Chapter 131: No Basketball Without Passion (Part Two)

Less than three minutes into the match against the Fujian Province Youth Team, Wang Lei called his first timeout. The score stood at 6-0; the Xinjiang Youth Team had failed to put a single point on the board in those opening three minutes.

Since the tournament had entered the round of eight, the number of fans following the youth basketball division had grown significantly. Many tourists visiting Jinghai had also begun attending the games. However, neither the fans nor the tourists expected the clash, which the media had billed as a fierce battle, to unfold in such a one-sided manner. The Fujian Province Youth Team, known for their rugged defense, was playing exactly as advertised, while the Xinjiang Youth Team, praised for their offense, had turned into a soft target, unable to withstand the slightest pressure.

It had been exactly one year since Wang Lei formed the team. During this year, the squad had faced hardships, endured ridicule, and tasted glory. Compared to a year ago, the players had undergone a complete transformation; in some games, their performance had already surpassed their predecessors. It was safe to say the team was essentially mature and possessed real competitive strength.

Yet, this successful team still hid many flaws, the greatest of which was a disadvantage in physical conditioning.

A professional swimmer’s single meal is enough to sustain a family of four for an entire day; a professional basketball player’s daily training load is equivalent to what an average person might do in a month or more. Generally, for an athlete to qualify for professional sports, it requires time and a massive investment of resources. Although the Xinjiang Youth Team was only competing in a semi-professional youth league, they had the fewest resources compared to other teams. Wang Lei could cultivate a "quasi-professional" player with a solid mindset in a year, but he could not gift these players physical attributes that exceeded those of ordinary people.

Against other teams, Wang Lei’s squad might rely on technical skills and tactical adjustments to win, but against a purely "power-based" team like Fujian, even Wang Lei himself lacked a clear solution.

"Can you hold your ground? Honestly, guys, I can’t think of a better way right now. This is how they play. Whether we can go any further depends entirely on you."

Although Wang Lei’s words sounded discouraging, he was accurately stating the team’s current predicament.

"Basketball is like this sometimes. You think you’re pretty good, but when you meet a counter-style opponent, you can’t get anything going. From here on out, I want you to persevere—use our strengths to hold on. They want to play physically, so we can’t keep dodging them. The more we retreat, the more emboldened they become. Run, get excited, get your blood boiling. Sometimes, basketball requires you to completely forget yourself and play with nothing but the singular thought of giving your all."

"Turgun, I need you to be faster. Your advantage is your speed and your variety—more variety! Don’t let them wrap you up; fully utilize your strengths. Lao Cai, you’re going to rest for a bit. I need you to lead the bench unit; this isn’t me looking down on you, but we can't just keep grinding our starters against theirs."

"The rest of you, be aggressive, play with spirit, and don’t be afraid. They feel pain too, and they get scared just like you."

Compared to previous matches, Wang Lei didn't engage in a tactical discussion with his players this time. Any discussion now would be useless; the only thing that mattered was igniting the players' fighting spirit and their passion, then going out there to trade blows.

The Wang Lei from the Earth timeline might not have understood why many players with stellar regular-season numbers saw their statistics plummet in the NBA playoffs. But having lived a professional career, Wang Lei knew that when entering games with intense physical confrontation, those who relied solely on finesse would run into major trouble. Only players who adapted to this level of physicality and adopted this mindset would grow stronger.

After the timeout, the Xinjiang Youth Team adjusted their lineup. Cai Aihong was subbed out for a rest, and Sun Dexun was brought in to bolster the team’s speed.

Once Sun Dexun entered, Turgun was freed up to focus entirely on offense. Wang Lei knew clearly that whether they could win this game depended on how quickly "the little rabbit" could adapt to this level of contact.

The adjusted Xinjiang Youth Team showed immediate improvement in their next few possessions. Although Turgun was still being tightly marked without clear shooting opportunities, the aggressive Sun Dexun was exceptionally bold, driving into the paint to score two points. Sun Dexun’s technique might not have been the best on the team, but his speed was elite. Despite his short stature, he never feared contact. His determined drives caught the Fujian defense off guard, and the help defender was a step too slow, allowing Sun Dexun to capitalize for two points.

On defense, the Xinjiang Youth Team also stepped up their double-teaming on the Fujian inside players.

The offensive capability of old captain Yue Minghua’s team was truly mediocre. After the Xinjiang Youth Team strengthened their defense, Fujian struggled to execute, though Tang Song managed to secure several second-chance opportunities through individual effort. The point gap hovered around five, with the surging Sun Dexun helping the Xinjiang Youth Team stabilize the situation.

Turgun felt the immense pressure his opponent placed on him. The player marking him was also a mixed-race athlete of similar height, and one could tell from his physique how outstanding his physical conditioning was. At around twenty years old, he was built with dense, powerful muscle and possessed explosive speed. Turgun couldn't shake off the relentless smothering defense. Even when he used a teammate’s screen to break free, the opponent’s mobility allowed him to recover quickly, leaving Turgun with no good looks at the basket.

Although the gap had not blown open, Wang Lei grew increasingly anxious on the sidelines. If Turgun couldn't get going, they couldn't rely solely on Sun Dexun’s drives. Even though Sun was performing brilliantly, Wang Lei knew that once the opponent tightened their interior protection, Sun’s effectiveness would diminish. The critical issue was that the Xinjiang Youth Team had too few scoring threats, and many players were failing to find their rhythm under the opponent’s suffocating defense.

Yue Minghua, whose physique had not aged as poorly as one might expect, still maintained his "noble" air from years past. He sat leisurely on the sidelines with his legs crossed, forming a sharp contrast to Wang Lei, who kept pacing back and forth.