Chapter 585: The Truth Shows at the Critical Moment

The second half of the game returned after the lengthy commercial break ended.

The fans in front of their televisions had no idea what the two teams had gone through during halftime; no one could guess what would happen next.

Not even a superstar like Jordan. He too could not predict how the peak showdown between Fan Xi and James would unfold in the second half.

As the whistle sounded, players from both teams took to the court. The Knicks' starting lineup for the second half became: Fan Xi, Hamilton, Josh Smith, Kevin Garnett, and Tyson Chandler.

Judging from the lineup, the Knicks were still continuing their half-court offensive strategy from the first half.

The Heat, apart from swapping Xiaoen Badi'er for Ray Allen, continued using that tall lineup from the second quarter, only with Camby inside replaced by Martin.

It appeared the Heat were still firmly executing their successful first-half plan.

Once the game began, the play was largely the same.

James launched an assault; he was on fire tonight, breaking through the defense under Fan Xi's guard, then stopping abruptly and fading away to sink the basketball.

No one on this planet could defend against James's stop-and-fadeaway jump shot after his bull-like charge.

Switching sides to resume play, Fan Xi and Garnett ran a pick-and-roll; after passing to Garnett, Fan Xi continued to drive deep alone, with James in pursuit.

Fan Xi's elusiveness made James's massive frame somewhat strained; he could not navigate freely.

Fan Xi thus found an opening in the paint. Garnett passed the ball inside, and Fan Xi leaped up and tipped the ball into the basket… James's block arrived a step too late.

"Jie Ke may be the most powerful 'off-ball' player in history," Magic Johnson said on television. "His movement is cunning, his ball-handling is extremely quick, and his shooting is precise. I can't imagine anyone else in history who is better at dominating the game off-ball. If the Lakers hadn't traded him, I believe he and Kobe would have swept all the championship trophies. Perhaps right now, people would be discussing whether Kobe is a greater player than Jordan."

"By that logic, Jie Ke leaving the Lakers was absolutely the right move. He avoided the trouble of becoming the next Pippen," Kenny said.

Magic was noncommittal.

Michael Jordan, in front of his television, was pondering Magic's words: if Fan Xi truly had never left the Lakers, Kobe would have won 10 championships and raised his number of Finals MVPs to around four—

Could Kobe compare to himself?

The answer was no.

Championship count does not represent everything.

But if Kobe had 10 championships and 4 Finals MVPs, he would definitely enter the discussion list for the top three in history.

And likewise, Jieke Fan would have lost the chance to be mentioned in the same breath as himself.

Fan Xi had, imperceptibly, forged a legendary path.

If he had stayed with the Lakers, his first Finals MVP with the Lakers would not have generated as sensational an effect as it did now. Because he subsequently won two more Finals MVPs with the Kuaisuan.

He was the only player to have built a personal dynasty with two teams, and now he was very likely to extend his personal dynasty in the Eastern Conference.

The difficulty of his first three-peat was greater than any of Jordan's three-peats. If he achieved a personal four-peat dynasty with the Knicks, that difficulty would objectively surpass Jordan's two three-peats. This was also why many people said Fan Xi would surpass Jordan.

Jordan took a sip of red wine, closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, this old rogue of basketball cursed: "Look at all the fine work that utterly stupid woman Jean Bas has done…"

Meanwhile, the game continued.

Both sides played to their own rhythm, and neither made mistakes. So the game was largely the same as the first half. James, extraordinarily valiant, played his brand-new style, fully releasing his influence just as Fan Xi had done before.

But Fan Xi did not choose to duel with James in the same manner; Fan Xi was honing the team. He ran tactical combinations with different teammates.

Neither side widened or narrowed the point gap.

But from the look of the game, the Heat were playing more and more relaxed, more and more at ease, and James even had a sense of doing as he pleased.

The Knicks, by contrast, appeared to be advancing cautiously step by step, conservative and restrained, very passive.

It was as if the two teams had swapped places overnight.

The third quarter ended with the Heat leading by 3 points.

Charles Barkley noticed this interesting phenomenon and said: I predict the Heat will ultimately defeat the Knicks by 4 points, because they win by 1 point every quarter. Four quarters makes 4 points.

What a shrewd mathematician.

Earl Johnson chuckled beside him.

But Magic Johnson pointed out a truly important issue: "What the Heat had hoped to accomplish in the previous two games was finally achieved in this game—they wore down the Knicks players' stamina. I can see the fatigue in Tyson Chandler and Kevin Garnett, and even Josh Smith looks somewhat tired."

This would become a major problem for the Knicks.

Many fans in the arena were also puzzled: why wasn't Jie Ke directly taking over the game tonight?

He could charge and crash like James too—James had learned it from him, after all.

Was being up two games really a reason to be so cautious?

New York fans all hoped Fan Xi would revert to his unruly self, rather than continue playing this half-court game, or simply disappearing into the half and working off-ball.

But Fan Xi had his clear plan.

After the fourth quarter began, the Knicks still had no changes whatsoever.

Even Garnett did not come off the court to rest.

He was still paired with Tyson Chandler.

The Heat, on the other hand, frequently shuffled their lineup, constantly rotating various players onto the court.

They used James's powerful individual ability to drive their game state. In Spoelstra's assumption, with James's all-around ability, he could fully activate over a hundred tactical play styles, just like Jieke Fan in the past.

The game went back and forth.

When it was nearing the eighth minute of the fourth quarter, Fan Xi suddenly said to James: "Alright, today's rehearsal ends here. Thank you, LeBron—if it weren't for you constantly changing lineups and launching different kinds of assaults, I really wouldn't have known our lineup was this resilient. Next up, let me show you what a true offensive onslaught looks like."

?

What kind of trash talk was this again?

James thought to himself.

"Right, this isn't trash talk. You can pass it on to your head coach." Fan Xi turned his head and said to James: "Actually, I warned you a long time ago, but none of you took it seriously. Now that you've gotten a taste of the sweet life, you probably can't go back, can you?"

Then let the true and false Monkey Kings reveal their real forms.

Li Kui or Li Gui—the truth shows at the critical moment.

Fan Xi returned to the bench and high-fived everyone.

At this point the Heat led 93:90 by 3 points.

However, the Knicks have possession.

…