Fast, accurate, and ruthless.

Davis had sharp eyes and quick hands. Though he didn’t like Su Xi, he kept his eyes glued to him on the court... just in case there was an easy bucket to be had.

He snatched the ball and immediately raced past half-court. As he reached the three-point line, he saw Su Xi make a quick cut into the paint and passed him the ball, showing off the passing skills of a 20-5-5 player.

Su Xi caught the ball, leaped up, and slammed it into the hoop.

BOOM!

Su Xi was excelling on both ends of the floor yet again.

He dominated on both offense and defense.

In the blink of an eye, the Cavaliers were only down by one.

Adelman immediately subbed in Brad Miller for Divac.

After two possessions, he gave Chris Webber a graceful exit, subbing him out for Tony Massenburg.

The two teams then traded baskets, locked in a seesaw battle.

At the end of the first half, the score was 46-48.

The Kings were only ahead by 2.

Chris Webber only had 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists in the first half, all of which came when Su Xi was off the court.

In contrast, Su Xi had 9 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks.

These were already the numbers of a top-tier defensive superstar.

At this rate, Su Xi might even pull off an unprecedented quadruple-double in his debut.

"Never forget, Little Sheep Su Xi was the first MOP in NCAA history to record an incredible quadruple-double."

"Don’t think he’ll stagnate now that he’s in the NBA. Strictly speaking, he’s had less than a year of formal basketball training."

"He challenged so many talented players in the NCAA. No one could take him down. In fact, he only got stronger, eventually winning the whole thing. He came into the NBA a champion, so don’t treat him like a pushover. He should be mentioned in the same breath as former MOPs like Big Dream Olajuwon, Ewing, Magic Johnson, and the Smiling Assassin."

"Chris Webber shouldn’t have provoked him. He shouldn’t have condescended to him and tried to put him down. Now Weber is paying the price. He’s being completely humiliated by Su Xi, to the point where he’s actually trying to avoid playing against Little Sheep Su Xi. It’s pathetic."

This was Charles Barkley’s take during the halftime show.

The audience at home found themselves agreeing more and more. Su Xi won over a legion of fans tonight. Some fell for his good looks, some for his swagger, some for his steals, but most of all, people fell in love with his relentless, never-say-die fighting spirit. As long as Weber was on the court, Su Xi hounded him like a mad dog.

He was humiliating Weber with his play, sending a clear warning to him and any other potential rivals: there are consequences for pissing me off.

It was safe to say that Su Xi had already won a resounding victory tonight.

The commentators on CCTV finally relented, beginning to explain the situation to the national audience. "Before the game," they said, "Chris Webber mocked Su Xi’s nickname, ’The Genius Ender,’ and Su Xi stood up for himself. Because Webber is the bigger star, the media and fans all across the United States criticized Su Xi for biting off more than he could chew, saying he shouldn’t go head-to-head with Weber. But as you’ve all seen in this game, Su Xi has completely dominated his matchup against Weber."

"That’s why Su Xi has repeatedly abandoned his own defensive assignment to challenge Weber. This kid has real fight in him."

The commentators only touched lightly on the backstory, without much embellishment. But even this brief explanation was enough to get the fans fired up.

Meanwhile, on the Hupupu web forums, people flocked back to the original discussion thread to post new comments.

"Where’d all the people go who said the foreign ’masters’ were invincible? Crawl out here and get on your knees!"

"So much for Weber being a superstar. So much for ’Weber could crush Su Xi with a flick of his finger.’ Where are you now? Why is your precious Weber running away every time he sees Su Xi?"

"To everyone who said Su Xi should bow and scrape before Weber, I invite you to take a look now. Your ’foreign master’ is getting beaten so badly he can’t even hold his head up. What era do you think this is? The whip isn’t on your back anymore."

"Those who have knelt for too long can’t stand the sight of others standing tall."

"..."

These young people were invigorated. Su Xi’s performance was a huge inspiration to the youth of the Chinese internet.

’What era is this that we still have to feel inferior to foreigners? If you kneel for too long, do you forget how to stand?’

The young basketball fans were in an uproar. The Western-idolizing bootlickers were nowhere to be seen, and the ’calm, objective, and independent’ masters had all stopped their yapping...

...

「The second half began soon after.」

James took control of the ball. He had apparently convinced the head coach in the locker room, arguing that he should play Point Guard to exploit his mismatch advantage.

Su Xi slid over to the shooting guard position.

One of James’s draft comparisons was Magic Johnson; he was considered to have incredible court vision and precise passing ability.

With James at the point, the Kings truly struggled to keep up.

James repeatedly broke through their defense and drove into the paint.

When he drew a double-team, he would dish the ball to Su Xi, who was trailing on the wing.

Su Xi didn’t force the issue when he got the ball. If an opportunity wasn’t there, he immediately moved the ball. Boozer and Davis both benefited from this, and even Ilgauskas got some easy baskets out of it.

Su Xi played for eight minutes in the third quarter. By the time he was subbed out, the Cavaliers were leading the Kings by 3 points.

The two young players threw the Kings’ defensive system into chaos. They were creating problems all over the court, and the Kings were left scrambling, unable to cover everything at once.

Su Xi’s stat line when he was subbed out was 12 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 7 steals, and 3 blocks.

These were the numbers of a top-tier defensive player; you could say that many NBA stars go their whole careers without putting up such an all-around stat line.

Charles Barkley said on TV that Su Xi could be the next Kevin Garnett or Olajuwon. He explained that very few players in the NBA, especially perimeter players, can fill five stat categories with at least three in each. In fact, since the NBA began tracking these stats, only two players have ever recorded a 5x5: Big Dream Olajuwon and Admiral Robinson.