The Best Point Guard

Even if they did, they could only hold it in.

Su Xi’s raw talent was just too overwhelming.

So, Su Xi had basically locked up this year’s regular-season MVP award.

Su Xi sat out the last three games, as did Zach Randolph.

Isaiah Thomas explained it before the game like this: "They’re going to a nightclub to attend the memorial service for Randolph’s aunt."

This explanation made basketball fans all over the world burst out laughing.

The whole world now knew that Randolph’s aunt’s memorial service would be held at a nightclub.

But nowadays, very few people still made fun of Randolph for this.

In competitive sports, being a scrub is the original sin.

When you’re strong enough, the audience will automatically downplay all your dark history, and they might even come up with excuses for you.

For instance, Isaiah Thomas wasn’t even bothering to come up with any real reasons now.

After losing to the Hornets, he said: "The Hornets are just that strong. Chris Paul’s talent is absolutely historic. It’s perfectly normal for us to lose to them."

After losing to the Jazz, he said: "Deron is just that strong. His talent is absolutely historic. It’s perfectly normal for us to lose to him, right? He and Paul are the unrivaled duo of their generation."

The last game of the season was at home.

A New York reporter asked Isaiah Thomas why they weren’t aiming for 70 wins, especially since their last three opponents were so weak.

Isaiah Thomas said: "This is just the beginning, what’s the rush? If we get 70 wins in the first season, what’s left for next season? You have to eat a cake one bite at a time. You can’t take too big of a step."

Then, he was asked for his thoughts on Randolph holding an "Oriental Beauty Pageant" at a nightclub.

"My only thought is, why not hold it at Madison Garden? We could sponsor the venue. We could have them walk the runway during halftime."

Isaiah Thomas said it with righteous conviction.

The Knicks’ opponent in their final game was the Bobcats.

To be honest, the Knicks weren’t even planning on winning.

But the Bobcats were just too weak.

The team that Jordan had such high hopes for, the team he thought would win a championship before Su Xi, didn’t even last half the game. They were run off the court by a Knicks team missing both Su Xi and Randolph, completely unable to put up a fight.

Even Hardaway got a triple-double in this game.

That’s right, a triple-double.

During his prime, it would have been normal for Hardaway, who could play both inside and out.

But now, with his legs almost completely shot, he still managed to put up those numbers.

This was thanks to his teammates’ support and a result of his hard training throughout the season; his condition was getting better and better. His stats of 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists were a perfect end to his hard work this season.

The Knicks finished the 2005-2006 season with 68 wins.

And their first-round playoff opponent was revealed. It wasn’t the Cleveland Cavaliers, the matchup everyone wanted to see, but the Chicago Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls were a young team, and also Eddie Curry’s former team.

After Jordan’s retirement, the Bulls had been going through all sorts of rebuilding plans. At first, they planned to build around the high school duo of Eddie Curry and Tyson Chandler, but neither of them ever panned out.

In ’02, they also drafted Williams, the second overall pick from Duke. He was a flash in the pan before getting into a traffic accident.

After that, they started a plan focusing on the perimeter, drafting a whole bunch of guards and forwards like Syracuse, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Nocioni. Plus, this season they made a big-money signing in Ben Wallace, and under the leadership of Skiles, they finally returned to the playoffs.

But drawing the Knicks in the first round... it was hard to say whether they were lucky or unlucky.

The lucky part was that the Knicks had never been favored by the professional media. The pundits always thought the Knicks’ wins were flukes. Even after they secured the best record in the league, some people still thought it was a fluke, stubborn to the very end.

The unlucky part... did that even need an explanation?

Who the hell on the entire Bulls team wanted to face the Knicks? Not even Ben Wallace, okay?

He had a blood feud with Su Xi, so to speak, but because of that, he knew exactly how terrifying Su Xi was.

He believed Su Xi was now aiming to be the greatest of all time. Don’t be fooled by how dazzling players like Kobe, O’Neal, Wade, James, Nash, and Duncan were this year, giving the impression of a "hundred flowers blooming."

But in Ben Wallace’s heart, Su Xi was the most dangerous one. He truly believed Su Xi had a chance to make history. In fact, Su Xi was already doing it.

Everything he did was benchmarked against the all-time greats.

As for Cleveland’s "Chosen One," LeBron James, don’t make me laugh.

When they finally locked in the seventh seed, you could hear fireworks and firecrackers going off in Akron.

No matter how much they boasted, saying that "Little Sheep Su Xi" could never compare to the "Chosen One," their actions spoke louder than their words.

Su Xi looked at some playoff predictions. The experts were overwhelmingly of the opinion that the teams in the top half of the bracket would completely shred the teams in the bottom half.

The Knicks, Pacers, Pistons, and Heat—those four teams were just too fierce.

Su Xi thought so too.

...

In the first playoff game against the Bulls, the Knicks players were a little nervous at the start. Everyone assumed the difficulty would increase in the playoffs and that it wouldn’t be as easy as the regular season.

So, they played a bit tight.

As a result, they couldn’t pull away with the score.

It wasn’t until the second quarter that Su Xi said, "Let’s just play loose. The Bulls don’t seem to have any noteworthy tricks up their sleeves."

At Su Xi’s command, the Knicks let loose. They even abandoned their defense to focus completely on offense.

The Bulls quickly collapsed.

They didn’t even make it to the end of the third quarter.

Ben Wallace’s role in the Bulls’ defensive system was far less significant than it had been with the Pistons.

Moreover, after getting his big contract, his motivation wasn’t what it used to be.

Most importantly, without the protection of the Pistons’ system, his shortcomings were exposed.

Eddie Curry and Zach Randolph repeatedly targeted and punished him.

For an undersized center, once their athleticism declines, their impact on the court visibly diminishes.

119-101.

The Knicks took the first game without breaking a sweat.

Then, the Knicks took the second game as well.

The Bulls were basically destroyed. It was highly unlikely they could defend their two home games.

But just then, unbelievable news came from Indiana: the Cleveland Cavaliers had won two straight games at Ancesco Arena.

The seventh seed in the East had taken down the second seed on their home court.

Everyone was shocked. This news was completely unexpected.

The Pacers weren’t weak.

They were the second seed in the East.

Although Su Xi had left, Marbury was an important addition.

Most importantly, as the reigning back-to-back champions, their tactical system was still in place.

This shouldn’t be happening.

Su Xi watched both games.

If you could say LeBron James’s game-winner in the first game was a questionable travel, then the Pacers losing the second game by 12 points outright really said something.

Although the referees’ favoritism toward LeBron James was obvious in both games, the Pacers’ real failure was the collapse of their own system.

When Stephon Marbury gets anxious, he tries to take over himself. It’s a bad habit of his that’s hard to break.

But his scoring ability in crucial moments wasn’t as dominant as Su Xi’s. Even though Su Xi’s offensive skills weren’t polished back then, he was incredibly aggressive.

And he was always ready to pass to teammates to create scoring opportunities.

Marbury lacked this ability. Mike Brown capitalized on it, using Hughes and Snow to provoke him repeatedly, ultimately leading to a fourth-quarter collapse. The Cavaliers won without breaking a sweat.

James put up 38 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds in the first game, and 41 points, 8 assists, and 9 rebounds in the second.

The "Chosen One" moniker was being hyped up again.

After watching the games, Su Xi got a call from Little O’Neal.

Little O’Neal was about to explode with anger.

He had posted a monster double-double with 25 points and 21 rebounds that night, but it still wasn’t enough to save the team.

He missed Su Xi. He missed him a lot, and all the guys missed him too.

Su Xi told them to increase their offensive firepower on the wing, suggesting that Artest should focus more on offense instead of expending all his energy guarding James.

Because the current defensive rules were too advantageous for a player like James.

They couldn’t keep playing the same old way.

Furthermore, Su Xi even suggested moving Stephon Marbury to the sixth-man role.

It remained to be seen whether the Pacers would accept the advice from their former teammate.