Chapter 279: Chapter 67: You Think You Can Sweep?

Su Xi caught the ball, jumped, and released... His rhythm was perfect, smooth as silk.

SWISH!

The ball dropped through the net with flawless rhythm.

Prince’s closeout was on time, but still a beat too late.

After making the shot, Su Xi turned and high-fived Reggie Miller, who was standing on the sideline. "What do you think, Reggie?"

"About eighty percent as good as I was in my prime," Miller commented.

Su Xi chuckled and ran back on defense.

On the defensive end, Su Xi didn’t track Hamilton. Fred Jones took on that task... He had great stamina and was very athletic.

Su Xi guarded Billups at the top of the arc.

This was the Pacers’ new strategy.

It was the product of a brainstorming session between Su Xi and Carlisle just three hours earlier.

It was Su Xi’s proposal, and Carlisle was a bit worried. The shooting guard had to take on a heavy offensive load, and he was concerned Su Xi wouldn’t be able to shoulder the perimeter attack.

But Su Xi was insistent and very confident. In the end, he convinced Carlisle.

Now, Carlisle stood with his arms crossed, thinking: ’This isn’t so bad. At least Jack’s stamina will last longer this way.’

Larry Brown frowned. He quickly ’figured out’ Indiana’s reason for doing this. ’Hmph! They’re just trying to conserve energy. But can you, Su Xi, really compare to Reggie Miller?’

Brown dismissed the thought.

Billups failed to create a chance to drive under Su Xi’s lockdown D, so he passed to Rasheed Wallace. Wallace isolated Little O’Neal, hit him with a jab step, and took a straight-armed jumper... CLANK!

No good.

Little O’Neal’s defense was on point this time. He not only stayed close to Rasheed Wallace but also disrupted his rhythm.

Foster outmuscled Ben Wallace for the rebound.

A unified chant rose from The Palace of Auburn Hills: "DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE!"

The sound was immense.

The TNT cameras panned across the crowd. The fans were full of emotion, their expressions calm yet confident. Inside this arena, everyone but the Pacers believed the Pistons would win tonight—not just a small victory, but a blowout. And this was just the beginning. Not one win, not two wins, not three wins, but a four-game sweep!

This was the atmosphere pervading the arena.

Su Xi once again shattered their confidence. He made a diagonal cut from the wing toward the paint, then, while running the baseline, he suddenly reversed course and ran toward the other side at the forty-five-degree angle. Artest came over to set a screen for him, and Fred Jones passed him the ball.

Su Xi caught the ball. Prince’s switch was incredibly fast, and he immediately applied pressure.

This was what the Pistons did best.

No team dared to rely on their ball movement against the Pistons; even the Kings were always left looking disheveled.

But who could have expected Su Xi’s pass to be so fast?

He was already making the passing motion almost as he caught the ball... or rather, even before he caught it. The ball didn’t linger in his hands. He tapped it once... and it penetrated the defense from another angle, flying straight to the middle of the floor where Foster was rolling to the basket after setting a screen.

No one had noticed the wide-open lane that had formed in front of him.

Everyone assumed he was just repositioning.

Including Foster himself.

He was a little surprised the moment he caught the ball.

But years of professional basketball training had honed his reflexes. He took a step, leaped up, and slammed the ball into the hoop with both hands.

The Pacers scored another 2 points.

5-0 to start the game.

Carlisle’s eyes lit up on the sideline. He hadn’t expected Su Xi to possess such sharp passing skills and court vision.

’He can do the job of a point guard even from the shooting guard position.’

Larry Bird felt a sense of déjà vu, as if watching himself play back in the day.

LeBron James, however, was frowning. The slow-motion replay on TV further highlighted Su Xi’s dominant role in that pass. ’This kid is even copying my passing! Just how much has he stolen from me? People from China are just good at copying! Fakes!!’

He felt an inexplicable anger and a sense of panic.

In previous comparisons, there were a few things basketball experts believed Su Xi could never surpass James in. A very important one was his court vision and passing skill.

But that last play... James was confident he could make that pass, but to react that quickly—fast enough to pierce the Pistons’ high-pressure defensive system—he felt that would be pretty difficult.

Larry Brown rested his chin on his hand, studying the play. ’What the hell is this style of play? Does he really think he’s some combination of Magic Johnson and Big Bird?’

"Did Jack go on a date with Scarlett at a hotel to study tactics? I think his off-ball movement and shooting ability have improved dramatically," Charles Barkley said on the TNT Channel. "If that’s the case, Pacers fans should encourage Jack to go on more dates."

"Just luck," Kenny Smith said sourly.

The words had barely left his mouth.

The Pacers hit the Pistons with a wave of extreme pressure in the frontcourt. As Billups brought the ball up, Su Xi forced him all the way to the sideline. Billups quickly passed the ball. The moment he got it to Prince, Artest was on him with pressure.

Prince quickly turned, and just as Artest was about to shove him out of bounds, he passed to Hamilton.

The instant Hamilton caught the ball, Su Xi and Jones double-teamed him. He had no choice but to jump and pass the ball away... SMACK!

Artest saw his chance and slapped the ball away. Little O’Neal quickly grabbed the loose ball and passed it to Jones.

Jones took the ball and pushed a fast break, putting his head down and accelerating all the way.

He charged straight for the paint.

The Pistons had no choice but to focus their defense on this reckless charger.

Just as Fraser was about to jump, Su Xi shouted from beyond the three-point line, "Here!"

Jones passed the ball out. Su Xi caught it, gave a small pump fake that sent Hamilton flying, and then took the shot... SWISH!

It’s good!

Another 3-pointer.

8-0. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

BZZT!

Forcing the Pistons into a timeout.

A deathly silence fell over The Palace of Auburn Hills for a moment. They had never expected this.

They had all come to welcome a victory.

So why... why was Little Sheep Su Xi, the guy who ran off to date a movie star, still playing so well? Why did God favor him again and again?

’How is that fair?’

The Pistons fans were a bit bewildered, but mostly they were indignant!

’Why does Little Sheep Su Xi get all the good things? He steals our goddess and now he wants to take the victory too.’

’Isn’t that too much?’

Su Xi walked back to the bench, high-fiving his teammates who came to greet him.

The TNT cameras were replaying the Pacers’ great and perfect defensive pressure from that last possession, showing how they had completely locked down the Pistons’ perimeter.

This was the Pistons’ signature move.

But when the Pacers executed it, it was flawless, perfectly in sync.

In terms of perimeter defensive strength, with Fred Jones plus two All-Defensive Team players, the Pacers’ perimeter was stronger than the Pistons’, not weaker.

"Jack’s two 3-pointers and one assist might be his way of telling the world: ’Stop treating me like a role player!’ His move from the 1 to the 2 already shows his ambition."

Charles Barkley said excitedly on TV, "So it turns out Reggie Miller was the weak link on the Pacers."

The camera panned to Reggie Miller on the sideline. Completely unaware that Barkley was teasing him, he was all smiles, more excited about Su Xi’s two threes than if he had made them himself.

8-0.

Who would have imagined a start like this?

Before the game started, the prevailing narrative was that the Pistons would blow out the Pacers and pull off a historic miracle.

"Let’s see you brag when Little Sheep Su Xi’s stamina starts to fade. I’ll say it again: expecting the Pacers to sweep the Pistons tonight is as hopeless as buying a lottery ticket on a Friday night and expecting to become a billionaire instantly... The odds are slim!"

Kenny Smith was still siding with the Pistons, but his tone was no longer as ’calm and collected’ or as ’certain’ as it was before the game.

He was getting flustered.

You could see it with your own eyes.

The camera panned over to Su Xi on the bench, a huge smile on his face. He looked relaxed, and his teammates around him were relaxed too.

This was a stark contrast to the Pistons.

Larry Brown’s face was ashen. Even through the screen, you could tell from the shape of his mouth that his ’F-bomb count’ was not low.

Next, he would definitely shift the defensive pressure onto Su Xi.

When the full force of the Pistons’ defense bore down on him...

...could Su Xi handle it?

...