Zhang Feng himself felt very cool and chic about no longer playing in garbage time to brush up on assist data, but it made the Kings fans, especially the most loyal young fans in Sacramento, who had already planned how to brag about Zhang Feng's assist record, and even prepared to post various data comparisons between legendary point guards and Zhang Feng in NBA history to the forum, but Zhang Feng's last-minute choice made their excitement came to an abrupt end, and they felt like they were about to climax but were suddenly interrupted, which was very uncomfortable!

You know, this is a historical record sent to hand, this kind of opportunity is hard to come by, even if the three-point god is as accurate as Curry, after getting 13 3-point historical records in the 16th season, he has not been able to get close to that data for more than a year, if Zhang Feng can't break through 23 assists in the future, so many years later, a new batch of fans talk about the word 'assist', no one will think of Zhang Feng, after all, 24 assists have appeared 5 times, Zhang Feng's data will not be worth mentioning.

The Kings fans did not resent Zhang Feng, they just felt sorry, but they were neutral fans, and kept praising Zhang Feng for 'bright people do not pretend to be dark'. Considering what Zhang Feng has done before, most neutral fans feel that Zhang Feng will be able to beat Larry Bird in the future and finally snatch the title of 'King of Outfits'.

Zhang Feng has no time to care about the outside world's discussions, he rushed back to Sacramento with the Kings on the night of the game, although he finally ended the thousands of kilometers of road trip, but he, like other Kings players, can't get excited, the schedule is a bit cheating, they can only rest for a day, and they will meet the challenge of the "King of the North" Raptors at home.

At noon on the 10th, the king's plane landed at Sacramento International Airport, and as soon as Zhang Feng walked out of the VIP channel, he saw An Jiali, who had already cried into tears, rushing towards him.

Hugging tightly and breathing deeply, An Jiali's series of actions seemed to be afraid that she would fly away if she let go of Zhang Feng, even in public, she didn't have the slightest scruples, because she was only Zhang Feng alone in her heart and eyes at the moment.

What happened in Milwaukee, so that she still has palpitations, Zhang Feng sent her a photo after being rescued, the bloody corners of the mouth, bruised eyes, and the reluctant smile that appeared in order to reassure her, prompted her to book a ticket on the spot and prepare to fly directly to Cleveland, but she was finally persuaded by Zhang Feng, and now that they are finally meeting, how can they let go easily?

The team gave Zhang Feng a day off very humanely, and Zhang Feng, who did not need to participate in tactical training, accompanied An Jiali at home for two whole days, during which they were almost never separated if they were not really good.

On the night of the 12th, the game between the Kings and the Raptors officially started, due to the recurrence of Willy's back injury and Randolph's single-handedness, the King's interior line was stabbed by Raptors center Valancius in the first quarter, Valancius's luxury data of 12 points and 8 rebounds in a single quarter also successfully drove the Raptors outside, DeRozan scored 5 assists in a single quarter, and the first quarter ended, and the Kings fell behind 24:32.

In the second quarter of the game, the king completely gave up the combination of inside and outside play, and David asked all the players to cover Zhang Feng for Zhang Feng. This tactic allows all the balls on the court to be concentrated on the outside, Valancius also had to mention the three-point line to follow, after seven or eight rounds, his physical strength began to lose significantly, and the shooting rate declined, and the king relied on Zhang Feng's various strong plays to gradually catch up with the score, and by the end of the half, the king actually exceeded by 2 points.

During the halftime period, the Raptors head coach didn't know what chicken blood he gave his players, DeRozan began to play unreasonable singles as soon as he returned to the court, and he still made 4 of 5 shots, and Ibaka also opened up the situation at the three-point line, and made 2 consecutive 3-pointers to help the Raptors expand the gap to 12 points.

The 12-point difference did not make the king worry at all, but David still couldn't stand the shouts of the fans at the scene, and called a timeout, but what he said during the pause was to continue to insist on the tactics of blocking and dismantling Zhang Feng with all the members.

After that timeout, the game went just as David and Zhang Feng thought, and the Raptors failed to continue the hot touch, whether it was DeRozan or Ibaka, they both began to shoot down in the last three minutes of the third quarter, and the Kings ate the score back little by little.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Raptors head coach Wayne Casey unbelievably replaced CJ Myers, but then he was slapped in the face by CJ Myers for consecutive 3 points, and Lowry has not opened his hand, the Raptors fell into a scoring drought, and the Kings took the opportunity to play a wave of 8:0 to overtake the score again.

The two teams fought bayonets until the last minute, Zhang Feng hit two 3-pointers in a row to help the Kings lead by 6 points, and in the last 20 seconds, DeRozan missed a 3-point shot under Zhang Feng's tight defense, and the Kings won the victory with difficulty.

In the game against the Raptors, the Kings had 5 double-doubles on the team, and Zhang Feng unexpectedly got 3 double-doubles, but the best performance was actually Randolph, who cut down the luxurious data of 20 points and 11 rebounds, and successfully set a new record for the oldest data of the King.

Considering that the next opponent is the Sun, and after that, the king will go through a long four-game journey, the management decided to take a holiday, and Zhang Feng took advantage of this time to accompany An Jiali to buy Christmas items, and decorate the home in advance with a Christmas atmosphere.

In the game against the Suns, because Devin Booker was out due to injury, Tyson Chandler alone was difficult to pose a threat to the Kings inside, and Josh Jackson, the No. 4 pick who was one pick higher than Zhang Feng, was even more behind Zhang Feng in an all-round way, so the Kings won very easily in the end, and Zhang Feng also cut down the super data of 40 points and 10 assists.

After the victory over the Suns, the Kings have played 27 games this season, and their 23-4 record keeps them in second place in the West, which is something that anyone who knows the NBA did not expect, especially since the Suns were unanimously considered the biggest obstacle to the Kings competing for the top pick at the beginning of the season.

At the same time, on the latest MVP prediction list, Zhang Feng's name has quietly reached the second position, although the King's record is not as good as the Rockets, and Zhang Feng's score is not as good as Harden's, but everything indicates that Zhang Feng is very likely to win the MVP as a first-year rookie.

On the night of the 13th, Zhang Feng had just finished taking a shower and was lying in bed when a call from Richie Paul suddenly came.

"Do you have time to come to Los Angeles tomorrow? I went to great lengths to find people from ESPN to do an interview."

"It's not good, the team has to go to Minnesota the day after tomorrow, I don't want to be separated from the team"

"Hey buddy, I know you have a bad impression of ESPN, but their show has a lot of ratings, you have to know that they are the number one sports media in the country, and if they give you a wave of publicity, your chances of winning the MVP will increase again"

"Everything is a false name, Westbrook won the MVP and was sprayed so badly......"

"Have you forgotten about your contract with Nike, think about the incentive clause, buddy"

When it came to the incentive clause, Zhang Feng suddenly reacted, in the original agreement with Nike, if Zhang Feng won the MVP and other honors in the season, he could get a reward of tens of millions of dollars, which was really a lot, and he was a little excited when he was short of money.

"Go ahead, take the MVP and this kind of thing, the team will definitely fully support you" An Jiali on the side interjected in relief.

Zhang Feng thought about it, and it seemed that it was indeed possible, so he said to Richie Paul on the other end of the phone: "Okay, I'll ask the team for leave first, what do I need to prepare?" ”。

"You don't have to prepare anything, I'll pick you up at the airport, I've already bought your ticket, it's 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, oh yes, remember to get the right outfit, no sneakers and jeans, it's going to be a high-profile interview," reminds Rich-Paul.

Hanging up the phone, Zhang Feng successively sent text messages to David and Divac to explain the reason, and he received a reply in less than 1 minute, both of them were very supportive of him to participate, Divac also specially arranged for an assistant to follow Zhang Feng, and said that he would help Zhang Feng draft some questions overnight How to answer them is the most beautiful and can be favored by media people with MVP voting rights.

Although Zhang Feng didn't want to cause trouble for the others, Divac insisted on doing so, and Zhang Feng had to give up and inform Rich-Paul that he was sure to participate in the interview.

Considering that the two are about to say goodbye again, Zhang Feng and An Jiali are lingering again.

Early the next morning, Zhang Feng met Richie Paul, who had been waiting for a long time, at the Los Angeles airport.

"This interview is hosted by Max, ESPN's biggest streamer right now," Rich looked a little excited.

"I don't know ......" Zhang Feng has a black line on his face, it's not that he is pretending, he didn't watch sports programs before, and he doesn't have a good impression of ESPN, except for a few TNT hosts that Kobe Bryant took him to meet during the summer league finals, he really doesn't know anything about other NBA hosts.

"Hey, it's okay, he's a national sports host, and his words can affect a lot of fans' opinions about LeBron, now you know how good he is, right?" Richie continued to render.

"Are you willing to help me if you're so hanging?" Zhang Feng asked curiously.

"Three reasons. One, you are in full swing now, and there are a lot of people who want to interview you, and I have already helped you block several tabloid interviews; Second, I used part of the CAA company to exchange interests; Three, don't forget, your partner, 'Truth' Pierce, is also the host of ESPN, and he has a colleague relationship," Richie quickly explained.

"...... so"

"Yes, Pierce will also be in the interview, but he's as a guest, and Bill Simmons," Rich added.

"Didn't Bill interview me before?" Zhang Feng was puzzled.

"You were completely different from now, and besides, this time he asked questions as a columnist, and the interview was divided into three angles, Pierce's NBA celebrity, the partner perspective, the perspective of media people like Beal, and finally the fan perspective of online commentary," Rich gave a rough introduction.

Two hours later, Zhang Feng and the two arrived at the ESPN Los Angeles office building, Pierce was waiting for the door of the building early to greet him, and when he saw Zhang Feng arrive, he hugged and greeted him directly.

After entering the studio, Zhang Feng shook hands with Max and Bill one by one, and after adjusting the recording equipment and radio equipment, the interview recording officially began.

"Good evening fans and friends, I am your old friend Max, today the program team is honored to invite Zhang Feng, a Sacramento Kings point guard who has been in the limelight recently, to be a guest on the program and say hello to everyone."

"Hello everyone, I'm Zhang Feng"

"OK, the interview is officially open. Paul (Pierce), I heard that you met Zhang Feng with Kobe, what was your first image of him? Did you think he would be where he is today? Rookie driver MVP ranked second, set multiple all-time records, GOD, I just think it's scary to say that, rookie, he's a rookie."

"Well, to be honest, I thought you were very awesome from the beginning", Pierce smiled at Zhang Feng, "Because, you can actually have a tie with Kobe, if you didn't let him at that time, he would have lost."

"And what's going on? Bill (Simmons): Have you heard of that? Max feigned surprise

"Of course, it was a live webcast, and I saw Kobe Bryant being beaten by Zhang Feng and became angry, you must know that Kobe Bryant has been playing in the league for nearly 20 years, but there are few opponents who can make him angry."

"So you foresaw Zhang Fengfeng's achievements early on, and then interviewed him just before me?" Mark joked.

"That's my strength as a columnist, but what attracts me the most about Zhang Feng is his unmatched leadership, and if you look at how the Kings have changed now, you can believe they were still on the verge last season – Simmons kept shaking his head.

Do you agree with that? Unparalleled leadership? Max looked at Zhang Feng.

"To be honest, it's not entirely due to me, the management led by Divac, the coaching team led by David, veterans such as Carter and Randolph have all contributed a lot, and we are very fortunate to have a common goal", this question Divac estimated last night, but the preset answer to Zhang Feng emphasized Zhang Feng's own credit.

"It's interesting to note that you mentioned the credit of management such as Divac, considering that people didn't think that way last season......," Marks said bluntly.

Zhang Feng understands that what Max said is not unreasonable, in the annual draft, the high-pick players are afraid of being selected by the king, the reason why he said this is because in recent years, the king's management has been in a stupor, and the future plan has not been clear, and Divac and others are representatives of the brain-dead management in the hearts of the public.

"I don't know how it used to be, but since this season, the management has selected me, Justin, Mason, and signed potential rookies like Bogdan, as well as experienced veterans like Randolph, Carter, Hill, and the team is currently bringing in new players, and the situation is very good, which is all due to the management."

Zhang Feng's answer is very good, neither denying the behavior of Divac and others that led to the loss of fans, but also listing the good things they did, as soon as the interview is broadcast, Zhang Feng will definitely get a very high evaluation of emotional intelligence.

"Well, that's good, by the way, you just said that the team has a common goal, can you tell us what your goal is?"

"Of course, it's to make the playoffs and compete for the championship," Zhang Feng blurted out without the slightest hesitation.

"Judging from the current record, this goal is very promising, but where does the confidence to compete for the championship come from?" , Max's question is tricky, and the general host will not dwell on the second half of the sentence, but he has to ask.

"I" Zhang Feng replied with one word.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Max suspected he hadn't heard clearly.

"I said 'I,'" Zhang Feng repeated.

"I seem to understand, what do you mean you, the king's confidence in competing for the crown is yourself?" Max smiled meaningfully.

"Yes, that's me!"