NBA's King of Talking

Upon seeing the email, Jia Fei's lips curled into a slight smile. It seemed she still cared about him quite a bit, as she was actually watching one of his matches online.

He immediately sent her an email, thanking her and inquiring about her current situation.

After posting, Jia Fei tossed his phone aside and went to sleep. Regardless, today was still perfect; he played so well in his first game back in the rotation, the future is bright!

The following day, Jia Fei traveled with the team on a chartered plane to Chicago, a major city in the central United States, where they would play the Bulls in their next away game.

Although the coach didn't say it, Jia Fei knew that he would most likely be included in the rotation for this game. Coach Brooks wasn't stupid; it was obvious how well Jia Fei had performed in the last game.

Chicago is located south of Lake Michigan in the United States and is one of the world's financial centers.

For Chinese football fans, the deepest impression of this city is the Chicago Bulls, and when talking about the Bulls, one cannot help but think of that man.

This man no longer has much to do with this city; he is now the owner of Kemba Walker, Jia Fei's former teammate. But he has left a deep and indelible mark on this city.

Chicago is also known as the "Windy City," and Derrick Rose, the current star player of the Chicago Bulls, is known as the "Windy City Rose."

After settling into their Chicago accommodations, the Thunder held a brief practice session.

I don’t know if it was Jia Fei’s words yesterday that had an effect, but Lamb trained extra hard today and was obviously much more focused.

Jia Fei was happy to see this result; it was the right thing to do. Humility, hard training, and patiently waiting for the right opportunity—that was the correct path.

Kevin Martin was practicing his three-point shot on the sidelines. He was very serious, running from one spot to another, not just going through the motions.

Jia Fei sighed inwardly, realizing that this was the effort and professionalism of a high-level outside shooting player. At this stage of his career, if he didn't maintain a certain amount of training, his performance could decline rapidly.

Kevin Martin's shooting form is really, really strange. You could say it's ugly, it's definitely not cool, but you could also say it's wrong. Yet, he's scored so many points with this shooting form, and it's incredibly accurate. Sometimes, you really can't explain it with common sense. If it exists, it has its reason; what suits you best is the most important thing. That's probably how it is.

Jia Fei remembers that there were several NBA players with extremely strange shooting forms, one was Kevin Martin, and the other was Marion, who was known as "The Matrix".

Unlike Kevin Martin's awkward, machine-gun-like shooting form, Marion's shot resembles a woman's shot, launched from the chest. Both players share the characteristic of quick release, making them difficult to block.

So, someone as beautiful as a painting isn't necessarily a blacksmith. Sakuragi Hanamichi's toilet-style free throws can also be made. There's never a single standard for shooting form.

Every time Jia Fei comes to the Bulls' home arena, he can't help but feel a little excited because the red floor and the huge red bull's head on the court evoke a sense of passion and excitement, like that of Spanish bullfighting.

Veteran Muhammad played for the Thunder last season, and he was very friendly, shaking hands with Thunder players and coaches before the game. The NBA is a business league, and it's perfectly normal for role players to be traded or join other teams. Staying with one team can enhance a star player's image, but loyalty is never one-sided.

The Bulls have indeed had a run of bad luck. Last season, they finished first in the Eastern Conference, ahead of the Heat, but a season-ending injury to their star player, Derrick Rose, in the first round of the playoffs led to their upset loss in the first round, a humiliating defeat that cemented their place in history. With Rose still sidelined this season, it's clear they've already dropped out of championship contention.

The game is about to begin, and the starting lineups for both teams have been announced. The Thunder's starting lineup remains unchanged, while for the Bulls, Derrick Rose will not play, and veteran Kirk Hinrich will start in his place. The Bulls' other four starters are Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, and Richard Hamilton.

The Bulls' head coach is Thibodeau, the defensive assistant coach who led the Celtics to the championship.

Thibodeau is a tough coach, skilled at developing his team's defense, and known for his relentless pushing of his starters. Many Bulls fans complain that Derrick Rose's season-ending injury was largely due to this coach's excessive use of him. Playing entire quarters or over 40 minutes a game, treating players like animals—who could stand that?

Six championship banners hang in the rafters of the United Center, the Bulls' home arena. All six banners are linked to that one man. Jia Fei greatly admires this man, but only his basketball skills. As for his judgment… he believes that a good basketball player doesn't necessarily have good judgment of character.

The game started quickly. Without Rose as the primary ball-handler, the Bulls' offensive impact decreased significantly, making it difficult to initiate offense and slowing down their pace. Noah became the playmaker, frequently facilitating plays from the free-throw line. Even so, their offense remained extremely stagnant.

The Thunder's offense was similar. Perkins and Ibaka struggled to score easy baskets against the Bulls' interior defense. Durant and Westbrook were double-teamed relentlessly, and the outside game couldn't keep up. The team's offense was dragged into a state of stagnation by the opponent.

When the first quarter ended with an official timeout, Jia Fei got his chance to play. At that time, the team's five players on the court were Thabeet, Mayno, Collison, and Kevin Martin.

The Bulls' on-court five consisted of Mohammed, Belinelli, Radmanovic, Nate Robinson, and Jimmy Butler.

The score was tied at 14, with 2 minutes and 03 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The Thunder are on offense. Mayno dribbles the ball over and passes it to Collison at the high post.

Collison and Kevin Martin passed the ball to each other, and the latter rushed in to launch a shot—but was interfered with by Muhammad—and missed!

But... Jia Fei suddenly appeared from the side, grabbed the offensive rebound, and passed the ball to Thabeet under the basket!

Thabeet was too slow; his layup was stolen by Jimmy Butler!

Jimmy Butler dribbles the ball and attempts a fast break, but Mayno fouls him!

With two fouls already committed, Coach Brooks had no choice but to bring on Reggie!

Reggie also got a chance to be rotated in!

Reggie was beaming with joy, almost bursting into laughter. He quickly stepped forward to replace Meno.

Jimmy Butler went to the free-throw line after committing enough fouls.

"I'm ready to grab the rebound!" Jia Fei said to Reggie. Just then, Jimmy, who was about to shoot a free throw, heard this.

Jimmy glared at Jia Fei after hearing this.