Chapter 611: Predicting Your Prediction, Winning Streak

Chapter 611: Chapter 96: Predicting Your Prediction, Winning Streak

Huh?

Kobe froze for a moment, then he lost it. He roared at Su Xi, “What the hell are you talking about? Do you even hear yourself? This is basketball!”

Su Xi ignored him.

He dribbled past half-court and, from about a meter behind the three-point line, pulled up and shot directly. Kobe came over to block, but he was a step slow. He hadn’t expected Su Xi to be so decisive with his shot.

SWISH!

This time, Su Xi’s shot cleanly pierced the net.

The Knicks took the lead by 2 points.

Then, Kobe continued to go one-on-one against Su Xi. His turnaround jumper missed, but Yao Ming scored on the putback.

Then it was Su Xi’s turn to attack the paint, where he sank a pull-up jumper.

The two sides went back and forth.

It was incredibly intense.

Down to the final seconds, Kobe hit a three-pointer, tying the score.

The score was tied 110-110.

There were 11 seconds left on the clock.

The duel over the final three minutes had electrified the fans in the arena and those watching on TV. The one-on-one battle between Su Xi and Kobe was pure ecstasy for every fan who loved the game.

They had to admit, Su Xi and Kobe were the two best scorers in the league today.

Kobe’s mid-range one-on-one game was unstoppable, and when Su Xi wanted to score, he could do so at will.

Su Xi took the ball from Stephen Jackson and dribbled it quickly past half-court. He didn’t call a timeout, and neither did the Knicks.

Su Xi charged up the court with the ball, with Kobe chasing him relentlessly and Lamar Odom closing in to help.

But as Su Xi reached the three-point line, he suddenly passed the ball to Zach Randolph.

The two defenders were stunned. At the same time, Su Xi forced his way through the gap between them and dashed back out beyond the three-point line, where Milicic and Ariza set an elevator screen for him.

Su Xi caught the ball outside the arc and shot!

SWISH!

The three-pointer was good.

Only 1.3 seconds were left on the clock.

BEEP!

The Lakers called a timeout.

Kobe Bryant walked over to Su Xi. “Jack, that was a cheap play.”

“You didn’t dare go one-on-one with me.”

Su Xi just smiled and asked Kobe, “Even without that three-pointer, I still scored more than you. And, I’m taking home the win.”

“Not yet!”

Kobe sneered.

The Lakers quickly went to the sideline to draw up a play.

At that moment, the hearts of every fan in the arena were in their throats.

It was the same for the fans watching on TV.

TNT showed a split-screen: the Knicks’ bench on the left, the Lakers’ bench on the right.

On the Lakers’ side, Phil Jackson was holding the clipboard while Kobe pointed and gestured.

On the Knicks’ side, Su Xi was the one holding the clipboard. He held a pen and spoke to the players while Isaiah Thomas stood calmly to the side.

“New York’s real head coach has finally been revealed!”

Charles Barkley cracked a joke even in such a tense moment.

It drew a knowing smile from the fans watching at home.

It wasn’t a bad joke, but something everyone already knew deep down.

Isaiah Thomas was known as a master strategist.

But when it came to tactics, he rarely seemed to hold the clipboard, and the Knicks didn’t seem to need set plays.

BEEP!

The whistle blew, and the game resumed.

Su Xi stuck close to Kobe. Lamar Odom was inbounding the ball from the sideline, with Stephen Jackson defending him tightly.

As the referee blew the whistle, players from both teams scrambled across the court.

Kobe quickly ran to the wing.

At the same time, Lamar Odom quickly threw the ball in.

But, to everyone’s surprise, he didn’t throw it to Kobe.

Instead, it went to Yao Ming.

Yao Ming caught the ball at the top of the arc and quickly took the shot… but just as the ball left his hands, a figure came flying in, leaped into the air, and viciously slapped it away.

Su Xi’s fingertips grazed the basketball, sending it flying high into the air, completely off its intended trajectory.

BEEP!

The final buzzer sounded.

The game was over.

113-110.

The visiting Knicks had once again secured the victory.

Su Xi’s block in the crucial moment was beyond anyone’s expectations.

In fact, the Lakers giving the final possession to Yao Ming was also completely unexpected.

What was even more astonishing was that Su Xi had actually predicted it, rushing over in advance to make the block!

It was simply stunning.

“What the hell is Jack Su’s brain made of? Is he a prophet?”

The TNT slow-motion replay showed that the instant Lamar Odom made the pass, Su Xi had already broken away from Kobe and was sprinting towards the top of the arc.

And he had guessed right; the Lakers had indeed passed the ball to Yao Ming instead of Kobe.

When Su Xi blocked Yao Ming’s shot, Staples Center erupted in an uproar, as if the crowd had been struck by a heavy hammer.

But on the Knicks’ bench, all the players exploded with excitement.

They were shouting that Jack was God.

They screamed for Su Xi’s incredible prediction.

When Su Xi had told them during the timeout, clipboard in hand, that the Lakers would very likely let Yao Ming take the final shot, they had all been completely caught off guard.

Because in their minds, Kobe would never leave a shot like that in someone else’s hands.

But Su Xi believed it was very possible.

Because the Kobe of today had changed.

From the moment Kobe had “cheaply” challenged him to that one-on-one duel, he had already transformed into a different kind of superstar.

He had started to prioritize victory above all else.

Afterward, Yao Ming’s positioning on the court confirmed Su Xi’s judgment.

When Odom passed the ball, Su Xi immediately rushed over and jumped early. He anticipated Yao Ming’s shot and made the perfectly timed block.

It shattered the Lakers’ dream.

The Knicks had won.

This was their second victory in the Finals.

It was also their second victory on the Lakers’ home court.

The Lakers were pushed to the edge of a cliff.

Now, heading back to Madison Square Garden Arena, did the Lakers still have a chance to bring the series back to Staples?

You couldn’t see any hope in the hesitant, dazed, and disbelieving eyes of the fans in the arena.

Shaquille O’Neal was also stunned in the broadcast booth. He hadn’t expected this.

He truly hadn’t expected this outcome.

He hadn’t expected Kobe to let Yao Ming take the three-pointer.

And he certainly hadn’t expected Su Xi to predict it correctly and actually block Yao Ming.

But it was the former that moved him the most.

At that moment, O’Neal was thinking, ‘If Kobe had had this kind of awareness back in the day, would the Pacers have won a championship? Would Little Sheep Su Xi have even had a chance to rise?’

Faced with this scene, O’Neal could only think to himself with a sigh, ‘We met the wrong person at the wrong time. If the me from my prime teamed up with the Kobe of today, who could possibly stand against us?’

O’Neal was filled with mixed emotions.

Barkley patted his shoulder and said, “Shaq, looks like you backing the Lakers didn’t do any good this time. Why don’t you buy out your own contract and join the Lakers on a minimum salary? Maybe you could make a comeback next season!”

When Barkley made this shocking suggestion, for a moment, O’Neal was actually tempted.

But he quickly dismissed the thought.

‘I’m not exactly short on championships, so why would I buy out my own contract?’

‘Why make an enemy of money?’

O’Neal’s way of thinking was now completely different.

Meanwhile, Su Xi was talking to Kobe. “Kobe, why did you pass the ball at the last second? Did your pride allow you to do that?”

Kobe shot Su Xi a glare.

Then he said, “In my heart, you’re still a coward. You still don’t dare to face me head-on. You still rely on cheap tricks!”

Su Xi laughed. “And what about you?”

“I’m not like you anymore,” Kobe said, looking Su Xi in the eye.

Even though Kobe was the loser, his gaze at that moment was far sharper than Su Xi’s, as if he were trying to see right through him.

Su Xi waved his hand dismissively. “Give me a break.”

With that, he started to walk away.

A TNT sideline reporter stopped him to ask how he felt about the win.

He stretched and said, “It’s alright, I guess. It’s just one win.”

Hearing this from the broadcast booth, O’Neal started seething. He was so frustrated. On one hand, he was annoyed by how arrogant Su Xi was; on the other, he was frustrated wondering why he hadn’t been this much of a badass when he won his championships.

The reporter then asked how it felt to block Yao Ming and why he had predicted that Yao would be the one to take the final shot.

He said, “Blocking Yao Ming felt great. It was an unprecedented feeling. As for why I predicted it… I can’t tell you that. It’s my secret to winning.”