Chapter 83: Pre-match tension
Yang Mo was looking forward to meeting Garnett. He had watched Garnett play since he was a kid, and he was very happy for Garnett when he won the championship last year. But... now that they were rivals, they had to see who was the real deal on the court.
From the perspective of technical and tactical level, even though Garnett is now past his prime, he can still easily defeat Yang Mo, because Yang Mo is completely at a disadvantage in terms of both technology and physical condition, and the only advantage he has is strength.
Just when Yang Mo was full of fighting spirit, Cooper came over and knocked on the door, saying, "Yang, hurry up and prepare your luggage. We will go to the airport ."
"Okay." Yang Mo quickly packed her clothes. The long NBA league is an extremely hard process. Almost every day, you have to deal with airplanes, buses, hotels, and stadiums. These are just a few monotonous places that go around and around, from one city to another. In short, behind the glamorous appearance are hardships that ordinary people don't know.
Half an hour later, the team gathered in the lobby below the hotel. Pat Riley called the players together and gave them a few instructions before parting ways with the team and heading back to Miami.
As the general manager, he has no obligation to follow the team. A team has so many things to do, and he has to stay in Miami and manage remotely. This time, the reason why he followed the team to play two away games was mostly because of Yang Mo. Before, the outside world had been badmouthing Yang Mo and criticizing his draft vision, which made him very angry. Now, through Yang Mo's two strong performances, he finally felt proud and relieved about Yang Mo, thinking that he had established a firm foothold in the team and didn't need to worry about it.
So, it's time to go back to Miami.
The players did not feel uncomfortable with Pat Riley's departure. On the contrary, they felt freer when Pat Riley was away. Because head coach Spoelstra was not a very intimidating coach, he did not have much experience, and many things still needed the help of veteran players to complete.
The Heat team quickly boarded the plane and arrived in Boston not long after. When they got off the plane, someone leaked the flight information. When they walked out of the customs channel, a large group of reporters rushed up, and their target was all Yang Mo.
So, soon, Yang Mo was surrounded by cameras and all kinds of spotlights were flashing.
"Yang, did you go to the hospital to visit Randolph who had a moderate concussion? Are you sorry for your behavior?"
"No." Yang Mo answered simply. While speaking, he took off the sunglasses hanging on his clothes and put them on.
"So, you think you did nothing wrong with that ball?"
"No." Yang Mo still answered with a simple word: NO.
"So...what do you think of the term stadium thugs?"
"No."
"Christine came before you. Did you two have an appointment?"
"No."
"She said she will be at the TD Garden tonight. Will you have any other interactions after the game?"
"No."
"Are you confident that you can win this game? Do you think you can still do whatever you want under KG's defense like you did in the previous two games?" At this time, a Boston basketball asked a professional question.
Yang Mo finally stopped saying NO to this question and stopped, answering very seriously: "I don't care who my opponent is. I just know to do what I should do. Of course, it is undeniable that Garnett is the strongest opponent I have ever met since entering the NBA, but... I still want to play in my own style."
"Excuse me……"
The reporter wanted to ask something else, but Yang Mo didn't want to answer. He just stretched out his arms to push away the crowd, squeezed out a passage, ran out quickly, and got directly on the team bus.
After getting in the car, he took off his sunglasses and said unhappily, "These reporters are so annoying."
"I can't help it. Who made you the hottest topic right now?" Wade smiled. As an NBA veteran, he was already used to this.
"Ah..." Yang Mo sighed. He really didn't want to be the talk of the town, but ever since he appeared at the NBA draft, all the spotlights have never left him. Other players were worried about their low exposure, but he was worried about the high attention.
At this time, the news that Yang Mo was interviewed quickly spread throughout the United States.
Yang Mo's shocking "five NOs" once again brought him under criticism from the public. Almost all reports criticized Yang Mo for being arrogant, such as wearing sunglasses to show off during interviews, speaking in a cold tone, and being indifferent to the injured Randolph...
Under the media's influence, Yang Mo was transformed from a fake to a rebellious and philandering thug on the court.
This image undoubtedly caused great damage to Yang Mo's business prospects, but... there are exceptions among rebels , such as Iverson and Rodman. As long as they can produce statistics that make the world astonished, businesses will naturally come to them waving huge checks. After all, there are many people in this world who like to be unique, and many teenagers in their rebellious period love to play basketball.
But... so far, Yang Mo has not produced any convincing data, at most it is slightly amazing.
Therefore, he still has a long way to go.
When the team bus arrived at the hotel, Kevin Garnett had heard what Yang Mo said during the interview. The reporter took Yang Mo's words out of context and only said the first half of the sentence, which made Yang Mo look down on others. Garnett was very upset. He said to the camera with a straight face: "Let him come. I'm not old yet! My stats in 2K9 are still 99. I'm still the No. 1 power forward."
The atmosphere was already tense before the game even started, which made the reporters very happy because it meant there would be a lot more excitement for the game.
