Post-match press conference.
Coach Brooks took Zhao Chen and Westbrook to participate.
Reporters interview Westbrook.
Westbrook said: "This is our strength. Our team played very well tonight and everyone worked hard."
Westbrook, who scored a triple-double, was very happy. Everything about the team was on the right track.
The reporter asked Zhao Chen: "What does it feel like to win with 40 points?"
Zhao Chen shrugged and said: "Honestly, I don't feel much. It's just like winning a regular game. The final result is the same."
The reporter continued to ask: "What is your evaluation of Kyrie Irving?"
Zhao Chen was stunned for a moment.
Shouldn't rookies be evaluated?
How can you judge others by yourself?
This reporter obviously didn't think Zhao Chen was a rookie anymore.
Zhao Chen said: "His skills are great and his one-on-one ability is very strong."
The reporter asked: "Who do you think will win in a duel with him?"
Zhao Chen smiled and said, "I won't lose to anyone."
Zhao Chen didn't say much about the duel.
In Zhao Chen's view, one-on-one play doesn't mean much to NBA players.
For the top NBA offensive players, most of the one-on-one situations are mutual explosions.
Zhao Chen and Durant are fighting each other, and Zhao Chen and Westbrook are also fighting each other. Fighting each other cannot be said to be a loss.
Interview with the Cavaliers.
Coach Brown told reporters frankly: “When your team needs to defend two All-Star players, this game will be difficult. Of course, our players are still young and need to be tempered. It takes time to grow.”
Irving remained silent in the face of the flashing lights, and asked reporters who was stronger in one-on-one situations between him and Zhao Chen.
Owen was not interested in answering.
Owen somewhat understood why Zhao Chen had that attitude before the game.
What's the use of comparing one-on-one abilities when you lose the game so miserably?
...........
After returning home, Zhao Chen did not use up the victory points, but began to store them. Zhao Chen had his own plan to add points.
The Thunder's schedule in February is much better than that in January. They won another consecutive victory after defeating the Cavaliers.
In mid-February, the league held the All-Star Game.
Zhao Chen was not qualified to participate in the main game, but he played in the Rookie Challenge. Zhao Chen easily stood out among the rookies. He scored a triple-double of 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game, and won the Rookie Challenge. Game MVP.
This MVP can be regarded as the first hard honor of Zhao Chen's career.
Of course, Zhao Chen is not very interested in such a trophy. He would rather play in the All-Star Game than in the Rookie Challenge.
It's a pity that Zhao Chen's performance in the early stage was so bad that except for Chinese fans who would vote for him during the voting, no other fans would vote for him.
When Zhao Chen's performance was acceptable, the All-Star voting channel was closed again.
After the All-Star Game, the Thunder's state declined somewhat, with a record of 5 points and 2 losses.
At the end of the regular season, they also experienced a wave of injuries. Zhao Chen also suffered a sprain and missed two games.
The running-in between the Thunder's Big Three has caused some ups and downs in their record, but they have also steadily ranked first in the league.
Zhao Chen's season averages also reached 26.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.4 assists.
The existence of Durant and Westbrook has greatly weakened his tactical status and number of shots.
In the scoring list, Zhao Chen ranks eighth. Zhao Chen has almost locked up the best rookie award. No rookie can pose a big threat to Zhao Chen's best rookie award.
March 1st.
On the first day of March, the Thunder faced the challenge of the Miami Heat at home.
This is a peak showdown.
With the rise of Zhao Chen, the Thunder this season is also known as the Heat's biggest challenger.
The first game that Zhao Chen had just returned from time travel was an away game against the Heat. Now that he encountered this opponent again, Zhao Chen himself was very emotional.
The media and fans also know that Zhao Chen started to rise when he was playing against the Heat, so they are very interested in the rematch of this game.
Pre-match press conference.
Durant and Westbrook were both gearing up to tell reporters that they would win this game.
Hitting the Heat doesn't require any special motivation.
Both of them will automatically hit chicken blood.
On Zhao Chen's side, the reporter also focused on asking: "Who do you think is the better small forward, LeBron or KD?"
Zhao Chen said without hesitation: "KD!"
Although there were occasional conflicts and frictions with Durant, Zhao Chen firmly supported his teammates in this situation.
The reporters were not surprised by this answer and continued to ask: "So what do you think are the advantages of LeBron and KD?"
Zhao Chen replied: "LeBron's organizational skills are great, his overall view is very good, KD has many offensive methods, he can score in various positions in various ways."
The reporter asked: "You need to face off against Dwayne tonight. How do you evaluate him?"
Zhao Chen said: "He is an opponent worthy of respect. He is very strong. I will go all out..."
Interview with the Heat.
Wade faced reporters and said: "Our goal is the championship. I will not allow us to lose to them twice. Let's wait and see."
James said: "KD, Russell, and Zhao are all great players. Since the last game, I have been looking forward to playing against them."
.....
The atmosphere between the two teams can be felt from the pre-match press interviews.
The Heat were not convinced when they lost to the Thunder last time.
Originally, the Thunder had been suppressed by the Heat, but suddenly Zhao Chen's explosion changed the situation of the two teams. Before they could react much, the Thunder took away the game.
This makes them feel very depressed.
There are not many teams that let the entire Heat team go all out, and the Thunder is one of them.
If the Heat are careless, the Thunder will make them lose. This kind of pressure is something other teams cannot give them.
The experience of losing to a weak team is different from losing to a strong team.
When we lose to a weak team in an upset, most people will have the feeling that we were just careless.
If we lose to a strong team, we may feel that our skills are inferior to others.
Players from both teams don't want to lose tonight's game.
.....
Warm up, go back to the locker room and put on equipment.
When Zhao Chen put his cell phone in the closet, he glanced at it. It was a cheering message from Enna.
In terms of love life, Zhao Chen and Enna are now in a very ambiguous stage, and they video chat almost every day.
It would be a lie to say that we are not interested in each other.
If they weren't in a different place, the two of them might break through the window paper at any time.
Zhao Chen and Enna have a lot of things in common.
Talking about basketball and life, the relationship between the two developed rapidly.
Zhao Chen is also planning to invite Enna to Oklahoma City at the appropriate time, and then the relationship will be finalized.
After putting down his phone, Zhao Chen walked toward the center of the locker room.
Coach Brooks shouted to all the Thunder players: "Guys, let them sleep tonight with a sweep of the season!"
"Roar!!!!"
To beat the Heat, the Thunder don’t need to mobilize!
