Su Xi’s taunt sent Garnett’s anger level soaring past 90.
There’s a saying in China: ’Laugh at the lies, not the truth.’ It ans that if you’re joking about sothing false, no one will mind. But if your ’joke’ hits on a truth, they’ll fly into a rage.
Why did Garnett fly into a rage?
Su Xi had seen right through him.
He didn’t actually dare to fight Su Xi; he was just putting on a show.
You couldn’t say he wasn’t tough. His defense was very physical, but... that’s where it ended. He was a superstar with major comrcial endorsents. He couldn’t just throw punches like a true blue-collar player; it would be devastating to his on-court persona.
Garnett had been carefully cultivating an on-court tough-guy image.
That ant a lot of shouting and yelling to fire up the team. A bit of trash talk, so dirty plays, chest-pounding, foot-stomping, and roaring at the sky... it was all part of his standard playbook.
And he was very good at it.
But none of that had much effect on genuinely tough players.
Players like Su Xi.
The whole world knew that Garnett had trash-talked Su Xi during the All-Star Ga, only to be utterly humiliated. It was the Waterloo of his tough-guy career.
It didn’t ruin Garnett’s on-court persona, though.
But... damn, did it sting.
Now, before the thorn in his heart could be removed, before the blood could be wiped away, BAM, he’d just been stabbed all over again.
How could Garnett’s anger not skyrocket?
And he had no way to vent. It wasn’t like he could just charge over and knock out Su Xi’s front teeth, could he?
Never mind that the whole world was watching.
More importantly, Garnett wasn’t even sure he could win in a fight against Su Xi.
Ben Wallace had been laid up in a hospital bed for over half a month, and that incident still sent a chill down the spine of every ’tough guy’ in the NBA.
The ga continued.
Garnett responded to Little O’Neal in the language of basketball. He used a pump fake to get past Little O’Neal’s defense, drove into the paint, executed a silky-smooth spin, gave a shoulder fake, and sank a fadeaway jumper.
After the shot fell, he raised his fist, and the entire Target Center erupted in cheers for him.
In terms of skill, Garnett was undeniably one of the top-tier players in the league; many in the basketball dia had already ranked him as number one. He was also the greatest player in the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Although many argued that Garnett’s two massive, nine-figure contracts had locked up the team’s cap space, preventing them from making the necessary additions to truly contend.
But without Garnett, would another superstar have really chosen to co to Minnesota?
As the Wolf King, Garnett had single-handedly dragged a remote team from the Northwest into the center of the NBA spotlight. He was worthy of the franchise’s adoration and his massive salary.
Garnett’s connection with the fans was electric.
But just eight seconds later, Su Xi brought it all to a screeching halt.
Su Xi had Little O’Neal inbound the ball to him quickly. He then blazed into the frontcourt like a bolt of lightning. Spreeville had decent speed in his youth, but he’d lost a step or two, and he couldn’t stay in front. At the three-point line, Spreeville made a desperate lunge to stop him, but Su Xi twisted his body and flew past him with a difficult behind-the-back dribble.
Garnett had no choice but to rotate over in pursuit. He tid his approach, hoping to unleash a monstrous chase-down block on Su Xi and finally vent so of his pent-up frustration.
But alas... it wasn’t that Garnett wasn’t smart; it was that Su Xi was just too crafty.
Su Xi leaped into the air and abruptly turned his back to the basket. Just as Garnett was wondering what he was doing, Su Xi threw the ball off the backboard from behind his back. Before Garnett could even react, the ball was already rebounding.
’Damn it! It’s over!’
Garnett’s heart sank as he saw Su Xi duck and slip past him.
He tried to land and duck out of the way, but Little O’Neal was already thundering toward the rim. He crashed into Garnett with trendous force, slamming the ball through the hoop with two hands.
Garnett once again suffered the humiliation of being posterized by Little O’Neal.
Worse, he looked utterly pathetic doing it.
Cowering and scurrying for cover.
After the dunk, Little O’Neal pounded his chest. He had a round, dark face, looking very much like a fernted black bean from Sichuan. When he opened his mouth to let out a passionate roar, his teeth flashed brilliantly white.
It was almost cartoonish.
Garnett was in no mood to appreciate the contrast.
He was furious. He was humiliated.
He was convinced Su Xi was doing this just to toy with him.
’Who the hell plays like that? Jumping up, turning your back, and bouncing the ball off the backboard for an assist...!’
’With that degree of difficulty, you might as well join the diving team!’
The Jumbotron overhead replayed Su Xi’s incredible assist, and the ho crowd couldn’t help but gasp in amazent... even though their Wolf King had just been humiliated, posterized while he scurried for cover.
But damn, that was a beautiful play!
Viewers watching at ho were also raving about Su Xi’s pass.
"That’s just pure magic," said Tim Hardaway, ESPN’s special analyst and a forr NBA Point Guard. "I can’t help but be reminded of Magic Johnson."
Magic Johnson, watching on his own TV, thought the sa thing. ’Jack is the closest thing to at point guard that I’ve seen in years. His understanding of spacing is the best of the new generation, and he’s so imaginative. If he had my passing skills, he’d be completely unstoppable. If only he were on the Lakers.’
Magic truly wished he could just package up his entire arsenal of passing techniques and hand them over to Su Xi.
Su Xi would have no problem mastering them, either. His hands were huge. Although he was only 192cm tall, his hands were the size of a seven-foot center’s.
So centers didn’t even have hands that big.
’The only problem now is... why isn’t Su Xi on the Lakers?’
Magic Johnson couldn’t help but fantasize. ’With the current Lakers lineup plus Su Xi, we’d be unstoppable. Another five championships wouldn’t be a dream!’
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