Su, Want to Grab a Bite After the Game?

"Beep, beep."

The whistle blew, and the game officially began.

Right from the opening tip, LeBron James was eager to prove that his style of play was fine. Using a screen from Drew Gooden, he took off in a burst and raced toward the Houston Rockets' basket.

Yao Ming was guarding the paint for the Houston Rockets.

LeBron James wasn't the least bit afraid. After all, he had historically great physical gifts!

But had he even taken a good look at himself? Put simply, who in the NBA didn't have talent?

And Yao Ming's height was practically overflowing with talent.

Yao Ming planted his feet and jumped, soaring high into the air. His eyes flashed as he swatted hard at the ball in LeBron James's hands with his right hand.

Smack!

The ball flew out of LeBron James's hands like a kite with its string cut, sailing toward the perimeter.

Rafer Alston scooped it up, and the Houston Rockets quickly launched a fast break.

As he advanced, Rafer Alston pushed the ball ahead to his right, passing to Tracy McGrady, who was sprinting up the right side. McGrady caught it and accelerated toward the Cleveland Cavaliers' basket.

In the blink of an eye, McGrady was under the hoop. He leaped, raised the ball in the air, and hammered it down toward the rim.

Boom!

The arena shook with a thunderous crash.

McGrady scored with a one-handed slam.

The home team, the Houston Rockets, opened the scoring.

On the bench, Su Yi couldn't help but smile. You could say that LeBron James, who couldn't shoot, feared big men like Yao Ming the most.

That was why, in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals, the young LeBron James—the 2003 No. 1 pick—couldn't beat Dwight Howard at his peak, the 2004 No. 1 pick.

Su Yi was certain that the team would lose this game, but LeBron James's stats would still look good.

After the game, LeBron stans would surely say, "The team lost, but my LeBron didn't."

But Su Yi had no intention of letting LeBron James off the hook this time. He'd had Xu Rui buy off a few local media companies.

Come on, spending money was easy enough, wasn't it?

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

That was one of the reasons he'd started a game studio.

Su Yi wasn't asking those media companies to smear LeBron James. He just wanted them to tell the truth, with a little embellishment.

As a LeBron hater who had facts and reasons on his side, he had to crush LeBron from every angle!

Not just on the court, but off it, too.

Off the court, it all came down to three things: the league's favoritism, his Nike deal, and the media!

The league promoted anyone with the talent to deserve it. So why was LeBron James the one getting the push now?

You could only say Kobe had let everyone down. His 2003 scandal had badly damaged his image.

That had forced David Stern to find a new face, so he turned his attention to the Chosen One, LeBron James.

What David Stern hadn't expected was that LeBron was a bit of a lost cause.

For two straight seasons, he couldn't lead his team to the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. In his third year, he finally managed to get there.

But Dwyane Wade, from the same draft class, won a championship first.

Then, during the offseason, LeBron joined the Dream Team for the World Championship 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 overnight.

So he could only keep promoting LeBron for the time being. At least his stats still looked decent.

But after November, David Stern seemed to have found a replacement: Su Yi!

Just like the league, Nike wanted to sign any promising player, star, or superstar.

As for why Nike had promoted LeBron James in the previous life, it was because he'd stood out among the many active players Nike had signed. Once they'd picked him, they had no choice but to stay the course.

Did you think Nike didn't want to change sides and back Curry instead?

But there was nothing they could do. Their talent scouts had been blind and let Curry slip away.

As a result, Curry signed with Under Armour.

Under Armour then rode Curry's success to become North America's second-largest sportswear brand, right on Nike's heels.

How could Nike not be jealous? They believed that if Curry had signed with them, he could have taken Nike to even greater heights—and his career would have reached even greater heights, too.

What a shame.

The media were even simpler. It all came down to money.

Around here, if you had money, you could basically do whatever you wanted.

Back on the court.

Ever since the Cleveland Cavaliers had gone back to their old approach and put LeBron James in charge of the ball, they couldn't reproduce the smooth offense they'd shown in the first five games.

Now, watching the Cleveland Cavaliers on offense was like watching a clogged drain.

LeBron James was either missing shots or on his way to missing more.

By the end of the first quarter, LeBron James had made just two of nine shots and both of his free throws, for six points, two rebounds, and four turnovers.

He led the team to a 16–33 first quarter.

They were down by a full 17 points.

He'd dug Su Yi a massive hole.

Even if Su Yi wanted to climb out in the second quarter, he couldn't do it right away.

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

Su Yi had to admit that Shane Battier was a very good defender.

In the first half of the second quarter, Su Yi made four of nine shots, including three of seven from three-point range, scoring 11 points and leading the team to an 18–11 run.

They cut the deficit to single digits in one fell swoop.

But once LeBron James returned, along with the Houston Rockets' starters, the momentum instantly swung the other way.

The single-digit gap widened again in no time.

Su Yi could only admit he was helpless. From then on, he barely got the ball.

It was all in the hands of ball hog LeBron James.

"Beep, beep."

The whistle blew, and the first half ended.

The score was 47–61, with the Cavaliers trailing the Houston Rockets by 14 points.

At halftime, LeBron James had made four of 14 shots, missed all three of his three-pointers, and made four of six free throws, scoring 12 points with four rebounds and four turnovers.

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

This was like an entirely different team.

Back in the locker room, all his teammates looked at Mike Brown, as if they were hoping to hear him say they wouldn't keep using this strategy.

But he didn't. They stuck with the same strategy in the second half.

The Cleveland Cavaliers' starters grew more and more discouraged as they watched the lead keep growing. They didn't even want to play anymore.

LeBron James kept playing hard, but it wasn't doing much good. The team was still falling further behind.

By the end of the third quarter, the lead had grown to 22 points. The game was all but over.

Mike Brown didn't put the starters back in for the fourth quarter. Instead, he sent Su Yi out with a group of reserves.

With Su Yi leading the way, the Cleveland Cavaliers scored 33 points in the fourth quarter and clawed back 13.

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

In the end, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Houston Rockets, 95–104, falling short by nine points and suffering their third loss of the season.

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

LeBron James finished the game with seven makes on 24 shots, one of six from three-point range, and seven of ten from the free-throw line. He scored 22 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists, and committed six turnovers.

As for Su Yi, who had once again come off the bench, he made 11 of 20 shots, including six of 12 three-pointers, scoring a team-high 28 points with three rebounds and two assists. His plus-minus was an impressive +22!

After the game, Yao Ming came over and invited him in person. "Su, want to grab a bite after the game?"

"Sure, but you're paying!"

"Of course!"