The timeout ended, and play resumed.
Su Yi stepped to the free-throw line and took the ball from the referee.
He aimed and shot!
"Swish!" "Swish!"
He made both free throws, scoring two points.
The score was tied at 5–5!
Su Yi had scored five straight points, helping his team tie the game in an instant.
"Su!" "Su!" "Su!" ... The fans in Quick Loan Center Arena erupted into deafening cheers.
They hadn't expected the home team to tie the score after just one possession. Su Yi's scoring ability was simply explosive.
This was the real engine of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the NBA, scoring had always been at the heart of the game.
Of course, other stats mattered too, but scoring stood in a class of its own.
A team's star had to be its number-one scorer!
Even when it came to awards, scoring was always one of the first things considered.
After all, the way to win a basketball game was to score more than your opponent.
The more explosively Su Yi scored on the court, the more he won over the fans.
If things continued this way, Cleveland Cavaliers fans would gradually come to favor Su Yi.
As for LeBron James, the Cavaliers fans would gradually see him as Su Yi's right-hand man.
Much like Scottie Pippen was to Jordan.
(LeBron James: You're the Pippen! Your whole family's the Pippen! (•́へ•́╬))
The free throws were over, but the Cleveland Cavaliers still had possession.
When Devin Brown came up beside Su Yi again, he didn't stop running his mouth, all the while dishing out one hard body check after another.
Su Yi couldn't help feeling glad that he was strong. He wasn't afraid of this kind of physical contact.
In fact, Su Yi kept firing back at Devin Brown. He even opened his mouth and said, "Thanks for those two free throws just now. You're such a nice guy."
His tone was dripping with sarcasm.
Sometimes a sarcastic tone sounded even worse than an insult.
Devin Brown's temper flared again. Without thinking twice, he raised his elbow and swung it at Su Yi.
Su Yi noticed right away. He had planned to dodge.
But then he had an idea: why not draw another foul from Devin Brown?
Su Yi took the elbow to the ribs and went down, then clutched the spot where he'd been hit.
"Beep! Beep!"
The referee blew his whistle again and called another foul on Devin Brown.
"Fuck! He's trying to kill someone! Ref, we're done! We're not playing anymore! We've only got one Su!"
Mike Brown had clearly seen Devin Brown elbow Su Yi in the stomach. Combined with the flagrant foul just moments earlier, it was far too much, especially with the game barely underway.
They were repeatedly targeting their star player, Su Yi.
Mike Brown wasn't going to stand for it.
"Boo! Boo! Boo!"
Mike Brown wasn't the only one who wouldn't stand for it. The fans at Quick Loan Center Arena also booed Devin Brown's actions furiously.
Devin Brown looked utterly baffled. Why hadn't the referee reacted at all when Su Yi elbowed him, but when he elbowed Su Yi, the result was completely different?
It was blatant double standards.
Devin Brown immediately went to argue with the referee, getting extremely worked up.
"Beep! Beep!"
The referee wasn't about to indulge Devin Brown. He made the ejection signal and threw him out of the game.
"Woooah!"
The fans in Quick Loan Center Arena burst into applause at the referee's call.
Su Yi hadn't expected to keep picking the wool off the sheep until the sheep was gone.
Fuck!
Devin Brown walked toward the players' tunnel, looking thoroughly displeased.
Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets was even more frustrated. He realized the game had completely slipped out of their control.
They'd opened the game with a 5–0 run, full of momentum and in complete control.
But after Devin Brown's repeated screwups, their advantage had turned into a disadvantage, and their morale kept sinking.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers, playing at home, were fired up.
Su Yi stepped back to the free-throw line to take his shot.
LeBron James saw Su Yi taking the free throws that usually belonged to him, and couldn't help feeling annoyed.
The ball clanged off the rim.
Su Yi shook his head. He would have to make free-throw practice a priority. A rating of just 74 wasn't nearly enough.
Free throws could be crucial when it mattered most.
How many NBA teams had been knocked out of contention after missing free throws?
On December 9, 2004, Tracy McGrady had scored 13 points in 35 seconds at the peak of his career, leading his team to a comeback.
McGrady was incredible, but his opponents had given him the chance. They'd kept missing free throws.
Otherwise, McGrady could never have pulled off the feat of scoring 13 points in 35 seconds.
The Cleveland Cavaliers inbounded from the sideline. The ball went to Larry Hughes, who dribbled to the top of the key.
Su Yi immediately started moving without the ball. He sprinted from the left corner along the baseline to the right corner, with newly-subbed-in Rasual Butler hurrying after him.
The next second, Su Yi came to a sudden stop and quickly ran back the other way.
In an instant, Su Yi had shaken Rasual Butler.
Larry Hughes immediately passed him the ball.
The pass arrived right on time.
Su Yi had just reached the left corner. He caught the ball cleanly, adjusted quickly, then jumped, hung in the air, extended his legs, and released a three-pointer.
The motion flowed seamlessly, and the shot was right on target.
The ball traced a beautiful arc through the air.
Swish.
Su Yi sank another three-pointer.
The score was now 8–5!
Su Yi had scored eight straight points, changing the pace of the game for his team in an instant.
For the rest of the game, the Cleveland Cavaliers kept the New Orleans Hornets on the back foot under Su Yi's lead.
For some reason, the New Orleans Hornets started missing shot after shot in the first quarter.
The Cleveland Cavaliers seized the opportunity and built a double-digit lead by halftime.
If LeBron James hadn't wasted several wide-open shots, the lead would probably have been even bigger.
After a short halftime break, the New Orleans Hornets regrouped. With Chris Paul running the offense, they put together a smooth-flowing attack and gradually cut into the lead.
Fortunately, in the final minute of the third quarter, Larry Hughes and LeBron James each got a steal, helping the team put together a 4–0 run.
They stretched the lead back to eight.
The game grew even more intense in the fourth quarter, and Mike Brown didn't dare take his starters off the floor.
The New Orleans Hornets were surging in the second half. He felt that if he took out the starters, they'd lose the game.
As the clock ticked down, the Cleveland Cavaliers held on to their eight-point lead, and the New Orleans Hornets began to panic.
Clang! Clang!
Peja Stojakovic and Chris Paul missed back-to-back three-pointers. The Cleveland Cavaliers seized the opportunity and scored on consecutive fast breaks, pushing their lead into double digits.
That broke the New Orleans Hornets' last straw.
"Beep! Beep!"
With the final whistle, the game was officially over.
The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Hornets 109–95, winning by 14 points.
They had won two games in a row.
Their overall record now stood at 15 wins and 5 losses!
They were back in first place in the East.
Su Yi had once again scored 30-plus points, finishing with 31 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block to lead his team to victory.
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