The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 63 - 62 Su Wan Was Not Wrong

Chapter 63: Chapter 62 Su Wan Was Not Wrong

Scoring the first basket, Little O’Neal let out a roar that revved up the crowd and boosted his teammates’ spirits.

Larry Bird watched him with satisfaction and nodded approvingly.

Truth be told, Little O’Neal was also a player with a leader’s aura. Without Su Wan, he would have felt that after Reggie Miller, Little O’Neal was the leader of this team.

But now...

"Bang!"

On the court, Chauncey Billups managed to get himself some space against Tinsley with a breakthrough and pulled up for a jump shot but missed. — Normally Mr. Key’s style is the ultimate "Magic Ball" strategy, breaking through and adding a three-point shot, but jump shots were also his usual tactic.

Under the basket, Foster successfully protected the rebound.

Starting from December, Rick Carlisle had really favored this white center. He had the mass and strength to hold his ground. This rebounding effort showed as he firmly blocked out Ben Wallace, a two-time Rebound King, behind him.

The ball was passed once again to Su Wan.

The same tactics, Su Wan forcefully broke through Hamilton using his body.

It was then that Su Wan realized why, in the original 2005 Finals, Manu Ginobili almost became the Finals MVP.

The Pistons’ wing defense was like paper.

Of course, it also had to do with the tactics set by Rick Carlisle.

To facilitate Su Wan’s solo play, the Pacers would usually clear the forward line on the same side, with Tinsley standing alongside Su Wan, and everyone else moved to the other half. Without any help defense from the Pistons, the only ones who could help Hamilton were point guard Billups and Ben Wallace inside.

In the preceding play, it was Billups who had covered the help defense, missing Tinsley, which allowed him to execute that smooth cut to the basket.

Then "one miss leads to more misses."

Learning from the last play, Billups let Ben Wallace handle Su Wan alone.

But Su Wan wasn’t in a hurry to move inward, dribbled in place a couple of times, then pulled back behind the three-point line. The Pistons couldn’t switch defenders, so Big Ben had no choice but to follow him out there.

Out beyond the three-point line "small against big."

Since Ben Wallace was naturally an outside-sized player, strong and mobile, the less flashy dribbler Su Wan wasn’t successful on this solo play.

However, this didn’t surprise anyone, as Ben Wallace had earned his two Best Defensive Player Awards with his "inside and outside, no wrong position" defense.

But...

Su Wan was well aware of the "2 against 1" situation under the basket, so he wasn’t panicked at all. Going up for the shot, he figured, even if he missed, someone was there to grab the rebound. But the ball just dropped into the basket instead.

"Nice!" Barkley shouted, "Just 18 points away!"

Kenny Smith glanced at him coolly.

Heh~

A cold laugh.

"Best Defensive Player?" Su Wan wasn’t about to miss this opportunity, regardless of whether it was a "lucky shot" or not, he simply spread his arms wide and started taunting, not LeBron... began mocking.

The close-up shot magnified his casual and unrestrained movements, making the Indiana female fans in the audience unable to resist spreading their legs.

Wet!

Wet!

Feeling humiliated, Ben Wallace, with a thousand curses bottled up inside, glared at Su Wan.

Pistons’ offensive round, Su Wan taunted without restraint, "Come on, take me one-on-one!"

Ben Wallace: "..."

"Or are you thinking of shoving someone again?"

"I..."

"Never mind her, Ben, focus on the game. What’s gotten into you today!" Rashid Wallace, who had been keeping an eye on both, saw Ben Wallace clenching his fists and quickly came over, pulled him away, and patted him on the back.

Away from Su Wan, Big Ben calmed down a lot, and asked himself, What’s really gotten into me?

He wouldn’t usually be this impulsive!

Glancing at Su Wan from afar, he realized, this kid is just too irritating!

Every move he made seemed to scream, "Come hit me if you dare."

"Bang!"

On the Pistons’ next offensive play, Billups’ breakthrough wasn’t smooth, so he passed the ball to Rashid Wallace at the top of the arc to "deal the cards."

Speaking of which, this guy was the pioneer of dealing cards from the top of the arc.

When he started playing this way, Green was still in split pants!

The Pistons’ offense relied on Billups’ organizing and his coordination, apart from them, the Pistons’ starting lineup had no ball handling capability.

Rick Carlisle was well aware of this and emphasized before the game that once Rashid Wallace headed towards the top of the arc, the two defenders covering Chauncey Billups and Prince must play close defense, not allowing them an easy opportunity to receive the ball and even if they did get the ball, they should not be allowed the space to shoot immediately.

Shooting rhythm is crucial for a shooter, and once it’s disrupted, they hesitate to take the shot.

This defensive setup was quite successful, as Wallace, left with no other options, forced a three-point shot that missed.

Foster secured the rebound once again.

"Another miss, it seems like just tonight the Pacers are entering into the game more swiftly!" Su Qun commented on the situation, "The Pacers are likely to continue to widen the gap."

In fact, the Pistons’ offensive struggles were not just tonight.

Since December 10th, their offense had been stifling, with shooting percentages only surpassing 40% in two games, one of which was against the Cavaliers. The other games all fell below 40%, averaging around 35%.

The game against the Hawks was the most outrageous, with the team shooting an average of 31.4%.

Even the usually stable Billups hovered around a shooting average of 33% during this period.

Therefore, they had won only 2 of their past 6 games, with one victory over the Knicks by just one point, and a 12-point victory against the Cavaliers, 81-69, where they managed to hold LeBron to a mere 19% shooting percentage, showcasing the form of the defending champions.

Larry Brown’s team was like this, gradually forgetting what offense was.

This violently obsessive old man didn’t care if his team’s offense struggled.

In his view, offense depended on form; current poor form meant nothing as long as it adjusted back, there was no need to hurry.

However, when the defense allowed two consecutive scores, Larry Brown’s face immediately soured, and had it not been courtside instead of a practice field, his words might have been far harsher.

"Defend!"

Seeing Tinsley crossing the half with the ball and the Pistons not even set up defensively, he bellowed out loud, startling the "Human Victory Cigar" on the bench into shivering; having been with the Pistons for over a year, he genuinely had some PTSD.

The Pacers continued with Su Wan handling the ball solo, prompting Kenny Smith to complain: "Does the Pacers team have no other tactics? Why is it always this rookie handling the ball solo?"

Barkley knew why he was impatient and chuckled strangely.

Yet, Kenny Smith had to admit, even though it was always Su Wan handling the ball solo, this method continuously scored points.

This time Su Wan, facing Rashid Wallace, didn’t manage to score, but the young O’Neal, with Foster’s help, got the "offensive rebound" and successfully executed the "second attack."

"Timeout, timeout, call a damn timeout, these sons of bitches have no idea what they’re doing!" Larry Brown growled, sending his assistant to the scorer’s table while he grabbed the tactics board, awaiting the players at the side of the court.

Within less than two minutes of starting, the Pacers’ 6-0 "scoring wave" brought the game to a halt amid cheers.

Are these really the defending champions?

How they seem...

So weak!

We let go of an Artest and Stephen Jackson, and they still can’t win?

Indiana fans didn’t realize that without Su Wan, the Pacers had also brought the game against the Pistons to the last moment in this "Christmas Battle," ultimately losing 93-98.

They solidified a belief:

Exactly as Su Wan said, these are just weaklings who can’t play and resort to fighting!

Artest was the most excited and enthusiastic one, well aware of what winning this game meant. When Su Wan came off the court, he immediately took on the role of a ball boy, handing over towels and Gatorade, continuously saying behind him, "Well done, well done, keep it up, Uncle!"

The 100-second timeout quickly ended, and the Pistons made significant adjustments, particularly targeting Su Wan’s shooting.

Larry Brown placed Prince to directly guard Su Wan.

The "Little Prince" was slight in build, but his height on the forward line and wingspan could significantly disturb Su Wan’s shooting. This way, Big Ben didn’t need to provide help defense, and the "Double Wallace" could focus more on guarding young O’Neal and Foster down low.

The impact was immediate; the Pacers, who had succeeded in their first three consecutive offensive plays, missed on their next attempt.

The Pistons gradually gained control defensively.

Defense-driven offense, they also regained some form on the offensive end, and at 6 minutes 57 seconds into the first quarter, the previously passive Pistons took a 15-14 lead, up by one.

Now it was Rick Carlisle’s turn to call a timeout.

"It’s time to test the fruits of your pick and roll!" Carlisle decided to bring out his prepared tactic for this game: the "Su Ao" pick and roll.

He also specifically substituted James Jones, bringing in Reggie Miller as the small forward to create space.

Before going on the field, Su Wan suddenly turned to the young O’Neal, suggesting, "How about you try some more mid-range shots later?"

The young O’Neal did possess a mid-range game; even the ’Smiling Assassin’ had tried developing his three-point shooting while at the Pacers. However, halfway through the development, Larry Bird had Thomas fired, and when Rick Carlisle arrived, he shifted him towards Tim Duncan’s style, developing his low post single play and close-basket attack moves, causing him to lose his three-point skills package.

However, the mid-range was still one of his solid tactics.

The young O’Neal hesitated, as players of that era still didn’t understand that shooting space was more crucial than proximity to the basket. Moreover, he thought that only when he posed a threat under the basket could he force the opponents to shrink their defense consistently, crouch under the basket, and create scoring opportunities for the outside.

Seeing his reluctance, Su Wan knew he wasn’t amenable, but he didn’t continue to persuade.

Pushing further could make the young O’Neal feel he was trying to control him, potentially triggering the kid’s rebelliousness, which would be counterproductive. He believed that as the game continued, the young O’Neal would try his suggestion on his own.

Is there any need to question "Wallace’s" ability to wreak havoc?

Hmm?

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