Chapter 218: He Still Calls Me Dong Ge
In this game, all 12 of the Suns' rotation players took the court.
Nine of them scored in double digits.
The Suns' stats for this game were as follows:
Wade Dong: 20 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks.
Curry: 27 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 0 blocks.
In addition to Wade Dong and Curry, the Suns had seven other players in double digits: McGrady with 13 points, Green with 11, Tucker with 10, Middleton with 17, Gortat with 11, Thompson with 12, and Whiteside with 10.
Only three players on the Suns scored less than 10 points: Nash with 6, Frye with 3, and Warrick with 7.
This was the first time Nash had scored so few points in a game, ranking him outside the top ten among the players on the court. In this game, only one player achieved a double-double, and it was a bench player, Whiteside, who played for 22 minutes and recorded 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 blocks.
...
The home fans continued to cheer, reluctant to leave.
When the Suns players returned to the locker room, Griffin approached them.
"Huh..."
Griffin's presence at the locker room door made the security guards nervous. Was he here to pick a fight?
The Suns players stood up, unsure of Griffin's intentions.
It wasn't uncommon in the league for a star player to confront the opposing team after a 74-point loss. Some even went as far as blocking the team bus.
"Dong Ge."
Griffin stood at the locker room door and said, "We will definitely beat you in the playoffs this year!"
Wade Dong nodded. "Then you'll have to beat the Nuggets first to make it to the second round."
"We will beat the Nuggets."
Griffin made a throat-slitting gesture and said, "You'd better prepare yourself."
"Damn!"
Green immediately jumped up at Griffin's arrogance. "You looking for trouble?!"
"Sit down!"
Wade Dong glared at Green, who reluctantly sat back down.
After delivering his threat, Griffin left.
"I should have punched him just now," Green said.
"It's just trash talk," Wade Dong said with a smile. "He still calls me Dong Ge, so I have to acknowledge him as a brother."
The Clippers were thoroughly defeated in this game.
Even during garbage time, it wasn't the Suns who were running up the score; both teams' role players were playing seriously. The Suns' depth was simply too much for the Clippers, and their starters had performed exceptionally well in the first half, leaving the Clippers with no chance.
...
"So awesome!"
"Brutal!"
"73-point warning!"
"The Suns played great! Keep it up!"
The Huaxia fans were thrilled. They not only witnessed the Suns tying the Bulls' record but also set a new league record for the largest point differential with 74 points.
There was another record from this game that fans were talking about.
Some fans even joked on the internet: "Dong Ge is past his prime. He scored a career-low in this game. This year, he can only piggyback on others to win a championship."
"Suns for the championship!"
This became the new rallying cry as the regular season came to a close.
Some teams had one game left, while others had two, but the regular-season rankings were already set.
The top eight teams in the East and West were:
East: Heat, Bulls, Knicks, Pacers, Nets, Hawks, Celtics, Bucks.
West: Suns, Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets, Clippers, Grizzlies, Lakers, Warriors.
In the playoffs, the Suns would face the Warriors in the first round, a matchup with no suspense, even if Wade Dong didn't play.
...
After defeating the Clippers, the Suns lost to the Jazz at home the next day.
It was a strange loss. Wade Dong played 41 minutes, putting up 43 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block, but it wasn't enough.
The Jazz were ranked ninth in the West and had already been eliminated from playoff contention. However, in this game, they played with the intensity of a Finals game against the Suns.
This was a tradition in the league; if a team was about to break a record, their opponents would try to spoil it.
...
May 5th.
The Suns played their last regular-season game on the road against the Kings.
Most teams had already finished their regular seasons, and the player stats were more or less set.
The scoring leaders were:
Wade Dong: 37.6
Durant: 30.1
Anthony: 28.7
Kobe: 28.1
James: 27.6
...
The rebounding leaders were:
Howard: 12.7
Vucevic: 11.9
Noah: 11.2
Bynum: 10.9
Chandler: 10.7
...
The assist leaders were:
Paul: 10.3
Rondo: 9.7
Holiday: 9.6
Deron Williams: 9.5
Westbrook: 8.9
...
The steal leaders were:
Wade Dong: 2.9
Paul: 2.5
Conley: 2.4
Ellis: 2.2
Wade: 2.1
...
The block leaders were:
Ibaka: 3.1
Wade Dong: 3.1
Duncan: 2.9
Howard: 2.7
Noah: 2.7
...
Wade Dong had already secured the scoring title and the steals title, but in the blocks category, Ibaka had been more aggressive on defense since the Thunder game, and he now led Wade Dong by 0.03 blocks.
If Wade Dong wanted to win the blocks title, he would need to record at least 6 blocks against the Kings to reclaim the top spot.
...
The Kings were ranked fourteenth in the West, a somewhat awkward position.
Their team included Cousins, Evans, Jason, Thomas, and Thornton, with Cousins, who entered the league in 2010, as the star player.
"MVP! MVP! MVP!"
Despite being on the road, Wade Dong received cheers from the crowd as soon as he stepped onto the court.
Cousins pouted; this was his home court, yet he had never received such cheers, which made him feel envious.
...
The game was about to begin.
The Kings' starting lineup: Cousins, Thomas, Thornton, Evans, and Jason.
The Suns' starting lineup: Wade Dong, McGrady, Curry, Green, and Gortat.
Gortat was back in the starting lineup, a testament to Gentry's confidence. He knew he could experiment with lineups because Wade Dong was always on the court.
Wade Dong's role wasn't just that of a player; he also acted as a coach on the court.
His teammates respected him, and Gentry was aware that if Wade Dong were the coach, he might do an even better job than him.
"Besides me, no other coach would tolerate a player like Wade Dong," Gentry thought as he sat on the bench, sipping his goji berry tea.