Chapter 73: When The Disguise Shatters
For Xu Ling before the time travel, Richard Jefferson’s image was more fixed in his late career—that veteran who joined the Cavaliers in 2016 and helped LeBron win the championship. Though nearing retirement, he averaged nearly 25 minutes per game in the Finals, leaving a deep impression with his solid fundamentals and rich experience.
However, in the present of 2007, Jefferson was at his peak. Especially in recent years, as Jason Kidd’s form declined and Vince Carter failed to fully recreate the power of his “half-man half-god” period, he had faintly shown the momentum of the Nets’ number one scorer. Now, after failing to provoke at the start and being humiliated by an opponent’s big block, followed by being broken down and slam dunked by the same person, he was naturally eager to regain face.
Perhaps Jefferson really should have found a fortune teller to check his fortune before heading out today.
“Kid, that was just you getting lucky earlier!”
Jefferson tossed out the words, then lowered his center of gravity and suddenly dribbled hard to break down Xu Ling’s right side.
Jefferson’s explosiveness was indeed astonishing. In terms of the ferocity of that first acceleration step, it was perhaps only slightly inferior to Rudy Gay. Moreover, his dribbling was extremely aggressive, completely serving the offense, without any of the sluggishness that Gay had due to his fundamentals dragging down his talent.
However, perhaps due to his impatient mindset, or perhaps pushed to an extremely uncomfortable position by Xu Ling’s defense, Jefferson’s foot suddenly slipped in the instant of explosive drive, and the ball actually slipped out of his hand!
Xu Ling reacted like lightning, instantly stealing the ball successfully, launching a fast break without hesitation, tearing ahead alone to the frontcourt, and easily laying up for the score.
“My luck is indeed very good.”
Xu Ling’s retort carried an almost numb calm. He felt like a spring being twisted tighter and tighter, with every defense and every score consuming what little patience he had left.
Jefferson’s face grew increasingly ugly, but the experienced Jason Kidd had calmly taken the inbound pass and raised his hand to signal to steady the rhythm. He didn’t push forward hastily, but controlled the situation, waiting for everyone to get into position.
Kidd slowly dribbled to the frontcourt, his gaze sweeping the court like radar. He didn’t call a play, but signaled his teammates to start off-ball movement with an extremely subtle hand gesture. He first dribbled left feigning a drive, and in the instant he drew defensive attention, suddenly delivered a casual bounce pass, precisely sending the ball to Vince Carter’s hands as he used a screen for a backdoor cut to the basket. By the time Carter received the ball, the opportunity had formed, and he immediately jumped for a jump shot, scoring the Nets’ first point of the night.
This kind of orchestration and organization awareness left Mark Cuban dumbfounded—this was exactly the point guard he dreamed of.
In comparison, guys like Lowry and Jackson who only knew how to bury their heads and charge ahead were simply insulting the term “point guard.”
But Xu Ling had no intention of giving the opponents any breathing room. He signaled for the ball, and Lowry unhesitatingly passed it over right away.
The Grizzlies’ offense this time had completely deviated from the SSOL system’s quick rule of “decide to shoot or pass within two seconds.” After getting the ball, Xu Ling directly raised his hand, signaling Rudy Gay to come up for a pick and roll.
Then, Xu Ling saw a scene that almost froze his blood.
Gay lumbered over slowly, his eyes glazed, delivering a nearly insulting, flimsy fake screen that not only failed to screen anyone, but instead created perfect double team space for Carter and Jefferson.
It was this person.
It was this person who leaked the news.
It was this person who caused the team to fall into a losing streak.
It was this person who was destroying everything.
A surge of scorching heat rushed straight to Xu Ling’s head.
Xu Ling used Carter’s body as a barrier to force a drive, pulling up for a jump shot and hitting.
“Hit! Even with a double team, Eli Xu shows no mercy!”
TNT commentator Kevin Harlan exclaimed.
But the scene that followed was even more dramatic than the basket.
After scoring, Xu Ling didn’t celebrate, but instead turned straight to Gay and demanded: “Rudy, was that your idea of a pick and roll?”
Gay froze on the spot, completely unprepared for Xu Ling to confront him directly.
Xu Ling didn’t wait for his response, staring straight into his eyes and continuing: “Or do you want me to demonstrate ‘the correct pick and roll’ for you in front of the whole world?”
“There seems to be some disagreement between Eli and Rudy!” The on-site commentator caught the moment, his tone filled with excitement at the drama.
For those who firmly believed in the severe discord within the Grizzlies, this was undoubtedly a delightful scene.
Lowry hurried over to smooth things over, patting Xu Ling on the back.
Xu Ling didn’t move; he just stared deathly at Gay until the other averted his gaze, then turned and ran back to defense like discarding trash.
West’s admonition was still ringing in his ears, but now it sounded like a bad joke. Keep everything as usual? When everything had long gone wrong?
Did keeping everything as usual really mean anything?
If he was certain that Rudy Gay was the deepest cancer in this team? Then what was the point of all this hypocritical performance?
He wasn’t a saint, and he couldn’t swallow this insult. He absolutely didn’t believe that the recent surging public opinion against him had nothing to do with Gay’s team and their sponsor Nike fanning the flames. He also absolutely didn’t believe that the repeated leaks from the locker room had nothing to do with Gay—it perfectly aligned with the other’s interests. It was that hidden force in the shadows that time and again pushed the fundamentally innocent him to the forefront of public opinion, trying to crush him with overwhelming external pressure.
Rage churned in his heart, nearly breaking through his calm facade. Xu Ling took a deep breath, forcing the emotion back into his eyes, turning it into an even colder chill.
Just one possession later, Richard Jefferson found a mismatch isolation opportunity against Rudy Gay on the wing. He used his signature hesitation dribble to shake him, then pulled up for a jump shot; Gay’s defense symbolically reached out, as if just to prove to the coach that he was “on the court.”
However, in the instant Jefferson shot, a blue figure cut to the basket from the weak side like lightning—it was Xu Ling! He had already anticipated Jefferson’s offensive choice, so he left his own man and leaped fully for help defense, delivering a stunning block that swatted the ball fiercely out of bounds!
This was his second block on Jefferson; the gasps from the Continental Airlines Arena crowd hadn’t faded when, in the dead ball moment, Xu Ling didn’t even glance at the flying basketball, but turned to the stunned Rudy Gay.
“Where’s your defense, Rudy?!” Xu Ling demanded sharply. “Where the fuck is your defense?! Does it only fucking matter to you if it’s not the guy you’re directly guarding who scores?!”
The commentary table’s topic had completely shifted from the game itself to heatedly discussing the conflict between Xu Ling and Gay. The broadcast cameras kept focusing on the two—even the Nets’ home crowd started wondering if they were about to witness the rumored “blood in the locker room” infighting drama of the Grizzlies firsthand.
However, the closer you looked, the clearer it became: this wasn’t some big brawl at all. From start to finish, it was Xu Ling unilaterally and mercilessly holding Gay accountable.
And Gay had long been intimidated by this Xu Ling who seemed like a completely different person. Combined with the psychological shadow of being suppressed everywhere since training camp, and knowing he was in the wrong, he couldn’t even muster a proper rebuttal against Xu Ling’s barrage of sharp questions and scoldings.
Xu Ling’s current state—not just Gay, but even Roderick Craig, who had been with him every day since college—found it unbelievable, as if in a surreal dream. He couldn’t connect the figure on the court who was ruthlessly harsh on Gay with an overwhelming presence to the Eli he knew in daily life.
At this moment, Craig suddenly recalled《 Sports Illustrated》 reporter Grant Wall’s evaluation of Xu Ling—he said Xu Ling was like a mild boy-next-door off the court, but that might just be a disguise; the real him perhaps only revealed himself on the court without the mask.
At this moment, Craig truly understood the meaning of those words. That was indeed Eli, the real deal.
Once accepting this reality, Craig quickly adjusted his mindset and began re-examining Gay’s actions from Xu Ling’s stance.
Then, Craig reached a conclusion: Eli’s outburst had come too late. For a vermin like this, you should interact in the only way he understood.
Seeing Gay nearly mentally broken from the scolding, the other teammates couldn’t help developing some fear of Xu Ling—even Lowry, who was closest to him, was no exception.
Lowry had originally tended to feed Xu Ling the ball, but after that scene, he fully transformed into Memphis’s number one simp: Xu Ling wants the ball? Pass immediately. Xu Ling doesn’t ask? Find an opportunity to pass anyway. Xu Ling clearly says no? Still insist on passing in another way. Even exaggerated to the point that in a three-line fast break with no one in front of him, he still chose to throw it back to the trailing Xu Ling.
As a result, this time Xu Ling never expected him to pass at that moment, fumbled the receive, and the ball rolled straight out of bounds, wasting a prime fast break opportunity for nothing.
Xu Ling was just about to speak when Lowry immediately shouted: “My bad, Eli! All my fault!”
Actually, Xu Ling had meant to say “that’s on me,” but since Lowry was so eager to take the blame, he swallowed his words.
In this eerie atmosphere, Xu Ling fully unleashed offense mode, accounting for 12 of the Grizzlies’ first 15 points and dropping 18 in the first quarter（ of the team’s 28）, almost single-handedly carrying the offense. His firepower and momentum were jaw-dropping.
The Nets had no idea that this team in the midst of a three-game losing streak would play the most pressuring quarter away from home since the season started.
Tonight’s Xu Ling seemed truly possessed by a spirit, unstoppable.
