"I wasn’t thinking about all that!"
On camera, Green’s face was full of defiance. He gritted his teeth and said, "Stephen is my teammate. I can’t just stand by and watch him get bullied."
"Bullying him is the same as coming after me."
"I’ve seen the comments online. They call me a mad dog. Shit, you think I care? I don’t give a damn."
"All I know is that when I’m on the court, I have to protect my teammates. If anyone dares to hurt them, I’ll make sure they regret it."
"Can they hear what I’m saying?"
Green pointed at the camera and asked. After getting confirmation, he immediately stood up, spewing spit as he warned, "I’m telling you, if you’ve got a problem, come at me. If you want to go after Stephen, you’ll have to go through me first!"
He brandished his fist menacingly.
In reality, the reason Klay had treated Curry that way during the game was because of Green.
Love was going for a layup in the low post when Green came over on help defense and wrapped him up, pulling him down in mid-air.
Love staggered and crashed into the padding on the basketball stanchion.
Klay and Love were good friends, so Klay immediately rushed over to confront Green, which led to a shoving match.
Because of that, a few plays later, Klay had deliberately targeted Curry.
The camera cut to Curry.
Rubbing his face, he looked troubled and said that Green was trying to help him, but had just been a little impulsive.
Then he couldn’t help but blame himself, saying that he wasn’t playing well enough and that the team kept losing, but he couldn’t do anything about it.
As punishment for the fight, everyone had to do two hours of punitive extra training after the game. They also had to complete an individual skill challenge to finish the punishment.
Curry’s challenge was to make 25 consecutive three-pointers from five different spots.
It was no small feat.
But Curry completed the task on just his second attempt.
"This kid’s three-pointer is something else," Iverson, who was in the room eating ice cream, muttered indistinctly.
He thought there were some people there who probably couldn’t do it even with two tries.
The big men, for instance, were completely incapable of making consecutive threes.
Odom subconsciously chimed in, "It’s just that his physical condition is too poor. On his team, Mackie is more qualified to be captain."
Only after he said it did he realize that everyone in the room was looking at him.
A few people were even giving him a "you’re so screwed" look.
He snapped to his senses. Chen Yu was right there, and he had accidentally spoken his mind.
Everyone knew that with Curry’s physical condition, it was almost impossible for him to become a captain.
It was doubtful he would have even made it through the initial auditions.
During the auditions, Curry had made one shot, but you could only say he’d caught Ford off guard.
It was hard to say that "face" wasn’t a factor in him ultimately passing the audition.
Later, when he was chosen as captain, many viewers already understood it was all because of Chen Yu.
"Chen... I didn’t mean it. He... he is qualified." Odom hurriedly explained.
Chen Yu was helping James loosen up his shoulders.
’It’s been a whole season. Has this kid been taking steroids every day? His muscles have grown way too fast; they’re as hard as rocks.’
"It’s fine. I chose him as captain for my own selfish reasons."
Chen Yu wasn’t embarrassed to admit it.
The NBA is just a big company, after all. Of course, there are connections and favors.
Just like Dominique Wilkins, who had contacted him before, hoping he could rank his nephew higher at the prospect training camp.
And Ewing, who had asked Chen Yu during filming if his son could make a special guest appearance on the show to boost his profile.
His son was already 20 and still hadn’t made a name for himself in college. An appearance on the show might get him some attention.
Everyone nodded in understanding.
Even if Chen Yu created a whole show and brought in a bunch of stars just to promote Curry, who could say anything?
It just meant that since Chen Yu was doing this, he wasn’t afraid of the gossip.
The others didn’t say anything, but James, lying on the massage table, secretly winced. He felt Chen Yu’s grip had clearly gotten stronger.
’He probably still feels a little embarrassed about it.’
’Otherwise, why would he be taking it out on me?’
’Odom was the one who said it. I’m not the one playing favorites.’
But then, Chen Yu’s tone shifted. "Actually, Stephen is a very unique player. He’s struggling right now because of his physique, but once he finds a style of play that suits him, he’ll be outstanding."
Everyone nodded in agreement, thinking, ’If you say so, then it must be true.’
At that moment, however, on the show, Curry and his team were already starting to make changes.
Negro was leading them through special training.
"Off-ball screens?"
Popovich, the championship-winning coach, was present and recognized the drill at a glance.
"Huh, they’re letting Green handle the ball?" Popovich added.
The tactical movement for off-ball screens could be considered basic.
But Negro made a major adjustment: he changed the ball-handler.
He had Green start handling the ball.
"A mismatch? A playmaker at the high post?"
Popovich subconsciously crossed his arms and began to analyze the tactic.
Green wasn’t a good dribbler, so he could only operate as a playmaker from the high post.
And that wasn’t all. Negro also had Mackie handle the ball and act as a playmaker.
When Curry moved without the ball, there was always one person holding the ball ready to pass, while the other set a screen for Curry.
Both of them had enough height, and in 3v3, their court vision was excellent.
Throughout the entire process, aside from catching the ball for the final shot, Curry almost never touched it.
Popovich turned to glance at Chen Yu.
The show said this was a tactic Negro specifically designed for Curry’s trio, but it was obvious that it had come from Chen Yu.
In other words, Chen Yu believed this tactic was suitable for Curry.
’But will it really work?’
Popovich had his doubts.
This tactic had its pros and cons.
The pro was that in 3v3, with fewer players on the court, passing lanes were clearer and there was more space.
But the con was the same issue: with fewer players, man-to-man defense was easier, putting more pressure on the quality of the screens.
Before he could think any further, it seemed that Curry, having practiced this for a long time, had reached the point where Negro believed they could use this tactic in a game.
They were up against the Young Money team, led by Jennings.
This was a nickname his mother gave him when he was a child.
It meant that youth itself is an asset.
It was said that at first, Bevley and another teammate, Spencer Hawes, disagreed, thinking it was a bad idea to name the team after money.
But Jennings refused and insisted on it.
This gave a glimpse into his selfish personality.
But now, no one objected to the team name. After his previous conflict with Bevley, Jennings didn’t learn the meaning of teamwork; he chose another way to resolve the conflict.
He got rid of the person causing the conflict!
He chose to trade Bevley for a guard named Billy Wester.
This was also the first trade completed after the show entered its regular season phase.
With Bevley gone, Jennings became even more of a ball hog, averaging 37 points per game and still dominating the scoring leaderboard.
Currently, Jennings’s team was ranked second in the West, just behind Oden’s team.
Jennings might be arrogant, but he was genuinely skilled. When he started scoring, very few people could stop him.
Meanwhile, Curry’s Grand Canyon was fourth-to-last in the East.
Logically, this should have been a one-sided game, but once it started, everyone was in for a surprise.
The show began with a flashback.
This was a home game for the Grand Canyon.
It was still at the Minster High School gym in Phoenix.
The first person on screen was the on-site commentator.
With ticket revenue increasing, the team had even hired a part-time commentator.
"My God, 5 for 5, can you believe it? It’s like that kid’s been hit with some mysterious magic! He just keeps running, gets the ball, BOOM, he shoots. It’s that simple!"
This middle-aged man, who had been a middle school basketball coach and briefly a commentator for the Northern Arizona University team, waved his arms, vividly describing the scene after the game started.
"The crowd by the court is going wild! They keep shouting ’One more!’ and the kid just keeps scoring! My God, it’s truly incredible."
The scene cut back.
Green had the ball above the free-throw line while Curry was already on the move. He first cut to the basket, then curled back around, running towards Green at the free-throw line.
In an instant, Green held the ball and backed down Jennings, while Mackie, with Hawes on him, also charged toward the free-throw line.
Mackie moved laterally to set a screen.
His broad body formed a solid wall. Curry practically scraped past him as he came around, heading straight for the three-point line.
Green, who was backing down his man, turned and immediately passed the ball.
There was no one in front of Curry.
Billy Wester was left completely behind.
He barely had to adjust. He caught the ball and shot, sinking it smoothly.
Immediately after, it was a similar play. Green dribbled laterally at the top of the arc and executed a give-and-go with Curry, screening Billy Wester and smoothly feeding the ball back to Curry.
Curry took one step to set himself, stopped on a dime, rose up, and shot.
In again!
The show wasn’t over. Next, it was like Curry had activated a cheat code, as he drained five consecutive threes in a row.
The entire crowd was going insane.
They had never seen such accurate three-point shooting!
Back in the physical therapy room, Richard Jefferson, the only three-point specialist present, stroked his chin and commented, "His body has great flexibility, and his upper body stability is excellent. It’s fantastic."
Good flexibility allows a player to adjust their body into a shooting position in the shortest amount of time during an intense game.
After jumping, good upper body control leads to a stable shot and a high shooting percentage.
"His shooting form is unique, but his rhythm is excellent. He must have trained that specifically," Jefferson said, turning to look at Chen Yu.
In his opinion, you couldn’t necessarily develop that level of shooting form in middle school, high school, or even college.
It really required a Professional Level Trainer to slowly make adjustments, correct bad shooting habits, and polish a shooting style that was perfectly suited to the individual.
One thing was proof enough.
In his consecutive shots, the angle of Curry’s elbow and the flick of his wrist were almost identical, which showed that he had formed a solid muscle memory through countless repetitions.
And this level of training was clearly Chen Yu’s doing.
After all, Chen Yu had managed to fix even the most broken shots.

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