At the Sleep Train Arena, the King's home game against the Thunder was about to begin, and after a month's interval, Li Tian sat on the sidelines again.

It's been a month since the Kings' game against the Warriors, and the Kings have played five more games since the end of Lee's suspension, but Li Tian has been on the inactive roster for all five games, and this game is the first time that Li Tian has appeared in the team's rotation since he was suspended.

However, Li Tian didn't know anything about whether he could get a chance to play in today's game.

Pete Smith has recently been discussing with Li Tian whether he needs to communicate with the Kings' management, and if the Kings continue to not give Li Tian a chance to play, then seek a trade and leave the Kings.

But. All this is still under consideration, and there is no real communication with the king's management.

The game started quickly, and the Kings are still at the bottom of the West, while the opposite Thunder is the first in the West, and the difference in strength between the two teams is huge.

In fact, on paper, the strength of the Kings' starters seems to be not bad, center DeMarcus Cousins, power forward Jason Thompson, small forward Marcus Thornton, scoring guard Terrick Evans, point guard Isiah Thomas, single out of the game are very strong players, but together they just can't win the ball.

Recently, there have been quite a few Kings fans who have been dissatisfied and called for Keith Smart to step down, and it is conceivable that once the team changes owners next season, Keith Smart's position is very likely to be lost, of course, provided that his position can be kept until then.

On the other side, the Thunder have lined up a starting lineup that has been stable this season, with center Kendrick Perkins, power forward Serge Ibaka, small forward Kevin Durant, scoring guard Saab Sefrosa, and point guard Russell Westbrook.

Whether it is from the team's record or from the strength of the starters of the two teams, the Thunder undoubtedly occupies an absolute advantage, in fact, it is the case, after the start of the game, the King and the Thunder played a few rounds of tie, and then the score was slowly pulled away by the Thunder.

By the end of the first half, the Kings trailed the Thunder by 12 points.

At half-time, head coach Keith Smart was holding the board and setting up his tactics and motivating his players to play more aggressively.

Li Tian was also listening to the head coach's arrangement, but like the pre-game arrangement, he didn't hear anything related to him.

Seizing a short period of warm-up time before the start of the second half, Li Tian practiced shooting again, because he has been training during this time, his hand feels very good, and he feels that it is a pity not to play.

"Hey, Lee, I think the coach should put you on the court, our outside shots stink like shit." At the start of the second half, Li Tian and Robinson sat down on the sidelines and heard Robinson say.

Li Tian knew that Robinson was talking about Isiah Thomas, and the shooting guard Evans was not good at outside shooting in the first place, and Thomas was completely out of shape today.

Li Tian didn't care, and said with a smile: "This kind of opportunity seems to be more suitable for you, take down the ball they throw, that's your strength." ”

"That's a great idea......"

While chatting and watching the game go on, by the middle of the fourth quarter, Li Tian knew that if there was no accident, it would be difficult for the Kings to win this game.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Kings showed the momentum of chasing points, and the difference between the two teams once reached 5 points, but then a controversial penalty on the court interrupted the King's momentum of chasing points, and Smart was directly sent out by the referee because he was not calm.

Head coach Smart's free throw caused chaos on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends for a period of time, while the Thunder on the other end took the opportunity to pull the gap away, and the difference between the two teams was still 12 points after the third quarter.

After the start of the fourth quarter, it may also be that the difference in strength is obvious, and the Kings players are obviously not working hard enough on the court, and they don't have the momentum to fight this game at all, so although the Thunder put Durant and Westbrook off the court to rest, the difference between the two teams is still slowly widening.

By the middle of the fourth quarter, at 105:87, the difference between the two teams had reached 18 points. Seeing that the game has lost suspense, and Durant and others are also sitting on the court, many Kings fans have left the court, and the arena, which was not very attendance, looks a little empty.

Assistant coach Jim Ain, who was in charge of Smart as he was sent off, also knew that there was no suspense in the game, so he called a timeout and prepared to replace all the team's main players.

His eyes swept over the bench and saw Li Tian, Jim Ain was slightly stunned, unlike Smart, Jim Ain still has a good impression of Li Tian, Li Tian's performance in the summer league once made his eyes shine, and Li Tian's efforts in daily training also made him appreciate it.

"Young people like this deserve the opportunity to perform." Thinking this in his heart, Jim Ain called out Li Tian's name.

"Lee, play!"

Sitting on the bench and hearing Jim Iron's shout, Li Tian was obviously a little surprised.

"Yes!" After seeing Jim Ain's smiling eyes, he immediately stood up with a little excitement.

Jim Ain put several bench players on the court, including Hassan Whiteside and Robinson on the inside, Chris Middleton at small forward, scoring guard Li Tian, and point guard Jimmer Fredette on the court, which is the main lineup in the Kings Summer League.

Compared with the first time he played, Li Tian was not so excited in his heart, but after Robinson spoke, Li Tian began to become excited again.

"Lee, we're finally playing together in the NBA! Don't worry, man, I'll pass the ball to you later. Robinson was the first to shout.

"Lee, you run out of the open space, I'll pass the ball." Immediately afterward, Fredette spoke.

Isaiah Thomas sat down next to him, just when he heard the two of them talking, he opened his mouth and didn't speak, and finally just snorted coldly, he didn't want Li Tian to have any offensive opportunities in his heart.

At this time, Li Tian's eyes lit up after hearing the words of the two, yes, this lineup is a few players in the team who get along well with him, and he is not afraid that he will not be able to receive the ball again.

Thinking of this, Li Tian began to become excited, and the feeling was like his first time stepping on the arena, extremely excited and excited, and he couldn't even wait to perform.

"Let me tell everyone in this game that I am really strong!"

Roaring in his heart, Li Tian glanced at the audience and stepped into the stadium proudly.

Players from both teams came to the court, with the Thunder side, Hashim Thabit on the inside partnering Nick Collison, and the outside three players Saab Seflosa, Kevin Martin, and Daquane Cook. Perhaps unsure if the Kings will all come off the bench, their lineup has been adjusted, but starting guard Seflosa and sixth man Martin remain on the court.

"Li Tian? Oh, and we've finally seen this young player on the pitch again, I've seen him play in the summer league and in fact he's got some quality, but obviously, we haven't seen it yet. Commentator Jerry Reynolds said with a smile.

Another commentator, Grant Napier, said at this time: "This is his second appearance, he had a chance to play last month, he didn't show anything, he was suspended after the game for clashing with Isiah Thomas, hopefully this time, we don't see his fists again." ”

Obviously, for Li Tian, the two commentators are not too optimistic.

At this point, the game had restarted, with the Kings attacking and Middleton serving to Fredette.

Run? Run! His body was full of energy, and feeling the strong desire in his heart, Li Tian began to run to the side.

Sephorosa obviously didn't pay much attention to the little-known Li Tian, and when he saw that Li Tian was about to run away, he just slightly sideways his body to block it, but this kind of blocking had no effect at all.

The footsteps slid to the side, and Li Tianyi dodged to avoid Seflosa's block, rushed past the opponent, and slipped into the inside line.

Passing through the three-second zone, Li Tian appeared in a defensive vacuum area, and the rest of the Thunder's players had no one to come forward to defend, and Sefolosa, who was following him, was blocked by an interior player who was a full three meters away from him.

After seeing that Li Tian was in an open position, Fredette passed the ball.

Just got the chance to shoot so easily? Reaching out to take Fredette's pass, Li Tian felt a little unbelievable, but his movements did not have any hesitation, mid-range shooting, this is where Li Tian trains the most and is the best at it, and he realizes that this is a very good shooting opportunity when he is in the vacant position.

Jumping to the highest point, his wrist shakes, and Li Tian throws the ball out with a standard jump shooting position!

"Huh? Very good shooting posture, the Chinese young man ran away from the defender and got an open shot. On the commentary bench, Jerry Reynolds said.

Li Tian couldn't hear Jerry Reynolds's voice, and he didn't care about his shooting posture, the moment he threw the ball, he couldn't take his eyes off the orange ball, which was the first ball he threw in the NBA!

"Get in! Get in! Shouting in his heart, watching the trajectory of the basketball flying towards the basket, Li Tian's eyes became brighter and brighter.

"Huh!" Finally, after the basketball crossed the air that Li Tian thought was the most beautiful arc he had thrown so far, it fell steadily into the basket, swinging a white net flower, and the crisp sound resounded throughout the court.

The ball is in!

"The ball is in! The ball is in! Li Tian kept thinking in his heart.

No words can describe Li Tian's mood at the moment, looking at the basketball passing through the net, his fists clenched, his fingers turned white from the vigorous clenching of his fists, his short nails seemed to pierce into his palms, his mouth opened and closed and opened again, but there was no sound.

The voice disappeared instantly, and there was no one around, at this moment, Li Tian's eyes only had the falling basketball, and the pure orange seemed to exude the most dazzling light at this moment, stinging his eyes.

It hurts! He almost burst into tears in pain.

"Bang!" As if a century had passed, the ball fell to the floor, and all the senses returned to Li Tian's body.

"Wow!" The clenched fist swung down and smashed into the air, and Li Tian yelled excitedly, he scored! He's finally scored on the NBA court!

With 18 points behind, Li Tian's goal did not change the atmosphere of the scene much, but this did not prevent Li Tian from celebrating, he did not know where his path would be in the future, but he was sure that this moment would be forever fixed in his memory.

Li Tian will never forget that on January 18, 2013, at the Sacramento Sleep Train Arena, he made a mid-range shot!