James Harden, the heart of the Houston Rockets, wearing the No. 13 jersey, NBA scoring champion of the season, All-Star Western Conference backcourt starter, returned from injury after missing seven games.

Yang Yiming, a Chinese rookie selected by the Houston Rockets, wears the No. 17 jersey, ranks first in the NBA rookie average in terms of blocks per game, and is selected as an All-Star West frontcourt starter by virtue of his huge popularity in the Chinese market.

A famous star, a rising rookie, was originally just teammates on the court and colleagues off the court, but on this day on the night when the league announced the starting list of the 2018 Los Angeles All-Star Game and both of them were selected, the latter actually received a private message from Harden, inviting the other party to a one-on-one game the next morning?

What kind of medicine is sold in the bearded gourd?

1/

On the night of receiving James Harden's invitation, Yang Yiming, Yu Xiaochun and Nina discussed the packed pizza and coke and salad for a long time, but they still had no clue, so they could only give up hastily and go back to the house to rest. Harden's appointment time was at 8 o'clock in the morning at the Rockets' training hall, Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun slept for less than seven hours, got up, washed up, and drove to the arena.

In Houston in winter, the sky at 7 o'clock in the morning has not yet fully awakened, and the boundary of the skyline transitions from sea blue to violet, like a stroke on huge rice paper, slowly dissolving. The temperature was quite suitable, and the two of them only wore T-shirts and sports jackets, which was enough to keep out the cold. Yu Xiaochun put down the hood of the Mercedes-Benz SL400 and felt the morning breeze and the steadily rising humidity in the air from his face. If you have a bird's-eye shot, you will inevitably have the illusion of silver galloping like bullets across the blue water of the lake, and the fallen leaves on the street are like duckweed on the water, pushed apart by the air flow of bullets.

Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun in the car seemed to have something on their minds, and it wasn't until they were two or three blocks away from the stadium that their frozen lips were warmed by the morning light that gradually occupied the sky, and they spoke:

"So Yiming, are you nervous?"

"If you don't say you're nervous, you probably don't believe it either."

"It's hard to say. At least you weren't too nervous last night. ”

Yu Xiaochun was right, after receiving Harden's challenge text message, Yang Yiming was not stage frightened, and responded to the battle almost without hesitation, which was really unexpected by a bystander like him.

"Hmm. But when it's really going to be a fight, it's always going to be nervous. Yang Yiming opened the zipper of the bag under his feet, carefully looked through the equipment he brought, and then re-opened it after confirming that it was correct, "Just like you said yesterday, 'After all, he is James Harden', as long as you have the idea of winning, you will inevitably think more." ”

"Then what do you think are your chances of winning a one-on-one singles with Brother Deng?"

Yang Yiming put the joint of his thumb to his lips, bit his lip gently, looked at the mirror on the side of the co-pilot and was stunned for a while, and finally spit out a few words:

"I think it's a tenth."

2/

The agreed time in Harden's message was eight o'clock in the morning, and Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun arrived at the training hall twenty minutes early, and warmed up until about half past eight, and James Harden was late.

"Ah, you're so early." Arriving late, Harden grabbed a Gucci handbag and wore a black pullover sweatshirt from some trendy brand, and the hat wrapped his entire head tightly, just like he had been watching the games when he was injured. The lower body is Nike's Rockets training pants, and when he pulls them casually, the buttons on both sides of the pants are unfolded, revealing the shorts inside and his exclusive Adidas sneakers.

"No, let's warm up first." Of course, Yang Yiming didn't dare to mention that the boss was half an hour late, so he had to use himself to help the other party excuse himself.

"Enough warm-up?" Harden casually threw the Gucci handbag to Yu Xiaochun, who was afraid to talk to him, picked up a basketball lying on the ground, rubbed it in the palm of his hand a few times, and said, "If the warm-up is enough, let's start." ”

"Ah, start?"

"That's right, play ten balls, three-pointers count as two, and the winner serves." Harden threw the ball to Yang Yiming and said, "You start first, All-Star ticket king." ”

Now that the boss has already said so, Yang Yiming, who received the ball, can only be tough!

The three-point shot counts as two points, so the three-point shot starts first. Yang Yiming arrived almost half an hour earlier than Harden, and with the help of Xiaochun's pick-up and passing, his hand had already opened. received the basketball from Harden, Yang Yiming did not hand it back to Harden to re-cut the ball, played a trick, stepped back directly and fell outside the three-point line, and shot with his hand open.

Three-point hollow shabu hit!

2-0, Yang Yiming killed Harden, who had not yet entered the state, and continued to tee! With this ball, Harden finally lifted his spirits and handed the ball to Yang Yiming and immediately pasted it to prevent him from shooting directly without cutting the ball again. As soon as he received the ball and lifted the ball above his head with his height advantage, Harden did not jump to grab the ball, but just stuck to his upper limbs and arms, pressing against his core strength area, so that he could not easily dribble or shoot.

In the face of pressing defense, Yang Yiming also had a countermeasure, he slowly turned his body sideways, separated Harden with one arm, and brought the ball to the position of his waist and abdomen, and only after making sure that Harden had no way to interfere with the dribble, he pushed a step forward. Harden thought that he was going to break through in the next step, and then blocked the line in advance, but he didn't expect Yang Yiming to repeat his old tricks, jump back to the three-point line, and start and fall again!

4-0 lead!

3/

It's a pity that after hitting two three-pointers in a row, Yang Yiming tried to shoot away again, and the two exchanged balls. Harden immediately made a killer move, dribbling under his crotch continuously, and only waited for Yang Yiming's center of gravity to be out of position for a moment. Although Harden still looks sleepy when he appears in the arena, the combination of his virtual and real dribbling is more effective, quite like the drunken boxing in Chinese martial arts. Harden seemed to be slowing down the pace of dribbling, as if he was about to collect the ball and shoot, and when Yang Yiming was also ready to step forward to shoot, he suddenly changed direction sharply and left him behind in one step. Waiting for Yang Yiming to turn around and chase again, Harden had already stuck his position with his body, his speed was not fast, and his steps were still staggering, but he was able to protect the ball firmly in front of him and hit a layup.

Get a goal back!

Harden won the ball again, and Yang Yiming realized the threat of the league's top scorer. Harden is full of feints, and every subtle change in the small muscle contraction pores and blowing air has to be guarded against, thinking that he is going to break through, he may have switched to shooting again; When you think you block the shooting angle, he may have made your foul again; And if it is changed to actual combat, Harden also has an assist pass, which is even more unguardable!

On the second ball, Harden hit a layup again, but this time the path of breakthrough changed from Yang Yiming's left to the right! And on the third shot, when Yiming was still thinking about which direction to prevent the breakthrough, Harden had already taken a step back and made a direct three-point shot!

After the basketball hits the hoop, it bounces high along the rim and can fall into the net!

Instant equaliser!

Harden, who was so popular, also rarely talked a lot, and while handing the ball to Yang Yiming to cut the ball, he chattered: "Yang, do you know why I specially asked you to one-on-one today?" ”

Yang Yiming hugged the basketball and shook his head to indicate that he didn't know.

"Because of your All-Star Ticket King." Harden spread his palms and motioned for the opponent to hand over the ball.

"This... I did canvass for votes..."Faced with the boss's questioning, Yang Yiming quickly admitted his mistake.

"No, you deserve it. One-on-one just wants to tell you that if you want to play an All-Star, it's not enough to play 'support' as you said. Harden took the basketball, this time without dribbling under his crotch, just putting the ball almost close to the floor, and continued to nag while performing probing steps, "All-Star is the stage for star performances. If you're going to be an All-Star, you're going to have to be able to play one-on-one. ”

"The audience loves to see this one — who knocked who down, who dunked on whose head. It's all about this at the All-Star Game. Harden added.

"Oh, I seem to get it."

"No, you haven't understood." Harden's tone became serious, and there was murder in his eyes, "You are the ticket king, and there will be more eyes staring at you." ”

“…”

"So why don't we make this one-on-one stack a little bit more now. That hypnotist, Nina, is your friend. Harden's murderous eyes also glanced at Yu Xiaochun on the sidelines, who was swept by this look, and the mobile phone used to record almost couldn't hold it steadily and fell to the ground.

I don't know how James Harden knows about Nina's relationship with him, but at this moment, Yang Yiming can only nod by default!

"Last time I promised to pay her back $30,000. Otherwise, let's gamble, and if you win against me, I'll pay you ten times the $30,000!" ”

Ah, ten times!?

Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun were stunned. And the tenfold odds don't validate the duo's predictions about the likelihood of beating Harden before they arrive at the arena?

"That's it, now it's a 4-4 draw, I'm going to attack!"

James Harden retracted his spying step as he spoke, pulled two points on the spot, and the ball went into the net.

5 to 4, Harden vs. Yang Yiming.

A $30,000 one-to-ten bet.

Harden grabs the halfway point first!