Chapter 287: Chapter 71: [Does Your Relationship Even Need Sowing Discord?]

"The Pacers had 71 wins in the regular season. How many did the Lakers have? The Pacers have a stacked roster. Besides superstars, what do the Lakers have? The Pacers are united around Su Xi as their core, but the Lakers are still split into two factions, attacking each other."

"My prediction is a sweep! The Pacers won’t let their championship have any blemishes."

"Maybe you’ll argue that the Pacers will win two games at most. In that case, I’ll be merciful and say the Lakers might steal one game at most."

"The Lakers are certainly no strangers to this, because they did the same thing in 2001. It’s just that the tables have turned."

"..."

Kenny Smith’s words left even Charles Barkley speechless. ’What’s gotten into you, Kenny?’

’Did someone else take over your soul? Someone who’s a die-hard Su Xi fan?’

’Even I wouldn’t dare say something like that. How are you so brave?’

The media all thought Kenny Smith had taken the wrong medicine.

But the next day, many of the experts who had previously disparaged the Pacers also changed their tune. They too began to believe the Pacers were invincible and would definitely win.

All of a sudden, the Lakers slid down the prediction charts. Some even predicted a 4-0 sweep by the Pacers.

This was obviously not normal.

Larry Bird said, "This is praise designed to kill! It’s absolutely a setup. They’re praising you to the skies just so they can watch you fall and shatter."

"They’re doing this to shame and provoke the Lakers’ superstars. They want to galvanize the Lakers’ unity. They want the Pacers to die!"

"They’re harboring malicious intentions!"

Larry Bird condemned this kind of talk internally. At the same time, he told his players to strengthen their mental fortitude and approach the Lakers with an underdog mentality.

After all, the Lakers were truly stronger than ever before.

The OK Combination alone had won a three-peat, and now they had Gary Payton and Karl Malone on top of that.

Everyone knew they were the team closest to the championship.

Although the Pacers had the better record, they didn’t actually have an advantage in the Finals.

This was because the Finals still used a 2-3-2 format. Theoretically, the Lakers, with three consecutive home games, had an easier path to winning the title.

So Carlisle’s demand was also: defend home court. They had to win both their home games.

Because if they lost even one, the Lakers could very well run away with the series, winning three straight games at home.

It was a terrifyingly realistic possibility.

The Pacers had to consider this danger.

...

The reason Kenny Smith had made such a change was because he’d noticed a pattern. In every game where he had opposed or criticized Su Xi, Su Xi had won. No matter how difficult, he always managed to win.

He wasn’t a superstitious man; he wasn’t even a religious person.

But after getting slapped in the face so many times, he’d learned his lesson.

After discovering this pattern through reflection, he immediately changed his style. He started hyping up the Pacers. He couldn’t wait for the Pacers to get swept, yet he deliberately predicted that the Pacers would sweep the Lakers.

He had another reason for doing this. He wanted the Lakers’ superstars to feel ashamed, to stop thinking they were the best in the world, only to get sucker-punched by the Pacers.

The Pacers were experts at sucker punches, and Su Xi was the best of them all.

After the Eastern Conference Finals ended, many people reviewed the series. They didn’t think it should have ended that way. Aside from Game 4 where Su Xi’s offense was on full display, the Pistons had a chance to win the other three games if they had been played normally. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Even if the Pacers had won in the end, it definitely wouldn’t have been a brutal sweep like that.

Subsequently, the Lakers responded to Kenny Smith’s narrative.

Their media also began fanning the flames. Under Kupchek’s direction, they created an "underdog-destined-for-victory" atmosphere.

The perfect solution to the Lakers’ internal problems was to establish a powerful opponent. This would force the OK Combination to truly join forces and make Karl Malone and Gary Payton unite perfectly alongside them.

After all, they came here to win a championship.

Not for a spring outing.

Karl Malone had even gambled twenty years of loyalty. If he couldn’t win the championship, it would become a stain on his career.

This was also the reason Malone had played so exceptionally well in the Western Conference Finals.

Moreover, the feud between Malone and Su Xi was too deep.

He was the first person to get beaten bloody by Su Xi. He had also been brutally humiliated by Su Xi’s trash talk, which made the news and tarnished his legacy.

However, he was more cunning than Ben Wallace. He knew how to play dumb and how to disappear from the spotlight.

By now, public opinion had mostly forgotten his ugly behavior from back then.

But now, the Lakers and the Pacers were meeting again in the Finals.

The feud between Malone and Su Xi was inevitably being dredged up again.

Everyone was eagerly anticipating the result of this year’s Finals, which was evident from the viewership projections.

Su Xi was an extremely buzzworthy figure, and this year’s Lakers were considered the strongest team of the 21st century so far.

When the two collided, how could there not be intense sparks?

In fact, Nike was already starting to run promotions for Kobe at this point.

They couldn’t pass up on capitalizing on this momentum, even though the earlier scandal had made them completely halt any substantial marketing.

...

The Lakers arrived in Indiana the day before the game.

Although Karl Malone had aggressively declared on television, "I have never lost to the Pacers. I can easily crush them."

However, they were still met with few boos at the airport.

Karl Malone was arrogant, but he was also desperate.

After all, this was truly the closest he had ever been to a championship in his entire career.

Before, when he played against Jordan, there was really no suspense.

Now, he had joined the triangle offense. He had become a player coached by Phil Jackson and a helper for the three-peat OK Combination. This powerful reality gave him ample confidence and arrogance.

"Little Sheep Su Xi? Honestly, I don’t really take him seriously. My career has been too eventful. I have so, so much to boast about, and I’ve competed against so many incredibly talented players. I really don’t think he’s anything special."

"He’s just a high-end role player. He’s like Pippen."

"Did Pippen ever win a championship leading a team on his own?"

Karl Malone didn’t forget to humiliate his old rival.

Karl Malone’s trash talk earned him plenty of animosity. The Indiana fans would definitely give him a piece of their mind at the home game.

Interestingly, Su Xi didn’t respond to Karl Malone at all.

Instead, Scottie Pippen was the first to step up. He spoke out publicly to the media: "The Mailman is just a delivery guy. What can he do? He doesn’t even deliver on Sunday. Just you wait, he’s going to get destroyed in the first game. He’ll definitely get destroyed. That stinking mouth of his has never been right about a single thing."

"If Michael Jordan could teach him a lesson, of course Little Sheep Su Xi can too."

"I hope Little Sheep Su Xi teaches him an even harsher lesson."

"Little Sheep Su Xi is the most dominant rookie I’ve ever seen. Karl Malone is the most overrated power forward. All he does is pad his stats with mid-range jumpers, and that’s it."

Scottie Pippen was firing on all cylinders.

He had once directed a famous line of trash talk at Karl Malone: The Mailman doesn’t deliver on Sunday.

That line of trash talk cost Karl Malone a championship.

Now, he was dredging it up again.

Could it complete the curse once more?

Could it make Karl Malone fall in defeat yet again?

...

Kobe Bryant showed up at Su Xi’s house. He and Su Xi had a very good relationship. They had been in contact even before Su Xi officially started playing in the NBA. In a way, he had even been the matchmaker for Su Xi and Jessica.

Back then, he had always wanted Su Xi to join the Lakers.

"Who would have thought you’d become our biggest rival now?"

Kobe said nostalgically, "If you had joined the Lakers back then, how great would that have been? Even without Shaquille O’Neal, we would still be champions."

"Of course," Su Xi affirmed. "Shaquille O’Neal has really declined severely now."

"Are you trying to drive a wedge between us?" Kobe suddenly became vigilant. "Are you playing mind games?"

"Haha, does your relationship even need me to drive a wedge?"