The Best Point Guard

Meanwhile, the Knicks had already made their adjustments.

They subbed out Antonio Davis for David Lee.

And just like that, the Knicks started running and gunning too.

Su Xi would sprint down the court with the ball, pass the moment he saw an opening in the frontcourt, and his teammates would shoot the instant they got the ball. It didn’t matter if it went in—they just let it fly.

The pace was insane, and in a straight-out footrace, they were actually faster than the Suns.

And soon enough, their shooting percentage began to catch up.

The two teams played at a frenetic pace, like a herd of wild buffalo with their asses on fire.

WHOOSH!

They swarmed to the left side of the court.

WHOOSH!

They swarmed to the right side of the court.

The back-and-forth was unbelievably fast.

It wasn’t just the fans who were left dizzy—D’Antoni was dumbfounded too. He thought, ’Is run-and-gun really this simple? Did Su Xi just steal our classic V-cut?’

D’Antoni was getting a little flustered.

In contrast, Isaiah Thomas was perfectly calm. He wasn’t just calm; he was so calm that he was sitting on the bench, chin in hand, dozing off.

The pace was too fast, like a hypnotist swinging a pendulum back and forth in front of his eyes.

His mind went blank. After all, he was just playing the part of head coach on the sidelines.

When the pace picked up, his mind couldn’t keep up, and drowsiness set in. So he simply sat there on the sideline, chin in hand, and drifted off to dreamland.

The cheers, screams, and boos from the Suns’ home crowd became the perfect lullaby.

When the camera panned to him, viewers could only think that Isaiah Thomas was an enigma. The game was this intense, yet he could still sit there with his eyes closed, meditating. Wasn’t that an even higher level of mastery than the Zen Master Jackson?

The Smiling Assassin really knew his stuff.

The third quarter ended quickly.

Surprisingly, neither head coach called a timeout.

By the time it was over, the score stood at 89-91.

The Phoenix Suns were ahead by two. They had scored 38 points in the quarter, which was an incredibly high number for 2005.

As Su Xi came off the court, he shook the assassin awake, announcing that the fourth quarter was about to begin.

Isaiah Thomas wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and quickly slipped into character. He grabbed a clipboard and said, "You all played exceptionally well just now, with a lot of heart. Most importantly, you rallied around Goat Su Xi, pulling together with one heart and one mind. As long as we have this spirit of unity, there’s no opponent we can’t beat..."

After finishing this long speech, he gave Su Xi a meaningful look.

Su Xi tapped a few specific spots on the clipboard.

Thomas immediately understood and made the substitutions. Eddie Curry and Channing Frye came in, along with Crawford and Trevor Ariza.

In reality, everyone on the bench knew Isaiah Thomas wasn’t the one calling the shots; Su Xi was making all the decisions. But since Su Xi himself showed such respect for Thomas, everyone else just played along with the charade, pretending not to notice. It was a little game they played to lighten the mood.

While Isaiah Thomas couldn’t provide any tactics, his value as a morale booster was off the charts.

Who wouldn’t want their head coach to be a mascot, anyway?

But just then, Antonio Davis voiced his dissent. "I can play too, Coach Su Xi. I think I’m better than these rookies."

Davis had just exposed the bench’s open secret, addressing Su Xi directly.

This was a deliberate attempt to put Su Xi on the spot and back him into a corner.

"If you have something to say, you say it to me," Thomas said, stepping forward to face Antonio Davis.

"What’s the use of talking to you? Are you even the head coach?" Antonio Davis retorted, showing zero respect for Thomas.

Just then, the Smiling Assassin flashed his signature smile. He pointed toward the players’ tunnel. "You’re on ice. Go back to the locker room and wait for news of your trade."

Antonio Davis froze. He hadn’t expected this at all.

The other players were shocked. They’d never expected Thomas to be so forceful.

It was only then that everyone remembered: Thomas wasn’t just the head coach; he was also the GM and President of the club. Sure, he might listen to everything Su Xi said, but who the hell did Antonio Davis think he was? What gave him the right?

TWEET!

The buzzer sounded for the start of the quarter. Su Xi led his teammates onto the court. As Isaiah Thomas forcefully ordered him away, a resentful Antonio Davis stormed towards the players’ tunnel, even ripping off his Knicks jersey and tossing it to a fan.

Hilariously, the fan who caught it didn’t even want it, immediately tossing it onto the ground.

Who was Antonio Davis, anyway?

If it had been Su Xi’s jersey, they would have scrambled for it. After all, a game-worn Su Xi jersey would have women fighting over it, bidding the price up so high it would make you question the actual value of a USD.

In the fourth quarter, the Knicks slowed down the pace.

Phoenix had no choice but to slow down as well, with Steve Nash even taking a seat on the bench. The Child of the Wind was getting older, after all. No matter how well he took care of his body, he couldn’t escape the ravages of time.

This was where the Knicks’ advantage became clear.

With Steve Nash off the court, Shaun Marion and Raja Bell were also resting.

Barbosa, Eddie House, Kurt Thomas... that whole lineup ran around like headless chickens.

They quickly ran smack into the Knicks’ defensive wall, getting beaten and bruised.

The Knicks, on the other hand, played a steady, methodical game. They even had Jalen Rose facilitating with the ball while Su Xi made a couple of off-ball cuts, resulting in a three-pointer and an open layup.

The Knicks quickly erased the deficit and then began to pull away.

With only 2 minutes and 24 seconds gone in the fourth quarter, D’Antoni had no choice but to sub Nash and Marion back in.