From South China Tiger to NBA King

Before the game against the Celtics, Irving accepted an interview with the media. He said:
"I'm used to being traded. After all, I've been traded twice. Although once was proactive and once was passive, it happened like this twice. Even so, I don't hate anyone!! "

"When I first entered this league, I would regard the team as my home, but now I don't. These teams belong to those businessmen. This is their business. How can businessmen share the same business with commodities? What about love? Businessmen only have interests in their eyes!"

When asked about his relationship with Jiang Hu, Irving said: "I have a very good relationship with Jiang. We are brothers who won championships together. There is no way to change this. Even if he proposes to trade me, I will not blame him, because He is not the decision-maker, he is also a commodity on the shelf, but he is the most expensive one. Everyone in this league wants it, but Boston does not want to sell it and will not sell it!!"

When asked if there was any special significance to playing against the Celtics, Irving said: "No, this is just an ordinary regular season!!"

"I am already a two-time champion. I am grateful to everyone on these two journeys. Now there is no pressure for me to win. Even if I retire now, no one will say that I am a failure."

"If anyone says I'm a loser, they're lying, I don't care!!"

"I'm relaxed now and I'm enjoying the game."

Irving is right, he is indeed enjoying the game now.

When he came to the Spurs this season, he played in all 11 games and led the team to 7 wins and 4 losses. The team's record was second only to the Lakers with 9 wins and 2 losses and ranked third in the Western Conference with 8 wins and 3 losses. Higher than the Houston Rockets, considered one of the title contenders.

In addition, Irving also performed very efficiently in these 10 games, averaging 28.3 points per game, a career high, 5.2 rebounds per game, a career high, and 7.5 assists per game, also a career high.

The shooting percentage was 51.5%, the three-point shooting percentage was 42.1%, and the free throw percentage was 93.2%. These three shooting percentages were also career highs.

It can be said that Irving has completely integrated into the Spurs. The combination of him and Aldridge can truly complement and help each other.

Under Popovich, he really got everything he wanted when he left Cleveland, respect, core status, open offensive space, and sufficient tactical status.

Popovich once said that his biggest regret in life was not being able to coach Kobe Bryant. Now God has given him a chance to coach a weakened version of Kobe. There is no doubt that he is doing a good job. , at least it didn't make Owen think of leaving.

For Irving now, the only regret is that San Antonio is too small and there are not many interesting things in the city. He can only focus on playing basketball and has no chance to drive a yacht and take models out to sea like Boston.

Irving is quite satisfied that this transaction happened. Although it was forced, he got what he wanted.

For Leonard, he actually never thought about leaving the Spurs at first.

The main reason why Leonard left the Spurs at that time was that he had some disputes with the management. At that time, the two parties had some differences on the treatment plan. Leonard's team's treatment plan was very conservative. They hoped to find the best plan. Leonard is slowly recovering.

Once the Spurs management had different ideas from Leonard's team, differences emerged between the two sides. The differences were not big at first, but the two sides had completely different ways of handling things, which eventually led to the two sides parting ways.

After the incident, Leonard went to find the treatment team on his own many times, which aroused the Spurs' dissatisfaction, and the differences with him became increasingly wide.

But actually from Leonard's perspective, what he did was fine.

Your team doctor is unprofessional, can't I hire someone else?Do you want to end my sports career if I insist on treating it according to your unprofessional team doctor's method?

Everyone should be very clear about what happened after that. In order to allow Leonard to recover better, the Spurs rejected his request to come back early. This incident became the trigger for the complete breakdown of the relationship between the two parties. In the end, Leonard chose to leave the Spurs. After being traded to the Celtics, the most fundamental reason for the conflict between the two waves was regarding the treatment plan for Leonard's injury.

In short, the main reason why Leonard left the Spurs was not the conflict with Popovich. Popovich's refusal to let him play was just the trigger, and the differences between the two sides on the treatment plan caused this incident. The Spurs I hope that I can have the right to control Leonard. I hope that Leonard is as obedient as Duncan, loves this Spurs as much, and devotes his life to it.

But as he grew up, Leonard didn't want to bear such heavy constraints, so he chose to break free, and then everything happened today.

Unlike Irving who talked about his feelings, Leonard was quite silent. He even directly declined the reporter's interview about this incident and refused to answer any questions about the Spurs.

His behavior was noticed by San Antonio fans and reporters. People with ulterior motives regarded this behavior as a big deal.

In fact, Leonard is a very low-key person. He refused to be interviewed because he didn't know what to say, or how to say it without hurting the Spurs' face.

He is really not a good talker, otherwise his uncle would not be the only one to speak before and after the transaction, and he would completely hide behind it.

This is why Leonard cannot lead a team. He is more like a shy child. He will be shy and silent when encountering stressful events, but he just doesn't know how to face them.

Jianghu is different. He sometimes has a loud mouth and dares to say anything to anyone. He is not afraid of offending anyone. Anyway, he does not rely on those people for his livelihood. What he relies on for his livelihood is his skills and the support of his teammates.

On November 11th, the Celtics-Spurs game will take place at the Spurs’ home court: AT&T Center
This is a very famous arena in the league. Bats and snakes have been entered, water has leaked during games, lights have gone out, and famous stars have cramped in the finals because the air conditioner was too hot.

When Jiang Hu came on the stage, he heard boos from the fans in the audience.

Obviously, the boo was not directed at him, but at Leonard, who played in front of him.

Only Leonard can make Spurs fans call him "traitor", "son of a bitch" and "white-eyed wolf".

There is no doubt that they have broken through the defense...

Behind the defense, it also shows how deep their feelings for Leonard are.

Just like the fan who James went to the Heat to burn his jersey must have been a die-hard fan of James, these people who cursed Leonard are basically fans who want Leonard to stay here and build another Spurs dynasty. .

Some of the fans even held a grudge against Jiang Hu because of Leonard. They sprayed "Oriental braids", "yellow-skinned monkeys" and "damn Chinese guys" against Jiang Hu.

This is the benefit of a free country. In China, if you scold players like this, you are likely to be warned by security, but in free America, security is only responsible for protecting your own safety and does not care about anything else.

Jiang Hu will not do such a low thing as scolding fans. He wants to win the game and score more than Irving.

In the locker room, he has already greeted his teammates. He and Leonard will occupy a lot of the ball in this game, and others must be ready to catch the ball and make jump shots.

This game is extremely popular. Some people want to see Jiang Hu and Irving score high points. Some people want to see Leonard score soaring. There are also a few fans who want to see the Spurs end the Celtics' winning streak at the beginning and don't want Jiang Hu to continue to be arrogant.

Celtics starting lineup: Jiang Hu, Danny Green, Leonard, Horford, Marc Gasol.

When Gasol was traded, he still had some ankle sprains. Now three games later, Gasol can finally play.

Stevens looked at the current starting lineup and felt comfortable no matter how he looked at it. Several of them were either superstars in their prime or former All-Stars. Even Danny Green, the worst player in the NBA, had created a new record in the Finals. Record for most three-pointers made in a series.

Spurs starting lineup: Kyrie Irving, Derrick White, Bryn Forbes, Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge.The Spurs' lineup is not bad either. In addition to this starting set, the bench also includes former All-Star center Pau Gasol, powerful three-point shooters Marc Belinelli, Patty Mills, David Bertans.

Although this lineup is unlikely to win the championship, it is definitely a lineup that can perform well in the regular season.

"Beep~" With the referee's whistle, the basketball was thrown into the sky, Aldridge won the jump ball, and the game began.

Irving dribbles to the frontcourt and protects the ball at the three-point line, observing the positions of his teammates.

This season, Irving set new season highs in points and assists. The big reason is that his style of play has really become smarter, or he has become more team-oriented.

His current playing style is more like James. He will first try to activate his teammates at the beginning of the game, and then start the offensive mode after his teammates attract a certain amount of defense.

Rudy Gay ran to catch the ball, but was caught by Jiang Hu as soon as he got the ball.

The task of guarding Irving was given to Danny Green, who was promoted to the starting lineup, while Jianghu was responsible for facing off against Spurs small forward Gay.

Facing Jiang Hu, Gay wanted to try on his own, but in the end he had no chance to take action and no space to dribble the ball to try to break through. Gay looked even stronger than Jiang Hu, but he had no advantage in the confrontation and couldn't squeeze in at all. open.

The game has just started. Jianghu will definitely defend seriously for a while, and only let go when it has a certain lead.

If a player doesn't defend well at the beginning of the game, he must be a big fool.

People don't have much confidence in facing you, but when you come up, you insist on letting them break in easily, build up self-confidence in them, and make them believe that you can defeat the strong with the weak. That's not a fool.

Gay dribbled the ball laterally to the right, barely holding the ball above Jiang Hu's head and lowering it low.

Aldridge held the ball and hit Horford with his back, then turned and shot two shots toward the baseline.

Horford was not squeezed out of position. Although Aldridge's straight-arm shot is difficult to defend, Horford's eye-sealing can still cause a lot of interference.

Aldridge's shot missed. Marc Gasol grabbed the backcourt rebound and immediately passed a long pass to Jianghu. The Celtics immediately launched a quick counterattack.

The Celtics' fast break points must be the highest in the league this season. Before Gasol came, the Celtics, under the leadership of Jiang Hu, were the team with the most fast break points in the league.

Even though Marc Gasol is tall and clumsy on his feet, he is a fast break master and can pass long passes from the backcourt.

His accuracy and speed are at the top of the league. Except for James and Jokic, few people can match him in the ability of long passes.

Although they have not played together, Jianghu is also very aware of his ability, so when he saw Gasolka in the right position, he immediately started a fast break, picked up the ball, accelerated, and brought it towards Gay.

Obviously, Popovich must have told Gay something, otherwise he would not have retreated so quickly. People speculate that what Popovich told Gay is most likely: Don’t rush for rebounds. Retreat quickly and pay attention to Jianghu's fast attack.

Guy did not dare to step forward to press, and kept retreating one step or more to defend. Jiang Hu held the ball in his left hand and changed direction to the right. Guy quickly moved sideways to keep up.

While Jiang Hu was running, his right hand dribbled the ball behind his back to his left hand, then changed direction to the left. He took a big step with his left foot and passed Gay cleanly.

With this speed of change of direction, passing Gay was like passing a wooden stake in the early morning. He took three steps into the three-point line and easily picked up the basket with his left hand and scored.

Celtics 2-0 Spurs.

The Spurs attacked, Gay ran to catch the ball and wanted to return one, but Jianghu got close to him again.Gay is a player who mainly attacks in front of the frame. He feels uncomfortable when he is close to him. When facing Jianghu, he does not think about attacking hard and continues to look for teammates to distribute the ball.

After two passes, Aldridge took the ball with his back in the middle and faced Gasol's defense and chose to hit hard.

He took a dribble and turned around, throwing a ball one step ahead of the free throw line, but missed due to interference from Gasol's jump.

Horford grabbed the rebound and passed it to Leonard to launch a counterattack. Leonard quickly advanced and passed to the frontcourt to Jiang Hu on the right.This time Gay retreated further back, Jianghu took the ball and took a step to shoot a three-pointer from one meter outside the 70-degree three-point line.

Celtics 5-0 Spurs
CCTV5 broadcast the game live. Zhang Weiping shouted: "Jiang Hu feels very good today. I don't know if he will score high points again. I feel that he has not scored more than 40 points in many games."

Yu Jia said: "I can't tell, it's the Spurs after all. Maybe Jianghu is here to attract defense, and Leonard will use his strength later. After all, this is his grudge game."

Zhang Weiping chuckled: "What if Popovich thinks so too? Aren't there many opportunities in the world?"

The camera was very sensible at this time and turned to Popovich, as if he wanted to see the expression on Mr. Pop's face, but the fans were disappointed. Popovich looked calm and was still chatting with the female assistant coach Hammon next to him. Discussing tactics passionately.

Different from the commentary's focus, Jianghu's focus is on Irving.

He felt that today's Irving was too un-Irving. In the first two rounds, he did not choose to fight by himself, but asked Aldridge to take action, which surprised Jianghu.

Don't you want to be the boss?
As the boss, you let the second guy fight first. Is this still you, Kyrie Irving?

As soon as Jiang Hu had this idea, Irving started to play singles with the ball, shaking continuously, and the ball seemed to be stuck to his hand and would not fall off.

He made a fake move to the left to break through, and then quickly changed direction to the right, almost using only one fake move to pass Danny Green.

Continuing to accelerate, Irving made another dribble change from behind when he reached the mid-range, passing Horford who was defending.

With only Marc Gasol left in front of him, Irving showed no fear and stood up to confront him, and finally scored the ball in the air with his signature jelly layup.

After scoring the goal, Irving made a gliding gesture, which caused waves of cheers at the Spurs home court.

Seeing Owen's dashing appearance, Jiang Hu couldn't help but smile.

Sure enough, this is you, the you I know well.

(End of this chapter)