Kobe had measured his height once before the end of Adidas' ABCD training camp.
At that time, Kobe had measured 195.8 centimeters.
"Haha, I remember that Su's only 1.9 meters tall.
"Hmm, I can't be too mean.
"I'll let him realize on his own that I've grown so tall all of a sudden." Kobe made this decision on his way back to Philadelphia.
...
Kobe clenched his teeth and asked, "How tall are you?" It seemed that… Su Feng was taller than him by a teeny-tiny bit.
"197cm," Su Feng answered, looking calm.
"Hmph, I didn't expect you to… have a growth spurt this summer too," Kobe said, his voice shaking.
Sometimes, boys enjoyed boring things.
Like comparing their heights.
If you are taller than your friends, most guys will intentionally straighten their backs when they walk together.
"And you look… stronger?" Kobe asked. He was astounded, looking at Su Feng's huge biceps.
"Yup, I'm almost 85kg now. Muscles, not fat," Su Feng said, swinging his arms.
"Hmm… Very well! I'm relieved to see that you didn't waste your time over summer vacation.
"Come, show me how much you've improved."
Kobe's smile disappeared. A serious look emerged on his face as he stared at Su Feng.
Su Feng nodded and tossed the ball to Kobe.
The rule was simple. Whoever got 21 points first was the winner. Two points for field goals and three points for three-pointers.
In the case of a foul, the one with the ball should carry on with the attack. The ball would be passed to the other person after every failed attack. There would be no rebounds.
Kobe bounced the ball on the floor twice. Then he looked at Su Feng, signaling to him that the game had started.
Thump, thump, thump!
Kobe dribbled and attacked from Su Feng's left. As Su Feng hurried to catch up with him, he had remembered to stabilize his body at the same time.
Su Feng's prediction was right.
Kobe suddenly pulled the ball back with his right hand and attempted to charge toward the other direction, but Su Feng had successfully blocked him.
Having seen that his breakthrough had failed, Kobe dribbled the ball away and changed to post-up instead. He angled his shoulders and arms at 45 degrees toward the basket and tried to force his way through.
At that time, the young Kobe was almost a little one-on-one basketball encyclopedia.
In Su Feng's former life, the Lakers had picked Kobe because the Logo Man had been impressed with Kobe's all-rounded knowledge on offensive techniques during the trial training.
Although the young Kobe was still much weaker compared to his future self, his potential had started to show.
"Su, you've become stronger. But watch out for this one, a super pro technique I learned from Lamar!"
Kobe had managed to force himself into the restricted area. Suddenly, he pulled the ball with his left hand and turned his body under the momentum. In the next instant, he spun in the other direction unexpectedly.
Back in Adidas' ABCD training camp, Odom had tricked Kobe with this technique quite a few times.
Now was the time to crush Su Feng again!
For some reason, Kobe couldn't wait to see Su Feng being defeated by him.
However…
Pang!
Kobe's smile disappeared.
"Oh? You've even learned that one?" Su Feng asked Kobe smilingly after he had slapped away the ball from Kobe's hand.
"I…" Kobe was astonished.
"Hey, don't just stand there. My turn to attack."
Su Feng didn't want to give Kobe any time to think. He knew that it would be very difficult to defeat this young Kobe after he had seen through Su Feng's trick.
Su Feng had to rely on that to win!
Su Feng attacked.
Although Kobe hadn't figured out how Su Feng had managed to block him just now, he soon regained his confidence after he had seen Su Feng's lousy dribbling skills.
"What have you been doing all summer? Not much progress after all, it seems." Kobe provoked Su Feng as he maintained his defense.
Su Feng didn't answer him. He faced away from the basket and dribbled the ball to the free throw line. Then he spun towards the basket and shot.
Kobe leaped forward at once.
He believed that it was impossible for Su Feng to score this time.
Kobe thought that Su Feng must have chosen to shoot because he couldn't dribble any further.
"Ha, that same old trick, and the same old jump shot!
"Go die!"
Of course, Kobe didn't shout that out. But the fierce look on his face had already given him away.
But…
As soon as Kobe had leaped toward Su Feng, Su Feng suddenly pulled the ball back with his giant hand.
Then, holding the ball single-handedly, Su Feng turned his body through 180 degrees without moving one of his feet. He immediately passed the ball to his left hand and flickered his wrist. The ball passed through the hoop in a gentle curve!
"Eh? It's so easy to defeat you now, Kobe. As easy as crossing the road in the early morning," Su Feng mocked.
Hands on his hips, Su Feng looked at Kobe, who was frozen in shock. In fact, Su Feng had come up with that line a long time ago.
Kobe was speechless.
He felt his confidence thwarted.
That's because his estimate of Su Feng's basketball abilities had been wrong.
If we say that Kobe's ability now was 80 out of 100, then Su Feng was about 75.
But the thing is, Su Feng had played the game thinking that Kobe was a 90 or even 100. But Kobe had thought that Su Feng was just a 65 at most.
Therefore, Kobe had underestimated his opponent.
Moreover, Su Feng had the advantage of more information.
He had watched the video recording of Kobe's 1996 McDonald's All-American Boys Game. Hence, Su Feng had a good knowledge of Kobe's current playing style.
But Kobe knew nothing about Su Feng after the summer holiday.
And lastly…
Su Feng knew Kobe all too well.
In the past, his knowledge of Kobe had been limited to the information online. But after more than one year of friendship, Su Feng now knew almost everything about Kobe.
Su Feng understood that he would have an even higher chance of winning if he could make Kobe lose his cool.
In fact, most of the games in which Kobe had lost his cool often ended up with—
Clang, clang, clang!
21 - 17!
Su Feng almost cried after he scored the last three-pointer.
In the past, Kobe had crushed him so many times with his unstoppable slam dunks.
And today, Su Feng had finally managed to defeat that bad-tempered mamba with a shot right in his face.
"I've become stronger!"
That was Su Feng's first win against Kobe in their one-on-one matches. From now onwards, he could finally announce that he had defeated Kobe before!
Well…
Anyway, it was already the start of a new season. Hence, Su Feng believed that it was only fitting to reset his past losing streak.
Moreover, Kobe had never recorded the result of their duels in the past. So Su Feng would never admit how many times he had lost to Kobe.
"Okay. That's all for today. I'm going home for some rest."
Su Feng said after he had won the game.
But Kobe didn't want to.
"No way! The game isn't over yet!"
Pulling Su Feng's arm, Kobe wasn't willing to let him go no matter what.
"But I've already won, haven't I?
"Kobe, you can no longer defeat me.
"But you will catch up with me one day after you've worked hard enough."
Su Feng felt as if he was on cloud nine. He patted Kobe's shoulder encouragingly.
"I'll unfriend you if you leave now!"
Kobe said anxiously. His eyes were red.
Su Feng knew Kobe's personality too well—he might really unfriend him if he insisted to leave now.
"Fine. I'll stay. But only one more match." Su Feng yielded.
"No. Two more. Whoever wins two matches out of three is the final winner," Kobe said.
"Fine, okay. Two more." Su Feng agreed.
"How shameless! He doesn't want to stop until he wins. What kind of person is that?" Su Feng secretly thought.
The game continued. This time, Kobe didn't give Su Feng any chances. He won with 21 - 13.
"1 - 1 now. Continue!" Kobe said, flame shooting from his eyes.
Then…
You might not believe it.
Su Feng won again.
Satisfied with his performance in the first match, Su Feng equipped himself with the McGrady's Jump Shot and wanted to gain some Brick Shot Points.
But…
Who would have expected that Su Feng would actually activate Kobe's potential to make meme-worthy facial expressions in the third round.
"What on earth!
"My goodness!
"OMG!
"Gosh, please!"
Simply put, in this round, Su Feng couldn't defend against Kobe, and Kobe couldn't block Su Feng. Both of them were literally on fire.
But Su Feng had scored more three-pointers, so he was the final winner.
"2 - 1. Game over," Su Feng said. But Kobe was still in shock from Su Feng's continuous shots, which made Su Feng realize that it probably wasn't the end yet.
"No! One more!" Kobe said, unwilling to admit his defeat.
Su Feng forced a smile and said, "Alright, then, last round."
…
"Su, I expected more from you! One more!"
"No way. It doesn't count. One more round. Last one!"
"Hahaha, you've been tricked, Su! Your defense isn't that stellar after all. Well, one more round! No more after this!"
As a result, Su Feng and Kobe played from early morning to noon, in the name of the never-ending "last round".
Su Feng needed to take a break.
It was not because he was running out of energy. He still wanted Brick Shot Points, but…
He knew that there would be no end to it if they carried on.
"Let's take a break for now," Su Feng said, rubbing his chest. There was a bruise in his chest area where Kobe had hit him with his elbow.
"What? Are you scared of me now?"
Although neither of them had kept track, there was no doubt that Kobe had won more rounds than Su Feng in the past eight hours.
In Su Feng's former life, Kobe had been known as the one-on-one King. That was not only because Kobe had excellent attack techniques…
But also because Kobe would never stop competing with you once he'd lost to you once or twice. The only way out of this loop was to let him win all the time.
Su Feng understood that he had his own advantages and disadvantages. Hence, there was no shame in losing to Kobe in a one-on-one match.
Honestly speaking, Su Feng had been willing to play with Kobe for so long because of two reasons. Firstly, he had wanted to assess the level of his current abilities, and secondly, he valued his friendship with Kobe.
It would take a long time to gain enough Brick Shot Points. Looking at Kobe, who clearly had not had enough fun yet, Su Feng said, "By the way, I wanted to cook pizza and pasta for lunch today."
Hmm?
Kobe raised his brows at once.
At that moment, the Mamba suddenly transformed into an obedient pet snake.
"Pizza and pasta?" For some reason, Kobe felt a bit hungry.
"Yup. Never mind, what's food when we have basketball? Let's play for a while longer!"
After that, Su Feng stood up and walked toward the ball.
"No, wait! Su! I remember now!
"At the Adidas' ABCD training camp, the coach once said that we are still in puberty and we mustn't skip meals," Kobe said, shaking his head.
"But if we stop here, it will seem like I'm scared of you!
"I know you wouldn't think that way, but if other people find out…" Su Feng said, acting as if he didn't know what to do.
"How's that possible? You've beaten me so many times today!
"Besides, I'll never tell anyone about our one-on-one matches. It's our secret."
After a short pause, Kobe swallowed his saliva and said, "Let's go eat!"
Su Feng smiled. "Look at just how important it is to have good culinary skills!"
People said that you could go anywhere in the world if you could speak English well. What nonsense!
In Su Feng's former life, he had once come across a piece of news about a Chinese team who had gone to Saudi Arabia for work. However, they didn't recruit a chef, so a project planner volunteered to be the chef.
Before the team returned to China, Saudi Arabia had called off the project.
However, by that time, the Saudi staff had developed a taste for Chinese cuisine after all the meals they had eaten together.
Hence, the Saudi side offered three times the salary for that project planner and kept him as their chef.
Following the same vein, how could a competent basketball player not know how to cook?
On the way home, Kobe couldn't help but ask Su Feng, "Oh, I've been meaning to ask. How did you improve so fast?"
"I've been training with Tracey in Orlando this summer," Su Feng answered.
"Tracey? That Pumpkin Head?" Kobe asked, surprised.
"Yup. We played one-on-one in Orlando every day," Su Feng replied.
"Then? Who won more?" Kobe asked.
"Me, of course. If I'd lost more, how do you think I'd defeat you?" Su Feng said, in an attempt to repair the bridge that had been burned with Kobe.
Judging from Kobe's personality, Su Feng now felt that he might have gone too far in his mockery earlier today.
As expected, Kobe laughed. "Of course, you are next level compared to Tracey. His accuracy is miserable.
"Hey, Su, do you want to know what I went through at Adidas' ABCD training camp?" Kobe said smilingly before he suddenly wrapped his arm around Su Feng's shoulders.
"I know, you crushed all of them and became the MVP!
"Please, your future self will mention it every single time you appear on the TV. Everyone knows your stories!"
"Lamar is so much weaker than I had expected," Kobe said with a sigh.
"Oh? I thought you said that he was stronger than me?" Su Feng asked curiously.
"How's that possible? He often calls it quits halfway through our one-on-one matches. Not fun at all," Kobe complained.
"I know. In Orlando, Tracey couldn't last through the full duration either," Su Feng said with a sigh.
"That said, Su. If you can keep up your good work in the new season, I believe that you'll be chosen," Kobe said.
Su Feng was speechless.
"Please, brother, can you stop making predictions about me? You are making me doubt myself!"
At first, Su Feng had full confidence in himself. But after Kobe had said that…
"Hmm, should I ask someone else to reassure me of that?" Su Feng thought.
…