The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 304 - 180 Absolutely Do Not Trash Talk Him_5

Chapter 304: Chapter 180 Absolutely Do Not Trash Talk Him_5

This really is...

"The Divine Calculator" absolutely adores Shaquille O’Neal.

In ’04 when he came to Miami, Pat Riley felt like he’d won the universe.

But that was the Shaquille O’Neal of ’04 who could make the whole League tremble with a stamp of his foot, not the "Big Shark" of now who makes the whole floor shake when he falls!

In the end, he still put Shaquille back on the court, explaining his action in one sentence, "If the twenty million dollar man doesn’t play at this time, then what do we need him for?"

And, as expected, the Heat crumbled.

With 4 minutes and 35 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Pacers had established a 20-point lead, then Su Wan entered some kind of state, scoring 6 points in a row, bringing the game to a halt.

Is this "The Zone"?

Pat Riley knew that Su Wan could enter that kind of state, now seeing Su Wan, who was originally contained, suddenly explode into an offensive state that even Wade couldn’t stop, he felt incredibly amazed and envious at the same time.

After the timeout, the "Divine Calculator" made a wholesale change, "five in, five out", subbing out all main players, announcing the surrender.

Rick Carlisle also gracefully subbed out all his main players, including Su Wan, and the game ended with the Pacers defeating the Heat by 26 points in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

If you just look at the stats, Shaquille O’Neal performed quite well, 11 shots and 7 hits, 6 free throws and 3 made, scoring 17 points, and 8 rebounds on top of that.

Although not comparable to his peak, this was actually his regular postseason performance this year, with a throwback to his peak happening only once or twice against the Pistons.

But anyone who watched the game knows that the primary reason for the Heat’s loss tonight was Shaquille O’Neal.

He was restrained by the Pacers lineup and disrupted the entire rhythm of the Heat.

On this point, Shaquille O’Neal himself was very clear, his face could not have looked uglier as he passed through the visiting team’s tunnel after the game.

Naturally, that was normal, all season long he had been fixated on defeating Su Wan and the Pacers to redeem last year’s humiliation.

As fate would have it, he got what he wished for and faced Su Wan and the Pacers, only to become the one dragging down the whole team.

He had never experienced anything like this in his career; no wonder he was in a bad mood.

On the Pacers’ side, Su Wan scored 25 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists; Little O’Neal got 21 points, 11 rebounds; Foster scored 8 points, 6 rebounds; Dior had 9 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists; Jose Calderon scored 11 points, 6 assists; Artest had 19 points, 6 rebounds...

The Pacers under "small ball" played with an "even distribution of rain and dew."

And when the Heat broke down later on, the Pacers didn’t even have to arrange specific tactics, it was mostly about who had the best shot opportunity, hence all three cores played well in the game.

However, Su Wan frowned at Wade’s stats.

shots and 10 hits, 1 out of 3 three-pointers, 12 out of 15 free throws, totaling 33 points, plus 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

Honestly, such stats were within Su Wan’s acceptability.

But those 15 free throws...

That was something Su Wan found hard to swallow.

We Indiana natives certainly can’t let others take advantage of us for no reason.

And...

Who else isn’t a "Superstar" in the League!

In terms of popularity, he was still this season’s "All-Star Ticket King."

He had to put some pressure on the League.

So after the interview, he immediately made a call to Nike’s representative.

The representative was surprised to receive a call from Su Wan.

It was the first time he recalled Su Wan calling him.

"Su, you have no idea how important what I’m doing right now!" After saying this, he chuckled twice, and his laughter couldn’t have been more lecherous.

Just by hearing that laughter, Su Wan already knew what "important" business he was attending to.

"Is Nike not as good as Converse?"

But what Su Wan said next made his lecherous laughter disappear instantly.

"How could that be? Su... do you have other thoughts? We’ve just signed a contract, it’s only been a year, Su!" His anxious voice came through the receiver.

Su Wan went straight to the point, "Then why can a Converse-endorsed player take 15 free throws against the Pacers while I only got 6 this game? Isn’t this a sign that your influence isn’t as strong as Converse’s?"

"Or do you think Dwayne is so good he deserves 9 more free throws than me?"

"How could that be!" ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

Faced with such a "do-or-die question," the representative immediately expressed that it was not the case.

Su Wan stated, "I expect a perfect solution from you guys!"

Sure enough, Nike was quick to act, the next morning Su Wan saw a flood of media alerts questioning why Wade always got so many calls.

These voices had an obvious effect, in the second game of the Eastern Conference Finals, Wade’s free throws suddenly reduced to 9.

Although still more than Su Wan’s 5.

But it’s the same old story, Su Wan has always admitted that Wade’s breakthrough ability is indeed better than his, so a difference of 4-5 free throws was within his tolerance.

The Pacers again won by 20 points over the Heat.

However, in the third game of the series, back at the Heat’s home court, Wade’s free throw count rose to 16, and with the Pacers’ shooting from the outside off, Su Wan’s 31 points still couldn’t help the team continue their winning streak.

When winning, seeing Wade’s free throw count high already annoyed him, and losing while seeing Wade’s exaggerated free throw count angered Su Wan even more, prompting another call to Nike’s representative:

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