Basketball Terminal

Chapter 2 Ah Zhong
The car stopped at the James Brand basketball court, not far from the subway station. It was an open-air asphalt court enclosed by wire mesh. One end was against a white building wall covered with green vines, some of which had already reached near the basketball hoops. The other end was against a children's play area with slides, swings, and other climbing structures for children.

Next month is Chinese New Year, and nearby residents will set off firecrackers and hold celebrations such as dragon and lion dances here, making it a very lively time.

No one is playing ball here now. A group of girls in red cheerleading uniforms are practicing dance on the court. They lift their honey-colored thighs high, spinning and jumping, creating a ball of fire in the cold street wind. The school's indoor gymnasium is closed, so they can only train outdoors.

Paris-Ropin got out of the car and spoke with the girls, hoping they would give up half of the court, but the girl in the lead refused. However, when she learned that the person who came to play that afternoon was Levi, the one who had challenged the scoreless player, she discussed it with the others and readily agreed to give up the court.

Recently, Li Wei has become quite famous on the streets of Flushing, and it all started with the drowning accident three weeks ago.

That evening, a Border Collie fell into Flaherty Bay and was swept into the middle of the water by the strong current. The dog could swim, but it was probably sick or too hungry and exhausted to swim ashore. People found it and wanted to rescue it, but no one dared to go into the water, and there were no boats nearby.

Suddenly, someone appeared in the water and rescued the sheepdog. The incident was filmed by many people and uploaded online. The rescuer was Li Wei, a tall and robust young Chinese man.

New York City has the largest dog population in the United States, and the rescue operation quickly garnered praise; rescuing a dog here is more likely to make the news than rescuing a person. The New York City Animal Care Center soon arrived to investigate and found that the dog's owner had died of pneumonia at home. The dog had run away and, possibly due to extreme hunger, had fallen into the water and nearly drowned.

According to New York City animal control regulations, stray dogs that remain unclaimed for a period of time will be euthanized. Li Wei, who saved the dog's life, decided to adopt this sheepdog with whom he had a special connection, becoming its new owner and naming it Ah Zhong.

If the story ended here, the tale of the man and his dog would have a happy ending, the hype would have died down, and the story would have faded from memory, only to be mentioned occasionally.

The turning point came during Ah Zhong's checkup at the hospital. The vet found its medical records and discovered that it had changed owners several times, always running away on its own initiative, and had a history of attacking people. Further examination revealed that Ah Zhong had many injuries and was ill, suggesting it had been abused and needed recuperation and treatment, which would require a considerable expense, as veterinary care for dogs is very expensive.

The doctor kindly advised Li Wei to give up Ah Zhong, saying that the dog was difficult to raise and too expensive, but Li Wei insisted on adopting it. Because he was short of money, Li Wei came up with a solution: he started a fundraising challenge online.

This tall, young Chinese-American man, a former member of the community college basketball team, posted that he would accept any one-on-one challenge on the court. If he could keep his opponent scoreless for three rounds, the challenger would have to donate $20 to Ah Zhong for medical treatment.

This no-point challenge quickly became popular in Flushing. Some ordinary people who were happy to donate money took the initiative to challenge Li Wei to a one-on-one match. They were not very good at playing basketball, so they naturally could not score against the tall Li Wei. After three failures, they donated money to Ah Zhong.

Gradually, some basketball enthusiasts began to participate, trying to score over Levi and defeat him, but without exception, they all failed; this tall young Chinese-American's defensive ability was astonishing. More skilled players gradually joined the challenge, and some internet celebrities wanted to increase their fame through the challenge.

As they planned, they would start by playing around, losing three rounds and donating $20 each. The next challenge would be a full-on assault, a decisive victory over Levi to showcase their superior one-on-one skills. With countless skilled fighters on the streets of New York, they saw this challenge as a golden opportunity to gain followers.

Surprisingly, several well-known streetball players from Queens were completely outmatched by Levi, struggling to even score a single basket. Aside from forcing three-pointers from the outside, they couldn't find a better way to break through Levi's defense. Videos of the one-on-one match spread online, and the challenge gained increasing popularity. Levi began to gain fame.

Two days ago, a well-known internet celebrity basketball player challenged Li Wei to a game. His name is Isaiah Hodge, a 2018 graduate of Leonard High School in Florida. He is 193 cm tall, a local dunk star, and has a slender build with amazing jumping ability.

After graduating, he didn't go to college to study or play basketball. Instead, he went to Romania to play professionally. After returning to the United States 20 years later, he quickly became popular on Instagram by uploading videos of himself dunking and playing one-on-one. He became an internet celebrity with many fans and supporters, nicknamed Slim.

"Slim" refers to a slender build, and Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant is known as the "Slim-Reaper," or more accurately, the "Grim Reaper." Isaiah Hodge, similarly known as the "Street Durant" due to his lean physique, possessed truly explosive skills compared to the average basketball player. His dunks, in particular, showcased his incredible jumping ability—his head could practically touch the rim.

This matchup attracted a lot of attention, and it also took place at Brand Stadium. Before the match began, Li Wei made two suggestions to the camera: first, no more claims that the virus was brought by Chinese people; second, in the future, Chinese people should be given priority at Flushing stadiums.

The group booed and laughed, including Paris-Ropin.

However, in their subsequent Cavaliers matchup, Levi, with his height and strength advantage and agility that didn't match his size, completely shut down Isaiah Hodge, blocking his layups several times, let alone dunks.

Hodge tried to use his speed and change of direction to get rid of the defender, but found that the seemingly tall and clumsy Levi had excellent anticipation and quick reactions. He either couldn't get rid of him, or only after getting rid of him did he realize that he was just being led into a trap and then blocked.

Finally, after trying more than a dozen times and finding it to be an impenetrable wall, Isaiah Hodge chose to give up and donated $100. After three weeks of careful treatment at the hospital, Ah Zhong's physical indicators improved significantly, and he was discharged smoothly, moving into the attic above Manulife Laundry, next to Li Wei.

Li Wei used the money he earned from the challenge to pay off his medical bills, with some money left over. His match against Slim brought him a lot of attention online, but people just saw him as a newly emerging basketball influencer. Only Paris Robin sensed something special about Li Wei.

The cheerleading girls made way for her, their eyes scanning Levi up and down with curiosity, without any attempt to hide it. Most of them were of Asian descent; 60% of Flushing's population is Asian. Only the leader was a brown-haired, black-eyed girl who appeared to be of mixed race.

Li Wei and Novan Pellè got out of the car and warmed up on the sidelines, while Ah Zhong obediently lay down on the sidelines. McCallian crossed his arms, constantly checking the time on his phone and following the news feed.

To outsiders, the two guys on the field are two behemoths, one around 208cm and the other around 201cm. But in McCallian's eyes, one is a scrap on the fringes of the professional league, and the other isn't even a scrap.

Having worked as a scout in the league for nearly ten years, he has seen countless basketball talents, but only a handful have actually made it to the professional scene.

"If you're recommending players next time, please don't do it on this kind of open-air court. At the very least, you need to arrange a venue with basic testing equipment, a vertical jumper, and a bench press barbell. Then you need to organize a match to see his performance in the game, not just one-on-one games! One-on-one games, what's the point of that…"

McCalion complained to Ropin, but in his heart he thought there would be no next time, today was the last time.

"Gold buried in sand is still gold; it will still shine," Luo Ping replied confidently, which made McCallian feel uneasy. He put away his phone and looked towards the court.

Novan Pelle is ready. He's a seasoned veteran, already 28 years old. In high school, he was a nationally acclaimed four-star high school prodigy and a basketball star in Southern California. After graduating high school, he received a scholarship to St. John's University, but due to poor grades, he couldn't participate in NCAA games and skipped college to enter the 2013 NBA draft.

He withdrew from the draft due to injury before the draft and, with no one interested, participated in the G League draft. He was selected by the Delaware 87ers and began his nomadic career in the lower leagues.

Years of wandering and the harsh realities of the basketball court have long since worn away the glory of his days as a four-star high school player. Now, all he wants is a two-way contract with the Nets to earn enough money to support his family. For this reason, he has no choice but to join the Nets scouts to participate in the Nets Basketball Challenge.

After learning that Li Wei had raised some money for a dog through a no-score challenge, Novan thought that if he really couldn't make a living, becoming a basketball influencer and playing pickup games wouldn't be bad.

"Are you ready or not? Stop dawdling and wasting my time."

Levi was still warming up, while Novan grew impatient. Levi took off his overalls, revealing athletic shorts underneath. He stretched his legs, then his arms, and finally his waist, his movements meticulous, while thinking to himself that his body was still slightly stiff and needed to be fully stretched.

Ignoring Novan's urging, Levi carefully finished the warm-up exercises, explained the "no-scoring challenge rule" to Novan Pelle, tossed a Wilson basketball to Novan, patted his thigh and said, "Come on, try to score a point."

Novan laughed in exasperation, thinking to himself that no matter what, he was a professional player. Last year, he played more than 20 games for the Philadelphia 76ers, and his best performance was against the Celtics, where he scored 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

18-19赛季，费城对阵底特律的比赛中出场12分钟打出了13分5个盖帽的表现，实力可见一斑。在国际赛场他代表黎巴嫩出战，对阵菲律宾能打出23分13个篮板9次盖帽的准三双。

Of course, that was his performance four years ago. Now, Novan's performance has declined more and more, and he is struggling on the edge of the NBA.

Blocking shots is Novan Pellè's forte; one-on-one offense isn't his strong suit, but that's in professional basketball. On a regular court? He's a force to be reckoned with against any non-professional player, at least that's what Novan himself thinks.

He dribbled the ball a few times to test its elasticity and the hardness of the court, rubbed his foot on the ground, and then, in a very relaxed posture, dribbled towards Li Wei.

(End of this chapter)