Chapter 159 Who Will Win?

Everyone in Class 9 was left speechless. A fierce battle was underway, and for heaven's sake, couldn't he be a bit more serious instead of cracking morale-damaging jokes like that?

However, Ming Han was entirely different from the previous chubby guy. He was one of the most talked-about basketball players among the entire freshman cohort!

There were only around a dozen basketball players in the entire freshman year whose names had already spread before the tournament even began.

Ming Han was one of them! And this was a genuine honor, completely different from Wang Zhimin, who became famous because his singing reduced a crowd of people to tears.

Ming Han played the power forward position, also known as the four-spot!

Yet the Class 8 center directly inbounded the ball to him, leaving Ming Han in control of the offense.

Everyone had already realized it the day Ming Han played a match against Instructor Bai: Ming Han was an exceptional passer. It was worth noting that Yuhang from Class 2 had been famous across the entire grade since the day he arrived at No. 1 Municipal High School for his unpredictable ball-handling skills. Yet when the two of them teamed up that day, Yuhang had readily fallen into the habit of leaving the organizational duties to Ming Han.

This indicated that Ming Han was a point guard with a height advantage and a skill level entirely on par with Yuhang. Similar to Magic Johnson...

The player guarding Ming Han for Class 9 was also a power forward. Although that fellow was nearly 1.8 meters tall, his build was on the slender side.

After undergoing professional training, Ming Han’s current physique could be summed up by the phrase: "slender in clothes, muscular without."

Going up against him, Ming Han held the advantage in every aspect.

Sometimes, physical talent can bridge a gap in technique.

However, if both your technique and physical gifts fall short of your opponent's, you are destined for nothing more than a merciless thrashing.

That was truly a tragedy! And it was precisely the predicament facing the Class 9 power forward.

He had originally wanted to lock down Ming Han to prove that beneath his frail frame, a tremendous reservoir of energy was also contained.

Yet Ming Han’s very first offensive move shattered him into despair.

Using his defensive positioning as leverage, Ming Han blew past him with a single giant stride.

The Class 9 interior defender rushed over to help, but Ming Han, keeping his eyes fixed on the rim, delivered a pinpoint bounce pass directly to the center under the basket.

Two points scored!

Class 9 stood there in a daze. When on earth had he passed the ball?

Ming Han’s most threatening asset had never been his scoring ability. What truly mesmerized people was his extraordinarily flamboyant passing technique.

Having executed this offensive play, the members of Class 8 were practically moved to tears. This was the most uplifting and gorgeous play of the first half.

The stands erupted into an even louder wave of cheers. People simply loved watching this kind of savior narrative.

Even though, for heaven's sake, it was only two points!

Wang Zhimin asked Wu Xinhai with a grievance, "Why does Ming Han get so many cheers just for scoring two points? While I'm not even given the chance to celebrate my own..."

Wu Xinhai pondered for a moment and replied earnestly, "That's because when you score those two points, everyone thinks you just got lucky today, haha. But when Brother Ming scores these two points, it makes everyone feel like we're about to blow the horn for a counterattack."

Wu Xinhai's analysis was spot on, because the very next moment, Ming Han executed a turnaround and drove to the basket for a layup, directly forcing Class 9 into a timeout.

Conceiving no countermeasure against Ming Han after conceding points repeatedly, Class 9 was forced to reconsider their defensive strategy.

The atmosphere on the court grew increasingly tense. Even the cheerleaders, who had initially chanted "Friendship first, competition second," changed their slogan: Class 8, Class 8, truly formidable...

Wang Zhimin felt somewhat speechless toward the cheerleaders; seeing their own class about to lose, they pulled out "friendship" as a shield. Now that they saw their class gaining strong momentum, they were shouting about how formidable they were?

Heh! What a bunch of scheming hypocrites...

Class 9 rearranged their defensive strategy, deploying their relatively sturdy small forward to guard Ming Han and cut off his driving lanes.

For a passer, the deeper they penetrated, the greater the disruption caused to the opponent's defensive line, and the more opportunities that emerged for their own teammates.

Therefore, they decided to sever Ming Han's passing lanes.

Did he really expect a single person to defeat an entire team? They still held a substantial lead!

Returning to the court, Ming Han faced the Class 9 small forward.

That small forward was nearly ten centimeters shorter than Ming Han, but his lower body was exceptionally stable, making it difficult for Ming Han to shake him off completely.

If you can't drive in, let's see who you're going to pass to!

Generally, facing this sort of situation, there were two solutions:

First, teammates utilize screens to run into open space and receive the ball to finish the offense.

Second, teammates clear out the space, leaving the ball-handler to play isolation.

The individual capabilities of the Class 8 bookworms were truly mediocre; they couldn't even scrape together a remotely reliable shooter.

Thus, Ming Han had no choice but to handle it all by himself!

Did they really think Ming Han was merely a passer? Anyone thinking along those lines would pay a heavy price.

Seeing Ming Han continuously dribble through his legs without driving, the Class 9 small forward assumed the defensive pressure he was applying was simply too immense, and could not help feeling immensely proud of himself.

Heh! Everyone says my offense is weak, little do they know I'm Bruce Bowen.

"Ming Han isn't scoring a single point on my watch," he bragged aloud...

Most teenage boys possessed a strong sense of vanity. He spoke loudly on purpose to let the flock of admiring girls know that their little handsome boy was currently being kept utterly tamed and submissive by him.

Ming Han remained outside the three-point line, dribbling with absolute calm!

Time gradually slipped away.

Wu Xinhai felt something was amiss. "Has Brother Ming's brain short-circuited? Why isn't he driving, just standing there dribbling with a smug look on his face?"

"No," Wang Zhimin shook his head. "Generally speaking, when Ming Han encounters an opponent this arrogant, he only acts... even more arrogant than the opponent."

Wu Xinhai glanced at Wang Zhimin sideways. Heh, look at you pretending to understand him! Have you already been conquered by his charm?

Just as the shot clock for the current possession was about to expire, Ming Han finally made a motion as if to drive.

He muttered under his breath, "Watch closely, I'm going to drain a step-back three right in your face."

Naked contempt!

Did he think he was Paul Pierce?

Ming Han made a driving motion, stepping forward only to instantly retract and pull up for a jumper.

Releasing the ball almost as the buzzer sounded, it swished through the net!

The Class 9 small forward stared at Ming Han and spat out, "What a pretentious grand finale."

Seeing him looking so helpless and innocent earlier, he had actually thought Ming Han was completely out of options! So it turned out he had been playing the pig to eat the tiger, bullying the weak like this?

Yuhang, who had been quietly watching the match from the sidelines, witnessed this scene and said to his Class 2 classmate, "When we face Class 8 in the grade tournament, he's going to be a problem."

That classmate nodded. "Fortunately, though, Class 8 only has one Ming Han."

That classmate was aware of the relationship between Ming Han and Yuhang, and he was now particularly looking forward to the showdown between Class 8 and Class 2. The Morning Star combination locked in a love-hate rivalry—could there be any duel more thrilling than that?

"Yuhang, when you face Ming Han later on, who do you think will win?"

Yuhang’s ball-handling was far more versatile, and his offensive repertoire more diverse! Yet Ming Han possessed a height advantage, coupled with his shooting ability—something Yuhang simply couldn't defend against.

Yet, being asked such a question, Yuhang still found it rather strange.

Less than two years ago, the guy out on the court was still complaining about how damn difficult it was to learn a layup.

What kind of feeling was it to watch the person you taught grow stronger and stronger, to the point where you lacked the confidence to defeat him?

Yuhang suddenly smiled. "If it's one-on-one, I can't beat him anymore. But because he's in Class 8, he can't beat me."