Volume 1: The Road to the European Emperor Chapter 11: A Explosive Debut
There are nearly two months left before the start of the new season of the EBA League, and these two months are critical for Sun Hao.
On the one hand, he needs to use this period of time to fully integrate with his teammates.
On the other hand, he also needs to establish his position in the team through continued performance.
Although Raul made an exception and announced in advance that he would start, whether he could convince the public depends on his performance on the court.
The Real Madrid youth team has also been doing these two things in the past two months: running-in training and playing a series of warm-up matches.
Sun Hao's performance did not disappoint. After two months, he has become the unshakable core of the team.
The smile on Raul's face never faded.
Sun Hao can make his coaching career flourish!
While he was doing well on the court, Sun Hao was also living a comfortable life off the court.
With Fernandez as a free tour guide, he visited all the attractions in Madrid.
As the capital of Spain, Madrid has a developed economy and many tourist attractions.
The Royal Palace of Madrid, the third largest royal palace in Europe after the Palace of Versailles and the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna;
the world-famous Cervantes Monument in Plaza de España;
The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of the Real Madrid football team…
There is also the Roman-style Las Ventas bullring, just two or three kilometers away from their stadium.
For Sun Hao, a travel enthusiast, this place is simply paradise.
Two months passed quickly, the youth team's preparations were completed, and the door to the new EBA season was officially opened.
Real Madrid youth team’s first game is at home against Barcelona youth team.
This is definitely the most watched and most exciting game in the EBA league.
Real Madrid and Barcelona, because of historical reasons between Madrid and Catalonia (Catalonia has been conquered by Madrid several times in history and has been clamoring for independence throughout history), no matter what sport or what level of league, as long as they meet, it will be a focus battle.
High-level competitions are even called national derbies.
Raul also attached great importance to this game, and the pre-match training and tactical arrangements were extremely detailed.
And he is very confident this time.
Last year, Real Madrid was badly beaten because Barcelona had the super rookie Pau Gasol.
But after the end of last season, Gasol completed a three-game jump to La Liga, and the strength of Barcelona's youth team dropped sharply.
In addition, he unexpectedly gained Sun Hao, and as a result, he was full of confidence.
"Barcelona's current core player is Marcelo Huertas, a point guard from Brazil who is 1.80 meters tall. You have to be careful of his breakthroughs."
After arranging the tactics, Raul pulled Sun Hao aside to give him some private instructions.
When Sun Hao heard the name Huertas, he had some impression of it in his mind.
This guy entered the NBA at the age of 32, which is a typical late bloomer in history.
Moreover, he was always a substitute in Barcelona's first team during his peak period, so his strength should not be considered very strong, not to mention that he was in the youth team.
However, Raul reminded him, and he also gave 100% of his attention. After all, this was his first official game after arriving in Spain.
That night, the basketball stadium, which could accommodate more than a thousand people, was packed.
Football is the number one sport in Spain, but there are also many local basketball fans, and many of them bring their families with them, so the atmosphere is very intense.
The two teams jumped the ball and Barcelona got the chance to attack first.
Huertas started off by playing pick-and-roll with the team's center, then broke into the paint and took advantage of the rhythm difference to score a layup.
Raul’s reminder was correct, at least Huertas’ basketball IQ is not low.
Looking back, Real Madrid was running a tactic in the frontcourt. Sun Hao dribbled the ball, glanced at Huertas who was far away from him, and shot directly from outside the three-point line.
Just like Velasquez’s previous reaction, Sun Hao’s style of play was too advanced. Huertas had never expected him to throw the ball like that and just stood there without moving.
“Swish!”
With a crisp sound, Sun Hao threw it and it was there!
He scored Real Madrid's first point!
The scene suddenly became quiet, followed by an explosion of cheers.
Although I've never seen anyone play like this before, it feels so good to make a three-pointer at the beginning of the game!
Barcelona's inside attack in the frontcourt was disrupted. Without Gasol, their inside strength declined visibly.
After Real Madrid got the rebound, they went straight to a fast break. Sun Hao was very fast. After getting the ball, he rushed to the frontcourt and forced his way past Huertas.
He intended to seek confrontation with this ball to see Huertas's ability to confront.
When the two men confronted each other, Huertas was clearly at a disadvantage and was pushed out of the baseline. He reached out to pull Sun Hao but failed.
The baseline referee blew the whistle, indicating that Huertas had committed a defensive foul.
Sun Hao still managed to score the ball after being fouled.
2+1!
The result of his four years of professional hard training in the system is too buggy in the youth team!
The moment the ball went in, the audience cheered again.
The youth team has a lot of personnel changes every year, not to mention that it was an Asian face, so they didn't pay any attention to it at all.
But after the game started, this Asian face brought them surprises one after another!
Sun Hao also had a free throw, and he started the game with a 6-0 attack wave by himself!
Amazing!
Although the intensity of the youth team's game is not as high as that of the adult team, they have not seen such a strong opening in a long time.
Huertas turned around and wanted to use the same trick to help the team increase the points, but Sun Hao was obviously on guard this time and went for the ball before the pick-and-roll.
The attack was sudden and Huertas was caught off guard. After the physical confrontation between the two, he lost control of the ball.
"Snapped!"
Sun Hao directly snatched Huertas away!
Basketball in the 1990s, especially European basketball, encouraged confrontation and the standards for penalties were very loose. The referees would completely ignore this level of confrontation.
Sun Hao made another fast break, this time in a 1-on-0 situation in the frontcourt, and he easily made a layup to add two more points.
He scored 8 points in a row at the start!
The head coach of the Barcelona team called a timeout directly!
This Asian guy who came out of nowhere dominated the game from the start.
Raul's smile at this moment is brighter than chrysanthemums. This is the feeling he wants!
During the timeout, fans in the stands had already started whispering to each other, discussing who this Asian face that suddenly appeared was.
"His name is Sun Hao, and my son is his friend."
In a corner of the stands, Fernandez's parents began to pass on Sun Hao's message.
Soon, many people in the stadium knew that the Asian face on the court was called Sun Hao.
After the timeout, Barcelona scored a goal and then they double-teamed Sun Hao.
However, Sun Hao had the basketball IQ badge in hand, and he read the defense very well. He passed the ball to an open teammate under the basket during the breakthrough, who easily made a layup and scored.
And in the next round, Sun Hao used his teammates' bodies as screen to steal and steal the ball from Huertas, forcing the latter to commit a foul on the spot!
This is really unstoppable!
The head coach of the Barcelona team couldn't help but put his hands on his head when he saw this scene.
He is well aware of Huertas' abilities. He has a good basketball IQ and plays with a sophistication that is different from that of ordinary young players.
But I didn't expect to meet Sun Hao, who seemed like he couldn't play basketball at all!
And it was in such a crucial game.
But this can't be entirely blamed on Huertas.
He relies on his basketball IQ to play, but Sun Hao also relies on it, and with the bonus of the badge, Sun Hao is obviously a level stronger than him.
In other words, what he is good at, Sun Hao can do better than him.
And what he is not good at, Sun Hao is better than him!
He was completely suppressed.
In the next few rounds, Huertas was afraid that Sun Hao would not attack with the ball, and Barcelona's offensive focus shifted from the outside to the inside.
However, European basketball follows the rules of the International Basketball Federation, and there is no three-second defense in the interior. Without Gasol, the interior cannot be opened up, and Barcelona has been very passive.
On the other hand, on the Real Madrid side, Sun Hao threw two three-pointers from the outside, completely stretching Barcelona's defense.
In stark contrast to last year when they were suppressed throughout the game, this year Real Madrid was suppressing Barcelona instead.
After the first quarter, Sun Hao scored 14 points and 3 assists.
Under his leadership, Real Madrid scored 22 to 8 in a single quarter, which made the fans at the scene excited.
In the second half of this quarter, as soon as Sun Hao got the ball, they started shouting Sun Hao's name together.
In other words, Sun Hao captured the hearts of Real Madrid fans in just one quarter!
During the transition period between the first and second quarters, Sun Hao went off the court to rest.
Barcelona tried hard to catch up during this period and narrowed the gap to 8 points before the main players returned, which prevented the game from losing suspense too early.
The Barcelona coach's tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
If he loses in this kind of competition, he will probably have no choice but to resign and apologize when he returns.
But just as he relaxed a little, a short whistle sounded from the sidelines and he saw Sun Hao back on the court.
His eyelids twitched involuntarily.
He called Huertas up and kept giving him instructions before he went on the court, fearing that he would be intercepted again.
In the last five minutes of the second quarter, the main players of both teams returned.
Huertas was holding the ball and directing his teammates' movement outside the three-point line. He no longer even had the desire to look at the frame.
Barcelona made a tactical move on the weak side, and Huertas saw the opportunity and prepared to pass the ball.
But at this moment, he felt a pressure coming from the front.
When he turned around, he saw Sun Hao rushing towards him again!
The hawk pounces on the rabbit, and the pounce is so despairing!
He wanted to dodge, but Sun Hao took advantage of the time it took him to turn his head and grabbed the ball with both hands like a pair of pliers.
Two people, four hands, engaging in the most direct power confrontation on a ball.
Then Huertas was at a complete disadvantage, just like in all the previous rounds.
He felt his body losing control, and then the ball was snatched away from his hands by Sun Hao!
What a robbery!
The head coach of Barcelona was wide-eyed.
This is... a foul! A foul!
He shouted, waving his sleeves.
But the referee didn't blow the whistle, and the hand didn't even touch, so it couldn't be considered a foul.
Another defender of the Barcelona team reacted quickly and moved forward immediately after Sun Hao made the steal, thus preventing Sun Hao from having another chance of 1 vs 0.
Sun Hao quickly broke through to the frontcourt despite the defense and still made a hard shot after the confrontation.
The opposing guard was afraid of committing a foul and dared not take action, so Sun Hao easily squeezed past him and scored a layup.
Basketball is really a physically demanding sport, and his body now looks like that of EBA James.
Two points easily obtained.
"Congratulations to the host for successfully unlocking the 'Quick Attack Terminator' badge."
Just at this moment, the system prompt sound came into Sun Hao's mind again.
Fast Break Terminator (Bronze): Slightly increases the speed and success rate of fast breaks.
After one fast break after another and a completely overwhelming performance against Huertas, Sun Hao unlocked the badge again!
This is somewhat similar to the scene when the basketball IQ was unlocked before.
Sun Hao has played in domestic competitions for the past two years. He is much stronger than his opponents in confrontation. His one-stop fast break after stealing the ball is his signature scoring method.
It also reached the critical point of breaking through the bottleneck, and Huertas helped him.
When Huertas didn't have the badge, Sun Hao made him doubt his life. After getting the badge, he became even more autistic.
For the whole night, he felt like he was tied to a pillar and whipped with a whip. He could do nothing but scream.
Barcelona was also in a situation of being beaten all night.
In the end, Real Madrid slaughtered Barcelona 78-46 in the opening game, getting off to a powerful start in the new season.
Sun Hao only played three quarters, making 11 of 12 shots, 4 of 5 three-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws, with almost 100% shooting rate, and scored a luxurious stat of 30 points, 5 rebounds, 6 steals and 3 assists, playing an absolutely explosive debut.
Although the youth team's data is not so referenceable, Sun Hao's performance is enough to make Madrid fans remember him.
Remember, he is only 15 years old!
Being able to perform like this, he definitely has a bright future.
"I have a feeling that if you keep playing like this, you will really be like Pau Gasol and make it to the first team in one year."
After the game, Fernandez looked at Sun Hao with admiration.
For a little boy of eleven or twelve years old who has just started playing professional basketball, Sun Hao's performance tonight is enough to make him an idol.
"You have to work hard too. The future here belongs to you."
Sun Hao also did what an idol should do. He reached out and touched Fernandez's head to encourage him.
