Free Web NovelChapter 354: Chapter 105: [The Wandering Su Xi Plan] (Part 2)
"Last season, he didn’t win the Finals MVP; he saw himself as just one member of the team. This season, after winning the Finals MVP and an Olympic gold medal, he has finally revealed his ambition. He’s like a fledgling Kobe Bryant, eager to prove that he’s a league superstar and the absolute master of the Pacers. He’s started playing the game his own way..."
"And then, the disaster began."
This article circulated widely and was very influential.
Larry Bird said the report was bullshit.
Rick Carlisle said he couldn’t comment on something completely fabricated, but he had to admit it had a large market among the ’purist fan’ group.
This so-called ’purist fan’ group was a bunch of die-hards who firmly believed that American basketball was invincible and that Black players were unmatched by anyone in the world.
This was not a small group.
There were even some unofficial members in China. Even after Su Xi brought an Olympic gold medal back to his homeland, they remained on their knees, unwilling to stand up. They felt lucky, thinking that if the Dream Team hadn’t been eliminated by Argentina, it would have been difficult for China to reap the benefits. They even hypocritically thanked the group stage point system, as if the Chinese Team was guaranteed to lose if they had faced the Dream Six Team.
Su Xi read the report too. He saw it was full of absurdities.
But he didn’t mind.
’Whatever. Let them say what they want.’
Besides, there was a grain of truth to what it said.
It wasn’t like the other paper next to him, the *Hollywood Lovers’ Report*. They were already writing "news" in earnest, describing Su Xi’s escapades with the four little Disney princesses plus Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston. The opening line was: Little Sheep Su Xi awoke on a 60-square-meter bed. He opened his eyes to find a sea of naked female bodies lying beside him, the guests in his bed as star-studded as the Academy Awards ceremony...
The damn description actually made Su Xi blush.
Su Xi had thought nothing in this world could make him feel ashamed anymore, until Hu Su Bao picked up the newspaper. Tony Battie had a damn habit of reading the paper out loud as he went.
And his voice was ridiculously loud. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Truly worthy of a good boy who’d been in the church choir since he was a kid.
It made everyone turn their heads and prick up their ears to listen.
Su Xi asked him, "Can’t you just shut your mouth?"
"I have a reading disability. If I don’t read it out loud, I can’t recognize the words," Hu Su Bao said very seriously.
From the next table, Larry Bird even vouched for him, "It’s true, Jack. The kid read his new contract out loud just like that, word for word."
HAHAHAHA!
His teammates and the staff all burst out laughing.
’Dammit, they’re all a bunch of weirdos.’
Su Xi was in despair.
After Tony Battie finished reading, he said with great seriousness, "These broads don’t seem like good people."
Su Xi looked at the earnest Battie and suddenly thought Tony Battie’s tone sounded a bit like someone from Tianjin.
"It’s just stuff written by some tabloid on the street," Su Xi said, annoyed.
"No, I guarantee these starlets all want to sleep with you. They want to get publicity and exposure from you, unimaginable pleasure, and a beautiful face. Jack, you have to be careful. You can’t satisfy them, and you definitely can’t give them a taste of it. I suggest you have your management team issue a statement immediately and file a lawsuit against this writer..."
Battie grew more and more serious as he spoke.
His protection of Su Xi was all-encompassing.
Not a single angle was to be left exposed.
"Let’s talk about our next few opponents."
Su Xi decided to use basketball to put a stop to this line of discussion.
The Pacers’ next three opponents were the Mavericks, the Rockets, and the Phoenix Suns.
This season, the Mavericks had picked up Jason Terry after the Hawks dismantled their team, and they also got Stackhouse and re-signed Eric Dampier.
Their lineup was pretty solid. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Although Mavericks fans still couldn’t understand why Mark Cuban didn’t give Nash a big contract, letting him go to Phoenix.
The Rockets had also shown powerful momentum this year. During the offseason, they made a trade that shook the entire basketball world, packaging Francis and others to Orlando in exchange for scoring champion Tracy McGrady and some role players.
The shock of this trade was no less than the Shark heading East.
Because for the past two years, Tracy McGrady had been the number one guard in the league. And Yao Ming’s growth rate was astonishing; he had just helped the Chinese Team win a legendary Olympic gold medal in Athens alongside Su Xi.
People had every reason to believe they would form one of the strongest inside-outside duos in history. Everyone was comparing the two to the OK Combination of old.
Moreover, everyone believed that the humble Yao Ming and the low-key McGrady couldn’t possibly have the kind of conflict the OK Combination had.
Besides, the Rockets had a history of successful championship-winning inside-outside duos like Drexler and Olajuwon, and they had also hired former Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy in the offseason.
Everyone was extremely optimistic about the Rockets.
When Tracy McGrady arrived in Houston, he stated very firmly: "I came here for only one thing: a championship! A championship! A championship! And another goddamn championship!"
McGrady had finally escaped Orlando, and he was full of confidence that he could break the curse of his first-round exit fate.
And he had great faith in Yao Ming. He said Yao was the best center in the league, and after watching Yao’s performance in the Olympics, he called it "dominant."
The Houston media also hoped that he and Yao Ming could replicate the "Olympic gold medal effect" that Su Xi and Yao had.
However, McGrady wasn’t very fond of this comparison.
He didn’t want to be mentioned in the same breath as Su Xi. Although their relationship wasn’t that bad, he always felt that he was much stronger than Su Xi.
Another opponent was the Phoenix Suns.
This season, the Suns had hired a coach named Mike D’Antoni. Led by Steve Nash, they were playing a very new, very fast style of basketball that was already creating a whirlwind storm.
Although the season had just begun, Su Xi could already feel a new era was dawning.
The league was undergoing subtle changes.
For example, the officiating standards.
Even though the Dream Six Team, composed of NBA stars, had failed spectacularly at the Olympics, it didn’t affect David Stern’s determination to promote offense in the NBA. He couldn’t stand watching games that played out like lullabies.
This was directly reflected in the calls made against defensive players.
Last season, Su Xi could shamelessly entangle his opponents. But this season, the referees were particularly sensitive to wrap-up defense, especially the act of placing a hand on an opponent while defending... It was like a virgin on his first hotel room date—the slightest touch and the alarm went off!
TWEET TWEET TWEET.
Word was already out that the league would further restrict defenders’ actions. In the future, defenders would be even more hamstrung when facing a ball-handler.
Artest was furious about this. He even said, "Why don’t they just tie up all the defenders’ hands and see who’s best at rope bondage."
Such a statement went against the current trend.
Because encouraging offense was far more valuable than encouraging defense.
This was also why Su Xi was feeling an increasing urgency to improve his offensive abilities: once defense was weakened by the rules, his influence on the court would decline if his offense couldn’t keep up.
Therefore, in this game against the Mavericks in Dallas, Su Xi was still proactively challenging the defense.
It was just that among the Mavericks’ perimeter players, not a single one could put up a fight. His college rivals, Josh Howard and Daniels, were no longer in the same league as him. As for Stackhouse and Jason Terry, neither of them were cut out for defense.
So, Su Xi played with a sense of listlessness. He drove into the paint, but there was no decent defense there either.
That night, Su Xi’s offensive efficiency was pretty good.
In the end, Su Xi blocking Jason Terry’s game-winning shot attempt also helped the Pacers secure the victory.
In this game, Su Xi took 23 shots and made 12, for a shooting percentage over fifty percent. His volume and efficiency were both above average, and he also added 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.
The all-around king’s skills were as all-around as ever.
Next stop, the Chinese Derby.
