The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 55 - 54 Call Nate McMillan

Chapter 55: Chapter 54 Call Nate McMillan

The game had progressed to the 6-minute 34-second mark of the third quarter when Su Wan had taken 15 shots and made 6, just achieving a shooting percentage of 40%.

Efficiency wasn’t high.

But the Pacers had turned around a deficit into a 10-point lead.

In terms of efficiency, Su Wan wasn’t performing well...

But in terms of results, Su Wan was doing great!

The Pacers relied on his one-on-one plays to open up opportunities while also successfully keeping the pace within a positional war, which the SuperSonic Team couldn’t defend against. Their real trouble was in mounting their offensive.

Most head coaches subscribe to "results-oriented" thinking, and Rick Carlisle was no exception. As long as they could win, even if Su Wan missed 30 shots per game, he would firmly stick to the "Su Wan one-on-one strategy."

And there was reasoning behind it!

During the 00-01 season, Allen Iverson’s average shooting percentage was only at 42%, and his three-point shot percentage was 32%, yet he was the regular season MVP and led the Philadelphia 76ers to the Finals, giving the peak Lakers their only loss in the playoffs that season.

With the resources currently available to the Pacers, and the effects of the "Su Wan one-on-one strategy," tonight, or at least until Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’Neal returned, they could fully utilize Su Wan as the Pacers’ "Allen Iverson"!

As the moment for the decisive blow arrived, the Pacers, if they could extend the lead, could secure a victory in this game prematurely.

Now they faced another issue:

Rashard Lewis!

He was on fire tonight, having already made 4 three-pointers.

It was he who was keeping the SuperSonic Team from collapsing.

The man assigned to guard him was James Jones.

Like Lewis, he was also a three-four position "High Post Gun" and wasn’t great defensively, relying mainly on shooting to establish himself in the league. But his shooting accuracy wasn’t nearly as good as Lewis’.

He was just a quality "championship puzzle piece."

Lewis easily shook him off with screens set by his teammates.

"No worries, I’ll cover for him!" Su Wan volunteered.

The rest of the Pacers were slightly surprised, and Rick Carlisle even asked, "Can you do it, Su?" He pronounced it correctly because of his astonishment.

Tonight, Su Wan had a hefty task. He was almost single-handedly carrying the offensive load and defensively, he had to guard Ray Allen and help Tinsley with help defense. Now he was to cover for James Jones too...

He was truly worried for Su Wan!

Su Wan confidently said, "Don’t worry, coach!"

His confidence stemmed naturally from the "The zone" mode.

Tonight, Ray Allen was contained by him, but not because Su Wan guarded extraordinarily well, but because Ray Allen was off his game tonight, missing shots that he would normally make.

That’s how it is for three-point shooters; some nights, no matter how they aim, they just can’t make the shot.

For someone as obsessive as Ray Allen, such nights were unacceptable. Even if it didn’t show on his face, he was anxious inside. With just a little provocation, Su Wan reaped a variety of curses from Ray Allen.

But tonight, his own capabilities were sufficient, and combined with the substantial physical demands, in order for the team to smoothly win the game, he hadn’t immediately activated "The zone" mode.

But now, when the time for the decisive stroke had come, Su Wan no longer needed to worry about physical energy.

With "The zone" mode activated, let alone covering for Jones, even covering for the inside players wouldn’t be a problem. It would just drain his physical energy a bit faster.

Fortunately, Rick Carlisle didn’t demand such extremities.

The game restarted, and the Pacers had possession.

As Su Wan went onto the court, he activated "The zone" mode, and sporadic booing emanated from the stands.

Those boos came from displeased Indiana natives.

Uh-huh...

Those were the "ball-blind" who only looked at efficiency.

They didn’t think Su Wan’s debut tonight was impressive!

Thinking he could lead the Pacers to a championship with such a performance?

Hah~

To quote Cao Cao:

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Su Wan had anticipated this; he knew before the game started that if he wanted to satisfy all Pacers fans, both a personal great performance and winning were indispensable tonight.

Victory was within reach, and to avoid accusations of "data padding during garbage time," emulating a certain someone, the final "grand finale" would be his personal show to silence those boos!

"Pass here!"

Su Wan didn’t even know how many times he had called for the ball tonight.

Regardless, it was Tinsley’s first time playing with him, and now passing the ball had become very smooth, without any psychological burden, very cooperative!

How could it not be cooperative?

Not only had Su Wan covered for him on defense, but on offense, he enjoyed the benefits of outer double-team attraction – when Su Wan faced double-teams, his field of view for passing the ball towards the inward direction or other directions wasn’t great, but his passes towards the ball handler on the same side were still stable.

Just from catching those passes from Su Wan, Tinsley had scored 6 points!

He was thrilled!

Daniels was on Su Wan the moment he got the ball.

Since the "hand-to-hand" strategy succeeded in the first quarter, Daniels had primarily focused on close-guarding Su Wan.

Like close guarding, Daniels differed from Ray Allen; first, he was better in physical confrontations, and he also had a longer wingspan.

In this league where physical talents are ranked foremost, the rookies selected at high draft positions mostly have outstanding physical qualities compared to others in their positions, and Daniels was no exception.

Before this, Su Wan couldn’t get past him on the first step and needed adjustments.

But that allowed the SuperSonic Team’s inside players time to adjust; several times when Daniels was broken through, the subsequent defensive covers were very timely. That was also a reason for Su Wan’s generally low efficiency in this game.

But this time...

As before, Daniels noticed that Su Wan intended to make a strong breakthrough. He slid quickly, trying to intercept in advance, but ended up colliding with Su Wan’s shoulder. After two consecutive confrontations, Su Wan had already shaken him off behind, moving very fast. Evans tried to catch up, only to see a figure gliding past him, lifting the ball for a layup and completing the offense.

Good!

Fierce!

That was what Daniels and Evans felt.

And so did all the Indiana fans in the stands.

The Pacers fans, who had just started jeering, were stunned, a roar of cheers waking them up, and then they too joined in the cheering and shouting.

"Defense, defense!"

Rick Carlisle clapped continuously on the sidelines, reminding them to fall back.

This was probably a display of his low emotional intelligence.

You would think that after a core player made such a beautiful play, as a head coach, if he didn’t shout "nice" at least he could stay quiet, right?

Why steal the show!

Fortunately, Su Wan didn’t mind these things.

With Carlisle shouting those words for him, it saved him the trouble. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

The SuperSonic Team was clearly aware that the game was at a critical moment. They kept looking for Lewis’s position, helping him to get space for receiving and shooting.

Lewis was quite confident at this time, believing that he had completely figured out James Jones’s defending abilities.

A beautiful backward run, plus his teammate’s cover, indeed, he shook off Jones again.

The ball quickly reached his hands.

Catch, adjust, aim, raise hand...

Just as he was about to shoot, Su Wan descended from the sky, blocking his path. But Lewis also demonstrated his adaptability as a top shooter.

He quickly caught the ball, waiting for Su Wan to drift past him.

A beautifully executed lateral step, catching the ball again, this time Lewis shot even more quickly.

And while quick, his shooting form was still so elegant.

But...

"Smack!"

Su Wan, who had clearly been shaken off, astonishingly jumped back in front of him again, and slapped his shot away.

With eyes wide in astonishment, Lewis couldn’t believe it...

Not just him.

McMillan also immediately looked up to review the play.

In the replay, Su Wan was completely shaken off, but as Lewis readjusted during the descent, Su Wan, without any stumble, twisted his body to chase back, stretching his hand straight out. There was no excess motion, and his center of gravity didn’t waver at all during this process.

Such body control...

It was truly terrifying!

The blocked ball fell into Ray Allen’s hands, but unfortunately, since Lewis’s shot didn’t even touch the basket, the SuperSonic Team couldn’t organize a second effective offense; their hurried shot bounced off the rim.

Su Wan took the ball and brought it up front himself; Daniels hesitated to defend him this time.

Su Wan’s step past him just now was deeply impressive.

Without hesitation, Su Wan applied the "hand-to-hand" tactic, switching Ray Allen to his front, and then devoured "Gentleman Ray" with his physical prowess.

That ball went in, bringing the lead to 14 points.

The SuperSonic Team’s offense became frantic.

But they still knew who should have the ball at this time.

Only...

When Lewis caught the ball and saw Su Wan charging furiously toward him, he faltered, realizing that Su Wan was still two big steps away, he shot again, but by then, he had lost his rhythm.

The SuperSonic Team’s attack failed again.

McMillan threw up his hands, questioning Lewis, "What are you doing? What on earth are you doing?"

Lewis had no words, but in that moment, he truly felt that Su Wan could teleport in front of him when he shot. Su Wan’s chasing block, after being shook off, had scared him badly.

He had never seen such a monster!

"Get Nate McMillan here, I said get Nate McMillan here!"

Su Wan once again forcefully made his move, this time directly facing Lewis who had developed a psychological shadow.

In three rounds, he had handled the SuperSonic Team’s three perimeter players one by one, and he began taunting McMillan on the sidelines.

That guy was also a "perimeter iron gate" back in the day!

Paired with Gary Payton, their "Double-team Technique" was a unique move of the SuperSonic Team!

But...

That was back in the day!

Now, all McMillan could do was watch with a wry smile as Su Wan single-handedly dominated both ends of the court and blew up the SuperSonic Team.

Ultimately, with a 108-88 score, the Pacers, in their last game of November, handed a 20-point defeat to the Western’s second-ranked team, which had only lost 2 games.

At the sound of the final buzzer, all the fans shouted Su Wan’s name in unison.

From their expressions, it was clear that if they had scorecards in their hands at that moment, they would all unanimously raise "10 points"!

Whether it was his personal performance or leading the team to victory, Su Wan had achieved it all tonight.

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