And with that momentum, they beat the Hawks again in a back-to-back game, improving their road trip record to 3 wins and 1 loss.

Tang Tian scored another 31 points in this game, his third consecutive game with 30+ points!

After a period of scoring decline, that scoring machine from the beginning of the season is back!

The last opponent of the five-game road trip was the Boston Celtics.

The Celtics' Big Three disbanded in the summer, and the core lineup consisted of Rondo leading a group of young players.

The Pelicans should have won this game, but due to the fatigue from the previous back-to-back and the inconsistency of the young players, they narrowly lost.

However, Tang Tian's performance remained stable, scoring a team-high 32 points, 3 assists, and 2 blocks on 13-of-25 shooting.

The five-game road trip ended with a 3-2 record, which was completely acceptable for the team, and they continued to consolidate their eighth place in the West.

After finishing the five-game road trip in the East, their next opponent was the Spurs on the road, but they had three days of rest in between.

Williams gave the players a day off.

Taking advantage of this day off, Tang Tian took Olsen out for a whole day.

In addition to spending time together, it was also very important that, returning to San Antonio, he wanted to prepare some gifts for his former teammates.

When it was his birthday, everyone on the team gave him gifts, and he had to put his heart into preparing something different for everyone.

Time passed quickly. Two days later, the day before the game against the Spurs, the Pelicans boarded a plane to San Antonio.

The players were chatting and laughing on the plane.

Although Gordon became a substitute, his playing time did not decrease, and his statistics and efficiency both increased.

He now admired Williams quite a bit, and also recognized Tang Tian's status in the team.

Anderson, needless to say, was always a nice guy, and he would obey whatever the coaching staff asked him to do, and he was doing well off the bench.

Davis was also chatting and laughing with Artest at this time.

Although his number of shots compared to last season did not increase much, Tang Tian was taking more pull-up jumpers, so he was getting more rebounds.

His average data on the court was close to 15+15+3, and he was in a beautiful mood.

And under the guidance of Artest, his playing style was much tougher than last season.

Tang Tian was sitting in the back of the plane, occasionally chatting with Holiday, but spending more time looking out the window and thinking.

Right now, he has everything from shooting to passing, and he's already considered relatively comprehensive except for needing to improve his dribbling.

But his shooting percentage is actually not that high.

After playing so many games, he also understands why the shooting percentages of the four major shooting guards are not high.

In addition to the defensive pressure they suffer, another very important issue is physical fitness.

Every time you score, you consume a lot of energy. Playing intensely, a game can really be a torment.

So often, those superstars will coast through the first three quarters if they can, and then burst out in the fourth quarter;

If they can't coast, they will choose scoring methods that consume less energy in the first three quarters.

Tang Tian had the Masked Man ability, and he was almost fully energized when he played for the Spurs, but playing as the core in the Pelicans still couldn't handle it.

After thinking about it, he basically made a decision.

He would choose relatively less energy-consuming pull-up jumpers to finish in the first three quarters, and then break through more with explosive power in the fourth quarter.

This would be the most reasonable way to distribute his energy, and his scoring efficiency would be higher.

"Tang, is this the first time in your career that you're facing your old team?"

At this time, Morrow, who was sitting to Tang Tian's left, asked.

Tang Tian turned his head and nodded.

He had coached against his old team many times before, but this was indeed the first time as a player.

"You have to be mentally prepared, no matter what you've done there before, they might boo you."

Morrow continued, he has experienced five teams in his 9-year career, so he has experienced this kind of thing a lot.

Tang Tian smiled.

Morrow was giving him a heads up.

But he was also quite curious, after winning two championships for the Spurs, what kind of reaction the fans would have to welcome him back for the first time.

The plane landed at San Antonio International Airport, everything was so familiar.

It was as if he still lived here.

On the day of the game, both teams scheduled their routine training in the morning.

After the training, Tang Tian asked rookie Jeff Withey to help him carry his things, and then went to visit the home team's locker room.

After the game, no matter who wins or loses, they will feel a little uncomfortable, so giving gifts before the game is the most appropriate.

The security guard at the door smiled and greeted him when he saw him, as if he were still a member of the Spurs.

The door to the locker room was closed, but you could hear Ginobili chatting inside through the door.

He reached out and knocked on the door.

"The coach is here!"

It was Ginobili's familiar reminder.

The door was opened, and a sparse head came into view.

"Manu."

Tang Tian said with a smile.

Ginobili laughed loudly when he saw it was Tang Tian and immediately pulled him in.

"Look who's here!"

Tang Tian went in, and the Spurs' locker room was filled with whistles and cheers.

Compared with last season, the Spurs' roster has changed very little. The basic championship members are still on the team, with only a few people like Belinelli added.

So, this was truly a reunion of old teammates.

"Tang, you guy, I'll have to tie you up and take you to a nightclub tonight!" Diaw said with a big laugh.

"Tang, I'm already your fan." Green smiled and hugged Tang Tian.

"It would be great if we were still teammates." Joseph said with some regret.

The others also hugged and spoke to Tang Tian one after another.

Leonard hugged Tang Tian, ​​and didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes towards Tang Tian hadn't changed from before.

Tang Tian finally hugged Duncan.

There were also no words, only the familiar head pat.

Tang Tian did not resist, this was probably the first time in a long time that he felt that being patted on the head was a comfortable thing.

"Guys, I brought you gifts."

After saying hello, Tang Tian signaled Withey behind him to put the things down, a whole big bag.

"Danny, this is yours."

Tang Tian began to rummage through the things inside, and the first thing he picked up was Green's.

A transparent box containing an egg.

The other teammates looked puzzled, but Green's eyes lit up all of a sudden.

"Is this a python egg?"

Green confirmed to Tang Tian.

Tang Tian nodded.

"I think the guy at your house might need a companion."

He continued.

"Thanks, Tang."

Green was really happy.

Because raising pythons is very unusual in the NBA, he usually doesn't tell his teammates about it.

But Tang Tian still noticed, which was really incredible.

"Tim, this is yours."

Tang Tian then rummaged out a palm-sized car model.

Duncan's expression is usually calm, but when he saw the car model, his eyes rarely lit up.