The Best Point Guard

Eddie Curry was the only Knicks player who spoke publicly about the matter.

The other players were all focused on the evening’s game. An 18-game winning streak to tie the franchise record—that was far more important to everyone.

As for Antonio Davis, he was just a former teammate who had been left behind. What he said hardly mattered. The Knicks were about to make history.

After acquiring Sam Cassell this season, the Los Angeles Clippers had improved, currently ranking fifth in the West and, for once, topping their crosstown rivals, the Lakers.

With their improved record, the Clippers had grown ambitious and were always looking to make a big splash. This time, they were tasked with the heavy responsibility of stopping the Knicks from breaking their record. The eyes of the entire basketball world were on them. The media attention was huge, making it the perfect opportunity to make a name for themselves in Los Angeles.

So, the team owner made a special trip to the arena to cheer them on. This man, known as Grangai, even promised to open two bottles of red wine worth tens of thousands of USD to celebrate if they won.

This sent the team’s morale soaring. No one wanted to live under the Lakers’ shadow forever.

’If we have a shot, we have to take it!’

Especially against a villainous team like the Knicks, who had a bad reputation and everyone wanted to see taken down. Beating them would feel like a righteous victory.

The Clippers’ perimeter star, Maggette, was injured and out for the season. However, Maggette had become a perfect example of the Ewing Theory, as the team had actually gotten better after losing him.

The Clippers’ starting lineup tonight was: "The Alien" Sam Cassell, "Old Cat" Mobley, James Singleton, Elton Brand, and Chris Kaman.

A decent lineup.

The Knicks countered with a starting lineup of: Su Xi, Crawford, Jalen Rose, Tony Battie, and Eddie Curry.

TWEET! The whistle blew, and the game began.

Tonight, the Clippers’ home arena was a rare sell-out. Usually, only a crosstown derby could draw such a large crowd. It just went to show how popular the Knicks really were.

When Su Xi took the court, some of the Los Angeles fans booed.

During the offseason, both Los Angeles teams had aggressively pursued Su Xi. This was especially true for the Lakers; at the time, it had even felt like a done deal. But then, who would have thought, Su Xi turned around and signed with the Knicks.

What’s more, the painful part was that as soon as Su Xi joined the Knicks, the team’s rise was immediate and dramatic. A 17-game winning streak that was the envy of the league. Of course, now many fans were sourly parroting the basketball pundits, claiming Su Xi had stolen the original soul of the Knicks and was dominating every aspect of the team.

But if Su Xi had come to the Clippers or the Lakers instead, the fans of both teams would surely have thrown their hands in the air and shouted, "Please, Su Xi, take our souls! We want a 17-game winning streak too!"

The brief jeers didn’t affect Su Xi’s mood.

Eddie Curry won the tip-off against Kaman, a clear sign that he was in peak physical condition.

During the winning streak, he had shed a lot of fat while increasing his muscle mass, leading to an all-around improvement in his physical fitness.

He was a high school phenom to begin with, and now he was in the prime of his career.

Su Xi brought the ball past half-court, and Cassell steeled himself to defend him.

Cassell had faced Su Xi before during his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he had been soundly beaten each time. Now, he was older, and Su Xi was even stronger.

In his youth, Cassell was known for his physical strength, but now he avoided contact with Su Xi. He knew how tough Su Xi was, how powerful his drives to the basket were.

He wanted to try and bait Su Xi into a trap.

But Su Xi simply exploded past him with a sharp burst of speed, blowing by him as if he were a practice cone.

He couldn’t react in time.

There were two premier "tank-like" freight trains in the league today: one was James, the other was Su Xi.

James was the bigger model, with more aggressive force on his drives.

Su Xi was a slightly smaller model, but he had better technique. And when he made contact, it hurt more.

Su Xi charged into the paint, leaped explosively, and rose up to meet Kaman. Ever since gaining his super-jumping talent, he had become more and more audacious, always looking for a chance to posterize a center.

Kaman and Su Xi were from the same draft class.

But his German heritage might have been mixed with a bit of English flair; he was already starting to bald, his golden hair looking quite sparse from a top-down view.

THUD!

Su Xi slammed hard into Kaman, then palmed the ball with one of his long-armed, massive hands and threw it down at the rim with force.

Kaman’s outstretched hand was powerless to stop him. He looked less like he was trying to block the shot and more like a drowning man reaching for a lifeline.

BOOM!

Su Xi hammered the ball through the hoop, swinging hard on the rim with one hand.

Kaman was caught in the vortex of force. His body finally gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.

The Staples Center was in an uproar.

No one had expected Su Xi’s first play to be so savage. He got straight to the point, treating the Clippers’ defense like it wasn’t there, then threw down a vicious poster dunk right over their tallest player, knocking him to the ground in the process.

Pure dominance on display!

After landing, Su Xi scanned the arena.

He could see the irrepressible fear in the eyes of the courtside Clippers fans, the kind of fear one has for a deity.

Su Xi’s dominating presence had grown more and more palpable this season.

As he scanned the crowd, none of the Clippers fans who had likely been trash-talking the Knicks before the game dared to meet his eyes.

The Clippers players on the court also averted their gazes, avoiding his sharp focus.

The Knicks’ morale was instantly ignited.

Su Xi’s opening salvo was like the descent of a basketball god.

The game continued.

The Knicks displayed an unprecedented defensive intensity. Their defense wasn’t inherently good; only Su Xi and Tony Battie were considered true defenders. Jalen Rose could hold his own at best, while Crawford and Eddie Curry were turnstiles.

Now, even the two turnstiles were actively staying with their men, holding their ground.

The Clippers tried to create opportunities through ball movement, but Su Xi’s pressure on Cassell was suffocating.

He was forced to pass the ball to Brand in the post. Brand, a skilled but slightly undersized big man, backed down Tony Battie. He turned for a jumper, but Battie smothered the shot, slapping the ball to the floor. Eddie Curry scooped it up and fired a long outlet pass.

Su Xi and Cassell took off in a dead sprint down the court. Cassell was left far behind, watching helplessly as Su Xi took the pass, charged into the paint, and finished with a tomahawk slam.

Two dunks in a row.

The dunks threw the Clippers into disarray and made the false confidence of the Staples Center fans evaporate into thin air.

The matchup between Su Xi and their Cassell was a complete mismatch.

Even on the defensive end, the Knicks were playing with oppressive intensity.

The Clippers, essentially a weaker version of a half-court offense team, were becoming the perfect sparring partner for the Knicks’ defense. The Knicks were using them to forge the beginnings of their own defensive identity.

That’s why, after his back-to-back dunks, Su Xi pointed to Ariza on the bench.

He wanted Ariza to get in the game. Ariza was his handpicked lockdown wing defender, a defensive small forward he was personally grooming.

’How can I not let him in on an opportunity this good?’

The Clippers were once again stymied in the frontcourt by the Knicks’ defense. This time, they went to Chris Kaman for a one-on-one. Kaman’s turning hook shot missed. Although Eddie Curry wasn’t a good defender, he now understood his own strengths: stay glued to his opponent’s lower body and hold his position. As for anything happening with the upper body, he wasn’t getting involved.

Su Xi swooped in to contest the shot.

The ball clanked off the iron. Tony Battie grabbed the rebound and passed it to Su Xi.

Su Xi sprinted down the court with the ball, weaving through the chaos into the paint before dishing it to a trailing Crawford. Crawford pulled off a flashy reverse layup in mid-air, sinking it with his left hand.

Right from the opening tip, the Clippers were completely stunned.

TWEET!

Mike Dunleavy called a timeout. He could see his players’ morale plummeting. The Knicks were nothing like what they had expected, and nothing like what he had prepped them for in the locker room.

If he let his team keep playing like this, the Clippers were done for.

So, he had to make an adjustment.

He had to rebuild his team’s confidence.

But what he didn’t know was that on the Knicks’ bench, Su Xi was saying, "The Clippers are a good opponent. They’re like a watered-down version of the San Antonio Spurs. We need to use them to hone our defense. In this game, we’re not just going to win; we’re going to build our defensive confidence."