Chapter 882: Nobody Knows Better Than Me How to Turn the Score Around!

“Alright, let’s get out there and play.”

With that, Zhang Hao was the first to walk onto the court.

Just an ordinary sentence, said in a flat tone, but what his teammates felt from it was an intense surge of confidence!

No passionate pep talk, no stern yelling, you couldn’t even hear much emotion in it—and that, instead, eased his teammates’ depressed mood.

In all their minds the same thought popped up—Right! No Big Shark? We’ve still got the Gentleman! No! We’ve still got the Sun-Slayer!

Once that thought appeared, it was instantly magnified and immediately suppressed the negative emotions brought on by O’Neal getting hurt and leaving the game!

Watching Zhang Hao step onto the court and seeing the change in his players’ expressions, Del Harris wanted to slam the tactics board… but decided it was better to hold on tight.

He felt that if he really did fling that board, he might never get it back!

“So after I’ve been yapping my head off for half the day, I still can’t beat this brat’s one sentence? I really can’t coexist peacefully with him!”

On the other side…

When Zhang Hao turned and walked onto the court, his steps paused for a moment. He hadn’t cursed even after getting blasted with an 18–7 run in just half a quarter—but this time he did…

…

The New York Knicks sent out Chales, John Starks, Alan Houston, Larry Johnson, and Charles Oakley.

The Lakers sent out Kenny Anderson, Doug Christie, Magician, Barkley, and Zhang Hao.

Compared to the Lakers’ bench being dead silent during the official timeout except for Del Harris’s rallying voice, the Knicks’ bench was buzzing with heated discussion.

On the court, there’s no such thing as “winning without honor,” there’s only who’s laughing at the end!

The Lakers were fierce for three quarters, right? But being fierce at the end, that’s what really counts!

They were ready to close this game out!

However, once they checked in, they didn’t see what they’d expected. They didn’t see a dejected Lakers team, and they didn’t even see those frantic, pissed-off expressions the Lakers had before the timeout.

The five guys across from them looked calm and focused!

This was very much not what the Knicks players had anticipated!

But among the five Lakers on the floor, four had just picked their confidence back up and were fully focused on the rest of the game; the other one came in and immediately dropped several “What the actual fuck”s in a row.

Zhang Hao sprinted to the frontcourt first, waited for Kenny Anderson to bring the ball up, and quickly reread the mission that had just triggered.

When he’d turned and walked onto the court just now, besides seeing “Heart Return” trigger—his teammates resonating with his desire to win and hunger for victory—he’d also seen a mission prompt pop up!

“Shaq O’Neal has earned the recognition of the Los Angeles Lakers players through his own play and has left his mark on the Lakers. After Shaq O’Neal leaves the game injured, the Lakers may develop Shark Dependency. When Shaq O’Neal is injured, the confidence of the other Lakers players may all decline. This is unacceptable to Special Contract Player Zhang Hao, who believes that he is the true franchise star whose influence on the team is the greatest. Mission: Let There Be Light triggered.”

“Let There Be Light: Objective: Under the host’s guidance, Special Contract Player Zhang Hao must help the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the New York Knicks. Base Reward: Medal Tier Upgrade Card (Silver). Advanced Reward: If the Lakers win this game, lottery attempts will be awarded based on Zhang Hao’s contribution.”

He didn’t have time to complain about the mission. After glancing at the mission on the subtitle home page, Zhang Hao quickly checked what items he could use.

Star Experience Card—rejected.

If he’d used it right at the start of the fourth quarter, fine, but now he only had one Big Move Card left, and he didn’t even know which player it would pull. It might not even be as good as using himself.

The lottery… honestly wasn’t necessary either.

Skill Tier Upgrade Card, lottery attempts… he really didn’t want to give those up! Not only did he not want to give them up, he absolutely wanted to secure them.

So…

“System boss, I want to initiate a mission: the Lakers must win this game!”

“Based on the current game situation and the present status of both teams, this objective cannot be guaranteed at one hundred percent.”

“Then how about this: Zhang Hao will make every single shot he takes from now on!”

“Based on Special Contract Player’s performance in this game and current status, this objective cannot be guaranteed at one hundred percent.”

“Damn! Then at least every shot I take that could put us ahead has to go in, that work for you?”

“Host has used Special Card: King of Understanding. Target: Zhang Hao. Mission initiated: Any shot taken to give his team the lead, if successfully released, must go in. Host, please instruct Zhang Hao to say the designated line…”

At this point Kenny Anderson had already crossed half-court. Zhang Hao didn’t have time to keep searching for more optimal usage conditions. He leaned into Larry Johnson as he caught the pass from Kenny Anderson, took a deep breath, and palmed the ball with one hand, extending it out to protect it on the far side.

All eyes were on Zhang Hao.

The Lakers players were set to give Zhang Hao as much room to go one-on-one as possible, and the Knicks side was also paying extra attention to Zhang Hao, who had scored a game-high 24 points through three quarters—in fact, in the current situation, he was the only one they truly cared about.

As long as they could contain Zhang Hao and keep him from going nuclear like he did on January 7th last year, then even if the other Lakers guys hit some shots, they still believed they could win!

Zhang Hao dug his elbow into Larry Johnson, and Larry Johnson had to admit he was impressed—and wary—of Zhang Hao’s freakish strength. He’d always thought his own power was already weirdly strong, yet this guy was even stronger! Those iron elbows of his… his Auntie had suffered plenty from them tonight.

Everyone waited for Zhang Hao to make his move, but he didn’t attack right away. Under all those staring eyes, Zhang Hao opened his mouth and said, “Relax, we’ve got this tonight.”

“In the remaining time of this game, whenever Special Contract Player Zhang Hao successfully attempts a shot that can put his team ahead, he will shoot with the hottest possible touch.”

Without giving anyone a chance to react, Zhang Hao finished speaking and slapped the ball with his right hand, then exploded with his left elbow, slamming into Larry Johnson. As Larry Johnson realized what was happening and lunged at him in anger, Zhang Hao borrowed the rebound force from that elbow bump, spun smoothly to face the basket, stepped back, scooped up the ball, and launched a shot put–style three-pointer…

Larry Johnson closed out very fast; most players could’ve been blocked by him there. But Zhang Hao’s shooting motion was too quick. Larry Johnson could only stretch his arm up as far as he could, watching helplessly as the ball flew over his fingertips. He dropped his gaze—while the ball was still in the air, Zhang Hao had already turned and was running back on defense.

That part shouldn’t have mattered. What made Zhang Hao turning to retreat on defense matter, what made the arena go from dead silent to erupting in wild cheers… was that the shot went in!

Zhang Hao’s step-back, shot put–style three from more than half a meter behind the arc swished in, nothing but net!

Everyone else on the floor froze for a beat, then collectively started cursing.

From the moment Zhang Hao said “No one understands…” to the moment he let it fly and hit the shot, not even two seconds had passed. The Knicks players hadn’t even had time to react to him saying that line before Zhang Hao had already drilled the shot!

Now, would the Knicks players think Zhang Hao was too cocky, too arrogant?

No!

Especially the Knicks veterans who’d stayed from last season—they didn’t think Zhang Hao was arrogant at all. This guy had already nailed the Knicks to the eternal Pillar of Shame in the basketball world last year.

The Knicks players had only one thought—That bastard is coming back again!

As for the Lakers players, they were a bit stunned at first. Not during the break, fine, but saying that kind of line in the middle of the game? And then immediately watching Zhang Hao knock down a step-back three…

Say it, then do it—pure Gentleman style!

At that moment, a certain long-silent, doesn’t-want-to-reveal-his-name son of the Knicks’ franchise star on the sideline suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs, “Lakers—GO! You guys gotta believe in the light!”