The Best Point Guard

Ultimately, the German Team had the last laugh.

Nowitzki was ferocious. Facing Spain's Gasol, he went into beast mode for the entire game, dropping 38 points. In the end, they sent Spain packing with a two-point victory to advance to the finals.

This would be the second time Nowitzki and Su Xi had faced off in a final this summer.

Last time, he was swept.

Now, the old rivals met again.

Nowitzki wasn't resentful in the slightest; on the contrary, he was very calm. When faced with a reporter's provocative questions, he answered matter-of-factly, "No one knows what will happen in the finals. If we play better, we'll win the gold medal. It's as simple as that."

This was his response to the American reporters.

American reporters were always trying to stir up a big story.

Of course, they also asked, "You're one of the best power forwards in the NBA. The Chinese Team has one of the best centers and one of the best guards in the NBA. Would you consider this an ultimate NBA showdown?"

Nowitzki's reaction was interesting. He frowned and countered, "Is Goat Su Xi just *one of* the best guards in the NBA? Why the 'one of'?"

Er...

The American reporter was completely thrown off.

'That's right, why would Goat Su Xi just be 'one of' them?'

'He's obviously the best player there is.'

The reporter seemed to forget what he was going to ask. He froze for a moment, then said, "Oh, right. He's probably the best guard. So, do you see this as a continuation of the NBA Finals?"

"Of course not. This is the World Championship. It's a completely different system from the NBA; even the rules are different. And don't forget, a team has twelve players. Besides the few NBA guys, most of the players don't play in the NBA. You can't discount their hard work."

Nowitzki said.

The reporter then asked a question that was bound to backfire, "Do you think the Chinese Team has a better chance of winning? They have two NBA stars..."

"The Dream Team has twelve NBA stars..."

Nowitzki replied honestly.

The American reporter couldn't continue. He just wanted to get out of there.

He was just humiliating himself.

After all, the Dream Team's performance this year had been pathetic.

They had arrived full of ambition, determined to redeem themselves. But once they got to Japan, they barely made it out of the group stage. Before they had even played two rounds of the knockout stage, they were off to the "Charming Street," only to return to the United States with wobbly legs.

The Chinese Team, for their part, didn't mock them.

The national team wasn't accepting interviews, choosing instead to focus peacefully on their preparations.

The closer it got to the finals, the more low-key they became.

The final match arrived right on schedule.

The Chinese Team and the German Team would battle for this year's World Championship gold medal.

The CCTV commentary team was also at the venue, and they interviewed Su Xi before the game.

"We're very relaxed right now. For us, this is just a training exercise. As you know, the Olympics will be held in our country, so we need to build up our strength now to get good results there. As for the World Championship gold medal? That's just a bonus."

Su Xi said these incredibly arrogant words in a very low-key tone.

'The World Championship gold medal is just a bonus?'

Fine. Seeing as he was Goat Su Xi, everyone let it slide.

'What could anyone do? He was just that good.'

"We're going to make some lineup adjustments for the finals. We'll let the younger guys play more. You have to let the young players get some big-game experience, right?"

The reporter didn't dare to argue. 'Whatever you say,' he thought.

The fans watching on TV felt a chill run down their spines. They thought, 'Boss, what on earth are you planning to do?'

They would soon find out.

The whistle blew.

Isaiah Thomas stood on the sideline as the Chinese Team's starting lineup took the court.

Yi Jianlian, Li Nan, Sun Yue, Su Xi, and Cheng Jianghua were the starters.

Everyone was stunned.

Many Chinese fans had traveled a long way to be there, and they never dreamed the Chinese Team would field such a lineup.

'This is the finals, for crying out loud! They're playing Germany for the gold medal!'

'Did they have to be so cocky?'

And yet, this was reality.

The game began.

Yi Jianlian took the opening tip-off for the Chinese Team.

The ball was tipped to Cheng Jianghua. The young man, not even seventeen years old, immediately led the charge. He was incredibly fast, possessing explosive speed.

However, the kid didn't quite know how to decelerate; his control of his tempo was an issue.

Su Xi often told him, "You have to have the courage to slow down. When you can control your deceleration, your speed becomes your deadliest weapon."

Su Xi had taught him a lot, but ultimately, he needed to apply it in a real game.

He drove straight into the paint, shook off his defender, and went directly for a layup.

But just as he released the ball, the German center, Schultz, came from behind and swatted it against the backboard.

At that moment, however, Su Xi suddenly surged forward, grabbed the rebound, and slammed it into the hoop, posterizing Schultz in the process.

Schultz suffered the humiliation of being posterized.

But Su Xi was in teaching mode. "Jiang, if you had hesitated for a second and pump-faked the layup, you would've sent that white boy flying. Easy layup, and you'd be on the highlight reel."

"When you're flying down the court like that, you can't just feel the wind in your ears. You have to use your peripheral vision to track your opponents. It's a process of elimination. There are five defenders. You blew past three, and one is in the corner. That means one has to be trailing you. It's simple math, you should get that."

As they got back on defense, Su Xi kept talking to Cheng Jianghua, drilling the lesson into him.

This was the only kind of teaching that had any real meaning.

And only by teaching through these live examples could they improve so rapidly.

On the other end of the court, however, the Chinese Team's defense was a problem.

Nowitzki easily created space on Yi Jianlian with a fake and sank a fadeaway jumper.

"Study Nowitzki's rhythm," Su Xi said to Yi. "When you're defending him, don't let him dictate the pace. Just stay on him. Don't even think about blocking his shot; the best you can do is disrupt his release."

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