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The winter in the capital seems forever wrapped in a gray veil. I don't know when people stopped seeing the blue sky and white clouds, or when they could no longer see the stars of the Milky Way. Whenever they look up, all they can see is the howling cold wind, under the somber sky, and the dead trees shaking slightly.
Luis finally returned to his rented house in the capital after another hour of work, traffic jams on the way home after a full workday.
After graduating from graduate school, he stayed in Bogotá and worked for an international company with a good salary. The only regret was that he could only watch NBA games on weekends, and during the week, he had to settle for reruns and news at night.
After changing into cotton clothes at home, Luis sat at his desk and opened his laptop.
After Liam bought the Warriors last year, he naturally became a fan of the Warriors, and the NCAA, which he had originally focused on, gradually faded from his attention.
His laptop had been in use for two years, so the startup speed was a bit slow, and during the booting process, Luis wore an expectant expression. Watching the news and reruns of the Warriors every day was the happiest moment for him.
After work, he was not in a relationship, and with the high living costs in Bogotá, he had to save for a down payment to buy a house. He usually stayed home after work, didn't go out to play, and watching football was his main form of entertainment.
Finally, the computer successfully started, Luis waited patiently for a moment, clicked through all the pop-up windows, entered the browser, found the official NBA website in his favorites, and clicked.
"The Big Three combined for 76 points, the Heat defeated the Raptors 103-95, and won two consecutive victories before the All-Star Game."
Upon seeing the headline on the top of the website, Luis snorted lightly and didn't click to read it. Even though almost three months had passed, he still clearly remembered the Warriors' defeat to the Heat and had a bad impression of that team.
His eyes moved down, and the second news was about the Warriors: "Curry scores 30 points and 12 assists, Delon 22 points and 10 assists, and the Warriors defeat the Jazz 115-100!"
Luis' eyes lit up, he moved the mouse, clicked, and carefully navigated.
On February 16, at 9:30 P.M in Bogotá time, the Warriors defeated the Jazz 115-100 away, winning their fifth consecutive game. Curry had 30 points, 12 assists, and 6 rebounds, Chandler had 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Matthews had 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. The Jazz suffered a two-game losing streak, with Delon scoring 22 points and 10 assists and Millsap adding 22 points and 5 rebounds.
Game summary: At the start of the first quarter, the Warriors took the lead with two triples from Curry and Klay, while the Jazz struggled to get offensive rebounds, failing to score. The game opened up after Deron hit a mid-range jumper. At the start, both teams were playing evenly, alternating in scoring... Matthews hit a three-pointer midway through the quarter, and the Warriors took the lead, but by the end of the first quarter, the Warriors were a bit off and went through a scoring drought. The Jazz, led by Millsap's consecutive points, came back and led the Warriors 30-27 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Jeremy Lin came in with a 2+1 play to open things up, and then assisted Butler for a three-pointer, helping the team close the gap... After Curry entered in the second half of the quarter, he hit a three-pointer, then committed a three-point foul and made all three free throws, and at the end of the quarter, he hit a deep three to ignite the crowd. With his 11 points in that quarter, the Warriors led the Jazz 62-57 at halftime.
At the start of the second half, the Warriors played their best defensive counterattack. Green helped defensively, and with consecutive fast breaks, Curry and Matthews hit back-to-back threes, giving the Warriors a double-digit lead... In the third quarter, Matthews scored 10 points, and Deron did his best to help the Jazz cut the lead slightly, but the Warriors still led by 12, 86-74 heading into the final quarter.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Warriors' bench continued to exert strength, and the lead widened further. Matthews remained on the court, controlling the ball... In the end, the Jazz's attempt to close the gap failed, and the Warriors secured a five-game winning streak while the Jazz suffered a second consecutive loss.
"Starting lineup: Warriors: Curry, Klay, Butler, Green, Chandler; Jazz: DeLong, Millsap, Hayward, Al Jefferson, CJ Myers."
"Hoo..."
Carefully browsing through all the news, Luis let out a deep breath, and a smile of satisfaction appeared on his face.
The Warriors had won again, and he decided to add an extra chicken leg to his meal tonight! The joy of being a fan is as simple as that.
He closed the news page and kept reading, continuing down a list of game reports, including the Celtics' victory over the Nets, the Lakers' surprising loss to the Cavaliers, and the 76ers' win over the Rockets... Today was the penultimate day before the All-Star break, with a total of 12 games played, involving 24 teams.
Luis quickly read through the news, scrolling down to see the team standings, and saw that the Warriors were in fourth place in the West. He couldn't help but sigh lightly.
The Warriors hadn't made much progress in the first half of the season in the past three months, stumbling with their record, losing one game after winning three, slowly falling to fourth place in the West, just two wins ahead of the Thunder, who were in fifth.
However, after defeating the Jazz, the Warriors had won a rare five-game winning streak, stabilizing their position and seemed to be back on track, which made Luis very happy.
He logged off the NBA official site, logged into Penguin, and clicked on a group chat called "Oracle Center VIP" at the top of the list, which was in the middle of a heated conversation.
"I'm an All-Star this weekend, I'm in rotation, it's really awesome!"
"Damn, that's great, I don't have any time off at all, crying."
Don't have time off?
"The overtime pay is a lot more…"
"Ha, well-deserved!"
Luis watched his friends laugh and joke, smiling. This was a group of Warriors fans, mainly members who watched the Bulldogs game together, and some of them had become fans of the Warriors. They created this group chat last year, chatting while watching games.
He placed his hand on the keyboard and typed:
"This time Curry and Chandler were selected for the All-Star game, not easy!"
"It's a pity Butler, I don't know why Coach Liam asked him to come off the bench, he's been so efficient this season, if he had enough playing time, his scoring production should have increased a lot, it's not that he doesn't want to be an All-Star."
"It's almost funny that Butler wanted to be an All-Star, but suddenly became a bench player this season, something he didn't expect, even though Matthews scored more points than Butler, his efficiency was lower, and his usage rate was a bit high, while Butler's defense was far better than Matthews."
Following this, two screenshots of Butler and Matthews' advanced stats from the basketball data site BBR were shared.
Luis looked at the screenshots twice and responded:
"Coach Liam must have his reasons, we can all see that, there's no reason he can't see it, let's see if there are any changes after the All-Star Game."
He and his friends had always been diehard fans and paid close attention to the role of statistics. Liam had been interviewed several times and also admired the role of data, which was another major reason why they followed the Warriors.
Even though the Rockets' head coach also paid attention to data, the Rockets' record had not improved much, and it was extremely difficult to even get past the first round. These hardcore fans despised the head coach and unanimously believed that he had lost his way. According to their data analysis method, the Rockets were destined to miss the championship, and it was even difficult for them to make it to the Western Conference Finals.
Luis suddenly thought of something, logged into the two data sites BBR and 82games, checked the Warriors' data, then clicked on the group chat and said:
"I'm not worried about the Warriors' record, the five-game winning streak is a small sample, but the trend is encouraging. Although the offensive efficiency is still a bit poor, the team's defense has improved noticeably, in the last 10 games, the Warriors' defensive efficiency ranks first in the league. Green has improved a lot, and then just wait for the team's three-point shooting."
"It would be great if the Warriors' three-point shooting were a bit more stable, and it really hurts to see Curry so tightly covered!"
"Relax, Matthews, Butler, their three-point shooting is getting better and better, just take your time, don't rush."
"I always feel like Coach Liam has some kind of plan with Matthews starting. I watched the video carefully, and the team's tactics seem to deliberately favor him, almost like helping him review the data…"
Luis looked at the group discussion and quickly typed a line. But after a moment's hesitation, he deleted it. There were some people in the group who liked Matthews a lot, and he didn't want to cause a debate over his assumption.
However, Luis had a vague feeling in his heart. This All-Star weekend would definitely not be that simple.
The Next Day, Auckland
The morning sun shone through the window, falling on the pillow next to Liam and gradually moving to his face and neck, tinting his skin with a golden yellow hue, finally reaching his closed eyes.
Liam's eyes fluttered slightly, then slowly opened. The sunlight hit him, causing him to squint, and he raised his hand to shield his forehead. After a moment, he turned his head and, after some time, freed himself from the grogginess of waking up. He grabbed his phone with his left hand, looked at it, and saw that it was already 11:30 in the morning.
After playing against the Jazz the previous day, the entire Warriors team flew back to Oakland overnight. Liam generously gave the whole team a week off and would resume training after the All-Star weekend. He himself had rushed home at 3 AM, dragging his tired body, mechanically washing up, and lying in bed, forgetting to pull the curtains, or else he might have slept until the afternoon.
After waking up, Liam lay in bed for a while, then got up, dressed, brushed his teeth, washed his face, ate the lunch Tina had prepared, and entered the study.
The players were on vacation, but he still had much work to do.
Liam did not plan to go to Los Angeles for this year's All-Star Weekend. Half the season had passed, and the Warriors had a lot to adjust. The week before the trade deadline was extremely important for the team, and Liam didn't have time for the All-Star game.
He had already asked Larry Riley to come home in the afternoon, and the two were going to discuss some important matters for the team. Before that, though, he had to rewatch the footage of the game.
Opening his laptop, Liam clicked on the Warriors vs. Jazz video. Since the game had just finished last night, the video room hadn't had time to edit it yet. The video was a bit long, so Liam dragged the mouse from time to time to fast-forward and watched it intermittently.
After watching for a while, Liam pressed the spacebar, freezing the image at the moment when Green collapsed the defense and successfully interfered with DeLong's shot. He grabbed his notebook and began to write:
"Dream Chasing's understanding of defensive timing is more accurate, and his excessive defense has been significantly reduced, now integrating into the team's defensive system... Ball handling and passing continue to improve, and playmaking skills are gradually emerging, but the shooting still needs improvement, as it will continue to drag down the team's spacing, we need to keep practicing shots..."
He had always referred to Green like this in his previous life, and although Green's nickname hadn't spread yet, Liam had gotten used to it and kept it in his notes.
After memorizing that, Liam continued to read, still fast-forwarding from time to time but also stopping at several places to take notes in his notebook:
"Stephen's ability to break the bag has improved significantly, his court vision and split-second decision-making ability have greatly improved, but passing accuracy needs to be improved, especially risky passes, which need to be worked on... well, it's a bit difficult..."
"Klay's open three-pointers are as accurate as ever, his ability to run without the ball has improved, and he has fully adapted to NBA-level matchups, his ability to shoot quickly and energetically has gradually improved, and his defensive wing play has continued to improve, and his growth rate has exceeded expectations."
"Jimmy's mentality remains very good, he trains hard, his ball-handling skills continue to improve, he can efficiently score in limited playing time, his individual defense is near the top, his help defense awareness is getting better and better, and he has built the team's defensive system alongside Dream Chasing..."
"Jeremy Lin is fully adapted to NBA-level matchups, handling the ball well in short-range finals and pick-and-rolls, and needs to continue improving his long-distance shooting and defense, with a... positive result."
"Tony..."
As Liam recorded more and more players, time passed slowly, and by the time he finished watching the entire game video, it was already 4 PM.
"My writing is still as ugly as ever..."
Liam laughed at himself, left the densely written notebook, stretched, and moved his somewhat stiff body.
His handwriting wasn't pretty, but it helped him concentrate, so he kept the habit of writing down important points in a notebook.
Knock, knock.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Tina's soft voice came from outside the study door:
"Sir, Mr. Riley has arrived, he's parking in the yard."
"I know, please open the door for him, I'll come down."
Liam responded aloud, grabbed his computer and notebook, slipped on the slippers that had been kicked to the side, exited the study, and walked downstairs.
When he walked toward the living room on the first floor, Larry Riley had just stopped his car and entered. Liam greeted him, put his things on the coffee table, and the two sat down together. Tina brought two cups of coffee and some sugar cubes.
Liam took the coffee and had a sip while Larry Riley added some sugar to his coffee, stirred it slowly with a spoon, and said:
"Liam, I have news about the trade you asked me to inquire about."
End of this chapter
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