The longest river

Chapter 9 In this world, connections matter.

In fact, not only the fans, but also the scouts in the stands have begun to focus their attention on Yang Shuai.

Some players require long-term observation to determine their true skill level, while others can be identified at a glance.

Yang Shuai clearly belongs to the latter category.

Johnson was also on the sidelines, pumping his fist in celebration of Yang Shuai's performance.

Although he had already set his expectations, Yang Shuai's performance after taking the court still exceeded them.

Yang Shuai's dunk ignited the home crowd's atmosphere. At this moment, even without a DJ, the arena was filled with overwhelming defensive shouts.

Posey's mid-range jump shot, facing the defense, missed.

However, the Cleveland High School center grabbed the rebound, but his long pass to the frontcourt was intercepted by Posey.

After stealing the ball, Posey quickly broke through to the basket, drew a foul, and got two free throw opportunities.

The atmosphere that had just been ignited at the scene instantly froze.

Compared to offense, defense is Posey's forte, as evidenced by his nearly 4 steals per game this season.

All of this is thanks to his outstanding physical attributes. Standing at 2 meters tall barefoot, his wingspan is a terrifying 2.19 meters. With a height-to-wingspan difference of nearly 20 centimeters, he is a true wingspan monster.

Posey made both free throws, helping Chambord High School regain the lead.

With only 20 seconds left in the first quarter, Cleveland High School had one last offensive opportunity.

Rondo dribbled the ball up the court, turned his back to the opponent to run down the clock, and when there were about 10 seconds left, he passed the ball to Yang Shuai.

The other Cleveland High School players on the court had spread out as much as possible, giving Yang Shuai plenty of space for one-on-one plays.

At this point, the person guarding Yang Shuai had changed to Posey.

The crowd began to boo, as it was a head-to-head matchup between the two best players of the night.

Yang Shuai faked a three-point shot, but Posey didn't fall for it easily.

He then passed the ball and broke through on the right wing.

The advantage of being a substitute is that he can observe and study the opponent from the sidelines.

He had a general idea of ​​Posey's characteristics: outstanding static talent and good jumping ability, but his speed, especially his lateral speed, was not fast.

This allows him to use his explosiveness and speed advantage to get past his opponent.

Yang Shuai's idea was correct, but things didn't go as he expected because Posey collapsed into the defensive formation early.

Especially after he entered the three-point line, Posey was about half a meter away from him, a standard defensive maneuver that allowed him to drive and shoot.

At this moment, Yang Shuai could more clearly feel Posey's defensive ability, which was not only physical condition, but also defensive experience.

He didn't choose to take a mid-range shot, as that's not his preferred way of scoring right now.

He broke into the three-second zone, and Percy took the initiative to close in and provide physical contact.

This collision almost forced Yang Shuai to stop the ball.

Are all people named James physically strong?
Yang Shuai was at a disadvantage in physical confrontation, but he did not stop the ball. Instead, he turned around.

At this moment, the effect of enhanced core strength became apparent. Yang Shuai's pivot foot was exceptionally stable when he turned, making his turning motion appear very smooth.

His reverse layup after being contested has also become more consistent.

The basketball bounced off the backboard and fell straight into the net, and the red light on the sidelines lit up.

Yang Shuai made a buzzer-beating layup in a one-on-one duel with Posey!
The silent scene erupted into explosive cheers once again.

Even the bench at Cleveland High School was in an uproar.

When Yang Shuai left the field, he was greeted with enthusiastic cheers from his teammates.

"Positive energy from Chris Rondo +218".

"Positive energy from Shamet O'Neal +11".

"Positive energy from Henry James +23".

"Positive energy from Carl Davis +18".

"Negative energy from Mike Luther +118".

……

This was the first time since joining the school team that he had received so much positive energy from his teammates.

This was earned through sheer hard work and performance.

Scoring 7 points in just 2 minutes on the court, while the opponents might not have known him well, Yang Shuai's performance in those 2 minutes was truly astonishing. Now, no one in the arena would doubt his ability to play in the NSAA league.

In the first half, Yang Shuai played for 7 minutes and scored 13 points efficiently.

With his outstanding performance, Cleveland High School led Chamberlain High School 32-26 at halftime.

However, the tide turned dramatically in the second half. Led by Posey, Chamblin High School launched a counterattack, quickly narrowing the gap and tying the score through counter-attacks.

Seeing this, Johnson substituted Yang Shuai back onto the court.

Yang Shuai's first attack with the ball was unsuccessful.

After halftime, Chappell High School implemented a targeted defense against Yang Shuai, not only using Posey as the main defender but also having players on the weak side provide help defense.

Yang Shuai's passing ability is currently insufficient, and he made mistakes when distributing the ball.

This round also greatly boosted the morale of Chanberle High School.

They are stronger than Cleveland High School. They were behind before because of Yang Shuai's sudden emergence. Now, as long as they can stop Yang Shuai, they are still the more likely to win.

That's what they thought, but they soon realized they were being too simplistic.

Yang Shuai first helped Cleveland High School stabilize their situation with another help defense block, and then, after returning to the offensive end, he started playing off-ball!
His excellent straight-line speed and explosiveness allow him to suddenly accelerate and break away from defenders to make off-ball cuts.

Moreover, his cuts are not only inside cuts, but also outside cuts; his previous three-pointers made it impossible to ignore his outside threat.

This characteristic made Posey, whose speed was not particularly outstanding, very troublesome.

Rondo was also able to fully demonstrate his excellent passing ability during this process.

The two brought their teamwork from the basketball court directly into the league, and Cleveland High School changed their constipated opening game, playing a fluid and unstoppable offense.

Cleveland High School ultimately defeated Chamberlain High School 67-54, successfully avenging their earlier defeat.

杨帅在自己NSAA联赛的首秀中替补出场16分钟，14投9中，三分球4投2中，罚球4罚3中，得到23分5板1助攻2盖帽。

Because of the large skill gap between players in high school teams, ball possession is mainly concentrated on the core players, which often results in their explosive statistics.

Even compared to those legendary players, Yang Shuai's NSAA debut was outstanding enough.

It's no exaggeration to say that before the match, almost none of the fans at the stadium knew Yang Shuai, but after the match, Yang Shuai's image was imprinted in everyone's minds.

However, despite his outstanding performance, Yang Shuai also encountered a new problem: physical fitness.

This is why, despite his excellent performance, he only played for 16 minutes.

In basketball, a full-court game and a half-court game are two different concepts, and a formal game and a team practice are also two different concepts.

Moreover, he's not just a simple runner on the field; he's meant to be the core offensive weapon.

Therefore, in order to consistently perform well in official competitions, he must improve his physical fitness.

The next morning, Yang Shuai got up as usual.

However, this time, before Yang Shuai even left the house, he discovered that Lin Xiulan had already prepared breakfast for him and told him that the house was cleaner.

Yang Shuai wasn't too surprised by Lin Xiulan's change, after all, he has shown the potential to play professional basketball, so it's only natural that Lin Xiulan would care more about him.

Upon arriving at school, Yang Shuai went directly to the stadium track for targeted running training.

There is no physical fitness attribute on the system panel, but there is a physical fitness enhancement pack for endurance.

His next task is to improve in this area.

However, after running only two laps, he noticed two people standing by the track, one of whom was Johnson.

He couldn't help but slow down and go over to say hello.

"Lei, you dragged me here so early. If it's not what you said, I won't let you off easily."

As Yang Shuai approached, he heard a cheerful voice.

He then carefully examined the other person, following the sound.

The other person looked to be about the same age as Johnson, but unlike Johnson's stern appearance, he had a round face and looked very kind and approachable.

"Don't worry, after all these years, don't you know me? I never boast." Johnson said, glancing at Yang Shuai who had already walked over, and then began to introduce him.
“Yang, this is Tim DiFrancisco, an assistant coach at Cleveland State University.”

"Hello, Mr. Di Francisco." Yang Shuai smiled and extended his hand, still as polite as ever.

When Di Francesco shook hands with Yang Shuai, he carefully examined Yang Shuai's body, then shook his head involuntarily.

Yang Shuai didn't understand what he meant, but Johnson's next words successfully piqued his interest:

“Yang, Di Francesco is a kinesiology expert; he can help you solve your physical problems.”

(End of this chapter)