The Best Point Guard

Chapter 368: Chapter 112: [James, I’ll Eat Off You for a Lifetime]

This was a very practical approach.

You could call it "not squeezing out the very last penny," or you could say it showed a lack of long-term vision and strategic resolve.

But either way, the fact was he had secured his profits.

After Gand cashed out and left, he was able to speak openly about his time as an owner. During a radio interview last week, he was asked if his biggest regret from managing the Cavaliers was trading Little Sheep Su Xi.

He made a zipping motion across his lips to the host.

Then, he added, "I can only tell you that if I hadn’t traded Little Sheep Su Xi, I’d have an extra thirty or fifty million USD in my account right now."

The reporter then asked a very crucial follow-up question: "What role did LeBron play in this trade? Did he tacitly approve, encourage, or actively push for it to happen?"

"None of the above," Gand said, shaking his head.

"Then what was it? Did he have nothing to do with it? Was it a decision made by the team’s management? Or did he use a more extreme method, like threatening the front office and forcing you to choose between the two?" the reporter pressed.

Gand said, "I’m not going to discuss the details. Maybe in five or ten years, someone will naturally come out with the story."

In truth, even without Gand saying a word, many people in Cleveland knew the score.

However, whether for practical or emotional reasons, they had to continue to stand firmly behind James. After all, LeBron was the Son of Akron, their only hope for a revival.

Losing Little Sheep Su Xi was a shame, but he was now the Finals MVP for the Pacers.

Inside the Cavaliers’ new home, Quicken Loans Arena, Su Xi was met with a deluge of boos, interspersed with furious curses.

Su Xi glanced at the brand-new arena before taking the court. It felt completely unfamiliar.

The boos and curses from all around made a smile creep onto his lips. ’This is fine, too,’ he thought.

’We should be strangers when we meet again anyway.’

The Pacers’ starting lineup for tonight was: Su Xi, Reggie Miller, Derek Williams, Krohseil, and Tony Battie.

The lineup had a decent average height, but it was more of a high plateau than a towering peak.

The Cavaliers’ starting lineup was: Eric Snow, Jeff McInnis, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, and Ilgauskas.

One look at the Cavaliers’ lineup and you could see its varied heights, like a mountain range that forms a single peak from the right angle.

The game began.

Ilgauskas won the tip-off against Tony Battie.

Battie was the Cleveland fans’ second most-hated Pacer. When he left the Cavaliers last year, he hadn’t held back in dissing James, calling him a "giant baby," a "fake chieftain of a rundown tribe," and saying the Cavaliers organization was "a little feudal kingdom." He also constantly used Su Xi to mock James. After the Pacers won the championship, he even held up the trophy to the camera and yelled, "Cleveland, this is for you!"

With that kind of provocative, "get-my-revenge-sooner-or-later" attitude, how could Cleveland not loathe him to the bone?

Tony Battie scoffed, paying it no mind whatsoever.

The boos couldn’t hurt him in the slightest.

’The worst hurt he’d ever felt was... ’I fucking fought my heart out in the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, so how the hell did I only get a one-game suspension?’’

Eric Snow brought the ball past half-court and passed it to James.

Derek Williams volunteered for the task of guarding James.

They looked similar in build, but their engines were completely different.

Although James’s first step looked a lot like a travel, he blew past Williams in a single stride. He charged to the rim, and when Krohseil came over to help, James simply bumped him out of the way in mid-air and laid the ball in with one hand.

This was all-time great finishing ability at the rim.

This season, James had bulked up even more. His strength had visibly increased, yet his explosiveness and speed hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

There was really no known way to guard that.

When Krohseil landed, he clutched his ribs and hissed. It hurt so much he felt it in his lungs.

Quicken Loans Arena erupted, chanting "MVP! MVP!" for James.

Su Xi wasn’t stirred by the roar of the crowd.

He played at his own pace.

Eric Snow was a decent defender, but Su Xi led him on a string, deliberately moving toward James.

Sure enough, James came over to double-team.

The two of them—one with experience, the other with superior athleticism.

They joined forces.

The super offensive talent inside Su Xi’s body began to boil.

’You had to hand it to Kobe for coming up with such twisted stuff. This talent was just too masochistic.’

’Look how normal Payton’s, Magic’s, and Bird’s talents were. Even Isaiah Thomas, who looked like a psycho, had a normal talent.’

’Of all the acquired super talents, only Kobe Bryant, that handsome, bright-eyed guy, had to make his so masochistic.’

Of course, Kobe’s acquired super talent was also the strongest.

Under their clenched-jaw defense, Su Xi was genuinely struggling. He rocked back and forth, but thankfully, he had Bird’s super sense of distance.

He found a sliver of space to shoot... and let the ball fly.

CLANG!

It missed.

But the super-skill inside Su Xi was leveling up.

’A few more high-quality bricks like that, and a breakthrough is guaranteed.’

’Once it breaks through another two or three points, I’ll at least be considered a near-elite NBA scorer with the ball.’

’At that level, my control over the court will increase dramatically.’

Amid the gasps of the home crowd, Tony Battie grabbed the rebound. He collected the ball but didn’t immediately go up for a shot.

When he saw Su Xi making a quick cut to the basket, he immediately passed him the ball. Su Xi caught it and exploded upwards. James tried to chase him down from behind, but Tony Battie opportunely stepped in to block his path.

BOOM!

Su Xi threw down a vicious dunk.

Ilgauskas was too slow to react.

A hush fell over Cleveland. The cheers died in their throats, as if something thick and hard had been shoved down them.

An awkward atmosphere spread through Quicken Loans Arena.

It wasn’t until Su Xi landed and high-fived Tony Battie, who bellowed, "YES, SIR!"...

...that the crowd unleashed a tidal wave of boos.

But what was the point?

The game continued.

Su Xi took the initiative to guard James.

He walked up to James, a slight smile on his face. "We meet again."

It was Su Xi who had spoken first.

James’s expression didn’t soften. He was growing a beard now, trying to make himself look like a grown-up.

He didn’t want to seem friendly with Little Sheep Su Xi.

The crowd by the court was already baying for blood, and soon the entire Quicken Loans Arena joined in, roaring their support for James.

This was the perfect chance. "Take out Little Sheep Su Xi! Take out Little Sheep Su Xi!"

These cheers effectively held James hostage.

Everyone had come to see this showdown. You could say they came for the vinegar, not the dumplings.

James, too, wanted to posterize Su Xi with a historic dunk.

He took the pass from Eric Snow.

"If you don’t take a jump shot, you’ll never make a basket."

Su Xi advised James.

But James took it as a provocation—as trash talk.

He immediately made his move.

Su Xi was prepared. You couldn’t guard James the same way you guarded classic scorers like Kobe or Antonio, whose footwork was always clean and precise.

But James had a sort of crude power to his game.

He took one step, put the ball on the floor, and twisted his body to change direction, moving like a high-speed tank.

Su Xi currently weighed around 96 kilograms, which was already on the heavier side for his height. But James was 113 kilograms.

That was a 17-kilogram difference—enough to span two weight classes in a boxing ring.

However, when Su Xi stood his ground against him, he didn’t give up much. In fact, it was James whose steps were thrown into disarray, causing his dribble to lose its rhythm.

Su Xi immediately stuck to him, reaching for the steal.

James quickly gathered the ball, took a long stride to turn, took another half-step back, and jumped, releasing the ball with a classic crab-style fadeaway.

The sequence of moves was a chaotic mess, and it had zero technical difficulty to boot.

CLANG!

The shot bricked.

Su Xi turned and grabbed the rebound.

"You still need a lot more practice."