot.

Tang Bei followed O'Neal into the paint, and a fierce physical confrontation ensued as they vie for position.

He tried to get to the front from above O'Neal, but O'Neal wouldn't let him, pushing him with his right hand.

"Fuck you!"

Tang Bei roared inwardly, unleashing his absolute power instantly, forcing himself to take a step forward and shifting O'Neal's center of gravity in the process.

"rebound!"

Just then, in the NBC studio, Bill Russell, seeing that the shot was going to miss, immediately shouted.

"Bang!"

As Russell's voice rang out, the basketball bounced off the rim and landed directly in front of it.

O'Neal was about to jump when Tang Bei bumped his center of gravity, causing him to tilt his body and almost jump on one leg, failing to fully take off.

"Snapped!"

Tang Bei's lower body strength was more stable, and he leaped high, grabbing the basketball over O'Neal's head.

The next instant, he rose again, slamming the ball down with both hands, about to dunk over O'Neal.

"You bastard, you dared to dunk on me!"

Shaquille O'Neal was instantly enraged after losing the rebound and jumped a second time after Tang Bei jumped.

He couldn't beat Tang Bei off the court, but on the court, despite being bound by the rules, he wasn't afraid of Tang Bei and dared to do anything.

"Get down here!"

But he missed the ball by a second when he jumped. Fueled by his old grudge against Tang Bei, he grabbed Tang Bei's shoulders and head and pulled him down.

"Crack, click, click..."

Reporters in the media section snapped photos.

"boom!"

"Di!"

"Oh!"

The next moment, a tremendous thud, a sharp whistle, and a huge roar of cheers from the fans all rang out simultaneously.

But what happened next was even more astonishing. The reinforced new basketball hoop could not withstand the weight and sank to the bottom without any resistance under the weight and strength of Tang Bei and O'Neal.

The basketball hoop deformed, and the transparent backboard instantly turned into a distorted surface before shattering into countless particles.

(End of this chapter)