Seattle Supersonics' Dual Guns

"Yi, congrats on another 30+."

As soon as Su Yi sat down in the passenger seat, Xu Rui couldn't help but congratulate him, then stepped on the gas, the car pulling out of the parking lot and heading toward home.

The moment he got in the car, Su Yi started looking for food—after all, he'd just finished a game and was starving. Xu Rui was well aware of this, so every time he picked Su Yi up from home, he always had food ready in the car.

"Yi, how about I get an RV? That way you'll have an easier time eating on the go," Xu Rui said, watching Su Yi wolf down his food in the passenger seat.

"Sure, but I'll cover the cost. And hire a driver while you're at it," Su Yi nodded. After signing with Nike, he was rolling in cash.

"No problem!" Xu Rui replied with a smile.

Then Xu Rui remembered something and said, "Oh, right, Yi. I've already assigned people to the three groups. You wouldn't believe their reactions when I told them about it. Eric and Markus both wanted to jump in themselves. They said working with you would definitely let them learn a ton."

Every single person at Yirui Studio held Su Yi in high esteem. Especially Brandon Beck, Marc Merrill, Eric Barone, and Markus Alexej Persson—four figures who would later become household names in the gaming world. Ever since that conversation with Su Yi, their own game progress had shot up, and so many things suddenly became crystal clear!

In fact, over the past few days, whenever they ran into problems, they'd email Su Yi for advice. They all knew their boss wasn't just an outstanding programmer—he was also an NBA athlete. So watching the NBA had become one of their hobbies too. They'd even pooled together to buy a massive TV, just to cheer for their boss. They'd even dragged their own subordinates over to watch the games with them. As they kept watching, they gradually became Su Yi's fans. If Su Yi knew, he'd probably joke: Isn't this just me paying to raise my own fans?

"Alright, I checked the schedule. Over the next four days, I've got three games. After those three games, I'll have four days off, and I'll come over then," Su Yi replied.

"I'll let the studio know. They'll probably be thrilled. Oh, and Yi, can your body handle it?" Xu Rui asked, a little worried. Su Yi was under a double "grind"—both physical and mental. Playing ball was exhausting, and coding was mentally draining.

"Of course I can handle it. If you don't work hard when you're young, are you just going to sit around regretting it when you're old?" Su Yi replied with a smile.

"Haha, well said, Yi!" Xu Rui laughed loudly.

"When I retire, you bring your family, and I'll bring mine. We'll travel the world together, see every corner of it, taste all the cuisines." That had been one of his dreams in his past life, though he'd had to entrust it to Fei Ge back then. Now, he needed to plan out his own freedom properly.

"Great, great, great!" Hearing Su Yi's words, Xu Rui's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but say "great" three times in a row.

A day later, the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the Eastern Conference's weaklings, the Charlotte Bobcats, at home. This team had only joined the league in 2004, so they were pretty green. Over the past two seasons, they'd had a few decent players on their roster. But unfortunately, stats didn't translate to results—they still hadn't found a core to build around. A team without a core was like a pile of loose sand, everyone playing their own game on the court. No way they'd win like that.

So, facing the powerhouse Cleveland Cavaliers, the Charlotte Bobcats only held out for half a game before all suspense was gone. In the end, the Cleveland Cavaliers took down the Charlotte Bobcats at home, 104 to 81, a 23-point victory.

In this game, Su Yi still delivered steadily: 11 of 19 from the field, 5 of 10 from three, 2 of 2 from the free-throw line, putting up 29 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. LeBron James, playing back at the 4, racked up some great stats: 6 of 15 from the field, 3 of 6 from the line, for 15 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block—a near triple-double. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers had four other players scoring in double digits. You could say that with Su Yi as the offensive core, the team's scoring ability was fully unleashed across the board. Everyone's points shot up fast—except for LeBron James, who could only watch silently as his average points per game plummeted like a roller coaster.

But what could he do?

It wasn't that he didn't want to score—it was that he had too few ways to do it.

Every time an open shot appeared from beyond the arc, he couldn't capitalize.

He had no idea how many of Eric Snow's assists he'd wasted.

After defeating the Charlotte Bobcats, the Cleveland Cavaliers rushed straight to Seattle for an away game against the Seattle Supersonics.

Ever since Gary Payton left, the Seattle Supersonics had entered the era of the Dual Guns—Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis.

At the same time, both players had been improving year after year, especially Ray Allen.

Last season, Ray Allen averaged 25.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game, hitting 3.4 three-pointers per game at a 41.2% clip.

The media thought that was already the best performance of Ray Allen's career.

Turns out it wasn't—this season, Ray Allen was even fiercer.

He averaged 26.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, knocking down 3.7 three-pointers per game at a 40% rate.

Under his leadership, the Seattle Supersonics had a 15-8 record, sitting fourth in the Western Conference.

As the arena announcer's introductions rang out and the fans roared, the Seattle Supersonics players filed out of the tunnel one by one.

When the last player, Ray Allen, stepped out, the entire KeyArena erupted.

Fans shouted, "Ray Allen!" "Ray Allen!" "Ray Allen!"—the massive wave of sound seemed ready to tear the roof off the KeyArena.

After the starting lineup ceremony ended, both teams began warming up.

During warm-ups, both Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis couldn't help glancing at the other half-court, where Su Yi was warming up.

As two of the league's best three-point shooters, they were curious about this rookie who averaged over 50% from beyond the arc.

They had also watched the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New Orleans Pelicans Hornets game from two days ago.

When they saw Peja Stojakovic fall short of Su Yi's three-point shooting, they grew even more eager for the upcoming game against the Cavaliers.

The short warm-up ended, and both teams' starters shed their warm-up jackets and stepped onto the court.

The arena announcer took the chance to introduce the starting lineups to the fans in the stands and watching on TV.

Cleveland Cavaliers starters: Eric Snow, Su Yi, Larry Hughes, LeBron James, Big Z!

Seattle Supersonics starters: Luke Ridnour, Ray Allen, Damien Wilkins, Rashard Lewis, Nick Collison.

Both teams went with a one-big, four-small lineup.

But comparatively, the Supersonics' "one big" was a bit lacking.

BEEP BEEP.

With the whistle, the game officially began.