Six o'clock!

Which meant this guy had gotten up at least around 5 a.m.

This was truly boundless energy!

"This early, it's not even easy to get a ride," Thompson added.

Butler nodded with a smile.

Today, in addition to their regular training, they were also going to play 2-on-2.

Butler was playing the role that Irving had before.

His defense was definitely better than Irving's, but his offense… left a lot to be desired.

As a result, Thompson couldn't escape the fate of being dominated again.

He just couldn't win against Tang Tian!

"This isn't fair!"

After losing yet again, Thompson plopped down on the ground.

"Why don't you team up with Tang?" Walker said with a smile.

"No, I want to compete against him." Despite losing miserably, Thompson still had his pride.

"I'll team up with Jimmy then," Tang Tian said with a smile.

Walker nodded.

Originally, Irving and Walker were point guards, and Tang Tian and Thompson were swingmen, so they could match up perfectly.

But now that it was Butler, who was also a swingman, it wasn't as perfect a match.

Walker wanted Thompson to experience the feeling of winning too.

Thompson nodded.

2-on-2 was different from 1-on-1; teammates were a very important element.

He also wanted to see if losing to Tang Tian all the time was his own problem, or because of his teammates.

"Jimmy, you guard Klay."

Tang Tian turned to Butler and said.

Butler nodded; he seemed to cherish this training opportunity.

"Tang, be careful."

Walker held the ball outside the three-point line, smiling at Tang Tian.

Come to think of it, the last time the two of them had matched up was back when Tang Tian had his first practice at UConn.

After that, they had always been teammates, and even in the NBA, they didn't match up because of their different positions; this was the first time since then.

Walker had been a focus of development last season and had improved by leaps and bounds; this was also a friendly reminder between brothers: I'm coming at you.

"You too."

Tang Tian said with a smile.

He also wanted to see how much Walker had improved.

Walker lowered his center of gravity and then suddenly made a quick change of direction.

His playing style was really different from Irving's; the core of his breakthrough technique was the burst of his first step.

Compared to his college days, he was really a lot faster.

But Tang Tian was no longer the same as he was in college either; a step back and a prediction successfully blocked Walker's path.

Walker changed direction again.

Because they were close, Tang Tian couldn't quite keep up this time, but he chased from behind, preparing to block the shot.

Butler came to help defend at this time.

Walker made a bounce pass directly.

Thompson caught the ball and made a layup.

1-0.

Walker's passing awareness and ability at UConn weren't top-notch, but this play showed the progress he had made in the NBA over the past year.

"Yeah!"

Thompson was very excited after scoring and immediately gave Walker a high-five.

It seemed that while Tang Tian was playing in the playoffs, Thompson and Walker had developed a deeper relationship through training than before.

Stealing from the team, huh?

"Jimmy, don't help defend; pay attention to Klay's cuts," Tang Tian turned to Butler and said.

Butler nodded.

Walker continued to attack with the ball outside the arc.

Thompson immediately cut to the basket.

Butler followed very closely this time, and always kept his position on the ball side, cutting off Walker's passing route.

In terms of defensive skills, Butler wasn't bad at all.

Walker's first step was blocked by Tang Tian again, and this time he chose a big change of direction to get past Tang Tian.

"Pa!"

But at the moment he raised the height of his dribble, Tang Tian directly cut the ball from his hand.

Fast, ruthless, and accurate.

The dynamic vision training wasn't for nothing.

Even when Tang Tian didn't have much time, the intensity of this training had never been reduced.

After Tang Tian stole the ball, he passed it to Butler.

Although Butler's offensive skills couldn't compare with Irving's, his ball-handling skills were much better.

They didn't have a point guard, so protecting the ball became very important.

Butler dribbled the ball back to the three-point line, and Thompson immediately came up to defend closely.

Tang Tian cut to the basket at this time.

Walker chased from behind.

Tang Tian went to the basket and directly leaned on Walker with his hand out.

Butler passed the ball in.

Tang Tian caught the ball and directly turned and made a layup.

Walker couldn't interfere at all.

1-1.

Although Tang Tian didn't have many offensive skills under the basket, he was, after all, a small forward, and his physique was there.

Not to mention being a head taller than Walker, his resistance was also much stronger than Walker's.

Butler continued to hold the ball.

This time Walker obviously used his body to prevent Tang Tian from going to the basket.

Tang Tian had no chance, and Butler attacked on his own, but was defended by Thompson.

Among these four people, except for Walker, who was a point guard with obvious physical disadvantages, the other three had height and defensive skills; scoring was really not that easy.

The possession changed, and Walker continued to attack Tang Tian; this time he accelerated past Tang Tian and went to the basket, doing a small pull-up in the air.

"Bang!"

But Tang Tian's judgment was very accurate, and he directly gave Walker a chase-down block.

"Come on!"

Walker couldn't help but complain after being blocked; Tang Tian didn't know if he was retaliating against him for being close to Thompson, but he was really going all out!

Tang Tian smiled; there was no helping it, clear accounts between brothers.

The defensive intensity on both sides was very high, and scoring became very difficult.

But compared to that, Tang Tian's side was scoring faster.

The combination of Butler and Tang Tian was too strong on the defensive end.

Thompson only stole one goal at the beginning; he had no scoring opportunities at all in this kind of 2-on-2, and Walker was also defended very inefficiently by Tang Tian.

In the end, this 5-point game took half an hour.

Tang Tian and his team finally won 5-3.

Thompson sat down on the ground with a thud, and Walker was also bending over, panting.

Tang Tian and Butler stood there, their faces basically unchanged.

Tang Tian had the Masked Hero skill; this kind of endurance battle was his strength.

As for Butler, this guy was really a physical freak!

In the following period of time, their daily training content was relatively fixed; they would first practice on their own, and then play 2-on-2.

Thompson and Walker kept losing even after becoming teammates…

He had finally determined that the loss wasn't because of his teammates; after all, Tang Tian had always partnered with Walker before.

There was a very obvious gap in strength between him and Tang Tian.

But having this understanding didn't make him discouraged; on the contrary, it made him even more excited, and he worked even harder during training.

This was a personality trait; some people would become resentful and depressed in the face of failure and gaps, but some people would face difficulties and become more courageous as they fought.

Thompson was obviously the latter.

But compared to Thompson's hard work in training, what surprised Tang Tian and Walker even more was Butler.

At first, they thought Butler was taking a taxi to get there, but later they found out that this guy was running four or five kilometers to the training hall every morning!

And the time he woke up was getting earlier and earlier every day.

One day Tang Tian woke up to go to the bathroom at four o'clock in the morning and found that Butler was already packing up to leave!

Damn, Butler was a fan of Lu Xun!