NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 363 Subduing the Black Behemoth

Jia Fei smiled slightly, which reassured Beverley somewhat.

"Don't be nervous, I'm not blaming you, I'm thanking you!" Jia Fei said with a smile.

"You...want to thank...me?" Beverly was completely dumbfounded. What was going on? He had mocked the other person, and not only did the other person not blame him, but they also wanted to thank him.

Could it be that Jia Fei has masochistic tendencies?

Beverly quickly denied such a bold guess, saying that Jia Fei didn't seem like it at all, and there might be some hidden story.

Jia Fei said, "When you called me back then, I knew you weren't really there to give me advice." Beverly's expression turned a little awkward as she said this.

Jia Fei continued, "But the fact is, it was your phone call that provided me with a valuable idea, which indirectly led us to ultimately defeat the Warriors. So, I want to thank you!"

Jia Fei spoke very seriously, and it didn't seem like he was being sarcastic at all, which completely put Beverly at ease.

"No, I didn't do anything, you don't need to thank me!" Beverly waved his hands repeatedly, he couldn't accept such thanks, as long as Jia Fei didn't hold it against him later. As for thanks, really, there's no need!

"From now on, we'll fight side by side and strive for the championship!" Jia Fei extended his hand!

"Okay, definitely!" Beverly happily shook Jia Fei's hand, and the two even bumped shoulders amicably!

On the way back, Art Mayork was a little puzzled and couldn't help but ask, "Jia, do you really want to work with him long-term?"

Jia Fei nodded: "Hei Bei is a pretty reliable teammate!"

“Hmm, if you say it’s reliable, it shouldn’t be wrong!” Art Mayork stopped thinking about it. For a long time, he had always believed what Jia Fei said. In fact, in hindsight, many things had indeed turned out to be true, which made him even more convinced of Jia Fei’s abilities.

The Clippers' next opponent is the Utah Jazz at home. This will be their first home game of the season, and it will also be Jia Fei's first appearance in front of the home fans, making it no less significant than the opening game.

Jia Fei and Art Mayork arrived at the venue three or four hours before the game to practice shooting, a habit he developed during his time with the Hawks and has maintained ever since.

The Clippers and Lakers share the Staples Center, so the upcoming game will also be played at the Staples Center.

For Jia Fei, playing a home game at Staples Center felt somewhat surreal. Staples Center holds special significance for many basketball fans, especially those in China. The arena's fame is immense; many Chinese fans, besides Madison Square Garden in New York, TD Garden in Boston, and the Toyota Center in Houston, know this arena as well.

Chinese fans are familiar with the Staples Center not because of the Clippers, but because of the Lakers.

Staples Center, located in downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to the LALive development, sits next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex on Figueroa Street. Construction began on March 31, 1998, and it officially opened on October 17, 1999. It is a multi-purpose stadium and one of the major sports facilities in the greater Los Angeles area.

During the peak of the OK duo's three-peat, many of their matches were held in this arena.

When Jia Fei was a child, he didn't understand how two teams could share a stadium. Later, he learned that the floor could be reassembled. In the video, the workers were quite fast at assembling the floor. Indeed, the efficiency of a highly developed commercial league is really too high.

Before the match, in the home team's locker room, Coach Li, as the head coach, gave another inspiring speech.

If you think Lao Li is just reciting the same things verbatim, you're wrong; you're underestimating him. Jia Fei carefully observed that although Lao Li's speech wasn't long, he rarely repeated himself and paid great attention to sentence structure. From his facial expressions to his voice to the content, he really had a knack for it.

Who says motivational coaches lack skills? Making motivational speeches is a skill in itself!

Jia Fei didn't give any speeches or anything like that. He was indeed the team's core player, but he didn't want to ramble on in the locker room right now. He would step in and say a few words when necessary, after he had convinced everyone with his actions.

Eileen Chang wrote in "Lust, Caution": "The way to a woman's heart is through her vagina."

Actions speak louder than words!

Jia Fei put on his home jersey, the white number 3, and walked through the tunnel from the locker room to the court. He wasn't 58, nor was he Kobe; he wanted to leave his own mark in this arena!

Staples Center is truly exceptional; even with the Clippers game today, it was packed to capacity. You can't doubt the strength of Los Angeles' basketball market; the locals have many entertainment options, and watching basketball is always a significant one.

In Los Angeles, the majority of NBA fans are Lakers fans, while Clippers fans are still a minority. Even though the Lakers have had a terrible record in recent seasons, while the Clippers have made the playoffs for several consecutive years, this situation hasn't changed much.

For the Clippers to gain a larger fanbase in this city, they'll likely need a significant breakthrough in their playoff performance. Simply making the playoffs isn't enough; the fans here have high standards, and often nothing less than a championship isn't enough to impress them. The Clippers' best playoff result so far is only the semifinals, which pales in comparison to the Lakers' more than a dozen championships.

Among the fans who came tonight, quite a few were wearing Lakers jerseys, which proves from another perspective that many of the fans watching the game are not purely Clippers fans.

But there's no law or regulation that says a fan can only support one team, so Lakers fans can also like the Clippers! There's no conflict at all!

Among the many fans, there are many Asians with black hair, yellow skin, and black eyes. Los Angeles is an international metropolis with a large Chinese population and a large Chinatown. Here you can find various Chinese business associations. If you shout in Chinatown, you can probably find some fellow countrymen who can recognize your swearing dialect.

There were many fans wearing Jia Fei's jerseys at the scene, some from his time with the Hawks and others from his current time with the Clippers. As the most famous and strongest Asian player in the league, he naturally won the favor of the vast majority of Chinese fans.

Compared to the Lakers' home games where the arena is filled with championship banners, the Clippers' home games are completely empty. There aren't even any championship banners in sight, not even a single retired jersey. It's really quite pathetic.

This team has never even reached the Western Conference Finals in the playoffs, no player on this team has ever won the regular season MVP, and their accolades are emptier than many ordinary people's pockets.