Chapter 244: The Three Giants of the Frightened Bird

It happened when there was 1 minute and 11 seconds left in the second quarter.

At that time, the situation of the game was already very obvious.

Ever since Dwight Howard blocked Rasheed Wallace in the air and provoked him by straddling him, the game had become a biting of a flock of sheep by a pack of wolves.

The Orlando Magic were simply unable to stop Captain Jack and his pirate group, who were as fierce as wolves and tigers.

The Clippers smashed through the Magic's defense from beginning to end, leaving only Howard as the bottom of the barrel... but how many times could he block the charge?

Fan Xi once again ate up Chris Duhon's defense on the outside, and then he killed into the paint. Leonard and the newly subbed-in Butler cut in from both sides at the same time. The Clippers' purpose at this time was to pierce into the paint.

Howard was always unable to take care of one thing and lose another.

Before Fan Xi jumped, he made a passing motion to the left. This action made Howard move his center of gravity like a frightened bird. In an instant, Fan Xi soared into the air, using all his energy, heading straight for Howard...

Howard saw Fan Xi pouncing on him and subconsciously jumped up, trying to block... but... Pfft!

Fan Xi in mid-air formed a top-down suppression, and Howard couldn't stop it at all.

He was suppressed, and Fan Xi's strength exceeded his imagination.

Under the huge shadow, Howard remembered his rookie season, when Kobe also dunked on him like this. At that time, it was just like this moment.

Boom!

When Fan Xi slammed the ball into the rim, Howard heard the sigh of the entire Amway Center.

This moment had finally arrived.

Actually, no one was surprised.

Just as LeBron James and Wade and the others guessed, with Fan Xi's temperament and Fan Xi's means of reporting every grievance, how could he let Howard go?

Moreover, the Magic's defensive line had already been smashed to pieces before.

It was only a matter of time before Howard was dunked on.

When Fan Xi landed domineeringly from above the rim, the Clippers players on the bench had already roared, and Rasheed Wallace waved his towel like a spiral helicopter.

He was too relieved.

"This is a perfect heavy dunk."

"Howard will repeatedly appear on this year's NBA highlights because of this shot."

Kenny Smith said happily on TV: "Facts have proven that Jack Fan is a great dunker. Perhaps he should participate in the Dunk Contest."

Fan Xi used this dunk to condense the team's morale and show his power.

Howard, however, was like a frosted eggplant. He had now decided one thing in his heart: he must leave Orlando.

He felt that he didn't have a single reliable teammate around him now. Everyone could wantonly rush in and dunk. He only had a pair of hands, how could he fend off so many jackals and tigers?

Howard looked at the Clippers, whose morale was boiling. He really wanted to become a member of the Clippers.

…

136:91.

The Clippers achieved a slaughter-style victory over the Orlando Magic. The 45-point difference was something no one had expected before.

Everyone originally thought that the strength of the Magic and the Clippers was about the same, both at a medium-to-high level.

After all, the Magic were still a championship-contending team in the previous two years. Although they had declined in these two years, the basic framework was still there, and they could at least play evenly with this new Clippers team.

Who knew it would be such a result.

"The Clippers' strength has clearly improved again after this battle. Their tacit understanding and chemical reaction have gone up a level. The Clippers should thank Howard; it was he who made them closer."

Kenny Smith said this when the game ended.

In fact, it was so.

Nothing condenses morale more than revenge, and it was revenge for a teammate. From the moment Rasheed Wallace was dunked on and everyone shared the same hatred, the Clippers completed a change from quantity to quality.

Before, everyone had been getting along very well, and the internal atmosphere was good. However, after this battle, everyone clearly became comrades who watched and helped each other, and everyone believed that if they fell, someone would definitely support them from behind and help them with all their might.

Howard himself couldn't guess that he had made such a huge contribution.

However, he had always been a bit unclear about the situation. He actually publicly stated during an interview: "The Clippers are a super strong team. Everyone is full of impact, and they have great tacit understanding on both ends of offense and defense. I admire him very much, just as I admire Jack Fan very much."

He changed his pre-game statement and made himself a chameleon.

Especially, he was dunked on head-on by Fan Xi in the game.

This made his grade drop significantly, making those who supported him not know how to speak for him.

And he himself thought this was showing goodwill to Fan Xi.

After the game ended, he specifically waited for Fan Xi in the player tunnel and chatted with Fan Xi for a while. When parting, he said to Fan Xi: "Jack. I believe that when we meet again, our status and position will be different."

Fan Xi laughed twice.

To show response.

Fan Xi did not go to the post-game press conference. It was Blake Griffin, who performed the second best in this game, who went.

Griffin had a big double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds tonight.

He had performed very well recently. He was also far ahead in the Western Conference All-Star power forward voting. Fans liked this power forward with domineering dunks very much. People always had a natural good feeling for players who could fly and escape.

Therefore, he also gained a few more brand endorsements.

So now, he was particularly respectful to Fan Xi. Although he still had a knot in his heart with Maikelbang, he really worshipped Fan Xi.

"Defeating the Magic was too easy for us, just like drinking water. I just regret that I didn't dunk that damn ball in tonight."

Griffin was talking about the time in the third quarter of tonight's game when he tried to alley-oop dunk on Howard.

It was just a little bit off. Griffin jumped very high, had strong explosive power, and mastered the strength and angle very well. If his arms were a little longer, he would have really succeeded.

But it was a pity that his arm span was too short.

Like Butler, he was the man with the shortest arm span-to-height ratio on the Clippers.

"We came specifically to teach Howard a lesson. He is a self-righteous and self-important person. I don't know what qualifications he has to be mentioned in the same breath as Jack. Frankly speaking, ESPN ranking him seventh in the league is giving him enough face. If he can be seventh, why is Jack outside the top ten? Jack should be the league's number one."

Griffin stood up for Fan Xi at the press conference in Orlando.

This sounded a bit absurd.

Because since last season, Griffin's relationship with Fan Xi had not been very good, and this season, Griffin was even given high hopes by those with ulterior motives, hoping that he and Fan Xi would fight for the boss position and make the Clippers internal mess.

"If Jack Fan is the league's number one, then what about LeBron James? Is LeBron the league's number two?" An Orlando reporter stood up to stir up trouble.

"No, I want to correct a mistake you made. I am the league's number two, and Jack is indeed the league's number one. As for what number LeBron James is in the league, it has nothing to do with me!"

Blake Griffin said with full momentum.

The energy of this sentence instantly exceeded the Clippers' 45-point slaughter of the Magic itself.

Because the media loved this content too much, this was an answer that could be made a big deal of.

…

When the Los Angeles Clippers went to Miami, the media was already frantically hyping Griffin's words: "I'm second, Jack is first, what number LeBron James is has nothing to do with me."

This sentence even quickly became a buzzword on the Internet, just like Andrew Bynum publicly questioned Chris Paul in front of the media last week: "Before he came, we were already champions. He should be more humble and respect us more."

Bynum was punished internally by the Lakers for that sentence and suspended for five games.

Obviously, the Lakers did not want the conflict to be made public, which was very detrimental to the team's internal harmony and would also make the team more alienated.

Now Kobe was still at the tail end of his peak, and his prestige and strength could suppress the locker room, but what if Kobe got old one day?

Jean Bas had a big head now. Although the Lakers still had the best record in the West. However, there were no more surprises, but internal problems were getting louder and louder, and her ability was questioned because of the various slaughters and rise of the Clippers.

She was now telling the Magician to hurry up and trade Bynum. Yes, between Bynum and Paul, she chose Saint Paul. She believed that Paul would make a greater contribution in the playoffs, and she also believed that the Orlando Magic would agree to her trade plan.

She even believed that after Fan Xi gave Howard a profound lesson in Orlando, Howard, who was ashamed and then brave, would definitely choose to come to the team Fan Xi hated most: the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, she seemed to have overestimated Howard's fighting will.

…

The Clippers obviously would not suspend Griffin internally for his remarks. Clippers fans even liked Griffin's speech very much. They also thought so: Fan Xi is first, Griffin is second, what number James is has nothing to do with us?

However, for Miami, this was the biggest provocation.

Last season, they were repeatedly buzzer-beated by Fan Xi, which had already hurt their self-esteem very much. Now Griffin actually jumped out to support Fan Xi and humiliate James. How can this be tolerated?

Miami media had already hit the big headline: "Not slaughtering the Clippers is not enough to relieve hatred."

The whole city was filled with a strong atmosphere of sharing the same hatred.

And Fan Xi and his Clippers needed to stay in Miami for two and a half days.

Originally, the Clippers could rest in Orlando, but they came to Miami overnight. Next, they would have a day of rest here.

The weather in Miami was clearly better than in Orlando. This was a coastal city with sunshine and beaches everywhere.

During the Finals last season, Jack Fan and Scarlett had a "dampness removal" incident on a golden beach here that shocked the whole United States.

Interestingly, Scarlett came here again.

She was here to shoot for a fashion magazine. When she learned that Fan Xi's itinerary overlapped with hers, this female star who hadn't seen Fan Xi for a long time was so excited that she had to meet Fan Xi.

After all, it had been a month and a half since they spent a wonderful time in the Hilton Hotel suite last time.

Fan Xi had no reason not to satisfy Scarlett's request.

Although the whole of Miami was attacking him because of Griffin's words.

As long as you turn on any sports channel, you can hear angry Floridians complaining about why James is not number one, and what qualifications Jack Fan has to compete for number one.

James himself was also very angry, but at least he didn't show it in the public media.

LeBron was a super superstar with a good brain. He wouldn't say anything inappropriate.

He locked himself in a dark room with coaching staff members and Wade, watching the Clippers' videos frame by frame, especially the videos of the Clippers vs. the Magic.

"I've had experience for a long time. Jack Fan can always improve rapidly, so we must observe his latest games to come up with a plan to contain him." Heat head coach Spoelstra said with experience.

Wade and James were Fan Xi's bitter masters.

Of course they knew this.

They had been preparing for the meeting tomorrow night for too long. They couldn't wait to complete the revenge. If they didn't kill Fan Xi, they wouldn't even eat deliciously.

So, they stayed in the videotape, focused as never before, and studied an opponent as never before.

"Obviously, the Clippers' strength is still not as good as ours. Jack Fan's personal scoring ability has not reached the super-giant or even superstar level, and although their team's connection has become smooth, they either lack experience or lack physical strength... The reason they can slaughter the Magic is because the Magic cannot force their shortcomings out."

"But we can."

"The reason they fail when they encounter top-tier strong teams lies in this."

"As long as we cheer up and concentrate. This time, they will definitely not be able to retreat completely."

The coaching staff was very confident.

LeBron James watched it again and again, discussing countermeasures.

And subsequently, he said very cautiously: "Must not let Jack Fan drag the game into the critical moment."

Uh...

This sentence made Wade shudder. He had been buzzer-beated by Fan Xi four times, once in the regular season, once in the All-Star Game, and twice in the Finals. He had too much experience.

"Yes. We must establish enough advantage before the fourth quarter."

Wade said seriously.

"Of course, this is a must." Spoelstra was very confident, and the coaching staff all thought there was no problem.

…

The Clippers gave all players a day off, letting them act freely in Miami. Fan Xi was of course very happy. He took out his mobile phone and was ready to call Scarlett to find the Black Widow.

However, as soon as he took out his mobile phone, he received another call.

It was from Im Yoona.

This member of the super popular Asian girl group said shyly on the other end of the phone: "Jack, I heard that you are playing in Miami now. I happen to be here too. Can we watch a movie together? I only have time today..."

After saying this, Yoona on the other end of the phone was shy herself.

Fan Xi thought about it, arranged his time, felt that he could manage his time well, and agreed: "Okay."

… ===== CHAPTER 245 =====