On January 30, the Nets host the Grizzlies.

It was an uphill battle for the team, with the Grizzlies tumbling over the Nets' vulnerable interior and the Nets relying on outside firepower to stalemate.

A few times behind, a few times close, and with the cheers of the fans in attendance, the team showed unprecedented resilience.

Joe Johnson still didn't get a chance to play, and he sat quietly at the end of the bench, his hands holding his mouth and watching the game.

The only difference from the past few months was that there was some fighting spirit in his eyes.

In the final moments of the game, the Nets relied on quick defense to fight back continuously after trailing by 7 points, and once narrowed the score to 3 points, but the weak interior line still made them fall short, and the team lost 89-91 with the mid-range iron under Delon's strict defense.

At the end of the game, the fans gave the home team a round of applause.

Although they lost the game, the hard work of the players still earned their respect.

Tang Tian also beckoned the team members together, raised his hands and clenched his fists, and the team members also raised their hands one after another.

"Nets!"

"Come on!"

The shouts of the players made the fans love this team even more.

However, at this moment, several fans noticed Joe Johnson, who was standing at the outermost part of the circle with a symbolic raise of his hand.

The ace they once expected, the cold-blooded killer nicknamed "Singles Joe", if he was in the last ball just now, there is a high probability that the game will be dragged into overtime, but unfortunately, now he can't even enter the rotation.

Joe Johnson felt the gaze and turned his head to see that it was the fans in the front row.

The fans turned their heads at him, smiled awkwardly at him, and hurried out of the stadium.

Joe Johnson then turned his head to look around again.

When he was here just now, how many fans cheered him on with KT boards with his name on them, expecting him to bring a championship to this team, but now, except for those few fans, I am afraid most people have forgotten about him.

After completing the final cheering ceremony, Tang Tian led the players to the locker room.

He walked at the back of the line and glanced at the end of the bench, where he was likely to be sitting all season.

"Come on! Joe! ”

As he walked to the players' tunnel, someone suddenly shouted at him from above.

He looked up, and then he saw the fans who had been looking at him earlier.

Instead of leaving, they came running to the passageway.

Seeing him look over, the fans let out a scream and then made a cheering gesture to him.

He froze, smiled and waved at them, and before entering the players' tunnel, he took off his own training clothes and threw them at them.

As he walked into the passageway, a smile appeared on his lips.

After the game against the Grizzlies, the Nets are still at home in their next game, and back-to-back games against the Lakers, who are currently sixth in the West.

After a relatively sweet schedule, the rest of the race was not so easy.

Tang Tian only arranged a basic training session in the afternoon, and the last game was too intense, so the players needed to recover their strength.

It was also during training that Tang Tian found that Joe Johnson was a little different from before.

Whether it's shooting drills or confrontation drills, he is clearly more active than before.

When it came to the full-court confrontation, his continuous tough defense gave Bogdan Bogdanovic a lot of headaches, and several backs on the offensive end also made people feel that he was in good shape.

"Let's put Joe on the activation list in place of Tyler Johnson in the next game." Tang Tian turned his head to Frank and said.

Choice, in fact, does not have to be said face-to-face, Johnson's positive state has shown that he has made a choice.

Putting him on the activation list is also an affirmation of his positive side.

That night, the Barclays Center was crowded, the team was in good shape recently, and the Lakers led by Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant were playing against each other, and the attendance rate was close to ninety, which was the highest this month.

Although Kobe Bryant and Yao Ming have been playing back and forth this season, rookie LaVine has performed very well, and the team is still in the playoffs.

Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant both played in this game, and it can be seen that coach Byron Scott is determined to win this game.

During pre-game training, Yao Ming and Tang Tian chatted for a while in the midfield.

Since Tang Tian returned to coaching, this is the first face-to-face communication between the two.

The mentor and apprentice duo have worked together on both teams for 5 years, and including the national team, which is relatively rare in the NBA.

When they were almost done, the scene soon entered the opening ceremony, and the starters of both teams were introduced one after another.

On the Lakers' side, rookies Jordan Clarkson and Kobe Bryant are on the outside, Wesley Johnson and Carlos Boozer are on the front, and Yao Ming is the center.

On the Nets' side, Deron Williams and Bogdan Bogdanovic on the outside, Bojan Bogdanovic and Yi Jianlian on the front, and center Lopez.

The game started immediately, the two starters appeared one after another, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian jumped the ball, and when the two walked to the midfield, they chatted and smiled at each other.

At this time, in front of the TV, a large number of Chinese fans also gathered.

With Yao Ming's injuries increasing, such a Chinese derby is already rare, and fans naturally won't miss it.

"Toot!"

At the referee's whistle, Yi Jianlian put the ball back into the Nets' half, and the home team got the opportunity to attack first.

Lopez responded in the high post, Bogdan Bogdanovic flew to the basket, but was blocked by Yao Ming's return defense.

Although he is old and often injured, after all, he is a four-time MVP player, and Bogdan's challenge ended in failure.

DeLong missed an outside three-pointer, and Yao Ming picked up a defensive rebound.

When the ball went to the front court, Kobe Bryant sat directly in the low post and played Bogdan, deceived the opponent with a foot action that turned around and leaned back, and turned to kill the basket and scored a low-handed layup.

The Lakers played with great momentum at the beginning.

Yi Jianlian held the ball in the front court and attacked Boozer, and his breakthrough layup shot caused the latter's beater to foul.

After two free throws from the free throw line, the Nets also started scoring.

But when he turned around, Kobe Bryant was still sitting and playing Bogdan, this time he continued to dumble, and when he shot, he directly made Bogdan's thug foul.

This season, Kobe Bryant has an Achilles tendon injury, and his scoring efficiency is not high, but in the face of a first-year rookie like Bogdan, he has taken his experience to the extreme.

Against the sound of interference, Kobe Bryant hit both free throws again, and Bryant scored the Lakers' first four points.

There were cheers from some fans, and despite being an opponent, Kobe Bryant has never had a shortage of fans in the league, even though he is now 36 years old.