Chapter 123: Chapter 43: Bringing Glory to the Nation, Entertainment Weekly

The CCTV Sports Channel broadcast went into an unprecedented frenzy just before the end of the game!

CCTV’s commentary was typically known for being conservative and, frankly, full of nonsense. Conservative, because as a national media outlet, they couldn’t be too flamboyant or overly excited. The nonsense stemmed from the early days when many commentators were general broadcasters with little actual knowledge of the sports, which led to international laughingstocks like the claim that one team had "five Jordans."

But this morning, Beijing time, the CCTV commentators let loose like never before. They were still a bit restrained in the first half, but as Su Xi drew closer and closer to a quadruple-double, their shouts grew louder and louder.

When Su Xi sank a three-pointer in the final moments of the game.

"Perfect! What a magnificent debut! The greatest debut in history! Su Xi is not fighting alone! He is not fighting alone! He has hundreds of millions of us fans behind him! We are with him! That three-pointer was the dagger! It sealed the game..."

"...There’s not much time left for the Kings... OH YEAH! A STEAL! A STEAL! AN INCREDIBLE STEAL! AN INCREDIBLE QUADRUPLE-DOUBLE!!"

"Su Xi ripped the ball from Weber with one hand! He’s done it! The first-ever quadruple-double in a debut! A historic night! A historic performance!"

"King Webber, face justice! You’ve been summarily dismissed!"

"Who says a Chinese guard can’t make it in the NBA?! Who says a Chinese guard can’t work miracles?!"

"This is the brightest day in the history of Chinese basketball!!"

The CCTV commentators were beyond excited, completely ecstatic.

Their passion swept up the hundreds of millions of fans across the Divine Land.

Su Xi’s debut exceeded all expectations. After all, Yao Ming’s first NBA game had been a complete disaster: 0 points, 2 rebounds, 3 fouls, and 2 turnovers.

Su Xi, on the other hand, had just pulled off the only debut quadruple-double in NBA history. As far as debuts go, his performance was truly unprecedented—an achievement unlikely to ever be repeated.

More importantly, he had shattered all doubt in this game, grinding Weber’s disdain under his heel. He completely dominated those who had looked down on him. At the start of the game, the Kings fans had been laughing and jeering in unison, treating it like a party. But by the time the final nail was in the coffin, they were all trudging out of the arena with their heads hung low and sour expressions on their faces.

SO. DAMN. SATISFYING.

Every single Chinese fan watching this on TV felt the exact same way.

Afterward, Su Xi’s interview with TNT was broadcast live to the audience back home.

As the host translated Su Xi’s words: "...We Chinese people don’t like to boast, but you shouldn’t ignore our warnings. We have a saying in China: Don’t say we didn’t warn you..."

The entire nation erupted.

It was pure fire!

Now *that’s* how you show our nation’s might!

*That’s* what national pride feels like!

This was it.

The host declared on television with absolute conviction, "Those people who are still saying Su Xi is just a player who grew up in the United States need to wake up and take a good look at themselves. Su Xi is genuinely embodying the Chinese spirit! We truly don’t like to boast, but if you insist on offending us, we will make you regret it!"

Meanwhile, on the online forums, the servers crashed.

A massive influx of fans flooded the boards, all leaving emotional comments.

"This is the greatest day in Chinese basketball history."

"To all those people who said Su Xi should just bow his head and apologize to his foreign masters—get out here and take a look! *This* is what ’Don’t say we didn’t warn you’ looks like!!"

"Isn’t Chris Webber supposed to be a superstar? How come he hasn’t punished Su Xi yet? What’s he waiting for, a written invitation?"

"A historic, record-breaking quadruple-double. Based on tonight’s stats alone, you can tell Su Xi is no bust! What kind of bust plays this ferociously?"

"..."

...

It was a hectic night for Su Xi. He gave one interview after another, moving from camera to camera and answering the same questions over and over again.

Stephen Silas told him, "Get used to it, my Little Sheep Su Xi. This is what it feels like to become a star overnight."

"You’ve done something that Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, and even Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan never accomplished. And trust me, the media frenzy has barely even begun. From now on, you’ll be surrounded by reporters every single day..."

Selas was about ten years older than Su Xi, and they were close. He was happy to share his knowledge about things beyond basketball with him.

’Too much trouble,’ Su Xi thought.

"You can have your agent handle all this," Selas suggested.

Su Xi agreed, but he was exhausted from the game and needed to rest.

The game had taken a huge physical toll on Su Xi; for the first time, he felt completely spent. So, after the bus got them to the hotel, he didn’t do a thing. He just fell onto the bed and was out like a light. Then, early the next morning, the team manager woke him up to get on the bus heading to Los Angeles.

LeBron James stayed behind in Sacramento. He needed a minor procedure to fix his broken nose and would be sidelined for one to two weeks.

James’s debut stats had actually been record-breaking as well, but... he’d gotten injured, missing the most critical moments of the comeback. And with his teammate Su Xi pulling off a monster quadruple-double, the "Chosen One" was inevitably overshadowed.

Nike threw all of its media resources behind Su Xi. A massive quadruple-double was simply more impactful than a 35-8-6 stat line. Moreover, Su Xi had also hit the game-winning three-pointer, completing the comeback and utterly humiliating King Webber.

The next day, Su Xi’s incredible quadruple-double was all over every basketball media outlet.

Even though some outlets had been trashing Su Xi just the day before, faced with such undeniable stats, they had no choice but to run sensational headlines praising him.

This game truly made Su Xi a household name in NBA circles. Even someone as low-key as Hakeem Olajuwon came out to comment: "Damn! Is this kid really a rookie? It felt like getting a quadruple-double was as easy as breathing for him. He’s so strong, with such long arms and huge, powerful hands, and his body is so flexible he can just wrap guys up... That final steal absolutely shocked me. I’ve never seen anyone reach their upper body around a screen like that and just rip the ball away!"

Olajuwon might have been exaggerating slightly, but the technical difficulty of Su Xi’s final steal was indeed extremely high—it was essentially a ’blind steal.’ He was screened off by Divac, but he grabbed Divac’s jersey with his left hand, leaned his body out, and viciously swiped the ball with his right.

"From a professional scout’s perspective, Little Sheep Su Xi has a laundry list of weaknesses. But when he’s on the court, you realize he’s always doing the right thing. And doing the right thing, that’s the greatest talent of all."

Isaiah Thomas also came out to kick Weber while he was down: "It’s no surprise Chris Webber got destroyed. His physical gifts have been severely diminished since his knee injury. On top of that, he clearly didn’t train properly in the offseason; his reaction time is slow. I have no idea why he’d run his mouth at Su Xi under those circumstances. Did he really think the Knicks’ number eight pick was that pathetic? He got taught a lesson, and he deserved every bit of it."

Isaiah Thomas was now the general manager for the Knicks, and he was working hard to complete the number one task his boss had given him: reclaim Little Sheep Su Xi.

"Su Xi will become the greatest Pippen to a James!"

Thomas added this last sentence, which was actually a bit of a dig.

But hey, he was the Smiling Assassin. His motives were always hard to figure out.

Meanwhile, Shaquille O’Neal, center for the Lakers—the Cavaliers’ opponent after next—also commented on the matter. "I’m not gonna say anything about Little Sheep Su Xi, and I’m definitely not gonna trash-talk him. I’m not Chris Webber. I don’t want him dropping a quadruple-double on my head." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

O’Neal continued, "Actually, I’ve known him for a while. I went to New York to watch him play, and I said back then that he was a genius. I’m not surprised he got a monster quadruple-double. He got one in the NCAA championship game. For him, this is just business as usual."

Arenas was even more ecstatic in front of the media: "See? See?! What did I tell you? Everyone who disrespects him gets punished. Does Chris Webber think it’s still 2000 or 2001? He’s still living in a fantasy where he can dominate people. But our Little Sheep Su Xi isn’t just anybody—he’s the terrifying GOAT, destined to tear it all down!"

And it wasn’t just the big-name legends and active superstars of the basketball world; the pundits and commentators were praising Su Xi to the heavens.

Such is public opinion—it changes with the wind.

When you’re down, everyone wants to kick you; when you’re on top, everyone wants to praise you.

Now, Chris Webber was getting a taste of that media backlash. The same outlets that had been backing him up were now turning on him, kicking him while he was down and tearing him to shreds.

The media even started saying his 7-year, 110 million USD contract with the Kings from ’01 was going to go down as the worst contract in NBA history.

Chris Webber was frantic. He was experiencing what it felt like to be crucified by the court of public opinion.

And he had no one to blame but himself.

If he hadn’t deliberately provoked Su Xi, it would have just been another regular-season game.

Su Xi might not even have gotten his quadruple-double, and James might not have gotten injured. The star of the show would have been the Chosen One, LeBron James.

But now, Chris Webber was lying in bed, sulking.

LeBron James was lying in a hospital bed, sulking.

Adelman was in the room right next to him.

Because, after the game that night, Adelman had crashed his car into a lamppost on the way home. The official explanation was that the lighting was too dim, but that hardly held up to scrutiny. Too dark... under a streetlight? Is it darkest under the lamp, as they say?

Or was it perhaps a metaphor for how Chris Webber was so cleanly stripped by Su Xi in the simplest of situations at the end of the game?

...

When Su Xi arrived in Los Angeles, he finally got in touch with Jessica Alba.

Jessica Alba told Su Xi, "The paparazzi took pictures of us. They’re in an entertainment weekly."

Oh.

At the time, Su Xi just nodded, not reacting much.

He was a public figure now. ’Getting reported on by the media is just part of the deal,’ he thought.

But when Mike O’Connor showed up in front of him holding that same magazine, he realized it wasn’t nearly that simple.

...