NBA: The Dynasty Crasher

The Warriors attacked again, with Mark Price landing a precise three-pointer. The score was now 9:6, and with 8 minutes left in the first quarter, the Knicks were leading by 3 points.

In the following minutes, Joe Smith, who had been thoroughly outplayed by Zhao Dong and had lost his energy, reduced his shooting attempts. He kept drifting around the perimeter, trying to defend Zhao Dong from the outside. Zhao Dong's opportunities were limited. He only managed to grab one defensive rebound and missed a fast-break field goal attempt.

Around the 7th minute, Joe Smith, who had been largely ineffective, committed two unnecessary fouls on Zhao Dong, giving Zhao Dong four free throw attempts. Smith was substituted by Coach Adelman, and Van Gundy responded by bringing in veteran Buck Williams to replace Zhao Dong.

In those 7 minutes, Zhao Dong had 4 attempts, making 3 of them—1 of 1 from three-point range and 3 of 4 from the free throw line. He scored 10 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, blocked 3 shots, and committed 1 foul. By the end of the first quarter, the Knicks led 25-21.

In the second quarter, Zhao Dong came off the bench. After 4 minutes, the Warriors, with Chris Mullin and the Madman scoring consecutive mid-range shots, went on a 10-3 run to take a 28-31 lead. The Knicks called a timeout and sent in all their main players.

"Rookie, it's time for a real contest!" Joe Smith, who had recovered his composure, was back on the court and started trash-talking Zhao Dong.

"Mr. Zero Egg, is that your nickname?" Zhao Dong replied immediately.

Joe Smith was furious, barely able to contain his anger. At that moment, Alan Houston held the ball on the left wing, and Zhao Dong rushed to the basket, preparing to grab an offensive rebound.

"Boom!" The shot missed, but Zhao Dong grabbed the rebound. However, Smith, who was behind him, blocked him from getting close to the basket, which was still two meters away. Zhao Dong quickly swayed left and right, throwing off Smith's balance, before going for a straight-arm jumper near the basket. The shot came fast and sudden, and with his wingspan and current jump, Smith couldn't defend it effectively.

"Boom!" But shooting is always a game of probability. The layup missed, and Smith grabbed the ball. Zhao Dong immediately moved to snatch it back, but Smith, protecting the ball, hit him in the chest. Zhao Dong grunted, gritted his teeth, and struck the ball with one hand, knocking it away before grabbing it. In the process, an angry Smith made a sneaky move from behind, scratching Zhao Dong's face while trying to secure the ball.

"Oh!" Zhao Dong winced at the burning pain on his face, his anger flaring. He suddenly arched his back, causing Smith, who had lost 13 kilograms, to fall to the ground. Zhao Dong then took a quick step, positioning himself between Smith's legs, and with both hands on the ball, he dunked it forcefully, slamming it through the Warriors' basket.

"Mr. Zero Egg, the highly ranked No. [1] pick—if you only know these little tricks, then go ahead," Zhao Dong said, spitting disdainfully at Smith, who was still on the floor, blood on his face.

"Hey, rookie, are you trying to provoke us?" The Madman rushed over and shouted at Zhao Dong.

"Go away!" Before Zhao Dong could respond, Oakley yelled at the Madman, "We are the Knicks! Lambiel wouldn't dare act so recklessly in front of us. What are you? Are you even worthy of our provocation?"

The Madman, taken aback, retreated with a scowl.

"Rookie, next time someone irrelevant tries to provoke you, just slap him and show him he can't mess with you," Oakley called out to Zhao Dong.

"Once I get the contract, I'll do that. Right now, I don't have the money to pay the fine," Zhao Dong replied.

Oakley's eyes twitched, feeling the reasoning behind it was pretty solid.

"But I'll give two slaps instead of one," Zhao Dong added.

"Why?" Ewing asked, puzzled.

"Because one slap would be asymmetrical, and I'm someone who values balance and perfection," Zhao Dong explained.

"Haha..." Oakley, Ewing, and the others laughed.

"Damn Gangs of New York!" The Warriors players, including the Madman and Smith, exchanged glances, unable to hold back their disbelief at the discussion about slapping in front of them.

Morale ebbed and flowed, but in the second half of the second quarter, the Knicks took more control on both offense and defense. By halftime, the score was 47-42, with the Knicks regaining a 5-point lead. In the first half, Zhao Dong played for 15 minutes, shooting 6 of 9 from the field, hitting 1 of 1 from beyond the arc, and making 4 of 5 free throws. He finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 steal, and 2 fouls.

In the third quarter, the paint area was dominated by Ewing and Oakley, leaving Zhao Dong with little space to operate inside. As a result, he couldn't grab many rebounds. His main focus was limiting Joe Smith's performance and working towards completing more mission options. Throughout the quarter, Smith, as the team's main scoring option, took consecutive shots and eventually started scoring. However, due to Zhao Dong's relentless defense, his efficiency was low—he made only 1 of 4 shots. Smith struggled to get close to the paint, and because his strength and size were no match for Zhao Dong's, he was forced to settle for outside shots.

After half a quarter, Zhao Dong was substituted out. By the end of the third quarter, the Knicks led by 12 points, with a score of 72-60. Zhao Dong's stats for the third quarter were 21 minutes, 6 of 10 shooting, 17 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 blocks, 1 turnover, and 3 fouls.

Sitting on the bench, Zhao Dong did some quick calculations. He had completed the task option of three blocked shots and five dunks in a single quarter. The double rebound task was unlikely to be completed, but there was still hope for the 20+ points scoring task. He needed to focus on shooting at the basket to maintain a shooting percentage above 60%. Smith had only scored two points, which was promising for limiting his scoring to single digits. However, with the team leading by so much, Zhao Dong feared he might not get a chance to play in the fourth quarter, which worried him.

As expected, his fears came true. At the start of the fourth quarter, Zhao Dong remained on the bench, while Oakley also rested. Johnson Wallace and veteran Buck Williams took the floor.

"Brush!" The sound of the ball going through the net echoed in the arena.

Smith faced off against Buck Williams. While Williams didn't have Zhao Dong's size and strength advantages, his speed couldn't match up to Smith's either. As a result, Smith easily made a turnaround jumper. On the next possession, Smith stepped outside again and hit a long three-pointer over the head of John Wallace.

"That's 6 points. Who's to blame for this point? I wonder how the system calculates it. I'm already sitting on the bench—could it be it counts as me defending him?" Zhao Dong muttered to himself. Despite Smith's performance, Ewing was playing well, and the Knicks were still maintaining their lead. However, this only frustrated Zhao Dong further. He could only watch as Smith kept scoring, yet he couldn't contribute because he was stuck on the bench.

At the 6-minute mark, Smith made a mid-range shot to score his 10th point, hitting double digits while Zhao Dong remained sidelined. At the 9-minute mark, seeing Smith score another mid-range shot over John Wallace, the Knicks' lead had shrunk to just 7 points. It was then that Van Gundy, the rookie head coach, whose on-the-spot decision-making had been lacking, finally remembered Zhao Dong and called him up.

Zhao Dong immediately perked up. Although winning the grand prize seemed unlikely, there were still opportunities to complete the tasks for scoring 20+ points and grabbing rebounds.

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