Emmanuel and Rahim passed the ball hand to hand. After Rahim took the ball, he took two steps and entered the paint, forcing the Hawks to collapse their defense. At that moment, Rahim threw the ball to Ethan Brooks, who had run to the top of the arc while Francis was looking inside.

Ethan Brooks caught the ball and shot!

“Crap!”

Right now, Ethan Brooks was basically possessed by Klay Thompson. Super shooters like this are extremely sensitive to whether their shots will go in or not. The moment he released the ball, he felt something was off—the rhythm just wasn’t right.

But, Francis, who had lost focus and let Ethan Brooks get open, rushed over and hit Ethan Brooks’s arm, knocking him to the floor!

The referee blew the whistle!

Foul on the arm!

“Damn!” Ethan Brooks cursed in Chinese. This kind of foul, almost slamming a person onto the floor, was actually called just a regular foul!

The crowd started booing. It’s normal to foul to stop a shot when you have no other choice, but that move was way too rough—it wasn’t even going for the ball, just for the man!

Ethan Brooks was furious. Even though he got three free throws, it freaking hurt!

Ethan Brooks still had some fear of the referees, mainly because the refs in the future are just too powerful—they can even block players from receiving the ball during plays, and if you complain, it’s an instant technical foul.

But honestly, referees in any era are pretty powerful. If a rookie like Ethan Brooks complains, he might get a technical foul all the same.

Fine, three free throws is still good. Ethan Brooks wasn’t picky. If that shot had gone up without the foul, it might have just been a brick. Three free throws aren’t bad.

Ethan Brooks stepped up to the free throw line...

They say the air is fresh in high-altitude places, and Ethan Brooks liked being a bit taller, but right now it just felt weird!

When he was shooting from beyond the arc earlier, he didn’t feel anything special, since the basket was so far away.

But standing at the free throw line now, the view was just bizarre!

The hoop looked so low, it felt like he could touch it just by jumping, which made Ethan Brooks feel really out of sorts.

The referee handed the ball to Ethan Brooks, and the crowd started cheering. In their eyes, they had a sharpshooter now! The other team was already resorting to fouling to stop him. A shooting foul like this was basically free points. If Ethan Brooks made this free throw, the score would be tied! And there were still two more free throws!

He took a breath to adjust, and Ethan Brooks shot his first free throw...

“Clang!”

A brick!

The cheering fans instantly went silent, as if their throats were blocked.

He must be too nervous! That’s got to be it!

The fans tried to comfort themselves.

On the sidelines, Coach Kruger was also shocked. Even though Ethan Brooks had only been average in the summer league and preseason after being picked in the second round, and had little motivation due to his low draft position—his three-point shooting had been terrible for a while—his free throws were always reliable. After all, he was a college sharpshooter.

But today, his threes were on fire, those crazy shots were all going in, and now he bricked a free throw?

It must be nerves, just too excited and tense, Coach Kruger told himself.

But then, Ethan Brooks missed his second free throw too!

Now the fans were devastated: Did he make three threes just to sacrifice them for three missed free throws? No way!

Coach Kruger stood up again. He had just watched his team catch up and was about to take the lead, planning to use that momentum to suppress the Rockets. The Rockets were much weaker than the Hawks, having been in the lottery for several years. That Eddie Griffin on the court was the bust No. 7 pick they got after a terrible season. If the Hawks could suppress the Rockets’ momentum in the first three quarters and take the lead, it was unlikely the Rockets would come back. After all, the Hawks were last season’s fifth seed in the East, and Ratliff was healthy again this year, making them even stronger.

Could Ethan Brooks be injured?

Coach Kruger thought about how Ethan Brooks had first fallen to the floor, then got slammed down by Francis, and started to worry. He wanted to call a timeout, but saw that the Rockets had already sent an assistant coach to call a timeout after the free throws, so he decided to let Ethan Brooks finish his last free throw and then sub him out.

If Ethan Brooks could score 10 points in his first rookie game, Coach Kruger thought it would really boost his confidence and maybe erase the shadow of his disappointing draft.

The fans were all talking, the coach was deep in thought, and Ethan Brooks was muttering to himself.

“The first shot had too much arc. Now that I’m taller, I need to lower the arc a bit. The second shot was too soft—if the arc is lower, I need to use more power and shoot it smoothly...”

Ethan Brooks used the first two free throws as practice and finally found his free throw rhythm. Now, with Klay Thompson’s shooting ability, as long as his mind wasn’t as dumb as the system said, and as long as he adjusted to the situation, he believed he could make it!