The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 144 - 114 Su, It’s All Up to You Now!_2

Chapter 144: Chapter 114 Su, It’s All Up to You Now!_2

They felt as if the 2004 Pistons had returned.

Tonight’s Pacers were in for a tough time...

Even the media, who usually favored the Pacers, clenched their fists in concern as they watched the Pistons players emerge from the locker room.

In the visitors’ locker room, Rick Carlisle was also mentally preparing the Pacers:

"This will definitely be the toughest game of the series. I hope everyone gears up to give 120 percent."

After listening to Carlisle, Su Wan waited for him to leave the room before saying, "Rick’s right, tonight’s game will definitely be tough. But as the playoffs progress to this stage, each game will only get tougher than the one tonight. However, we just need to remember one thing, we need only nine more wins to lift the O’Brien Cup!"

"Come on, brothers, as long as we play to our usual standards, I believe we can definitely beat the Pistons. We’ve done it three times in this series already, tonight will be the fourth!"

Once again entering Auburn Palace, they were greeted by the vigilantly prepared security staff and the numerous Detroit natives hurling insults.

It seemed that this generation’s grudges would persist, becoming part of history.

Su Wan also noticed a change in Ben Wallace. In previous games, Wallace would puff out his chest and glare as if he wanted to fight before the game even started. This time, he just glanced over briefly before focusing intently on warming up.

"The Pistons’ attitude can be summed up in four words: focus on the game!" Kenny Smith had noticed this too, but he also had a bit of insider information, "From what I know, Su arrived at the arena four hours early for warm-ups today but was told that the place was closed for sudden maintenance and no one could enter. I don’t know if this will be one of his motivations to perform well tonight, but I believe he will definitely not take it lightly."

Barkley nodded, "That’s his personality!"

TNT’s "golden duo" was quickly proven right. Within less than two minutes of the start of the game, Su Wan hit two mid-range shots at the free throw line and, on defense, he found the staff member who denied him entry to the arena and said, "See, that’s what happens when you don’t let me warm up in the arena!"

The Pistons’ assistant coach had no choice but to send Prince to defend Su Wan, using his long arms to disrupt the shots and push him out of the "free throw line hot zone."

Yet Su Wan called for a screen, and from 45 degrees he made another mid-range jump shot.

He still looked at that staff member, "You should have banned me from getting used to every hoop in Detroit if you could!"

The smooth shooting that hadn’t been seen in a long time had the Pacers fans back in Conseco Arena miles away feeling relieved, and smiles couldn’t help but surface on their faces. History told them that whenever Su Wan found his shooting touch, the Pacers would win especially smoothly.

By the end of the first quarter, at 6:13, the Pacers had taken a six-point lead thanks to Su Wan’s performance.

However, the Pistons demonstrated their resilience. Hamilton kept hitting mid-range shots, and with Ben Wallace blocking O’Neal twice in help defense, they managed to tie the game at 8:23 of the first quarter.

To limit Hamilton, Rick Carlisle brought Reggie Miller onto the court.

In the original Pistons vs. Pacers matchup, Reggie Miller successfully limited Hamilton in three games, the "Masked Man" played normally in one, and exploded in two others.

This time, with Su Wan’s help defense, Hamilton had played normally in only one of the four games played so far, while underperforming in the other three. But tonight, it seemed he had found his range, hitting his targets regardless of whether he was facing Miller’s late defense or Su Wan’s help defense.

At the end of the first quarter, the Pistons led 28 to 24, ahead by four points.

Rick Carlisle’s brow was deeply furrowed at the unfamiliar familiarity of tonight’s Pistons.

It was familiar because he recognized their tenacity.

It was unfamiliar because this tenacity was much stronger than when he left.

After winning the championship, the team’s mental toughness had grown stronger!—That kind of mental toughness couldn’t be attributed to Larry Brown, as he wasn’t even courtside.

In the second quarter, the Pacers faced an even worse situation, as their three-point shooting had not opened up. By 10:25 of the second quarter, Stephen Jackson was 0 for 4 from behind the three-point line, and Reggie Miller similarly was 0 for 3.

From 6:34, the Pistons gradually tried to leave the Pacers’ perimeter shooters open and, by the final two minutes, every time O’Neal got the ball, at least three people quickly surrounded him.

In addition to Rashid and Ben Wallace, there was Prince.

Young O’Neal’s low post ball-out ability faced a tremendous test.

After all, he wasn’t Tim Duncan.

If it hadn’t been for Su Wan attacking the basket and completing a 2-plus-1 at the end of the first half, the Pacers would have trailed by double digits going into the second half.

Ultimately, the first half ended with a score of 49 to 41.

The Pistons led by 8 points.

This was the first time they had managed to do this in the series.

Barkley assessed the Pacers’ first-half performance, "Apart from Su Wan’s 12 shots, 6 hits, 3 free throws, 3 makes, scoring 15 points, there was nothing bright about the Pacers in the first half!"

Kenny Smith was a bit more objective, "When you choose to rely on three-point shots, you have to accept that some nights, it will be a disaster—a problem neither the Phoenix Suns nor the SuperSonic Team could avoid."

"We can do it, we definitely can, just keep playing like this, tonight we must defend the Auburn Palace, brothers, we’ve only got the second half left, we now have an 8-point advantage, just hold on!" Back in the locker room, Ben Wallace roared with excitement.

It was rare for the Pistons to lose the lead after establishing such an advantage at halftime in the past.

The mood of the fans at the scene was equally excited, and before the start of the second half, when the Pistons returned to the court, their cheers became even more enthusiastic.

On the other hand, the side near the visitors’ tunnel was filled with more boos and jeers.

The atmosphere at the venue was incredibly intense, which stimulated the Pistons to adopt an even more proactive attitude, creating a very positive cycle.

In the third quarter, they continued to suppress the Pacers in terms of pacing.

The Pacers attempted a few comebacks during this time but failed to make an effective counter-attack.

The key was that Stephen Jackson and Reggie Miller just couldn’t find their "three-point skill package."

Su Wan had been waiting for such a moment to occur; he would immediately activate "The zone" mode, otherwise, with the interior space being too tight and the clashes too intense, if he activated too early, he would not last until the end of the final quarter.

But the situation now was...

After three quarters, Stephen Jackson had 0 makes out of 6 attempts, Reggie Miller had 0 makes out of 5 attempts, both of them combining for 0 out of 11 from beyond the three-point line. freēNovelFire.com

During the break between quarters, they both didn’t dare to look their teammates in the eye.

Both were acutely aware of how passive the team was because they couldn’t spread the floor on offense due to their performance.

Su Wan could only try to delay as much as possible before initiating "The zone" mode.

He was very clear that the ordinary gameplay under "The zone" mode wouldn’t be enough to secure victory on a night like this; he had to make more extreme moves, challenging both ends of the Pistons’ offense and defense.

This meant he would expend even more of his physical fitness.

minutes?

Or 6 minutes?

Su Wan wasn’t sure how long he could last in that state...

With 4 minutes and 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the deficit at 10 points, Rick Carlisle called a timeout. He summoned Su Wan to his side, expressing a mix of helplessness and anticipation:

"Su, from now on it’s all on you!"

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