The Best Point Guard

Chapter 335: Chapter 95: [The Rampaging Chinese Team] (Part 2)

Su Xi himself also candidly admitted to the media, "My shot selection at the end was definitely problematic."

Su Xi was double-teamed twice and chose to shoot both times.

However, Yonas defended Su Xi, explaining, "There was nothing wrong with Jack’s shots. At that time, Yao’s stamina was limited, and his teammates had missed their shots earlier. I told him to stay aggressive."

As for why Su Xi did it, besides Yao Ming’s stamina issues and his other teammates’ shots being cold, the most important reason was that he wanted to use the group stage to level up his on-ball offense.

The super offensive talent he’d ’plagiarized’ from Kobe needed to be challenged by tough defense. The evolution of this acquired talent from Kobe was bizarre. Other talents could evolve in regular matchups, and while this one could too, it was lazy. But when faced with a high-difficulty defense, it would quickly activate. The more critical the moment, the higher the difficulty, and the more shots he bricked, the more excited it became.

Su Xi’s two bricks raised his super offensive talent by 1 point, bringing it to 74.

It was a worthy trade-off.

After all, it was just a group stage match.

Afterward, the Chinese Team played Serbia and Montenegro and then New Zealand, winning both games easily.

Their final showdown was against Italy. Italy was also strong this year, having already taken down the Dream Team in an exhibition game.

But the Chinese Team gave them no chance. They attacked from the inside right away, with Yao Ming opening the scoring. Su Xi followed with a ferocious assault, and then Wang Zhizhi led a group of tall shooters who continuously launched shots from the perimeter.

The Italians held on until the fifth minute of the fourth quarter before they couldn’t take it anymore and chose to initiate garbage time themselves.

With the final group stage match concluded,

the final standings for Group A and Group B were out.

In Group A, Spain and the Chinese Team had both lost only one game, tying with 9 points each. Argentina and Italy had both lost two games, tying with 8 points. New Zealand and Serbia and Montenegro were eliminated. (The rule for the Olympic group stage is that a win earns 2 points, and a loss earns 1 point.)

Group B was more complicated. Lithuania lost one game, earning 9 points. Greece, Puerto Rico, and the United States all lost two games, tying with 8 points. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Ties in points were broken by point differential.

The final standings for Group A were: Spain, China, Italy, Argentina.

The Group B standings were: Lithuania, Greece, Puerto Rico, United States.

Once these standings were released, it was obvious who was the most embarrassed.

The Dream Six Team had come to Athens vowing revenge, their slogans ringing to the heavens. The entire United States knew they were dead set on winning the Olympic gold medal.

But now, after the group stage, not only did they lack the air of an all-conquering force, they had barely scraped their way into the quarterfinals.

This made people worry whether they could even make it to the finals.

After all, their opponent in the quarterfinals was the top seed from Group A, Spain.

With the Dream Team looking so sluggish this Olympics, the other powerhouses were all fired up, ready to give it their all and fight for the top spot.

At this moment, the state of Olympic men’s basketball strongly resembled a period in Chinese history: when the Qin dynasty lost its deer, all under heaven chased it.

The Chinese Team’s quarterfinal opponent, Puerto Rico, was the most ambitious of them all.

Having beaten the Dream Team 92-73 to close out the group stage, their confidence was through the roof after the 19-point victory.

Their core player was point guard Arroyo. In the NBA, Arroyo was just a bench player with very few opportunities to play. But in the FIBA system, he was like a fish in water. In the game where they defeated the Dream Team, he utterly embarrassed Iverson and Marbury, two point guards from the golden generation.

Arroyo hoped to use this Olympic opportunity to change the trajectory of his NBA career, and he ambitiously planned to defeat Su Xi.

He believed this was his best chance. Once they returned to the NBA, Su Xi would be the high and mighty Finals MVP, while he would go back to the bench to continue his bleak and torturous wait.

"On the Olympic court, I don’t need to fear anyone. I feel I can beat anyone."

"There’s no seniority here. I have the ball in my hands enough, and I can go head-to-head with any of those high-and-mighty stars and beat them."

Arroyo declared ambitiously during an interview with ESPN.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who those words were aimed at.

The American media loved to fan the flames and see this kind of tense, confrontational matchup.

They even went out of their way to show Arroyo’s interview to Su Xi to get a reaction.

But Su Xi was unfazed. He simply said, "I’m aware."

Then, he asked the reporter, "Have you heard of Liu Xiang? He just won the gold medal for China in the 110-meter hurdles. He’s amazing. You should give him your biggest round of applause. He made history. He’s the greatest Asian ’Flying Man’ in history, and he broke the monopoly in track and field."

Su Xi’s face was full of pride as he mentioned Liu Xiang.

He was like Liu Xiang’s promotional ambassador. The ESPN reporter listened to him chat about the 110-meter hurdles for a while, then excused himself.

Liu Xiang was the biggest surprise for the Chinese delegation at this year’s Olympics. After winning the gold medal, he quickly became a household name. His commercial value skyrocketed, and his personal fame reached unprecedented levels in China and throughout Asia.

The last Asian athlete to be this famous was Su Xi.

Of course, the most famous one was still Su Xi.

Basketball was still a bit more popular than the 110-meter hurdles.

The men’s basketball quarterfinal attracted over 300 million viewers in China, as the game was broadcast during prime time.

As soon as the game started, Su Xi gave Arroyo a little taste of Chinese shock and awe.

He drove straight from the three-point line, bulldozing his way in. He powerfully bumped Arroyo aside. Arroyo had tried to grab Su Xi for a moment but was sent tumbling to the floor by Su Xi’s powerful momentum. He could only watch helplessly as Su Xi charged into the paint and, with a screen from Yao Ming, finished with a violent slam dunk.

A show of dominance right from the start.

’I don’t care how smug Arroyo was in front of Iverson and Marbury. In front of me, you’d better keep a low profile.’

Su Xi wasn’t about to put up with anyone’s crap.

Marbury and Iverson weren’t defensive stalwarts, nor were they accustomed to FIBA’s physical, contact-heavy style of play.

But Su Xi excelled at it.

As soon as Arroyo received the inbound pass, Su Xi pressed him full-court.

Arroyo’s ball-handling was high-level, but he still stumbled his way across half-court. The moment he paused to set up the offense, Su Xi seized the opportunity to swarm him with all sorts of harassment.

Puerto Rico had no choice but to call for a screen.

But Su Xi was the best perimeter defender in the world at fighting through screens. Just as Arroyo used the screen to change direction, Su Xi used his world-class flexibility to spin around quickly, silently creeping up behind Arroyo like a cat. The moment Arroyo’s dribble was exposed... SMACK!

Su Xi’s right hand shot out, slapping the ball loose.

Wang Zhizhi, up ahead, was already prepared. He scooped up the loose ball and launched it downcourt. Job done.

Su Xi sprinted down the court, caught the ball, and once again charged into the paint for another ferocious dunk.

The Chinese fans in the arena were ecstatic, waving red flags and roaring with excitement.

At that moment, the camera cut to the Chinese Team’s bench, where Isaiah Thomas let out a yawn. He was already used to this.

He had long since predicted that Su Xi would be even more in his element in FIBA than in the NBA.

Because FIBA encourages contact and emphasizes defense.

Unlike the NBA, which was calling more and more "ticky-tack" fouls.

Moreover, Su Xi’s ball-handling was superb, reminiscent of his own style back in the day.

To play in FIBA, just being physically strong isn’t enough; you also have to be secure with the ball.

LeBron James is also physically strong, but why didn’t he play well? Because his technique wasn’t there yet. In 11 minutes against Puerto Rico, he was called for traveling three times.

Here, the referees have sharp eyes and call things by the book, without any ambiguity.

Su Xi didn’t have that problem.

Furthermore, Su Xi was a better open shooter than James. Su Xi could play both on-ball and off-ball.

How could a versatile player like him not be suited for FIBA?

Those guards called the ’Kings of Europe’—aren’t they all just like Su Xi? Strong, can handle the ball, have an open shot... Su Xi was an upgraded version of a ’King of Europe’ in every single aspect.

Sweeping through FIBA was like a walk in the park for him.

Puerto Rico’s miracle didn’t last.

Although they beat Team USA by 19 points in the group stage, the Chinese Team built that same lead in just one half.

After that, it was just about collecting some interest on the Dream Six Team’s behalf.

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