The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 378 - 195: Su Wan and LeBron, Introspection on Leadership Qualities_4

Chapter 378: Chapter 195: Su Wan and LeBron, Introspection on Leadership Qualities_4

"Don’t mention it, this is what old teammates should do."

During the turmoil in Cleveland, the Pacers also experienced a wave of shocks.

Three-point shots are like that, extremely unstable!

Fluctuations in player performance can easily affect the quality and intensity of team tactics.

Rick Carlisle, as a "Champion Coach," aimed to win this year’s finals and defend the title, naturally wouldn’t selectively give up on some three-point tactics when the team’s performance was inconsistent.

This wouldn’t be beneficial for the Pacers’ playoff campaign.

He’d rather accept two losses in exchange for the team to adjust more quickly.

This way, the Pacers would have more experience in self-adjustment the next time they faced fluctuations in three-point shooting.

Then there were some minor injuries.

This was bound to happen around January as the season progressed.

Teams with bad luck might even face their core players getting injured and being out for the season at this time.

There were not a few teams that suffered similar blows in January in past seasons.

Houston was the "unlucky one" this season.

In mid-January, Su Wan and the Pacers came to Space City, where Yao Ming’s presence was no longer found on the streets; even the "Yao Restaurant" near the arena had closed down, just like any superstar who left their home team, it seemed as if Yao Ming had never been in Houston.

The only thing that could evoke that memory was Bynum, dressed in Rockets red.

As the biggest chip in the trade for Yao Ming, Bynum was also pinned with high hopes by the Rockets, and he proved himself worthy. In November of the new season, he averaged 15 points and 8 rebounds; unfortunately, the good times didn’t last, and in mid-December, he suffered a season-ending knee injury, becoming a spectator at the edge of the court.

All the heavy lifting for the Rockets fell on McGrady’s shoulders.

It was as if he was back with the Magic Team.

If you asked him what the difference was between then and now...

Back then, he was more enduring, but now...

Clearly, he couldn’t take the strain!

As the sole leader of the team, McGrady had no choice but to shoot like crazy, as he had done with the Magic Team. One or two games was fine, but after a month of such performances, he was starting to feel it.

In the game before the one against the Pacers, his chronic back injury acted up, and after leaving the court in pain, he didn’t return.

After the game, the Rockets’ management updated the latest on his injury:

Tracy McGrady would be absent from the games for the next two weeks, with his return date pending.

This meant that for the next half-month, the Rockets would be without their standard-bearer.

And at this very moment, they encountered the Pacers...

It was a brutal one-sided massacre.

Su Wan scored 42 points, leading the Pacers to a 30-point thrashing of the Rockets.

With this victory, they began their "5-game road trip."

Before leaving, Su Wan took a stab at the Houston media: "This fits the current state of Houston, a city that doesn’t respect Huaxia players should be this rotten, and it’s best if it stays rotten forever!"

Naturally, the Houston media fought back. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

But Su Wan was already waiting for their retaliation: "Clearly Houston reporters aren’t required to buy tickets to the games, otherwise they definitely wouldn’t have such an attitude!"

In the battle between the Rockets and Pacers, Houston People filled up to 70% of the entire stadium seats, around 10,000 people, but by the end of the game, that 70% was emptied, with a vast number of fans leaving before the third quarter even ended.

Even though they had missed "T-Mac moments" because of this, they still did it.

Which showed just how disappointed they were with this team!

Two days later, an even bigger blow came to Houston:

The Lakers arrived!

This was Yao Ming’s first return to Houston since being traded.

What he didn’t expect was that the fans in the arena booed him.

An enraged Yao Ming ended the game with 30 points and 9 rebounds after three quarters.

If his physical fitness hadn’t run out, and the game hadn’t already been decided, he would have definitely continued to play in the fourth quarter, aiming to break his career-high score for a single game that night.

to 80.

That was the final score.

Even though he didn’t achieve his personal highest score for a single game, such a 28-point victory was enough to make the Houston media and the Houston People feel uncomfortable.—Is there anything more painful than seeing your ex doing better than you?

Moreover, the gap between this season’s Rockets and the Lakers wasn’t just a little bit, but a whole universe apart.

After McGrady also suffered an injury, tanking became an inevitable trend for the Rockets.

And the Lakers?

Even the Mavericks, dubbed by many media as "historically strongest," were only leading them by a slim margin of 3 wins.

Without doubt, the Lakers were the top contenders for the NBA championship this season.

This kind of blow was like your ex-girlfriend who earns a month’s salary of 2000 getting off a Ferrari, accidentally dropping her limited edition handbag, and you picking it up and returning it to her, only for her to disdainfully wave her hand: "Don’t want it!"

Worse than doing well is not being able to climb the social ladder!

And the Lakers’ momentum, after January 28th, reached a new peak.

On that day, they defeated the defending champion Pacers with a score of 108 to 100, by an 8-point margin!

Kobe scored 35 points in that game, Yao Ming contributed 24 points and 13 rebounds, and Odom also played brilliantly with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l

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