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Chapter 203 - 114. Public Opinion Attack_3

Chapter 203: 114. Public Opinion Attack_3

But after one afternoon had passed, the Bobcats players were on the verge of collapse.

Many of the questions from reporters during interviews were sharp and could even be described as deliberately provocative, along with various attempts to sow discord.

For instance, they repeatedly grilled Felton about ’shooting less often than Zhang Yang’, ’earning less from endorsements than Zhang Yang’, ’being drafted lower than Deron who he lost to in the NCAA finals’, ’not performing as well as Paul’... and so on, hounding him until he was exasperated.

By the morning of the 28th, Jordan had outright declared the venue off-limits to interviews, wanting them to focus solely on preparing for the evening’s game.

With no reporters around, the arena became a refuge for the Bobcats players, where they felt the world finally quiet down.

Before the morning pre-game meeting began, Felton complained to Zhang Yang sitting beside him, "James’s fans are all insane, I don’t even dare go online now."

Zhang Yang responded, "Actually, the vast majority of James’s fans are reasonable. You only see the ones who come to insult you because they are the ones who talk about you."

Emeka joined the conversation, "The silent majority, right? Yeah, Raymond, Jack’s right, You can’t blame all the innocent fans because of that extreme minority."

Upon hearing the two of them, Felton retorted unhappily, "You guys are being insulted, too! Emeka, they’re calling you ’glass’, saying you’re not as good as Howard; Jack, they’re insulting you even more viciously than they insult me..."

Zhang Yang said, "Doesn’t that just show they’re scared? Think about it, boss. Their viciousness, isn’t it just because they’re afraid you’ll block James again? So what you need to do now isn’t to get angry, but instead to prepare, block him again, smack those people’s faces, and shut them up... Plus, boss, have you noticed something?"

His voice wasn’t loud, and his tone was mild and plain, but his words were compelling, slowly turning Felton’s inner turmoil into a fighting spirit and determination.

Felton asked, "What’s that?"

Zhang Yang said, "James has not stepped up to respond to whether you blocked him."

Felton frowned in thought, then his eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Yes! Jack, you’re absolutely right! I haven’t seen any news of him being interviewed from yesterday to this morning! But why? Isn’t James supposed to be someone who hates not being on TV 24 hours a day? Why is he so low-key this time?"

Zhang Yang pinched his own leg, thinking assisting his boss was hard work but still said, "He’s afraid of being embarrassed, and he probably knows that if he comes out to refute your claim of blocking him, he’ll really get embarrassed, but he can’t admit that you did block him, so he’s keeping it low-key. Once this game is over and people’s focus shifts away, he’ll be back to wanting to be in the news 24 hours a day... and maybe he’s concentrating on how to handle you, perhaps even this media frenzy is something his team conjured up to mess with our mindset, making us play poorly, and if we lose tonight, all the negative things said about him will dissipate and we’ll become the laughingstock instead."

Felton said, "So that’s it!"

Zhang Yang pinched his leg again, continuing, "So, boss, you should now help your teammates manage their emotions, shake off the media’s interference, and get everyone fired up to smack those media and fans in the face."

Felton said, "Okay... uh, how should I talk and act to get them fired up?"

Emeka, unable to listen any longer, said, "Just say what Jack just said but in your own way."

Felton thought that made sense, isn’t there a ready-made answer? He immediately ran to the main seat in the meeting room, calling his teammates together to boost their morale.

Zhang Yang felt exhausted, more so than from playing a game.

He noticed Emeka’s inquisitive gaze and laughed, "My boss isn’t very smart, please look after him."

Emeka nodded and shifted his focus to the main seat, not probing further.

Watching Felton’s roaring speech rally the teammates’ emotions, hearing them start to chant in unison "beat James," Emeka guessed the reason Zhang Yang did this.

17-year-old rookie doesn’t have a ’big’ enough voice, NCAA Champion, the 5th pick in the draft, now that’s a ’big’ voice.

Moreover, the scholarly rookie genuinely considers his teammate and college senior, Felton, a friend.

At the doorway of the meeting room, Jordan was surprised to see all the players excitedly chanting "beat James."

He had specially come to the pre-game meeting to use his ’God of Basketball’ status to help the players adjust their mindset.

Although his mindset had already started shifting towards that of a capitalist, he was really annoyed by the media bombardment less than three years after retiring, and he wanted to win tonight’s game... no, he had to win!

He hadn’t expected to see this as he approached the doorway of the meeting room.

Seeing Felton leading the chant of "beat James" from the main seat, Jordan revised his opinion of this junior.

While not as talented, the man was hardworking, having corrected many bad habits in just a few months and continuously improving.

Being able to withstand such media bombardment during his rookie season, helping his teammates manage pressure, and rallying their spirits...

This junior’s chances of becoming an All-Star might not be high, but perhaps he could be groomed towards becoming a team leader!

...

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Today, I’ve only updated 8000 words, still owe one Chapter with bonus updates for monthly tickets, o(╥﹏╥)o, Xiao Feng is not playing video games anymore, going to sleep early tonight, will make up for the 2000 words I didn’t update today tomorrow, will catch up on the pending bonus updates, quietly begging for monthly and recommendation tickets!