The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 122 - 104: Surge in Popularity

Chapter 122: Chapter 104: Surge in Popularity

"OMG, Larry, did you watch the game? Su scored 54 points in less than three quarters, 54 points, OMG!"

At Conseco Arena, in the general manager’s office, Larry Bird watched as Walsh forcefully pushed open the door and rushed into his office, yelling at him, not at all surprised.

When he saw this scene, he knew the president would come to find him, and sure enough, it only took 2 minutes, a distance that normally would take 5 minutes to walk. This showed how excited Walsh was at the moment.

"It looks like you completely forgot what you said!"

"What?" Walsh didn’t understand what Larry Bird meant.

Larry Bird said, "You said that I was playing with fire, bringing in another ’bomb’ so quickly, that having talent wasn’t enough. Like Ron, sitting on the sideline unable to do anything, even if we had him, it would be the same as not having him. Then there was, uh... I’m getting old and can’t remember some things, that’s about it, right? Isn’t that what you said?"

"Uh..." Seeing Larry Bird bringing up old grievances on such a joyous day, Walsh was slightly embarrassed and hastily changed the topic, "Do you want some coffee, Larry? I’ve gotten really good at hand-brewing recently, let me make you some!"

Larry Bird made a ’please’ gesture, barely able to suppress his smile.

This feeling of complete victory was just too great.

Su Wan...

He hadn’t disappointed him.

"Are all you superstars so petty?" Walsh complained, bringing up issues from so long ago.

Larry Bird casually shrugged, "That’s why we are superstars, well... that kid still has a long way to go, he just got a single 50-point game in his rookie season."

"But that’s something you haven’t achieved, Larry. If I’m not mistaken, your first single-game 50-point performance wasn’t in your rookie season," Walsh suddenly found an opportunity to counter.

Bird fell silent.

He had indeed never scored 50 points in a single game in his rookie season.

The first player in NBA history to score 50 points in their rookie season was Allen Iverson.

Even Jordan hadn’t achieved that...

Now Su Wan was the "second person!"

Larry was aware that Indiana was about to truly meet its new master.

Suddenly, an excited howl came from outside the window; both of them rushed to look down.

It was a group of Pacers fans.

They were coming out of the bar next to the arena, frolicking in the fan plaza.

Presumably, it was Su Wan’s 54 points in three quarters that had ignited the "flame" in their hearts.

Gradually, more and more people gathered, not just in the fan plaza but also in the distant pedestrian street, business centers, department stores... The howls echoed, sometimes near and sometimes far.

Tonight, Indiana would become "the city that never sleeps."

The next morning, the excitement continued to escalate.

"New York Times: ’54 points in three quarters, dumbfounded LeBron, crushed the Cavaliers’ playoff hopes, Su Wan is too crazy!’"

"Open-air grandstand: ’Crowned the ’Youngest 50-point Mr.’ at Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, do you regret it?’"

"Los Angeles Times: ’54 to 7, this isn’t the final score of any game, this is the score difference between LeBron and Su Wan after three quarters of the Cavaliers vs Pacers game, a night of shattered dreams for the Cavaliers, and the night the ’Chosen One’ fell from his throne.’"

...

All kinds of media, Su Wan deservedly dominated the headlines, and many of them didn’t just feature this story as the lead in the sports section but as the main headline of the entire newspaper.

Scoring 50 points in a single game has always been one of the media’s unofficial requirements for a "Superstar."

Without a 50-point game, the status of a "Superstar" is easily questioned.

This is particularly true for those known as scoring "Superstars."

From this, you can see how difficult it is to score 50 points in a game.

In fact, in the NBA, aside from Chamberlain the "Monster," who had scored 50 points in 118 games, other players, including the likes of the "Old Hooligan" Michael Jordan with just 31 times, and then Kobe with 25...

Keep in mind, these two are among the top three NBA scorers, and even they, over thousands of regular-season games, had a probability of scoring 50 points of less than 0.03%!

What’s more significant, Su Wan was only 19 years old!

At an age not yet 20, to score 54 points in three quarters was unprecedented in the entire NBA.

Even though Allen Iverson had previously achieved a rookie-season single-game score of 50 points, he entered the league when he was 20, reaching this achievement at 21.

Su Wan was two years younger than him.

Who knows what Su could achieve at Allen Iverson’s age.

Don’t forget, he scored 54 points in just three quarters; what if he had played the whole game... well, let someone good at math work that out.

The unknown is what’s most exciting.

Take Kobe, for instance. After leading his team to "back-to-back championships" in 2009, his historical standing briefly reached second in NBA history. Yet, his hard-earned honors couldn’t really surpass those of "Magic" and "Big Bird"; it depended on his ongoing career and his strong momentum at the time.

The situation was similar with Su Wan now.

Even many general managers had phoned Larry Bird overnight, wanting to try and trade for Su Wan. They hadn’t even finished their sentences, just mentioned a "su" sound, when they were met with a dial tone.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m

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