The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 286 - 173: Stagger Your Travel Times? Impossible!

Chapter 286: Chapter 173: Stagger Your Travel Times? Impossible!

Barkley looked at the data and had something to say again, "I remember two years ago, Su Wan was just like LeBron, both were players who primarily relied on breakthroughs, and he was also once questioned for his shooting ability. But looking at tonight’s game, in two seasons’ time, Su Wan has refined a reliably stable mid-range shot, and even now, has honed his three-point shot, he has always been on the path of improvement."

"Then there’s LeBron..."

"In April of ’01, we were stunned by his physical gifts, but now, in April of ’06, five years have passed, and we’ve always been saying that LeBron belongs to the future, but he’s about to turn 21, an age that’s considered on the older side at the draft, he doesn’t have that much future left to wait for. Admittedly, his regular season averages are outstanding, even surpassing Su Wan!"

LeBron’s regular season averages: 30.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.6 steals, 1 block;

Su Wan’s regular season averages: 28.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.2 blocks;

Except for steals and blocks, Su Wan falls short in all other aspects compared to LeBron.

But in terms of presence in the game...

Su Wan completely outperformed LeBron James.

Mike Brown tried various ways to limit Su Wan’s scoring, but none were effective.

Indeed, a significant part of this is because his newly developed off-ball offense had yet to be figured out by other teams. But this victory was earned with his own sweat.

LeBron faced similar targeting, but the result was starkly different for him, he was totally restricted.

This season, the Cavaliers still played the same way as last season, utilizing LeBron’s outstanding breakthrough ability to draw double teams and pass the ball, helping his teammates find open opportunities to shoot.

This was not at all evident in tonight’s game.

Additionally, Barkley got one thing wrong, LeBron actually improved his shooting this season, at least in the eyes of the commentators in Cleveland, who remarked that LeBron’s mid-to-long-range shooting frequency had noticeably increased.

But even they don’t know why, facing the large gaps Su left him tonight, LeBron dared not shoot.

Could it be that Su Wan truly is LeBron’s nightmare?

A bold thought emerged in the minds of the Cleveland commentators, frightening them into hastily shaking their heads to dismiss the blasphemous idea.

"It might just be a lack of adaptation to the first game, we all know this is LeBron’s first time in the playoffs, and many players struggle in their first playoff game. We have to believe that LeBron can adjust, after all, we’ve made it through the rough months of March!"

This was also what the Cleveland media said to Cavaliers fans after the first game of the series.

Truth be told, one of the main reasons for LeBron’s lack of progress lies in how Cleveland has coddled him.

Had he been in New York, amidst the jeers of media and fans, he likely would have transformed earlier.

This statement had basis.

During LeBron’s lengthy career, there was a period when his shooting was quite good, even if inconsistent, it could be considered a regular weapon for him.

Yes, that was during his time with the Heat Team!

The Heat’s rigor made him evolve from someone called "hardworking" by the media, into someone truly industrious. — The former hardworking was more a media-crafted label, the latter industriousness he truly earned through sweat.

You can see, LeBron is different from Kobe and Jordan; he needs a whip cracking behind him.

If anyone disagrees with this, they must take note of one thing:

Hard training and self-discipline are two different matters!

When it comes to caring for his body, indeed, LeBron is very disciplined in that regard, even Su Wan has to admit.

But apart from that, for any action related to technique, he really doesn’t spend much time refining it, otherwise his traveling wouldn’t be so confounding.

Helpless, with Cleveland spoiling him so much, Su Wan can only deliver him another heavy defeat.

In the second game of the series, the Pacers once again defeated the Cavaliers by a large margin of 27 points.

LeBron was even more fiercely contained this time, shooting only 12 times in the entire game, hitting just 4 of them, scoring a mere 8 points. Thankfully, with 8 free throws, he made 5 and brought his single-game score up to 13 points. Otherwise, he would have struggled to reach double figures in scoring.

No need for surprise, the Pacers’ Su Wan, Artest, and the younger O’Neal have managed to restrict even a "max-level character" like Kobe, let alone the one-dimensional LeBron.

After the last game, having studied the strategies, Artest confidently declared, "Just watch, in the second game of the series, I’ll keep him from scoring double digits!"

And he nearly did just that.

What a pity, for this is LeBron James!

With the referees’ favor, keeping his score below 10 points in one game is too difficult.

Su Wan couldn’t help but wonder:

How much pressure was LeBron under during the 2011 Finals to end up with only 8 points in one game?

Oh, right, at that time he was targeted by the league, there weren’t many calls in his favor!

That makes sense, if not for the frequent whistle, LeBron’s score tonight wouldn’t have reached double digits either.

It seems LeBron really stays "true to his roots," no change between ’06 and ’11.

Su Wan ended tonight with another 29 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Anyway, in front of LeBron, he has just two words: