Chapter 1 A K1600B BMW motorcycle, plus a pair of sneakers that hadn't officially been released.

Although Tang Tian's Christmas gift this year wasn't as extravagant as last year's, it was even more meaningful.

For the Pelicans players, this gift was priceless.

Whiteside seemed particularly excited; it was the first time he'd received such an expensive gift.

"Guys, there are gifts in the trunk, but it's best to wait until you get back to see them."

Tang Tian said to his teammates with a smile.

His words were a bit mysterious, and the players all took them to heart.

After listening, Whiteside couldn't wait to open the trunk after the photographers finished their work.

His face flushed slightly when he saw what was inside.

It was the contact information for New Orleans' most luxurious private club, said to have many top models inside.

More importantly, it also said that mentioning Tang Tian's name would get him a free night!

He'd heard from other players that Tang Tian had given away models in addition to cars last season.

This year, because he was helping BMW with promotions, giving away models was definitely inappropriate.

But Tang Tian still gave them away!

He just wanted his teammates to make a phone call themselves!

Whiteside wasn't Davis; he wasn't that innocent.

After the teammates had all driven their cars back, he directly called the club, booked a Lebanese model, and then rushed home.

He wouldn't be spending another night alone!

Two days later, the Pelicans boarded a plane to Houston, where they would face the Rockets in their Christmas game.

The Rockets were currently fourth in the West. Although they failed to acquire Anthony in the summer, the Harden + Parsons + Bosh combination was still very competitive.

Harden was averaging 27.4 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists this season, all career highs, and he was one of the MVP frontrunners.

Bosh was averaging 21.3 points and 7 rebounds. While his rebounding numbers hadn't changed much, his scoring was also at a high not seen since his time with the Heat.

Parsons was averaging 15.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.3 assists. Although his scoring and rebounding numbers had declined, his assist numbers were a career high.

This was a mini version of the Big Three.

With Davis still out, it wouldn't be easy for the Pelicans to play against these Rockets.

But that was the charm of the Christmas game; a clash of titans on such a holiday was what fans loved to see most.

Of course, there was more than one Christmas game; there were five in total this year.

The Pelicans and Rockets game was the second; before them, the Lakers and Heat had already finished their game.

Because of Tang Tian, the rosters of these two teams were completely different from what they were in history.

The Lakers traded for Chandler and Shumpert, originally intending to make one last push, but Chandler was injured shortly after joining the team, and Shumpert didn't adapt well.

Like Kobe's age, the Lakers were giving off a sunset-years feeling.

But for most fans, it didn't seem to matter how well the Lakers played; being able to continue watching Kobe play was a blessing in itself.

The Heat weren't doing much better; Wade was leading the team single-handedly, just trying to make the tanking process less painful.

But the clash between Wade and Kobe, the former first and second-ranked shooting guards in the league, still drew attention.

And the outcome of the game was extremely dramatic.

In the 2009 Christmas game, Kobe's last-second bank shot to win against the Heat became a classic.

And this year, the two teams fought to the very end again.

The Heat were down by 1 with the last possession, and Wade's last-second shot was blocked by Kobe.

But he immediately got the ball back after being blocked, and with a one-legged, one-handed shot, he directly hit a three-pointer off the backboard to win against the Lakers.

The scene was very similar to five years ago, except the one hitting the bank shot was Wade instead of Kobe.

It really did prove the saying: what goes around comes around.

Before Kobe retired, Wade gave Kobe back the feeling he'd had five years earlier, in its entirety.

The game was epic and left fans even more excited for the games to come.

The Pelicans and Rockets game was about to begin.

The Toyota Center that day had a rare sellout crowd.

For Houston's working class, Christmas was a rare time for leisure.

There were also quite a few Chinese people in attendance.

As one of the areas with the largest Chinese population in the United States, they wouldn't miss such a special game day.

Before the game, both teams were making their final preparations in the locker room.

"Guys, let's celebrate Christmas with a victory!"

Metta World Peace gathered the team together and shouted.

"Victory!"

The Pelicans shouted back, looking excited.

This was the first time this Pelicans team had appeared on the Christmas stage since its formation, and the players were already excited.

Plus, with the luxurious Christmas gift combo that Tang Tian had given them earlier, the Pelicans' morale was at its peak.

Before the game, the players from both teams entered the court one after another.

The Rockets had performed well this season, and Harden's mood had improved accordingly; he could often be seen smiling on the court.

But his expression was more serious tonight.

Because they both went from being role players on their original teams to becoming core players after being traded, and both grew into superstars, fans always liked to compare him and Tang Tian.

And he was often considered the weaker of the two.

On one hand, the Rockets had lost more often than they'd won in past matchups with the Pelicans.

On the other hand, Tang Tian had already led the Pelicans to the Western Conference Semifinals, while the Rockets had yet to make it past the first round during his time as the leading player.

Such an assessment seemed reasonable.

Before, it was because of the roster, but this year the team's roster was better, and he finally had a chance to prove himself.

The opening ceremony began, and when Tang Tian was introduced, the cheers from the Chinese fans in the audience were particularly clear.

Tang Tian's influence among the Chinese was phenomenal, unprecedented and perhaps unrepeatable.

Harden frowned slightly. Every time the two teams played since Tang Tian joined the Pelicans, he encountered this situation: the home court turning into half an away game.

After the opening ceremony, the starting players from both sides took the court one after another.

For the Pelicans, Ersan Ilyasova and Whiteside were still the starting frontcourt, with Tang Tian and Holiday in the backcourt, and Ariza at small forward.

For the Rockets, the frontcourt consisted of Bosh and Asik, the backcourt of Beverly and Harden, and Parsons at small forward.

Bosh and Whiteside at the jump ball.

Amidst the cheers of the fans, Bosh used his long arms to tip the ball back to the Rockets' half, giving the home team the first chance to attack.

Harden dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and immediately called for Bosh to set a high pick-and-roll.

Harden's basketball philosophy was still the same as before: to score in the most effortless way and at the fastest speed.

And Bosh's arrival made it all even easier.

Bosh had range and was very reliable on cuts to the basket, making their pick-and-roll almost perfect.

After the pick, the Pelicans chose not to switch, and Harden directly pulled up for a mid-range jumper.

"Swish!"

His first shot went in cleanly, and he looked to be in great form.

The Rockets scored first.

Williams straightened up from the bench.

The Rockets looked to be in good form, and tonight's Christmas game would be tough.

On the Pelicans' possession, Tang Tian held the ball at the high post.

The Rockets didn't double-team, and Beverly was guarding Tang Tian one-on-one.

McHale's adjustment was based on the experience he'd gained from the Pelicans' game against the Celtics.

Tang Tian lacked low-post offensive ability; his offensive options were limited to driving and shooting.

Just as Stevens used Smart to guard Tang Tian, the core of this tactic was to keep up with Tang Tian's speed.

This way, even if Tang Tian fought his way to the basket, there would be help defense inside, and it would also be a huge drain on his stamina.

It had to be said that Stevens was indeed a rare talent, and even McHale had learned something from him.

Beverly's nickname was "Mad Dog." Putting aside the fact that he injured Westbrook in history, he did a good job of defending Westbrook's drives.

Tang Tian tried to cross Beverly over twice without success, and directly chose to pull up for a contested shot.

"Swish!"

With a crisp sound, the basketball went in cleanly.

The idea of using a guard to defend him was indeed good, but Tang Tian was a pseudo-guard; at 2.01 meters tall, he was a full 16 centimeters taller than Beverly.

With that kind of height difference, he could just shoot over him.

McHale had only learned the superficial aspects of Stevens' approach, not the essence.

The reason Smart was able to defend Tang Tian before, besides the fact that Smart was taller at 1.93 meters, was mainly because that game went to triple overtime, and Tang Tian's stamina was insufficient, causing his shooting percentage to decline.

The situation was clearly different now.

But fortunately, defense had never been this Rockets team's forte. On the other end, Harden continued to look for Bosh to set a pick-and-roll.

This time, seeing the Pelicans switch, Harden moved outward and used a fake pass inside to trick Ilyasova.

"Swish!"

His step-back mid-range shot went in as well.

When Tang Tian turned around and saw that the Rockets were still using the same defensive scheme, he faced Beverly and shot again.

"Swish!"

It went in again!

Beverly was good at grappling, but Tang Tian didn't bother to entangle with him.

It gave him the feeling that he had strength but nowhere to use it.

After the "God Turtle" played bombastically, Tang Tian used driving offenses more this season because of the greater advantage in breakthroughs. But in reality, after training throughout the summer, his base shooting had improved, and his overall shooting percentage was higher than last season.

If they really let him shoot like this, he could completely shoot Beverly to death.

On the Rockets' possession, Harden continued to run pick-and-rolls with Bosh in the frontcourt.

This time, he dribbled inside and drew a defensive foul on Ilyasova with a strong layup.

Williams called Aminu over and had him replace Ilyasova.

McHale didn't double-team on defense, and with Ilyasova useless on offense, he was just a burden on defense.

Harden made both free throws, scoring 6 points in a row to start the game; he was on fire.

It seemed like he wanted to win not only the game tonight, but also the stats!

Tang Tian turned around and continued to shoot over Beverly.

Beverly had been shot over twice in a row, and his "Mad Dog" nature came out, pulling Tang Tian back.

The referee had sharp eyes and immediately called a defensive foul on him.

Tang Tian went to the free-throw line.

He made both free throws despite the heckling, tying the game at 6-6.

Tang Tian and Harden each accounted for their team's first 6 points, and the two were trading points on the Christmas stage.

At this point, fans watching the game on TV were excited.

First there was Wade and Kobe trading blows, and now there was Tang Tian and Harden; the theme of this year's Christmas game was scoring!

But the scoring spree ended on the next possession.

Harden was feeling good, and after the pick-and-roll opened up a mismatch, he directly pulled up for a step-back jumper.

But the person defending him had already changed from Ilyasova to Aminu, and the latter's long arm came out to interfere with his shooting vision.

"Clang!"

The basketball hit the back of the rim and bounced high.

Harden's third shot missed.

At this point, the Pelicans' frontcourt consisted of Whiteside and Ariza, while the Rockets' consisted of Asik and Bosh, which wasn't an advantage.

Tang Tian quickly retreated to the basket to prepare for the rebound.

Just then, something unexpected happened to him.

Ariza used his big butt to hold off Bosh, who wasn't strong after losing weight, and couldn't push past him.

But after seeing Tang Tian enter the paint, Ariza didn't go for the rebound.

On the other side, Whiteside held Asik tightly, but didn't jump.

Tang Tian easily grabbed the defensive rebound.

Tang Tian was a little dazed when he got the rebound.

Why did this rebound feel like it was being given to him?

On the Pelicans' fast break, Tang Tian's long pass from the backcourt went to Holiday, who took a pull-up three-pointer.

The trajectory of the ball was straight, but it was a little too strong, hitting the back of the rim and bouncing off the edge of the backboard out of bounds.

After trading several possessions back and forth, both sides had one missed shot each.

On the Rockets' possession, Bosh posted up Aminu in the low post and turned for a small fadeaway jumper.

"Clang!"

The shot missed, and the basketball bounced off the back of the rim.

Beverly rushed for the offensive rebound, and Tang Tian followed back to the basket.

Because he was on the defensive side, Tang Tian returned to the basket faster, and he was closer to the ball after jumping.

At the same time, Whiteside also jumped up after holding off Asik.

The two grabbed for the ball at almost the same time.

And at that moment, something abnormal happened again.

Seeing that it was Tang Tian, Whiteside retracted his hand directly before touching the ball!

Tang Tian grabbed the defensive rebound!

Looking at Whiteside, who was holding Asik again after landing, Tang Tian realized that this was blatant rebound-giving!

A word naturally came to his mind: "center forward." (ka feng, 卡锋, pinyin explanation)

The person who created this word was the Thunder's future Steven Adams.

In history, after Durant left the Thunder, Westbrook's playing style changed drastically. He didn't focus on winning, but instead pursued stats, chasing triple-doubles every game.

Adams, in order to cooperate with him, would box out and let him get the rebound.

It was from that point on that his offensive rebounds began to quickly approach his defensive rebounds, and even exceeded them directly in one season!

For a center to have more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds, this unbelievable statistical anomaly was where the term "center forward" came from.

Adams hadn't started his "center forward" career yet, but Whiteside was starting it first!

Whiteside smiled when he saw Tang Tian looking at him, and then ran forward.

It was obvious.

Last season, Tang Tian gave each of his teammates a supercar for Christmas, and as a result, his teammates set screens and passed him the ball.

It was like they felt uncomfortable if he didn't shoot.

This year was the second year, and the gifts were upgraded, and the teammates' performances were upgraded as well!

Just passing the ball wasn't enough!

If they just passed the ball, then the only stat that would increase would be scoring!

Assists, steals, and blocks were things they couldn't control, but rebounds they could!

In reality, Tang Tian's scoring was explosive last season, and he had a lot of assists. This season, his scoring was slightly weaker, and his assists had increased, but his rebounds had always been low.

This was obviously the stat they were trying to improve!

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