Free Web NovelChapter 376: Chapter 116: [NBA Top 10, Su Xi’s Evolution]
He relentlessly challenged Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan’s defense, and on offense, he remained extra vigilant against Ginobili.
109:101.
Su Xi won the Christmas game, and he also got a triple-double and 1 point of Super Offensive Talent... It was a massive haul.
After the game, a smiling Su Xi was asked, "Eva said that if Tony Parker wins the championship this year, she’ll marry him. Will you make that happen for the happy couple?"
"I don’t think that ’Desperate Housewife’ is being sincere at all. She knows full well the San Antonio Spurs can’t win the championship, yet she’s still creating such an obstacle for her marriage," Su Xi said candidly. "She should marry for love, no strings attached."
Then, a reporter from San Antonio asked pointedly, "So what about you, Jack? When do you plan on walking down the aisle? Do you have any plans to propose to Jessica or Scarlett? Last week, Scarlett said she hopes to be a mother by 28 and a housewife by 30. Are you going to be the one to make her a mother and a housewife?"
"And what about Jessica? Are you going to keep her as a long-term mistress, or are you going to marry her too?"
"What outlet are you with?" Su Xi demanded on Christmas Eve, glaring at the malicious reporter.
"The *Texas Honest Man Post*."
"There’s nothing honest about you. I’m not answering your hypothetical questions. You’re fake news!"
Su Xi ended the interview.
He had been all set to talk to the San Antonio reporters about ’how I managed to average a triple-double in December,’ or ’how I’m effortlessly leading Indiana to the best record in the East.’
But instead, these reporters were completely unprofessional. They didn’t ask about basketball; they went straight for the gossip.
Weren’t they just rubbing salt in his wounds?
Su Xi had been dealing with some emotional turmoil lately. Dating two rising Hollywood starlets at the same time was no easy task. It was a lot of fun, sure—he got to unlock plenty of new positions and come up with a lot of new... inventions. But it also brought trouble.
For instance, they had been dating for quite some time now.
And both women were starting to want a more official status.
After that pregnancy scare with Scarlett, Su Xi had become even more cautious. He wasn’t quite on the level of that one future rapper—the one who supposedly poured hot sauce into the condom after they were done ’playing poker’ to be safe—but he was being extremely careful.
Su Xi’s cautiousness made the sensitive Scarlett feel insecure, and she began to suspect he was planning to leave her. She tried everything she could think of, proactively fulfilling even more of Su Xi’s strange requests—wearing a Superwoman costume, a nurse’s uniform, a high-slit cheongsam...
At the same time, she wanted to make things official with Su Xi as soon as possible. She reminded him more than once that they could go to Las Vegas and get married secretly, without anyone being the wiser.
But Su Xi wasn’t ready.
Su Xi’s evasiveness only made Scarlett more insecure. She suspected Jessica Alba was sabotaging things behind the scenes.
So, she started making passive-aggressive comments to the media again.
Jessica Alba smelled the smoke of war and quickly jumped into battle mode herself, bringing both of their "shipper" fanbases into the fray.
Every day, Su Xi felt like he was living in a war zone. It was as if war correspondents were constantly running up to tell him what had happened in the last 24 hours and what kind of verbal volleys the two sides had exchanged.
Honestly, Su Xi was getting tired of it.
Young men enjoy the pleasures of love; they don’t want to deal with the trouble that comes with it. Especially... this much trouble.
...
Su Xi was on the ballot for the Eastern Conference All-Stars.
Once voting opened, he left everyone else in the dust, taking a commanding lead.
This time, no basketball pundits came out to claim Su Xi was undeserving.
Su Xi’s performance this year could only be described as remarkable.
While he was clanking a few more shots than usual and his offensive efficiency was a bit low...
...his team’s first-place record in the East was all the proof he needed. Averaging a triple-double for the entire month of December wasn’t something just anyone could do.
In the December player power rankings, Su Xi cracked the top ten in the league for the first time.
Number one was still Shaquille O’Neal, who was in great form with the Miami Heat. Pat Riley had clearly sold him on the vision, and Riley’s training regimen was notoriously grueling. If you played for him, you either survived and became an iron man, or you washed out.
O’Neal and the Heat were still in their honeymoon phase. Riley had lightened his training load a bit, but it was still undoubtedly much more intense than his regimen with the Lakers.
This allowed O’Neal to maintain the last vestiges of his prime, leading Miami to a strong second-place standing in the East.
The league’s second-ranked superstar was Tim Duncan, though many considered him the de facto number one player in the league.
In any case, ever since Jordan’s second three-peat, those two had basically monopolized the league championship... except for last season, when Su Xi led Indiana to a title.
In third place was Kevin Garnett.
Fourth was the league’s leading scorer, Allen Iverson; fifth was Kobe Bryant; sixth, Tracy McGrady; seventh, Nowitzki; eighth, Jason Kidd; ninth, Su Xi; and tenth, Steve Nash.
The ranking sparked some debate.
For example, some questioned why LeBron James didn’t make the top ten while Su Xi did. Or what about Vince Carter?
Others felt Su Xi should have been ranked behind Nash.
But what this really meant was that, on the strength of his ability to carry a team by himself, Su Xi had entered the conversation for the league’s top-tier superstars.
Even though being first in the East would only be good enough for fourth in the West...
...when you looked at the whole picture—individual stats, team record, leadership ability, and so on—there was no doubt Su Xi belonged in the top ten.
Furthermore, Su Xi was also high in the regular season MVP race, sitting in third place behind only Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Nash.
...
Compared to last season when the Pacers had three All-Stars, this year, due to the fallout from the brawl at Auburn Hills, Su Xi was Indiana’s only candidate. The Pistons still had two, Billups and Hamilton.
Looking at the voting trends, LeBron James was a lock to make the All-Star team.
If it weren’t for Su Xi, he would have been the best-performing sophomore this year, averaging 27-7-7 and keeping his team in a top-eight spot. Making the All-Star team was a foregone conclusion.
Additionally, with the brawl at the Auburn Hills Palace freeing up several spots and the competition in the East not being particularly fierce, Wade also had a great shot at making the team. Even Chris Bosh had a chance to sneak in and grab a spot.
Over in the Western Conference, Cameron Anthony’s chances of making the All-Star team were also high. The draft class of 2003 was having a collective breakout in their second season.
It was truly living up to its name as a "Super-Platinum Generation" draft class.
In comparison, the 2004 rookie class looked like a bunch of children.
In his first game after the Christmas showdown, Su Xi and his team gave the Magic a thrashing.
The people in Orlando thought highly of their number one pick, Dwight Howard, and he was certainly showing his potential as a top-tier defensive center: so far this season, he had been posterized in succession by Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant.
McGrady’s dunk over him and Bryant’s poster dunk were particularly spectacular.
Kobe even commented, "I was just baptizing him."
Kobe was clearly saying this to repair his public image. With his court case completely resolved in the offseason, he had resumed his business activities.
That "baptizing" line was actually a callback. After being drafted number one, Howard was caught by the media having a good time in a red-light district. He just grinned and said, "I was there to baptize them."
Howard also idolized Su Xi, saying more than once on camera, "The player I admire most is Little Sheep Su Xi. He actually managed to land both Jessica and Scarlett. They’re both my dream girls."
Su Xi had thought at the time that there was something seriously wrong with the rookie.
Seeing him on the court now, he was sure of it.
The guy was all smiles, trying to buddy up with Su Xi the moment he saw him.
He had an expression of someone desperate to make friends.
’This wasn’t about making friends, for fuck’s sake. He clearly wanted Su Xi to teach him a few moves.’
’What a horndog.’
And what’s more, he was carrying on the fine tradition of Magic centers.
He said to Su Xi, "Jack, if we get the chance in the future, we should play together."
