Chapter 271: Chapter 64: [If Only You Had My Three-Point Shooting Ability]

"Little Sheep Su Xi’s arrogance is going to get him crushed sooner or later."

Kenny Smith shot back on TV, "All your hype is just setting him up for a huge fall. And comparing him to Jordan? He can’t even see LeBron James’s taillights."

Smith’s words were music to LeBron James’s ears.

Although James was annoyed by Su Xi’s triumphant run in the playoffs, he couldn’t stop himself from secretly watching Su Xi’s games alone at home.

"LeBron James? You mean that master of the travel? Is he off fixing his taillights somewhere? We certainly haven’t seen him around for a long time," Barkley said sarcastically. "The last time his name was even mentioned in the same breath as basketball was when he stole half of Jack’s Rookie of the Year trophy."

Barkley’s caustic humor sent James, watching from home, into a fury. ’On what grounds? He’s just a Pippen who got lucky with a good team. How dare he compare himself to me? In what way is he better than I am?’

No one could see James’s fury.

What everyone could see, however, was Su Xi putting effective pressure on Billups, forcing him to pass the ball off early to Rashid Wallace.

Wallace caught the ball in a spot he wasn’t used to, gave a pump fake, and forced up a shot... SWISH!

It went in, unexpectedly.

After the shot, he let out a defiant roar and threw a vicious punch at the air.

The home crowd was electrified by his basket, and the arena erupted with cheers.

Those auto workers sure have some lungs on them.

The intensity from the opening tip was already off the charts.

This was destined to be a high-intensity game.

Prince started hounding Su Xi in the backcourt. Near the half-court line, Su Xi abruptly changed direction, slicing through Prince’s defense. Then he suddenly accelerated, unleashing his full explosive speed. After blowing by Prince, he made a beeline for the paint.

This was the countermeasure Su Xi had devised after watching game tape for the past few days.

Countering pressure with speed.

The biggest advantage of this tactic was that it lessened the Pistons’ perimeter ball pressure.

It demanded immense speed from Su Xi—not just for the initial burst, but also for capitalizing on split-second passing windows, which required lightning-fast decision-making.

But ever since he’d acquired Magic Johnson’s ’super spatial sense’ and his passing technique had been completely upgraded, this was no longer an issue for Su Xi.

He drove inside the free-throw line, forcing Billups to help. At that moment, Su Xi spotted a split-second opening. While still at full speed, he whipped the ball to the corner... a perfect pass, right on the money.

Reggie Miller shot it on the catch... SWISH!

The three-pointer was good.

Reggie Miller defiantly held up three fingers.

He was showing all the Pistons fans that his hand was hot.

"Goddamn shooters, they play forever," Barkley griped on TV. "All they have to do is shoot the ball."

For once, Kenny Smith had no objection.

That guy Miller really wasn’t the most popular player, and guys like Barkley never admitted he was on their level as a superstar, but... his ability to talk trash and get under people’s skin was right up there with Jordan and Bird.

Barkley once famously said, "Miller’s greatest talent is convincing people he’s a superstar on the same level as guys like me, Ma Long, and Kemp."

The game continued, with both teams trading baskets in a heated exchange.

The physicality was intense.

However, with a full tank of energy, Su Xi was completely unafraid of the Pistons’ iron-clad defense. It was a case of one overwhelming strength beating a dozen different skills; his relentless, high-speed attacks successfully forced Larry Brown to abandon the full-court press.

With Su Xi leading the charge and orchestrating the offense, the Pacers seized the momentum and built a lead.

Su Xi played for 6 minutes and 46 seconds in the first quarter. By the time he was subbed out, the Pacers were ahead 19-11, an 8-point lead.

"Jack, I swear to God I wish I could give you my stamina," Carlisle said, hugging Su Xi affectionately as he came off the court. "If you had my energy levels, you’d tear right through the Pistons, no problem." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Carlisle was very confident in his own stamina, even though his wife often complained he only lasted five minutes.

But for Carlisle, if Su Xi could just get five more minutes of playing time each game, their chances of taking down the Pistons would increase dramatically.

At that moment, it wasn’t just Carlisle who wished he could lend his stamina to Su Xi; many Pacers fans did, too.

If Su Xi could play the entire game, what a terrifying force he would be. With him, the Pacers could form a defensive lineup even more suffocating than the Pistons’.

But now, Su Xi had to return to the bench to cool down and recover.

With Su Xi off the court, there was a visible drop-off in the Pacers’ offensive and defensive prowess.

When Su Xi was on the court, the Pacers could consistently overpower the Pistons.

If the Pacers with Su Xi were a 96-point team, then without him, they dropped to around 90. The Pistons, playing as a cohesive unit, were a solid 93.

Although the gap wasn’t huge, assuming no single player went off or had a terrible night, the advantage would inevitably show itself over the course of the game.

Even Larry Brown had to admit it. That’s why this old-school defensive guru, famous for his hard-nosed, suffocating defense, actually asked his players to push the pace a bit.

For one, it would burn through the game clock faster, delaying Su Xi’s return to the court.

For another... the Pistons were actually capable of playing at a high tempo.

They had just been suppressed.

In the future, many people on the internet would compare the ’04 Pistons to the ’19 Warriors, arguing that the Warriors’ transcendent offensive firepower would crush the Pistons, that the ultimate spear would surely triumph over the ultimate shield. But were the Pistons really just the ultimate shield? A look at their roster shows that even in the small-ball era, their offensive potential couldn’t be underestimated. In a single game against the Warriors, the Warriors might win. But in a ten-game series, the Pistons would almost certainly come out on top more often.