NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 150 The New Team's First Home Game

After Art Mayok fell asleep, Jia Fei logged into the system to check the mission completion status.

He scored a near-game-winning shot in this match, which should be considered as fulfilling that near-game-winning shot mission!

Checking the task list, sure enough, the task "Make a near game-winning shot in the regular season" was completed!

After completing the task, he went to claim his reward and was delighted to receive 3000 points. He then checked his anger level and found that Monta Ellis had generated 5 anger points against him in the match, Shawn Marion had generated 1, and Coach Carlisle had generated 3, for a total of 9 anger points, which could be converted into 900 points.

Adding the 1277 points he had left in his account, he now has a total of 5177 points.

Jia Fei spent 4000 points to increase his "Iverson Peak Skill Integration" from 38% to 39%!

He checked his task list again to see what tasks he could accept. After searching, he found several more tasks available. He accepted them all, thinking he might be able to complete them later.

One of the tasks is to "score more than 10 points in a single quarter during the regular season." This task is actually not that difficult; many role players can achieve 10 points in a single quarter. Scoring 10 points in a single quarter does not mean scoring 40 points in a single game. A player who averages 20 points per game will definitely have a quarter with 10 points.

The second task is to "score more than 20 points in a single quarter during the regular season," which is much more difficult. Even half of the role players would find it hard to achieve 20 points in a single quarter; it requires players with very strong scoring explosiveness.

The third task was to "score more than 30 points in a single quarter during the regular season," which was extremely difficult. In NBA history, the number of players who have scored more than 30 points in a single quarter can be counted on one hand. But Jia Fei accepted it anyway. Whether he could complete it or not wasn't the issue; the question was whether he dared to take it on.

The fourth task is to "score more than 20 points in the first half of the regular season". This is not too difficult. Scoring 20 points in the first half does not mean that you have to score 40 points in the whole game.

The fifth task is to "score more than 30 points in the first half of the regular season". This task is more difficult than the previous one, but as I said before, it is not impossible to complete.

After accepting the mission, Jia Fei fell into a deep sleep.

The following morning, after having breakfast, Jia Fei traveled with the team by bus to the airport, and then took a chartered plane back to Atlanta.

There's been a lot of discussion surrounding Jia Fei's performance in the opening game. Many media outlets deliberately tagged the Thunder, implying that a player they wouldn't even spend their mid-level exception on was putting up an All-Star level performance with the Hawks. Many also brought up Harden last offseason, a young player the Thunder let go due to the team's unwillingness to spend money. Now, Harden has become the Rockets' leading perimeter player, forming the "Modern Duo" with Dwight Howard, aiming for a championship.

Meanwhile, Westbrook of the Thunder is still recovering from injury, and it's unknown when he will return. Durant is leading the team alone, and it looks exhausting. I wonder if they regret letting Harden and Jia Fei go.

Back in Atlanta, the team didn't schedule any training sessions, so Jia Fei and Art Mayork went to the training facility to continue practicing.

That evening, they participated in a Halloween event organized by their teammates, including Horford.

The Hawks' next opponent is the Toronto Raptors, who will be played at home on the evening of November 2nd.

This will be Jia Fei's first home game since joining the team, and he is eager to put on a great performance in front of the home fans.

Four hours before the game, Jia Fei arrived at the Hawks' home arena, Philips Arena, for warm-up training. He wanted to be in top form for his first home game.

The attendance at Philips Arena for this game was quite good. Since the addition of new players like Jia Fei this season, the Hawks' market is better than last season, with season ticket sales being excellent and even merchandise selling better than before.

The Hawks have not missed the playoffs since the 2007-08 season, and they have consistently been a playoff team in the Eastern Conference in recent years. Unfortunately, they have never been able to go any further.

Philips Arena is the arena the Hawks have been using since 1999, more than 10 years ago. In the home team locker room, Jafi's locker is next to Horford's, and next to him is Art Mayork's.

Jia Fei liked this arrangement very much; it showed him both respect and consideration. It is said that this was all arranged by General Manager Danny Ferry, which shows that this general manager is really a detail-oriented person!

In the locker room before the game, head coach Budenholzer explained the game plan for tonight.

Before the match, Jia Fei practiced at the home stadium, where fans were already gradually entering. He glanced at the stands and was delighted to see fans wearing his number 3 jersey, which made him feel extremely comfortable.

Hopefully, there will be more and more fans like this!

Facing the Raptors, Jia Fei saw the "Trash Brothers" Lowry and DeRozan, Rudy Gay, Valanciunas, Terrence Ross, and others, and suddenly felt a pang of emotion. This past summer, he had almost joined the Raptors.

But right now, he's a member of the Eagles!

This game was broadcast live on TNT, with commentators Kevin Harlan and former NBA star Chris Webber.

Before the match even started, Kevin Harlan and Chris Webber began warming up the crowd.

"Chris, what's the biggest difference between being a commentator and being a player?" Kevin Harlan asked.

Weber laughed and replied, "The biggest difference is probably that I don't need to warm up like them. I can sit and talk in a suit and tie without breaking a sweat."

"So you think our job as commentators is easy?" Kevin Harlan pressed.

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" Webber denied. "Commentary is quite tiring; you need to prepare materials, and it's not as easy as the average fan might think."

Kevin Harlan nodded and said, "I like hearing that. Let's talk about the game. What do you think of Jia Fei as a player?"

“Jia Fei? Oh, I’ve watched his games. I also watched his game where he almost hit a game-winning shot against Dallas. He’s a really promising young man. I still don’t quite understand why OKC let him go. He’s still improving. He could totally be the third star alongside KD and Russ. His defensive and offensive abilities are underestimated. I’m quite optimistic about his prospects with the Hawks this season,” Webber said.

The starting lineups for both teams in this match have been announced on the big screen at the Philips Arena.

The Hawks' starting lineup, playing at home, consisted of Horford, Millsap, Jafi, Korver, and Teague.

The Raptors' starting lineup for the away game consisted of Valanciunas, Amir Johnson, Rudy Gay, and the Trash Brothers.