The Best Point Guard

Randolph gained a lot of family.

He also received the sincere blessings of the Knicks fans. The most direct evidence of this was his All-Star vote count. It skyrocketed from being the lowest among all candidates to third in the East, surpassing Ben Wallace and trailing only LeBron James and Little O’Neal.

This showed two things. First, the forward position in the East wasn’t that competitive, unlike the West, where everyone was beating each other’s brains out. Tracy McGrady, a small forward, was literally forced into the guard position to compete with Steve Nash for a spot.

Second, Su Xi’s words carried a lot of weight. New York fans listened to him, and they had immense voting power. His votes increased by 500,000 in just one night and one morning.

And this was for a damn player who was infamous and universally despised.

But what could you do? He was family now.

On the flight back to New York, Zach Randolph started performing a Chinese dance he’d invented himself.

Su Xi couldn’t understand it, but he was utterly stunned.

Randolph was flailing around on the floor like a black pig, sometimes standing up, sometimes beating his chest.

It was a good thing the Knicks’ owner was so rich, and their private jet was spacious enough.

If this were a smaller team’s plane, wouldn’t he have rocked the whole thing?

"It’s a lion dance," Randolph finally explained.

Uh...

Now Su Xi understood.

"That was great. Don’t ever do it again." Su Xi felt like Randolph was butchering his culture.

Randolph just chuckled, not offended at all.

During the flight, he even grabbed Crawford’s hand, insisting on reading his palm.

The guy had dabbled in all sorts of things. The heart line, the life line, the career line... he spoke about them with complete conviction.

At first, Crawford was skeptical, but then he heard Randolph say, "I think you might end up with two wives."

He froze. He was actually planning to divorce his wife because he had a mistress.

Most NBA players had mistresses. Some deliberately avoided marriage just so they could have them.

A guy like Crawford, who actually married the woman, was considered a model of a good man in the NBA.

At least he didn’t put on a family man act, have three kids with someone, and then leave her as just the mother of his children instead of his legal wife.

...

Randolph’s game-winner became the new hot topic in the basketball media, and discussions about the trade grew more and more exciting. Some stated bluntly that Portland had suffered a double loss, while others said Isaiah Thomas had finally pulled off a heist. Of course, many cautioned that it was too early to judge based on one game, even if Randolph had played exceptionally well.

Regarding the Knicks’ victory over the Miami Heat, the experts also tried to downplay it. They called it a fluke, saying the Heat hadn’t expected Randolph to be in such good form. They also chalked up the final game-winner to luck.

Su Xi and the Knicks, for their part, didn’t bother refuting such claims.

Pat Riley, however, was clear-headed. In his post-game press conference, he relentlessly praised Su Xi and the Knicks, saying one should never underestimate the heart of a player who wants to become a dominant star.

This aligned somewhat with what Shaquille O’Neal had said. O’Neal also mentioned that Su Xi wanted to be the next Jordan.

A reporter asked O’Neal why he’d made such an assessment.

O’Neal said, "He’s already beaten me and Duncan in back-to-back Finals. What else is there for him to chase? Of course, it’s to become a dominant force like Jordan."

"So, do you think he can do it?" the reporter asked.

"I don’t know. I hope he can’t do it before I retire," O’Neal said.

The reporter then asked him to comment on Su Xi’s dunk.

This was a bit provocative, touching a sore spot.

But O’Neal had a sense of humor. He didn’t even see himself as a person in this; he treated himself like a prop. He said, "That’s a question you should ask Jordan. Why did he never dunk on me, but Little Sheep Su Xi did? That’s something Jordan should be worried about. What does it have to do with me? I just got dunked on. Jordan’s the one who needs to defend his title as the number one perimeter player."

?

The reporter was dumbfounded.

He never expected that to be O’Neal’s answer.

’What the hell does this have to do with Jordan?’

’Jordan’s been retired for so long, you think he cares about you getting dunked on?’

However, if the reporter knew that Jordan had smashed his glass after watching the Top 5 Plays, he probably wouldn’t be thinking that.

These top-tier, all-time great NBA superstars thought differently than ordinary reporters. What they chased was their historical legacy.

For Jordan, never having dunked on O’Neal was a career regret.

Now that Su Xi had dunked on O’Neal, it meant Su Xi had gained a symbolic honor that Jordan lacked: he had toppled the previous dominant force, and he had done it head-on.

Of course, Jordan wasn’t happy, and he was powerless to stop it. What could he do now? Hit Su Xi a couple of times with his golf club?

He could only watch helplessly as Su Xi accomplished things he never had.

He hoped Su Xi didn’t have what it took.

But looking at the Knicks’ current situation, things weren’t looking good for him.

If the Knicks managed to secure the best regular-season record this year, then the weakest link in Su Xi’s evaluation would be reinforced. Who would dare say he was a poor leader on his own? Who would dare say he couldn’t carry a weak team and could only play with superteams?

Weren’t the Knicks weak enough? Before Su Xi joined, weren’t they chaotic enough?

But now, not even a full season had passed, and the Knicks had undergone a massive transformation. The most damnable thing was that Portland had to give them an assist at this exact moment. It was obvious Randolph was in great shape. He wasn’t some pariah everyone wanted to beat down; he was a beast on Viagra!