Chapter 11 Locke Park Check-in
After the Clippers tryout, there are still seven days before the draft, this time, Bill Duffy is not with Li Yang, after officially serving as Li Yang's agent, he has to do a lot of preparation for the upcoming draft, which needs to be completed in the office, so he can only temporarily stay in his office.
Li Yang returned to the hotel for a short rest, and then got on the plane to New York alone, and he wanted to go to Rock Park, the temple of street basketball in everyone's hearts. This time the flight went smoothly, and nothing bloody happened along the way.
Rock Park, located on 155th Street in Harlem, New York, adjacent to Frederick Douglas Boulevard. Rock Park is not a park in the ordinary sense of the word, and it is a must-visit place for those who are obsessed with black culture, New York culture, and even American culture.
While some in the NBA disdainfully refer to the Rocks league as "playground basketball," the dazzling crotch dribbles, creative passes, explosive dunks and perfect air catches have shaped the NBA's style of play for years.
Back in the summer of 2003, a little later than usual, the Lakers had just won three consecutive championships.
The high-spirited Kobe Bryant came to Rock Park at that time, and he said unabashedly before the game that he wanted to break the record of 74 points set by "Destroyer" Hormond in Rock Park.
But after playing with the local street ball player, Kobe Bryant was completely confused, still too young, he only scored 14 points in the first half, and the second half was forced to cancel due to heavy rain, and the result was not over. Since then, Kobe's wild words have become a complete joke in Rock Park.
Rock Park is the destination of Li Yang's trip to New York.
It was already noon when Li Yang got off the plane, he hurriedly finished lunch, then took a nap to regain his strength, and it was not until the afternoon that he rushed to Rock Park alone.
With the end of the NBA regular season, more and more professional players have poured into Rock Park, and Rock Park has begun to be full of people in the evening.
After he arrived, he went straight to the main stadium of Rock Park, and when he arrived at such a holy place, if he hadn't been to the main stadium, it would really be for nothing.
Walking into this magical basketball court, I saw a very refreshing, red and green basketball court, the stands on the side of the court are not big, no more than 20 meters long, the whole grandstand is full of two or three hundred people, but whenever a wonderful game comes, there will always be five or six hundred fans, or even thousands of fans.
People in Harlem love to watch Locke's streetball, and if a star is playing, they have to come to the arena early, even if they come two hours early, they can't get a seat in the arena.
Sure enough, as soon as Li Yang approached the stadium, he heard a tsunami-like shout coming from inside the stadium.
As soon as he stepped on the door of the stadium, Li Yang immediately felt the difference, the inside and outside of the door were completely different, the surrounding of the stadium was crowded, shouts came and went, and the atmosphere was extremely hot.
Li Yang used all his strength, and finally squeezed into the center of the crowd, with his height, he couldn't take any advantage, and he could only barely see the duel on the court, which showed that there were basically basketball masters around him (taller than him).
At this time, there were two streetball teams playing on the court, but these people were not all streetball players, and there were some NBA players in it, such as Anthony, Oladipo, Okafor, and there were several sitting on the sidelines, and even saw Wade and James on the bench, the two were talking and laughing, probably nostalgic for the old happy times.
On the field, the dribbling of the street ball defender was dazzling, and suddenly threw the ball into the air, and a big center with a height of more than two meters suddenly came out from the right side, jumping directly towards Okafor, and after receiving the ball in the air, it was a two-handed basket.
"Wow! Air connection!! The DJ shouted exaggeratedly, and the whole stadium cheered.
Okafor under the basket unfortunately became the background wall.
The street ball player on the opposite side waved his hands excitedly, and the atmosphere of the scene suddenly became even more hot.
Li Yang was in this atmosphere, and his heart couldn't stop boiling.
At this moment, Okafor faced the big center who had blocked him before, and hit back with a tough back, and after he scored, he was still swearing and shouting.
This time, it completely angered the fans on the sidelines, and the scene was even more booed.
The game on the court was not stopped by Okafor's chatter, and the opposing defenders once again detonated the court with exaggerated changes of direction and pull-up layups.
Li Yang couldn't help but applaud, and at this moment, he suddenly found an acquaintance in the crowd not far away.
Sexton, the fierce rival who participated in the knight tryout with him, actually came to Rock Park, which can really be said to be where we don't meet in life.
Seeing Sexton, the corners of Li Yang's mouth rose unconsciously, although he was an opponent, but since he had met, he naturally had to say hello, otherwise others would think he was cowardly.
He looked around, trying to squeeze where Sexton was. That's right, you can only rely on your body to squeeze and walk, and there are human flesh walls everywhere.
Li Yang found that this was not an easy thing to do, surrounded by fans shouting excitedly, and he had to sweat every step he moved.
“Professor!!”
At this time, suddenly most of the stadium was shouting loudly, and in such a noisy environment, it was unprecedentedly tidy, and everyone turned their heads to look at the end of the court.
Li Yang also stopped unconsciously, and looked at the eyes of others, because it was far away, and he couldn't see who was coming. But judging from the expressions of everyone around, it should be a very powerful streetball master, and isn't this the scene where the big guy appears in the movie?
Just when Li Yang was puzzled, the big guy finally walked to the center of the court, and then he saw the other party clearly, and he couldn't help but let out an exclamation in his heart, sure enough, it was the big guy, but he didn't guess it would be him!
In the AND 1 MixTape tour, Boucher completely won over the streetball figure Duke Tango, and since then, Tango has been called "Professor" on the court, saying that his dribbling can be used to teach others like a textbook, and everyone has called him "Professor" since then.
Together with Larry Williams (the bone collector), he was called the "black and white" of American streetball circles.
He is the most famous street player in AND1, with a gorgeous style of play, super rhythm control and his unique funny style that many NBA stars love him, and Jeremy Lin is his most loyal little fan.
When the professor really stepped into the field, the game on the court stopped consciously, he didn't make any movements, and the atmosphere of the scene was already ignited, and even Wade and James, who had been sitting on the sidelines, got up to greet him.
The professor didn't speak, just waved to the audience, and then sat down on the sidelines with Wade.
The game on the field continued, but because of the arrival of the professor, the atmosphere on the scene was directly at the peak of the explosion, and a person around him was like taking a doping, so high.
This time, Li Yang was even more struggling.
He shook his head helplessly, and simply gave up the idea of greeting, and looked at the field again, enjoying this rare streetball feast again.
Not long after the game was played, there was a sudden burst of boos at the scene, and it turned out that Okafor relied on his physical fitness to attack the basket and scored another goal.
The audience on the sidelines obviously didn't buy it and didn't like this unpretentious way of attacking, so as soon as he attacked, the scene was immediately booed.
Okafor was so angry that he couldn't do it, and at this time he was also on the bar, still going his own way, the more you guys, the more I will do it.
This time, the fans on the scene completely stopped doing it, and they asked him to make substitutions.
At this moment, I don't know who shouted "We're going to see the professor", and this sentence spread like a spell throughout the stadium.
Under the expectation of many fans at the scene, the professor and Wade finally joined the court and joined the first team respectively, which will present a wonderful game for the fans.
The professor also lived up to expectations, after going on the court, several dazzling crotch dribbles, the speed and smoothness of the movements made people dazzled and enthusiastic.
He jerked and sliced to the left.
Opposite him is Wade, Wade's stealing ability is also first-class in the NBA, although it has declined with age, but it is still not to be underestimated.
Wade's move was perfect, and he was about to make a steal, but just then, the professor used his signature trick to dribble behind the ball and dodge Wade's top tackle.
The basketball disappeared in front of Wade's eyes, the left side was already empty at this time, Wade couldn't come back for a while due to the steal, and the professor directly made a standard three-step layup and scored easily.
The professor's signature move, the bottom line fake dribble behind the back!
“Professor!!”
The fans at the scene were all crazy, and they once again witnessed the professor's signature stunt.
Although Wade failed to make a steal, he was not frustrated, and after landing on the ground, he smiled and gave the professor a thumbs up.
In the next few rounds, Wade finally made a big splash, relying on his signature stunt to make a big splash, contributing a few wonderful dunks in quick succession.
Half an hour later, the thrilling game was finally over.
Fans frantically poured into the stadium, wanting to get close to their idols, so they surrounded the professor, this is the charm of streetball, this is the treatment that streetball bosses should have.