Su, want to grab a meal after the game?

"BEEP, BEEP."

With the sound of the whistle, the game officially tipped off.

Right from the start, LeBron James was eager to prove his playstyle was fine, so he used Drew Gooden's screen, took a quick step, and sprinted toward the Houston Rockets' paint.

Guarding the paint for the Houston Rockets was none other than Yao Ming.

LeBron James showed no fear—after all, he possessed historically elite physical talent!

But had he misjudged himself? Let's be real, who in the NBA lacks talent?

As for Yao Ming, his height talent was practically overflowing.

Yao Ming leaped with both feet, soaring high into the air, his gaze sharp as a torch, and swung his right hand fiercely toward the ball in LeBron James' hands.

Smack!

The ball in LeBron James' hands flew off like a kite with a broken string, heading toward the perimeter.

The ball was grabbed cleanly by Rafer Alston, and the Houston Rockets quickly launched a counterattack.

Rafer Alston pushed the ball forward to the right as he moved, feeding it to Tracy McGrady sprinting on that side. McGrady caught it, accelerated, and charged toward the Cleveland Cavaliers' paint.

In the blink of an eye, McGrady reached the basket, leaped up, and slammed the ball viciously through the hoop with one hand.

BOOM!

A thunderous crash rang out.

McGrady scored with a one-handed dunk.

The home-team Houston Rockets drew first blood.

On the bench, Su Yi couldn't help but curl his lips. Simply put, a LeBron James without a jump shot feared interior players like Yao Ming the most.

That's why, in his past life, the young LeBron—the 2003 No. 1 pick—lost to the peak Dwight Howard, the 2004 No. 1 pick, in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals.

Su Yi was certain this team would lose the game, but LeBron James' stats would definitely not be bad.

After the final buzzer, LeBron Stans would surely say: The team lost, but my LeBron didn't lose.

Still, Su Yi had no intention of letting LeBron James off easy in this game. He had Xu Rui bribe a few local media companies.

After all, spending money—who couldn't do that?

And if it came down to money, then let's compete.

That was one of the reasons he had founded the game studio.

Su Yi didn't plan to have these media companies slander LeBron James. He just wanted them to tell the truth, with a little embellishment.

As a well-grounded LeBron Hater, of course, he had to crush my LeBron from every angle!

Not just on the court, but off it too.

Off the court, it boiled down to three things: the league's favoritism, the Nike endorsement, and the media!

The league would favor anyone with real strength. So why LeBron James now?

The only answer was that Kobe had let himself down, causing a major image hit with his incident in 2003.

That forced David Stern to find a replacement, so he set his sights on the Chosen One, LeBron James.

But David Stern never expected this guy to be somewhat unworthy of the throne.

In his first two seasons, he couldn't lead his team to the playoffs in the East. In his third year, he finally scraped in.

Then, his draft classmate Dwyane Wade won a championship first.

Right after that, he joined the Dream Team for the World Championships in the offseason and came back with a bronze medal.

David Stern didn't even know what to say about that.

But he couldn't find a replacement anytime soon.

So he just kept pushing LeBron for now. At least his stats were passable.

However, after November passed, David Stern seemed to find a replacement: Su Yi!

Like the league, Nike wanted to sign any player with potential, stars, or superstars.

As for why they pushed LeBron James in the past life, it was simply because LeBron stood out among the active players Nike had signed, so they had to ride that road to the end.

Do you think Nike didn't want to abandon the darkness for the light? To push Curry instead?

But they couldn't—they had bad eyes and let the big fish, Curry, slip away.

That led Curry to sign with Under Armour.

Under Armour even rode Curry to become the second-largest sports brand in North America, hot on Nike's heels.

How could Nike not be jealous? In their view, if Curry had signed with Nike, he could have helped Nike reach new heights, and his own career would have soared even higher.

It was just a pity.

Finally, the media. The media was even simpler—it all came down to money.

With enough money here, you could basically do whatever you wanted.

The camera cuts back to the court.

Ever since the Cleveland Cavaliers reverted to the old tactic of letting LeBron James handle the ball, the fluid offense from the first five games has completely vanished.

Now, watching the Cavaliers' offense is like watching someone struggle with constipation.

LeBron James is either clanking shots or on his way to clanking more.

By the end of the first quarter, LeBron James had made only 2 of 9 shots, 2 of 2 free throws, scoring just 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 4 turnovers.

He led the team to a 16-33 deficit in a single quarter.

Trailing by a full 17 points.

Digging a massive pit for Su Yi.

Even if Su Yi wanted to fill it in the second quarter, he couldn't do it all at once.

The Houston Rockets sent Shane Battier to personally guard Su Yi.

Su Yi had to admit Shane Battier's defense was legit.

Under his defense, Su Yi went 4 of 9 in the first half of the quarter, 3 of 7 from three, scoring 11 points and leading the team on an 18-11 run.

Pulling the deficit back to single digits in one fell swoop.

But once LeBron James returned and the Houston Rockets' starters came back.

The situation reversed instantly.

The single-digit gap was stretched open again.

Su Yi felt somewhat helpless about it—he basically couldn't get the ball after that.

The ball was all in the hands of ball-dominant LeBron James.

"BEEP BEEP."

With the sound of the whistle, the first half ended.

47 to 61, trailing the Houston Rockets by 14.

After the first half, LeBron James had made 4 of 14 shots, 0 of 3 from three, 4 of 6 free throws, scoring 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 turnovers.

LeBron James couldn't figure out why he was playing so poorly.

This was like a completely different team.

Back in the locker room, the teammates all looked at Mike Brown, as if hoping to hear from his mouth that they wouldn't run this tactic anymore.

But no such luck—the second half still stuck to the same plan.

The Cavaliers' starters grew more and more disappointed as they played, watching the deficit keep widening until they didn't even want to play.

LeBron James still played quite actively, but the effect was minimal, and the team kept falling further behind.

After three quarters, the gap had stretched to 22 points—the game was basically over.

In the fourth quarter, Mike Brown didn't put the starters back in. Instead, he let Su Yi lead a group of bench players onto the court.

Under Su Yi's leadership, the Cavaliers scored 33 points in the fourth quarter alone, cutting the deficit by 13.

But the hole they'd dug was just too deep.

In the end, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost 95 to 104, falling to the Houston Rockets by 9 points, earning their third loss of the season.

Their overall record now stands at 13 wins and 3 losses!

LeBron James finished the game with 7 of 24 shooting, 1 of 6 from three, 7 of 10 free throws, scoring 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 6 turnovers.

As for Su Yi, back on the bench, he went 11 of 20, 6 of 12 from three, scoring a team-high 28 points plus 3 rebounds and 2 assists, with a plus-minus of +22!

After the game, Yao Ming walked over and personally invited him: "Yi, want to grab a meal together after the game?"

"Sure, but you're paying!"

"Of course!"