LeBron James and Brad Miller lay on adjacent beds while team doctors cleaned their wounds and stopped the bleeding. An ambulance would be arriving shortly to take them away.

Their eyes were glued to the television.

Brad Miller suddenly spoke up. "LeBron, this teammate of yours is a beast. I have to admit, it was stupid of Chris Webber to stir up all that hype before the game."

"But I get it. He had no choice. After he got injured in the playoffs last year, a lot of people were saying he was past his prime and would never be a top-tier star again. He wanted to seize the opportunity, but Little Sheep Su Xi is no pushover."

James remained silent.

He watched as Su Xi charged in for a powerful, momentum-filled dunk, then got a steal, then another layup...

"This guy can do everything. He’s not actually going for a freaking quadruple-double, is he? God, no rookie in NBA history has ever gotten a quadruple-double in their first game. He’s a goddamn chosen one," Brad Miller exclaimed. He then tilted his head slightly and said to his fellow sufferer, "LeBron, your stats tonight weren’t bad, either."

James’s expression stiffened.

"Damn it, the Cavaliers aren’t actually going to mount a comeback led by Little Sheep Su Xi, are they? The moment I’m gone, they just wilt like that?" Brad Miller muttered. "But even if they do come back, it’s got nothing to do with me. We were up by 12 when I left the game. They can’t blame the loss on me."

"Right, LeBron?"

A muscle in LeBron’s jaw twitched.

Just then, a staff member entered. "The ambulance is here."

"Get me on it, quick," James said, sounding impatient.

Brad Miller frowned and mumbled under his breath, ’What’s his problem? What did I say to set him off? Weird rookie. Thinks he’s all that.’

The team doctor cleaning his wounds nearby couldn’t suppress a smile. He thought to himself, ’Big White Bear, every single thing you said offended him.’

’Are all NBA players this clueless about how people work?’

...

BANG!

Su Xi slammed the ball hard off the front of the rim, and it bounced high into the air.

"Ah Bu!"

Carlos Boozer immediately fought for position, boxing out Weber. He leaped up and forcefully tipped the ball out toward the perimeter.

Su Xi caught the ball and, with a quick touch, drew the entire defense in. Then, he rapidly passed it to the corner.

"Ah Ka!"

Kapono caught the ball, quickly rose up, and shot... SWISH!

He hit the three-pointer.

The lead was instantly cut to five.

Around three minutes remained on the clock.

After LeBron James left the court, Su Xi had personally orchestrated a 7-0 run.

Ah Bu and Ah Ka excitedly rushed over to Su Xi, high-fiving him from both sides.

"Can we really pull this off?"

Even Paul Silas was in disbelief.

It was all happening so fast.

’Jack is running the same Number 1 play. His talent isn’t on the same level as James’s, but the results... how are they this good?!’

"If Jack orchestrates this comeback, I’m calling it the greatest rookie debut of all time! Bar none!" Charles Barkley declared.

Kenny Smith, sitting beside him, looked unconvinced, but even he couldn’t name anyone who’d had a more dominant debut than Su Xi.

Mike Bibby brought the ball past half-court.

Brad Miller was out. And tonight, Su Xi had stripped the ball from Chris Webber so many times he probably wouldn’t recognize his own mother.

The ball had to go to Divac.

Divac got the ball and immediately held it high—that generation of centers all had the good habit of playing high above the rim.

But even with the ball held high, he couldn’t get a shot off. Ilgauskas stood before him like a giant tree.

The Cavaliers’ current lineup was actually a great counter to the Kings’ players on the floor.

Their inside pivot, Divac, was completely blanketed by Ilgauskas.

Their other pivot, Weber, was psychologically scarred from all of Su Xi’s steals. Adelman was so worried about Su Xi getting the quadruple-double that he’d even told his players to pass less. He didn’t want his team to become a historical footnote.

As a result, the Kings were playing passively.

Divac managed to get the ball to Stojakovic. Peja was the Kings’ top shooter, but his ball-handling skills could only be described as average.

Under Davis’s scrappy, if not exceptional, defense, he was flustered. A guard with better handles would have treated him like an ATM, scoring on him at will.

CLANK!

A brick.

Carlos Boozer grabbed the rebound.

He passed it to Su Xi.

Su Xi brought the ball up the court.

He patiently directed his teammates, showing great strategic composure. Even down by five, he wasn’t rushing things.

Once his teammates were in position, he called out to Ah Bu.

Boozer happily trotted over to set a screen. Su Xi accelerated past, shook Chris Webber at the free-throw line, and drove into the paint. As Divac slid over to help, Su Xi had already passed to Ilgauskas, his momentum carrying him into Divac to create a buffer.

Ilgauskas didn’t usually dunk, but Su Xi had served this one up on a platter and even helped clear out Divac for him.

How could he refuse a meal like that?

BOOM!

He took a small hop, getting maybe six inches of air, and threw down a one-handed dunk.

He even let out a couple of roars.

Fired up.

105:108.

Just like that, the Cavaliers were only down by three.

"Jack’s a ’bad boy,’ huh?" Charles Barkley gushed on television. "He drives in for the pass and knows how to use his momentum to push the defending center out of the way. Makes it look like he just can’t stop in time."

"That’s one of the dirty tricks he learned from guys like Stockton and Isaiah Thomas," Kenny remarked, annoyed.

The two of them were yin and yang, always on opposite sides.

In front of his television, Larry Bird’s eyebrows shot up. He was about to slam his hand down on Carlisle’s leg when Rick Carlisle quickly grabbed his arm. "Boss, that hurts!"

Larry Bird pulled his hand back, patted Carlisle on the head, and said, "Jack is a perfect fit for our Pacers."

"Yes, absolutely," Carlisle readily agreed.

Just then, Larry Bird quietly got up, walked around to the other side of Carlisle, and sat down, placing his left hand on Carlisle’s right thigh.

Big Bird’s intentions were clear to all: ’This leg doesn’t hurt, right?’

Carlisle desperately wanted to file for worker’s comp. ’What is wrong with these people? If you get excited, slap your own thigh!’

He glanced over at Reggie Miller and finally understood why Miller always sat in a hard, separate chair.

The game resumed.

Under Su Xi’s leadership, the Cavaliers gradually seized the momentum.

Su Xi wasn’t actually doing anything extraordinary. He was simply executing the plays, waiting for his teammates to get to their spots, attacking from the center, and then delivering timely, accurate passes.

That was it.

They were simple, fundamental tasks.

But it was precisely these simple, fundamental tasks that so many players couldn’t execute.

Some lacked the patience, some wanted to showboat, and others simply didn’t have the ability to penetrate the lane.

The Kings, for their part, were essentially crippling themselves. For one, they had reduced their passing. For another, Weber had lost all confidence. A superstar player, he was now doing the work of a role player, actively trying not to touch the ball. Divac was old and tired; he couldn’t run and was completely shut down by Ilgauskas.

With one minute left in the game, the Cavaliers took the lead on a layup from Carlos Boozer.

In truth, the Cavaliers had all the momentum.

The players were completely fired up, running on pure adrenaline.

They were roaring on the court.

ARCO Arena, meanwhile, was as quiet as a tomb, the crowd completely deflated.

Adelman called a timeout to draw up a final play.

"Looks like Jack’s quadruple-double is going to be tough to get now," Charles Barkley said. "But a near-quadruple-double is already incredible. If they pull off the comeback victory, Su Xi’s debut will still be one for the history books."

Over the last stretch, the Kings had gone into a defensive shell. And while it resulted in them losing the lead, they had succeeded in preventing Su Xi from getting that final steal.

In that respect, they had succeeded.

But you couldn’t call it a complete success just yet. What if Su Xi managed to get one more steal in the final 1:01 and achieve an unprecedented rookie-debut quadruple-double?

"Chris, we need you to open things up from the perimeter!" Adelman yelled at Weber from the bench. "Show some guts! If you can get your outside shot falling, it’ll open up our entire offense."

He tried to fire Weber up.

He wasn’t asking Weber to be the do-everything player he once was, but he needed him to at least provide some consistent shooting.

The Kings were at a do-or-die moment.

If he, as the team’s leader, didn’t come through with some firepower now, it would be a complete embarrassment.

Chris Webber took a deep breath. He clenched his jaw, his eyes sharp. "Alright," he said. "Get me the ball."

Adelman drew up a play, going over the details again and again.

TWEET!

The whistle blew.

The game resumed.

Mike Bibby brought the ball past half-court. As diagrammed, Weber came up to set a screen. Bibby drove to the free-throw line, then made a look-back pass to Weber.

Su Xi switched onto him.

To be honest, Weber felt a pang of fear when he saw Su Xi. He’d been stripped so many times tonight he was spooked. In his eyes, Su Xi was a pickpocketing demon, constantly reaching out with his devilish claws to snatch the ball away.

But Weber was still Weber. A former superstar isn’t afraid to take the shot.

And he was experienced.

He gave a hard pump fake, then took a long stride forward. His agility and coordination were still there.

Su Xi instinctively fell back.

As Su Xi retreated, Weber seized the moment, stopped on a dime, and executed a step-back.

His coordination and balance were better than Su Xi’s.

After falling back, Su Xi needed a moment to recover.

Although he lunged forward quickly, he couldn’t get there in time to contest Weber’s jump shot.

The ball sailed through the air in a high arc.

And then... SWISH!

It went in.

112:114.

The Kings retook the lead by two.

Chris Webber had finally come through in the clutch. He raised both hands as the entire arena erupted in cheers.

It was as if the King had returned.

Weber’s confidence came flooding back.

But just then, Su Xi darted in to receive the inbound pass. He brought the ball quickly up the floor, catching the Kings before their defense was set. He ran a pick-and-roll with Carlos Boozer, then passed to a cutting Ricky Davis, who scored with a left-handed layup. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Tie game.

seconds left on the clock.

Both teams were back on even footing.

Theoretically, the Kings would get at least two more possessions.

The Cavaliers, however, likely only had one.

That meant they had to get a stop on this possession.

...

...