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Chapter 351: After the race 2

Chapter 351: After the race 2

Bickerstaff: "No big deal, a neck contusion, and he twisted his left shoulder when he fell to the ground. No wonder he didn’t throw a punch with both hands just now. The team doctor’s initial assessment is that there is no structural damage. It’s not a serious issue, and he should be almost recovered by the time his suspension is over."

Jordan, speechless: "You really are calm."

Bickerstaff: "Do you think his choice was wrong?"

Seeing Bickerstaff’s composed old face, Jordan thought about how this man had also been through the 80s... no, with 30 years of experience, he had even experienced the darkest era of American basketball in the 70s. He had seen a lot of this kind of thing.

After a moment of thought, Jordan replied, "His choice wasn’t wrong. Every team has its goons, at least players who look the part. Don’t we have Kendrick too? If Jack had tolerated it this time, he would have been constantly provoked by the opposing tough guys with physical confrontations, just like what happened to Carter at the beginning. These goons might begin by just trying to provoke, but in the heat of the game, they may turn provocation into serious fouls. One shouldn’t overestimate their smarts."

"By doing this, he lets those guys know that he will absolutely retaliate, that he will find every possible way to get back at them. It’s a good deterrent... However, I really didn’t expect his method of feigning magnanimity and then launching a surprise attack."

"Whatever, he’d need time to heal even if he weren’t suspended. I’m not going to worry about him anymore. I need to think about how to lambast that bastard at the post-game press conference!"

...

Meanwhile, Zhang Yang, ruthlessly kicked into the player’s tunnel by the chubby boss, was taken away by the team doctor who had rushed to the stadium upon receiving the news.

The team doctor’s initial examination indicated a twisted left shoulder and a neck contusion.

After having the staff deliver the report to Bickerstaff, the team doctor, as usual, took Zhang Yang to the hospital for a check-up.

The examination results at the hospital were consistent with the team doctor’s diagnosis. Treatment was scheduled for the next day, and Zhang Yang spent the night in a single room at the hospital, wearing stabilizers on his shoulder and neck to avoid aggravating his injuries while sleeping.

This being his first hospital stay, he found it quite novel, though sleeping with the stabilizers was quite uncomfortable. When he went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, the sight with the stabilizers on was rather startling, as if he had suffered multiple injuries.

He tolerated the discomfort, eager for a quick recovery.

Zhang Yang wasn’t picky about his bed and, weary from the game, he soon fell asleep despite the discomfort. The next morning, he was woken up by his parents.

As Zhang Yang sat up, he looked at his parents with a mix of reproach and disappointment. "Here I am, injured, and not one of you stayed with me at the hospital!"

His parents had also been at the game last night.

Yang Jing responded, "When I saw you being fouled, I almost rushed down to beat up Bell myself. Your dad held me back. Afterward, when I saw you carefully stop your teammates from fighting, I thought I shouldn’t bother you, so I gave up the idea. Who would have thought you were faking them out and took advantage of their distraction to go up and give Bell a beating... after that, I was too embarrassed to follow you down the players’ tunnel."

Zhang Yang felt a whiff of disdain. A figment of his imagination! It must be!

He replied, "Mom, it’s good you didn’t go. Even before you had slimmed down, it would’ve been hard for you to beat an NBA player. You’re only a little over 1.8 meters tall, and that guy is about my height, heavier than me. Now that you’ve lost weight, you’d be even less of a match."

Yang Jing: "True, I can’t run anymore with just one bucket of water in one hand, I need to carry one in each to be able to run. My strength has decreased a lot, there are indeed drawbacks to slimming down."

Zhang Yang: "It doesn’t matter, Mom, you’ve become a beauty again after losing weight, right? If you can only carry one bucket at a time, just make two trips, isn’t that okay?"

Yang Jing: "Makes sense."

Zhang Chen: "..."

What kind of reasoning is that? Wait, how did the topic drift so far off course?

Zhang Chen was planning to tease his eldest son with his wife, but now he didn’t even know how to steer the conversation back.

After chatting with his mom for a while and playing with the little Wukong that came with his parents, the doctor arrived.

Once Zhang Yang’s parents confirmed with the doctor that the injuries weren’t serious, they left the hospital with their younger son.

Having seen Zhang Yang get up and fight back the night before, they were not overly worried.

As for their son fighting, they had discussed it with Jordan after the game last night, and all three agreed that not retaliating would only invite further bullying.

His reputation might be affected, but as long as he played well in the games to come, it wouldn’t be too important.

After his parents left, Zhang Yang asked the doctor to borrow a computer to check the news.

Zhang Yang’s injuries required only conservative physical therapy, and using electronic devices wouldn’t have any impact. The treatment was scheduled for the afternoon, and seeing that Zhang Yang was bored, the doctor lent him a computer.

Zhang Yang went online to check out the battle reports and news about last night’s game.

Seeing that his team had won the match with a final score of 117 to 106, he let out a sigh of relief.

Fighting wasn’t something he regretted—if he hadn’t retaliated, that would have been his true regret. He couldn’t just let it go and be blindsided by a chokehold in their next encounter, could he? He had to seize the chance to beat his opponent there and then.

The Bobcats had ended the Suns’ nine-game winning streak, improving their record to 15 wins and 5 losses, but Zhang Yang noticed that the media wasn’t making a big deal out of their halting the Suns’ pursuit of a tenth consecutive win; the news was all about his fight with Raja Bell from the previous night.

Although the match hadn’t been broadcast live, Zhang Yang stumbled upon the footage of him being choked by Raja Bell and then pinning Bell to the ground and beating him.

The former was shocking to watch, while the latter was bloody.

He noted the time the video was first exposed; the game hadn’t even ended, meaning someone had shared the footage before the match was over.

He also saw news reports that vividly described his ’sneak attack’ on Raja Bell.

Zhang Yang browsed through the forums and saw that netizens were in a heated debate.

Some criticized him for fighting, while others claimed Raja Bell got what he deserved.

Some called him despicable and shameless for the sneak attack, while others wondered why he hadn’t beaten Raja Bell to death.

There were also comments about him stopping a brawl and having the responsibility to face the consequences alone...

He noticed some posts attacking him seemed completely unaware of what had happened last night, as if they’d simply read a news headline and started blasting him.

With incidents like fights, the media naturally wouldn’t pick the positive side to report, at least not in the headlines designed to grab attention.

The most leading headline came from ESPN: "Jack furiously beats his defending opponent."

Zhang Yang didn’t even know where to start with this headline.

The media from California, which were generally favorable towards Zhang Yang, had titles nearly as sensational as the shock content ones.

Local media sites and fan forums strongly defended him, but regional media had such little influence that they were negligible in the online world.

However, even though many people were influenced by the media to attack him, he discovered that on the large media portals and forums, the number of people speaking up for him was no less than those attacking him, and they seemed to be winning the arguments!

Zhang Yang checked the IP addresses and saw many from California; that made sense.

He temporarily gained 60K fans!

There were also spectators who were purely entertained by the commotion, opting not to join the arguments but instead discussing other related topics.

For instance, some fans said his way of beating Raja Bell was purely vengeful humiliation.

Zhang Yang also found, to his astonishment, that the legendary stories the media had previously hyped about him were ’confirmed’ after last night.

Now their team, the Bobcats, wore the most resounding title—the New Bad Boys Legion, so he had gained a new nickname—Bad Boy.

That nickname, given by those who were just enjoying the show, referred to him as the youngest in the league, and even going into the next season, he would still be the youngest player according to the current draft rules.

Zhang Yang also found the video of Jordan cussing out the opposing players and coach during last night’s press conference, and honestly, even though he knew that Jordan’s main reason for defending him so staunchly was money, it still felt like he was being protected by someone.

Close to noon, groups of teammates came to the hospital to visit Zhang Yang.

Not long after his teammates left, an unexpected person arrived—Nash.

Nash didn’t stay for long, and before the team left Charlotte, he had sneakily come from the hotel to check up on Zhang Yang’s injury, then left after learning about his condition.

Nash was feeling frustrated; he had finally found a successor he liked, and now he felt that successor was becoming more distanced from them...

...

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I must finish writing the daily 10,000 words before going to sleep, hehe (*^▽^*)