On the morning of November 6, 2017, Beijing time, the Houston Rockets hosted the Utah Jazz in Game 11 of the season.

Toyota Center Arena.

An NBA regular season game that would otherwise be uneventful.

1/

Yang Yiming, who dislocated his left shoulder, miraculously recovered from injury, passed the team's physical test with a high level of results, and returned to the team after a week of absence. With 3:58 left in the first quarter, D'Antoni arranged for him to come on after the warm-up.

The Houston fans did not forget the old days, and gave enthusiastic applause to the Chinese young man who was away from the field.

On the court, the score was 19-17, the Rockets led by two points, and James Harden was executing the second of two free throws. Raise your hand, shake your wrist, the ball runs straight, knocks under the back edge of the basket, and goes into the net without any suspense. Just like he's done on countless game nights.

The score changed to 20-17, and Harden scored his 12th point.

However, tonight's James Harden seems to be different from the man who has been on countless game nights. Before he was fouled, he hit all four of his shots. Among them were difficult step-back jumpers, as well as one-step shots from the three-point line at the top of the arc, and after his appearance, he felt hot.

But soon, Yang Yiming sensed that James Harden was different tonight, perhaps bigger and more terrifying than what he saw before he went on the court.

After hitting back-to-back shots, James Harden's self-confidence transformed him into a different person. If at the beginning of the game, he still had a lot of energy, breaking through the strong play to prove himself, to prove that he also has room to play in front of the strongest Jazz defense in the entire league, every time he looks at the basket and shoots, his eyes will release fire, and his beard is like the sharp edge of a berserker's sword, with his face raised and pointed directly at the defender. Then James Harden, after Yang Yiming came on the court, was like an enlightened immortal, strolling on the court, soft and rigid, advancing and retreating. You'll never guess his next move, but just when you think you can let go, he's as fast as the wind and catches you off guard!

For example, he can easily take a step outside the three-point line to dribble under his crotch, step past the Jazz's Rubio, slide into the long-arm Jazz restricted area, use his body as a barrier, and score with his back to the basket. can also be blocked, facing the defender who is a head taller than the Jazz No. 33 center Apai Yudu, after several rhythmic crotch dribbles, open his hand to shoot an unreasonable head-on three-pointer.

With 4.8 seconds left in the first quarter, Yang Yiming sent a backcourt ball, and the ball was handed to James Harden. He dribbled through the half court himself, and his teammates' pick-and-roll screens were not of high quality, and the Jazz players were still following closely and sticking in front of Harden.

With less than two seconds left, and seeing that he was still two steps away from the three-point line, Harden jumped straight to the basket.

Yang Yiming, who still fell in the second half after serving, was the first to raise his hands.

Just like in the first game of the regular season, he judged Durant's overtime in the whistle based on his natural superhuman sports image analysis ability, Yang Yiming watched the ball leave his hand only a few meters, and expected Harden to add another three points to his scoring book! And sure enough—

The timer lights up red.

The ball goes into the basket.

22 points in a single quarter, four three-point shots, no missed shots!

Yang Yiming, who raised his hands to celebrate in advance, was like a cheerleader on the field who led the audience to cheer at this time, and led the entire Toyota Center into madness!

On the other end, the man who shot the three-point shot at the whistle was still slowing down after the ball entered the basket, straddle his feet and squatted on the ground because he adjusted his body posture in the air.

It's like a god who has just fallen into the world!

2/

James Harden's performance on this night was truly god-like.

Not only did he score a career-high 56 points after only 35 minutes of play, but what was even more terrifying was his momentum on the court, which was terrifying.

He shot 12 of 17 from the two-point line, conceded only one of 12 free throws, and made 7 of 8 shots from beyond the three-point line, with a shooting rate approaching a terrifying 90%!

As long as the ball is passed to him, there is almost no suspense about scoring. James Harden, a bearded and angry god, not only killed the suspense of the game alone, but also helped the Rockets build a 30-point lead in the first three quarters, Jazz coach Quinn Schneider's interview showed helplessness: "He's so smart, we can't find any collective solution to the problem on the defensive end in the face of such a hot star." ”

In addition to scoring like chopping melons and vegetables, Harden also handed out 13 assists, and the team has a whopping 91 points directly related to him, and Eric Gordon is not shy about touting his teammates: "He is different from others, he does more than just score himself, so this is one of the best performances I have ever witnessed." ”

Such an impeccable performance naturally conquered the fans in the audience. In the second half, as soon as the basketball is in the hands of James Harden, the Toyota Center will ring out like a tsunami of MVP shouts. Yang Yiming, who was engulfed by such a warm atmosphere, even felt a little trance - he has gradually become accustomed to NBA life, used to sweating and fighting with the team's seniors and bigwigs on the court, and playing gags off the court, but he can only feel the shock through the TV screen before, and this impact is close at hand, and everything is still like a world away.

This is an NBA-level superstar!

And he is actually his teammate!

3/

The Rockets took an early lead, and head coach D'Antoni also took the opportunity to arrange more playing time for Yang Yiming, who was recovering from injury. Perhaps because his physical function did not decrease but increased during the recovery period, and it still took time to adapt, Yang Yiming's performance was not outstanding, playing 19 minutes and contributing 14 points and 3 rebounds. But the Rockets won, 137-110.

At the end of the game, Amy, a full-time reporter for the Rockets' social media, stopped Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun on the sidelines and congratulated them, "Congratulations to Dr. Yang, I didn't expect to be back on the field so soon after dislocating my shoulder, what do you think of the performance of the whole team and yourself today? ”

'The team played well, the boss dominated the game alone, and I can't believe I just witnessed such a great performance.' Yang Yiming's answer was indeed heartfelt, "As far as I am concerned, I will try my best to adjust and re-adapt to the rhythm of the game." ”

"Ichimei's physical sensation may be the same as before... Something different. Yu Xiaochun originally wanted to explain the changes in Yang Yiming's physical condition on his behalf, but after thinking about it, he temporarily changed his words.

"Well, we are all looking forward to more exciting performances from China Yang in the future."

Amy sent her wishes, thinking that Yang Yiming, who was at the end of the interview, was about to say goodbye and leave with Yu Xiaochun, but she didn't expect her to say again, "The Rockets didn't play in the next few days, and the team arranged for you to join the Vipers of the Development League and play two games temporarily, what do you think?" ”

Development Alliance?

Vipers?

The unprepared two looked at each other with surprised expressions, "We didn't receive this kind of notice." ”

Amy unlocks her phone and flips through an update from Team Rocket's official Twitter account to show them an update.

"The last game is tomorrow night, and there's another one on Wednesday night." She also found out the schedule of the Viper team and reported it to Yang Yiming.

"It should be because this break is relatively long, and you have just recovered, and you want to train with the game, so you can find your feelings." Yu Xiaochun, who has a wealth of basketball knowledge, saw that the facts were in front of him, and he had to comfort him and said, "This is quite commonplace in the NBA." ”

"Hmm. However, Coach D'Antoni said that these two games will give you separate special requirements..."

What the?!

"That's right, look...," Amy scrolled down the tweet and read the rest of the text, "Rockets head coach D'Antoni said he wanted the team's rising star Ulyse Young to play at a dominant level in the Development League, scoring more than 100 points in three games during the recovery period. ”

100 points?!

"The three games he was talking about, were two Vipers games and this one tonight." Amy didn't seem to take it seriously and patiently explained.

But Yang Yiming only scored 14 points today!

That means he needs to score a total of 86 points in two Development League games.

86 points!

Yang Yiming looked at James Harden, who was also being interviewed in the distance, and caught a glimpse of head coach D'Antoni who was about to enter the players' tunnel. The latter seemed to comprehend, and gave him a sly look.

Three 100-point challenges.

The gods descend to earth! Can I do it too?