NBA's King of Talking

On the 27th, the Thunder held their first team practice since the trade deadline.

Old Fish also participated as a new signing. Jia Fei finally understood why President Pu was willing to trade Meno for air. It was highly likely that a signing agreement had already been reached with Old Fish before the deal was made.

While Derek Fisher is indeed older than Mayno, he is a better fit for the Thunder. Reggie Jackson can fill Mayno's role, but currently, no one on their roster can fill Fisher's.

Locker room leaders are crucial, especially for a team like the Thunder where the leader is a reserved but passionate individual. Last season, Derek Fisher made significant contributions both on and off the court to help them reach the Finals.

Training was quite relaxed. With Westbrook around, the losing streak ended, and we welcomed back our old friend Fisher. Everyone was in a good mood.

Jia Fei was practicing three-pointers, from the corners to the wings, but he rarely shot from the top of the arc.

Old Fish asked Jia Fei, "Jia, I've noticed you rarely shoot from the top of the key, why is that?"

"Because I'm not the primary ball handler, my chances are unlikely to come here!" Jia Fei replied calmly.

Old Yu smiled and nodded. Of course, he knew what Jia Fei meant by those words. It was rare to find a young man who was self-aware and did his job well. He was a promising young man!

The following night, the Thunder will continue their home game against the Hornets.

The Hornets currently have a terrible record, ranking only 13th in the Western Conference and essentially out of playoff contention. This game will be Fisher's season debut since joining the Thunder, instantly boosting the game's popularity. Many are eager to see how Coach Brooks will manage the player rotation after the trade deadline.

The Ford Center stadium was packed to capacity.

The Hornets, facing off against Anthony Davis, will be without their number one draft pick, further weakening their team. Very few people expect them to win this game.

The Thunder's starting lineup remains the same as always. Coach Brooks is a very conservative person, and their starting lineup is as stable as the 21st pick in the draft.

The Hornets' starting lineup consists of Robin Lopez, Ryan Anderson, Aminu, Vazquez, and Austin Rivers.

After the game started, the Thunder quickly took control of the game with their defense. Midway through the first quarter, Kevin Martin and Derek Fisher entered the game, replacing Thabo Sefolosha and Kevin Durant. Two minutes later, Jafi, Reggie Jackson, and Darren Collison entered the game, replacing Serge Ibaka, Russell Westbrook, and Kendrick Perkins.

At this point, the Thunder's entire bench was comprised of substitutes.

As Jia Fei predicted, Coach Brooks' plan was to have Reggie Jackson and Fisher play as a backcourt duo, with Reggie controlling the ball and Fisher playing shooting guard. In this lineup, Jia Fei would play power forward, eliminating the need for the twin towers of Thabeet and Collison. This reduced the overall height of the lineup, but significantly increased spacing and offensive ceiling.

This was a bold attempt, a groundbreaking one for Coach Brooks, who is known for his stubbornness.

黄蜂队此时场上5人还是首发5人组，此时场上比分为16:20，雷霆领先4分！

Reggie dribbled the ball across half-court, facing Austin Rivers. He was in a good mood; the coaching staff had given him the ball in the second unit instead of making him Fisher's backup, which was a huge sign of trust. He certainly didn't want to let the coach down.

Austin Rivers is the son of NBA championship coach Doc Rivers, but he looks more like a white person with very fair skin, and he doesn't look like the dark-skinned old man at all.

Jia Fei wondered, could Old Li's neighbor be Old Wang? Or could it be that Little Rivers' surname isn't Rivers, but Wang?

Austin Rivers, facing Reggie Jackson's defense, used a screen to drive hard to the basket! Clearly, the Thunder have a small lineup, and attacking the rim is the right choice!

Although Collison is nominally an inside player, his interior defense is actually just so-so. His rim protection and rebounding are very average, and he has nothing to do with the term "defensive anchor"!

Rivers drove into the paint, and Jia Fei immediately left his defender Aminu to help defend!

Rivers passes the ball to Aminu!

Aminu made a move when he had an open position—but ended up with a piece of refined iron!

Jia Fei grabbed the rebound and passed it to Reggie for a fast break!

The Hornets' defensive transition speed was decent, but Reggie Jackson was quick, resulting in a power play in the frontcourt!

Reggie passes the ball to Fisher!

Fisher received the ball and confidently launched a three-pointer!

The fans in the stadium gasped in amazement; that was such a confident shot!

But the ball missed!

The backboard bounced far away. Suddenly, a yellow lightning bolt appeared from the side. Jia Fei grabbed the ball and passed it to Lao Yu!

Fisher received the ball and unleashed another three-pointer – this time he got it!

16:23, Thunder lead by 7 points!

Fisher appeared very calm. He's the man who hit a game-winning shot with 0.4 seconds left in the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. This kind of shot is nothing to him!

For the Hornets, Austin Rivers continued his strong drive, this time choosing to force his way to the layup!

But! The moment he released the shot, Jia Fei, who had come over to help defend, slammed the ball onto the backboard!

A spiked hat!

Jia Fei frantically helped defend, completely disregarding Aminu, whom he was guarding. In his eyes, Aminu was like Tony Allen, someone who couldn't score with his shots. And when Aminu went for a layup, Jia Fei blocked the shot because he knew Aminu was no longer able to pass the ball at that moment.

A cheer erupted from the crowd as Collison received the ball and passed it to Reggie.

Reggie dribbled over, and with the help of Collison's screen, he drove and passed to Jia Fei in the corner!

Jia Fei feinted and then broke through, passing the ball to Old Fish in the left corner!

Fisher received the ball and fired another three-pointer—and it went in!

At 16:26, the point difference suddenly reached double digits, and the Hornets immediately called a timeout!

Jia Fei's assists +2!

The Ford Center erupted... Everyone vividly remembered how stagnant this team's offense had been before! No one forgot the scenes of them getting repeatedly hit on the rim. If it weren't for one of the league's top defenses and one of the strongest star combinations, they wouldn't have achieved such a good record this season. Offensively, they were only in the middle of the league.

The Hornets never expected that the opponent's all-sub lineup would completely dominate their starting lineup. Jia Fei was omnipresent on the defensive end and transformed into an assist master on the offensive end, constantly feeding the ball to Fisher.

After Fisher replaced Thabeet, the Thunder's offensive spacing improved significantly. All five players on the court were capable of shooting three-pointers, with Fisher, Jia Fei, and Kevin Martin all being accurate from beyond the arc. Even Reggie Jackson and Collison could shoot, making them virtually unstoppable.

Seeing that Lao Yu was still as sharp as ever, Jia Fei suddenly remembered a saying that he thought made a lot of sense: As a basketball player, age can take away a lot of things, but it can never take away your height and shooting ability.