Chapter 534: Quadruple-double, Harden's mind is in turmoil

Fan Xi brought the ball to the top of the arc as Chris Paul prepared to step up to defend.

Fan Xi slightly lifted his chin and said to James Harden on the side, "Come on. Since you want to fight me."

Fan Xi called out Harden.

Chris Paul was somewhat taken aback, but he quickly made way.

James Harden hadn't intended to guard Fan Xi; his defense isn't top-notch, especially against aggressive, penetrating guards.

But now, Paul voluntarily stepped aside.

He had no choice but to go over.

As he approached, the entire Houston Toyota Center erupted, Rockets fans shouting loudly, cheering for Harden.

The twenty thousand people in the arena shouted in unison: "Defense! Defense! Defense!"

The scene was mighty.

The Kardashian family on the sidelines also got excited, they also started screaming cheers for Fan Xi.

All the pressure shifted to Harden's side; Harden spread his arms, blocking Fan Xi's advance.

On the sidelines, D'Antoni had an uneasy thought.

James Harden's scoring creativity is exceptional; D'Antoni believes that with Harden's intelligence, his use of the rules, and his work ethic, he will surely become a scoring-champion caliber player.

But he never thought Harden could become a player like Kobe or Fan Xi.

These guys exude a fighter's spirit from head to toe, honing themselves on both offense and defense, with tenacious willpower, like a suicide squad.

So he didn't favor a showdown between Harden and Fan Xi, already worrying for Harden in his heart.

At that moment, Fan Xi suddenly stepped forward, his speed extremely sharp, landing a step to Harden's right.

Harden instinctively stepped back, his retreat step relatively large.

This probe let Fan Xi see that Harden's defensive ability… was inferior to Paul's.

Paul is a very good defender; his only weakness is height. His judgment of ball paths is master-level, and his steal ability is among the league's best. So, when Fan Xi gets past Paul, he doesn't like to play games—he goes straight for height, speed, and explosiveness…

But seeing Harden's step back, Fan Xi started to think.

After aggressively probing with a step, he suddenly stopped sharply, then stepped back.

Harden was a bit off-balance; he hurriedly shifted his weight and took a big step forward.

As he stepped forward… boom!

The basketball was directly slapped by Fan Xi, passing through under Harden's crotch.

Immediately after, Fan Xi stepped past Harden in a strange yet sharp move, separating man from ball.

The cheers in the Toyota Center cut off abruptly; the throats of the twenty thousand felt as if a huge cucumber had been shoved into them.

Fan Xi originally wanted to keep toying with Harden's balance until he toppled him.

But Harden is very smart.

After being stripped of the ball, he didn't chase angrily; instead he steadied his balance, unhurried. He let Fan Xi's next move play out… he had calm judgment, cutting his losses in time.

Harden is an extremely smart player.

Such intelligence can easily make him a top-tier league player, and also help him avoid much 'humiliation'.

Fan Xi completed a jump shot from the free-throw line.

After scoring, he spread his palms, feeling it was meaningless, not having had enough fun.

He thought Harden would keep pursuing, so two more big spins would be enough to spin Harden to the ground.

"What's the difference between getting past you and getting past a paper cutout?"

Fan Xi mocked Harden.

Harden's beard blocked his expression; his face just looked a bit stiff.

"I won't fall for your tricks; your trash talk has no effect on me."

James Harden told Fan Xi.

Fan Xi indeed stopped talking to Harden. Because he knew it really was useless.

Harden and Curry are rookies from the same class; his template back then was Ginóbili, who is known for crafty intelligence, which Harden also possesses. Moreover, Harden played sixth man beside Westbrook and Durant, and his emotional control is relatively better.

But Fan Xi doesn't much like this kind of star; he still prefers the old-school players—coarse, fired-up, hard-mouthed, never backing down!

Now the new generation of superstars are highly intelligent, but few have integrity.

For Harden, being nutmegged by Fan Xi is certainly embarrassing, but chasing to defend and getting shaken off by Fan Xi would be even more costly. Besides, a defensive lapse can be made up on offense.

So, after crossing half court, finding his position, he quickly took the ball from Paul's hands.

He went one-on-one against Fan Xi; Fan Xi lowered his center of gravity, locking eyes on him.

Harden's rhythm is good.

He held the ball with both hands, pressing his weight, his non-pivot foot constantly probing, making feints.

Waiting for Howard to come over to set a screen, he quickly stepped forward.

Fan Xi slightly retreated half a step.

At that moment, Harden quickly retreated, one step, two steps.

His pivot foot was clean; he handled the rules with ease.

Furthermore, he used his two-step retreat and Howard's body to block most of Fan Xi's frame.

He smoothly rose for a three-point shot… but just as he lifted the ball to his chest, a palm appeared out of nowhere… smack!

Fan Xi's body slipped out from beside Howard's broad frame; his outstretched long arm struck the ball perfectly.

The ball fell; Harden hurried to retrieve it, but Fan Xi was faster, one acceleration slapped the ball near midcourt, then darted off like lightning.

The frantically roaring fans in the Toyota Center were granted a huge cucumber by Fan Xi; the cheers cut off, leaving only gasps and incredulous astonishment.

Fan Xi dribbled forward into the frontcourt, facing Paul's pursuit, he stopped abruptly and shot from beyond the three‑point line… swish!

Three-pointer made.

But people were more focused on the steal+1.

Fan Xi only needed one more steal.

The Knicks' morale surged, and the viewers in front of the TV were even more emotionally stirred, unable to contain themselves.

Beep!

De Andongni requested a timeout.

He glanced at the timer; there were still over seven minutes left in the third quarter.

But Fan Xi's five-fold stat line was only one steal and two blocks away.

His inner panic showed on his face.

The Rockets players all returned to the bench, and he went over and gave everyone a high-five.

He said, we need to stop Jieke Fan going forward, double-team him, even on offense we need to assign someone to guard him.

That sounds a bit convoluted.

Put simply, it means to guard Fan Xi's defense.

At least, don't let Jieke Fan get a five-fold stat line!

This is De Andongni's view.

He is making a final effort.

"What else can the Rockets do? Everyone knows when Jieke suddenly goes on a tear and hits a three-pointer, even God couldn't stop it."

Kenny Smith said: "We need to re-evaluate the New York Knicks' strength; it's definitely not a mid-tier team, it's a contender!"

"Any team with Jieke Fan is definitely a contender!"

"You can call this Kenny Smith's First Law, I'm saying."

Kenny Smith was very excited on the commentator's bench.

His partner Charles Barkley appeared excited yet wistful; he had long been seen as an opponent of Fan Xi. Now even if he wanted to praise Fan Xi, it's too late. The first person to ever praise Fan Xi will always be Kenny Smith.

This guy is always good at latching onto powerful people.

Barkley muttered to himself, the person who hugged Hakeem Olajuwon's thigh to win a championship back then was also Kenny Smith; Barkley later went to hug 【someone?】, but it was all for naught.

In terms of the ability and vision to revive a dying situation, Kenny Smith is outstanding and professional.

Beep!

The game continued.

As global fans called for the unprecedented miracle of a super quintuple-double, De Andongni substituted Bei Fu Li, using Bei Fu Li to lock down Fan Xi.

Chris Paul returned to the bench to rest.

Paul was somewhat angry; he didn't like this arrangement.

He believed that pursuing victory is what the team should do; if Fan Xi insists on getting a quintuple-double, let him get it. Even if he gets the quintuple-double and loses the game, it's also his disgrace.

James Harden personally brought the ball past half-court, and Fan Xi still went up to guard him.

But this time Howard set a screen beyond the three-point line, and after the screen, Harden shot straight away, swish!

It went in.

Harden's touch remained hot.

After the basket, the home crowd gave him a huge cheer.

He washed away his own humiliation.

Looking back, Harden no longer went to guard Fan Xi.

No matter how Fan Xi tried to lock onto him with his gaze, he remained unmoving.

The main point is just mental fortitude.

Bei Fu Li clung tightly, but Fan Xi still easily got past him; however he didn't continue the offense, instead passing the ball to Joe Johnson.

Joe Johnson drove to the basket and finally scored from a field goal.

The game continued.

De Andongni's tactical arrangement was effective.

Although the scores of both sides were rising alternately, Fan Xi's steal and block numbers remained unchanged.

James Harden maintained his scorching touch in this process, throwing in many unbelievable shots.

When a superstar possesses an unstoppable scorching touch, defense becomes a daunting task.

Harden's total score broke 50 points when there was still 1 minute 01 second left in the third quarter.

At this moment, Charles Barkley couldn't help but say on TV: "With James Harden's current touch, he probably won't break Jieke Fan's 101-point record, will he?"

Just as his words fell, Fan Xi hit a stop-and-go jump shot.

Then, when Harden received the ball, he lunged forward to apply full-court pressure.

Bei Fu Li hesitated at this moment, unsure whether to execute the 'guard Fan Xi's defense' strategy at halftime.

Just as he was making the decision to set an ambush at midcourt.

Smack!

Fan Xi suddenly used a strange spin, moving from in front of Harden to behind him, and from behind his dribbling motion directly stole the ball—this is an offensive move.

Fan Xi completed a perfect steal with this move, Harden's body was still leaning forward preparing to drive.

But the ball had already been stolen from behind him.

Fan Xi anticipated his passing lane and made a preemptive steal.

Paul watched from the sidelines, astonished; as a steal master, he sincerely praised Fan Xi's frontal steal.

Fan Xi drove to the basket and finished with a layup to settle the contest.

He gave the Knicks a 2-point lead.

But at this moment, the Toyota Center was filled with rising and falling sighs and exclamations.

Because the big screen showed that Fan Xi achieved a quadruple-double.

27 points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds, 10 steals, 8 blocks.

"Great Fan Xi, great Fan Xi has become the first active player to accomplish a super quadruple-double; he is the pride of guards, he represents the pinnacle of point guards."

"Now there's no need to discuss whether he is greater than Magic Johnson; even if Magic Johnson stood before me, I would tell him, are you here to compete for second place?"

"Jieke Fan, after scoring an unprecedented human limit of 101 points, also accomplished the fifth super quadruple-double in NBA basketball history, and he is now advancing toward becoming the first person in human history to achieve a quintuple-double in a single game; he is unstoppable!!"

"Michael Jordan, I know you're watching TV, are you trembling?"

"These are all achievements you have never even touched; you should be glad your era never encountered Jieke Fan, otherwise, who knows who would be history's first superstar?"

"Jieke Fan is not Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing… these are second-rate players of that caliber."

"At the instant Fan Xi's quadruple-double stats were achieved, Kenny Smith let out a loud, excited roar on TV."

He was proud of Fan Xi.

As a Fan Xi fan, having followed him from his humble beginnings, he was too excited.

His voice stirred the emotions of the fans in front of the TV.

The fans wholeheartedly agreed with his view; Fan Xi surpassing Magic Johnson is already an indisputable fact, he is the greatest point guard in history, even God cannot deny it.

Moreover, if he really returned to the 80s-90s, could Jordan really dominate the 90s?

Jordan sat in front of the TV.

His body was all tense.

He felt an unprecedented shock and aggression; he wished he could immediately return to his youth, put on the Bulls jersey again, and battle Fan Xi.

Kenny Smith's words made him feel a strong sense of violation.

As the god of this field, he could not accept this doubt.

But now he is so weak, so powerless.

Fan Xi is storming cities and seizing strongholds; he is building one moment after another belonging to him, and they are unsurpassable human pinnacle moments.

He now has a quadruple-double, but Jordan is not nervous.

Because even someone like David Robinson has gotten a quadruple-double before, and Hakeem Olajuwon almost got one in the Finals.

They cannot affect Jordan's historical status, and Fan Xi's quadruple-double certainly cannot either.

But if the soft and powerless Houston Rockets let Fan Xi get a quintuple-double, then it's hard to say.

A quintuple-double!

Raising all stats to double digits—what a difficulty. A unique feat in history, this verifies the player's absolute dominance in every aspect of offense and defense.

Although Jordan easily earned All-NBA and All-Defensive honors, he is also widely recognized as a two-way superstar.

But when the quintuple-double stats are laid out, even more All-NBA and All-Defensive honors wouldn't be enough for this legend.

But please, never accomplish a quintuple-double.

Jordan closed his eyes, and a phrase welled up in his heart.

It is an imperative sentence.

…

"I feel like I already have a quadruple-double."

Fan Xi, after James Harden held the ball again, approached him and, in a gentle tone, reminded him: "Do you still dare to shoot in front of me? My quadruple-double came from stealing from you, my quintuple-double from blocking you—how many front-page headlines do you think you'll earn because of this?"

Fan Xi is gentle, but his words are sharp.

He made Harden's heart all in a tizzy.

…