Chapter 238: Chapter 47: Gazing Northwest, Shooting the Heavenly Wolf

"How come you’re the one getting dunked on again?"

Su Xi asked Garnett with a smile. It was like a nurse jabbing you with a needle while asking, "Why aren’t you smiling?"

Garnett couldn’t manage a smile. He just wanted to bite Su Xi’s head off.

"If you’ve got the guts, you dunk on me!"

"What’s so great about assisting someone else for a dunk?"

Garnett was just making excuses, flustered and not thinking straight.

"I’m the point guard," Su Xi said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He then asked Garnett, "You want me to dunk on you that badly? Aren’t you afraid of being the background poster for every top-five highlight tonight?"

Su Xi’s sarcasm was as sharp as ever.

Garnett ignored him, but the more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

Once he got to the half-court, he posted up Little O’Neal. He went one-on-one against Little Ao again. This time, he spun, drew a double-team from Foster, and quickly passed to the famous bust of a center.

The big bust caught the ball and hesitated for a moment. Su Xi lunged and wrapped him up... Olowokandi.

Olowokandi tried to power through for a dunk, but he underestimated Su Xi’s strength. He gave a sudden heave, but it made him lose his balance, and both of them crashed to the floor.

This was the first time Su Xi had gotten into a wrestling match with a massive center.

It was a perfect demonstration of his incredible strength, even though Olowokandi had a slight edge in their "wrestling match."

After all, he was a number one draft pick. 7’1" tall, weighing 276 pounds.

On TV, Tim Hardaway was already exclaiming, "My god, I always knew Jack was strong. But I never imagined he was this strong! He actually managed to take down a giant center."

Garnett’s guard went up. This direct comparison of strength made his anger level, which had peaked at 95, start to drop.

Sizing up the situation and thinking calmly are essential qualities for a superstar.

Olowokandi went to the free-throw line. Even though his first name was Michael, he missed both shots.

Foster got the rebound.

A bust is called a bust for a reason; they’re definitely missing something.

What Kwame Brown was missing was confidence and skill, and he was blessed with unparalleled butterfingers.

But in reality, Kwame Brown’s defense was pretty good, and his defensive fundamentals were solid. He just had no confidence and was afraid to catch the ball and make a play himself. Of course, his skills were also pretty terrible.

Olowokandi was different. He had nothing.

It’s hard to believe he was chosen as the number one pick. Other than being 7’1" with a seemingly perfect physical frame, he had no outstanding performances.

Kwame Brown was at least the number one high school player and was young. But Olowokandi was almost 22 when he entered the draft. He played three years of college: his first year he was just a benchwarmer, his second year was lost to a season-ending injury, and in his third year he finally managed 20+10+2 at a small school like the University of the Pacific. Then the Clippers’ GM, the famous Lord Baylor, with his unique eye for talent and god-like maneuvering, signed him with the first overall pick.

If Lord Baylor had been just a little more famous, Kwame Brown might not have ended up as the number one bust... After all, the person who picked Kwame Brown was the God of Basketball, Michael Jordan.

Kenny Anderson brought the ball up the court. He started to drive, quickly penetrated to the free-throw line, and after Garnett came over to help on defense, he quickly passed to Su Xi.

Su Xi caught the ball and, without a moment’s hesitation, immediately passed it back inside. Kenny Anderson caught it, leaped into the paint, and dunked the ball behind Garnett.

That was three consecutive dunks challenging Garnett’s defense.

Carlisle, on the sideline, clenched his fist and shouted in approval.

Kenny Anderson held out his hand for a high-five with Su Xi and deliberately said loudly, "I don’t think the Minnesota Timberwolves’ defense is all that great."

This was to provoke Garnett. Kenny Anderson and Garnett’s relationship was far from friendly. Old veterans like him who had been around the league for a long time were bound to have some bad blood with others.

Garnett’s anger level rose again.

Su Xi just smiled back at him, wearing a look that said, "I love seeing you pissed off but unable to do a thing about it."

The game continued.

Spreeville hit a pull-up jumper, but Reggie Miller quickly answered back from beyond the three-point line.

The two teams went back and forth, but the Pacers’ offense was more efficient, and they extended their lead to double digits again.

The first half ended.

57-47.

The Pacers were up by 10.

Su Xi’s stat line read: 6 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 1 block.

It was a typical Su Xi stat line. He had integrated himself perfectly into every facet of the Pacers’ game. With him on the court, the Pacers’ offensive efficiency and defensive toughness both saw a huge boost.

And his influence was subtle, yet profound.

In a way, Garnett and Su Xi had similar roles on the court. Garnett wasn’t a superstar who could carry the whole team on his own; he was a superstar who embedded himself into the team’s system and strengthened it from within. He wasn’t like O’Neal or Duncan, players around whom you build an entire system.

Therefore, Garnett was more of a system player. With a good coach and good teammates, the team’s record would improve.

In contrast, O’Neal and Duncan weren’t as picky about coaches. As long as you let them play their game comfortably, the team’s record would improve.

Of course, Su Xi couldn’t be compared to Garnett in all aspects yet; Garnett was ahead in every category. But tonight, Garnett had to shoulder more of the scoring load, and he was getting a bit hot-headed. On top of that, he was the focal point for the Timberwolves, while Su Xi wasn’t the focal point for the Pacers. The Pacers’ roster was far stronger than the Timberwolves’.

"This is the best team in the West? How can we, the number one team in the East, be mentioned in the same breath as a team like this?" Artest said loudly in the players’ tunnel.

He said it deliberately so Garnett, who was walking ahead, would hear him.

He was being a real ass.

And he was just being an ass for the sake of it, completely unprovoked.

No wonder his father and grandmother used him as a punching bag when he was a kid, beating him so much he developed psychological problems. A doctor told him to play basketball to help with his condition, and somehow the guy ended up becoming this famous on the court.

Su Xi was different from Artest.

On the court, Su Xi was aggressive, and his words were sharp enough to kill. But off the court, he usually didn’t go out of his way to provoke opponents.

Garnett turned around. He pointed at Artest, and then at Su Xi. "You guys are gonna leave this arena in tears."

"Cry? Your mom!" Artest shot back without missing a beat.

As soon as the security guards heard that, they quickly stepped in.

Garnett got very agitated as security held him back, and he even looked ready for a physical fight with the Pacers. In the end, though, he just spat out a few extremely nasty curses and left.

Su Xi couldn’t quite understand what Garnett was yelling. His curses were pure street slang, a dialect more authentic than his very skin color.

"Jack, in the second half, that guy is definitely going to come at us like a madman. Which means we’ve got this win in the bag."

Artest said to Su Xi, "Would you call that drawing aggro?"

Artest had once asked Su Xi why he was so polite in daily life, yet every piece of his on-court trash talk was incredibly sharp. Su Xi had explained that it was about drawing aggro, making the opponent’s anger level spike so they’d lose their cool and not be able to play properly.

Artest had taken it as gospel and was now putting it into practice.

"Then I’ll have to match up against him in the second half," Su Xi muttered to himself.

He was understanding the fusion logic of the Little Elf more and more clearly. Guarding a Super Talent could increase the fusion speed, and guarding an emotional, exceptionally angry Super Talent would double that speed.

’So, how can I possibly let the enraged Wolf King off the hook?’

...

In front of his TV, Magic Johnson was on the phone with Larry Bird. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

They were good friends and had always stayed in touch.

This time, Magic was talking about his upcoming trip to Indiana, and Bird enthusiastically invited him to stay at his house.

Magic, of course, refused. He still had... activities planned. Although he’d had an incident that made women keep their distance, there were always people willing to risk it all for money. As the saying goes, take a big gamble, and a bicycle might just turn into a motorcycle.

"You’re definitely going to win Executive of the Year this year."

Magic said, not without a hint of jealousy, "I didn’t expect that even after retiring, you’d still be making such an impact on the basketball world."

"Of course. I’ve always been better than you. But there’s one thing I’ll probably never be able to catch up to you on," said Larry Bird.

"What’s that?" Magic asked, curious.

"Your ability to mentor players. I’ve run a lot of training camps, but I still haven’t produced the next Big Bird. But you, you always seem to be able to cultivate a pretty good ’Magic.’ Take Jack, for example. Don’t you think that even though he’s my player, his passing looks an awful lot like yours?"

...