With six minutes and thirty-four seconds left in the second quarter, the score stood at 38 to 33.
The Wizards, playing at ho, were trailing by five points.
Eddie Jordan didn’t know if other Washingtonians had noticed the gap between "Special Agent 0" and "Special Agent 99," but he certainly had.
"Special Agent 99" ca across as arrogant, always provoking opponents, but he was clear-headed on the court.
When matched against players like Arenas, whom he physically overpowered, he’d take the initiative, unabashedly using his physical advantage to seek scoring chances in confrontations, even though his passing ability wasn’t strong. But with three out of six shots made, he had a 50% shooting rate!
And when facing top periter defenders like Larry Hughes, he’d decisively call for a pick and roll, pairing up with the younger O’Neal.
This duo, dubbed "Indiana’s New Twin Scourges" by Bill Walton, had impressed him so far with their threat in pick and roll situations. O’Neal’s positioning pulled defenders away, creating more space for Su Wan’s breakthroughs and compensated for his limited field of view in passing; in return, O’Neal benefited from Su Wan’s presence with more opportunities for mid-range open shots and could move up to the high post to showcase his scoring skills. Jeffries was left helpless, nothing more than a background board for O’Neal’s display. Haywood’s slow movent simply couldn’t keep up with O’Neal’s.
In contrast, Arenas...
His emotional shooting, poor choices, and the way he played as if teammates didn’t exist were all evident. Everyone could see he had better breakthrough ability, shooting ability, and organizational skills than Su Wan, but his performance wasn’t even a fifth as good.
His shooting rate alone, four out of eleven, said it all.
But that wasn’t the only indicator.
The worse Arenas played, the more excited Rick Carlisle beca. He hadn’t anticipated that Su Wan would have such a clear advantage over Arenas in their matchup. Of course, he realized that largely, it was because Arenas had lost his cool.
If he cald down...
Well, it didn’t matter. The pick and roll strategy between Su Wan and the younger O’Neal was enough to keep the Pacers in control.
He had that confidence.
After Arenas’ next rash move led to the team squandering yet another offensive round, Eddie Jordan called for another tiout.
"Special Agents should make judgnts calmly, buddy!" Even Larry Hughes complained this ti.
Arenas didn’t say a word, just glancing over, his expression conveying what he wanted to say:
"You think you can tell what to do?"
Unexpectedly, even the usually quiet Jia Misen said, "Let’s show them our familiar Special Agent 0, Gilbert. We all want you to play well, not get overpowered by that rookie. We know your skills, and that’s why we’re surprised by your performance!"
As it turned out, Arenas was like a mule that needed to be stroked the right way for him to take any advice seriously.
Arenas’s nature wasn’t bad. Later on, he claid to feel knee discomfort before a ga to give Nick Young more playing ti in the preseason, then admitted after the preseason, "It was intentional, I just wanted to let Nick Young play."
Without getting into whether such behavior should be encouraged among professional players, it at least proved he wasn’t malicious and was soone you could get along with normally.
Well, that’s probably why Nick Young always tried to imitate his classic moves.
"Ignore whatever that rookie said to you; treat his words like farts!" Just before the ga restarted, Jia Misen murmured a few words to Arenas. He wasn’t usually talkative but did so because Eddie Jordan knew Arenas would listen to him, urging him to offer more advice.
Arenas smiled: "You’re right, I’ll treat that guy’s words like farts."
He felt he had the confidence to face any trash talk from Su Wan.
But then...
"Do you know? I just heard sothing interesting from the reporters. There’s a team leader, so unsettled by a rookie that he requires his teammates to coax him to play. How did such a giant baby ever make it into the NBA?"
"WTF..."
Just standing in front of Su Wan, listening to him speak for ten seconds, Arenas’s carefully adjusted mood almost fell apart.
Thankfully, he rembered Jia Misen’s words and kept telling himself:
Treat it like a fart, treat it like a fart, treat it like a fart!
In the following ti, Arenas proved why the Wizards’ coach and players always hoped he’d return to his normal self because Arenas, combining shooting and passing with penetration, was the "offensive engine" of the Wizards.
All opponents facing the Wizards hoped Arenas would lose his composure, because like Kobe, on nights Arenas scored high, they often didn’t win gas, and his efficiency was even lower than Kobe’s;
But when he was composed, his ability to motivate teammates was sowhat more terrifying than Kobe’s.
This refers to Kobe without Paul Gasol.
Kobe’s passing posed no threat, but Arenas’s passing truly could lead the team to victory.
Like in the second half of this quarter, the Wizards quickly erased the deficit.
Apart from Arenas performing up to par, Jia Misen also had an explosive night, scoring four out of five from the three-point line, efficiency well above his usual.
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