Chapter 3 When the Game Ended

When the third quarter ended, Tang Tian's stats were displayed on the LED screen at the arena.

Next to the stats was a notation that read "New Record."

In NBA history, there weren't many players who could record 20+20, and the number dwindled to just 12 if you narrowed it down to 20 assists.

But of those players, none had ever put up 20 points and 20 assists in just three quarters.

The closest to that mark had been Paul, who was now sitting on the opposing bench with a towel wrapped around his head.

Interestingly enough, the Clippers' opponent at the time had been the Hornets, the predecessor to the Pelicans.

Back then, Paul had tallied 20 points and 18 assists in three quarters, and the Clippers routed the Hornets.

But what goes around comes around.

The Hornets had become the Pelicans, and Tang Tian had now paid Paul back in full.

In the end, the Pelicans defeated the Rockets 123-100 on the road, extending their winning streak to 13 games.

They remained undefeated after the All-Star break.

Tang Tian didn't play in the fourth quarter, but his performance in the first three was more than enough for the fans to talk about.

"It's not just the Rockets now, all 29 other teams in the league have to think about how they're going to defend Tang."

"Tang is really amazing, he surprises us every season. This passing is just like last year's fadeaway, it suddenly explodes and makes all the opponents' heads ache."

"This isn't a sudden explosion, Tang's assist numbers haven't been low in the past few games, and the same goes for the fadeaway before. There were news reports that he had been training all summer, this is the result of long-term accumulation."

"Whatever the reason, the only thing I'm glad about now is that I'm a Pelicans fan, the only people who don't have to worry about it ㄟ(▔, ▔)ㄏ"

…

Fans were constantly discussing it on social media, and the actual situation was pretty much as they imagined.

Before, they could pretend they didn't see it when playing against weaker teams, but now they couldn't turn a blind eye, or they would be the next ones to suffer.

But the problem was taken seriously, yet it seemed there was no solution.

There really wasn't a player in NBA history who could bring the three skills of shooting, passing, and driving to this level.

Tang Tian was close to peak Kobe before, and with this elusive passing ability, he had definitely surpassed Kobe in terms of individual strength.

Although the technical characteristics were not the same, the last player who gave them such a headache was named Michael Jordan.

"Maybe he's just had a good feel for passing in the last few games."

Unable to find an answer, some fans from other teams came up with this idea.

This was approved by many fans, and it became their only psychological comfort.

Amid the fans' attention, the Pelicans returned to their home court to face the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies were known for their defense, and fans were hoping that their idea would be validated.

As it turned out, their idea was half right.

In this game, Tang Tian's assist numbers were successfully limited to less than 10 by the Grizzlies, only managing 8.

But he scored 46 points, close to half of the team's total.

The reason for this result was that Joerger used single coverage tactics against Tang Tian the entire game.

Tang Tian blew past the aging Allen, leaving him in the dust.

Tang Tian played with ease, and Stevens also increased his ball-handling rate. In this game, Tang Tian's ball-handling rate exceeded 50%, a new season high.

This game also officially told others that this was the result of single coverage against Tang Tian.

Double-team or not, choose your own death.

The other teams chose to double-team.

Tang Tian's individual offensive power was too strong. Rather than letting him score, it was better to bet that his teammates would have a bad night.

Carlisle was doing just that.

After finishing the game against the Grizzlies, the Pelicans welcomed their last game of the season against the Mavericks.

The Pelicans had won all three previous encounters.

Jennings had played well since arriving in Dallas, and the Mavericks' record had also improved.

However, Embiid continued to miss the game due to an ankle injury and could only sit on the sidelines cheering for his teammates.

Pachulia started in his place.

Since the last foot-planting incident, the two teams had a deep grudge, and Pachulia's starting lineup further stimulated the Pelicans players.

Carlisle used a help-and-rotate defense in this game, but the entire Pelicans team was in a hot state.

Tang Tian's passing was not only accurate, but also increased the stability of the receiver's shot.

All kinds of passing shows in the game were dazzling.

Tang Tian passed the ball from between people to Jokic in a double-team, Jokic passed it directly to Davis, and the latter dunked with both hands.

Tang Tian broke through and passed the ball to Davis without looking, Davis attracted the help defense and passed it to Jokic, Jokic slammed the ball into the basket with both hands.

Tang Tian broke through and passed to Jokic, Jokic directly passed the ball back above the basket, Tang Tian jumped up, and slammed the ball into the basket directly in the face of the helping defense from Pachulia.

Pachulia didn't even dare to fart after being dunked on.

Tough players are afraid of dirty players, and dirty players are afraid of ruthless players.

The psychological shadow that Tang Tian's punch left on him had not been erased until now.

But the point wasn't this, it was the Pelicans' style of play.

When the Mavericks started to double-team Tang Tian, the Pelicans played at a super-first-class level.

The feeling was very similar to the Lakers team of the late 1980s.

Show.time!

At that time, the Lakers had four No. 1 picks: Johnson, Jabbar, Worthy, and Thompson. They were super strong and their offense was devastating.

The talent of this Pelicans team was obviously not as strong as that Lakers team.

However, Stevens' tactical system had been running for almost a season and was already 80-90% complete, and the starters had a great understanding of each other.

The system made up for the talent to a certain extent, coupled with the hot state of Bojan and Holiday after the All-Star game, they really had this feeling.

New Orleans fans witnessed a mercury-like game, which was even more exciting than sweeping the Mavericks in the regular season.

After the game, Butler's expression was very helpless.

This was his last game against Tang Tian this season, but even if he scored a season-high 36 points, he still couldn't lead his team to victory.

He suddenly understood Thompson's feelings back then.

It really didn't feel good to be abused by a brother.

But the good news was that Butler was not alone, and Irving soon joined his ranks.

After playing the Mavericks, the Pelicans flew to Cleveland to welcome the second game of the season against the Cavaliers.

The result was similar to playing against the Mavericks. The Cavaliers, who had strengthened with Frye, had increased in strength, but had not solved their defensive problems.

The Pelicans still played show.time.

Moreover, the Cavaliers' record fluctuated greatly after the All-Star game, and there were many internal problems.

The Pelicans eventually massacred the Cavaliers 116-96 on the road, ushering in their second 16-game winning streak of the season.

However, after this game, the focus of the fans was not on the performance of the Pelicans.

Because after this game, the Cavaliers officially announced a shocking news to the league.