Chapter 608 95: Why Won't Little Sheep Su Xi Take the Bait?

The second quarter started quickly, and Yao Ming came off the court to rest.

Yao Ming's stamina had always been an issue, so the Lakers were cautious in how they used him, never pushing him too hard. They weren't like the Houston Rockets; they didn't have a habit of running their star players into the ground for short-term gain.

Kwame Brown moved to the center position.

Kobe Bryant immediately issued a strategic challenge upon entering the game, going one-on-one against Su Xi. But he missed his first shot.

Su Xi remained calm and unhurried. He returned to his side of the court and continued his off-ball movement.

Milicic and Kwame Brown staged a battle of the busts.

Milicic sent Kwame Brown flying with a beautiful crossover, faking him out completely. Milicic was playing with more and more finesse; that move even had a hint of Olajuwon to it.

After Brown was left in the dust, Milicic made an easy layup.

Kobe started talking trash to Su Xi: "One-on-one me! Soft!"

Su Xi just smiled and shrugged at Kobe. "You think you're all that? You're still trailing me by a point. Why would I take you on?"

Kobe was furious.

He immediately went for another one-on-one on the other end, driving hard to the inside before pulling up for a jump shot... SWISH!

It went in.

He made a taunting gesture at Su Xi.

Su Xi immediately reported it to the head referee.

The head referee gave Kobe a warning.

Kobe was so mad he was practically hopping. "You're a total rat! A scoundrel! And you want to be the GOAT?"

Su Xi smiled and replied, "Don't you think I'm being civilized? I follow the rules better than you guys. If I'm a scoundrel and a rat, then you and Jordan would have to be called criminals."

"You..."

Su Xi had gotten under his skin again.

In a war of words, Kobe was no match for Su Xi.

After all, Su Xi was used to winning arguments with a bevy of beauties.

Kobe, on the other hand, had that slip-up in Eagle County.

Su Xi got the ball on offense and immediately launched an aggressive attack. He drove hard to the paint with Kobe in hot pursuit. But Su Xi exploded upwards for the shot. Despite Kobe's timely contest, Su Xi's hang time and vertical were better. Kobe was already on his way down when Su Xi finally released the ball, and he did it while being double-teamed by Kwame Brown... as if it were a walk in the park.

That mid-air stroll.

It couldn't help but bring to mind Michael Jordan's classic moves.

Charles Barkley even remarked on TV, "The gap between Kobe and Jack is the distance between a false god and a true god."

This comment was not very friendly to Kobe's fans.

After all, for many years, Kobe had been considered the next Jordan, the one who was truly closest to him.

But after seeing Su Xi score over Kobe's defense like that, people saw the real God of Basketball, and the potential to surpass Jordan.

The difference was just that obvious.

It was harsh, but undeniable.

Even Shaquille O'Neal said, "Jack's athleticism is just astounding. That's Kobe's biggest weakness. If Kobe had Jordan's physical gifts, I think he'd be better than Jordan! I also think he'd be better than Jack Su, and Jack Su would have no chance at all of competing for the number one spot in history!"

Kenny Smith teased Shaquille O'Neal, "Shaq, it's incredible to hear you say that. What made you change your opinion of Kobe?"

O'Neal just chuckled.

Charles Barkley, beside him, casually threw out a guess, "Is it because after your little tour around the league, you found out Kobe was the best after all? That Wade and James aren't as good as Kobe, right?"

"Wade's pretty good," O'Neal said.

Uh... that was a very interesting answer.

The viewers at home were going crazy.

O'Neal had just eliminated one of the options, so what was the correct answer? It was James!

The Chosen One, James?

In other words, because O'Neal had played one season with James, he'd had a change of heart and now saw Kobe's good qualities and understood how great he was?

So, what exactly did James do to him?

But James is supposed to be the most unselfish player.

James's style of play is way more unselfish than Kobe's.

He's willing to pass.

He can do everything.

He's the modern-day Magic Johnson!

So why would O'Neal still think Kobe is better?

Isn't Kobe a lone wolf?

At that moment, Kenny Smith at the commentator's desk stared at O'Neal in surprise. He hadn't expected O'Neal to make such a comment.

Barkley was stunned, too.

However, neither of them probed any further.

Because they had a professional's sensitivity. If they kept digging, it would be extremely damaging to James's image.

James was the player the league was heavily promoting, and saying things like this about him during a national broadcast was not good.

Moreover, O'Neal himself realized he had said too much. He was frantically making hand gestures, signaling them to drop the subject.

On the court, Kobe continued to go one-on-one against Su Xi, hitting a turnaround jumper.

Then, Su Xi took on Kobe one-on-one. He powerfully backed him down, using his body to create space. His strength was greater than Kobe's. But after turning, he didn't take the jump shot. Instead, he passed to a wide-open Zach Randolph. Randolph caught the ball with an undefended basket in front of him and threw down a powerful dunk.

Su Xi didn't stubbornly go for the iso play, as Kobe had hoped.

The Lakers found themselves on the back foot.

Kobe was very angry.

He even felt like grabbing Su Xi by the neck. 'Where's your pride? Didn't you say you were going to be the greatest player in league history? Come at me! Come at me with everything you've got!'

Su Xi didn't do it.

He had increased his one-on-one plays in this game, but not to an absurd degree.

In the second quarter, the Knicks' strategy remained unchanged.

With Yao Ming resting for half the quarter, the Lakers found themselves trailing by 11 points at the half.

The Knicks led 56-45.

Kobe had 16 points in the first half.