Zhao Dong walked toward the backcourt, head held high. His teammates were rushing toward him, and the crowd of Houston fans watched in stunned silence. At this moment, he was the center of the damn universe.
"Yo, Charles, that's your punishment right there," Zhao Dong suddenly turned and shouted at Barkley, who was still standing there like a statue.
Barkley didn't react at first. Then, like a bull seeing red, he rushed forward, fists clenched, straight-up losing his mind.
Zhao Dong sidestepped effortlessly, and Barkley went flying into the stands, his big ass sticking out while he struggled to climb back up.
"Stupid pig," Zhao Dong scoffed before getting mobbed by Oakley and the rest of the squad.
"Zhao, you got too much energy, man! You got Barkley going crazy out here!" Oakley shouted, hyped as hell.
"Zhao, that was legendary!" Larry Johnson was jumping around like a damn kid, yelling from the bench.
Barkley finally got up, looking beyond embarrassed. His face was red, and he had that wild look in his eyes, like he wanted to kill someone. But before he could do anything, Hakeem and the others grabbed him, trying to hold him back.
Dude was done for the night. His body language screamed it. The man had lost his confidence, his pride shattered. Zhao Dong had buried him right there on the court.
Rockets head coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, just sighed. He knew it was time. Timeout. His team's morale was shot to hell. Not just Barkley, but everyone. Even Hakeem was looking rattled. Three highlight plays in a row? Yeah, nobody could handle that.
13-7. Rockets called timeout right after the inbound.
Zhao Dong? Perfect. 5-for-5 from the field, 1-for-1 from three. In just five minutes, he had 11 points and a block.
Up in the NBC booth, Doug Collins had his hand on his headset, listening to the producer, his face a mix of shock and amusement. Marv Albert noticed and asked, "What's up?"
"Zhao just hit Barkley with some of the coldest trash talk I've ever heard," Collins said, shaking his head.
Marv leaned in. "What'd he say?"
Collins grinned. "He told Barkley, 'A shot without a defender is meaningless.'"
Marv's jaw dropped. "Oh my God, no wonder Barkley lost it!"
"Yeah, Zhao cooked him three times in a row, hit him with early celebrations in his face, and then dropped that line? Barkley snapped."
"Man, Barkley's done for the night," Marv said, shaking his head.
"From now on, they have to double-team Zhao," Collins said, knowing damn well Rockets had no other choice.
Marv nodded. "Zhao isn't just beating them—he's humiliating them. He's playing with them like it's a damn scrimmage."
"He's killing them and letting them know he doesn't respect them," Collins added. "It's brutal."
"The only guy who can save them now is Olajuwon," Marv said seriously. "This ain't just a regular-season game anymore. This feels like the Finals."
Sitting on the bench, Zhao Dong turned to Ewing. "Yo, Pat, let's put these boys to sleep tonight."
Ewing, already fired up, nodded. "Hell yeah."
"Zhao, water?" Knicks rookie McCarty handed him a cup.
Zhao took it, then grabbed a towel from John Wallace. The two rookies? Yeah, they weren't trying to compete anymore. They were his damn assistants at this point.
Timeout ended. Game back on.
But Barkley? Nowhere to be found.
Without him, Rockets had nobody at the four who could even slow Zhao Dong down. The only answer? Double-teams. Everywhere. Inside, outside—it didn't matter.
Zhao adjusted. More passing, fewer forced shots, running pick-and-rolls to break the traps.
By the 9th minute of the first quarter, he checked out.
His first-quarter stat line? 6-for-7 from the field, 1-for-1 from three, 2-for-2 from the line. He had 15 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 1 foul.
As he walked past the Rockets bench, he locked eyes with Barkley. The man was staring him down, looking ready to throw hands. Zhao Dong smirked. If he made just one more move, Barkley would charge at him like a bull.
End of the first. 30-20, Knicks up by 10 on the road.
Zhao checked back in halfway through the second quarter. Ewing was on the bench now, so it was Zhao's show.
Rockets? Still no Barkley.
Even with the double-teams, Zhao kept working the low post, bullying his defenders.
Rockets got desperate. Hard fouls. Hack-a-Zhao mode activated.
Didn't matter.
He went 2-for-5 from the field but 6-for-7 from the line. Another 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block. He also drew four fouls on Houston's backup bigs.
Halftime score? 57-45, Knicks up by 12.
---
Meanwhile, in Chicago...
Bulls' locker room.
Jordan and his squad had just wrapped up their first half. Now, the ESPN halftime show was on, replaying the night's biggest highlights.
And at the top? Zhao Dong.
The ESPN commentator was losing his mind. "OH MY GOD! This celebration just broke the league! This is an ALL-TIME moment!"
Jordan's eyes narrowed.
"This kid is too damn cocky," he muttered, pointing at the screen.
He wasn't happy. He had been waiting to see Barkley punk this rookie. But instead, Barkley was the one getting embarrassed.
And this? This was different. This wasn't just highlights—this was history. Barkley was getting meme'd before memes even existed.
Jordan exhaled, then smirked. "Damn… I gotta do that move one of these days."
Pippen chuckled. "Yeah, that was cold. Might have to steal that."
The shooters in the room? They were locked in, taking notes.
"Shit, I never want that done to me," Rodman grumbled. "I'd just take the guy out."
Jordan nodded. "Yeah, if someone did that to me, I'd lay 'em out too."
Then, they watched Zhao's second and third celebrations.
When the commentator read Zhao's words—"A shot without a defender is meaningless."—the entire locker room went quiet.
Nothing but the TV playing.
After a long pause, Jordan finally spoke. "That's some Larry Bird-level disrespect."
Pippen nodded. "That's gonna be a legendary quote."
All the shooters in the room agreed. They were already imagining pulling that move themselves.
Rodman, still pissed, muttered, "What a load of bullshit."
But deep down? He knew.
That quote was gonna stick.
Forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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