"Crazy!"
"Oh my God! Arthur is just a bench player, and not only has he led the team to a 9-point lead, now he's facing the 'Monster Rookie' Blake Su.
And he actually stripped him one-on-one."
"This is insane. Arthur has completely caught fire tonight."
"Is Arthur really unstoppable? Is he actually going to become the 'X-Factor' tonight and help the desperate Grizzlies defy fate?"
"Arthur has gone off!"
"..."
In the stands, the fans stared wide-eyed as they talked among themselves.
But for all that was said, the actual play happened in a flash, in the blink of an eye.
On the court.
"Smack!"
Arthur stripped Blake Su straight up in a one-on-one.
"Whoosh!"
He accelerated again, scooped up the ball, and before anyone could react, everyone watched Arthur charge alone into the frontcourt for a coast-to-coast fast break.
"Hmph!"
Blake Su gave a soft snort and lowered his head, accelerating hard.
But right now, he was still at least 2 meters behind Arthur, who had already gotten the jump on him.
"Wow! Arthur strips Blake Su, and now it's one-on-zero in the frontcourt. Blake Su... the Blake Su who just got stripped is chasing with his head down, but the gap is too big.
Arthur charges into the paint, gathers the ball, takes his steps, and raises it high. This one... he's going for a one-handed tomahawk!"
Dave Pasch called at top speed.
It was not just Dave Pasch. Everyone in the arena thought that with the rim wide open and Blake Su, the closest defender, still 2 meters away, Arthur would finish the fast break with a dunk.
However... the instant Arthur stormed into the paint and rose up for a ferocious slam, Blake Su, who had been chasing relentlessly from behind, caught up.
With long, powerful strides, he pushed his speed to the absolute limit and reached Arthur just as he was about to dunk.
"Thud!"
While still a body length away, Blake Su jumped at the same time as him. His astonishing vertical leap, terrifying explosiveness, absurd wingspan, and clear height advantage all erupted at once.
From Arthur's point of view, the moment he jumped and was about to dunk, he only felt a shadow loom over his head.
Immediately after, a pair of huge hands smacked down on the basketball.
The ball that was about to be hammered into the rim was pinned violently against the backboard.
"What?!"
Arthur's mind roared.
The next instant.
"Bang!"
A massive impact from behind knocked his body off balance in midair, and he crashed hard onto the floor face-first.
"Step!"
Then Blake Su landed steadily under the basket, the basketball in his hands.
From the god's-eye view of the fans and commentators, the moment Arthur went coast to coast, reached the rim, and leaped for the one-handed dunk, Blake Su exploded upward from behind, jumping later but arriving first.
A terrifying vertical leap, explosion, and wingspan.
They allowed Blake Su to almost ride over Arthur's head from behind, using both hands to pin the ball against the backboard in a savage, brutal way.
In midair, he ripped the ball back from Arthur's hands as if snatching food from a tiger's mouth.
At the same time, the body contact from behind sent Arthur crashing to the floor. If the whole sequence were shown in one continuous shot, there would only be one way to describe it.
Absolutely vicious!
"Are you kidding me?!"
"So crazy!"
"My God, what kind of chasedown block was that? Blake Su's jump... was he trying to fly?!"
"That was brutal!"
In the stands, Suns fans clutched their heads, their eyes bulging from shock as if they might pop out at any second.
The play was so shocking that many fans could not even make a sound. They simply stood there with their mouths wide open, frozen in disbelief.
"Hiss!"
"That was ruthless!"
George shook his head again and again, fear written across his face.
Nash also tugged at the corner of his mouth and shook his head. "If you dare steal the ball from Blake Su, you have to pay a brutal price."
Curry's eyes widened even more. He covered his mouth with both hands, his exaggerated expression showing just how stunned he was.
"Oh my God!"
Inside the broadcast studio, Dave Pasch practically roared the words out. He was so fired up that, if he could, he would have jumped out of his chair and pumped his fist hard.
"He rode right over Arthur's head and pinned Arthur against the backboard. He even sent him crashing to the floor.
Insane. Blake Su is absolutely insane!
With that fierce, brutal chasedown block, Blake Su seemed to be telling Arthur that his basketball... should never have been stolen.
His basketball cannot be stolen!"
Dave Pasch said excitedly.
"Stealing the ball from Blake Su? You've got some nerve!"
Hubie Brown was just as fired up. "That kind of bloody, violent chasedown block is the painful price Arthur had to pay."
"Hahaha!"
"Exactly!"
For all that was said, it still all happened in a very short span of time.
On the court.
After Blake Su pinned Arthur's shot against the backboard and grabbed the ball, he lowered his head slightly and looked coldly at Arthur, who had fallen to the floor.
Then he slowly dribbled back up the court.
But... any fan who saw Blake Su's pitch-black eyes knew that he seemed a little angry.
"Tch!"
Arthur snorted, quickly scrambled up, and chased back.
Blake Su was not moving fast. He slowly retreated to the middle of the arc. Arthur sprinted all the way back and was already in front of him again.
Then.
"Whoosh!"
Blake Su, who had deliberately waited for Arthur to come over, stood one step beyond the three-point line. Without even making a fake drive, he rose straight into Arthur's defense and fired a sudden cold-blooded shot.
"Hah!"
Arthur shouted and jumped to contest.
But... he never imagined that the basketball would fly over his head as if guided by a tracker, then drill cleanly through the net.
"He's angry. Blake Su is angry!"
"Yeah. Arthur actually thought about stealing the ball from Blake Su. He's got some nerve. Now that he's pissed Blake Su off, this is bad."
"It's over!"
"Haha, I think... the little advantage the Grizzlies had left is going to vanish completely now that Arthur has angered Blake Su."
That was exactly what happened.
After Arthur stripped Blake Su, Blake Su's eyes burned with anger. He switched into attack mode, and in the second half of the second quarter alone, he hit four threes.
By the end of the first half, Blake Su had made five threes and scored 22 points, along with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks.
It was worth noting that all three blocks came in the second quarter, and every single one was on Darrell Arthur, who had been red-hot.
Suns (61): (60) Grizzlies.
Under Blake Su's furious offensive assault, the Suns erased the 9-point deficit in a single quarter and took a 1-point lead into halftime.
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
p-@-treon/GhostParser (40 Chapters Ahead)
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.