On January 18 at 7 p.m., the Quick Loan Center Arena in Cleveland was packed to the rafters. The Cleveland Cavaliers were about to host the Portland Trail Blazers!
The fans had been looking forward to this game for a long time.
It was a showdown between two rookies from the 2006 draft: Su Yi versus Brandon Roy.
So far this season, Su Yi had averaged 25.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.8 steals per game.
Brandon Roy had averaged 17.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.
The Rookie of the Year award was clearly going to come down to these two.
Brandon Roy had been eagerly anticipating this game.
He'd thought he was a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year among this year's draft class, but then Su Yi had burst onto the scene over the past half month, especially with his outrageous scoring ability.
Even Brandon Roy couldn't help applauding Su Yi when he saw the replay footage.
So after warmups, when the starters took the court, Brandon Roy greeted Su Yi.
Su Yi certainly knew who Brandon Roy, the Yellow Mamba, was.
He smiled and exchanged a few words with Roy.
The two had a friendly chat.
"Tweet!"
The referee's whistle blew, and the game began.
Friendly?
Forget it.
Without the slightest warning, the two immediately started battling physically, as if there couldn't be two tigers on one mountain, each trying to crush the other.
But they weren't the stars of this game.
The stars were Larry Hughes and Zach Randolph.
Su Yi's off-ball movement drew the Portland Trail Blazers' big men away from the paint, giving Larry Hughes a clear path to attack the rim.
He made one drive after another.
Eventually, the Blazers had no choice but to foul Hughes