(Ask for a commuter pass)

"Phil, I'm still watching the Boston Celtics game footage."

For the United States, every Christmas is the most important holiday of their year, which is somewhat like the Chinese Spring Festival, in the United States, from December 24 Christmas Eve has begun to holiday, this holiday has lasted until January 2 of the new year, for the NBA this period of games is also very few, this is also a rare day of rest and relaxation in the NBA players' annual schedule. {}

It's a break for the players, and even more so for the coaches. But that's not the case with the Los Angeles Lakers now, when the players are home to their families on Christmas Eve, while the team's head coach, Phil Jackson, is alone in his office with the lights off and watching the video on the TV screen.

Now the Lakers head coach feels that he is getting more and more used to the dark, and he is not used to having him in a dark room in the past, but now he has become more and more fond of it, especially in this situation, watching the game footage can calm his whole mind.

"Oh, it's Mickey."

Phil Jackson looked to the side through the faint TV fluorescence, and it was the team's new general manager Mitch Kupchak who came in, the Lakers general manager used to be the deputy general manager of the Lakers and was the assistant to Jerry West, and now because of Jerry West's departure, this assistant has naturally become the team's general manager, and unlike Jerry West, the new Lakers general manager has an excellent relationship with Phil Jackson, and there is no tension between Jerry West and Phil Jackson before. Of course, after a little thought, it can actually be understood, the current Mitch Kupchak is completely a puppet in the Lakers, and there is a little Bass above him who is now getting stronger and stronger to plug in the team's affairs, and there is a Phil Jackson opposite him who has much more prestige and popularity than him, and it is naturally impossible for this general manager to have too much power in such a living environment. A general manager who has no rights will naturally not have any disputes with anyone. At this time, Mitch Kupchak had some taste of McHale, who assisted Zhuang Fei at the beginning, but McHale was forced to be suppressed by Zhuang Fei, while Kupchak took the initiative to join Phil Jackson.

"I thought you were still eating turkey at home," Kupchak saw Phil Jackson just look up and then stare at the TV screen again, a little helpless. For NBA practitioners, especially those who participate in the Christmas War, December 24 is the Christmas of Serie A reunion every year. But now the man in front of him has given up such an opportunity.

"Well, it's too noisy at home, now I need to calm down, I need to think about something alone, so I'll go back to the team" Phil Jackson still stared at the TV screen with his eyes glued and said lightly, there was no regret on the face of the famous coach because he couldn't reunite with his family, and the face of the famous coach only had that vague expectation or a little bit of cruelty. {}

Seeing Phil Jackson standing in front of him like this, the Lakers general manager sighed again, and in the eyes of outsiders, the Lakers head coach was getting more and more anxious, especially when the game with Zhuang Fei was approaching. In fact, Kupchak can also understand his feelings, and the two most successful or best head coaches in the NBA are him and the Chinese, and these two are lifelong enemies. And in the face of this lifelong enemy, the head coach in front of him is losing. Constant failures, especially last season, when the already dominant situation was completed by the Chinese to complete the counter-kill. That loss had a great impact on the Lakers, and it can even be said that it shook the foundation of the Lakers. …,

What are the roots of the Lakers? Naturally, it is the team's boss Ao Fat and other core players, but after that loss, the core players of the Lakers led by Ao Fat are collectively a little dissipated, which is a kind of idea of being scared or completely defeated, which is extremely fatal for the Lakers, and it is not easy for a team that is about to lose self-confidence to get results again, so this season Phil Jackson's responsibility is much greater than before, Even the head coach, in order to arouse the fighting spirit of the players who have not slowly lost it, has even been playing the role of a 'clown' outside, constantly shouting to Zhuang Fei, and constantly telling the media that he wants to defeat the Boston Celtics and Zhuang Fei.

In fact, in the past, Phil Jackson often said that he wanted to beat Zhuang Fei, but at that time, the victory and defeat of the two were equal, and in that environment, Zhuang Fei and Phil Jackson had no problem saying such things, but under the current environment, he has been defeated by Zhuang Fei for two consecutive years, and there are not many people who believe that he can beat Zhuang Fei at this time, even if his Lakers are stronger than the Boston Celtics in terms of strength, But this will also make the outside world think that the Lakers head coach is a 'scoundrel' or a 'self-inflicted humiliation', and even reminds everyone of the previous Lakers head coach who was constantly shouting to defeat Zhuang Fei but was defeated by Zhuang Fei, at this time Phil Jackson is undoubtedly ruining his image.

But the head coach still did it, instead of hiding behind and slowly licking his wounds, because the head coach knows that this year is a successful or ruined season for the Lakers, and he has no way back in this season, and the Lakers' goal this season can only be to win the championship, otherwise this team will no longer be under his control, so there are not many options for Phil Jackson for all this.

Kupchak knows this very well, so he ended up throwing himself to Phil Jackson as a 'JereWest cronie', he admires the sacrifice made by the league coach for the Lakers at this time, so he also hopes to make the coach without any interference within his own ability, and can devote all his energy to the game.

Therefore, although the morale of the Lakers this season is not high, with Phil Jackson's wrist and the overall strength of the Lakers, this team is currently ranked first in the West with a 24-4 record like the Boston Celtics, although this record is much worse than the previous two years when the Lakers and Timberwolves won more than a dozen or 20 consecutive wins at every turn, but in this case it is extremely difficult.

And more importantly, the current Lakers are undoubtedly the most united Lakers in the last decade or so. Only by defeating Zhuang Fei can the current Lakers complete a sublimation of the team to a certain extent, and it will also make the team rise to a higher level.

"Now the Boston Celtics are on a 10-game winning streak. It looks like he's in great shape. And they also defeated strong teams such as the Grizzlies, 76ers and Jazz in succession, Phil. Now do you think we can beat this team on the road" Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak was also worried when he thought about this, and finally he knew the state of the Boston Celtics, and this team is now the league's recognized championship litmus test team. That is, the so-called "strongest" team in the league, although he also knows that this is more of everyone's "malice" to praise, the strength of the Boston Celtics cannot be the strongest, but everyone is too jealous of that Chinese, and in the subconscious of these people, that Chinese is the most difficult person to beat. The same is naturally true for Kupchak. In the NBA, a coach will impose all his power on his team, such a thing is simply unheard of in the NBA in the past, if Zhuang Fei coaches the Raptors, it is estimated that the Raptors will also be the most feared 'touchstone' team in the league, even if the strength of the Raptors is actually the inferior. …,

"We're stronger than the Boston Celtics. If we can beat the Boston Celtics according to the general situation," Phil Jackson said lightly as he watched the TV, but he paused when he said this, and then under Kupchak's puzzled eyes, the NBA coach continued: "This Celtics is indeed inferior to us. But this team has a lot of players who can kill us," Phil Jackson said lightly as he watched the thin small forward and the big Chinese man on the TV screen.

"A player who can kill us?" At this time, Kupchak was also stunned.

"I'm well aware. In the hands of that Chinese, he will maximize all the advantageous points" Phil Jackson finally took a long breath under Kupchak's nose and continued: "But. The winner of this game has to be me."

Looking at Phil Jackson, whose face was getting more and more gloomy, Kupchak on the side was a little chilled, and it was the first time he saw Phil Jackson with such a look during his tenure as general manager

Los Angeles was a bit dignified before the Christmas War, but Boston, on the other hand, was more relaxed.

This is Zhuang Fei's third consecutive Christmas war, now for Zhuang Fei as long as he remains in the NBA to coach him is impossible to get rid of the call of the Christmas war, David Stern will not give up such a business tree, now Zhuang Fei's influence and appeal to the NBA is not bad compared to most stars, and even in the current NBA can be compared with Zhuang Fei's star is the Grizzlies and the Wizards. These three are also currently the most charismatic figures in the NBA.

So this time none of the three people can escape, this year's Christmas war is a little different from previous years, in the previous two years, the Christmas war generally had eight teams to participate in four games, but this year it was directly cut in half, and only four teams participated in the Christmas war this year.

In addition to the fateful showdown between the Boston Celtics and the Lakers, the other one is the matchup between the Grizzlies and the Wizards, which is also a fateful matchup, Jordan vs Carter, the former NBA influence first and now the NBA influence first, Carter entered the NBA when Jordan retired, so some topics between these two have never been interrupted, Carter is now the leader of the younger generation in the United States, and the only one among the young American swing people has not been poured in' Jordan's successor's nickname player, in the NBA other such as Pierce, Kobe Bryant and even Maddie have a 'Jordan successor' coat, which can also be seen in everyone's positioning of Carter, this is a figure who can be tied with Jordan, so this game is also the most interesting game in this round of Christmas games. The league also put this game behind the Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Of course, now the whole league is preparing for the Christmas War, and the fans are also looking forward to it, but for Zhuang Fei, this is a different experience of his Christmas War.

It was his first time playing at home, which was a little different for him, and he didn't need to rush as usual, the game started at 6 p.m., and Zhuang Fei could even go home after this game and watch the Wizards and Grizzlies fight with Scarlett over Christmas dinner.

Of course, Zhuang Fei is easy now, and the other Boston Celtics players will not be easy either.

"Coach, you just let me, this game is really important for me"

On the day of the Christmas battle on December 25, when Zhuang Fei came to the team's training gym, he was targeted by the team's super sixth man Arenas. In this game, the young guard will meet his old enemy Kobe Bryant in the United States, and when they were in the United States, the two were clamoring every day to win in the NBA, and now the opportunity has come, and in Arenas's heart, the two are lifelong rivals. However, Arenas is the sixth man on the team, and the two have no chance to face each other.

"No, Gilbert, honestly stay on the bench for me" Zhuang Fei glared at Arenas next to him fiercely and said, while the other Boston Celtics players on the side looked at Zhuang Fei and Arenas with a relaxed face, and they also knew that the team's head coach could eat him to death, and Arenas couldn't get up.

Sure enough, seeing Zhuang Fei so decisive, Arenas also had a little embarrassment on his face, and he no longer dared to do anything with Zhuang Fei.

"Gilbert, I'll mention you when you know how to pass the ball, it's too early for you" Zhuang Fei looked at Arenas like this and said with a helpless smile, while Arenas nodded as if he didn't understand. He really doesn't know what 'passing' means now, he doesn't need to think about this when he's in the second team, he doesn't need to think about it, for him to be able to monopolize the ball can maximize his power, but after he gets to the first team, he needs to think about coexisting with Maddy, and James Posey is much better than him at this point, after all, James Posey and Carter have worked together in Wake Forest.

"A lifelong rival?" Zhuang Fei looked at Arenas and then at Maddie, who was practicing not far away.