From South China Tiger to NBA King

At the end of the game, the Celtics finally defeated the Philadelphia 132ers 111-76 on the road.

At the press conference, Jiang Hu was the focus of all the media's attention because he put in another brilliant performance and led the team to victory.

As soon as Jiang Hu sat down, a reporter asked a question.

"In today's game, you scored another 30 points and 15 assists. This is the third time this season that you have scored 30 points and 15 assists. This is a statistic that has only been achieved twice by the rest of the league. Times, how did you do it?"

Jiang Hu said: "The only way you can get assists is when your teammates hit shots. So, everyone is hitting shots, and when everyone is passing the ball, we are trying to make the pass timely and accurate, and then avoid turnovers." That’s the key to it.”

As soon as the reporter who asked the question sat down, another reporter asked:

"Currently, the Celtics have won 23 consecutive games, surpassing the Rockets in the 07-08 season and ranking third in history. What do you think about this matter?"

Jiang Hu smiled and said:

"To be honest, I don't have any ideas about winning streaks or anything like that. It's definitely a good thing to be able to accomplish this achievement, but it's not a big deal if it's not accomplished. I won't regard this as something that must be accomplished."

"The reason why I like basketball games is because this is my job. I earn tens of millions of dollars every year playing basketball, so I know very well that June is equivalent to the college entrance examination for me, and the results obtained at that time mean a lot to me. Holding everything.”

"But the happiest thing for me is making money. I am very interested in money. If I play basketball well, I can make a lot of money, and then I will be more motivated when playing."

“Therefore, in order to earn more money, I must perform better and continue winning until the end of the season!!”

What Jiang Hu said is actually the truth. He plays for money to a large extent. Compared with those illusory honors and historical status, the annual salary of tens of millions of dollars is what excites him the most.

If it wasn't for money, who would want to play ball with these stinking, sweaty barbarians?

If possible, Jianghu would like to find two young ladies to play ball together. It is relaxing and fun. When you are bored, you can also play interesting games. How great...

Jiang Hu's words shocked all reporters present.

They can guarantee that this is the most honest interview they have ever heard. Many players in the NBA have such thoughts, but they will never say it out loud.

And all of this was actually said by a Chinese person who is known for being reserved and reserved, which is really unbelievable.

When Jiang Hu says this, he is setting up his character. He tends to build himself up as a player who "dare to tell the truth", so that when he lies, others will think that is what he is thinking.

It's true that he plays for money, but not entirely for money. He also enjoys the attention and spotlight brought by basketball games.

The most important reason why he said this is that as the winning streak gradually continues, although Jianghu himself doesn't feel much, other teammates will inevitably feel a lot of pressure.

If other players are paying attention to how many games the team has won in a row all day long, they will inevitably want to win and be afraid of losing during the game, and they will not be able to let go when playing.

After what Jiang Hu said, the focus of the media focused on him. Even if he loses the game, Jiang Hu is the easiest target to be criticized, because Jiang Hu himself said that what he loves most is money, and winning the game is incidental.

The scene was quiet for a moment, and a reporter asked: "If one day you earn enough money, will you choose to retire?"

Jiang Hu smiled and said:

"Of course, if I earned $50 billion, I would stop playing, because basketball would have lost its meaning to me at that time. I would probably buy a team and sit on the sidelines and watch others play."

The reporters breathed a sigh of relief. They were still afraid that Jiang Hu, the "topic maker", would quit after working for a few years and make enough money. In that case, it would be a pity.

You must know that Jiang Hu always likes to say some arrogant things, and his news views are very high.

But if it is 50 billion US dollars, Jianghu should have to fight for at least ten or twenty years...

But what these reporters don’t know is that as CATL’s stock price begins to rise slowly, Jianghu’s current net worth is close to US$8 million. US$50 billion is not an unattainable dream, but will become a reality in the near future. Reality.

After talking about himself, the reporter asked Jianghu to evaluate the opponent's number one star Embiid. This is also the routine process in every game.

Jianghu said: "Joel has great talent, excellent physical talent, and very good skills. What he has to do is to ensure his health, make himself stronger at the same time, and make greater contributions to his team on the defensive end. With his contribution, he has a great chance to become a top star in this league in the future, or even an MVP."

Jianghu obviously entered the league three years after Embiid in the draft, and he is four years younger than Embiid, but he commented on Embiid like someone who has experienced it. Everyone didn't find it strange, but thought Jianghu was talking about it. Makes sense.

This is a winner-takes-all league. Jiang Hu has won honor and respect for himself at the beginning of his career, but Embiid has not yet, so even though Jiang Hu is a junior, he can give guidance to Embiid with the tone of a senior.

Because he does have this qualification, which is the most important thing.

The world thinks highly of Embiid. Facts have proved that Embiid will indeed be an outstanding star in the future. The 76ers' several years of poor performance have not been in vain.

Of course, if he can bring his regular season skills to the playoffs, he may be a very powerful opponent.

The reporter asked again: "How do you evaluate Simmons?"

"He is also very promising and has good athletic ability. But his shooting lacks stability and he needs to practice shooting."

"If he can practice shooting, he will be the second me. The combination of him and Embiid can dominate the league."

There is nothing wrong with what Jiang Hu said. If Simmons can practice shooting at his level, it will definitely be a very scary thing. Simmons with excellent shooting ability and Embiid who is completely intact are not comparable to each other. Well, at least it can make the current alliance tremble.

Of course, this kind of thing will only happen in a world where reality does not exist at all.

At the 76ers press conference, Embiid also gave Jianghu high praise:

"Jiang is a tall and fast player."

"Whether you are watching Jiang Hu on TV or actually competing with him on the court, you can clearly feel his excellence."

"When you play against a player like that, you have to find other ways to deal with him besides pure physical confrontation."

"We have to use our team strength to guard him and force him to play the way we want him to play."

"As an opponent, you can't think too much and you can't be complacent because they lack Kawhi. You have to focus on dealing with the Celtics in front of you and try to win the game."

“We didn’t do a good job today and we’ll do better next time.”

When talking about this game, Embiid said: "We can't be frustrated because the Celtics hit those shots that were double-teamed and then let go. All I have to do is play the game the right way, and any results will come after that." I can accept that."

"You have to trust the right play and continue to challenge the other team's shots."

Butler also commented on Jianghu, saying:

"They are a strong team, they are a super strong team, and even though they are missing their second most important player, Jiang still leads them very well."

"We knew before the game that they would have a small climax. They used Jiang or Alexander to advance with the ball very well. They were trying to attack us and caught us off guard. We should defend the round in time and hit the shot in time. This It’s very important for our team.”

"We gave Jiang too many opportunities to score easily, and we made him play too comfortably."

"The lax defense allowed Jiang to find his shooting touch. We must praise his performance."

"We couldn't stop him today. He's a really good player. He always hits easy shots and makes shots that aren't chances."

"If our defense at the beginning of the second half was not so ineffective, today's result might have been different."

After the game against the 76ers, the Celtics came to Portland.

In the game against the Portland Trail Blazers on December 12, the Celtics played their first overtime game of the season.

It's not because the Blazers players performed well, but because the Celtics' own offense had problems. In this game, the two sides went through an overtime game, and the final score was only 103 to 98. In today's league, which often scores 120 points, the game will only break 53 points in minutes. You can imagine how poor the shooting efficiency is.

The Trail Blazers' forward group is not very strong, and the combination of Aminu and Harkless is unstoppable at first glance.

But the Trail Blazers chose to double-team in this game, and it was center Nurkic and small forward Aminu who double-teamed.

This strategy has never been tried by other teams, and it seems unreliable at first glance, because Jianghu's speed allows him to easily pass forward players, let alone centers.

But here comes an interesting point for the Trail Blazers. They started double-teaming once they passed the midline. They didn't give Jianghu any chance to speed up. On the contrary, the double-teaming had a certain effect.

Logically speaking, Jianghu can change this defensive method as long as he passes the ball out, and then Nurkic's opposing center hits a mid-range shot, or faces other people's misplaced goals consecutively.

However, Gasol and Horford's shots in this game happened to be dropped together. Both of them got a lot of open opportunities. As a result, Gasol made 4 of 0 shots from outside and Horford only made 5 of 1 shots. They did not play their usual performance at all. s level.

Fortunately, the Celtics' defensive fundamentals are here. Although their defensive ability is usually not outstanding, they can still perform at a good level when they feel bad.

In order to stimulate the defensive enthusiasm of his teammates, Jianghu has been facing Lillard even since the middle of the first quarter, using his mobility and size to interfere with Lillard.

Most of Lillard's offenses were ball-handling offenses, followed by a large number of pick-and-rolls. Jianghu's defense happened to be the type of crazy biting type, which forced Lillard into a very embarrassing situation.

Lillard, who never likes to cause trouble on the court, almost received two technical fouls in this game and was almost ejected by the referee on the spot.

At the critical moment in the final quarter, the two leading stars were not online, and the decision-making power of the game fell into the hands of others.

Alexander once again became the outstanding player. Jiang Hu made a key shot in the last quarter to drag the game into overtime. In overtime, Alexander hit 3 consecutive mid-range shots and took away the game.

他这场的表现甚至比麦科勒姆还要出色的多，全场20投9中拿到21分5篮板5助攻4抢断的同时，全场零失误。

He dared to take action in big situations and was not afraid to take key shots, which left a very deep impression on people.

凯尔特人最终在江湖19投7中，三分球7投1中，罚球5中5，只拿到19分10篮板13助攻的情况下，以103比98赢下了比赛，将连胜延续到了24场。

Many media lamented the Celtics' good luck in this game. When the situation was not good, others stepped up to help him.

Although they won the game, the Celtics players were not happy because in the third quarter of the game, Danny Green accidentally stepped on the foot of Trail Blazers guard Seth Curry while shooting. Sprained ankle.

Danny Green's importance to the Celtics is not low. He is almost the highest 3D player on the team and has very low replaceability. His absence is likely to cause Jianghu to encounter even more frenzied double-teams.

Many people predict that the Celtics will definitely end their winning streak after encountering this wave of consecutive away games. No one can win consecutive away games in 7-8 consecutive games. This is even more incredible than 20 consecutive home wins.

Although Jianghu has tried his best to focus the media's attention on himself, the Celtics players are still very nervous, and everyone does not want to lose the game.

On December 12, the Celtics finally received good news.

Kawhi Leonard, who sprained his ankle in the game against the Thunder on November 11, was cleared by the team doctor to play after two weeks of rest.

The Celtics players are ecstatic, and even Jianghu is very happy. If Danny Green and Leonard, the two defensive heroes, are absent, there is no guarantee that he will win every game.

After all, he is just a stronger person, not a real god. He cannot be one against five in every game. Alexander is only a rookie. It is a surprise that he can play well. It is normal for him to perform poorly on some days.

Jianghu is not shameless enough to blame rookies and role players for losing games.

However, Leonard seemed to be stuck in his comeback. When facing the Nets on December 12, he made 8 of 8 shots in the opening game.

His poor touch also made the Celtics play very difficult for a time. They trailed by 52 points 67-15 throughout the first half.

Fortunately, the Celtics' defensive fundamentals are still there. The robot's offensive program is chaotic, but the defensive program is fundamental and there is no mistake at all.

Naturally, Jianghu did not dare to let go anymore, but adopted his desperate attitude and defended with all his strength.

In the second half, with the joint efforts of Leonard, Gasol, and Jiang Hu, the Celtics launched a 7-25 spurt in 3 minutes, bringing the score back to 77-70. .

By the end of the third quarter, the Celtics had widened the point difference to 13 points. If nothing else goes wrong, this game will be another easy victory.

However, it is impossible without accidents. Nothing in this world can be smooth sailing or calm.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Jiang Hu and Alexander, who had played the whole quarter, were resting off the court. Leonard was on the court with Morris Jr., Gasol, Jaylen Brown and rookie Ojeleye.

Nets star D'Angelo Russell broke out at this point. He first scored a 3+1 goal while being beaten by Jaylen Brown, and then got out of control.

His shooting accuracy was frightening, and he could hit people with the ball in his jump shot. In 4 minutes, he made 7 of 7 shots and 5 of 5 three-pointers. Including free throws, he scored 20 points by himself.

Players who can shoot will always have convulsions. Although they are always ridiculed as "watery" and "watery", every NBA player is the Jordan in his own story, and Russell also ushered in his own superhero moment. .

The fans at the Barclays Center, the home court of the Nets, went completely crazy. The whole audience stood up to watch the game and shouted "MVP" to Russell heartbreakingly! ! !

They hope to see the home team end the Celtics' winning streak, which would be pretty sweet if that happens.

Until the last 3 minutes of the game, the Nets still led the Celtics 115 to 109.

If the game ends at this moment, it must be a sweet story for Russell, a story that can be used to brag about throughout his career, and even when he is old, he can brag to his grandchildren.

But unfortunately, Jianghu is not interested in becoming a background for others.

He first used a European step to break through and cause a foul. While causing the foul, he also scored the ball, rewriting the score to 112 to 115.

In the next round, he took the initiative to guard Russell and intercepted Russell directly face to face.

When he came to the frontcourt, he did not choose to dunk directly, but chose to pursue a three-pointer from the outside.

This is a very bold choice of action. People without strength and invincible mentality will never choose such a way of action at this time.

But Jiang Hu did just that, because this was the moment he was most looking forward to.

At the critical moment, Fang showed his true colors as a hero.

Under the gaze of 20,000 people in the audience, the ball penetrated the net instantly like a flaming arrow.

This goal made the Nets' home court, which was so lively just now, become extremely quiet, and you could hear the needle drop.

In the entire venue, almost the only thing that could be heard was the wanton roar of one person in Jianghu! !

After the goal was scored, the anger that the Nets were holding seemed to be released all of a sudden.

The Celtic generals swarmed forward like a pack of excited wild wolves, howling and baring their teeth as they pounced on the young prey.

Leonard hit a mid-range shot, Alexander fouled and made two free throws, and Jaylen Brown hit a three-pointer against the defense. The three of them teamed up to blast a 7-0 wave, completely putting the Nets into a coffin.

In the end, the Celtics narrowly defeated the Nets 122-115, extending their winning streak to 25 games.

(End of this chapter)