diskusbooks Chapter 429 Zhang Manyuan: Did Westbrook just swear in Chinese?
Chapter 429 Zhang Manyuan: Did Westbrook just swear in Chinese?
The evening of July 5.
TD Garden, home of the Celtics.
The Celtics will host the Brooklyn Nets tonight.
The two teams faced off four times in the regular season, with the Nets winning three of those games.
The Nets seem to have a psychological advantage.
However, the Celtics have the advantage of having an extra home game due to their better record.
Therefore, the final outcome of this series remains highly uncertain in the eyes of many commentators and media outlets.
The first match between the two sides began as scheduled.
The Nets, well-rested, took the initiative from the start, with Wang Xiucheng stealing the ball from Jaylen Brown and slamming it home to open the game.
Then the Celtics missed two shots, and the Nets launched two fast breaks, one of which was a three-pointer.
The Nets took only 2 minutes to get off to a 7-0 start.
Mazura had to call a timeout ahead of schedule.
After the timeout, the Celtics' shooting percentage returned to normal.
The Nets also reduced their fast break transitions significantly.
The score remained close throughout the first quarter, with the Nets leading 31-27 by 4 points at the end of the first quarter.
At the start of the second quarter, Jayson Tatum of the Celtics rested, while Jaylen Brown, who had been rested at the end of the first quarter, led the team.
For the Nets, Wang Xiucheng continued to play, while Durant and Westbrook, who had rested for 4 minutes, came on.
Incredibly, Westbrook, who has always been criticized by fans for his poor shooting, made two of his four three-point attempts in the second quarter.
One of the unlucky ones spun around twice, but still managed to get out in the end.
Thanks to the performances of Westbrook and Durant in the second quarter, as well as Wang Xiucheng's consistent contributions, the Nets scored 31 points in the second quarter alone.
At halftime, the Nets led 62-56 by 6 points.
In the second half, the team changed sides and fought again.
Pritchard of the Celtics suddenly stepped forward.
He hit three three-pointers in the quarter, scoring a total of 11 points, helping the Celtics take a one-point lead at the end of the third quarter.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Wang Xiucheng rested for 4 minutes, and the Celtics took advantage of his absence to widen the gap to 5 points.
Wang Xiucheng then came on and made three consecutive, unreasonable three-pointers.
They took the lead again.
The Celtics never managed to close the gap again.
The Nets ultimately won the first game of the second round on the road, 134-128.
Wang Xiucheng scored 37 points, 11 assists, and 5 steals in this game.
Durant scored 28 points, Westbrook had 18 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds.
With this game, the Nets regained their home-court advantage.
The next match will be held in two days at the same venue.
The Nets team did not return to New York this time, but stayed in Boston.
The following afternoon, the entire Nets team began practice at a arena in Boston.
Wang Xiucheng also made a rare appearance.
Westbrook looked at Wang Xiucheng with some surprise.
Although he has been with the Nets for a while, there is one thing he still doesn't understand.
That's why Wang Xiucheng's three-point shooting was so bad during training.
So badly that even he himself couldn't believe that Wang Xiucheng had thrown those balls.
You said Wang Xiucheng wasn't serious during training and just threw things around carelessly.
But as soon as Wang Xiucheng threw a shot that missed the target, he cursed loudly.
Westbrook simply couldn't believe that this was a shot that Wang Xiucheng had "not taken seriously".
If he didn't know that Wang Xiucheng didn't have any brothers, he would have suspected that the person playing the game and the person training were not the same "Wang Xiucheng".
The three-hour training session ended in the blink of an eye.
The gates opened, and some reporters were allowed to come in and conduct interviews.
Most of the reporters here are local New York journalists, such as The Athletic's Nets beat reporter.
Of course, a significant portion of these are journalists from China.
After all, the Nets are known as the home team of China, so they deserve this kind of treatment.
The interview process was actually quite simple.
Several key players will come to the sidelines, and the media can come and interview whomever they want. After the interviews are over, the reporters can continue to interview other players.
Wang Xiucheng, Durant, Westbrook, and even Ben West all came to the sidelines with towels in hand, wiping away sweat.
Instantly, more than half of the reporters surrounded Wang Xiucheng.
All sorts of questions were thrown at Wang Xiucheng.
It contains both English and Chinese.
Westbrook stood not far away, facing only three media outlets, one of whom was a reporter he had always had a good relationship with.
What surprised Westbrook was that there was a Chinese media outlet standing in front of him today.
Westbrook glanced at the microphone in the female reporter's hand.
Westbrook recognizes this logo; it's from CCTV, China's national television station.
"Hello." Westbrook greeted in broken Chinese and smiled at the camera.
Zhang Manyuan was somewhat surprised.
She had been in the United States for a long time, so she had naturally heard a lot about Westbrook.
Westbrook is known for his reluctance to give interviews, and he usually just gives perfunctory responses.
Sometimes they would even be cold and dismissive, refusing to be interviewed.
This has been circulating in Chinese media circles for a long time.
"Hello," Zhang Manyuan greeted in Mandarin, then began the interview in English.
"Mr. Russell, after joining the Nets, how does it feel compared to your previous teams?"
Westbrook knew that the "previous team" this hot woman was referring to was the Lakers.
Westbrook took the microphone bearing the CCTV logo and said, "The biggest difference is that basketball feels simpler now."
"I feel incredibly confident right now, like I can make every shot."
"Wang is a really strong point guard. Apart from Harden, he is the best point guard in the league right now, in my opinion."
"But you know Harden is getting older, getting more and more injuries, and his luck isn't great either, so he's definitely going to be the king in the future."
Westbrook knew exactly what the reporter wanted to hear, so he started to exaggerate.
If Wang Xiucheng had heard this from the sidelines, he would probably have thanked Westbrook, saying, "Thank you for not ranking me first."
"Could you greet the fans in Mandarin?"
After a few more questions, Zhang Manyuan made a request to end the interview.
"Of course, I know quite a lot of Chinese."
Westbrook, holding the microphone, thought for a moment and said, "Hello, have you eaten? Goodbye, I love you..."
After rattling off several words with poor pronunciation, Westbrook slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "I also know an idiom!"
Westbrook cleared his throat with a hint of pride, looked at Zhang Manyuan, and continued in broken Chinese, "Fuck him!"
In an instant, Zhang Manyuan felt her mind go completely blank!
Was he swearing just now?
Are you laughing while cursing?
An American swearing in Chinese!
No wonder everyone says Westbrook is hard to get along with; I thought it was just a rumor.
But within just a few minutes, their true colors were revealed.
Westbrook looked at Zhang Manyuan's surprised expression with a sense of pride.
Look, even she, a Chinese person, was amazed by my language talent!
"Wang taught me this idiom," Westbrook said proudly. "I learned it in no time."
Zhang Manyuan paused for a few seconds before finally saying, "Thank you for accepting our interview, thank you."
After saying that, Zhang Manyuan and the cameraman fled the stadium as if they were escaping.
Westbrook watched Zhang Manyuan's retreating figure and muttered to himself, "Looks like she's quite satisfied with her interview and is eager to get back to producing the news."