Rahim grabbed the defensive rebound. He was about to pass to Emmanuel to push the ball up, but then he saw a teammate already sprinting down the court—of course, that was Ethan Brooks. The opponent shot and immediately sprinted back; that's Klay Thompson's trademark. The moment Francis took the shot, he was already running toward the left corner of the frontcourt.

Rahim saw this and immediately threw the ball downcourt.

But the force... well, that's a small forward for you—damn, he threw it way too hard! When Ethan Brooks caught the ball in the frontcourt, he couldn't stop himself at all and was about to fly out of bounds!

At that moment, Ethan Brooks instinctively made a shooting motion. After diving to catch the ball, he pushed it toward the basket in one smooth motion...

The crowd saw Ethan Brooks sprinting down the court and immediately started cheering, expecting a fast-break dunk. Even though they didn't think a Chinese player could dunk that violently, a guy who's about 1.9 meters tall should have no problem dunking.

But Ethan Brooks was sprinting toward the corner, and Rahim's pass was also to the corner—and it was way too strong!

When the fans saw Ethan Brooks catching the ball and almost falling out of bounds, they started to sigh, thinking it was a turnover. But unexpectedly, even while losing his balance, he managed to get the shot off!

"Swish!"

To everyone's shock, Ethan Brooks's off-balance push shot after diving for the ball went in cleanly!

The arena fell silent—this was just insane!

Even the cameraman on the sidelines, who had been knocked over by Ethan Brooks, was stunned by this miraculous shot. Ethan Brooks could only get up by himself, rubbing the spot where he'd been hurt.

At this moment, the arena DJ was the first to react, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Woooooooooool... Ai Ai Ai... Ace... Liu!"

The crowd exploded again!

Ethan Brooks had taken three shots since coming on, and all three had blown the roof off the arena!

Chapter 7: Three-Pointer Sacrificed with Free Throws?

The Rockets were completely stunned by the shooting—how the hell did that go in? Why not just fly to the moon!

It had only been a minute since the start, and the Hawks had already gone on a 5-0 run. The Rockets' lead was down to just one point!

Not everyone is Popovich. Calling timeouts back-to-back is something Tomjanovich, one of the few coaches in NBA history to win back-to-back championships, couldn't bring himself to do.

Francis looked ahead at Ethan Brooks, who had once again shrunk back to the free-throw line, with disbelief in his eyes. One shot is luck, two is a coincidence, but three in a row? What's going on with these consecutive makes!

Is he just on fire today?

On the Hawks' side, the team was riding high after the consecutive scores. Ethan Brooks was fired up—whenever Francis drove in, he would go right up to challenge him.

Pain?

Wasn't that fall just now painful?

Wouldn't it hurt even more if Francis barreled into him?

Just now, Ethan Brooks had almost had the wind knocked out of him by Francis, then dove for a fast-break and took a nasty spill. Even though the fans thought it looked cool and badass, it hurt like hell! If he hadn't protected his handsome face, he would've smashed right into the camera.

After hitting three straight threes, Ethan Brooks was getting a little carried away. Seeing Francis drive in again, he went right up to challenge him.

Ethan Brooks's defensive move was a bit much—he regretted reaching out to block Francis's chest, thinking he was about to get called for a foul!

But the ref didn't blow the whistle...

Referees from the '80s and '90s completely ignored little things like this. As long as you didn't grab someone, a little fist to the chest was nothing.

Besides, compared to Francis's strong build, Ethan Brooks's reach... really did feel like a little fist thumping your chest. Francis just swung his arm and knocked Ethan Brooks aside. Likewise, the ref didn't call anything—so you can thump someone's chest, but others can't fight back?

Ethan Brooks finally understood what it meant to be an egg hitting a rock—he was just bulldozed aside.

But even after breaking through, Francis wasn't having an easy time. Facing Mohammed, a tough power forward, and a hard-charging undrafted member of the golden generation, there was no help inside. On the perimeter, Cuttino Mobley was being guarded so tightly by the long-armed, long-legged Rahim that he could barely receive the ball. Kenny Thomas was the kind of small forward who might not even attempt a three all season, so he couldn't stretch the floor at all. Emmanuel had already collapsed inside to double-team.

Cuttino Mobley and Francis were really unlucky. They were almost the best backcourt duo in the league, but the only Rockets players with double-digit scoring averages were the two of them. The rest... were just scrubs.

Once again, Francis was stymied by the Hawks' ironclad defense, forcing up a tough shot in traffic and missing.

Hawks fast break!

This time, the Rockets got back on defense quickly. By the time Francis took the shot, the Hawks were already back, so Ethan Brooks's fast break was useless.

However, even with a quick transition, there's still a moment during the switch between offense and defense. When Emmanuel brought the ball up, the Rockets hadn't fully set up yet. Rahim's footwork was so quick—he was already tall, and his foot speed wasn't slow either. If it weren't for his lack of superstar mentality and the injuries that came later, he really looked like he could have maintained superstar ability for a long time.