points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 blocks.
If you only looked at the stats, you would have a hard ti telling if he was a guard or a big man.
Garnett also had a great ga, 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 complints.
For putting up similar numbers, Su Xi was branded the ’perfect stat-sheet stuffer’ and labeled ’the ultimate system player’.
There were so 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 ca 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.
Aricans 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 ho 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 gas, against the Phoenix Suns and the Detroit Pistons.
"That’s well within our reach."
"We ca here without ever considering defeat."
"The Minnesota Timberwolves are a good team. They showed their quality in this ga."
"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-ga comnts in Minnesota.
ESPN comnted that this was consistent with Little Sheep Su Xi’s usual style, but they didn’t believe Su Xi could dominate Kevin Garnett. They claid that, at best, the ga was a duel where Garnett and Little Sheep Su Xi traded blows. The Minnesota Timberwolves, they argued, lost because their role players underperford 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" segnt, Garnett was the victim on the highlight reel four tis. 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 dia 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 ti. 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 ga.
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 aningless.
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-ga comnts about the Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards had all co back to bite him.
Continuing that rhetoric now would just be heaping humiliation on top of injury.
Besides, he and Jas 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 ti 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 Jas 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 ga.
After the ga, he explained plainly why he took down the Cavaliers: "I don’t think LeBron Jas deserves to be ntioned in the sa 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, co find if you run into any trouble."
He was making good on his promise.
Every ti Su Xi found himself in the crosshairs of the dia, Arenas would stand up for him. In a ga this crucial, how could he possibly let Jas and his team just sneak into the playoffs?
Honestly, you could say the sa for Michael Redd during the Milwaukee Bucks ga.
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 ga left.
But it no longer mattered; they were already a ga 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 gas behind the Pacers.
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