As LeBron brought the ball up to the frontcourt, he glanced at Brandon Malone, who was chatting away merrily with Su Wan, and thought to himself:
"Is this what I let you become a starter for?"
Before he could have more fragmented thoughts, Su Wan moved in front of him, assumed a defensive stance, and even beckoned with his fingers, the provocation quite evident.
The arena instantly became much quieter.
Clevelanders had seen this scene in various video replays.
But it was the first time witnessing it firsthand.
In the videos, LeBron James, when confronted with Su Wan’s provocation, chose to pass the ball; now, here inside Quicken Loans Arena, LeBron...
Cavaliers fans hoped he would respond to Su Wan with an aggressive attack!
LeBron was also struggling inwardly.
If it were an away game, he could pass the ball without any mental burden.
But this was a home game, with his "subjects" watching him; how would they view him if he didn’t strike back hard?
However, going one-on-one...
LeBron glanced at Su Wan, who had given him plenty of space.
How to break through?
Surely, he couldn’t shoot, could he?
Just as he was extremely conflicted, his "savior" appeared; "Big Z" stepped forward and set a thoughtful screen for him.
LeBron immediately stepped on the "throttle," went around "Big Z’s" screen, and charged toward the basket.
Just then, he heard Su Wan’s loud shout: "Traveling, aren’t you going to call it? Ref, this guy traveled!"
His yell was crucial; a previously smooth-moving LeBron suddenly stopped in his tracks, hesitant to plant his foot, afraid that the moment he did, the referee would blow the whistle, and in a panic, he hurled the ball toward the basket.
"Clang" went the ball, a miss.
Su Wan almost laughed out loud.
He’d just casually shouted noticing that O’Neal hadn’t got into position quickly enough. He didn’t expect that LeBron would be so careful, his rhythm disrupted by the shout. That was something only the thin-skinned James would concern himself with—other people’s comments. If it were "Old Zhan," he would probably have taken eight steps and still sunk the ball, then nonchalantly gone back on defense.
Some Cleveland fans on the sidelines couldn’t help covering their faces; LeBron’s last move was truly hard to watch, only their fellow "local brethren" could forgive such a thing, anyone else would have been in tears from laughter.
Su Wan crossed half-court leisurely, with the ball in his hand; Cavaliers still had McGinnis guard him. Without hesitation, and with an intentional glance at the basket, he deceived McGinnis into thinking he was going to shoot straight away. McGinnis hurriedly closed the distance between them, and with a quick start, Su Wan left him behind in just one step.
The Cavaliers had done their research on Su Wan; when he breaks through, the Cavaliers’ interior defense would immediately tighten up the space underneath the basket, increasing the difficulty of his confrontation and shots at the basket. But Su Wan stopped before the free-throw line, raised his hand for a mid-range shot, and scored successfully.
"He’s actually got his mid-range shot down?"
Brandon Malone had noticed that in the past half month, Su Wan’s mid-range shots were becoming more stable, but he vividly remembered how bad Su Wan’s mid-range had been during his time with the Cavaliers, so he still chose to target Su Wan’s breakthrough. Yet Su Wan made the shot, prompting him to scratch his head.
Troublesome!
Just guarding Su Wan’s breakthroughs was already a very difficult task for McGinnis; if Su Wan’s shooting was also on point tonight, then McGinnis was going to get shot to pieces.
Good for nothing, the bad instinct kicks in.
Just 2 minutes later, Su Wan once again hit a mid-range shot; his first three attempts all went in, two of which were shots.
Proving that tonight his shooting touch was indeed hot.
Ma Long held Su Wan in high regard, the only coach on the previous Cavaliers staff who was ’pro-Su.’ Being cautious, he called a timeout. LeBron was dissatisfied with the timeout, feeling like Ma Long disrupted his own rhythm.
"Why call a timeout just when we were getting momentum?"
It’s easy to sense when you’re targeted, and from LeBron’s comment, Ma Long could feel himself being singled out by LeBron. Yet he didn’t understand what he’d done to offend LeBron.
Today, when setting up the defensive assignments, he hadn’t even asked LeBron if he could join the defense, and he had given all the offensive decision-making to him.
Wasn’t this level of delegation enough?
He had no idea that LeBron was upset simply because of his brief conversation with Su Wan by the court.
The Cavaliers’ timeout didn’t make any real adjustments. With this level of delegation, Ma Long didn’t have much room to maneuver; he could only try switching Newell to guard Su Wan.
The same as "using a dead horse as if it were alive," right?
What else could he do?
What he didn’t see was the disappointment flashing in LeBron’s eyes.
What kind of coach is this!
Is this what you call adjusting?
When going back on the court, LeBron’s gaze toward Pacers coach Rick Carlisle sitting in front of their bench, couldn’t help but mutter:
If he came to coach the Cavaliers, couldn’t I become stronger?
Walking onto the court with dissatisfaction, LeBron then heard Su Wan towards the referee on the sideline clapping his hands: "Work, work, keep an eye on that number 23 from the Knights, he’s playing rugby on the basketball court, aren’t you guys going to do something? Does the Chosen One’s privilege mean he can take 6 steps with the ball on the court?"
WTF...
LeBron didn’t want to play basketball anymore, he wanted to go and tear Su Wan’s mouth apart.
But the shadow left by that kick at Conseco Arena made him choose to throw a punch at Su Wan in his heart.