The Best Point Guard

Meanwhile, Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks also responded to Su Xi.

During an interview, he said, "Congratulations to Goat Su Xi on winning the Eastern Conference Championship. To me, he’s always been the best player in the NBA. He’s already beaten O’Neal and Duncan. He’s the superstar of this era."

"What he said is true. I really did try to recruit him, and he really did turn me down, saying the Mavericks were too strong. I thought the reason was a bit absurd at the time, but now I see the Knicks becoming number one in the league and the Eastern Conference champions under his leadership."

"However, I don’t think he’ll have the last laugh. This year’s championship will belong to the Mavericks."

"Just as he predicted, we’ll beat the San Antonio Spurs. Then, we’ll exploit their weakness in the paint and devour them."

"We won’t let them get back to full strength."

Mark Cuban said.

He was very sincere.

He even added, "If the Dallas Mavericks win the championship, both I personally and the Dallas Mavericks organization will each donate 1 million USD to the China Welfare Foundation to renovate basketball facilities in rural schools in China."

With this move, Mark Cuban’s class was on full display.

The Mavericks have always had a good relationship with Chinese players, having extended an olive branch to many of them in the past.

Now, with Cuban joining this wager, it was bound to make Jordan even more uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pacific, China was winning big.

No one could have imagined that the NBA Finals would suddenly turn into a massive donation competition.

Isaiah Thomas had gotten the ball rolling, and others quickly followed suit.

One million USD was no small sum.

How many rural schools would get brand-new basketball courts and hoops because of this?

...

Although the San Antonio Spurs were humiliated, their fans took to the internet, calling Su Xi arrogant and conceited. They swore that if the Spurs made it to the Finals, they would teach him a lesson.

But they lost the Western Conference Finals.

They pushed the series to a sixth game, but in Game 6, they were completely lit up by Nowitzki. Nowitzki had undoubtedly reached the peak of his career, dropping 52 points in that game.

The resilience and toughness he displayed in that game meant no one would dare call him soft again.

In fact, the guy who was fond of calling Nowitzki soft didn’t seem to be all that tough himself.

Su Xi was highly impressed by Nowitzki’s stats and immediately voiced his support: "Without a doubt, he’s the third-best power forward in the league today. Right behind Randolph and Duncan."

Of course, Su Xi said this to prop up Randolph, who was his teammate.

But the person most slighted by this comment was Garnett.

Garnett and Duncan had always been considered the two great rival power forwards of their generation.

But Duncan was laden with accolades. What did Garnett, who had entered the league two years before him, have to show for it?

Now, he certainly couldn’t compare to Nowitzki.

Nowitzki had carried his team to the Finals as its lone superstar.

Su Xi’s praise took some of the tension out of the upcoming series, even though both teams were fiercely chasing the championship.

For Dallas and Nowitzki, they needed this championship to win their first-ever title and cement their places in history.

As for the Knicks and Su Xi,

the Knicks had been in the doldrums for so many years. They needed a championship to announce to the world that they were back.

At the same time, a championship for Su Xi meant he would officially earn the right to challenge Jordan.

He would officially obtain his ticket to challenge the God of Basketball.

Jordan was the most nervous person of all.

He had already received word that Nike was planning to give Su Xi a new production line and an eight percent share of the profits, surpassing his own five percent.

Furthermore, his own brand was already feeling the impact from Su Xi’s line. If Su Xi’s meteoric rise continued, he wouldn’t just lose the title of God of Basketball, but also his endless stream of income... His revenue would definitely decline.

And after a certain tipping point, it could collapse entirely.

After Su Xi swept the Cavaliers, the executives at Nike were nervous to the point of tears.

Because if Su Xi won the championship and was named Finals MVP,

it would be game over. Another year of their work would be for nothing.

These compounding bonuses would destroy their cash flow.

...

The Finals arrived as scheduled.

At Madison Square Garden Arena, a ticket had become a status symbol for New York’s high society.

James Dolan was no philanthropist. As soon as the Knicks punched their ticket to the Finals, he immediately raised ticket prices to record-breaking levels. If you wanted to get into Madison Square Garden Arena for the Finals, it would cost you 2,000 USD just for a nosebleed seat.

And this was back in 2006, mind you.

On the secondary market, scalpers were selling them for 5,000 USD.

New Yorkers were just that rich.

You could be a Wall Street elite, but now, you were stuck watching the game from the nosebleeds too.

As for the seats closer to the court, the prices were astronomical.

You couldn’t even get a front-row seat with money alone; it depended on who you were.

The media had already calculated that from this one Finals run, James Dolan would make fifty percent more than what the Lakers earned from their three most recent Finals appearances combined.

That was the power of old money.

Los Angeles may have been booming, but New York was still the world’s number one metropolis.

The city was full of hidden masters, and the rich were a dime a dozen.

TWEET!

The whistle blew.

The game began.

The middle- and upper-class denizens of New York City began to roar, chanting the name that had become the pride of their city—a moniker exclusive to Goat Su Xi.

MVP!

MVP!

MVP!

The roar was incredible.

Zach Randolph and Eddie Curry sat on the sidelines, dressed sharply in suits, enviously watching their teammates who were able to play.

"If I’d known, I wouldn’t have punched that bastard Moning."

"I should’ve just ignored O’Neal’s taunts."

"This is incredible. To miss a home game in the Finals for those pieces of trash... it’s just not worth it."

"Tony Battie and Jerome should pay us for our emotional distress."

SMACK!

As the two of them spoke,

Jerome won the opening tip against the Western Conference’s second-best center, Eric Dampier.

The Mavericks’ lineup at this time was: Dampier, Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Stackhouse, and Jason Terry.

The Mavericks’ lineup was strong; they had both offense and defense.

Most importantly, they were a true jump-shooting team.

Little General Johnson had fully unlocked their team chemistry.

After being forged in the crucible of the monstrously competitive West, their tactical cohesion was now at its peak.

They were on a completely different level from Cleveland.

If the Knicks thought they could use the same strategy that worked on the Cavaliers to beat Dallas, they were dreaming.

The basketball experts didn’t dare make a definitive prediction now; they had been proven wrong too many times already. However, reading between the lines, they still seemed to believe the Mavericks had a better chance of winning.

After all, they believed the Mavericks would win at least one game.

From the broadcast booth, Larry Brown said, "I think the China Welfare Foundation will be receiving 4 million USD."

"Because if the Mavericks win the title, the Mavericks organization and Mark Cuban will donate 2 million USD."

"Isaiah Thomas is donating 1 million USD regardless of whether they win or lose."

"Michael Jordan will also donate, because I think the Knicks still have a chance to win one of their two home games."

"No matter how you look at it, the rural elementary school students in China have already won."

It was a rare moment of humor from Larry Brown.

Beside him, Reggie Miller introduced the Knicks’ starting lineup.

"Hardaway, Su Xi, Jalen Rose, Tony Battie, and Jerome James."

"If you had told anyone a year ago that this lineup... would not only make it to the Finals but would do so by sweeping the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, anyone who knew anything about basketball would have called you a lunatic."

"After all, it was a complete collection of the old, the weak, the sick, and the injured."

But now, they had actually done it.

Hardaway steadily brought the ball up the court.

Although Hardaway had lost his magic and most of his athletic talent was gone, he had become a very capable Point Guard—and a big one at that.

When his contract expired next year, teams would still be lining up to offer him a new one.

He had proven that he still belonged in this league.

Hardaway brought the ball past half-court and passed it to Jalen Rose.

Fresh off his suspension, Jalen had been given a heavy responsibility, matched up against Stackhouse.

A player from his own era.

Their playing styles were also quite similar.