"Are you watching Pornhub?" Rondo asked curiously after closing the door.
Han quickly shook his head— who would watch that kind of stuff in broad daylight!
He gestured for Rondo to come over to his side.
"The media didn't report on our game, so I went on Facebook to see, and I found these."
Rondo leaned in curiously, and when he saw those unbearable comments, his breathing quickened too.
"These people are too much!"
"Tell me about it," Han sighed.
"I know you're doing this to pump up the team, don't worry, tomorrow I'll do my best to create opportunities for you, we have to show them!"
"Thanks, Chris, being teammates with you is my biggest fortune; I'll take you to the club to have fun tonight," Han said, showing his gratitude.
Han previously didn't interact much with his teammates privately, but now he was seizing every opportunity to strengthen their relationships.
For him, having lived in the United States in his past life, this wasn't difficult.
...
On the night of the opening game, North Ridge Stadium, which could seat six thousand people, was nearly full to bursting.
The Barry University players entered the court with excitement written all over their faces.
This was the first time they had seen so many fans on their home court.
However, their expressions quickly turned complicated.
Apart from Barry University students, a considerable number of off-campus fans had come, many of whom were holding KT boards with Curry's picture on them.
Obviously, the majority of the crowd had come for Curry.
Han also noticed quite a few Chinese fans.
Miami was the largest gathering place for Chinese in Florida.
They, um, were also here to support Curry.
But their way of showing support was different from others.
Han saw one of the KT boards they were holding, which had both Chinese and English written on it: "Han, you are the pits."
That instantly reminded Han of a scene he saw in the news in his past life, where a Chinese-American woman, despite being able to speak Chinese, insisted on speaking English to argue with fellow Chinese.
He gave that group of people a polite middle finger.
Seeing this, the group immediately excitedly returned the gesture in English.
You see, that just increased Han's "haters points" by quite a bit.
After a brief warm-up, the venue moved on to the introduction ceremony, and players from both teams were introduced in succession, with the starting lineups also unveiled.
Davidson College: Curry, Marx Gosselin, Bryant Bar, Andrew Lovdale, Steve Rosset;
Barry University: Chris Rondo, Han, Will Atkinson, Dan Hiyam, Aaron O'Neal.
Although there was a big gap between the two sides in terms of height and physique, on the bright side, with Barry University having both Rondo and O'Neal, at least they had the upper hand in terms of names.
The game quickly started, and Rosset easily got Davidson College the ball.
Curry advanced with the ball—and instantly, there was an intense cheer in the arena.
Barry University were getting the Los Angeles Clippers treatment.
But Curry didn't play solo; he was organizing the play.
Davidson College's off-ball screens quickly created an opportunity, and although Bar didn't make the shot, Rosset grabbed the offensive rebound and scored with a put-back off the glass.
The difference in strength between the two teams became clear in the first round.
"You're done, tonight I'm going to shut you down," and as Han came to the frontcourt, Gosselin, his matchup, started spewing trash talk.
Tois was right; Davidson College's players wouldn't sit idly by while watching Curry get humiliated.
Han made his way without the ball, with Gosselin closely following, not giving him any chances.
Being of similar stature, Han found it wasn't so easy to shake off Gosselin.
But O'Neal timely offered a high screen, and Han used it to pop out to the three-point line, where Rondo's pass reached him just in time.
Han's treat at the nightclub the night before proved its worth, as his teammates rallied closely around him.
Han received the ball, bent his knees, jumped, and flicked his wrist.
The basketball spun through the air in a perfect parabola...
"Swoosh!"
Right in the pocket!
This shot was as smooth as silk, and the crowd was momentarily taken aback.
Especially those students from our school; although "Hansen" had never represented Barry University in an official match, he still played during school, including training matches.
"Hansen" did have a certain ability to shoot threes, but was nowhere near as smooth as Hansen had just been.
It was not an illusion, as Hansen had been diligently practicing his three-pointers while also adjusting his shooting form to make it more like a "textbook shot."
Curry continued to orchestrate, and Lovdale received the ball in the paint for a baby hook shot.
The height and build disparity made it very difficult for Barry University to mount any defensive interference against Davidson College.
Hansen continued to move, with O'Neal setting an early high pick-and-roll, but this time Gosselin anticipated it, and with O'Neal's average screen quality, Hansen didn't get a good look after receiving the ball.
"You're not going to score another bucket!" Gosselin howled like a goblin.
Hansen simply extended his hand to signal for spacing and then started to dribble.
He made a breakthrough to the right, then pulled back extensively, stepping back beyond the three-point line to shoot.
Gosselin was clearly a bit behind.
"Swish!"
Hansen's three-pointer once again pierced through the net!
Tois couldn't help but clench his fist and wave excitedly.
"All the effort I put in over the entire summer was for this moment."
Hansen didn't lie to him!
"Do you know? Your defense isn't even as tight as the chick I was on at the club last night."
As he landed, Hansen looked at Gosselin with a pitiful gaze.
Trash talk?
He had heard a lot more than what Gosselin had ever said.
The Barry University fans at the scene began to cheer.
Although they didn't know why, this time they truly felt that Hansen was different.
Finally, Curry attempted a shot, working with Gosselin on the perimeter, taking the ball about a meter away from the three-point line.
This distance was NBA three-point range, showing that Curry was already preparing for his NBA entrance.
Unfortunately, his three-point attempt didn't go in.
This time O'Neal finally lived up to his name under the basket, boxing out Rosset fiercely to protect the defensive rebound.
Barry University launched a fast break, with Hansen bursting beyond the three-point line early; after catching the ball, he dribbled and sprinted down the court.
Then, glancing back to see Gosselin chasing wildly behind him, he pulled up for a quick stop-and-shoot three before Gosselin could catch up, outside the frontcourt's three-point line.
The ball flew straight to the backboard, propelled by inertia.
"Bang!"
It hit the backboard.
Was that shot off?
No!
The ball ricocheted straight into the basket after the bounce!
Hansen had used his body's inertia, aiming off the backboard on purpose!
4 to 9!
Davidson College immediately called a timeout!
Despite the clear difference in strength, Barry University, led by Hansen, surprisingly took the lead at the beginning of the game!
A round of cheers erupted from the audience, this time not for Davidson College, but for Barry University.
As Hansen left the court, he lifted both hands up and waved them, signaling for the fans to raise their noise even louder.
Was he getting cocky?
Keep in mind, the more he underperformed in this game after making such statements before the match, the more he would be criticized.
Clearly, he wasn't.
Because he understood the psychology of the haters all too well.
If he really played poorly tonight, all he would gain was this evening's "hater value."
The haters would spray their venom and then forget about him afterward.
As the saying goes, being hated takes strength; who wants to waste their breath on a loser?
So tonight, not only could he not afford to play poorly, but he also had to give it his all.
Only then would the haters feel like they'd been resoundingly slapped in the face, and they would become even crazier in hating on him afterward.