The Suns defeated the Lakers and Spurs consecutively, which was quite unexpected.

But people's attention is on the battle between the Hawks and the Spurs for first place in the league.

Although the Spurs' 39-6 record still beats the Hawks' 38-6 record.

But the two teams have the same number of losses!

They only lost six games!

The Eagles continued their winning streak, winning 17 consecutive games.

The Hawks' next opponent happens to be the Suns, a team that just defeated the Spurs.

The Hawks have defeated the Spurs once before, but the outcome of a regular season match will not greatly affect the fans and media's judgment of the strength of the two teams.

But the two teams have met the same opponent one after another, and the victory or defeat against the same opponent is very intuitive!

…

…

"Uncle, can't you find the way? Why don't you call a taxi?"

"I didn't ask you to follow me, why don't you play games in the hotel?"

"If you leave such a beautiful girl alone in a hotel, what if she gets kidnapped?"

"Well...whoever kidnapped you is really pitiful..."

"Uncle, you have gone too far..."

"Then Dinah, why do you want to follow?"

"Uncle, don't you know? The Arizona Sun Devils ended the UCLA Bruins' 23-game winning streak! That fan of yours is so awesome! Of course Dinah wants to go see him."

Liu Mang really didn't notice this. He concentrated all his energy on the game in consecutive away games...

While Liu Mang was chatting with the little Lolita, he drove around and searched for it until he finally found the restaurant Harden mentioned.

After flying from Seattle to Phoenix in the morning, Liu Mang and Xiao Loli took a rest in the hotel and went out at 11 o'clock to the restaurant they had made an appointment with Harden.

Chatting with the little loli and asking for directions...

Little Loli has a much better understanding of the NCAA than Liu Mang. Liu Mang used to think that Harden was from the Wildcats. After listening to Little Loli's introduction, he realized that Harden was from the Sun Devils.

The Arizona Sun Devils, although not as famous as the Arizona Wildcats, are also a member of the Pac-12 Conference and a strong first-tier team.

At 12:10, it took almost an hour to finally arrive at the restaurant recommended by Harden. It was quite a restaurant in the suburbs. Liu Mang parked the car and took a look. From the outside, it looked really unique and rich in South America.

A charming restaurant.

Harden had been waiting at the door. When he saw Liu Mang and Little Loli coming, he immediately rushed up excitedly.

"Ace, oh, Mr. Liu, ah...Ace...oh my God, you are really here...can you give me an autograph..."

Seeing Harden hurriedly taking out a photo and pen from his notebook, the little girl was shocked. It turned out that her uncle was so popular.

Liu Mang was very used to it and helped Harden sign his Chinese name on the front of the photo.

Harden took the signed photo and looked at Liu Mang. He was as excited as a 100-kilogram fat man and didn't know what to say.

Liu Mang looked at Harden's face and felt something strange. After thinking for a while, he finally thought of it and asked, "James, right? Why don't you grow a beard?"

Harden saw that Liu Mang had been sizing him up and was looking forward to what Liu Mang would say to him, but Liu Mang said something meaningless...

"Grow a beard?" Harden blurted out.

"Yeah, if you had a beard, I think you would look like a ****."

"..."

The little Loli looked at Liu Mang speechlessly like an idiot...

On Harden's side, he was thoughtful...

"I've always been told that I'm soft. Would I be able to scare people with a different beard?"

…

After the friendly and cordial fans met their idols, the three of them entered the restaurant together and ordered something.

It was mainly what Harden and Little Loli wanted to eat. Liu Mang asked for a salad. He would not eat randomly at this stage.

After sitting down, after being stunned and thinking, Harden began to excitedly talk about his past events and the process of growing up in the basketball world.

Liu Mang was very curious, and Little Loli was also interested because of Harden's outstanding performance in the past two days.

Originally, Harden was worried that Liu Mang would find it annoying, but he found that Liu Mang was very interested and became even happier when he talked.

Through Harden's introduction, Liu Mang and Little Loli learned that Harden's physical development was late. He was very fat and had asthma when he was a child. He couldn't even make the school team in junior high school.

When he entered high school, he finally grew to 1.8 meters. He couldn't dunk yet, so he could only practice basic skills and make three-pointers from the corner. As a freshman in high school, Harden averaged 13.2 points per game, half of which were free throws...

By the time Harden was halfway through his sophomore year, he had grown a few inches taller and his skills were gradually developed. As a sophomore, Harden averaged 18.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, and began to become the core of Adesia High School.

.

In his junior and senior years of high school, the grown-up Harden worked hard to become stronger and got rid of his asthma problems. His physical fitness began to show. As the absolute main force, he led the school team to achieve 33 wins, 1 loss and 33 points respectively in these two years.

With a record of wins and 2 losses, he won the California High School League championship for two consecutive years.

In his senior year of high school, Harden was selected to the National High School All-Star Team and was admitted to Arizona State University on a full scholarship to the Arizona Sun Devils.

On January 26, Harden led the Sun Devils to an upset 69-61 victory over UCLA, which had not lost a single game since the start of the new season and had won 23 consecutive games at America West Arena, the home of the Phoenix Suns.

The Bruins ruined the UCLA Bruins' dream of replicating the historical record of undefeated championships created by Larry Bird.

In the game against Russell Westbrook, Harden faced the sophomore who basically locked up the best defensive player in the Pac-12 Conference and scored 25 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 steals!

Harden has played 22 games since his freshman year, averaging 17.1 points per game, in addition to 6.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 3.1 steals.

Among them, Harden's average number of steals per game exceeded the Pac-12 freshman record of 2.9 steals per game set by the famous Gary Payton as a freshman!

Liu Mang and Little Loli listened to Harden's introduction about how he was rejected by the school team in junior high school. He improved year by year in high school and became the core of the school team in his senior year. In the end, step by step, he is now the second best point guard in the NCAA this season.

OJ-Mayo's performance felt too difficult even for Liu Mang.

When Liu Mang was chatting with Little Loli in the car, he learned that after Harden defeated UCLA, he was ranked fifth in the 2008 draft predictions by the draft prediction website!

The top four are OJ Mayo and Michael Beasley, who are tied for first and second place respectively.

There is nothing we can do about those two. They are so talented and performed well after graduating from college. Moreover, they have been known to basketball fans since high school or even junior high school. They have been geniuses since childhood and have always been geniuses.

Brook Lopez is currently predicted to be third, and DJ Augustin is currently predicted to be fourth.

The one who is currently predicted to be fifth is Harden, who just defeated UCLA, and has further surged from the previous 10th pick in the first round.

The college point guard averaged 17.1 points and 6.1 assists per game, which is already very impressive. For now, Harden has entered the draft after his freshman year, and his predicted pick is higher than Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin

-Love and others are high!

Rose and Westbrook have one thing in common during their college years. Rose currently averages 14 points per game as a freshman, while Westbrook averages 13 points per game. Neither of them showed much offensive talent, and both are the best defensive players in their respective leagues.

Popularity is completely different from how they will play in the NBA in the future...

At this stage, Harden, who is also a freshman, is more marketable! Of course, this also has something to do with Harden's intention to imitate Liu Mang's playing style.

"James Harden, ability evaluation 73..."

Before finishing his freshman year, Liu Mang was shocked when he saw Harden's ability evaluation. He was really talented.

And it was beyond Liu Mang's imagination. Harden performed so well as a freshman, which really surprised Liu Mang. However, considering that Harden was the third overall pick when he was a sophomore, Liu Mang didn't think it was that strange.

Already.

Liu Mang has heard that Rose was selected as the No. 1 pick because he is from Chicago. He has heard that Westbrook was selected by the Thunder because of the Thunder’s good vision. He has never heard that Harden’s selection as the No. 3 pick was due to luck or the Thunder’s good vision.

Harden was originally the top three pick that year, but now that he understands it, Liu Mang knows that he has been a popular player since his freshman year.

However, when Liu Mang asked Harden if he would participate in this year's draft, Harden replied: "I want to be selected with the first pick, I want to be the first, and I will be your strongest opponent in the future!"

"Um, why are there so many people who want to be my opponent... Come on." Liu Mang could only reply.

Do you want to tell Brother Deng that there will be a white monster who will be the No. 1 pick in his freshman year next year?

From Liu Mang's point of view, Harden has no chance of winning the No. 1 pick in the draft this year. His general statistics are better than those of the group of freshman point guards who started the trend of No. 1 point guards starting in 2010!

In the future, Kyrie Irving, the No. 1 pick in 2011, only averaged 17 points and 5 assists per game as a freshman, and John Wall, the No. 1 pick in 2010, only averaged 16 points and 6 assists as a freshman.

That is to say, from the perspective of talent and freshman performance alone, Harden is better than the two No. 1 picks. It's just that in 2009, Blake Griffin was a lock for the No. 1 pick, and the Grizzlies bet on Thabeet.

A wonderful choice of height, and Harden fell to third place.

Liu Mang felt that if Harden, Wall, and Irving were drafted together after their freshman year across time and space, Harden would most likely be the No. 1 pick, even if you didn’t have a close eye. Harden would not be an upset choice like Westbrook.

, Harden's talent has been recognized by fans and the media from the beginning. If Griffin were not so good and an inside man, and Thabeet is also a very talented inside man, Harden would have been the number one pick.

Just... I saw the front page cover of Sports Illustrated that Harden took out as if he was offering a treasure, and looked at the data posted next to Harden's photo...

Liu Mang's balls hurt. Harden averaged 17.1 points per game, 7.6 of which came from free throws. He averaged 8.5 free throws per game and made 7.6 of them!

He actually averaged 8.5 free throws per game in college!

…
To be continued...