Chapter 241: Chapter 49: The Rookie with the All-Time Best Regular Season Team Record

points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 blocks.

If you only looked at the stats, you would have a hard time telling if he was a guard or a big man.

Garnett also had a great game, finishing with 22 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks.

He was considered the best help defender in the NBA, the best playmaker, a superstar who could play all five positions.

Su Xi, however, received no such compliments.

For putting up similar numbers, Su Xi was branded the ’perfect stat-sheet stuffer’ and labeled ’the ultimate system player’. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

There were some objective reasons for this. For instance, Su Xi’s ability to create his own shot wasn’t strong, and a large portion of his rebounds came from Foster and Little O’Neal boxing out to let him have the boards.

But more likely, it was their unwillingness to admit that an Asian guard who spent his days with Hollywood starlets could reach such a level.

Americans have never truly taken off their tinted glasses, no matter how well they try to hide their prejudice.

Garnett subbed out, and so did Su Xi. The dejected home fans began to file out of the arena. The Pacers’ bench players proceeded to close out the win.

The showdown between the top seed in the West and the top seed in the East ended in a lopsided blowout.

Xi Murong, Dong Qiaofeng.

111-93.

The Pacers rolled to a destructive victory.

This was their 69th win of the season, putting them just one step away from the 70-win club.

Next up for them were two road games, against the Phoenix Suns and the Detroit Pistons.

"That’s well within our reach."

"We came here without ever considering defeat."

"The Minnesota Timberwolves are a good team. They showed their quality in this game."

"Kevin Garnett is very good, too. I’m not going to be petty and biased like him. If the league gives him the regular season MVP, I have no objection."

"He dominates the league. I dominate him."

"I don’t know what this ’raw skill’ you all are always discussing is. If the ’raw skill’ and ’innate talent’ you’re all talking about is really so great..."

"Then why am I always the one who wins?"

Su Xi made his post-game comments in Minnesota.

ESPN commented that this was consistent with Little Sheep Su Xi’s usual style, but they didn’t believe Su Xi could dominate Kevin Garnett. They claimed that, at best, the game was a duel where Garnett and Little Sheep Su Xi traded blows. The Minnesota Timberwolves, they argued, lost because their role players underperformed and Sprewell lacked offensive aggression.

In their eyes, Garnett’s abilities were on a level that Su Xi couldn’t touch.

However, on that night’s "Top 5 Plays" segment, Garnett was the victim on the highlight reel four times. The number one play was Su Xi posterizing him with a dunk right in his face, a slam so forceful it left Su Xi’s own palm scraped and bleeding.

So this was their idea of "trading blows"? Su Xi dunking right in Garnett’s face?

The discussion on the internet was completely different from the media narrative on television, which tried to save face for Garnett. On the burgeoning internet, everyone believed Garnett got dominated by Su Xi. In the several possessions where Garnett went directly against Su Xi, he was bested every single time. How could that be called "trading blows"? If Su Xi didn’t get Rookie of the Year, then on what grounds should Garnett get the regular season MVP?

Garnett said nothing after the game.

Though he was stubborn at heart, he was at a loss for words.

He still had his pride to consider, and anything he said now would be meaningless.

It was just like how Sanders was avoiding any talk of the Coach of the Year award.

This head-to-head showdown had already settled many debates.

Sanders wasn’t going to get Coach of the Year.

Garnett’s pre-game comments about the Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards had all come back to bite him.

Continuing that rhetoric now would just be heaping humiliation on top of injury.

Besides, he and James weren’t that close anyway.

It was purely to get under Su Xi’s skin.

But not only had he failed to get under Su Xi’s skin, he’d been thoroughly humbled in return. It was time to be pragmatic. He couldn’t risk his fierce trash-talking costing him the regular season MVP award that was already practically in his pocket.

Following the Pacers’ victory in this marquee matchup, LeBron James and his team went on to lose to both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Washington Wizards, completely extinguishing their playoff hopes.

The Bucks were currently sixth in the East, so losing to them was understandable.

But the Washington Wizards had long been eliminated from playoff contention, so why did they fight so hard to stop them?

"Just don’t like him."

Gilbert Arenas dropped 47 points in that game.

After the game, he explained plainly why he took down the Cavaliers: "I don’t think LeBron James deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Jack. Jack is making history; LeBron is just padding his stats."

A year ago, Arenas had told Su Xi, "When you get to the NBA, come find me if you run into any trouble."

He was making good on his promise.

Every time Su Xi found himself in the crosshairs of the media, Arenas would stand up for him. In a game this crucial, how could he possibly let James and his team just sneak into the playoffs?

Honestly, you could say the same for Michael Redd during the Milwaukee Bucks game.

The Bucks had already locked up the win, so it would have been perfectly normal for them to ease up and rest their starters.

But not only did Redd play 42 minutes, he even got bandaged up and returned to the court after taking a shot that split his brow open.

He played with playoff-level intensity, ultimately dropping 42 points, hitting 8 three-pointers, and leading the Bucks to take down the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers only had one regular-season game left.

But it no longer mattered; they were already a game and a half behind the Celtics.

They now had only 34 wins.

That was half of the Pacers’ total, minus one win.

When Su Xi had left, the Cavaliers were sitting high at fourth in the East, only 9 games behind the Pacers.