Chapter 15 Thanksgiving

But that wasn't the end.

The Pelicans were winning steadily, unstoppable, but under Stevens' guidance, they were neither arrogant nor impetuous.

In late November, they successively defeated the Bucks, Wizards, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, and Pacers.

Before Thanksgiving, their record reached an incredible 15 wins and 0 losses!

Fifteen consecutive wins, without a single defeat!

Such performance was simply unbelievable!

Their super-strong defense was the foundation of their winning streak, Tang Tian's nearly unsolvable performance in the final quarter was the insurance, coupled with the new tactical system.

The Pelicans were putting on a performance that was as good as, or even better than, the Warriors' last year.

But they weren't the only ones.

The Rockets were struggling a bit because of their integration and adaptation to D'Antoni's Moreyball style, and the Big Three's performance was a bit shaky.

The Cavaliers' still terrible defense caused their record to fluctuate a lot.

The Spurs were advancing triumphantly, but they had already lost 2 games.

The Mavericks' performance was much worse than expected, and Deron had proven to be no longer up to the task.

Another team that had also remained undefeated up to this point, maintaining a winning streak with one less game played, was the Warriors!

The defending champions had won 14 consecutive games since the start of the season, also breaking the team's best record in history.

In NBA history, this was the first time that two teams with 14+ consecutive wins had appeared at the same time at the start of the season.

And this was still the case after the Western Conference experienced a crazy arms race in the summer!

Now, the focus of the outside world was on which team could extend their winning streak longer.

It was worth mentioning that the two teams would usher in their first match of the season in early December.

At that time, even if the two teams were still on a winning streak, one side would definitely be ended.

The day before Thanksgiving, the Pelicans boarded a plane to Boston. They would usher in a game against the Celtics on Thanksgiving Day.

The Celtics lost Stevens in the summer, and they subsequently signed former meritorious player and former Rockets coach McHale.

With the excellent personal defensive abilities of players such as Bradley, Crowder, and Smart, McHale had created a good defensive system for this team.

The tradition of the Green Army was iron blood, which was also a kind of inheritance for them.

Up to now, their record was 9 wins and 7 losses, ranking fifth in the Eastern Conference, and their performance was very good.

The Pelicans would definitely continue their winning streak in this game, and for the Celtics, this was also a game they would fight for with all their strength.

Not only because ending such a winning streak could greatly boost morale, but also because this was Stevens' first game back in Boston with the team.

At the beginning, Ainge wanted to keep Stevens but failed. He also stood on the moral high ground and said that the team had tried its best to keep Stevens, but Stevens left to take a shortcut, which greatly damaged Stevens' image in Boston.

Now that the Pelicans were advancing triumphantly, Ainge definitely wanted the team to bring the Pelicans down.

Defeating a "traitor" was a very worthy point to promote.

The day before Thanksgiving, the Celtics held an open training session.

Team general manager Danny Ainge also came to the training site.

Because of Stevens, this game had attracted much attention from the outside world.

Many reporters from major media outlets came to the training site.

The players were training, and Ainge became the subject of the reporters' interviews.

"Do you think the team has a chance to win tonight?"

A reporter from ESPN asked a very routine question.

"Why not?"

Ainge appeared confident as soon as he opened his mouth.

"They are a team that is good at defense, and so are we. Our offense is not very good, and neither is theirs. We have equal opportunities,"

Ainge continued.

He was not a data fanatic like Morey, but he still understood some simple data.

During the Pelicans' 15-game winning streak, they had the best defense in the league, with an average of only 88.5 points lost per game, which was quite terrifying data under the new rules.

But their average score was only 96.8 points, which was data that could only be ranked in the middle of the league.

This was related to what Stevens had expected before the season, that the offense needed games to run in, and it would definitely not be achieved overnight.

But the reality was this reality, and Ainge was not wrong.

"This is Stevens' first time back in Boston, and the game day is also Thanksgiving. Is there anything you want to say to him?"

Naturally, the reporter asked a question related to Stevens.

"Thanksgiving is indeed very interesting. He should thank Boston. We gave him the opportunity to coach in the NBA."

Ainge didn't say much, but it was very thought-provoking.

Thanksgiving was a holiday in the United States that was second only in importance to Christmas. The statutory time was the fourth Thursday of November.

On this day, Americans would each give thanks to the objects they felt they needed to be grateful for. Some people were grateful to their parents, some were grateful to God...

You could be grateful to whoever you wanted to be grateful to, but Ainge said that Stevens should be grateful to the Celtics, and the meaning in this was really thought-provoking.

On the day of the game, the Pelicans also held an open training session.

Stevens accepted an interview with reporters on the sidelines.

The reporter told Stevens what he had asked Ainge yesterday and the answer he had received.

These reporters, if they didn't stir up trouble, they wouldn't have any topics to talk about. They were always thinking about stirring up trouble.

However, Stevens was still very humble and generous.

"Yes, I have to thank this city and the fans of this city. They provided a lot of help to my team at the time."

Stevens didn't thank the Celtics, but changed his way of thanking them.

However, the media didn't pay attention to these details.

In the pre-match news reports, titles such as Ainge said that Stevens should be grateful to the Celtics for giving him the opportunity, and Stevens admitted it emerged one after another.

Before the game, the players were making their final preparations before the game, and Bojan was reading the news with a mouthful of righteous indignation.

Not only him, but the other people on the Pelicans were also a little unhappy.

Stevens was not an unknown person. He had led the weak Butler University to the NCAA finals for two consecutive years and was an absolute famous university coach.

This kind of famous coach was very popular in the NBA. For example, the new coaches of the Bulls and Thunder this year, Hoiberg and Donovan, were both famous NCAA coaches.

Including the most well-known Coach K, every year he was pursued by many NBA teams, but he had no intention of being in the NBA.

In other words, Stevens had a very good market to come to the NBA after making the NCAA finals for two consecutive years.

He finally chose the Celtics, or at least it was a two-way choice with the Celtics.

As a result, when it came to Ainge's mouth, it became that the Celtics gave Stevens the opportunity!

Wasn't this really calling someone "Honey" when you were begging them, and calling them "Old Hag" after you broke up?!

Ainge's move of kicking away the ladder after crossing the river, and standing on the moral high ground as before, was really infuriating.

"For the coach, we should give the people of Boston a memorable Thanksgiving."

Tang Tian stood up and said in a very calm but murderous tone.