Chapter 125: Disturbance on the Pitch

The Mavericks went on the attack. Nowitzki calmly sank the shot, drew a foul from Jobs, and made the ensuing free throw. Many experts had said that Nowitzki was the backbone of the Mavericks, and that if he lost to Lin Fei, the Mavericks would be all but finished.

What came next was a test. This was Carlisle’s first defensive attempt at putting his tactics to the test—or rather, the first only because he felt that he might have been the slightest bit careless before, failing to realize that sending Terry onto the court would instantly ignite Lin Fei’s fighting spirit.

Lin Fei took advantage of the Mavericks’ slow-moving personnel and charged down the court alone. This time, he seemed unable even to find anyone to pass to, because everyone was behind him. During a fast break, the Warriors could hardly pass the ball backward to their trailing teammates. What they needed was to get the ball into the basket as quickly as possible.

The moment Lin Fei crossed midcourt, every Mavericks player’s heart gave a loud thump, like a taut violin string suddenly plucked. There were only two things they could do now: pray that Lin Fei would miss, and admire the way he played. His speed and shooting made him seem like an artist on the court.

Someone had once said that the poet of the basketball court was Nash, because he made the game seem simpler, showed people the beauty of passing, and revealed how basketball could flow as smoothly as water.

Once Lin Fei crossed midcourt, everyone seemed to expect him to take a long-range shot. Lin Fei was a strange player: whenever he found his shooting touch, he liked to repeat the same motion again and again, sending the ball through the hoop.

But the Mavericks were wrong once more. Lin Fei did not leap and release an elegant shot as he had moments earlier. Instead, he continued dribbling at full speed, hardly slowing at all.

At that moment, Terry was running parallel to Lin Fei—at least, he had been near midcourt. Terry had expected Lin Fei to shoot, so he hesitated briefly. That moment of hesitation was enough for Lin Fei to open up a gap between them. All Terry could do was chase, but Lin Fei’s dribbling speed was astonishing. In the blink of an eye, he had reached the basket.

Terry was still the closest defender. Just imagine it: from the moment Lin Fei gained possession to the instant he reached the frontcourt and went up for the layup, less than five seconds had passed—and that included breaking through the defender’s attempt to cut him off.

By the time Lin Fei reached the paint, he was moving far too quickly to stop. Anyone who had played basketball knew that when moving at such speed, a player had to soften the motion of his arm in midair to absorb his momentum. In other words, the ball had to leave his hand gently enough to give him the best chance of making the shot.

Lin Fei went up for a three-step layup. Most people could not even see how quickly his feet moved. Perhaps he could have taken an extra step and the referee might not have noticed, because his footwork was simply too fast. Referees sometimes found it difficult to judge such things.

Still, they could often tell from a player’s posture. Everyone had a rhythm when going up for a layup—the rhythm that allowed them to put the ball in most naturally. Most players used three steps. If someone took four, even if the referee could not clearly see the footwork, the unnatural rhythm of the entire movement made it easy to conclude that the player had traveled.

And Lin Fei was incredibly fast.

He rose into the air, drawing closer and closer to the basket. The shot seemed certain to fall.

But just as he neared the rim, Lin Fei’s body suddenly appeared to lose its balance.

He turned sharply and saw Terry behind him, one hand pressing down on his shoulder. Lin Fei had known Terry was behind him while he was dribbling, but he had never expected Terry to go after his body instead of the ball.

That seemingly light shove could not be underestimated. Lin Fei was moving so quickly that even a small amount of force could easily throw him off balance.

Suspended in the air and feeling Terry’s pressure, Lin Fei knew it was a vicious foul. All he could do was protect himself. The ball had almost gone in, but under such circumstances he could no longer focus on the shot.

It was an instinctive reaction to protect himself. If the foul had been minor, Lin Fei might have risked putting the ball up. But the force from behind was enough to make him lose his balance and possibly suffer an injury. So he abandoned the shot, twisting sideways in midair in an attempt to cushion his fall.

Yet he was moving too fast to control himself. Combined with the height of his leap, the momentum sent him crashing down. His knees struck the floor, and his entire body shot out beyond the basketball court.

Everyone was stunned by the sight.

People along the sidelines began rushing over.

Then chaos erupted on the court once again.

Why?

The moment Kearns saw what had happened, he ran over and punched Terry. The two immediately began fighting. Terry was only about six feet two, and he was at a physical disadvantage. Several of Kearns’s punches landed heavily on Terry’s face, leaving him with two black eyes almost instantly.

Nowitzki, Chandler, and Kidd rushed over to stop Terry from escalating the fight, while Jobs, Claudson, and Ax held Kearns back to prevent the situation from getting worse. The two men continued shouting angrily at each other on the court.

“You despicable bastard! Come at me if you’ve got the nerve!” Kearns shouted repeatedly at Terry, who was being held back. No one had expected a second-year rookie to have such a fiery temper.

“Oh, you want to? Then let’s settle it one-on-one outside the arena!” Terry shouted back, still unwilling to back down.

The three referees were suddenly overwhelmed. They hurried to calm both sides while also rushing to review the replay.

The footage restored the scene with perfect clarity.

When Terry realized that Lin Fei was moving so quickly that he could not possibly reach the ball, he had stretched out toward Lin Fei’s body instead. He had struck Lin Fei hard on the shoulder, unmistakably targeting the player rather than the ball. It was unquestionably a flagrant foul, and Terry had shown no concern for the potential injury he might cause.

It was a flagrant foul of the second degree—a foul that called for an immediate ejection.

Then the replay showed Lin Fei hitting the ground. Kearns had not stopped. At first, his path suggested that he was running to check on Lin Fei, but when he saw Terry acting as though Lin Fei’s fall meant nothing, he became furious. The footage clearly showed Kearns changing direction, charging straight toward Terry, and swinging his fist directly into Terry’s face.

The matter was simple.

Without question, the referees signaled that Terry was ejected.

Kearns was ejected as well.

Lin Fei remained on the floor, clutching his knee. He seemed to be in considerable pain, and sweat poured down his face.

Even Nelson did not rush over immediately. He froze for a moment, almost dumbfounded. After coaching for so many years, he had seen every kind of dramatic situation, but this sight was frightening enough to unsettle even him.

The team doctors ran over and examined Lin Fei’s injury.

After a long examination, they advised him to return to the locker room first. Two of them helped him to his feet and supported him as they led him away.

Sweat continued to stream down Lin Fei’s face.

Amid the restless crowd, Lin Fei left the court. No one could have imagined that the Mavericks’ fans were cheering. They were truly taking pleasure in his misfortune.

When they reached the corridor, Lin Fei gestured to the two doctors supporting him, indicating that he wanted to try walking on his own.

The team doctors kept waving their hands, urging him not to be reckless and insisting that they assess the situation first.

But Lin Fei was stubborn.