Chapter 1 My talent is innate
On October 30, 2014, at the American Airlines Arena, the Miami Heat played at home against the Golden State Warriors.
As one of the highest-grossing arenas in the league in the past four years, today's attendance is a bit miserable, but it is the first regular season game after nearly half a year, and the number of fans has plummeted compared to last season.
Perhaps Miami's glory will never be the same again, because LeBron James, the league's first active player and known as the emperor of basketball, ruthlessly abandoned the city and his cherished brother basketball.
"Thanks, it's time for you to play, this is the first official game of your NBA career, and from today onwards, every time you score and every assist, will be recorded in NBA history. Don't be nervous, just show your usual form. Head coach Eric Spoelstra patted a young man with an Asian face on the shoulder and smiled as he admonished.
This yellow man who wears the No. 0 jersey and is rare in the NBA arena, named Xie Chen, English name ChrisTse, Chinese-American, his mother was born in the mainland, and his father was born in Hong Kong, so Xie Zi's English is TSE with Cantonese pronunciation.
Xie Chen is an out-and-out NBA rookie player, selected by the Hornets in the 24th place in the first round this year, and then traded to the Miami Heat, with a height of 193CM, a weight of 85 kg, and a mediocre number of points, serving as a point guard.
Coach Spo, who wears a tailored Armani suit and still prefers to stand unbuttoned to satisfy his habitual posture with his hands on his hips, looks at the newly signed Chinese point guard with a warm smile that seems to have high hopes, but in fact his future has already been decided.
Xie Chen got a lot of playing time in the pre-season, but his table was mediocre, far inferior to the team's new addition, Roel Deng.
Maybe the thin Chinese friend hit the so-called rookie wall, but the team's president, Pat Riley, didn't think so, and he bluntly told Coach SΓΉspoo last night: "Xie Chen can't give our team the help it needs."
Coach Spo can still recall Riley's disappointed expression when he said this, you know, sign Xie Chen, but his idea! Is it possible for a player who even Riley has denied to have a future?
Oh no, he's a god operator.
"Coach, I'll give it my all." Xie Chen replied respectfully and couldn't wait to walk to the court.
There was a burst of sparse applause at the American Airlines Arena, everyone knew that it was Miami's rookie this year, and they all had high hopes for this Chinese point guard, after all, Jeremy Lin, who caused a wave of "Lin Lai's madness" two years ago, is also a Chinese player.
Now that the game has entered the second quarter, the score between the Heat and the Warriors is 40:42, if it weren't for the injury of starting point guard Norris Kerr in the game, and the other PG Mario Chalmers is not in shape, Xie Chen would not have played so early.
"One point is one point, an assist is two points, a rebound is three points, a steal is five points, a block is ten points, and a turnover is two points."
After Xie Chen came on the court, he was not as nervous or excited as the other rookies, but muttered that he didn't know what he was calculating.
"Hey, man, what's that? What are points? Team boss Dwynne Wade affectionately hugged Xie Chen, his face was not good, and the game was not in good shape, after James left, I thought he could return to the "Flash" who supported a team by himself before 09, but he didn't expect it to backfire, but Chris Bosh, who was often criticized as a "pseudo-giant" in the past few years, is in good shape today.
"Oh, no...... It's nothing. Xie Chenhan smiled, and he also had great respect and appreciation for Wade.
Wade comforted: "Don't be nervous, leave it to me when you don't know how to handle the ball, Spo asked you to replace Mario on the court, you want to use your height advantage to put more pressure on Stephen Curry on defense, he is one of the best three-point shooters in the league, you have to play up the spirit to defend, you know?" β
Xie Chen nodded, and immediately became serious. Unexpectedly, in his NBA debut, he was one of the best No. 1 positions in the league today, and of course Xie Chen would defend Curry well, not only for the team, but also for what he was thinking about: points!
As the game restarted, the ABC commentator also introduced Xie Chen, who had just appeared, to the audience: "Oh, this point guard who just came out of the game is the rookie of the Heat team this year, Chris Xie, who is 193 cm tall and weighs 85 kilograms, let's look forward to his debut, of course, don't have too much hope, hahaha......"
No one will look forward to Xie Chen's performance tonight, except for himself and his fellow Chinese people on the other side of the ocean. He vowed to fight to become famous tonight and become the pride of the Chinese!
The Warriors possessed the ball, Curry walked forward with the ball leisurely, and after half the court, he just wanted to arrange his tactics, but he didn't expect Xie Chen, who was on the opposite side, to suddenly pounce on the ball and grab the ball, Curry calmly played a back dribble, and did not let Xie Chen's steal succeed.
Xie Chen's eyes lit up, staring at the basketball in Curry's hand, still trying to make a steal from time to time.
"Five points in a steal, ten points in a block, I want a steal, I want a block!"
In the face of Xie Chen's harassing defense, Curry looked disdainful, and saw that this first-year rookie wanted to play with him, so he temporarily gave up his original tactical play and was ready to play one-on-one with Xie Chen.
Curry kept changing the dribble, moving his feet, luring Xie Chen to step forward and steal, Xie Chen was really fooled, after the air was pounced, Curry jumped high and quickly shot a three-pointer, Xie Chen, who lost his position, jumped up again, raised his arm and prepared to block Curry, but unfortunately Curry had already shot the ball at this time, Xie Chen hit Curry's arm, Curry fell down, the referee whistled, and the basketball went into the net.
Three plus one!
"Oh, what is this stupid rookie doing? I don't know if after losing the position, it is easy to cause a foul by rushing over and blocking so hard? β
Of course Xie Chen knew, but he really wanted a block too much, because he needed ten points, and one block was enough. In the face of huge interests, no one can resist lightly.
Curry stood up and smiled at Xie Chen, "Welcome to the NBA, rookie." β
Xie Chen hated Curry's high-profile smile, but he also had to admit that the other party's super strength was too difficult to get a block on the head of an All-Star player.
Curry missed the free throw, Bosh grabbed the rebound and passed it to Xie Chen, Xie Chen dribbled through the half court unhurriedly, during which Curry has been stepping forward from time to time to pull out the ball, Xie Chen's dribbling skills are not covered, Curry naturally cannot succeed lightly.
Everyone on the Heat team was in a good position, Bosh had already reached out for the ball on the inside, and Curry also decided that Xie Chen must have passed the ball as soon as he came up, so the defense Xie Chen did not follow so closely.
At this time, an unexpected scene happened to the whole court, Xie Chen stood at the top of the arc three-point line, jumped up and shot on the spot, Curry interfered with the shot in hindsight, and the basketball swung around the basket and still came out.
"What the hell is he doing!" Coach Spo was already angry, first gave the opponent a chance to add three plus one, and now wasted another attack, which is simply a cancer!
Curry smiled and stepped forward: "Rookie, you are too confident, let me tell you something, shooter is not something that anyone can do, it needs to be inherited from the previous generation!" Obviously, you don't. β
Curry's father was a famous sharpshooter in the NBA in the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, and he was also Curry's most admired person.
The Warriors grabbed the rebound, the fast break failed, Curry organized a half-court offense again, perhaps because he felt that Xie Chen was too weak in the opposite position, he changed direction and directly broke through Xie Chen's defense, ready to throw, but Wade, who came from the weak side, was rewarded with a big hat, and the basketball was beaten outside the half!
Xie Chen, who was standing outside the three-point line, was the closest player to basketball, and rushed to basketball without hesitation, but facing him was an empty half!
βGO! GO! GO!β Wade shouted happily, didn't follow up quickly, and wanted Xie Chen to complete this attack without any difficulty alone.
"Not a single defender! It looks like our rookie is going to get his NBA virgin points. β
"No suspense buddy, if it were me, I'd do a nice dunk!"
Xie Chen got the ball and rushed to the basket, jumped high to make a layup, only to see the basketball hit the rebound and bounce to the basket, unexpectedly, ...... It popped out of the box!
Didn't get up on the wipe and layup?
Curry, the moe god who didn't follow up, opened his mouth wide.
Xie Chen picked up the rebound, hit the board again, and the ball entered the Nets.
The audience burst into laughter.
"He was even more nervous than Yao Ming, who made his debut that year, this kind of ball actually used two chances, he shouldn't play in the NBA, go home and play NBA2K games!"
"At least he got one rebound, haha, you know, it's not easy for a point guard to get a rebound."
Xie Chen ignored the ridicule on the scene, he silently calculated in his heart: "Two points and one rebound, five points, five points are still missing......
The game continued, the Warriors center hit Bosh, missed the throw, the basketball bounced to the other side, this position happened to be standing Heat player Luo Er Deng, seeing that Luo Er Deng was about to grab the rebound, but he didn't expect to be knocked away by his life in the air, Luo Er Deng was just about to protest why the referee didn't blow the whistle, and he saw that it was his teammate who grabbed the rebound with him, Xie Chen!
"Oh my God, what is he doing? Grabbing rebounds with your teammates? β
"Let's observe a moment of silence for Rohr Deng."
After Xie Chen grabbed the rebound, he said to Luo Erdeng ashamedly: "I'm sorry, I didn't notice that it was you." β
"Uh...... All right. "Luo Erdeng is a very honest black man, and he thinks Xie Chen is too nervous about his debut, and he doesn't care about him.
Xie Chen was out of breath, eight points were left, and there was only one goal or one assist left!
This time, even God helped Xie Chen, Wade deceived the defenders and slipped into the bottom line, Xie Chen quickly threw a high throw, and Wade made a layup.
At this time, Xie Chen's face, which had been gloomy, finally changed slightly.
"The basketball all-around replication system is activated, and ten points are required to activate, and the current points: ten points. Is it activated immediately? β
"Yes!"
Xie Chen, who was provoked by Curry three times and did not respond twice, took the initiative to walk up to Curry and said, "Stephen, I also want to tell you something." β
"What?" Stephen Curry looked confused.
"I don't need to pass it on." Xie Chen said: "Because my shooting talent is innate!" β