Chapter 60

"Lin, don’t mind what the newspapers are saying. Clearly, they just want to provoke you. You are the strongest young player I’ve ever seen. Although your performance in the last game was a bit off, it shouldn’t be criticized like this."

"Yeah, their demands are really too much. They’re not treating you like a rookie but rather imposing their standards for Jordan onto you. That’s unfair."

On November 18, 1993, in Philadelphia, in the hotel room where Lin Han and the Jazz were staying, Aaron Williams and Brian Russell, Lin Han’s two younger teammates, were playing a video game called Street Fighter. Lin Han wasn’t particularly interested in this game. In fact, Lin Han wasn’t a fighting game enthusiast. Although he was of Chinese descent and enjoyed reading Jin Yong’s martial arts novels, he had no interest in fighting or the so-called Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do.

This was something that surprised Williams and Hill greatly, and even the other Jazz players were surprised. After all, the martial arts craze in America hadn’t subsided, and the three main impressions Americans had of Chinese people were martial arts, braids, and greasy Chinese cuisine. Regardless of whether they truly liked martial arts, most Chinese people or Chinese descendants would say 'yes, yes' when asked if they liked Bruce Lee or knew martial arts, and they would say it with pride. In this regard, Lin Han was a rare exception.

After all, in Lin Han’s mind, the martial arts and kung fu he imagined were things like the 18 Dragon Subduing Palms, the Six Pulse Sword, the Lingbo Microstep, the Orchid Fingertip, and the Yi Jin Jing from Jin Yong’s novels. Lin Han, whose mind was filled with imagination, naturally didn’t look favorably upon these realistic and down-to-earth things. So every time these two young Jazz rookies invited Lin Han to their homes to play games or watch classic Bruce Lee movies, Lin Han would always take out a Jin Yong novel that piqued their curiosity but which they couldn’t understand, and sit there reading it slowly. This made these two Bruce Lee fans find Lin Han very boring. In fact, Lin Han was a very boring person, and he never denied it.

This eastern road trip was Lin Han’s first consecutive away trip since entering the NBA, and it was the same for his two younger teammates. So before this away trip, both Lin Han, Williams, and Russell were very excited and looking forward to it, so they brought a lot of luggage, especially a lot of game consoles and game cartridges. Lin Han also brought his beloved Jin Yong martial arts novels, but now, while his two younger teammates were playing video games, Lin Han wasn’t reading his novels.

Although the Jazz won the last game against the Miami Heat, Lin Han’s performance was very poor, and there was no way to argue about it. After the last game, the team’s head coach Jerry Sloan also criticized Lin Han individually. Although Sloan didn’t take Lin Han out of the game to protect his dignity, he didn’t want Lin Han to go astray and become too self-centered, so he had to criticize him.

However, because Lin Han’s performance in the previous few games was indeed very outstanding, even though he only made 7 out of 29 shots and scored 21 points in the last game, his current average score was still 43 points, ranking first in the NBA after six games, and his shooting percentage was far above 50%. Such a performance was already very impressive, so although Lin Han faced internal criticism after the last game, most of his teammates didn’t really care. After all, no one could guarantee that they would always make their shots.

The Jazz team wasn’t too concerned about Lin Han’s performance in the last game, as long as he didn’t continue to play like a mole for the opponents in the next games. However, the American media wouldn’t let Lin Han off the hook, especially those media outlets with strong racial biases and discriminatory tabloids, whose reports were almost insane. If it weren’t for Jerry Sloan’s media protection, Lin Han really doubted he wouldn’t be torn apart by those people.

In Lin Han’s mind, he never really understood what he had done wrong to receive such treatment. If these people once thought he was a fraud who bribed his way into the NBA, he had long since proven that he wasn’t a fraud and didn’t enter the NBA through any dishonorable means. So why were they still treating him like this?

Moreover, the American media’s demands on Lin Han were increasingly similar to their demands on Jordan, which left Lin Han speechless. Even if Jordan left the NBA, they couldn’t transfer all their resentment onto him, could they?

Finally, after putting down the last USA Today newspaper, Lin Han sighed, thinking that the media’s coverage of him in America was still relatively objective. After all, this media was the first to truly discover him, and if there was no need, USA Today wouldn’t smear him.

"Lin, you did go a bit overboard in the last game, giving the impression that you were using the team to boost your scoring. That’s why the media reacted so strongly. I think you should be more restrained in the next game. No matter how good or bad your shooting is, don’t make too much noise. Once they feel you’re no longer newsworthy, they’ll stop focusing on you."

"Brian, this method might have worked a week ago, but now it’s completely ineffective. Haven’t you forgotten that USA Today just said Lin Han is the top of the four super swingman rookies this year, tied with Hardaway as the best guard, and a strong contender for Rookie of the Year? He’s not someone who can do whatever he wants anymore."

After Aaron Williams finished speaking, Lin Han suddenly realized that USA Today, which had given him a good impression, was also a big disappointment, leaving him even more speechless.

......

On November 19, 1993, the third game of the Jazz’s eastern road trip, their opponent was one of the oldest teams in the NBA, the Philadelphia 76ers. Unlike the new teams like the Magic and the Heat, although the Magic and the Heat had better records than the 76ers in the past two seasons, these two teams, whose home arena names still included the city’s name, were far less storied than the 76ers. As one of the oldest NBA teams, the 76ers were once the home of basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain. The early history of the NBA was, in a sense, the history of the Philadelphia 76ers. Although the 76ers were never a powerhouse, they were always a great and legendary team.

Even without the early Chamberlain legend, after the 76ers moved into the Spectrum, they had Dr. J Julius Erving, the legendary No. 6 of the 76ers, who was Michael Jordan’s idol. Moses Malone, who won the NBA championship with Erving ten years ago, was also one of the greatest players in NBA history. Even after these two legendary players who succeeded Chamberlain faded, the 76ers still found their answer in Charles Barkley, the MVP of the previous regular season and the best power forward in the league, although Barkley’s MVP was not won with the 76ers.

After losing Barkley, the 76ers once again began their search for their next answer. Given the team’s history and legacy, their previous answers were players of the caliber of Chamberlain, Dr. J, Moses Malone, and Barkley, so the next answer would not be an ordinary player.

So, although the 76ers were now a weak team in the league, no team in the NBA would truly consider them a pushover. In the entire NBA, only the Lakers and the Celtics had the same level of history and status as the 76ers.

Therefore, even though the 76ers were now weak, Jerry Sloan’s emphasis on this team was no less than on the Heat. In the NBA, teams like the Celtics, 76ers, and Lakers, with their rich history, could always surprise you, especially when facing strong teams.

"Lin, don’t feel pressured in this game. You should know that I have always been very satisfied with your performance."

What Lin Han didn’t expect was that before the game against the 76ers, after the Jazz had finished setting up all the tactics, the team’s head coach Jerry Sloan would encourage him individually. This was the first time Sloan had made such a statement before a game.

This deeply moved Lin Han.

It also further solidified his determination to focus on his performance.