He Ximeng stepped forward to double-team, helping Kobe with the pick-and-roll! He Ximeng gambled that His Airness wouldn't pass at this moment!
He Ximeng's gamble paid off! His Airness indeed had no intention of passing to Harper. But even with He Ximeng's help defense, His Airness still managed to make a strong shot amidst the double-team from He Ximeng and Kobe!
What is swagger? This is swagger!
After sinking this mid-range jumper, His Airness also performed his classic celebration gesture towards Kobe and He Ximeng: a shrug!
Alas, another made shot! So accurate, what could be done?
Being shown up by His Airness was not a shameful thing. Throughout the league, which player from His Airness's era hadn't been shown up by him?
He Ximeng was thick-skinned and completely ignored His Airness's provocation. But Kobe was sensitive, especially after He Ximeng had already hit two consecutive three-pointers. Kobe was eager to join the effort to save the Lakers.
On this play, as soon as He Ximeng dribbled past half-court, Kobe used a screen off the ball on the wing to shake off His Airness and accelerated towards the paint.
Seeing that Kobe had finally created an opportunity, He Ximeng didn't hesitate and passed him the ball directly!
Kobe took a step and drove straight to the basket, aiming for a dunk!
Longley was slow and hadn't gotten back on defense, but Rodman was fast and arrived immediately, once again disrupting Kobe's sure-thing dunk!
Kobe, in an effort to evade Rodman's block, accidentally missed the dunk!
His Airness, chasing Kobe from behind, immediately gave his loyal bodyguard a big thumbs-up in his heart!
Rodman was unaware of his boss's thoughts, his eyes only fixed on the missed dunk.
However, because Kobe's shot hit the rim and bounced far away, the big men in the paint couldn't reach it!
Instead, Harper on the perimeter grabbed the first rebound. He initially wanted to push the ball upcourt but, seeing His Airness's outstretched hand in the middle, instinctively wanted to pass to His Airness...
He Ximeng anticipated Harper's intention immediately, turned around halfway, and intercepted the ball. After the steal, everyone expected He Ximeng to drive to the basket and complete the dunk Kobe had missed. But to everyone's surprise, He Ximeng didn't even adjust his stance. He caught the ball at the two-step mark outside the three-point line, rose up, and shot!
Even His Airness, who was closest to He Ximeng, had stepped inside the three-point line, intending to interfere with He Ximeng's drive to the basket. He had to stop abruptly, twist his body, and lunge with his left hand in an awkward attempt to contest the shot...
This token gesture of interference was completely unable to stop He Ximeng from accurately sinking the ball into the net!
He Ximeng hit his third consecutive three-pointer, narrowing the Lakers' deficit to just 1 point!
Phil Jackson finally couldn't stand it any longer. Even if the strategy hadn't changed, he had to call a timeout to disrupt the Lakers' current scoring momentum.
He Ximeng, who hadn't celebrated any of his previous shots, struck a classic Chen-style Tai Chi move after sinking this third three-pointer: Single Whip! It was the same cool move Jet Li performed in "Tai Chi Master"...
Of course, in the eyes of Chinese fans, He Ximeng's move was a far cry from the authentic move by Jet Li. But in the eyes of Americans...
"Damn! Chinese people really know martial arts!"
"Look! Basketball player He Ximeng isn't holding back anymore! He's going to use Chinese Kung Fu..."
O'Neal and Kobe, who were about to rush over to hug He Ximeng, were also stunned by He Ximeng's display!
He Ximeng, in a moment of inspiration, struck the handsome Single Whip pose, but then felt it was a bit silly to just have that one move. He followed it up with a Left and Right White Crane Spreads Its Wings, adding a bit of a freeze-frame effect with some force...
Such a hodgepodge would be considered utter nonsense by professionals who understood Chen-style Tai Chi!
But to foreigners who understood nothing, and couldn't even distinguish Tai Chi from Long Fist, the Single Whip followed by Left and Right White Crane Spreads Its Wings was incredibly impressive!
"Honey, this move is so damn cool, I want to learn Chinese Kung Fu!"
"Mom, I don't want to play basketball anymore, I want to learn Chinese Kung Fu..."
He Ximeng had initially just acted on impulse, wanting a celebratory move that was distinct from the usual and had a clear Chinese characteristic. He remembered Jet Li's Tai Chi moves from "Tai Chi Master," so he haphazardly strung together two moves he thought were the coolest, linked them simply, and modified them. He even added speed, force, and a freeze-frame. Unexpectedly, this instantly ignited foreigners' interest in Chinese Kung Fu!
As a result, after this game ended, a trend of learning Chinese Kung Fu swept through the Los Angeles area!
"Boss, can you teach me this style of kung fu?" Many white foreigners with blue eyes flocked to Chinese martial arts schools, specifically asking to learn the modified Tai Chi moves He Ximeng performed on the court.
The boss kindly reminded them that He Ximeng's moves were not standard and that Chen-style Tai Chi shouldn't be strung together like that...
"Pah! If you don't know it, just say so. Why slander my idol? If you don't have it, I'll go somewhere else..."
After being scolded so many times, many martial arts school owners learned their lesson.
"Yes, yes! We have it! We can do it!"
What's the big deal about modifications? I can present these two moves by He Ximeng as warm-up exercises before the formal start of training. I'll strike those two poses first, and then begin with the starting stance...
However, the foreigners who finished their lessons were still unsatisfied, believing the boss had deceived them: "Except for the first two moves, which are quite cool, the rest of the moves aren't stylish... We want to learn the cool Tai Chi, not this Tai Chi that old people play..."
The bosses were driven to distraction by these pseudo-martial arts enthusiasts, their heads covered in sweat. But the customer is king. Since the customers wanted "stylish" Tai Chi, these renowned "martial arts grandmasters" had no choice but to tailor-make a Tai Chi for them according to their demands, a Tai Chi that was as stylish as possible...
He Ximeng's celebration moves boosted the popularity of Chinese martial arts schools, making the grandmasters of these schools earn a fortune. In all fairness, He Ximeng had made a significant contribution to promoting Chinese martial arts and Chinese Tai Chi. However, the true grandmasters of Chen-style Tai Chi in China were embarrassed to talk about He Ximeng, as they believed he had ruined authentic Tai Chi. As a result, when they performed genuine Chen-style Tai Chi, they were often mistaken by uninformed spectators for not performing it properly, not performing it beautifully, or not performing it powerfully...
"Look at He Ximeng's starting pose on TV... and then look at yours... Can you be more reliable?"
...
As the instigator, He Ximeng, of course, had no idea that his small joke, a well-intentioned promotion, had led a traditional industry and a traditional martial art down a path of modification...