I was a top student in America.

Chapter 122 Where Did This Come From? (Please Subscribe)

"In the first half, we were completely overwhelmed by that point guard on the other side."

"So in the second half, double-team me immediately."

"Even if we lose, we should lose with some dignity. If he continues to play like this in the second half, we'll all be too ashamed to face anyone when we get back."

In the away team's locker room, Simon Academy's head coach flipped the tactical board over and banged it heavily.

He stood in front of everyone, and as he spoke, his gaze deliberately drifted toward his team's starting point guard.

Clearly, everyone in this locker room is familiar with the name "Li Ao".

The Simon Academy players below all looked somber, under immense pressure.

They did give it their all in the first half, but the situation on the court was clear: Li Ao was not someone that could be contained by conventional one-on-one defense.

The person who must be feeling the most bitter right now is the team's starting point guard.

As an old rival who had fought Li Ao last year, he could feel the terrifying speed of Li Ao's progress more clearly than anyone else.

He was very self-aware; even if he played exceptionally well in the second half, he would never be able to stop Li Ao's amazing speed and consistent pull-up jump shot in one-on-one defense.

Instead of continuing to be a background character, it's better to acknowledge the gap sooner and hope for teammates to double-team them. At least there's a chance that the other Wyndham players won't be playing well.

Noticing the sympathetic looks from his teammates, the point guard, who was both the captain and the core player, wanted to roll his eyes and felt a sense of helplessness.

"Why are you all looking at me? Everyone's watched the game replays, and Leo wasn't this aggressive last year. How are we supposed to defend against him?"

Of course, he could only keep these complaints to himself. On the surface, he took a deep breath, focused his attention back on the tactics board, and listened attentively to the coach's instructions.

Compared to his opponent's anxiety, Li Ao didn't seem to care too much about his performance in the first half.

He took a few sips of the sports drink his teammate handed him, then stretched his wrists and walked back to the sidelines to prepare for the second half of the game.

With his current intelligence and affix abilities, when reading an opponent's defense, he only needs to glance at the opponent's positioning and defensive footwork to naturally come up with the optimal offensive route in his mind.

Simply choose the simplest breakthrough or passing route; most of the time, you don't even need to shout complicated tactical commands.

By the middle of the third quarter, the outcome of the entire game had completely lost its suspense.

"The personnel at Simon Academy haven't changed much from last year, so why does it feel like their strength has declined quite a bit? They're not nearly as imposing as they were last year."

Li Ao stood at the top of the arc with the ball, looking down at the two defenders in front of him, muttering to himself.

He casually held the ball to his side, controlling the rhythm while waiting for his teammates on the weak side to make runs.

Seeing Jaylen open in the corner, he smoothly passed the ball to his teammate, who calmly made a three-pointer.

He deliberately slowed down his individual attacks.

If he continues to force his way through to score, his teammates will have little chance to get playing time. Besides, he doesn't plan to make a living playing professional basketball, so there's no need for him to excessively pursue personal statistics.

As the final whistle blew and the referee was still confirming the final score, Li Ao's teammates on the bench could no longer contain their excitement and rushed over to celebrate enthusiastically.

"Captain, you really stunned Simon Academy this game! Their coach's face was as black as the bottom of a pot in the third quarter!"

"That's right, your breakthroughs are too amazing. You can get past people with just one acceleration, and the opposing defense is thrown into chaos. They can't keep up at all."

"Those two open looks I had just had, the captain just fed me the ball so comfortably. Captain, your performance today was incredibly solid!"

Li Ao stood on the sidelines, looking at the excited faces surrounding him. He hadn't expected everyone to be so excited after winning the game.

Not only the core rotation players, but also the younger substitutes looked on with admiration.

He didn't get carried away by the praise, but instead reviewed the team's cooperation in the game, gently patting a few people on the shoulder: "Alright, the main reason we won was because everyone's positioning was decisive today, and we seized all the open opportunities. I just passed the ball to where it should have been, it's nothing special. Keep up this pace, and let's strive for a better ranking this year."

The entire team enjoyed the glory to the fullest amidst the cheers of the Wyndham teachers and students before returning to the locker room to shower, completely satisfied.

After this battle, the team members were completely convinced of Li Ao's strength.

In their view, it wouldn't be a problem if all the future matches turned into Li Ao's personal show; in sports competitions, the strong should act this way.

When Li Ao finished changing his clothes and packing his equipment to leave the stadium, TySean, Daryl, and Malik, who had come to watch the game, finally squeezed through the crowd to get closer.

"Leo, your progress is just too incredible! I watched the whole thing from the stands, it was like a game-changer."

Daryl exclaimed in genuine admiration.

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"Otherwise, why would Coach Durant specifically name you as captain?" Malik chimed in with a laugh.

As they walked out, TySean seemed to remember something and asked with some confusion, "But speaking of which, you played so easily in the first half, why didn't you take as many shots in the second half?"

He had witnessed Li Ao's freakish physical abilities and recovery capabilities. It was no exaggeration to say that even if Ji Ao were to dominate the entire 32-minute game from start to finish, Li Ao's stamina would definitely be able to hold out.

While watching from the stands, he noticed several times that Li Ao was feeding the ball to others even when he clearly had a chance to shoot, which made him suspicious.

Li Ao smiled and didn't hide anything. He coughed lightly and said truthfully, "Actually, the score had already widened by the third quarter, so we had to give our teammates more opportunities to find their rhythm."

"If you just go all out and go all out, how many points could you get in this game?" Malik leaned closer and asked curiously.

After a moment's thought, Li Ao honestly replied, "Scoring 30 or 40 points in a single game shouldn't be a problem."

"What a pervert."

Malik shook his head with a sigh. "I feel like with you controlling the situation, Simon Academy on the other side is actually more affected. I suddenly feel sorry for them."

The basketball team hadn't been able to get together like this in a long time, so the group decided to have lunch together near the school and catch up.

In the afternoon, Li Ao returned to the gymnasium just in time to prepare for the team's post-match video review meeting.

But as soon as he pushed open the locker room door, he saw a huge pile of brand-new training equipment next to the bench, including wristbands, training socks, ankle braces and whole cases of sports drinks.

He stepped forward, casually picked up a pair of brand-new, high-end ankle braces, and looked up at the others in the locker room with some confusion: "Where did these things come from? Is our school's funding that abundant?"