The Best Point Guard

The Cavaliers clearly hadn’t expected Isaiah Thomas to call them out, let alone beat them to the punch by using the very excuse they were planning to use.

Originally, they had planned to subtly hint to everyone: We didn’t even go all out this time; we just wanted to rest. Just wait for the next game. We’ll absolutely destroy the Knicks!

However, Isaiah Thomas had struck first, claiming the Cavaliers had basically surrendered in the fourth quarter because they were afraid Su Xi would break a scoring record!

His intentions were truly malicious.

This was outright slander!

’Do the Cavaliers need to be afraid?’

’Huh?’

Mike Brown felt his confidence waver, as he wasn’t exactly standing on the moral high ground. After all... it was a fact that they sat out the fourth quarter, and it was also a fact that they’d called it garbage time when only down by nine.

’But does the truth have to be spoken? Does it have to be thrown in our faces just for ridicule?’

Isaiah Thomas really had no class.

In contrast, Goat Su Xi had actually been more tactful. When interviewed, he had simply said, "The Cavaliers are much stronger than last season."

He only said those harsh words when the Cleveland press hounded him with questions like, "How much stronger?" "Will you be afraid to face them next time?" and "Are you just preparing excuses for a future loss?"

It was because the Cleveland reporters had shown no class themselves.

So why should Su Xi show them any?

"By ’much stronger,’ I mean you finally didn’t give up the game in the first half. Why would I be afraid of a team that has never once beaten me? You’re the ones who should be preparing for a loss."

Su Xi retorted powerfully.

Cleveland had brought this on themselves.

Su Xi did not attend the post-game press conference. He had never liked appearing at them, and the NBA tacitly approved of this behavior. In fact, having Isaiah Thomas at the Knicks’ press conferences was more than enough.

At the press conference, Thomas got into a shouting match with the reporters.

This was because he kept insisting that the Cavaliers were cowards, declaring garbage time after three quarters while only down by nine points because they were afraid Su Xi would get a super triple-double on their heads.

This made a reporter very unhappy, and he directly rebutted Isaiah Thomas: It was because Ilgauskas was injured, and because Shaquille O’Neal had five fouls.

Isaiah Thomas instantly lit up as if he’d just been handed a loaded gun. He stood up, grabbed the microphone, and roared at the crowd below: "Then what about your chosen one, LeBron James? Without his big men, does LeBron James not even have the courage to face the Goat? Don’t forget, on our Knicks roster, Eddie Curry is out for the season, Zach Randolph is also out with an injury, and Crawford still hasn’t returned. Why haven’t we given up on any games? Why are we number one in the league?"

Thomas’s voice was loud and grating.

The reporter was left speechless by the tirade.

In fact, the other reporters didn’t know what to say either.

Because no matter what they said, the one who would ultimately get hurt was James.

Their silence also proved one thing: even Clevelanders were starting to generally believe that James was indeed not as good as Su Xi.

At this thought, a wave of sadness washed over them. Because back in the day, this pair of peerless, once-in-a-generation talents, Su Xi and James, had both been players for the Cavaliers.

Many people were saying that if the Cavaliers had managed to keep both of them, what other team would even stand a chance now?

Su Xi alone had already secured a three-peat; adding James to that, they would have been simply unstoppable.

Isaiah Thomas left the post-game press conference, strutting with his head held high. He had played the part of the arrogant tyrant to perfection, and among the entire court of assembled media, not a single person dared to refute him.

It was the equivalent of crowning himself right in front of Little King James.

Afterward, Mike Brown explained why they gave up in the fourth quarter.

He said they hadn’t originally planned to give up, but the rotation players couldn’t withstand the Knicks’ surge, the point deficit widened in an instant, and besides, when James returned to the sideline, he noticed some pain in his groin, so they just decided to call it quits.

Uh...

Mike Brown always had an excuse.

But why was James, who had been playing like a beast for the first three quarters, suddenly complaining of groin pain the moment Su Xi hit sixty points?

The New York Media had always been sharp-tongued and merciless. The result of this game gave them plenty of ammunition to mock and ridicule Cleveland. In the New York press, James was painted as a clown, and the Cleveland Cavaliers were branded as delusional wannabes—a bunch of losers cobbled together who actually thought they could overthrow the rule of Goat Su Xi.

This differed somewhat from the analysis in the basketball media.

Although Isaiah Thomas had made the Cleveland Cavaliers extremely uncomfortable, and had even turned James and the Cavaliers into a laughingstock for being timid cowards, in the eyes of basketball experts, the Cavaliers’ strength was not to be underestimated. Some were even worried: what if the Knicks, being so arrogant now, got destroyed the next time they met?

After all, Ilgauskas’s medical report came back. It was just a minor sprain, with no structural damage. He would be fine after some rest.

Many people even thought that Isaiah Thomas’s taunts would only bring temporary satisfaction. The Cavaliers would surely use this as motivation, biding their time to come back even stronger next time and pay them back double.

Thomas was acting like a petty man who’d just gotten his way.

This was the general sentiment across much of the basketball media.

However, Isaiah Thomas and the Knicks fans didn’t think that way at all. After all, the Cavaliers had "bided their time for revenge" far too many times. It seemed like they were *always* biding their time, yet they never actually won. Sure, they got O’Neal now, but with Goat Su Xi on their side, what was there to be afraid of?

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