Chapter 316: All are thousand-year-old foxes, who can calculate whom

Arenas did this job very well; he was a successful external output ambassador.

"Those guys who have never played in high-level games only know how to take so-called data to do various analyses, and they are complacent and call themselves experts. I find it disgusting. Remember, data and games are two different things. Kobe's advanced data is a mess, but he has 6 championships. LeBron James's advanced data is invincible, but he doesn't have a single championship."

Gilbert Arenas's firepower output was very fierce. "Of course, I acknowledge that LeBron James is the league's number one superstar."

"Those who say our chemistry is not good, are you chemistry teachers? I think the chemistry between you and your wife is not good either. If you don't believe it, you can trade your wife to me, and I will show you the real chemistry."

Teacher A fired at full power.

Changing the Clippers' previous weak external output posture.

But in this regard, big-mouthed Arenas was worth the money.

The games in February didn't have too many highlights for the Clippers. The games that should be won were won, and the games that should be lost were lost. The Clippers presented themselves in a posture of training soldiers.

In early March, Fan Xi took a day off, and this day off happened to coincide with the Clippers vs. Lakers.

The Lakers prepared a lot for this game.

Then, they won.

Won the game without Fan Xi and without Nowitzki.

It wasn't as easy as imagined, because Arenas scored 29 points in this game. Arenas fired at full power when Fan Xi wasn't on the court.

Former superstars are like this; you think he is dead, but there is always a chance to cheat death. Although Arenas's physical fitness is not as good as before, he gets excited once he plays the Lakers.

He frequently ran pick-and-rolls with Kwame Brown and frequently hit shots from mid-to-long range. Neither Paul nor Sessions could do anything about this move of his... Although his speed and explosiveness were both weakened, and his weight was deliberately reduced to maintain lightness. But his shooting was something no one could black.

This was something he exchanged for countless sweat, and it wouldn't easily leave him.

The Clippers' shooting coach often asked Arenas for advice. Arenas's shooting was different from other superstars; it was purely trained by himself.

Therefore, his experience was very helpful to Fan Xi, Leonard, and Butler, although Butler still didn't talk to Arenas.

Arenas was a person with a very rough personality. In the situation where his relationship with Butler was stiff, he had a good relationship with Kwame Brown and Leonard, and although he wasn't so close with other former superstars, he was also respectful.

He often rushed up to stand up for his teammates on the court. In this matter, he did very well.

Moreover, although his salary was the lowest on the team, he was very generous in spending.

People, once they are generous, it is hard not to have friends.

In this game against the Lakers, the Clippers lost by 11 points.

But this didn't make Clippers fans feel like the end of the world. After all, Fan Xi and Nowitzki were still let go.

After Fan Xi missed the Lakers game, he continued to miss four games.

Because he took time to return to the country.

He had some commercial matters to deal with, mainly some loans when buying the Clippers before, which were written in his name. Now he had to pay back part of this money. According to domestic rules, he had to go back in person.

Anyway, the Clippers' regular season task wasn't heavy, so Fan Xi simply asked for leave.

He wasn't deliberately avoiding the Lakers.

It just happened to coincide.

March in the United States was the college basketball season, and the eyes of the American media were focused on the NCAA March Madness. For most Americans, the NBA was just the best professional basketball league, and the best basketball league had to be the NCAA. One game decides life and death, too exciting. Many dark horses are produced every year.

Fan Xi took advantage of the time to return to the country, not only paid off 30 million US dollars of loans, but also filmed several commercials in the country... With Fan Xi's current national popularity, many advertisers opened prices particularly high. Especially since the Olympics were coming in the summer, this would be Fan Xi's first time wearing the national team jersey to fight for the country.

Therefore, brand owners all wanted to lock in Fan Xi through this Olympic wave and push the brand up again.

Originally Fan Xi only paid back 30 million, but in the end, it reached 50 million US dollars.

In addition to filming commercials, Fan Xi also interacted with Liu Yifei. They filmed billboards for the fan-x brand together and were quickly put on TV stations.

Although domestic entertainment reporters weren't as pervasive as Hollywood paparazzi, they still took photos of Liu Yifei and Fan Xi going to Fan Xi's parents' house after filming the commercial.

This had become a symbol of a golden boy and a jade girl.

And what was interesting was... Fan Xi appeared at the scene of Girls' Generation's first concert in the mainland. This was only two days after he was photographed going home with Liu Yifei.

This sparked some heated discussions.

However, Fan Xi was generous and decent. What kind of scene hadn't he seen? Western reporters, he didn't know how high their posture was.

He even went on stage and sang a Chinese song with Yoona: "I Only Care About You."

This caused bursts of screams from fans at the scene.

For Korean girl groups, female idols falling in love would be sprayed as idol disqualification.

However, falling in love with Fan Xi was another matter.

This was probably double standards.

Yoona's popularity in Korea remained high. Fan Xi singing with her this time made the brokerage company ecstatic. They wished they could promote it globally.

After Fan Xi finished singing, he went to the hotel in advance. Of course, he went in an exclusive luxury car, very hidden.

Originally Fan Xi planned to stay in the country for a week, but in the end, he played for 11 days before returning to the United States.

Returning to the United States, the Clippers went to play away games.

Fan Xi simply didn't follow.

During the time he was away, the Clippers dropped from sixth to seventh, and would soon reach eighth.

The Clippers weren't anxious at all, and Clippers fans weren't anxious either, because they knew the Clippers would definitely make the playoffs, because they were still 4 wins ahead of ninth place.

Wanting to chase, it wasn't that easy.

However, the Clippers weren't anxious, but the teams in the upper half were anxious.

The Lakers were currently first in the West, and they really didn't want to meet the Clippers in the first round, although Chris Paul kept saying arrogant words in the media: "The championship itself is to defeat all teams."

However, inside them, including Jeanie Buss, they were all drumming. What if they met the Clippers in the first round and lost? Wouldn't that be a waste of a whole year, and also have to carry the infamy of being black-eight?

Although it was said that Nowitzki decided to return in the first two games of the playoffs, he needed to re-grind with the Clippers at that time, and had an advantage.

But now the Lakers didn't dare to use the phrase "advantage is with me" to comfort themselves. They knew very clearly that... the Clippers were a team that didn't play according to the routine, they were simply the ancestors of surprise.

The Lakers didn't want to play the Clippers.

They were now more concerned about the Clippers' record than their own record.

The Spurs were currently ranked second, but only 0.5 wins ahead of the Thunder.

If the Clippers were finally seventh in the West, they would meet the Spurs.

Popovich was quite worried, although San Antonio had been permeated with a trend: "If we take down the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, the playoffs will be smooth sailing."

However, the head coach didn't think so at all.

Therefore, Popovich finally made a very bold decision: "Why don't we just fall to fourth?"

Or go a step further, fall to the lower half, even if losing home-court advantage, it was still better than a first-round showdown with the Clippers.

Everyone was afraid of the Clippers.

The Memphis Grizzlies, currently ranked fourth in the West, didn't want to meet the Clippers either, but they were safe for the time being.

Only the Thunder, the Thunder really wanted to play the Clippers.

Who let them be young.

If young people aren't arrogant, are they still young people?

The Thunder's lineup this year was very strong. Durant, Westbrook, James Harden, Ibaka... and other newcomers continued to grow. They recently played a 6-game winning streak, including a game where they slaughtered the Clippers by 28 points.

Their momentum was very fierce.

The league already believed that the future top Western powerhouse must have a place for the Thunder, and the media also swore: "The Thunder continue to improve, they can definitely achieve a dynasty."

Kevin Durant was already the strongest superstar of the new generation. Although he hadn't won a Finals MVP like Fan Xi, nor had he won a regular season MVP like Derek Rose.

However, he was recognized as the strongest superstar of the new generation.

This point, even Fan Xi and Rose acknowledged.

He had already established an all-weather, all-terrain attack mode.

Westbrook was also very strong. Although he wasn't listed in the same tier as Durant, Fan Xi, and Rose among the new generation stars, after this tier, it was him, and half a tier away were Griffin, Love, Wall, etc...

In addition, James Harden was also considered the best sixth man of the year, plus Ibaka and Perkins sitting in the paint, plus a bunch of elite soldiers, they really felt they had a big chance of winning.

"Everyone pretends not to be afraid of the Clippers, wanting to meet the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs. Only we really want to duel with them in the first round."

"We will take down the Clippers, there won't be much doubt."

Westbrook said confidently; he had always been a representative of the NBA's iron-headedness.

It was very reasonable for him to say such things.

Fan Xi just returned to the United States and saw Westbrook talking on ESPN and TNT.

He smiled.

Then he looked at the Thunder's lineup.

Then let's fight.

Although Fan Xi still wanted to play the Lakers in his heart.

He wanted to solve the strongest one as soon as he came up, no need to drag with the Lakers.

Moreover, once it wasn't a first-round showdown with the Lakers, it would at least have to be dragged to the Western Conference Finals.

Fan Xi racked his brains to study.

The layout of the playoffs was very important.

The arrangement of the schedule and the selection of opponents all had to be seamless.

The playoff system was like this.

First place vs. eighth place, second place vs. seventh place, third place vs. sixth place, fourth place vs. fifth place. This was the first round.

The second round was the winner of first/eighth vs. the winner of fourth/fifth, the winner of second/seventh vs. the winner of third/sixth.

If choosing the Thunder.

Even if the Clippers took down the Thunder in the first round, the second round was very likely to face the third-ranked San Antonio Spurs.

Then the Western Conference Finals would face the Lakers.

It was equivalent to clearing the strong teams in the upper half.

It sounded very cool.

But for the Clippers, a team mostly composed of old people, it was a consumption of physical strength.

This was equivalent to leveling up from the monster room, and finally rushing out of the West, only to find the Eastern king watching himself leisurely.

Fan Xi placed the signs of the Eastern top eight teams on the blackboard.

He began to decompose this matter from the height of the overall situation.

"If we can let the Spurs go to fourth, let them play the fifth-ranked Denver Nuggets, that would be the best. The Spurs can definitely win easily, let them go and fight hard with the Lakers in the second round."

"If the Grizzlies are third, they will likely meet the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks have a group of veterans, and have Jason Kidd sitting in town, not necessarily without a chance to take down the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies' sharpness this season is much less, Zach Randolph is old after all. They might not be able to take down the Mavericks."

"In this case, the second round pattern would become Lakers vs. Spurs, Clippers vs. Mavericks."

Fan Xi analyzed silently.

Then he let out a long breath.

This was of course the most ideal result.

However, could such a result be easily achieved?

Fan Xi picked up the phone and asked Kupchak to prepare some San Antonio newspapers, and send him the interviews Popovich had recently accepted, as well as the data reports of the Spurs' last five games.

Kupchak acted quickly.

Before Nowitzki came to the training gym office with coffee, he had already prepared the materials: every NBA team had an intelligence war room, every game was like a battle, and in the playoffs, it was even more detailed, even the private itineraries of major players were held in hand.

Nowitzki recovered quite well. He had long thrown away his crutches. Although his foot still wore a brace, he had resumed shooting training very early.

Nowitzki didn't relax his pursuit of the game.

When Kupchak brought the materials, he and Fan Xi looked at them together. After looking for a while, Nowitzki told Fan Xi decisively: "Jack, believe me, the Spurs will definitely let themselves fall to fourth or even fifth in the West. Popovich absolutely doesn't want to clash with us."

"Why?" Fan Xi asked him.

"Because I am on the Clippers," Nowitzki said confidently: "They fear me, and they fear you. We join forces, they know they have no chance of winning. Popovich hopes we are taken down by the Thunder or Lakers in the first round."

"They hope the fisherman benefits."

Nowitzki analyzed.

Fan Xi asked: "What should we do now?"

"Very simple, we declare that we want a life-and-death duel with the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs," Nowitzki said: "With Popovich's cunning degree, they will definitely do their best to ensure their fourth place. Because as long as they win easily, they can face us or the Lakers who have consumed most of their energy in a 100% state."

Nowitzki understood Popovich very well. After all, he had been playing against the Spurs for almost his entire career, and the annual cattle-horse battle made them understand each other's personalities very well.

Fan Xi raised his eyebrows and said: "Okay, let's do it according to this!"

The Spurs hoped the Lakers and Clippers would have a life-and-death duel in the first round.

Fan Xi hoped the Spurs and Lakers would have a life-and-death duel in the second round.

All are calculations.

Just see who can succeed!

... ===== CHAPTER 317 =====