After a brief struggle, the Pistons’ offense started to beco more efficient.
In contrast, the Pacers were relying on Artest’s forced isolation plays. Unsurprisingly, Jermaine O’Neal was once again ineffective; he just couldn’t play tough against the Wallace Brothers.
The eight-point lead was slowly chipped away, and the atmosphere in the Auburn Hills Palace grew increasingly frenzied.
Finally, three minutes into the second quarter, things reached a climax.
Billups hit a three-pointer, putting them ahead by two.
The tables had turned.
LeBron Jas, watching on TV, was happier than if he were in the lead himself. He absolutely loved to see the Pistons thrashing the Pacers.
The cara cut to Su Xi. He was sitting calmly on the bench, regulating his breathing.
His stamina was recovering quickly.
But he was still a ways off from being ready to go back in.
The ga continued.
No one could have predicted that Billups’s three was just the prelude to a downpour of threes from the Pistons.
Artest fought his way into the paint and drew a foul, sinking both free throws to steady the ship.
But on the very next possession, Prince hit another three-pointer, assisted by Billups.
Then Hamilton hit a three.
Rasheed Wallace hit a three.
Billups hit another three.
Five consecutive three-pointers.
Though they were interspersed with two misses.
It was still enough to force a Pacers tiout, as they had gone from an eight-point lead to an eight-point deficit.
There were 5:35 remaining in the second quarter.
Su Xi stood up. He knew he wasn’t even back to eighty or ninety percent, but if he didn’t get back on the court now, the Pacers’ situation would be hopeless.
Carlisle didn’t try to persuade Su Xi to rest any longer.
He also couldn’t believe the Pistons had suddenly turned into a three-point shooting team.
Everyone knew that stubborn old man Larry Brown hated the three-pointer; it was barely even an option in his playbook.
Larry Brown himself was astonished that so many of his players were on fire from three-point range. ’This has to be a blessing from God.’
’Without a gift from heaven, how could they be so incredibly accurate?’
’Who wins gas by relying on three-pointers, anyway?’
Larry Brown attributed their good fortune to God.
"The Pistons are shooting lights out from three. Should we get into a shootout with them?" Artest asked Carlisle on the bench.
Carlisle glanced around the bench. Besides Reggie Miller, they didn’t have any other reliable three-point shooters. Artest’s three-point shot was streaky, and he was cold more often than he was hot.
"We don’t have the personnel for that. We need to start on the defensive end. Stick to locking down their periter."
Carlisle said, holding his clipboard and giving Su Xi and Artest more defensive freedom.
As he was about to check in, Su Xi glanced at Reggie Miller. "You need to keep moving around the three-point line," he told Miller. "You’re the only one who can trade threes with them."
Miller nodded. His expression was grim, and a hint of pessimism showed.
Right then, he desperately wished another shooter on the team would step up and fight alongside him.
As Miller watched the Pistons firing on all cylinders from beyond the arc, he felt a sense of despair. ’This is the closest I’ve ever been to a championship in my entire career. I can’t let it end here.’
The ga continued.
Su Xi re-entered the ga.
Prince was on him again, using his long arms and legs to get in Su Xi’s way.
This ti, Su Xi didn’t resort to his energy-saving, evasive style. Instead, he turned his back to his defender... THUD! THUD!
Two powerful bumps. It was a case of throwing one punch to avoid a hundred.
Su Xi’s two back-downs were so forceful they rattled Prince to his core.
As Su Xi went for the third bump, Prince involuntarily gave ground... but just then, Su Xi suddenly spun, completely erasing the defense like a sharp scimitar slashing across his neck.
Prince didn’t see a spray of blood, but he saw Su Xi’s figure flash past him.
Su Xi drove into the paint, instantly drawing help defense from Rasheed Wallace. Su Xi pushed forward, leaping into Wallace... and forced up a hook shot... SWISH!
The shot fell.
And Rasheed Wallace was whistled for the foul.
He was pissed.
But he bit back a roar.
He’d been burned by technical fouls before and didn’t want another one.
But the fans in the arena booed and cursed nonstop.
SWISH!
Su Xi converted the and-one.
The deficit was cut to five.
"Jack gets on the floor and has an imdiate impact! How can anyone still say he isn’t the Pacers’ one true core?" Barkley clenched his fist, genuinely impressed by Su Xi’s decisive play. "That was tough."
"I’ve never seen a star player who can only play 20 minutes a ga," said Kenny Smith. "And playing like this will only burn him out faster. This isn’t a hundred-ter sprint."
As Kenny Smith made his cynical remark, Su Xi approached Billups with even greater determination.
He ratcheted up his intensity on defense.
His aggressive, high-pressure defense was suffocating. Billups couldn’t find an open teammate and needed a screen just to get free.
Ultimately, Rasheed Wallace was forced into a tough shot, and it missed.
Foster got the rebound and passed it to Su Xi.
Su Xi imdiately pushed the ball, shifting into top gear on the fast break.
It was an incredibly draining way to play.
Larry Brown sat on the sidelines, smiling, even as Su Xi drove into the paint and scored another layup.
’So what?’
Brown wasn’t worried at all.
The ga continued.
The Pacers got another defensive stop. When Su Xi suddenly ca over to double-team, Hamilton rushed a pass, turning the ball over.
On the other end, Su Xi took Prince one-on-one, then passed to Reggie Miller, who had gotten open using a screen from Little O’Neal. Miller drew a foul on Billups.
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