Chapter 404 The Battle of Pelican Lake

The Battle of Pelican Lake, a game that fans had been anticipating since the beginning of the season, was finally about to arrive.

And it was on Christmas Day, in a game that had the attention of the world.

Long before Christmas arrived, the fans of both teams were already arguing fiercely on social media.

James, Durant, plus Tang Tian, the Lakers, and the Pelicans—the traffic generated by these names was definitely the highest in the league.

Not to mention the halos of All-Star players like Davis, Simmons, and Middleton.

Whether in terms of popularity or strength, these were the two strongest teams in the league right now.

"Lakers or Pelicans, who do you think will ultimately win?"

The NBA official website also released such a message.

This kind of hype further escalated the war of words, making this game the focus of attention.

The Christmas Day game was held at the Staples Center.

The day before the game, the entire Pelicans team arrived in Los Angeles, and they would be spending Christmas Eve on the road again this year.

Tang Tian gave his teammates valuable gifts as he had in the past, but what he gave this year wasn't the most expensive.

Because of the huge broadcast contract, the Pelicans jumped to become the third most valuable team in the league last year.

Seizing the opportunity of Christmas this year, Benson traveled with the team to Los Angeles and announced a message on behalf of the team on Christmas Eve.

If the team could ultimately complete a four-peat, he would give each player who played in the Finals a watch.

The watch would definitely not be an ordinary one, but a famous watch, a custom-made watch jointly branded by Patek Philippe and Cartier.

Patek Philippe is the most luxurious watch brand in the world, and most of the watches it produces each year are limited editions. Cartier is the most popular luxury jewelry brand.

Each of these watches was worth around one million dollars.

From the most expensive championship ring in history at the season opener to the million-dollar watch reward now, the Pelicans were really going all out this year.

This was also reasonable. A three-peat wasn't the only one, but a four-peat, not counting the ancient era when Russell was around (when there were fewer teams), would be the only one.

In order to achieve this goal, Benson and the Pelicans were sparing no expense, and announcing this message on Christmas Eve was also self-explanatory.

The Pelicans wanted to complete a four-peat, and the Lakers were their biggest enemy this season.

The two sides would usher in their first match of the season on Christmas Day, and the outcome of this game was also crucial.

On Christmas Day, the Lakers held a public training session.

This training session also attracted the attention of a large number of media reporters.

After the training, the team's new head coach Vogel, and the team's core players James and Durant were the focus of reporters' interviews.

Vogel was the head coach of that Pacers youth army, and also the most famous of all of James' coaches in the NBA.

He was mild-mannered and known for his defense. Judging from the Lakers' performance so far this season, his cooperation with James had been quite successful.

I'll take care of the defense, you take care of the offense.

Vogel had done quite well in this regard.

James had a smile on his face during the interview. He was really living a good life with the Lakers.

"What do you think of tonight's game?"

A reporter asked James.

"I know this is a game that many people are paying attention to, but for me, it's just a regular season game."

James' tone and mentality seemed very peaceful.

The reporters asked some more questions, and the answers they got were similar, basically without much useful information.

"Some people say that you and Durant came here because you could never defeat Tang. What do you think of this?"

A reporter from Fox Sports, seeing that there wasn't much useful information, asked a tough question directly.

The reporters around him stirred at this question, but they all unanimously looked at James.

They were very curious about the answer to this question.

"That statement is very interesting, but I said the reason before I came. I came here because of the Lakers' culture and management."

James only showed a flash of displeasure in his eyes, and then said calmly.

He was really second to none in maintaining his media image.

But this was also an expected answer. The entanglement of whether the Heat would choose Tang continued for so many years.

Even the inside story was revealed by Riley, but James had never admitted it.

The reporter was bored after hearing the answer and turned to Durant.

"We definitely have to win tonight's game, we will definitely win the game."

Compared with James, Durant's answer was obviously more confrontational.

And he seemed a little impatient.

Others didn't know the reason, but only he and the Lakers' players knew.

Durant had registered many new alternate accounts this season. With the Battle of Pelican Lake approaching, fans on both sides were arguing fiercely.

As a fresh force, he was duty-bound. In the past few days, the intensity of his fierce battles with fans on social media was very high.

He obviously brought that emotion into reality.

"Some people say that you and LeBron came here because you could never defeat Tang. What do you think of this?"

The Fox reporter who had just come over seized the opportunity and asked the same question he had just asked James.

Similarly, the other reporters were also stirred up and looked at Durant.

Durant's expression changed a lot and he looked even more excited.

"That's why we came here."

His answer then made all the reporters excited.

"If we don't defeat the Pelicans, then what's the point?"

Perhaps feeling that what he said wasn't enough, Durant added.

This sentence also made the reporters nod in agreement.

The Pelicans, who had completed their dynasty, were the hottest team in the league, and Durant, whether with the Thunder or the Warriors, had never been able to get past the Pelicans.

His reason was completely valid. He came to the Lakers to defeat the Pelicans.

Judging from the public opinion in recent years, this Lakers team was also considered the most likely team to defeat the Pelicans.

Although Durant liked to use alternate accounts on social media, he was obviously much more real than James.

The content of the pre-game interviews with James and Durant was exposed by the media, and things became interesting all of a sudden.

Because the content of the two people's answers was completely different.

But Durant had earned a lot of popularity for himself in this wave of reports.

After all, his answer was similar to what the fans thought, and it was obviously much more down-to-earth in comparison.

Tang Tian was a little dumbfounded when he saw the report.

What's the point of not defeating the Warriors? This was Paul's meme in his previous life.

After he crossed over, history had changed, and the Warriors had only won one championship, so this meme naturally wouldn't appear.

Unexpectedly, after the Pelicans replaced them, it appeared on Durant again.

Durant and Paul's personalities were worlds apart, but it could only be said that many things in the world were sometimes really destined.