62: 61.

Fourth in the league!

62: 61.

Fourth in the league!

Johnson once again raised the season’s expectations—since they had already made the top eight, they wouldn’t stop there!

Keep the eighth and strive for the fourth!

The team members were thrilled to hear the new goal, gathering together and chanting “Top four, top four, top four!”

Zhang Yang watched the scene unfolding before him and really wanted to ask Thomas—didn’t you say our team wasn’t like this?

Had they been influenced by the neighboring football team?

Humph, he, Zhang San of Compton, would never be so foolish…Well, he couldn’t help but join in the shouting, and indeed, it felt very invigorating.

Today, the stands were filled with fellow students, which greatly heightened Zhang Yang’s sense of achievement.

He remembered the first game of the warm-up matches, where the stands were nearly full, but by the second game, the number of students attending had halved.

After months of effort, he finally had the stands full again!

Next, they needed to push for the top four, or more precisely, the fourth place, which would be difficult and would also depend on luck.

In the Southern California league this season, the gap between the top two teams and the others was significantly large—Saint Beren High School in second place had lost only one game, to the first-placed team, and the first-placed Seaside High School hadn’t lost a single game.

The top two were clearly leagues ahead.

The difference in records between third and ninth place was very small; Compton High School’s junior varsity team currently stood at ten wins and seven losses in seventh place, having just defeated Milligan High School, which had dropped from third to fourth with a record of eleven wins and six losses.

The two teams were separated by three places, with only one game difference in wins, but only three games remained.

They would have to win all their remaining games, and the teams from fourth to sixth would each have to lose at least one game.

That evening, after dinner and training, Zhang Yang went to Thomas’s study to use the computer.

He searched the school forum for posts related to Milligan High School’s schedule…

finding nothing, he changed tactics and searched for the Southern California league’s schedule for the last three rounds.

He found it—internet users really knew a lot.

The fifth and sixth positions had three remaining games where they were not up against top-eight teams, which was a bit troublesome.

But Milligan High School’s remaining three games included one opponent they were almost certain not to beat—Saint Beren High School.

After checking the competitors’ schedules, Zhang Yang didn’t dwell on the three competitors anymore.

He would focus on doing his own part, winning the last three games.

He would do his best, and leave the rest to fate.

Before bed, Zhang Yang opened the “Gate of Trials” and checked his ability assessment.

His control had reached 68 (high school level), with the major contribution from “control.” His dribbling had improved significantly compared to before Christmas; whether in fast breaks or set pieces, playing as the secondary ball-handler was not a problem.

As for passing, he hadn’t practiced it specifically due to lack of time, only during team practices and operational passes in matches and internal training games.

His shooting had reached 71 (high school level), mainly in mid-range shots and layups.

He hadn’t practiced three-pointers much, which brought down his overall rating.

His rebounding and second-chance scoring had also improved significantly.

The “enhanced continuous jumping ability” had manifested its benefits in these two areas.

After the second “Gate of Trials,” the greatest improvement was in his practical abilities.

He had advanced greatly in his understanding of games and tactics, and his utilization of physical conditions.

At this stage, this advancement in understanding was more beneficial to actual combat than improvements in shooting and skills.

In the current competitions, physical prowess + game reading ability + tactical leadership were sufficient to cope, and with his existing skills, he could perform very well.

He could now patiently refine his skills without worrying about his performance on the court.

After almost two months of effort, Zhang Yang had grasped basic moves like pick and roll ball penetration, shooting after pick and rolls, and the Euro step.

He had reached a stage where he no longer needed to consciously control his movements; his brain would send the signals and his body would perform the techniques.

His next goal was to improve the stability of performing these technical moves.

Defensive improvement was the quickest.

With the experience and awareness there, he just needed to acclimate his body to defensive movements and develop muscle memory.

Because he had many things to train in after returning from the “Gate of Trials,” and there were many basics to cover, he had slightly less time for shooting practice than before, and his accumulation of shooting value had slowed down considerably.

It had taken over forty days to accumulate twenty thousand shooting value and complete the last task, which had improved his stamina talent by one point.

A new task had already started—to accumulate twenty thousand shooting value, this time the reward being a random shooting talent increase of +1.

He was still planning to train as usual; he didn’t need to worry about how to complete tasks with the cheat code, just getting the ball through the hoop was enough.

…

A week passed, and on February 22, Sunday, Compton High School’s junior varsity team defeated Barstow High School, ranked thirteenth in the league, 98 to 91.

The game was quite tough.

DeRozan didn’t play well in the first half, with Zhang Yang and Tatum holding up the score in the early stage; the former scored 20 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, had 1 assist, 3 steals, and 1 block while the latter had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals.

In the second half, DeRozan finally found his rhythm, scoring 18 points, and Compton High School’s junior varsity team ultimately completed a comeback.

As they secured the victory with a reversal, the teams ranked fifth and sixth both suffered upsets, and they, refusing to be upset themselves, jumped to fifth place in the rankings!

On February 28, Compton High School’s junior varsity team won an away game against Palm Valley Forest Academy, ranked ninth, with a score of 115 to 107.

The tension was high throughout the game, with neither side able to defend against the other, fighting to the very last moment.

Zhang Yang, being the first scoring option beside DeRozan and Tatum, shot a lot and scored a lot, racking up 33 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks, once again setting a new personal scoring record.

DeRozan scored 27 points and had 7 assists, while Tatum added 15 points and 9 assists.

The trio led the team to a narrow victory.

On March 6, Saturday, Compton High School’s junior varsity team had their game tomorrow, but the players were very concerned about today’s game.

There definitely wouldn’t be live broadcasts for their league’s games; even the CIF Division 1 games rarely had livestreams.

But there was a crafty plan involved.

Following the advice of player number 3, Tatum and Miller headed to the computer lab and monitored the campus forum of Milligan High School.

Sure enough, not long after the game should have ended, they saw the result of Milligan High School’s final match—Saint Beren High School thrashed Milligan High School 119 to 88!

The next day, Compton High School’s junior varsity team faced a challenge at home against Windbell High School, ranked eighteenth in the league.

Under Zhang Yang’s leadership, Compton High School played very fiercely and focusedly tonight; the feeling of potentially losing the top four spots due to an upset, at this point, would have been like losing to the fifth enemy after killing four, a pain remembered for years to come.

Leading by 17 points at halftime, Zhang Yang and the others were still not reassured.

They had experience with catching up more than a dozen points after halftime and were afraid of being upset, so they kept up the pressure in the second half.

The players of Windbell High School were numb; they weren’t trying hard as they didn’t have much at stake in terms of records…

Zhang Yang said no, you do, you just have to want it.

So, in the second half, Compton High School won by 24 points…

Today, Zhang Yang was in charge of controlling, defending, and scoring on counterattacks; DeRozan took on the main offensive role; Miller and Aboya were there to follow up; Tatum organized the attacks… displaying the ideal performance envisioned by coaches Johnson and Burke.

Zhang Yang had 16 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks; DeRozan scored 41 points; Miller scored 20 points; Tatum had 11 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals; Aboya contributed 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks…

Compton High School slaughtered Windbell High School by 41 points, 114 to 73.

With four consecutive wins to close out the league, Compton High School’s junior varsity team finished with a record of 13 wins and 7 losses, securing the fourth place in the Southern California League!

…

…

Last night was brutally tough, I dared not sleep, and even going to pass gas required squatting down.

I had to go to the hospital in the early hours and have just returned.

Thankfully, I had a few chapters backed up.

After correcting some typographical errors, I posted them and continued writing~