In the 116-98 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, James Harden returned for the first time after less than two weeks of injury, scoring 10 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in less than 27 minutes of restricted playing time. Although the data column is filled, it is still a little worse than the previous large double-doubles of 30 points.

Harden's 20% shooting percentage in this game is not high, hitting only 3 of 15 shots in the field of action, and it is obvious that he has not found his touch after a long absence.

"[Harden] he's struggling a little bit, he's getting a little rusty. You can't do anything after a leg injury, and it's been going on for three weeks. So, it's all normal. Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni said in a postgame interview, "As long as he keeps playing, he can always get back into shape." ”

But the Rockets' No. 13 is obviously unwilling to admit that his state still needs time to adjust, at least in the face of the media's pride Harden just avoided the weight and said: "It feels really good to be back on the court", and in private, only Yang Yiming knows that Harden is not convinced by such a performance. Why would he know?

Because James Harden, who didn't play refreshingly, contacted him, he wanted to practice one-on-one with Yang Yiming!

1/

"One-on-one?" Yu Xiaochun, who heard the news from Yang Yiming, almost squirted out the mixture of pizza and cola that he was chewing in his mouth, "I heard you right." You're talking about our team, the Houston Rockets, that Harden? James Harden? ”

"That's right. It's Harden. You see. In the face of repeated inquiries from friends, Yang Yiming had no choice but to show the information on his mobile phone to Yu Xiaochun, only to see James Harden sending a private message on Twitter, without a superfluous greeting, and directly wrote: "Training hall at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, 1v1, come?" ”

Judging from the record of Twitter private messages, before this news, Harden and Yang Yiming did not have any private communication.

"So the boss never contacted you, and now he suddenly asks you to go head-to-head?"

"I'm weird, too." Yang Yiming took out a piece of raw mushrooms from the packaged salad box, forked it with a fork, and put it in his mouth without dipping it in any sauce.

Although he has been a friend, roommate and work partner with the young man in front of him for several months, sometimes Yu Xiaochun still can't understand him, as if he can eat such a piece of raw mushroom if nothing happens, where is there a Chinese stomach. To say that a superstar like James Harden and the team boss suddenly proposed to play one for no reason, Yang Yiming, as a rookie, didn't panic at all, didn't ask why, just said "strange" and continued to eat, I really don't know if he is really in chaos or completely unresponsive. Yu Xiaochun saw that he couldn't find any clues from his face, so he had to ask himself: "So what, do you really plan to go tomorrow?" One-on-one against Deng. ”

"Hmm." Yang Yiming chewed a cauliflower, lowered his head and pressed it on his mobile phone a few times, and finally said to Xiaochun, "Look, I'm already back, and I'm definitely going to go tomorrow." Harden's invitation can't be denied. ”

Yu Xiaochun glanced at his reply on his phone, which was only four letters and a punctuation mark: "C-O-M-E!" ”。 The literal translation into Chinese means: come! He chuckled in his mood, thinking that this kid was too fast, isn't he afraid that it will be a bad thing, such as Brother Harden deliberately finding fault, and he is not worried about being abused to the core? Thinking of this, he didn't know what to reply to the other party for a while.

"What's wrong? Is there anything wrong with me coming back? Seeing that Yu Xiaochun stared at the mobile phone screen for a long time without speaking, Yang Yiming checked the content of his reply again, a little curious.

"No, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just..."

"If nothing is wrong." Before Xiaochun finished speaking, Yang Yiming had already pressed the phone screen, buckled it on the table with his backhand, and wiped out the remaining salad. It seems that he played a lot in the night's big win over the Timberwolves, with assists and blocks flying, and even his appetite for post-game meals has become much better.

2/

"What are you two talking about in the middle of the night?" Pushing open the door from the room was Nina, who was wearing plain pajamas, her hair was tied back casually, and she was still rubbing her sleepy glasses and yawning at first, but as soon as she saw the pizza and snacks piled up on the living room table, she was immediately interested, "Who bought the pizza!?" I happened to be hungry and dreamed of eating an Italian cheese sausage pizza with a dip in French salad dressing... I didn't expect someone to buy it and send it to me, I'm welcome. ”

With that, Nina jumped to the table, squeezed into the seat between Xiaochun and Yang Yiming, and grabbed a slice of pizza and stuffed it into her mouth without washing her hands. She asked slurred as she chewed:

"So you two haven't answered me yet, who are you talking about if you don't sleep so late?"

"One of your guests."

"James Harden."

"Harden, that bearded man?" I don't know why, when it comes to the league's superstar, the scoring champion of the season, and one of the most powerful contenders for MVP, Nina and Yang Yiming have the same indifference: "What's wrong with him?" ”

"He's going to ask Yiming to fight one-on-one tomorrow morning."

"Oh? That doesn't mean it's a good thing, he's recovering quickly and he's ready to play. Nina dipped the pizza in the white French salad dressing for three seconds for the second bite, and the white liquid flowed down the edge of the box: "But I thought that with my 'craft', he would have started to play a long time ago." ”

"It's true that Deng Ge has long since returned to confrontation training, but Coach D'Antoni has been hiding him. So thank you, Nina. Yang Yiming eliminated the salad on the plate, and was happily watching Nina eat at the moment.

"Well, that's what I'm saying..."

"That's not the point!" Yu Xiaochun saw that the more the two chatted, the more they were talking, and they shouted anxiously.

"So what's the point?"

"It's going to be one-on-one with Harden, aren't any of you worried?" Yu Xiaochun finally expressed the worry that he had been holding back for a long time.

"Worried?"

"Harden?"

Nina and Yang Yiming's eyes widened, and they looked back at their common roommate with a confused expression: "Why? ”

"Ahh He's James Harden after all! ”

Well, he also found that he had completely lost the ability to theorize - maybe he was the only one who felt both surprised and frightened when he saw his idol want to get in touch with him at zero distance, and the princesses of the ancient harem were fortunate to be turned over by the emperor! - But it seems that Yang Yiming and Nina don't have this mood at all, and Harden is just a powerful ordinary person to them, and this kind of mentality is indeed only available to extraordinary people like them.

So, Yu Xiaochun, who wanted to understand this, gave up the last defense and whispered: "Okay, forget it, I don't understand it either." While asking Yang Yiming earnestly: "Tomorrow's one-on-one, can I go to watch the battle?" ”

"Harden didn't say no, come on." Yang Yiming readily agreed, "If possible, I also hope that you can secretly take a video, put it on Weibo, and it will definitely attract another wave of fans!" ”

"I don't know what you're talking about." Apparently unaware that Weibo is the Chinese version of Twitter, Nina just ate the second slice of pizza dipped in salad dressing and cheese, and said, "But by the way, if you two see him tomorrow, remember to help me get back 30,000 dollars." After the last treatment, he promised to give it. ”

"Thirty thousand?!"

This time, it was Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun, who were speaking in unison, to stay there and be speechless!