"Hey!"
Seeing how serious Curry looked, Blake Su laughed. "Don't talk like that—like you can just beat me whenever you want."
"Here we go!"
Curry snorted and stopped wasting words. He accelerated down the left wing, trying to shake Blake Su with speed. But Blake Su wasn't having it—he'd barely been shaken off when, the very next second,
he was already right back on him.
Realizing he couldn't get free, Curry suddenly turned his back and made a big change of direction, bursting to the right and creating a small cushion. He gathered the ball and fired a three.
Decisive.
And just a little unreasonable.
But—
"Smack!"
The instant the ball left his hand, Blake Su's long arm followed through and swatted it cleanly out of bounds.
"That got blocked too?"
Curry was stunned.
With his quick release and the bit of separation he'd created, there were very few players in the league who could block that shot—especially head-on. Yet looking at Blake Su's calm expression,
Curry knew he'd done it effortlessly.
"What a freak…"
Curry shook his head.
Warriors ball on the sideline. With 8.8 seconds left on the shot clock, Curry—still not the team's top option—didn't get the ball. Instead… it went to Ellis.
"Whoosh!"
Off a simple screen, Ellis turned into a gust of wind, charging into the lane. He flowed straight into a quick spin, beat Frye cleanly, and finished with a left-handed scoop.
"Combo guard Ellis—worthy of being the Warriors' leader. That kind of sharp offense is undeniable."
"Curry still needs more polishing."
Suns possession.
Nash brought it up, handed the ball to Blake Su at the top of the arc, set a screen, then drifted away. Blake Su ended up with the mismatch against… Stephen Curry.
"This…"
The moment they made contact, Curry felt an invisible pressure—pure dominance from the height difference.
"Stephen, you blocked me earlier. I'll return the favor,"
Blake Su said bluntly, provoking him.
"Tch!"
Curry snorted, but he couldn't bring himself to say something unrealistic like, "I'll swat you back."
"Whoosh."
Blake Su smiled faintly and blew past Curry. Against true centers, he didn't always have a strength advantage—but against Curry's slim frame, it was effortless.
One step of contact sent Curry retreating.
"Swish!"
Blake Su rose up for a mid-range jumper and knocked it down with ease.
Warriors possession.
Ellis brought the ball across half court, accelerated on the left side past Richardson, spun free—and then ran into Blake Su's help defense. He tried to fake him.
But Blake Su didn't bite.
Richardson recovered as well. With nowhere to go, Ellis kicked it to Curry in the left corner. Curry caught and immediately launched a three, Blake Su closing out hard to contest.
"Clang!"
The shot missed.
Blake Su called out, "Good shot. Too bad Ellis passed it too late. If he trusted you more and got it to you earlier—gave you a little more time to set up—
that one definitely goes in."
Curry opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he stayed silent.
Transition.
"Clang!"
Nash missed a three from the top of the arc. Frye tipped the rebound loose, and Blake Su and Curry went up together. Blake Su came down with it—and immediately matched up with Curry again.
"Whoosh!"
No fancy moves, no tricks—just shooting right over Curry, a pure talent mismatch.
"Swish!"
Another mid-range jumper dropped.
On the very next possession, Blake Su once again rose up and drilled a jumper right over Curry's head.
"Stephen, focus. Get closer. Use your speed advantage to force mistakes. Don't just stand there watching him shoot,"
Ellis snapped at Curry as they headed back.
"Yeah."
When the leader spoke, Curry had to listen.
Ellis attacked off a screen from Wright, cutting in from the right wing and driving hard to the rim. Richardson disrupted the shot, the ball bounced off the rim, and David Lee secured the rebound.
"Whoosh!"
The ball was kicked out to Curry—an open look—but Ellis had already reached out, calling for it.
Curry passed it back. Ellis drove again, ran into a double team, and was forced to kick it back out to Curry. This time, Blake Su was right in front of him.
With the shot clock nearly gone,
Curry forced up a high-arching three. It clanged off the rim.
"You passed up that great look earlier, and forcing one like this won't work. But I get it—Ellis really did have a chance just now.
It's just that your positions overlap. Otherwise, this shot would've been yours, and it would've gone in,"
Blake Su said.
Curry shrugged helplessly. He knew it too—but when the boss asks for the ball, you can't just refuse.
From that point on,
all the way until halftime,
Blake Su kept isolating Curry on offense. And whenever Curry took a shot—whether it went in or not—Blake Su made sure to praise him.
On top of that,
he kept planting the same idea in his head: you're strong, it's just that your role overlaps with Ellis, so your abilities can't fully show.
As a result…
Curry spent the night bouncing between getting blown up by Blake Su and getting hyped up by him—while also catching criticism from Ellis from time to time.
The third quarter was no different.
Ellis was excellent tonight, highly efficient. Curry, on the other hand, struggled repeatedly under Blake Su's defense. Even with Blake Su praising him, his efficiency stayed low.
Because of that,
Ellis grew even more dissatisfied. As the gap widened, he scolded Curry more and more. If not for Curry's easygoing nature and steady mindset, he would've exploded already.
"Swish!"
Another mid-range jumper went in.
By the end of the third quarter, Blake Su had piled up 34 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 blocks, helping the Suns build a 15-point lead. Even from the perimeter, he completely dominated both ends.
On the Warriors' side,
Ellis had 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists—a textbook combo-guard performance. Curry, meanwhile, shot 3-for-11, finishing with just 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Coupled with his poor defense against Blake Su,
the blame for the 15-point deficit was mercilessly dumped on his shoulders.
In the final quarter,
Blake Su continued to target Curry on offense. Then, when Curry attacked, he kept reinforcing the idea that Curry was strong—he just didn't have the right opportunities.
Ellis occasionally added a few more stabs of criticism.
Hit again and again like this, Curry grew slightly lost, starting to wonder whether he truly belonged with the Warriors.
On the court.
With 5:15 left in the fourth quarter.
"Swish!"
Blake Su pulled up off the dribble and buried the jumper under full pressure from Ellis, pushing the lead to 21 points—and crushing the Warriors' remaining confidence.
"Beep! Beep!"
Coach Smart called a timeout, effectively surrendering and waving the white flag.
"Wow~"
After the game,
Mike Breen stared at the stat sheet and exclaimed, "Blake Su drops another 40 tonight—back-to-back 40-point games. That's incredible!"
"Exactly,"
Van Gundy said excitedly. "And the key is, he's a center who scores almost all of it with outside jumpers. He's truly unique—and incredibly powerful.
Mike,
now I'm sure of it. Blake Su really isn't 'Yao Ming 2.0.' He's his own player."
As the commentators spoke animatedly, Blake Su walked up to Curry with a calm smile. "Curry, you played pretty well tonight. I just had better luck and barely pulled off the win."
Curry smiled awkwardly. "Not at all. You locked me down completely. I was terrible."
"No, no, no!"
Blake Su pressed the point immediately. "It wasn't bad—it was the opportunities. I told you already: your role overlaps with Ellis. That means you can only force shots when he can't attack.
How are you supposed to show what you're really capable of like that?"
Buzz!
Curry's mind jolted.