The Best Point Guard

SWISH!

It’s good.

Ilgauskas glanced at the hoop, then back at Fleay.

He was a little slow to react.

’Are three-pointers a required course for centers now, too?’

On the other end, LeBron James charged the paint again. This time, without Jerome acting as a human buffer, he easily completed the dunk, even with Su Xi flying alongside him.

The dunk was earth-shattering. After all, James’s combination of size, explosiveness, and power was on full display.

Plus, his leaping ability was astounding, making it a visual spectacle.

James’s dunks have always been the pinnacle of in-game slams.

After the dunk, James was fired up. He even turned to Su Xi and threw some trash talk his way: "Here’s that dunk you wanted."

But who would have thought Su Xi would be all smiles, even politely saying to him, "Thanks. I felt that. It was intense."

James instantly felt like he had punched a wad of cotton. He was not happy.

But there was nothing he could do. He had run into this kind of scoundrel.

"How come I never realized you were such a rogue before?"

Su Xi laughed. "I never had the chance before."

The two of them were talking completely past each other.

In reality, Su Xi was being incredibly sincere.

Because of LeBron James’s violent dunk, he had gained a 2-point boost to his Super Leap Talent while flying alongside him.

This made Su Xi ecstatic. His smile was genuine—more genuine than ever before.

’Who would say no to improving their own talents?’

Su Xi hoped James would dunk as much as possible. It would be best if he could break into the super talent domain in this game alone.

The Knicks were still pushing the pace, playing a very new style of run-and-gun.

Su Xi immediately ran a pick-and-roll with David Lee, charging to the basket like a cannonball. Then he exploded upwards, testing just how insane his 84-point leap talent was. Drew Gooden tried to block him... but he was overpowered. Although Su Xi’s strength was the main reason Gooden was pushed down, there was no denying Su Xi’s vertical was much higher and his jump was quicker.

BOOM!

Su Xi threw down a powerful two-handed poster dunk.

Drew Gooden cowered passively beneath him, making Su Xi look all the more imposing.

"Are the Knicks trying to play run-and-gun? The Phoenix Suns’ version doesn’t look like this," Mike Brin said on the live ESPN national broadcast.

Beside him, Reggie Miller laughed and said, "This is Little Sheep Su Xi-style run-and-gun. The paint Nash doesn’t dare to attack, he attacks. The dunks Nash doesn’t dare to attempt, he attempts. The big men Nash doesn’t dare to posterize, he still attempts. To sum it up in one sentence: anything Nash doesn’t dare to do, he does."

"But this lineup is a far cry from the Suns’."

"What does it matter? The Cavaliers aren’t some powerhouse team," Reggie Miller said with the arrogance of an old-school Pacer. With two championship rings on his fingers, who the hell in the entire league would dare to mess with Reggie Miller?

LeBron James attacked the paint again. He didn’t dunk this time; David Lee managed to provide some timely help defense. But James’s gliding layup was still cool.

Su Xi was still flying alongside him.

Su Xi still gained something from this mid-air contest. Although it wasn’t 2 points, he got 1.

’One point is still a lot, okay?’

"As expected of LeBron James."

After landing, before James could even say any trash talk, Su Xi took the initiative to offer his heartfelt praise.

Sincerity truly is a killer move.

All of James’s witty comebacks were stuck in his throat, the unspoken trash talk turning his mouth into a garbage can.

This unventable frustration was worse than being constipated.

He frowned, looking at Su Xi like a weary old man. "You’ve changed."

Su Xi replied, "The times have changed."

After their verbal sparring, Su Xi turned and immediately initiated a fast break.

James gave chase relentlessly. ’Su Xi really has changed,’ he thought. ’He was never this ’shameless’ before. He used to be an honest player, always competing head-on with real skill. Even though that was tough to deal with, now that he’s started playing the rogue, it’s even worse for me.’

Su Xi quickly ran another pick-and-roll with David Lee... though it was really just a formality. Under the league’s new rules, Su Xi could probably shake Snow’s defense in just two seconds.

Su Xi drove into the paint, where both James and Gooden converged to trap him.

To be honest, Su Xi’s court vision wasn’t as good as James’s, but his sense of spacing on the court was maxed out. He didn’t need to see his teammates to anticipate where they would be—this was Magic Johnson’s super talent. At the same time, Su Xi also possessed Big Bird Bird’s super talent: Super Sense of Distance. This was true even if his passing technique wasn’t as refined.

All he had to do was make a bounce pass behind his back, and the ball landed in David Lee’s hands. David Lee went up for the jump shot... SWISH!

It’s good.

David Lee could play run-and-gun; Su Xi had noticed this long ago. The young white player was solid and dependable. His mid-range shot was steady, and so was his defensive rebounding. While he might be at a disadvantage in other tactical systems, in a run-and-gun offense... he was a perfect fit.

Run-and-gun needed a player just like him.

On television, Reggie Miller said admiringly, "Did you guys see what was special about that play?"

"What?" Mike Brin played the straight man.

"That pass was a divine creation from Little Sheep Su Xi, forged over eighty-one days and nights of deep meditation, a powerful combination of the strengths of the two great titans of the eighties, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. It was the ultimate expression of the no-look pass."

Reggie Miller said proudly.

His two partners at the commentary desk were speechless, lines of exasperation on their faces.

’Magic plus Big Bird, and that’s it?’

In front of their TVs, cheerful laughter also broke out. It was obvious they all thought Miller was joking.

But if Bird and Magic were sitting here, after watching that play, they would have sincerely declared: "Yes, we have a child."

The two teams went back and forth, and the game was a lively affair.

The Knicks’ offense was quite flashy.

And on the defensive end, they were quite... terrible.

The teams traded blows, each getting what they wanted, and the stats kept climbing.

James and Su Xi were playing on equal footing.

James was actually quite happy. Since the new rules were implemented, he no longer feared losing the ball to Su Xi. Coupled with his traveling privileges, his below-average ball-handling skills were well-hidden.

Adding to that the several times he had made Su Xi’s aerial contests fruitless, he was getting more and more smug.

He believed that after this game, the public perception of him and Su Xi would undergo a structural reversal.

’Perhaps by mid-season, people will be saying that I, LeBron James, am a top-5 superstar in the league. Little Sheep Su Xi? Hmph, he can go be the gatekeeper for the top ten active players,’ he thought.

However happy James was, Su Xi was twice as happy.

Because James had only reaped a huge harvest of stats and a highlight-reel dunk or two.

But Su Xi had not only reaped a huge harvest of stats, he was also leading his team, and at the same time, his Super Leap Talent had increased to 87.

At this moment, there were 3 minutes and 59 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

The score was already 128 to 125.

The home team Knicks were leading by 3 points.

Su Xi and James had both already recorded massive triple-doubles.

It was a night of statistical explosions. No matter who won, Nike would push out a wave of press releases, portraying them as heaven-sent prodigies. Of course, the winner would definitely receive a greater share of the resources.

The two of them were Nike’s King and Joker right now.

In North America, Nike invested more resources in James, while in Asia, it was Su Xi’s domain.

"Who do you think will win tonight?" Mike Brin asked Reggie Miller.

"What about you?" Reggie Miller was being cunning. "You first," he said.

"I think it’ll be the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers’ lineup is more complete, and you can’t kill a team with just run-and-gun," Mike Brin said.

The basketball expert Tom, sitting beside him, agreed with his view.

But Reggie Miller let out a rather impolite laugh. He said, "You know what? Someone said the same thing during last season’s Finals. They said you can’t kill a team with run-and-gun, and what happened? We beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-0. HAHAHAHA."

"Sorry, San Antonio, I’m not targeting you guys. I just suddenly thought of it."

"Of course, the Knicks’ version of run-and-gun really can’t beat a powerhouse team. But who told you Little Sheep Su Xi was going to use run-and-gun the whole time?"

"I think they’re about to switch to a half-court offense."

Reggie Miller said with certainty, "And they’re going to blow out Cleveland."

"Why?"

Mike Brin was completely baffled.

"Because I know Jack. Jack would never give anyone ammunition against him. He would never let LeBron James’s supporters believe in the myth that ’he only won by luck.’ He will completely and utterly suppress the Cavaliers, inside and out, until the Cavaliers don’t dare even think about the possibility of winning."

"I think you’re telling a fairy tale," Mike Brin said. "Can the Knicks even put together a half-court offense lineup that can compete with the Cavaliers?"

Miller laughed. "Then do you think the Cavaliers can organize a lineup that can play a half-court offense right now?"

"Do you really think Jack had them run-and-gun for nearly two quarters for nothing?"

Miller smiled gleefully.