Who knows if I could even walk out of Indiana.
Also, the cost of committing such fouls now is too great.
David Stern, to keep everyone’s cool on the court, has increased the suspension and fine for fighting.
Such a loss isn’t something a player on a "rookie contract" like me can afford.
After the timeout, Shawn Battier stood in front of Su Wan.
Su Wan glanced at Dante Jones standing behind Battier, "You should feel lucky that this season isn’t your contract year! And Mike..."
He then looked towards the Grizzlies’ head coach at the sideline, "Putting in this $5 million guy now is useless, no one can stop me now!"
"Wham!"
After consecutive cross-steps, Su Wan suddenly exerted force in his feet and his body darted forward explosively.
Battier, who had just witnessed Su Wan making Dante Jones stumble, didn’t dare to move extra, and as Su Wan charged, he stood there like a petrified chicken.
The sound of the slam dunk echoed through Conseco Arena.
In his defensive retreat, Su Wan even mimicked Vince Carter’s "over" gesture.
The difference was, "UFO" did it during the Dunk Contest, while he did it during a regular season game.
The excited Indiana locals began to twist their bodies.
This was the Pacers they remembered from last season.
Everything was back!
The momentum of the Grizzlies was suppressed, showing the common issue in their fast-paced offense:
When going against the wind, nobody could stand out, the scene could quickly become chaotic.
At the end of the first half, the Pacers lead had reached over 20, and Su Wan alone had scored 28 points.
Barkley excitedly said, "Is he really going to score 50 points in his comeback game?" frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Kenny Smith glanced at him, and now in their third year as co-hosts, he had begun to feel a magical power in Barkley’s words, to put it simply:
When he predicted something bad would happen on the court, it would come true.
When he anticipated some eye-catching performances, the situation would often take a drastic turn.
He could also tell, Su Wan was in great form tonight, continuing like this, scoring 50 points, becoming the first player since Michael Jordan during the 1986-1987 season to score 50 in his first game of the season, wasn’t a big issue.
But after Barkley said it, he knew Su Wan definitely wouldn’t make it.
Though he didn’t know what would stop Su Wan from scoring 50 points, he was just that certain.
Barkley’s mouth was truly "poison"!
Soon, Kenny Smith witnessed this again.
Right at the start of the second half, Su Wan continued his hot streak, and his score quickly passed 30 points. Halfway through the period, he reached 40 points.
But just then, the Memphis Grizzlies were trailing by more than 30 points.
Mike saw there was no point to keep the main players on the court just to be beaten up, so he decisively switched out all the starters.
Following the unwritten rules of the game, the Pacers also had to take out all their starters.
"Just 6 points away, he shouldn’t be taken out so soon, right?" Barkley panicked as he watched the Pacers’ substitution a minute later, especially because he saw Su Wan heading for the bench, "Su Wan is actually going out, he’s really going out! I admire him a lot, but like this, he’s missing out on so many records!"
Kenny Smith snorted inwardly:
Isn’t it all because of your mouth?
In the end, Su Wan didn’t go back on the court, and his game stats were fixed at 44 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists.
The Pacers also ended the night with a 27-point victory.
The courtside presenter interviewed Su Wan: "Didn’t you know that if you had scored another 6 points, you could have become another player to score 50 in the season opener after Michael Jordan?"
Su Wan: "I knew."
"Then why did you go off?"
"Because the game reached ’garbage time’."
"But this is a chance to be on par with Michael Jordan, isn’t that incredibly rare?"
After a moment of silence, Su Wan asked again, "Why do I need to compare myself with him?"