Chapter 241

There is a famous saying in America: If you love someone, send them to New York; if you hate someone, send them to New York.

New York is the largest city in the world, and the fans here possess the most shrewd, sophisticated, and realistic spirit in the world. Because this is the place where commerce is most developed in the world, here… you can hardly see any human touch; everything is fast-paced.

Playing for the Knicks, if you don't play well in one game, they will curse you until you collapse.

And if you perform well in one game, they will likewise call you God.

Tonight, it was the former.

When they were trailing by 21 points at halftime, the scene began to boo the home players. At that time, the expressions of Carmelo and Stoudemire were quite ugly, and Tyson Chandler had been trying his best to help the team start from defense… but the two frontcourt players he was paired with were super big sieves.

As a paper-hanger, how many wind holes could he plug?

Therefore, starting from the second half of the third quarter, whenever Fan Xi held the ball, he enjoyed the sound of the entire New York crowd shouting MVP.

At this time, Fan Xi had already achieved a super triple-double; the Knicks' loose defense allowed Fan Xi to grab offensive rebounds in the paint multiple times to launch fast defensive counterattacks.

In this process, Blake Griffin enjoyed the greatest benefits.

In his matchup with Stoudemire, he had the upper hand. Although his template back then was Stoudemire, and although his individual attacking means were not as rich as the "Little Tyrant" for the time being, he had someone passing him the ball.

Stoudemire had turned from a mobile forward into a ball-handling isolation forward; lacking the playmaking of Steve Nash, how could he possibly fly?

Comparing the two highlighted Griffin. From the intuitive eyes of everyone, one could tell that Griffin seemed to be on another level, and this was strictly his second season; in any case, he was worth looking forward to.

MVP! MVP! MVP!

Fan Xi sat on the bench; the home fans who had switched sides had already begun to cheer for Griffin. Griffin dunked repeatedly in the fourth quarter, bringing the atmosphere to its climax.

The Clippers kept him on the court the whole time, even though the team was already leading by 35 points.

This was Mike Brown insisting on doing so; he couldn't forgive Blake Griffin just because Griffin apologized to him; he now just wanted to sell Griffin for a good price.

Whenever there was a game where Griffin shone, he insisted on letting Griffin play more.

At this moment, Griffin was in the limelight, raising his short arms high to accept the cheers of the whole arena.

Fan Xi frowned; he was actually pondering, thinking… if he were to trade Griffin, who exactly should he trade for?

Although these three top players of the Knicks were not happy in New York, if they entered the Clippers' roster, they might have outstanding performances.

It's just, which one was more suitable for the Clippers, or perhaps none of them were suitable.

Every time Fan Xi matched up with an opponent now, he would think about this aspect in his heart.

Until the game ended, he still had no answer.

After all, Stoudemire and Griffin had no essential difference, and Griffin was even stronger. Although Carmelo Anthony was very strong in isolation, his defensive attitude was problematic, and he had been the boss for so many years; his personality was definitely strong.

As for Tyson Chandler, if there were no DeAndre Jordan, and if he hadn't received the promise of Yao Ming joining, he would really be a good candidate.

Fan Xi headed to Florida with this thought; they would play two games against the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat in the next three days.

However, before that, the New York media did not let go of this superstar who had scored 24 points, 15 assists, and 11 rebounds at Madison Square Garden; they seized upon the point that Jennifer Aniston came to watch the game and had a warm chat with Fan Xi after the game to publicize it extensively.

Jennifer Aniston became famous very early; she was a household name in North America in the nineties, and the Friends she starred in was an evergreen in the field of American television series.

Aniston had always been active in New York; her base was not in Hollywood. Although she also filmed movies, generally speaking, she was the queen of the television field.

Fan Xi's hug with her made many people have wild thoughts.

The handsome Fan Xi had always been a playboy; the New York media had heard of this long ago. They specifically went to follow the Clippers players' itinerary, and when they discovered that Jennifer Aniston was also staying at the Clippers' hotel, they immediately made a big fuss.

Their enthusiasm for this May-December romance was extremely high.

It was as if they were treating Fan Xi as the former Brad Pitt.

However, the fact was that Fan Xi did not have any private contact with Jennifer Aniston; they always kept their feelings within the bounds of propriety. Although Jennifer hugged Fan Xi warmly, and her perception of Fan Xi had changed, being much more enthusiastic than when filming the movie, she even invited Fan Xi to visit her home.

But Fan Xi ultimately did not go; he wasn't exactly a man of high moral character, but he attached great, great importance to the upcoming games.

Because the teams he was about to face were two super teams recognized by the media.

The Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat, and the Boston Celtics.

The media generally predicted that Fan Xi would suffer a setback in Orlando and Miami.

Because these two teams had been waiting in full battle array.

As everyone knows, the grievances between Fan Xi and the Miami Heat Big Three were too deep; the grudges they formed in the finals last season had been increasing, spiraling upward.

To the Big Three, Fan Xi was the biggest inner demon of their careers; the humiliation Fan Xi brought them was more than anyone else.

After all, Fan Xi had single-handedly overturned them as an undrafted player and a rookie.

The more glorious the praise Fan Xi had in the last finals, the more intense the humiliation the Big Three, especially James, had.

James had been training crazily throughout the entire offseason; he was more comprehensive this season. As of now, averaging 31 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.8 assists, it was the craziest season of his career. He had become more versatile, and his post-up play, which was criticized last season, had also made great progress; the hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition paid to Hakeem Olajuwon were not paid in vain.

And the name he repeated in his dreams was Fan Xi; he hated Fan Xi to the bone. If he encountered the Clippers, he would never go soft.

In fact, he didn't go soft when he encountered the Lakers either; in the season opener, he achieved a terrifying super triple-double of 38 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists, proving his majesty as the League's signature superstar.

Now, having finally waited for the culprit and biggest inner demon, Fan Xi, to pay a visit, how could he not give Fan Xi a hard time?

In fact, to maintain his state, he had not started in three consecutive games; he just wanted to conserve his energy to deal with Fan Xi.

Fan Xi certainly couldn't let James deal with him; he also had to be fully focused.

Besides the Miami Heat Big Three who were eager for revenge, the Orlando Magic also had a falling out with Fan Xi.

The source of this falling out was Dwight Howard.

Since last season, no, even since the finals of the season before last, Howard had been having a falling out with the Magic management.

This summer, the Orlando Magic had once been close to trading Fan Xi with Howard as a chip.

But Fan Xi ultimately vetoed this trade.

This made the Magic quite regretful, and the "Magic Beast" was also very sad.

This couple, who were at odds, still lived together, but they had long been sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams, with constant disputes, always on the verge of tearing the house down and breaking up.

The recent conflict lay in the fact that Howard's desire to attack was not satisfied; he always felt that a super center, the League's number one center, should have tactics, isolation tactics.

He didn't want to be some blue-collar center anymore; he didn't know where he was bewitched, but he felt that a real center should be like O'Neal or Olajuwon, blowing up the opponent on both ends of the court.

He didn't want to be the core in Stan Van Gundy's semi-circle tactics anymore; he wanted the ball.

But his isolation ability was actually just so-so, and now there was sadness bothering him. His own drive wasn't that high either.

The two sides were at an impasse.

At this time, Stan Van Gundy praised Fan Xi again in Atlanta; he said that the number one point guard in his mind was Jack Fan, who could play inside and outside, could connect and break through, and had a big heart to kill the game at critical moments.

While this sentence made Chris Paul unhappy, it also made the sensitive Howard very sad.

He felt that Stan Van Gundy was using Fan Xi to suppress him and was missing that unfinished trade from this summer.

He still wanted that trade to be completed.

Therefore, he was sarcastic on television. "I never believe in any myth of a point guard winning a championship. I don't mean to offend Magic Johnson; Magic has always been my idol, but in my heart, he is not a point guard, he is a forward. He has always played as a forward; it's just that the League called him a point guard because of promotional needs."

The emotional intelligence of the "Magic Beast" Howard was clearly insufficient.

The number of people he offended with this sentence was not small; if Isiah Thomas wasn't deeply troubled by scandals, he would definitely find trouble with him.

"I think the reason the Lakers were able to win the championship last season was not because Jack Fan was so strong, but because Miami's paint was too weak. If Miami had a center like me, would they have lost? If the Lakers didn't have Bynum and Gasol laying the foundation in the first few games, could Jack Fan have made the game-winner?"

"Don't put all the credit on one person."

"Jack Fan is a good player, but that's all he is."

The "Magic Beast" Howard talked eloquently when accepting an interview.

His evaluation of Fan Xi caused a huge uproar.

Many media outlets reprinted his words; it wasn't that what he said was so brilliant or unique, the point was… those media outlets needed a superstar to stand up and attack Fan Xi.

Therefore, swarms of reporters ran to interview Howard.

Just like flies smelling something foul.

Howard hadn't been so welcomed by the media for a long time; he happily accepted the media interview and chatted more and more happily. "If I encounter Jack Fan, all I can give him is: blocks, non-stop blocks. As long as he rushes in, he will be flipped over to the ground by me."

"I swear!"

Howard showed off his muscles in front of the camera.

Just like the Shark who made harsh remarks to Yao Ming back then.

It's just that the Shark's actions back then made many Chinese people unhappy.

Now, everyone mostly had a mindset of watching a joke.

On one hand, people knew more about the NBA; on the other hand, the Shark's attitude toward Yao Ming back then was one of crushing, but now Howard toward Fan Xi? It didn't seem like he was a cut above.

Howard was no longer the man who could single-handedly trade for James back then, although he was still ranked seventh in the League now.

"Boss, I will dunk over him."

On the flight to Orlando, Griffin the Griffin patted his chest and guaranteed to Fan Xi; he now had an increasing self-awareness of acting as Fan Xi's vanguard.

When he discovered that being a little brother was also very good, he suddenly felt the world was vast.

He even started to get jealous with DeAndre Jordan; he worshipped Fan Xi even more than DeAndre Jordan did.

Because Fan Xi truly pushed his popularity to the top of the League.

His All-Star start this year should be no problem; compared to Nowitzki's jump shot and Tim Duncan's expressionless bank shot, fans certainly wanted to see Griffin's flying dunks more.

Fan Xi smiled and raised his eyebrows; he said to Griffin: "Thank you. But I think I can dunk over him myself. Of course, if you and DeAndre are willing to help, that would naturally be the best thing. However, I think Howard will be in big trouble in the next game; not only you, me, and DeAndre, but Butler, Leonard, and Vince all want to give him a lesson on top of his head."

Fan Xi's tone was full of ease.

This also highlighted his energy.

Offending Fan Xi was definitely not a happy thing for the "Magic Beast" Howard, even though he had a nickname called the "Happy Beast."

The Clippers' flight performance team was not to be trifled with.

…

When Fan Xi was warming up at the Amway Center in Orlando, he ran into Howard.

He looked at Howard sternly at the time; Howard was practicing hook shots with his assistant coach.

Fan Xi had originally prepared to throw a few harsh words at Howard or have a fierce eye-to-eye confrontation.

However, what Fan Xi did not expect was that this super center, who said on television that he would beat himself up, actually walked over with a full face of smiles; he happily said to Fan Xi: "Jack, it's great to see you. I think you must have seen what I said on TV, but I was joking. I love you too much; I had to get your attention."

Howard said naturally.

Fan Xi, however, frowned.

He didn't like this "entertainment-to-death" personality.

Howard's reaction disappointed him greatly.

He felt that Howard might not be able to accomplish anything; he actually joked about such things—how had he spent these years?

"This joke is not funny," Fan Xi said to him.

Howard hugged Fan Xi warmly; he didn't hear the unhappiness in Fan Xi's tone at all. He then excitedly said: "Yes, perhaps this joke is not funny, but Jack, I plan to give you a surprise, a surprise you wouldn't expect."

Howard was being mysterious.

Fan Xi, in fact, had no interest.

However, Howard soon asked and answered himself.

"How about we play together? Jack, this gimmick is simply amazing. You influence me in one game, I give up contacting the Lakers and turn to the Clippers; this is simply the most perfect basketball story, it can completely highlight your personal charisma…………"