Free Web NovelChapter 353: Chapter 105: [The Wandering Su Xi Project]
"Meat Bodhisattva" Su Xi suffered a Waterloo of a defeat in San Antonio.
The Pacers lost by 18 points. Su Xi himself took 25 shots, making only 9 of them.
The San Antonio Spurs were a traditional powerhouse. Unlike the dysfunctional Lakers, they were a great wall of steel. Bruce Bowen was wrapped around Su Xi all night like a sexy aunt in leopard print.
Bowen was a defensive thug. His dirty footwork was unparalleled in the league; countless superstars had been forced to change their playstyle because of him.
But Su Xi only grew bolder. He not only actively sought out Bowen but even went at Duncan with Bowen still defending him.
Duncan was still full of pent-up frustration from his crushing defeat at the Olympics. This "flying demon" was especially fired up tonight, sandwiching Su Xi in double-teams. Yet even under these circumstances, Su Xi was still able to get his shots off with ease.
He just couldn’t make them, that’s all.
The more they played, the more Duncan felt something was off. As far as he knew, Su Xi was a very smart player. This style of play was completely out of character for him; it was Kobe’s style.
’Besides, Su Xi’s offensive ability is clearly not on Kobe’s level. Why is he on such a suicide mission? Shouldn’t he be avoiding me, or passing the ball to Little O’Neal when I double-team him?’
Su Xi gave him the same feeling as a beautiful woman constantly seducing him, only to let him have her with surprising ease.
But it left him feeling hollow inside.
’Jack definitely has a scheme! What’s he up to? He’s not trying to poison me, is he?’
It wasn’t just Duncan who felt something was off. Popovich felt it too. He couldn’t figure out this strategy.
Popovich had carefully studied both the Finals in June and the Olympics in August. ’Little Sheep Su Xi didn’t used to play like this! This is just exposing his own weaknesses. Why would he challenge his own weak points right in front of us?’
’Is he using this to test the Spurs?’
’Trying to make us think he’s some impulsive, simple-minded, hot-blooded player?’
Popovich’s mind raced.
It kept him up late into the night, wondering: ’What on earth is he after?’
"Why did we lose? Because I missed a lot of shots," Su Xi told the snarky reporter, his tone matter-of-fact.
The reporter asked again, "If one person had to take responsibility for tonight’s loss, who would you say it is?"
"Me!"
Su Xi thumped his chest, his voice even more forceful.
With that kind of presence... anyone who didn’t know better would have thought he’d won.
The reporter was stunned speechless, his brain practically short-circuiting. Then, he asked a rather amateurish question: "So, why did you miss so many shots?"
"That’s a good question."
Su Xi thought about it earnestly before saying, "There are two reasons. One is that the Spurs’ defense was decent. The other is that my touch was just off tonight."
Huh?
’What’s the difference between saying that and saying nothing at all?’ freewёbnoνel.com
He wanted to ask more, but Su Xi had already waved at the camera, flashed a charming smile, and strode away.
’How can he still be smiling?’
Yes.
Su Xi could smile because he was very happy. ’The Spurs really are something else! Truly a top-3 team in defensive efficiency. Bowen was great, and Duncan was absolutely fantastic!’
’That "post-birth super talent" set of Kobe’s is just insane. Leveling it up is fucking difficult. After all, Kobe’s been bricking shots for years, and I’ve only just started... though I’m actually speeding up the process.’ freewebnovёl.ƈom
’If I were bricking shots at Kobe’s pace, who knows how long it would take to master it.’
In this game, Su Xi successfully gained 1 point.
The team lost, but they hadn’t planned on winning anyway.
The Pacers’ expectations for their regular-season record were low this year; just making the playoffs would be enough. It was similar to Jordan and his Bulls, who didn’t deliberately chase regular-season records either.
Besides, the entire Pacers team was in a slump at the moment.
After the loss to the Spurs, the American sports media was ecstatic.
Su Xi had won last season’s Finals MVP and then miraculously led the Chinese Team to a gold medal in the Olympics.
It had given them all ulcers.
They couldn’t explain one thing to the fans: if they constantly denied Su Xi’s strength as an individual player, how did he manage to lead the Chinese Team to a gold medal?
They had adamantly explained to the fans why Su Xi wasn’t a superstar, arguing that even his Finals MVP was just because the Pacers were a strong team overall. Then, in the blink of an eye, he went and made history on the international stage, leading a weak team to a miraculous gold medal.
Their credibility and authority faced an unprecedented challenge.
Now, they could finally gloat.
They finally dared to run headlines like: "TRUE! COLORS! REVEALED!"
Basketball pundits came out of the woodwork to prove how wise and prescient their arguments had been.
They analyzed Su Xi from every possible angle.
One widely circulated article included a paragraph that read: "...At his core, Jack doesn’t play with his brain; he relies purely on his body. Players faster than him aren’t as explosive, and players more explosive than him aren’t as strong... No swingman in the NBA has more power than him. On top of that, his flexibility is outstanding. He can pull off all sorts of incredible moves, just like how he gets so many Hollywood starlets to flock to him, or how he can make Jessica experience unimaginable pleasure... But beyond that, what else is there?"
"A superstar must be top-tier, or even an all-time great, in at least two of the three core skills: passing, cutting, and shooting. But for Little Sheep Su Xi, only his drives are unstoppable; we could even call them all-time great. However, his passing is merely above-average for the league, and he isn’t always willing to distribute the ball. As for his offensive arsenal off the dribble, it’s only average, yet he demands a very high usage rate."
