The All-Star Weekend was a flash in the pan—dazzling, but fleeting.
Back in Los Angeles, the Lakers were staring down the barrel of a brutal two-month sprint to the finish line of the regular season.
The atmosphere in the locker room had shifted.
There was less small talk, more focus.
Everyone knew the stakes: the games following the All-Star break would determine whether they'd be booking vacations in mid-April or fighting for their lives on basketball's center stage.
Link immediately pulled up the System interface in his mind.
> [Available Training: Open Threes (Advanced), Athleticism (Advanced), Catch & Shoot (Advanced), Layups (Advanced)...]
His eyes locked onto [Open Threes (Advanced)].
Competing against legends like Ray Allen in the Three-Point Contest had been a wake-up call. He realized just how wide the gap still was between him and the shooters who would go down in history.
The playoffs were the stage for superstars, but they were also the ultimate litmus test for role players. The defensive intensity would ramp up to a whole new level. Spacing would be suffocated, and opportunities would vanish in a split second.
He needed to maintain his accuracy under higher pressure, in tighter windows, and at a faster pace.
> [Mission: Open Threes (Advanced)]
> [Objective: Make 50,000 swish (nothing-but-net) three-pointers.]
> [Progress: 0 / 50,000]
Fifty thousand.
Link's breath hitched when he saw the number.
It was a figure that sent a chill down his spine. Even after surviving several "hell weeks" of training, this made his scalp tingle. This wasn't something he could power through in a week or two. This was going to require a month or two of relentless, back-breaking consistency.
Link let out a bitter laugh and shook his head.
The immediate future was going to be painful.
"It is what it is," Link muttered, clenching his fist. "Time to embrace the grind."
---
The journey began.
Team practices, tactical walkthroughs, and game days consumed the vast majority of his schedule. That meant his personal training time was pushed into the dead of night.
Often, past midnight, the lights of the Staples Center practice facility burned for just one person.
Thud... Swish...
Thud... Swish...
The progress bar on the System panel ticked up slowly but steadily.
> [127 / 50,000]
> [588 / 50,000]
> [1,103 / 50,000] ...
Link originally planned to make 1,000 shots a day, hoping to clear the mission in 50 days of hellish effort. But reality hit hard—the physical toll was worse than he imagined. He couldn't sustain that pace for more than two weeks.
Amy, acting as his health consultant, monitored his vitals closely.
" The load on your heart and knees is spiking, Link . You have to dial back the volume!" Amy warned, waving the data charts in his face with a serious expression.
While Link was grinding in the shadows, the NBA regular season marched on.
Post-All-Star, the Lakers were riding a rollercoaster of inconsistency.
Kobe Bryant continued his terrifying scoring output. He had a stranglehold on the league scoring title; that wasn't even a question anymore.
But basketball is a five-man game.
The Lakers simply lacked overall talent and depth. They could steal wins on nights when Kobe went nuclear, but they weren't truly a powerhouse.
The interior remained their soft underbelly. Kwame Brown was still failing to play like a number one pick. Andrew Bynum showed flashes of brilliance, but he was young and volatile. Lamar Odom was the team's steady second option, but he wasn't a dominant force.
On the perimeter, however, Link was a rare bright spot.
After Smush Parker was shipped out of the rotation, Link minutes were solidified. On some nights, Phil Jackson even experimented with starting Link alongside Kobe, sliding the Mamba to the small forward spot.
Aside from being a bit undersized on defense, the pairing worked surprisingly well.
Link was averaging nearly 25 minutes a game, putting up around 14 points with a three-point percentage hovering at 40.5%. He had become a reliable tactical chess piece for the Zen Master.
Yet, the team's record was erratic, hovering between the 6th and 8th seeds in the West. Every win was critical; every loss brought the chasing pack closer.
The league landscape was shifting, too. The West was a bloodbath, with the Spurs, Suns, and Mavericks locking down the top three spots. The Nuggets, Grizzlies, Hornets, and Lakers were in a dogfight for the remaining playoff berths.
The East was more clear-cut, with the Heat, Pistons, and Nets leading the pack.
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, they reached the final stretch of the season.
The Lakers went on a three-game win streak, only to drop two in a row immediately after. They slipped to the 8th seed, with a razor-thin margin separating them from the 9th.
The last three games of the season were essentially playoff games.
Meanwhile, the once-despairing number on Link's system panel was finally nearing the finish line.
> [49,376 / 50,000]
> [49,681 / 50,000]
> [49,798 / 50,000] ...
On a night in mid-April, the Lakers survived a grueling overtime battle at home against the Kings, scraping by with a win that temporarily bumped them up to 7th.
The game ended near 11:00 PM.
Exhausted, Link returned to his apartment, shoveled down some food for energy, and took a one-hour nap.
At 1:00 AM, he headed back to the practice facility alone.
The [Open Threes (Advanced)] training was in its final sprint.
The gym was empty.
Memories of the past two months flashed through his mind—countless late nights, soaked jerseys, aching muscles...
Link took a deep breath and walked to his sweet spot: the left corner.
He picked up a ball.
Dip, knee bend, lift, flick.
The shooting motion was etched into the deepest fibers of his muscles.
The ball sliced through the air.
Swish!
Nothing but net.
Simultaneously, the cold, robotic voice of the System rang out in his mind.
Target acquired.
---
Swish!
> [49,987 / 50,000]
---
> [49,993 / 50,000]
---
> [49,999 / 50,000]
One. Last. Ball.
Link shook out his trembling hands.
He felt a strange mix of excitement and nerves.
He moved to the top of the key—historically his lowest percentage spot, but the one he had hammered relentlessly during this long grind.
Same motion. Same focus.
Release.
The flight path of the ball was perfection.
The moment it left his fingertips, Link knew.
It was good.
Swish!
As the net snapped for the second time, the System notification chimed right on cue.
> [50,000 / 50,000]
> [Congratulations, Host. Mission Complete.]
> [Reward: Three-Point Shooting +20%. Unlocked Skill: Focused Shooter (Lv3)]
> [Focused Shooter (Lv3): Significantly increases shooting stability and resistance to defensive interference (Cooldown removed; passive buff permanent). Bonus Effect: Hitting consecutive threes temporarily boosts the accuracy of subsequent shots.]
> [Congratulations. Three-Point Rating upgraded to A+.]
> [When specific Ability Ratings reach A+, exclusive Advanced Training modules are unlocked.]
> [New Training Unlocked: Deep Threes (Advanced)]
> [Completing this Advanced Training will raise Three-Point Rating to S-Tier and unlock new skills.]
> [Currently Locked: Pull-up Jumpers (Requires Catch & Shoot A+), Post-Fadeaway (Requires Mid-Range A+)...]
A look of pure euphoria erupted in Link's eyes, washing away the exhaustion of the training.
He felt a profound, almost spiritual understanding of his shot mechanics, branded deep into his nervous system. He could feel every subtle shift in his balance and power generation with high-definition clarity.
Adjustments that used to require conscious thought were now as instinctive as breathing.
A+ Grade Open Threes!
Even more exciting was the new module: Deep Threes.
This meant the door was now open for him to evolve from an elite shooter into a historic one.
Link opened his attribute panel. His Overall Rating hadn't jumped a tier yet—moving from C+ to B- seemingly required a massive amount of attribute points.
But the long grind was over, just as the regular season was coming to a close.
The playoffs were right around the corner.