Chapter 1 The Beginning

The Pelicans and Knicks game was on Saturday, and two days after the game, the league announced the Players of the Week for the Eastern and Western Conferences.

In the East, Kyrie Irving won with an average of 29 points, 1.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 2.3 steals, beating out LeBron James and Paul George.

In the West, Tang Tian averaged 40.3 points, 1.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.8 steals, and 2.1 blocks, winning without any surprise.

It is worth mentioning that this is the second time in both of their careers that they have been named Player of the Week.

"I heard that Irving and Tang Tian have been training together all summer. It seems they attended a Player of the Week crash course!"

"I've heard of that training camp, it's been going on for several years. Klay Thompson, Kemba Walker, and Jimmy Butler are also in it. Oh, and Jeremy Lamb and Drummond went there recently."

"This lineup is so strong, and these people have improved a lot more this season than last season. That training camp is really effective."

"Of course, Tang's trainer is Prockopio, the top trainer in the NBA, and I heard that their training intensity is very high."

"Sure enough, there is no such thing as a free lunch. This seems to explain why Tang exploded. All the incredible things are the result of silent dedication behind the scenes!"

……

Fans were buzzing about Tang Tian, ​​but Durant posted a personal tweet at this time.

"Some people suddenly perform well and get everyone's attention, while others perform consistently but are often overlooked."

It seemed like a casual note, even a bit literary.

But if you think about it carefully, it has a strong sense of arrogance.

Translated into plain language, it means: Don't always pay attention to Tang Tian, ​​that guy whose score suddenly soared, give me some attention too!

It was expected that he would have such a voice.

This season, he maintained his previous score, averaging 27.9 points, plus 7 rebounds and 6.1 assists!

Assists are a career high!

Last summer, he developed dribbling during the Olympics, and this season he directly developed passing.

He is developing into an all-around forward like LeBron James, and he is approaching his peak!

If it weren't for Tang Tian's explosive performance with the Pelicans, he would have been the most talked about player by fans and the media this season.

"You're the second-best small forward in the league, don't compete with a rookie like Tang for attention."

"Yeah, you've already won so many scoring titles, it's time to give way. Isn't it said that new talents come forth from generation to generation!"

"You should learn from LeBron in this regard. Look at LeBron, he's been defeated by Tang twice in a row, has he ever tweeted about it?"

"Isn't it because he doesn't want to lose traffic?"

……

Durant's tweet didn't lead the trend like before, but instead attracted a burst of complaints from fans.

And these complaints were not without reason.

Tang Tian's progress deserved more praise, so why did Durant have to be jealous about such a thing?

Durant saw the comments here and was so angry that he logged into several alt accounts and started arguing with fans.

Unable to win the argument, he angrily smashed an iPhone 5s in front of his teammates.

Seeing Durant's phone replacement frequency, Westbrook was wondering if he should advise him to endorse Apple phones.

After all, if he endorsed them, he would get a lot of free phones, which would make it easier to smash them.

At this time, it was less than ten days before Christmas.

After a crazy week, Tang Tian was heavily targeted by his opponents, and his performance declined, with his streak of 30+ games stopping at 7 games.

However, the Pelicans' record during this period was very stable.

They gained a lot of experience playing against teams like the Warriors, Spurs, Nets, and Knicks until the very end.

The growth of a young team depends on this kind of game.

Although their growth rate is not particularly large now, the progress is visible to the naked eye.

Before Christmas, they went one step further and achieved a 4-game winning streak, reaching sixth place in the West.

The team that was third from last in the West last season suddenly came to sixth. Although the season has only been played for less than 2 months, and there are still many variables, it is enough to prove their progress and efforts.

Christmas is approaching, and besides preparing to celebrate with Olsen, Tang Tian is also preparing for another thing this year.

Giving gifts to teammates.

Giving gifts at Christmas is common in the NBA. Tang Tian also exchanged gifts with the Spurs players back then.

But this time, he was not giving ordinary gifts.

Davis' voice in front of the media before, although officially confirmed that he is the boss of the Pelicans, but Davis does not actually have much say in the Pelicans, and what he says does not really count.

You should know that the status on the court does not represent the locker room.

Like James Jones, who rarely gets a chance to play for the Heat, he is a unique locker room leader with a lot of say.

So what Tang Tian has to do now is to gain the right to speak in the locker room.

His method is to give gifts, to spend money.

The Pelicans did not participate in the Christmas game. After the last training session before Christmas.

While his teammates were in the locker room, he took out a bag and handed out birthday gifts to his teammates.

A Ferrari 458 car model.

The car model was very delicate, and the teammates liked it after receiving it.

But, that seemed to be it.

They are not Duncan, not everyone has so much love for cars.

And a car model doesn't actually cost much.

"Pa!"

However, at this moment, Metta World Peace, who was restless, broke the car model open.

All the other players stared at Metta World Peace in a daze.

He just gave you a gift, and you just broke it in front of him like that, isn't that inappropriate?

But under everyone's gaze, Artest took something out of the car model.

A car key.

A key to a Ferrari 458!

He pressed it, and it worked. It wasn't a model, it was a real key!

The other players seemed to realize something belatedly, and they all touched the car models, and soon found that the car model had a button.

"Pa! Pa! Pa!"

After a series of sounds, everyone except Davis had a key in their hand.

They all unconsciously looked at Tang Tian.

"The parking lot of the football stadium next door."

Tang Tian said a location, and the others, after hearing it, shouted and rushed out of the locker room.

After the others left, Davis was still holding the key that he had just taken out of the car model, looking at Tang Tian a little blankly.

"Why are they so excited?"

"……"

Tang Tian glanced at Davis.

Bro! You really don't understand?!

But that's right, not everyone is like Davis, who could search all the training halls in New York to find him.

"I gave you Christmas gifts, a Ferrari 458 for each of you. This is the key. The underground garage can't fit them, so I parked them in the parking lot of the football field next door."

Tang Tian explained in the most straightforward language.