The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 123 - 104: Surge in Popularity_2

Chapter 123: Chapter 104: Surge in Popularity_2

This is no longer a simple matter of "not for sale."

You could say that now, to call Su Wan the "City Son of Bolis," not a single Bolis person would object!

This is the impact of the "youngest player in history to score 50 points in a game."

Of course, this also includes the fondness that Su Wan had been accumulating in Indiana, which, added to these achievements, had reached a new level of adoration.

Apart from the attention on Su Wan’s "youngest 50-point game" headlines, there were many reports ridiculing LeBron James.

TNT even put up a morning news comparison chart of Su Wan’s and LeBron James’ stats after three quarters, saying it was "absolutely heart-wrenching" wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Some media directly called out LeBron, "Su Lian doesn’t care about becoming the youngest to score 60 or 70 points in a game, but you, despite the game’s outcome being settled, still stayed on the court, padding your stats during ’garbage time’ before coming off. That’s not what a superstar does, LeBron!"

The contrast was too stark, they saw that with Su Wan’s current condition, scoring 70 points in the entire game was no problem at all, but he chose not to continue playing and instead rested off-court, giving up the opportunity to kick a "drowned dog." Meanwhile, LeBron, wanting to make his stats look better, stubbornly remained on the court. If he was trying to close the point gap, that’d be one thing, but the final point difference was still 30. Other than making his stats look a little better, it was ineffective. What is this if not stat-padding?

It really made people want to spit criticisms.

Normally, such news would never be released, Nike would absolutely not allow such news that damages LeBron’s image to come into public view.

But this time, there were so many critical media outlets, they could buy off some, but the rest were free to attack LeBron.

LeBron can only blame himself.

Such an important game, yet he played like this.

Even Nike couldn’t help but want to have the media criticize him.

But their initial investment was too huge, now they could only make the best of a bad situation and continue to increase the exposure of Su Wan’s "youngest 50-point game" to distract the public from LeBron.

Nike gave up struggling, Cleveland’s media didn’t even bother with LeBron.

Last night’s performance by Su Wan was like a bolt from the blue for these media people, the only thought on their minds now was:

Why?

Why trade Su Wan?

Danny Ferry, you have to give an explanation today!

As the target of denunciation, Danny Ferry didn’t dare step out of the general manager’s office the whole day, and it wasn’t just the Cleveland media denouncing him, but the Cavaliers fans as well.

They had surrounded the Quicken Loans Arena.

If Danny Ferry even went out, it’s likely a "crazy fan" with a controlled knife or a baton would pop out of some bush yelling "Cleveland," and then gank him.

Even his lunch and dinner had to be delivered to his office by an assistant.

He even had two bodyguards stationed at the office entrance.

Fortunately, the Cavaliers fans didn’t know which way the windows of the general manager’s office faced, otherwise Ferry would have been greeted by stones flying straight into his office.

For Ferry, trading away Su Wan was his biggest regret.

But he could never have imagined that last night, Su Wan could go so crazy.

LeBron was utterly smashed by him!

Suddenly, he remembered the joke Su Wan made before leaving the conference room. If at the time he really had sent LeBron packing and kept Su Wan, would he now be Cleveland’s "City Hero"?

Danny Ferry didn’t know who the "Best General Manager" of the year was, but he was certain he’d win the "Most Unfortunate General Manager" award.

The other side of the ocean, on that 9.6 million square kilometers of land, was also exploding.

On April 11, "Sports Express," "Sports News," and "News Network" successively reported that Su Wan scored 54 points in three quarters in the game where he played against the Cleveland Cavaliers as a member of the Indiana Pacers.

Su Wan’s name suddenly exploded across the country...

Domestic fans weren’t unfamiliar with Su Wan. During the Olympics last year, they had heard his name quite often, with many media outlets referring to him and Yao Ming as "Huaxia Men’s Basketball Team’s Golden Generation’s best inside-outside duo."

Now they were hearing his name again.

Average basketball viewers were absolutely shocked, with only one thought in their heads: "Su Wan is awesome." Among them, those who liked to go online immediately rushed to the "Su Wan Bar" and commented under previous posts about Su Wan: "I am completely in awe, my bro," "Brother Su, take it easy, or we’ll start thinking the NBA is too easy," and "Brother Su: Just a tiny NBA, easily mastered"...

Su Wan saw these comments and wasn’t fully satisfied. He created a new account and left a message saying:

Without me, Su Jiujiu, Huaxia’s outside line would be in eternal darkness!

This sentence quickly caught fire, and the praise continued to pour in.

The direction of the conversation had shifted somewhat.

As for those who didn’t usually watch basketball, they would also talk with friends who understood the game, asking them to give examples and explain the significance of Su Wan scoring 54 points in three quarters in the NBA.

Those with knowledge of basketball would start by mentioning Yao Ming: "Yao entered the NBA in ’02, and even now, his highest score in a single game hasn’t surpassed 40 points. Plus, with the NBA’s history of five or six decades, Brother Su is the first player to score 54 points in three quarters during their rookie season."

If that still wasn’t clear, they’d all mention a name in unison: "Just think of him as the Liu Xiang of basketball. In any case, he did something in the territory of the Big Blacks that they couldn’t do."

With this comparison, even those who weren’t basketball-savvy could grasp the significance of Su Wan’s 54 points in three quarters.

Su Wan also vividly felt his own popularity. After arriving in New York with his team, he received a phone call from Bill Duffy:

"Sports Illustrated" wanted to invite him for a cover shoot.

This was the first invitation from "Sports Illustrated" that Su Wan had received.

As the best-selling sports magazine in the United States, "Sports Illustrated" could be considered the weathervane of the entire American sports industry, with the hottest topics featured in their latest issues.

And each issue’s cover person was inevitably the "hot topic" of that period.

Bill Duffy thought this was a great promotional opportunity for Su Wan.

After some thought, Su Wan said, "Tell them, unless they have a title more explosive than ’Chosen One,’ I’m not doing the shoot."

"Chosen One" was absolutely a stroke of genius by "Sports Illustrated." The first person described by that term was "Tiger" Woods, and the second was LeBron James.

Both covers had caused a sensation.

Now Su Wan was demanding "Sports Illustrated" come up with an even more explosive title; otherwise, he would refuse.

This...

To Bill Duffy, what was the difference between this and a direct refusal?

However, Su Wan felt his own popularity merited such a demand. After all, whether or not he did the cover shoot was immaterial to him; he didn’t consider it an honor. After all, it was just a magazine that was going to stop production in 2024!

Just as he never considered Madison Square Garden to be the "basketball holy land."

He acknowledged the old arena had seen many stories unfold, but that alone wasn’t a reason to call it the "basketball Mecca." When that arena could hang 6 championship banners, then it might be worth considering as a "basketball holy land."

The Pacers’ next game was an away challenge against the New York Knicks.

However, in the pre-game interviews, the reporters were still focused on the Pacers vs. Cavaliers game from the day before.

After the story fermented overnight, many players and the head coach had commented on Su Wan’s 54-point achievement, keeping the buzz alive.

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