But as they chatted, Aprile Clark felt more at ease. Zhang Hao would occasionally pat Britney on the head, just like he patted Le Lin’s head, clearly treating Britney just like a little sister...

But the sense of crisis wasn’t diminished! Little sisters eventually grow up, and this one was growing up way too pretty.

At this moment, age was still an advantage, and Aprile Clark went to try on clothes!

Britney wasn’t willing to fall behind either, diligently choosing suitable clothes to try on.

Again, it was the type of shopping where you look but don’t buy.

And often, the two girls would completely ignore Mr. Zhang, choose an outfit each, try them on, compliment each other... and then end up buying nothing, leaving the salesgirl who praised them for ages without any reward.

Watching the two girls compliment each other yet having a sense of rivalry, Zhang Hao really wanted to go back to the hotel... Watching a game was much more fun! Shopping for two hours without buying anything, what was even the point!

...

...

Compared to his previous spectacular performances, the buzz around Zhang Hao’s performance this time wasn’t going to fade in just one or two days. Maybe throughout the entire season, people would keep mentioning his 60+ triple-double achievement.

Because it really was an unrepeatable performance, especially with 10 blocks thrown in, it’s incredibly tough to replicate.

On January 9th, Zhang Hao, along with Aprile Clark, returned to Los Angeles with the team.

After resting until now, Aprile Clark also needed to go back to memorizing lines, practicing her posture... Since she decided to become a stage play actress, she had to study hard.

Zhang Hao, Aprile Clark, and Pierce all were diligent in their efforts, which is why they became friends throughout their high school years.

After resting for a day, Zhang Hao also threw himself into preparing for the upcoming matches.

A record of 26 wins and 8 losses, it’s almost too good.

But since it’s so good, who wouldn’t want it to get even better?

Now, Zhang Hao and his teammates’ goal is to reach first place in the West!

Regardless of whether they can maintain it in the end, if there’s a chance to sit in the top spot, why not strive for it?

The team hasn’t done much to prepare for the next match because the upcoming opponent really isn’t much to prepare for: the Minnesota Timberwolves, the second-to-last team in the West, currently with only 9 wins and 26 losses.

This ultimate lousy team, which has lost by an average of 7.5 points per game for over six seasons since its establishment, no new NBA team has been as tragic as the Timberwolves. They’ve treated high draft picks like a joke, always picking the wrong options, and even this year, while also picking a high school player, most people believe the Timberwolves have picked the wrong one with their poor vision.

There’s nothing worthy of analysis; might as well let the players have a good rest in the mid-season.

Zhang Hao spent an entire afternoon in the gym, practicing passing, dribbling, shooting, and defensive footwork...

Previously, he experienced what it’s like to take the skills he currently has to the extreme. However, bringing his currently limited skills to that level is clearly not possible. It’s just the system couldn’t find other specialties in him, so it elevated what he’s good at to an almost unreachable level.

Therefore, he needed to learn as much as possible. Even if he ends up playing off the ball, he needs to know a bit more.

As a rookie, in this aspect, he could only explore on his own. It’s not that seeing more means knowing what he needs to do and being able to do it well. Just because he has transmigrated doesn’t make him inherently better; he can at most see a bit more than others. Other people are not blind; they can also look at past examples of those star athletes, they can analyze, and they can learn. But how many can actually succeed?

The good thing is, he has a learning mode. Some things he is taught and starts to learn; once he activates the life-consuming learning mode for simulation learning, he can first confirm in the learning mode if he has talent in that area.

Talent is very important.

What’s a bit disappointing for Zhang Hao is that Garnett didn’t come to hang out with him this time...

...

On January 10th, the game day came for the Lakers’ home match against the Timberwolves.

In the morning, Time Warner Cable Sports aired an exclusive interview.

When Bill Russell was asked about what he thought of Chamberlain’s rookie season single-game scoring record being broken, Russell visibly showed his happiness: "I’ve always believed records are meant to be broken. If someone creates them, someone else can break them. The NBA is getting more and more exciting..."

Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable Sports also specifically mentioned that Chamberlain declined their interview invitation.

When Zhang Hao saw this news in the morning, he felt a bit uneasy—learning how to score two thousand women from Mr. Zhang... no, learning the fadeaway jumper seemed like it might be off the table!

Unfortunately, Olajuwon hasn’t retired yet; otherwise, learning his $50,000 bargain-priced low post footwork would have been an option too.

And as for Jabbar... it’s said that even the Magician finds it hard to have casual chats with him...

"Anyway, no need to worry about that right now. Currently, passing, defense, and post-up backdown... these aspects still haven’t been thoroughly trained to perfection, so strengthen the strong points first. The rest can wait for later."

In the past two days, many current star players also expressed their views on his rookie season 60-point triple-double, mostly courteous, conventional praise.

As for Boss Qiao, he hasn’t commented on this matter yet, which has given Zhang Hao a sigh of relief. If he received a few compliments from him, it would indeed feel a bit intimidating.

By evening, the Lakers’ home court welcomed the challenge from the Timberwolves.

Since their last preseason match-up, this was Zhang Hao’s first meeting with Garnett in almost half a season, and both of them had changed quite a bit.

Garnett, habitually hunching his back...