Chapter 809 - 254: The Child of the Wind Descends Again

"Aix... Aix... Aix..."

At 6:40 in the evening, when the Blazers players came out, the home fans were all loudly chanting Zhang Hao’s English name.

Because the third Blazers starter to appear was rocking a hairstyle that Lakers fans were dying to see again—the one Zhang Hao had when he played the Bulls!

Among NBA players, there really aren’t many who can pull off this kind of hairstyle. Lakers players had thought only Zhang Hao could handle that cover-your-face cut, and now here comes a rookie who can, too.

Lakers fans suddenly felt a strong fondness for this rookie taken 13th in the ’96 draft.

The Blazers really don’t have much exposure; their most visible storyline is their soon-to-be new owner, Paul Allen. This Microsoft boss, whose assets are worth more than the entire NBA’s market value, joining the league is a huge boon to the development of the whole basketball industry.

Other than that, the only Blazers news is Rasheed Wallace racking up 14 technical fouls in under 40 games. That pace has already caught up with last season’s Barkley and is far ahead of this season’s second-place Karl Malone, who has 9 techs.

Right now there’s still no such thing as a technical-foul suspension rule, but with Rasheed Wallace’s rate of techs, him forcing the NBA to change the rules and introduce a cumulative technical-foul suspension is only a matter of time.

Aside from those two things, ever since Glider Drexler left, the Blazers really haven’t drawn much attention.

Nash has had this new hairstyle for ages now—it’s been almost 20 days—and basically no one’s talked about it.

Now Nash has come to Los Angeles, and the original owner of this hairstyle has finally become the focus.

So the crowd starts chanting "Aix" in unison.

Waiting in the player tunnel, Zhang Hao’s face is covered in black lines.

Just as Zhang Hao is regretting using that Nash Card last time, the system prompt comes...

"Someone is imitating the hairstyle of our special contracted player Zhang Hao. Zhang Hao must let everyone know that only he is worthy of this hairstyle. Quest: Child of the Wind triggered."

"Child of the Wind:

Prerequisite: Equip the Child of the Wind’s matching hairstyle.

Goal: In this game, record more assists than Steve Nash.

Reward: Bronze Medal: Magical Finisher."

"Magical Finisher (Bronze): When the equipped player uses a same-hand, same-foot motion to finish a layup at close range, coordination is enhanced. Layup +1."

Seeing the prerequisite, Zhang Hao wants to reject the quest on the spot.

But this reward... is exactly the finishing boost he urgently needs!

After playing pro ball for so long, Zhang Hao has developed a clear breakdown of what "skills" mean.

The first is pure fundamentals, like shooting, footwork, passing, dribbling, and so on.

The second is attack-initiating techniques—moves like the crossover, spin-drive penetration and the like are all attack starters. He still hasn’t fully trained everything he needs in this category; if another new one appears, say another Crossover Training Card, he’d temporarily shelve it for the offseason and pour more time into improving his finishing.

The third category of skills is finishing techniques.

These differ from pure fundamentals; fundamentals are the core that supports all techniques.

Finishing techniques are things like the pull-up jumper, turnaround fadeaway, and the Anfernee Hardaway spin-back step-back jumper he plans to start working on after he finishes his crossover training... and so on.

Fundamentals, Zhang Hao has always been grinding, never slacking; attack-initiating techniques... those aren’t that urgent. The team has Kenny Anderson, has the Magician, has Brian the Younger, and O’Neal and Barkley can both initiate offense.

Right now, what he wants more is to further strengthen his finishing ability.

After hesitating for three seconds, Zhang Hao turns and heads deeper into the player tunnel...

...

The Blazers players have all come out. The crowd isn’t giving them all that many boos; instead, Rasheed Wallace gets a few cheers when he appears—this guy is always gifting opponents extra possessions. Without that, the Blazers’ record this year might be even better.

When it’s time for the home team to be introduced, the crowd erupts. The cheers are louder than the usual polite ones; everyone in the arena is shouting "Aix," obviously because of that ’96 No. 13 pick rookie’s hairstyle on the other side.

But after the DJ loudly calls Zhang Hao’s name, Zhang Hao still doesn’t come running out.

The crowd’s cheering starts to die down and turn into puzzled murmurs. On the bench, Del Harris stands up—what the hell is this brat pulling now?

Listening as the cheers slowly turn into a noisy buzz of discussion, the DJ has no choice but to shout, "Let’s welcome our Sir Barkley..."

In the tunnel, the other four Lakers starters are just as confused. Zhang Hao suddenly walked off right when they were about to go out, so Barkley, hearing his name, gets launched first.

When the crowd sees Barkley’s eye-searing hairstyle, their attention is diverted, and a fresh wave of deafening cheers explodes.

Even though they don’t know what’s going on, the Lakers starters still come out one by one. Doug Christie and George Lynch follow right after.

At this moment, Kenny Anderson is hyped. With O’Neal injured, he’s back on the throne as the top dog. It’s not like anyone is fighting him for it, and the fans are totally fine with him being the last one introduced.