Chapter 24: The Big Three
Xu Ling followed Knight’s suggestion and began studying post-up offense.
Moreover, he specifically selected footage from the Bulls’ 1997-98 season games to watch.
Xu Ling’s original goal was to learn Jordan’s post-up, but he was unexpectedly drawn to the GOAT’s off-ball movement, the way he slid into open spots like a ghost and burst into key positions like a leopard, which captivated him.
Then, his attention returned to post-up.
He observed through the videotape while also going to the training court to practice with teammates.
Then he discovered that post-up, this skill, was easy to get started with but extremely difficult to master. Of course, this applied to the vast majority of techniques that didn’t require years of practicing fundamentals.
Xu Ling realized on the first day of studying post-up that this move was completely tailored for inside players.
Basketball, from the day it was born, was destined to be a giant’s game, but the problem was, what were those early giant players? A bunch of slow, clumsy, rough-technique guys, just like what you see in a long, stinky 80s action movie.
Coaches quickly figured it out: to make them useful, stuff them under the basket. There, their only advantage—physique—could come into play. That’s the simplest physics of basketball.
It was this “basketball gravity” that created post-up play, the most primal survival law on the basketball court: tall guys can crush short ones, strong men can bully skinny ones. And when a monster combines height, strength, and athletic talent, he can dominate the game. These gifted guys don’t need fancy techniques; they just use their bodies to shove opponents into the paint and do whatever they want at the basket.
Basketball history is full of such dominant inside players: George Mikan still had an elegant hook shot technique, but soon Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain ruled the entire 60s with pure physical talent. Just as this giant era was about to end, the technically superb Lou Alcindor stunned the scene with his unguardable “skyhook.” Time moved to the 80s, when Ralph Sampson and David Robinson emerged as the first-generation “unicorn” inside players. Years later, Shaquille O’Neal—this ultimate monster with a genetic lottery from God—redefined inside dominance with devastating power, terrifying explosiveness, and astonishing coordination. He barely needed complex post-up techniques; just a guard who could pass and a simple little hook shot were enough to make him the most fearsome low-post beast in basketball history.
Post-up is just that simple. Of course, there are outliers inside like Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin McHale who defy the ancestral laws, but ultimately, post-up is the technique that most tests physical strength.
This made Xu Ling unsure if he needed to master it, because he didn’t really need much practice to power drive over guards smaller than him in the low post.
Even against those tall, strong players, he wouldn’t get rattled if he couldn’t back in.
And Knight’s attitude was: must practice.
“No matter how much time it takes, you have to master this skill, otherwise you’ll never catch up to Michael Jordan on the competitive level,” Knight added. “No, you might not even see Kobe’s taillights.”
Although Xu Ling’s mind was full of advanced concepts from the small-ball era, he had no intention of throwing those so-called advanced ideas at Knight to hit him hard.
Because Knight knew far better than him what qualities players in this era needed.
There were seven regular season games left in the Big 12 League Championship, and Xu Ling transformed from a player who always initiated offense from the outside into a wing player who crisscrossed low-post and high-post positioning.
Xu Ling’s first practice game was against Iowa State University; they were a weak team in the Big 12 League, but not to be underestimated, because they had a player named Wesley Johnson. Like Xu Ling, he was a freshman, unknown in high school, but became the team’s starting player in his freshman season, and he would become a top-5 NBA draft pick a few years later.
Xu Ling had an impression of him.
But not much.
He just vaguely remembered that the NBA had this guy, then started using him for practice.
Wesley didn’t dare underestimate Xu Ling at all; though both were freshmen, the latter had risen to fame, firmly locking in a lottery spot for the 2007 NBA draft, a super rookie ranked among the best nationwide.
But for some reason, TTU’s Jordan was like he had taken the wrong medicine tonight, crazily attacking the low post.
His shooting percentage wasn’t high, but his rhythm was excellent.
Wesley couldn’t handle Xu Ling’s post-up, getting backed off several times, but Xu Ling failed to put the ball in the basket after backing off the defense.
But when he found the feel, he threw a Jordan-esque fadeaway over the defender after the back-in, perfectly mimicking the old game footage at 480P resolution.
“Swish!”
Xu Ling inexplicably felt great; it was that feedback of pushing off the opponent’s body and naturally shooting with the rhythm—too good.
Next possession, he tried to find that feel but couldn’t no matter what.
When he got stuck in the low post, he would go to the outside to loosen up, casually toss a few three-pointers to adjust his mindset, then return to the low post.
Poor Iowa State University had no idea they had become Xu Ling’s practice dummies; they resisted powerlessly and ultimately lost by 20 points to Texas Tech University.
After the game, Knight reminded Xu Ling not to get stuck on form; he should try all kinds of offense, not focus on just one.
Xu Ling agreed.
So, in private practice, he put more time into post-up, but in games, he only went to post-up when the team had established a lead.
He discovered that when he simultaneously found the feel for shooting and ball-handling offense, his post-up would work too.
His signature game then arrived: against Colorado State University, the bottom team in the Big 12 League, Xu Ling drove inside, shot from outside, and posted up, maintaining 80% shooting percentage for a team-record high of 44 points.
“I know Coach Knight might be unhappy with my words, but I have to state the facts—Eli’s performance tonight was completely at the level of the best freshman in the country! He shouldn’t waste more time in college basketball; after his freshman year, he should go straight to the pro league!” Colorado State University head coach Ricardo Patton didn’t hide his praise for the opponent’s core in the post-game press conference, and these remarks immediately sparked media buzz.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s latest mock draft list caused a stir—Chinese new star Xu Ling broke into the top five for the first time, becoming the biggest dark horse of this draft class. NBA senior draft expert Chad Ford exclaimed in his column: “Eli’s growth curve is unprecedented in my twenty years in the business! Even more chilling is that this young man still harbors immeasurable potential.”
And on the Big 12 League battlefield, the traditional landscape was collapsing. Defending champion Kansas University unexpectedly fell to Texas A&M; though they held onto first place temporarily via tiebreakers, their slim 1.5-game lead was in jeopardy. If Texas Tech finished undefeated and Kansas tasted another defeat, the Red Raiders would complete a stunning comeback, pulling the eight-time champion off the throne. Every matchup now could rewrite the league’s power map.
However, no matter how well the regular season went, it couldn’t decide March Madness spots; that would ultimately be determined by the league championship.
Therefore, playing well in the remaining games was most important.
Xu Ling’s explosion clearly stimulated the other two super freshmen.
This wasn’t surprising—in the experts’ initial script, this freshman class was supposed to be a “two-horse race.” Greg Oden was plagued by injuries and never showed peak form; Kevin Durant put up historic NCAA rookie numbers. Before that long-range three-point buzzer-beater, they were indeed in a class of their own.
But since Xu Ling hit that history-making buzzer-beater over Durant, public opinion quietly shifted, and talk of a “big three” began spreading across sports forums.
Even scarier was Xu Ling’s recent form—25 points per game firepower, second only to Durant’s 26, already forming a rivalry.
This clearly stimulated that Texas genius. Durant, who had clashed with Xu Ling in their last matchup, dropped 40 points against Missouri State University in response. In the post-game interview, he said pointedly: “Greg is a beast, Eli is like a custom player in NBA Live, and I’m just doing my job, grabbing rebounds, putting the ball in. Glory belongs to the Longhorns.”
Hearing Durant’s remarks nearly made Xu Ling spit his drink on the locker room tactical board.
What do you mean I’m a custom player in NBA Live? Is this coming from a stats monster who’s 208 cm naked height, 227 cm wingspan, fast speed, great coordination, amazing ball feel, heavenly touch, full of athletic talent?
Is this human talk?
This was the most ridiculous thing Xu Ling had seen since his previous life on Bilibili, where Tony Daiki’s singing voice was better preserved than Jay Chou’s.
So, Oden could no longer stay silent—even with injuries not fully healed.
In the next game, this spotlighted genius center erupted like a rocket at the end, with a sky-high block that swatted the opponent’s buzzer-beater layup straight into the stands! The on-site commentator lost it: “Greg’s block is like a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth—the game’s over!”
That was the potential Oden showed; he was hailed as Bill Russell’s fourth coming, though not a good omen, but for an 18-year-old, being called the “Lord of the Rings reborn” basically locked in the number 1 draft pick.
Oden perfectly validated Chad Ford’s umpteenth mock draft comment putting him at number 1: “As long as Greg Oden wants, he can become a supernatural force on the court!”
But in the post-game interview, this big boy stayed characteristically low-key.
“I really don’t care about those things. My hand doesn’t feel right; the only thing I care about is health. My wish is to get healthy and then go all out.”
As the NCAA major leagues’ regular seasons neared their end, Oden shared his heartfelt thoughts with the media.
No one realized Oden’s wish was like Pete Maravich’s “I don’t want to die of a heart attack from playing ball”—like a flag of misfortune, foreshadowing the ending.
The hype around the big three started climbing from here.
This hype peaked in Texas Tech University’s final regular season game, the away rematch against the University of Texas.
This was Xu Ling and Durant’s second showdown. Rankings didn’t matter anymore, as Kansas University, with no losses left, had locked in league first; Texas Tech University could only accept second. This last regular season game stripped away all tactical and seeding pomp, purely becoming a gladiatorial arena for two supernovas under the spotlight.
And this time, Texas Tech University showed a completely different face from the first matchup. The biggest change came from their backcourt.
After half a season of grinding and growing pains, captain Julius Jackson finally found the perfect way to coexist with Xu Ling.
He no longer saw Xu Ling as a threat but truly embraced him as a “catalyst” to make himself better.
The two didn’t disappoint. Xu Ling was divinely assisted on the outside, repeatedly answering the home crowd’s boos with precise shots. Jackson finally played like a top national offensive guard. He no longer obsessed over inefficient isolation play but ran exquisite plays with Xu Ling: Xu Ling drew defense with off-ball movement, allowing Jackson to tear the line; when Durant switched onto Jackson, Jackson used superior speed and rhythm changes to break through decisively.
They didn’t even need eye contact between them; a cross run, a gesture, and they understood.
In this game, Jackson not only efficiently scored 22 points but also dished 7 assists, over half fed to Xu Ling, helping the latter drop 40 points for the second time this season.
Durant got tangled in a battle with Xu Ling; his outside shooting was ice-cold tonight. But this gifted super rookie showed another terrifying dominance. After a Longhorns miss, Durant grabbed the offensive rebound over two TTU bigs like a crane among chickens, muscled through Xu Ling’s help defense for the putback.
“You can guard the shot,” Durant growled low at Xu Ling after landing, breathing hard. “But can you stop me from rebounding!?”
This time, before Xu Ling could respond, captain Jackson’s voice came from behind: “But he doesn’t need to grab all the rebounds, Kevin.”
Jackson ran over, pulled up Xu Ling, and stared sharply at Durant. “Because he can hit all the damn response shots.”
“Exactly.” Xu Ling grinned at Durant. “For your own good, grab a few more rebounds.”
At that moment, Texas Tech University led the Texas Longhorns by 6 points.
However, the Longhorns kept the suspense alive to the end thanks to Durant’s dominant rebounding（15 rebounds, 7 offensive boards）.
In the end, Texas Tech University, with superior overall offense and stronger team bonds, won the game.
86 to 82.
Texas Tech University locked in the Big 12 League No. 2 seed with a 15-1 record; they just needed one playoff win to secure their March Madness ticket.
After losing the rematch, Durant, unsatisfied, found Xu Ling: “I’ll be waiting for you in the Big 12 finals; don’t show up late.”
“No one cares about the Big 12 championship.”
Xu Ling smiled.
“My goal is national champion.”
⑴Anyone curious, search Tony Daiki acapella《Dragon Ball》theme song on Children’s Station.
⑵Bill Russell’s second “coming” was Ewing, third was David Robinson. This “coming” refers to media hype terminology.
