Chapter 506: The Championship Title is Just a Hollow Name

"Beep!!!"

The referee's whistle sounded before Wade Dong landed.

"And-one!!!"

It seemed like Wade Dong was in a particularly good mood tonight. Stoudemire's foul was somewhat intentional, but Wade Dong didn't get angry.

"Swish!!!"

With a 96% free throw percentage, a foul against Wade Dong was as good as giving points to the Suns.

51:43!!!

"Play a half-court game and don't follow the Suns' rhythm!"

Fisher shouted from the sidelines, reminding his teammates.

Wade Dong had entered the game one minute into the second quarter, and there were still 2 minutes and 19 seconds left until the end of the first half.

Wade Dong had already scored 22 consecutive points.

Hardaway brought the ball to the frontcourt and passed it to Wiggins, and all the players spread out. Wiggins was going one-on-one against Wade Dong!

"Oh yeah!"

The fans in the arena all stood up!

This scene felt so familiar... In the past, the fearless rookie Iverson had scored against Jordan, and Jordan was the Wade Dong of that era. Could Wiggins replicate Iverson?

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The basketball bounced off the ground and back up, but Wade Dong's defense didn't move with Wiggins' dribble rhythm.

"Swoosh~"

Wiggins seized the opportunity and accelerated to break through from Wade Dong's left side. Wade Dong quickly shifted to the left, but Wiggins suddenly stopped and dribbled behind his back!

Wiggins created some space for his shot, and he took a jump shot!

The series of moves were executed smoothly, and some fans couldn't help but cheer for Wiggins.

Too bad!

As the basketball flew over Wade Dong's head, Wade Dong's fingertips touched the ball, altering its trajectory.

"Go get the rebound, Little Handsome!"

Wade Dong shouted and then sprinted towards the frontcourt.

Durant grabbed the rebound and swung his long arm, sending the ball flying across the court towards the Knicks' basket.

"Huh???"

Wade Dong had already reached the frontcourt, initially planning to go for an alley-oop, but he paused after seeing the ball's trajectory.

"Swish!!!"

Durant swished the ball into the basket.

"Wow!!!"

Durant had directly swished the ball in.

The Suns' bench erupted, with Varick jumping up and waving his towel vigorously. This shot was more of a credit to Wade Dong, as Durant had intended to pass the ball to Wade Dong, who was fully capable of catching it. However, when Wade Dong noticed that the ball might go in, he stopped.

Durant excitedly hugged Curry and spun him around, "Wasn't that a cool shot?"

"So cool!"

Curry replied with a frown, "But can you put me down first?"

A two-point play turned into three!

54:43!!!

The Suns were now leading by 11 points.

The gap continued to widen...

At the end of the first half, the Suns successfully extended their lead to 15 points.

...

In the away team's locker room.

Wade Dong took out a box of tea leaves from his backpack and handed it to Gentry, "You asked me to bring this tea, just give me ten thousand."

"I don't have any money..."

Gentry took the tea leaves and started acting spoiled.

Wade Dong sighed, "You can buy tea leaves in New York, why did you ask me to bring them from Huaxia?"

"I'm very picky."

Gentry replied arrogantly, "The tea leaves sold in New York don't taste good and aren't authentic. I only drink tea from Huaxia."

"Let's not talk about this."

Wade Dong took the tactical board, "I can sense that Fisher is trying to imitate the Zen Master's triangle offense, but it's a poor imitation, and the Knicks' team coordination has many flaws.

In the second half, when we're on defense, let's use the simplest 3-2 zone defense. Durant will be the defensive core, disrupting Anthony and Stoudemire's mid-range shots from the three-second zone, which will mess up Fisher's offensive system."

"This guy's coaching ability is quite average. I estimate that after one or two seasons, he won't dare to coach in the NBA anymore."

It was clear that Wade Dong didn't approve of Fisher.

"It's easy to expand the lead to 20 points within six minutes, then I can take a nap, I'm so tired..."

Wade Dong yawned.

...

The second half began.

Anthony shook off Thompson and made a mid-range catch and shoot, but Durant disrupted the shot with his help defense.

"Clap!"

Wade Dong grabbed the defensive rebound and scored on a fast break, 5-on-1.

66:49!!!

Wiggins faced Wade Dong's defense beyond the three-point line, making scoring extremely difficult.

Hardaway and Stoudemire executed a pick-and-roll, and after the screen, Hardaway passed to Stoudemire, but Durant had already stepped out from the paint, disrupting Stoudemire's shot once again.

Wade Dong grabbed another rebound.

"Swish!!!"

Wade Dong dribbled to the frontcourt and sank a step-back three-pointer.

69:49!!!

One minute into the second half, the Suns had extended their lead to 20 points.

"Sigh... The gap in strength is too big."

Fisher sighed, "The responsibility for the loss can't be solely placed on the head coach."

After the lead reached 20 points, Carter substituted for Wade Dong, who walked towards the player tunnel after leaving the court.

"Dad, where are you going?"

Confused home fans shouted at Wade Dong's back.

"Dad's tired..."

Wade Dong waved his hand and disappeared into the player tunnel.

For a long time after, this game was still a topic of conversation. Wade Dong appeared one minute and 17 seconds into the second quarter and disappeared one minute and 17 seconds into the third quarter.

He played exactly 12 minutes, shooting 13-for-13, scoring 32 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing out 1 assist, recording 3 steals, and blocking 5 shots. Wade Dong single-handedly dominated the Knicks on both ends of the court.

With one and a half quarters remaining, the Knicks' fighting spirit had been crushed.

Curry, Durant, Thompson, and Green easily reaped the rewards of the game.

"Beep!!!"

As the referee blew the whistle, the game came to an end.

Final score: 117:92!!!

The Suns dominated the Knicks on the road with a 25-point victory.

Game stats:

Wade Dong: 32 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 5 blocks

Durant: 27 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks

Curry: 31 points, 4 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals, 0 blocks

Wiggins: 43 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block

The Knicks scored a total of 92 points, with Wiggins alone contributing 43 points, a career-high for him. Of course, Wiggins was still a first-year rookie who had only played twenty games in his career.

Wiggins, with a long career ahead of him, stared at Gentry's thermos cup after the game, deep in thought.

Where did he come from, and where was he going?

What was he fighting for in this league? The championship title... all just hollow names.