Chapter 140 Reappearance

This scene felt familiar.

Back in the 1993-94 season, when O'Neal and David Robinson were battling for the scoring title, there was a similar situation.

At that time, David Robinson and O'Neal's scores were even closer, with O'Neal leading by only 0.06 points.

Because their average scores were so close, the Spurs, in their last meaningless game, frantically fed Robinson the ball.

As a result, Robinson made 26 of 41 shots in that game, scoring a whopping 71 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks.

This meant that if O'Neal wanted to win the scoring title back, he had to score at least 68 points in his last game.

In the end, O'Neal only scored 32 points the next day, losing the scoring title.

This became one of the most incredible scoring title battles in NBA history.

And now, history was about to repeat itself.

"Tang, just shoot, we'll keep feeding you the ball."

In the Pelicans' locker room, Evans said.

Among the Pelicans' starters, Davis was mellow, Holiday didn't like to talk, Aminu was also humble, and apart from Tang Tian, Evans was the one who could speak up.

When Evans spoke, not only the starters but also the other players nodded one after another.

Most of them had received Tang Tian's Ferrari, so they had no reason not to pass the ball to him in this kind of scoring title chase.

And because the outcome didn't matter, Williams wouldn't object to them doing so.

At the same time in Oklahoma City, Brooks gathered the players together.

Westbrook was almost fully recovered from his injury, but as a precaution, he wouldn't play in the last game.

"Pass the ball to Kevin more during the game."

Brooks was using his authority as head coach to make demands of the Thunder players.

He didn't say it explicitly, but the players all knew that Durant definitely wanted to chase this scoring title.

The players nodded one after another. Although they didn't genuinely want to help Durant, they still had to listen to the coach.

Reggie Jackson pouted. His scoring in the second half of the season was clearly worse than before, all because Durant was trying to win the scoring title.

It seemed he had to find a chance to talk to Brooks about his role in the team.

"Guys, Kevin needs this scoring title."

After Brooks left, Westbrook pulled the players together and said.

His words had a completely different impact than Brooks's.

Brooks's was an order, while Westbrook's was a request.

Westbrook was a social butterfly and incredibly popular with the team. Even Jackson was willing to give him face.

Durant didn't show much emotion. It was only natural for him to chase the scoring title, and Westbrook, as a brother, should speak up for him.

On the last day of the regular season, the other games had already ended one after another, and the Pelicans and Thunder games were about to begin.

The two games were only two hours apart, which meant that Durant would basically have to act based on Tang Tian's performance.

In short, he had to score 10+ points more than Tang Tian.

Both of them were determined to score big in the last game.

However, their opponents were clearly not going to give them the chance.

The Bulls arrived in Oklahoma City a day early, and the team held a public training session.

After the training, besides head coach Thibodeau, Butler and Luol Deng also became the focus of reporters' interviews.

Because they would be matching up against Durant in the last game.

Deng was relatively humble and mostly said polite things in the interviews.

But Butler wasn't so polite.

Except for Tang Tian and Thibodeau, he didn't take anyone else seriously.

"Yes, I will do my best to defend him. We need this victory, and I will put my heart and soul into defending him in the game."

When reporters asked Butler how he would defend, he answered almost without hesitation.

"We all know Durant is competing for this year's scoring title."

The reporter probably felt that Butler didn't realize this and reminded him.

"Does that have anything to do with me?"

Butler's answer left the reporter speechless.

Indeed, it had nothing to do with Butler.

"No, it does."

However, Butler suddenly contradicted himself.

Just as the reporter was wondering if he was going to change his mind, Butler spoke again.

"Westbrook isn't playing, and we need to win the game, so we have to limit his scoring. We will do our best to limit his scoring."

The reporter smiled wryly after hearing this.

Well, Butler clearly didn't plan to give Durant any face and instead reiterated his determination.

After finishing the interview, Butler went to do extra training on his own.

He now felt that the reporter had a problem with his brain.

Even if the Bulls didn't need this victory, he would never let Durant win the scoring title because of his relationship with Tang Tian.

Anyone without selfish desires wasn't human.

At the same time, in Los Angeles, the Lakers, playing at home, were also ready to face the Pelicans.

Like the Bulls, they were determined to win this game.

However, unlike the Bulls, or rather Butler, the team's head coach and team leader Kobe had different attitudes towards the scoring title battle.

"We don't care about that, we care about the team's victory."

D'Antoni's answer was quite straightforward.

Compared to D'Antoni, Kobe's answer was very intriguing.

"What we need is this victory. If Tang scores 70 points and we can still win the game, I'd rather he scores 70 points."

Kobe's personality meant that most people couldn't catch his eye, but Tang Tian was an exception.

Tang Tian had helped him twice, and he couldn't treat Tang Tian the way Butler treated Durant.

Relationships might seem insignificant in the NBA, but they could sometimes play a crucial role.

And what he said was indeed true. The Lakers were still coached by D'Antoni, who focused on playing fast. It was the wrong approach for them to think about how to defend Tang Tian.

What they would do was score more points than their opponent and then win the game.

But no matter what the members of the two teams said, both the Bulls and the Lakers were determined to win their last games.

On April 17th, the Pelicans and Lakers game started first at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The arena was packed, and the whole world was focused on this game.

In addition to TNT's three giants commentating, Zhang Weiping and Su Qun also appeared at the scene to broadcast the game.

If Tang Tian could score high in this game, it would be the first time in NBA history that a person of Asian descent had won the scoring title.

They definitely wanted to witness this extraordinary moment in person and might even interview him immediately after the game.

"Today, the Pelicans don't need to worry about what's reasonable or not. Just give the ball to Tang Tian and let him shoot as much as he wants. That's the most reasonable approach."

Before the game even started, Zhang Weiping had already begun to hype up the game.