The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball

Chapter 19: Chapter 19 The Celebrity Effect of Anti-Fans



Their one-on-one was not the pure American-style face-off of before, with no dribbling restrictions and no time limits.

Hansen passed the ball to Jordan, and the face-off officially began.

After catching the ball, Jordan raised his hand in a shooting motion.

Hansen was not fooled.

Then, the moment Jordan landed the ball, he already began moving, dribbling with his right hand to accelerate for a breakthrough.

His first step was very fast, and his center of gravity was very low.

Not just the first step, the second was also quick.

Fortunately, Hansen's lateral movement was fast enough to keep him parallel to Jordan.

Then, Jordan didn't dribble a third time, grabbed the ball with one hand, raised it high, and glided toward the basket.

Hansen seized the opportunity to attempt a block.

Since he was an athlete like Jordan, he needed not worry about saving face.

However, to his surprise, Jordan seemed to have anticipated his move, pulled the raised ball down early, then switched to his left hand for a layup.

Hansen adjusted his direction in mid-air, but Jordan stayed aloft, waiting for his blocking hand to fall before he shot.

The basketball, as if fitted with a tracking device, landed steadily into the basket.

"Oh!"

After making the shot, Jordan let out a strange noise.

The onlooking crowd was dumbfounded.

Is he really 46?!

"Oh—"

Then came an even longer strange noise as Jordan directly addressed Hansen,

"Are you showing respect to your elders?"

Laughter erupted from the sidelines as Jordan trash-talked as easily as drinking water.

Hansen's expression darkened, now understanding why Jordan hadn't cleared the court—it was his absolute confidence in his own abilities.

And that rumor was probably true.

At 50, or rather 46, Jordan certainly couldn't play in the NBA anymore because his body and stamina couldn't support those actions, but one-on-one was something he had played his whole life, and he could never lose that.

Hansen continued to serve the ball, bringing even more focus this time.

If he really lost to a 46-year-old Jordan, it would be another significant mark on Jordan's trash-talking career.

Jordan caught the ball, and this time without any feints, he chose to break through directly, taking the left route.

Others might have habitual attacking patterns and preferred hands, but he was spontaneous.

Hansen kept up immediately, this time positioning himself in front of Jordan, not giving him the chance to start his move.

Jordan accelerated.

His ultra-low center of gravity made his speed change very quick.

Hansen, carried by his acceleration, found his entire body's center of gravity involuntarily drifting backward.

At that moment, Jordan suddenly made a heavy dribble forward, then stopped abruptly to jump and shoot.

In that instant, Hansen truly felt the terror of Jordan.

This guy's rhythm change was too fast.

It differed completely from Wade's absolute speed, but the defensive pressure was just as immense.

If this had been Hansen before his practice with Wade, he would have had almost no counter to this foundation.

But now, his defensive skills had improved leaps and bounds, especially after bringing intense focus, and his reaction speed was also very fast.

He lunged forward, nearly jumping at the same time as Jordan, his long arm in the air giving significant pressure.

Jordan hung in the air and leaned back.

If it were the 26-year-old Jordan, his jumping height would have been enough to support him in avoiding such disturbance with a big lean back.

But at 46, while time hadn't stripped him of his skills, it had taken his jumping ability.

Jordan was forced to adjust his shooting angle higher to avoid the disruption.

The basketball barely cleared Hansen's fingertips, hitting the front edge of the rim and bouncing out.

"You're old," Hansen said to Jordan as he landed.

Trash talk, naturally, goes back and forth.

Coach Bickerstaff coughed twice from the sideline.

Hansen didn't look at him, instead, he turned, picked up the ball, and walked straight towards the three-point line.

Losing to a 46-year-old Jordan in front of so many people wouldn't bode well for his draft prospects.

Moreover, stepping back, how could Jordan possibly hold a grudge against him based just on asking if it was a basketball player he was facing, especially after returning the trash talk?

The basketball god wouldn't be so petty.

Huh?

Just as Hansen reached the three-point line, he suddenly noticed a change in his Anti-Fans System: +15.

This surprised him.

You should know that during the season opener, he had been so arrogant in front of the reporters, and the Anti-Fans System only added 13 points.

Now, he just spewed one line of trash talk and it instantly added 15 points.

And this was in one go, which meant it came from one person only.

That person certainly couldn't be one of the average onlookers, but could only be... the Jordan right in front of him.

At this moment, Hansen no longer had time to worry about whether Jordan was being narrow-minded or not, because what just happened had overturned his understanding of the Anti-Fans System.

He had thought that the increase in the Anti-Fans values was only related to the number and degree of the anti-fans, but now it seemed, it also had to do with the identity of the anti-fans?

Did anti-fans have a celebrity effect?

Hansen wasn't sure, because the Anti-Fans System didn't offer a way to communicate.

So the only way to verify this was to keep testing on Jordan.

Jordan served, Hansen received the ball, and immediately broke full speed down the right.

Jordan, big and fast, had been chosen for the All-Defensive First Team nine times in fourteen seasons and had even won the Defensive Player of the Year award as a guard; truly the number-one defensive player in wing history.

Although older now, much like offense, many things had been ingrained into his very bones, and the only thing Hansen could take advantage of was his declining physical capability.

Once Jordan started moving, Hansen executed a wide between-the-legs pull-back, followed by a step-back three to the left.

In an instant, he had created more than a meter of distance from Jordan.

Jordan lunged to cover, but it was clearly too late.

It wasn't very noticeable on the offensive end, but once he started moving on defense, it was just as Hansen had said: he had aged.

No one could resist the passage of time, not even the once basketball god.

"Swish."

Hansen's shot cleanly made the three-pointer.

The onlookers gasped in astonishment. Curry even stood up from his seat, hands on his head, with an exaggerated expression of shock.

This guy was still a joker at heart.

Hansen stopped his follow-through and gestured towards Curry with his hand,

"Sit down, routine operation."

At the same moment, Hansen saw the Anti-Fans value in the system had increased by another 15.

It seemed his judgment was correct.

Belatedly, he wondered, was Jordan really that petty? Were the draft rights he was about to receive going to slip away?

But he didn't have much time to think about that now. After all, he was making a trade of 15 Anti-Fans points for a single line of trash talk; once this chance passed, there'd be no other like it.

Hansen kept possession of the ball; this time Jordan served and then stuck close, not giving Hansen an easy chance to play.

Under close press, Hansen's weakness in ball-handling was exposed, and his forced shot didn't make it.

By the time possession switched sides, Jordan shifted his offensive approach from face-up to post-up play.

Jordan's drives were strong, but his post-up game was even stronger, like fans knowing him more for his turnaround fadeaway than for his low center of gravity drives.

In the post, Jordan's pressure on defenders, his awareness of their defensive stance, his selection of when to turn, and how he created space after turning were all top-notch.

Although his jumps weren't as high as in his youth, his turnaround fadeaway was still unstoppable.

Hansen guessed right on Jordan's turning direction, but couldn't prevent Jordan's shot.

The basketball swished through the net.

"You could just watch me shoot all day and do nothing about it."

After the shot, Jordan continued the trash talk with Hansen.

Only then did the crowd realize Jordan was getting very serious.

Of course, it wasn't only Jordan.

As the one-on-one went on, the trash talk between Hansen and Jordan grew heavier, and the physical confrontation between them notably increased.

Neither wanted to lose this game.

Their scores alternated upward, reaching a tie at 8-all, when a clear turning point emerged.

Jordan was running out of stamina.

Hansen's conditioning wasn't extraordinary, but being only twenty years old, he was certainly better off than a 46-year-old without systematic training.

Hansen scored two consecutive baskets, bringing the score to 10-8.

He had the chance for a game-winner.

This time, he directly chose to post up and assertively initiated the play.

As expected, even before he had the chance to throw any trash talk, the Anti-Fans value had already increased by 15.

Hansen's post-up skills weren't refined, but now with Jordan fatigued, youth had its advantages, making it difficult for him to defend.

After several physical encounters, Hansen felt Jordan clamping down on his arms.

He tried to push away, but Jordan's arms were muscular, forcing him to exert more force.

Finally, he managed to shake Jordan's grip, but his overly forceful motion struck Jordan directly in the chest.

"Crack."

At that instant, he heard a crisp cracking sound.

A look of pain washed over Jordan's already weary face.


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