Chapter 805 - 252: The Rookies’ Nightmare (Part 2)

Tonight is no different. After the afternoon nap, he arrived at the Great Western Forum earlier than anyone on the Grizzlies to prepare.

Facing Zhang Hao, Raheem felt a bit uneasy. Iverson was out of the question; it was too tragic. They lost by 58 points, and they weren’t familiar with each other.

This year, the rookies Raheem was familiar with, the most famous, were Zhang Hao and Marbury. Zhang Hao not only overpowered Iverson but also did not give any face when playing against the Timberwolves...

But Raheem wasn’t afraid. As a player for the league’s last-place team, he had nothing to lose. He just wanted to showcase his abilities well.

O’Neal, dressed in a suit, sat on the sideline. Raheem, who was already confident in his post offense skills, wanted to showcase his abilities in front of Zhang Hao.

This was also a very important game for him to compete for the Rookie of the Year!

When Raheem stepped onto the court with strong conviction, he suddenly felt something was off, as if someone... a lot of people were staring at him.

He glanced around and saw four players on the opposing team looking at him, their eyes seemingly filled with... sympathy?

Raheem’s heart inexplicably skipped a beat, but he was confused. What does this mean?

At 7 PM, the referee blew the whistle to start the game and tossed the ball into the air. Zhang Hao jumped high and won the tip-off over Bryant Reeves.

Seeing the name Bryant, Zhang Hao got excited and quickly rushed to the frontcourt after landing.

The mid-range area was unobstructed. The Grizzlies had no defensive arrangement at all. Every game, their focus was on how to give Raheem and Bryant Reeves more opportunities to hone their skills. The two frontcourt players from the classes of ’96 and ’95 were currently averaging over 17 points per game. When it comes to developing rookies, the Grizzlies have done quite well.

Zhang Hao easily cut in to receive the ball up close. He thought he could dunk easily, but Raheem came back!

Raheem’s defense against small forwards was poor, but his defense under the basket was outstanding. His footwork, timing in jumping, and blocking instincts were exceptionally sharp!

When Zhang Hao jumped for the dunk, Raheem positioned himself well along Zhang Hao’s dunk path!

However, Zhang Hao’s top-tier layup wasn’t for nothing. He pulled the ball to the right, avoiding Raheem’s swiping arm, slightly turned his body to the right, flicked his wrist, and scored the layup!

Raheem did quite well in protecting the rim, but facing Zhang Hao, who was fully airborne, he indeed couldn’t stop him. If it weren’t for his sharp blocking instincts, he would have been directly dunked over.

He had grown so much taller and stronger than a year ago, yet he was still faster and more agile... Raheem watched as Zhang Hao scored on a fast break, showed no change in expression, and turned to retreat, gritting his teeth with his nostrils flaring.

However, he wasn’t discouraged. Zhang Hao was a super talent who made the All-Rookie First Team in his rookie season. Raheem had anticipated that he wouldn’t be able to stop him, but really experiencing Zhang Hao’s strengths made him uncomfortable.

He used to be stronger than Zhang Hao!

Transitioning to offense, the Grizzlies attacked.

Greg Anthony advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Raheem, who was posting up on George Lynch on the right side of the three-second area.

Raheem was ready to showcase his offensive abilities. He caught the ball, turned around; he was better facing up... Just as he turned around, George Lynch stuck to him directly!

Not only that, Barkley also came to double-team immediately!

Raheem almost made a mistake and quickly raised the ball.

Aaron Williams was proactive, cutting in from the baseline immediately.

Raheem quickly tossed the ball toward the baseline... only to have it slapped down by Zhang Hao who suddenly appeared!

Zhang Hao was already on the move, Raheem didn’t notice, and Zhang Hao stole it!

Catching the ball that had bounced on the floor, Zhang Hao immediately passed it to Kenny Anderson, then dashed toward the frontcourt!

He easily caught the ball on the counterattack and dunked it. As Zhang Hao crossed the midcourt line, no one chased him anymore, "Single Rider" at full power went lonely.

Trailing 0-4 at the start was normal for the Grizzlies; it wasn’t a big deal. After more than two months, Raheem had accepted this condition.

But being double-teamed by George Lynch and Barkley at the start... made Raheem utter the F-word.

It was too obvious that the opponent was targeting him!

He didn’t expect it to be like this at the beginning, with the opponent targeting him with three players.

But once it really happened, Raheem wasn’t surprised. Before the game, their Grizzlies head coach had already reminded him to be careful of being bullied by the other team...

Later, when Greg Anthony advanced to the frontcourt again, he still wanted to pass to Raheem. Raheem gave up on going one-on-one directly and instead came out to set a pick for Greg Anthony.

Raheem’s small forward skills were poor, but he had all the skills of a power forward!

Raheem’s pick was solid, forcing George Lynch to switch, but Greg Anthony was also quite adept at pick and roll offense. This is their usual way of cooperating. After the pick, the 185cm Greg Anthony went past George Lynch and drove into the paint!

George Lynch did a pretty good job on defense. Although he couldn’t stop Greg Anthony’s pick and roll drive, he stayed with him, defending Greg Anthony’s pull-up jumper. Greg Anthony rushed all the way to the basket, and with his shooting space completely covered, Greg Smith threaded the ball from between defenders to the left side of the three-second area, and Boss Kenny hardly posed any block to Raheem at all. Raheem caught the ball, about to dunk!

On this play, Zhang Hao turned around too late to jump. Seeing Raheem about to go up, Zhang Hao decided quickly and directly rushed over to hug Raheem! He pulled him down!

At first glance, this move looked very rough, and the Grizzlies’ head coach was so scared he stood up, the referee hurriedly blew the whistle... Immediately after, while pulling Raheem down, Zhang Hao held onto him, preventing Raheem from hitting the floor directly. Instead, he laid Raheem, whom he held, onto the floor...

Raheem was shocked, thinking he was going to be flipped over. He had previously encountered such a situation while playing against the Heat, luckily he was sturdy.

Looking at Zhang Hao, who silently walked to one side of the three-second area waiting for the rebound on the free throw, it was evident that this old friend wasn’t out to injure him at all. He purely didn’t want him to complete the dunk... or rather, he didn’t want him to score at all!

Raheem stepped to the free-throw line, missed the first and made the second.

As the Lakers attacked, Kenny Anderson’s crossover move led to a free-throw line pull-up jump shot that went in.

Raheem, with an uneasy heart, ran to the frontcourt. Before he even crossed half court, he saw Zhang Hao retreating quickly, discussing with Barkley and George Lynch...

Seeing this scene, Raheem felt like his mentality was about to collapse!

"So the rumors are true, Aix is a bully! He just likes to pick on rookies!

Brother! We played and drank seltzer water together!

You can’t do this to me!"

...

The Great Western Forum was lively that night.

Originally, playing the last-place team, the home fans didn’t have much enthusiasm. At the start, they indulged in snacks and chatted, just prepared to check the score and watch Zhang Hao’s performance in the end.

But as the game began, unexpected situations emerged—they, the Lakers, were penalizing last month’s Rookie of the Month!

Whenever Raheem held the ball, he was double-teamed, when playing off the ball, he faced a collapsing defense. Zhang Hao, Barkley, George Lynch, the substitute Jason Williams, Jerome Kersey, Ben Wallace... among others, gave Raheem no chance to get a successful shot!

As soon as Raheem got the ball, he faced at least two people, usually one blocking the high route, the other the low!

This wasn’t all. In the entire first quarter, Raheem managed to shoot only three times, all unsuccessful, two were blocked, and he was also stolen twice, apart from getting six free throw opportunities in one quarter!

Whenever Raheem had a chance to score uncontested, the Lakers would stop him with rough fouls!