The Best Point Guard

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Meanwhile, the visiting team was also holding a meeting in their locker room.

It was a "Heart to Heart, Hand in Hand" team unity meeting.

Carlisle, Artest, Little O’Neal, and Jackson each took turns speaking. They talked to Stephon Marbury about the Pacers’ team culture, the importance of running the team’s tactical system, and how individual and team honors were inextricably linked and mutually reinforcing.

The reasoning was all sound.

Everyone was sincere, hoping to bring Stephon Marbury back into the fold.

But in the end, Stephon Marbury only said one thing: "Tonight, can you let me both make a name for myself and take home the victory?"

"This is my personal demon. I have to overcome this hurdle. Can you imagine what it feels like to be cursed at by over twenty thousand people at once? And this is my hometown!"

Marbury also spoke with genuine emotion.

He was so worked up he was practically roaring.

In the end, Rick Carlisle decided to look at the bigger picture. He gave Marbury this chance, redesigning their tactics to center around him. In truth, he was handing him the same playbook that Su Xi used to carry the team.

But he didn’t say that out loud, knowing Marbury could never achieve what Su Xi had, and not wanting to crush his pride.

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BZZT!

The whistle blew, and the game resumed.

After taking the court, both Marbury and the New York Knicks displayed an ambitious energy.

Marbury brought the ball into the frontcourt. Little O’Neal set a screen for him, and he suddenly accelerated toward the paint. Su Xi, who was trailing him, was blocked by a lateral move from Little O’Neal that looked very much like a foul.

However, as Marbury drove into the paint, his layup was swatted against the backboard by Channing Frye.

Eddie Curry had positioned himself in front, arms spread to impede the drive. This time, Curry’s defensive positioning was surprisingly good, and he didn’t overcommit. It was just enough to make Stephon Marbury alter his path, allowing the rookie Channing Frye to trail the play and use his lanky frame to full effect, smacking Marbury’s shot away.

Then, Crawford rushed in, snatching the ball before Artest could get to it.

That was incredibly rare.

It required an extremely high level of focus.

Crawford grabbed the ball and pushed it up the court. He originally wanted to pass to Su Xi, but Su Xi told him to take it himself.

As he reached the frontcourt, Su Xi made a quick off-ball cut, darting past him. Artest’s defense was forced to ease up, as the entire Pacers team knew about Su Xi’s off-ball prowess.

The moment Artest relaxed and lost focus, Crawford went straight into a pull-up jumper.

He was a wild scorer.

He wasn’t afraid to shoot under any circumstances.

A high-risk, high-reward type of player.

SWISH!

The ball dropped through the net.

The Knicks’ lead continued to grow.

On the other end, the Knicks’ defensive focus had clearly intensified.

Because the Pacers were running their offense through Marbury, their overall attack was faltering. This decline gave the Knicks even more confidence.

When you find you can limit the defending champions’ offense through sheer effort, you naturally become more motivated.

The two teams traded blows, but the point differential only widened.

Carlisle observed the significant changes in the Knicks. They were growing more confident, playing more boldly on offense, and becoming more focused on defense. He could even see the makings of a powerhouse team in them.

This horrified him. ’Damn it!’ he thought. ’The tables have turned. Jack is using us to forge his team’s very backbone and soul.’

But even though he knew Su Xi’s objective, there was nothing he could do to change it now.

It was a blatant, overt scheme.

From the moment Carlisle chose to let Marbury play hero ball, trying to exorcise his personal demons, this outcome was already set in stone.

The Knicks played with increasing confidence.

The Pacers grew more and more frustrated; their strength was right there, but they couldn’t access it.

From across the Pacific, Coach Zhang offered a classic saying that cut to the heart of the game: "A fish rots from the head down."

What right did Stephon Marbury have to take Su Xi’s place on the Pacers?

Su Xi had exposed the brutal truth.

In the fourth quarter, Marbury went to the bench for a short rest. The Pacers attempted a comeback, but they were unsuccessful.

They couldn’t replicate their performance from the first half of the second quarter.

This was a sign of the Knicks’ improvement.

The Knicks were gradually gelling as a unit. While their offensive efficiency dipped against the Pacers’ formidable defensive system, they still maintained firm control of the lead.

Moreover, different players kept stepping up.

Su Xi was energizing the entire team.

Just as he had said, he was making every player better.

Get better, win games, win a championship!

With 4 minutes and 19 seconds left in the game and trailing by 23 points, the Pacers effectively declared it garbage time.

Although Marbury was unwilling to accept it, what could he do?

He finished the game with 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 6 turnovers. How could a stat line like that possibly compare to Su Xi?

With both teams playing their bench units, the Pacers managed to claw back 8 points.

But in the end, they still lost the game, 102-117.

The Knicks had the last laugh, maintaining their undefeated record in the new season.

But this victory was completely different from their previous ones. They had defeated the Pacers and had begun to develop a resilient system. Their teamwork was silky smooth, and they were forming replicable tactical plays.

This was the essence of improving through battle; a system forged through constant combat is more resilient.

Many teams understood this principle, but they often couldn’t guarantee wins while trying to implement it. Without a winning record, what’s the difference between rebuilding and just tanking?

But Su Xi was doing both: winning games while building a century-spanning monument on top of ruins.

"I don’t have much to say about Stephon Marbury. He’s a great player; he just had a bad night tonight. Maybe he was affected by the fans. You know, New York fans are experts at getting into your head."

"I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding there is between the New York fans and him; that’s all in the past. I came to the Knicks to look forward."

"This win doesn’t prove anything. The Pacers are still the number one seed for the championship. Of course, we’ll also work hard towards our own goal."

"Our goal? Our goal is the championship. Haven’t I told you that already?"

"Why don’t you believe it? What’s there to be hesitant about? If I didn’t come to New York to win a championship, did I come here to admire the Manhattan skyline?"

"The Knicks don’t need to make any trades. I’ve never seen an undefeated team that needed to."

"Our players are very strong and experienced. Isaiah Thomas is a shrewd manager; his moves are at a master’s level. It’s like he’s playing one of those marble-popping games. You think he’s just randomly shooting different colored marbles into the chain, never clearing anything. But... when he inserts that one crucial marble, you’ll find he can instantly clear the entire line."

"His intelligence is not something an ordinary person can fathom."

"Besides, haven’t you noticed that the Knicks have six players averaging double-digit points this season?"

"This is just the beginning. Isaiah Thomas’s boomerang is homing in on the throat of every team aiming for the championship."

These were some of Su Xi’s post-game remarks.

They generated a fierce public reaction. Were Isaiah Thomas’s previous moves really that brilliant? Could the Knicks actually win the championship? ’You’ve got to be kidding,’ people thought. ’They’re just a bunch of bad contracts.’

Could trash really be turned into treasure?

Was it really that miraculous?

When a reporter asked Isaiah Thomas about this, he was completely stunned.

Su Xi had said all that on the spur of the moment, just to stir up some media buzz. He hadn’t discussed it with him at all.

But the Smiling Assassin was a smart man.

When he heard the reporter recount how Su Xi had praised his brilliant planning, he subconsciously puffed out his chest and cleared his throat. "That is indeed the case."

"I did in fact make such arrangements."

"There are no bad contracts on our team."

"Every player on our team is an elite talent, each with the strength to hold off an army."

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