Chapter 47

After Yang Mo's words were published in the newspaper, they immediately caused a stir in public opinion. Since Yang Mo was selected, he had never spoken in public, not even when the commentators attacked him relentlessly with all kinds of criticism and condemnation; he had always remained silent.

But now, he actually stood up and spoke. And he seemed so confident, or perhaps arrogant.

This statement was immediately interpreted by the public, and ultimately, ninety percent of basketball commentators and fans believed that Yang Mo was talking big. In their view, Brook Lopez's every physical test result far surpassed Yang Mo's, and they had watched him grow up, knowing his strength. Yang Mo, on the other hand, was different; no one had ever seen him play.

With the support of public opinion, Brook Lopez shamelessly stood up and said, "I've never played with this guy, and the idea that he dominated me is completely baseless. It seems this kid not only lacks strength but is also very hypocritical."

Brook Lopez felt very satisfied saying this, and his supporters, the commentators and fans, also enjoyed it, getting their fix. However, the players who participated in that game couldn't hold back and one by one came out to criticize Brook Lopez.

"Brook Lopez is lying," Derrick Rose, an introverted person, said straightforwardly to the media without using too many adjectives.

With the top pick speaking, Yang Mo's other two good friends also stood up.

"I can swear to the heavens that Brook Lopez was dominated by my brother Yang in the training camp. Although they only played two rounds, in the first round, Yang grabbed the rebound from over his head and scored. In the second round, Yang directly stole the ball and launched a fast break, with me assisting Derrick for a dunk," Westbrook recounted the events of that day in detail to the media.

Eric Gordon, who was clearly impatient, couldn't wait to join the verbal battle: "Everyone in the world can say whatever they want about Yang, but the pitiful Brook Lopez cannot. Because he was so thoroughly dominated by Yang that he didn't even have the strength to fight back. I've never seen a loser so arrogantly criticize the victor who beat him. This is the most absurd thing I've seen in my basketball career, and Brook is the most shameless player I've ever met."

Being criticized by three popular rookies, Brook Lopez couldn't sit still. He quickly found a reporter and continued to speak: "As everyone knows, they are all Yang's friends, so they won't tell the truth. Whether Yang really dominated me or not, I knew it when I played against him."

Brook Lopez's words clearly accused the three of favoring their friend over the truth, which made the three furious. They had never seen such a shameless person.

When the three were about to tear Lopez apart, the basketball god Michael Jordan stepped in to settle the matter: "I was there, and many managers in the league were there too. If the kid from the Nets still refuses to tell the truth, I will consider releasing the video."

Originally, the matter was still being debated, but with Michael Jordan stepping in, all the arguments stopped. Now everyone knew that Yang Mo had indeed dominated Lopez in the training camp. Everyone felt incredulous but also believed that Michael Jordan had no reason to lie.

So those idle commentators started discussing on TV whether Yang Mo really had the ability to play in the NBA, and their conclusion was still no. The reason was that they had never seen Yang Mo play, and his physical condition was too poor.

These words were more like discrimination than reasons.

For these people, Yang Mo silently remembered their names, waiting for the day when he could use data to slap their faces and show them what real strength was.

Soon, the Heat team went to Europe for the preseason tour, while Yang Mo stayed in Miami to train tirelessly. He was waiting for the games to start, waiting to slap Brook Lopez's face, and waiting for those foul-mouthed basketball experts to eat their words.

The days passed with Yang Mo's eager anticipation, and soon the preseason games were over.

Soon, the Heat's first regular-season game was over, and the Heat defeated the visiting Atlanta Hawks 101-92. In this game, Pat Riley did not let Yang Mo play.

As the person who chose Yang Mo despite opposition, Pat Riley was also harboring a grudge. So he directly scheduled Yang Mo's debut for the away game against the New Jersey Nets and accompanied the team to New Jersey. On the plane to New Jersey, Pat Riley pulled Yang Mo to the back and kept analyzing the Nets' videos. At this moment, he was even more eager than Yang Mo to clear his name.

Although this game was a match between two weak teams, it attracted the attention of no less than a billion people due to the previous verbal battles. ESPN urgently scheduled a nationwide broadcast of the game, and in China, the game had been hyped for a week in advance. All Chinese fans were looking forward to Yang Mo's debut, wanting to see if he was really as good as they hoped or the super watered-down player the Americans said he was. Emotionally, they naturally hoped that Yang Mo was truly great. The Americans, on the other hand, were waiting to see Yang Mo's downfall.

It's also worth noting that major Korean TV stations chose to broadcast this game, mainly because of the attention on Yang Mo, who was Jessica's boyfriend. Under S.M. Entertainment's hype, various romantic stories about Yang Mo and Jessica spread online, even though they were all fabricated, they still attracted many brainwashed fans. Almost all Koreans considered Yang Mo their national son-in-law, hoping he would live happily with their Jessica. So, emotionally, more than ninety percent of Koreans were cheering for Yang Mo, their national son-in-law.

Originally, Girls' Generation was supposed to attend a promotional event that day. However, S.M. Entertainment decided to use the game to further promote Girls' Generation, so they booked front-row seats at the Nets' home arena, making sure the girls appeared in the game footage.

One could say that the attention to this game even surpassed the annual Christmas Day games, which was the scene Stern loved to see. For him, it meant a lot of money. However, he didn't expect that the hype he created was less effective than a single statement from Yang Mo. This undoubtedly made him feel a bit defeated, but more importantly, he was happy. The league hadn't seen such a topic-generating star in a long time.

As the game approached, the outside world was in a frenzy, but Yang Mo gradually calmed down.

Yang Mo's college coach once said that Yang Mo was a natural big-game player, becoming even calmer in critical moments. So every time Donghua University needed a game-winning shot, it was always executed by Yang Mo. What surprised everyone was that his game-winning success rate was one hundred percent, including the time he scored the game-winner against Overseas Chinese University, helping them enter the CUBA top eight for the first time.

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