NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 618 The Christmas Derby

On December 15, the Clippers suffered a narrow defeat to the Bulls in a back-to-back road game, ending their eight-game winning streak.

This loss was the Clippers' third of the season. After this defeat, their record improved to 25 wins and 3 losses, maintaining their position at the top of the league.

Although the away loss to the Bulls was a major upset, at least the six-game road trip is over. A continuous road trip is extremely tiring, requiring constant travel by various modes of transportation, not being able to sleep in your own bed, and sometimes playing back-to-back games – it's a huge test of physical endurance.

This is why no NBA team has ever achieved an 82-game winning streak; even if there were such a super team, it wouldn't be possible. Even setting aside the fact that basketball is a competitive sport where unpredictable factors can arise at any time, the sheer volume of games means that players' performance can fluctuate, injuries can occur, and fatigue can set in, all of which can lead to losses.

After returning to Los Angeles and taking a short break, the Clippers will face the Phoenix Suns on December 18.

The Suns don't seem to be tanking this season. They're currently only two games behind the eighth-place Trail Blazers in the West, and with a little effort, they still have a chance to make the playoffs. However, making the playoffs in the West is no easy feat. The Los Angeles teams, the two Los Angeles teams, the Rockets, the Nuggets, and the Warriors are all guaranteed playoff spots, leaving only three. These four spots will be contested by seven teams: the Thunder, Jazz, Mavericks, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Spurs, and Suns.

With seven teams competing for three spots, the odds seem pretty good, but considering their own strength, it will be very difficult for the Suns to secure a spot.

In this game, the Clippers' duo of Paul George and Paul George combined for 65 points, leading the team to a resounding home victory over the Suns and ending their losing streak.

The Clippers haven't suffered consecutive losses this season, demonstrating exceptional resilience after setbacks, and they are currently undefeated at home. In fact, they haven't lost a home game since last season, a truly phenomenal record.

On December 20th, the Clippers will host the Rockets.

In this game, the Clippers, with their full roster, showed the Rockets the gap between the two teams. Although the final score was not much, the Rockets were suppressed throughout the game and had no hope of winning.

The Clippers secured their second consecutive win by defeating the Rockets at home.

Two days later, the Clippers visited San Antonio to face the Spurs.

In this game, Jia Fei scored 47 points, leading his team to victory and achieving a three-game winning streak.

The following day, the Clippers narrowly defeated the Thunder in a back-to-back road game, securing their fourth consecutive win.

After a four-game winning streak, the Clippers' record stands at 29 wins and 3 losses, still ranking first in the league.

Next up is the Christmas battle...

The Clippers were naturally scheduled to play in the Christmas Day game this season. As the team with the best record in the league and the defending champions last season, their popularity is beyond doubt.

Their Christmas Day opponent is their city rivals, the Lakers.

The Lakers have been doing well recently. Although Anthony Davis has been on and off the court, the presence of key players like Anthony Davis and Lucien Fernandez has been excellent this season, ensuring their success. Even if the role players are a bit lacking, the Lakers' star power still guarantees a decent floor.

The game was played at Staples Center, but the Clippers were playing away.

The arena is the same, only the floor has been changed. For the Clippers, away games are also home games.

This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season, but unfortunately, the player with facial paralysis will not be able to play due to muscle tension. This means the Lakers won't be able to see their Big Three play against the Clippers, which is somewhat disappointing for fans following the game.

Fortunately, the matchup between George and LeBron James and Anthony Davis is strong enough to live up to the Christmas Day title.

In this game, the Clippers' second unit played exceptionally well, completely dominating the opponent's second unit and disrupting the balance between the two teams. The Clippers also defeated the Lakers, achieving their fifth consecutive victory.

The Lakers' problem is simple: their role players aren't good enough. Yet, they haven't been able to solve this through trades or signings. This is a common problem for teams with a "Big Three"—these three players consume a large portion of the team's salary, making it impossible for the team to offer satisfactory contracts to quality supporting players.

If all three of them had high attendance rates, it would make up for this deficiency. But now, Anthony Davis is playing on and off, and he's getting old and can't handle both offense and defense like he did when he was with the Heat. Davis is also injury-prone, and the team is afraid that putting too much pressure on him will cause him to have physical problems.

The Clippers defeated the Lakers again, disappointing many fans who were hoping the Big Three would end the Clippers' championship run and establish a dynasty. They blamed the Clippers' stoic demeanor, saying, "Damn, he's so young and keeps taking so much rest! Even 35-year-old veterans like Running Man don't get as much rest as him!" It seems like they snagged a big fish, but actually they brought home a jerk. The Lakers are baffled; what did they do to deserve this?!

Regardless, he refuses to answer these questions in public, and his health condition is kept secret. Apart from his agent and closest relatives, no one knows how he is doing now.

After the Christmas battles ended, Jia Fei and Lin Ning spent a happy and fulfilling Christmas in Los Angeles. Their relationship is now no different from that of lovers, except that they haven't officially confessed their feelings.

On December 26, NBA All-Star voting officially began, and the NBA officially announced on social media that it was calling on fans to vote for their idols: "Vote now! Vote every day to select your All-Star lineup and help your favorite player be selected for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game."

Jia Fei has been the captain of the Western Conference All-Star team for two consecutive years, and he has been the All-Star Game's top vote-getter for three consecutive years. As the most popular player this season, his chances of becoming the top vote-getter again are about the same as the probability of the Chinese national table tennis team winning the championship.

Although there are many stars in the West and the competition for starting positions is fierce, there is no need to worry about Jia Fei being selected.

Jia Fei himself takes the All-Star Game lightly. He thinks it's just a show, and if he could, he wouldn't want to participate. He'd rather take this time to rest at home for a few days!

Starting with the 2016-17 season, active players and media also joined the voting process, with fans accounting for 50% of the vote, and active players and media each accounting for 25%. Once the votes are counted, the players will be ranked according to the order of their votes.

The final score is calculated by weighting the votes from fans, players, and media. The two defenders and three forwards with the highest scores are nominated for the starting lineup.

In 2018, the NBA changed the traditional Eastern and Western Conference format, and began to have two captains select teams from 24 players, who are then chosen by fans, media, and players through voting.

The two players with the highest votes from the East and West will be captains. They will select 8 players from the starting pool in the first round, and then select the remaining 14 from the reserves.