Morey looked at Alexander and said with a wry smile: "Boss, we haven't reached an agreement with Wen Hao, do you want to abide by the agreement with Harden and compress Wen Hao's playing time?" ”

Alexander took a sip of coffee and said, "Didn't you ask knowingly?" Although he didn't negotiate with Wen Hao today, he didn't sign a contract with Toyota, and we couldn't get the $80 million, but now the two major brands in the industry, Nike and Toyota, have signed contracts with Wen Hao, which is enough to show how much Wen Hao's market value is. It seems that we still underestimated Wen Hao's energy before. I believe that from today onwards, there will continue to be endorsements looking for Wen Hao, and then Chinese brands will come to the door. At that time, we will be able to make a lot of money again as we did when Da Yao was there. And the premise of all this is that Wen Hao can have continuous stability and excellent performance, and this requires stable playing time as the foundation. Therefore, Wen Hao's playing time cannot be compressed, and even if necessary, his playing time needs to be increased. As for Harden, that's up to you. ”

Morey smiled wryly again, drank the remaining coffee from his cup, and said, "I see, boss, I'll talk to Harden." ”

But Morey didn't immediately talk to Harden, a smart general manager like him needs a step to do things, and he needs to do things step by step in order to control everything. Moreover, he was waiting for an opportunity.

In the next ten games, Morey told McHale to compress Wen Hao's playing time first, according to Harden, as long as Wen Hao played less than ten minutes per game.

So in the next ten games, Wen Hao only played about 9 minutes per game, averaging 10.8 points and 4.3 assists per game. It stands to reason that he averaged 10.8 points and 4.3 assists in 9 minutes per game, which is definitely very impressive. But the Rockets have not increased his playing time, which has caused widespread questioning.

There are even some media who have a hammer in the east and a mallet in the west, and they have guessed the general situation after piecing together. As a result, many media pointed the finger at Harden. They pointed out that although Harden did work hard in these ten games, averaging 34.5 points and 5.2 assists per game, due to his exclusion, Wen Hao could only play about ten minutes, which is almost equivalent to giving the Rockets one less thruster.

Of those ten games, the Rockets lost four of them. This is unacceptable for the Rockets, who are aiming to win the championship. It is especially obvious that in these ten games, Harden has made fewer passes and more shots of his own. When Wen Hao and Harden were on the court at the same time, Harden basically didn't pass the ball.

In the midst of doubts from the outside world, Harden continued to go his own way, in short, his purpose was not to let Wen Hao's limelight overpower him.

But others can't see it, but head coach McHale can clearly feel that in these ten games, although Wen Hao's playing time has been compressed and his performance is not as good as before, Harden is not as excited as expected. He didn't seem to be in the best mood as he thought.

It was at this point that Morey felt that the time had come and finally found Harden in the middle of a Rockets practice.

"James," Morey said as he tossed Harden a towel, "what do you think?" ”

Harden took the towel and wiped his face as he said, "Very good." ”

"We kept the agreement and compressed Wen Hao's playing time to less than ten minutes, what do you think?"

"Good." Harden said.

"Really? We've lost four out of ten games and now we've dropped to fifth in the West, do you think it's good? Morey's voice wasn't stern, and his expression wasn't serious, but the content of his conversation shook Harden's heart.

But Harden didn't admit his mistake, and even was slightly angry, and said coldly: "In short, I just can't let his momentum override me!" ”

"Tell me, James, what do you value most?" Morey still said lightly, "Is it the position of the boss or the championship?" ”

"I value both." Harden didn't back down.

"What if I told you that, based on my data, with Wen Hao, our chances of winning the championship will increase by 10%?"

Harden looked at Wen Hao, who was practicing three points on the court, with some surprise, and subconsciously said, "Impossible." ”

"Nothing is impossible, James, let go of the mustard. If I were you, the most important thing for me at this stage would be the championship ring. In terms of N**A's strength, how many great players, as the leader of the team, led the team to a brilliant record, but in the end failed to win the championship. When they are older, they are even willing to take the basic salary of a veteran and go to a team with the strength to win the championship. Now with Wen Hao, our chances of winning the championship will increase by 10%, you ask yourself, are you really unwilling? ”

Harden held the towel in his hand and didn't speak.

"It's okay if you want to be the boss, but can you get at least one ring? You don't have any regrets at that time, isn't that the best of both worlds? James, at least this season, worked well with Wen Hao to get this championship ring. Morey said earnestly.

Harden still didn't speak, his eyes looked out the window at the sky, as if thinking about something. After a long time, he threw the towel to Morey, and did not say yes or no.

But Morey already saw what Harden meant. He beckoned McHale over.

"Is it done?" McHale asked straight to the point.

Morey did not answer McHale directly, but said: "From the next game, you can increase Wen Hao's playing time." ”

"Really?" There was some excitement in McHale's voice, "How did you negotiate it?" ”

"This ...... Heaven must not be leaked. In short, you can let Wen Hao play for as many minutes as you want in the future, and Harden will definitely not interfere. ”

"I understand, I'm just wondering, how exactly did you get Harden to say yes?"

"Quite simply, you know, the appeal of a championship ring is endless."

McHale nodded thoughtfully: "I see......"

"But that's the way it is, whether it works or not depends on tomorrow night's game."

"We're playing the Celtics tomorrow night, their point guard Rajan? Rondo and scoring guard Chris? Barbu is a very strong backcourt combination this year. In our backcourt, Harden is a little better at scoring than Babu, but Jeremy Lin is much weaker at point guard than Rondo. Even Beverley can't compete with Rondo. At this point, our Rockets' scoring and passing ability can be comparable to Rondo's, only Moon Hao. Even if Wen Hao can't compare to Rondo in defense, he can make up for it with offense. ”

"So, whether Harden lets go of the mustard or not depends on tomorrow night's game. On his own, he can't beat the Celtics' backcourt combination, and he must form a cooperation with Wen Hao. ”

"That's right."

……

Time is said to be slow and slow, and every second passes, which makes many people who are looking forward to it feel like a year; If you say fast, it will be very fast, and the white horse will pass through the gap and the black flying rabbit will pass for a lifetime.

Back to this game. The next day came quickly. The Rockets took the Specialists in the early hours of the next morning and headed to Boston, the city where the Celtics are located.

After a day of rest, at 9 p.m., the Rockets took the bus to the Celtics' home stadium, TD North Shore Garden Arena, which fans habitually call North Shore Garden.

This is the first time that Moon Hao has been to North Shore Gardens since he joined the Rockets. When you look up, you don't see a huge arena, but if you look at the data and its history, you can see how remarkable it is.

The North Shore Garden Arena covers an area of 70,100 square meters and can accommodate 18,624 people to watch the game at the same time. Enter the arena and look up to see as many as 17 championship flags hanging from the roof of the arena. This is the team with the most championships in the N**A, and in the last 50s and 60s, the Celtics created an eight-game winning streak that no one else would have done before, which shocked the world.

And as many as 22 retired jerseys hanging next to it are also the most of any N**A team, including the current head coach of the Rockets, Kevin? McHale's number 32 jersey.

When McHale entered, the fans at the scene were still accustomed to giving McHale a round of applause. McHale was the hero of the Rockets' championship that year. Although he is now in his own right, his place in the hearts of Boston fans is still extremely high.

This time, it was Tommy, the Celtic commentator, who was in charge of the commentary? Haythorne and Mike? Gorman.

Heythorne, an extremely burly, even fat-looking yellow-haired old man, saw that the players from both sides had entered the stadium and immediately began today's commentary: "McHale is back, let's pay tribute to the hero who won the championship in the first place." ”

Gorman, on the other hand, is an old man with white eyes and hair. Jackson is somewhat similar. He echoed Haythorne's words: "Of course, I salute him, even though he is now our enemy, but none of us can forget the great service he made to Boston." ”

"Okay, back to the topic, let's talk about the highlights of today's game."

"I can't really find the highlight of this game. On the inside line, they have Warcraft and Da Yao, which completely explode our inside line. And in the backcourt, we have Rondo and Barb, and then we've got their combination of Harden and Jeremy Lin or Beverley. So if you have to look for something to watch, it's better than their interior line or our backcourt. ”

"You seem to have one less, don't they still have a point guard Wen Hao?"

"Wen Hao? Come on, although Wen Hao's efficiency is very high, as rumored in the market, Harden and Wen Hao are at odds, so the Rockets can only compress Wen Hao's playing time to please Harden. So there's no need to worry about that at all. (To be continued.) )