Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 59 Then you must chat often in the future
After returning to Indiana from Philadelphia, the Pacers have two days of rest to face the upcoming "Christmas game".

As Christmas is approaching, the Pacers arranged community services to give back to the fans. Suwan, who is currently the most popular among Indiana fans, and Artest, who is the least popular among the Pacers' "die-hard fans", became the representatives of the team.

After Walsh learned about this, he rushed into the general manager's office:

"Do you want to see Ron become the focus of public opinion again for hitting a fan?"

From his point of view, Ron, who has zero trust, should not appear in public now.

Larry Bird calmly put on the Christmas hat that the fans had just given him, looked at it carefully in the mirror and felt that it was good. He was going to take it back to amuse his grandson. He waited for Walsh to stop being so angry before saying, "Don't worry, with uncle here, nothing like this will happen."

You trust him. Has he ever won the Nobel Peace Prize?

If it were in the past, Wall would definitely have responded ironically like this, but after Suwan arrived, he saw the changes in the entire city, and he couldn't refute Larry Bird's words.

At the same time, the car arrived at the destination. Artest hesitated and did not dare to get out of the car. Su Wan looked at him and shook his head speechlessly: "You are now like a good woman who cheated on her husband's best brother!"

Artest wasn't joking. He was genuinely worried: "Will there be fans ganging up on me later, uncle?"

"I don't know if the fans will, but if you keep wasting my time, I might!" Su Wan opened the door and walked out first. Seeing that nothing happened, Artest hurriedly followed and stuck to Su Wan, almost hugging Su Wan's arm.

At this moment, he looked like a weak little girl who couldn't take care of herself.

Zhang Fei's embroidery is truly not deceiving me.

"Ron, you have to show your vulnerable side to the Indiana fans and tell them how much pain you are in. You did do something stupid, but it was that person who disrespected you first. Everyone needs respect, right?"

Su Wan's words stunned Ron Artest, and after a moment he showed an expression of sudden enlightenment.

It turns out that Artest is not really an idiot.

At the subsequent meeting with fans, he expressed his apologies while describing how miserable his life had been recently. Finally, he emphasized: "If I knew that beating up a person who disrespected me would have such consequences, I would never do such a stupid thing. I would suppress my anger. Yes, he did something that violated the audience rules, but he was a spectator. I should not have taken action no matter what, even though what he did was really disrespectful to me and hurt my self-esteem!"

Others may not know, but after watching Artest's performance, Su Wan wanted to say something for a moment:
The league’s punishment is really too severe!

Isn't one season enough?
Plus the playoffs?
Even someone who knew the inside story thought so, which shows how empathetic Artest's crying was.

At this moment, the fans at the scene realized that Artest was also a victim.

Same with the Pacers...

The event ended smoothly without any mistakes. Artest looked very happy after getting on the car. He could feel that all the Pacers fans present today had softened their attitude towards him after his crying.

He wanted to take Su Wan out for a drink.

Su Wan refused and planned to go back to the gym early for more practice.

Artest was stunned: "Man, you don't have to be so self-disciplined. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Even Washington will take a day off on a day like this!"

Su Wan said: "Recently, there have been more and more criticisms of my shooting. I must adjust as soon as possible!"

"Are you such a humble person?" Artest seemed to be meeting Suwan for the first time.

"I can still listen to correct criticism." This was Su Wan's last words after he got off the car. "Also, I'm Chinese, I don't celebrate foreign festivals, see you!"

Conseco Fieldhouse was quiet.

Rick Carlisle gave everyone the day off today.

However, when he arrived at the training ground, Su Wan unexpectedly saw O'Neal Jr.

He also came to practice!

O'Neal Jr. was more surprised than Suwan, because he knew that Suwan would do community service today.

He knew very well how tiring community service was, and it was not just about standing on the platform. Su Wan even rushed back to practice more.

"Why are you so surprised? Did you hide a bitch in the gym?"

Su Wan was the first to speak, breaking the silence of the two people's eyes, pretending to look around, looking for the appearance of the "woman" he mentioned, and successfully made O'Neal laugh. At this moment, he saw a different side of Su Wan than usual.

Was I too wary of him before?

O'Neal has always felt a sense of crisis about Suwan's "airborne" arrival and becoming the team's tactical core. In his mind, the current Pacers team is named "Miller", and after Reggie Miller retires, this team will be named "O'Neal".

But what Su Wan said in the locker room the day before left him speechless.

He didn't dare to provoke at this moment and could only watch Su Wan rise to power step by step.

At the same time, he kept an increasingly distant distance from Su Wan.

This was his way of expressing his protest: he accepted that everyone worked together to win, but he did not accept that Suwan became the boss of the Pacers.

That should have been his place.

Su Wan is a sensitive person, and he can feel the slight hostility from O'Neal Jr.

If he were Tang San, O'Neal would have already found a way to die.

Fortunately, he is not Tang San.

He could understand.

If he were to encounter such a thing, he would also feel resistance.

This is a process and it takes time.

The important thing is that O'Neal Jr. did not do any tricks in this process.

That's enough! No matter who it is, it's impossible to make everyone like him.

He is willing to compete fairly with everyone.

This is the absolute confidence of Hang B!
But Su Wan probably didn't expect that his joke would actually change O'Neal's attitude.

The first person to notice this was Rick Carlisle the next day.

As early as 10 days ago, he began preparing for this "Christmas Battle". During the team rehearsal, he added pick-and-roll training between Suwan and O'Neal Jr. to allow them to adapt to each other's presence on the court in advance.

It’s just that the progress before was slow and the results were not good.

But during training today, he found that the pick-and-roll effect between the two of them was much better.

Especially O'Neal Jr., he is much more active than before.

The pick-and-roll is a tactic where big men put in more effort.

"Did you guys go out together yesterday?" Rick Carlisle found Suwan after the training game.

Su Wan said truthfully: "When I arrived at the gym, I happened to see Jermaine practicing, and we chatted for a while."

"that's it?"

"that's it."

"Then you must chat more often in the future."

Overnight, not only O'Neal's attitude towards Suwan changed, but also the attitude of Pacers fans towards Ron Artest.

"You know what? Larry, just now dozens of Indiana fans came to the fan plaza holding banners to protest for Ron Artest. They think the league's punishment on Ron is a bit too harsh. Damn it, can you believe that these are the words coming from the people who threatened to burn down Ron's house before?"

Walsh was shocked when he heard the news. He rushed into Larry Bird's office and found that he was not there. He immediately took out his cell phone and called him. On the other end of the phone, Bird, who was woken up, cursed angrily:
"Then you should charter a plane for these guys and send them to the NBA headquarters to protest instead of making this stupid riot call to me. I'm not going to work today!"

"Dudududu!"

There was a busy tone on the other end of the line, but Walsh was in a very good mood.

When Ron Artest learned about this, he was in a very good mood. On Christmas Day, he carefully prepared a gift for Suwan to express his gratitude: a "Green Submariner".

For Artest, whose entire season salary was forfeited, this was a huge loss for him.

"If that's not enough for you, uncle, I'll write a song for you!"

"Get out of here, you!"

Su Wan cursed angrily, "Do you think you are Taylor Swift?"

However, he still accepted the "Green Water Ghost".

"Hurry up and leave before I disturb my warm-up. I have to kick those bastards in Detroit for you tonight!"

In order to win the game, Suwan arrived at the venue 4 hours in advance to do shooting warm-up.

You ask him why he is so eager to win this game?

The reason is simple: this is an opportunity for the entire Indiana to become more united. There is no greater "revolutionary friendship" than working together hard to defeat a mortal enemy.

Even Rick Carlisle, who rarely gives out "chicken soup" speeches, shouted in the locker room: "All Indiana people are watching, we must win this battle!"

All I can say is that people who are not good at saying "chicken soup" should not say it casually.

If "chicken soup" is used improperly, it will become "poison".

For example, right now, Rick Carlisle's words have doubled the pressure on everyone present. - What if we lose at home? That would be so embarrassing!
Su Wan saw that the atmosphere was not right, so he sent a text message to Irene:
——You should be here for the interview today, right? Come to the dressing room and find me now.

Irene didn't reply to the text message, but less than five minutes later, she appeared at the door of the locker room, panting. Her rapid breathing and turbulent blood flowed so fast that the brothers' eyes were wide open.

"I may need to be interviewed for a few minutes, so please keep your voices down."

Su Wan's words silenced the locker room. Irene looked surprised. She knew very well what this meant.

Soon she asked the question that Su Wan wanted her to ask: "Uncle, everyone is paying attention to this game. Do you think you will lose? (If you lose) will this become a pressure for you?"

The originally quiet locker room became even quieter now.

Reggie Miller, O'Neal Jr.... Everyone turned their heads unconsciously, wanting to hear what he had to say. Because at this moment, they were worried that this assumption would become a reality, and they felt the pressure rising sharply.

Su Wan said: "I don't feel any pressure. We are just a remnant. We gave up the best defensive player of the season and a quasi-first-class wing in the league. The Pistons should be the ones feeling the pressure. If they lose to such a Pacers team, it can only mean that they got lucky in June this year and stole the championship while the OK combination was having conflicts!"

What a poisonous mouth!

But all the Pacers players present were very happy.

And Su Wan's words also made them react:
Yup!

The opponent has all his troops present, and we are just a remnant.

In this game, losing is normal, but winning is a huge profit!

What's there to be nervous about!
The atmosphere in the locker room is no longer so solemn.

Irene completed her task successfully and was sent out by Su Wan.

Su Wan returned to the locker room and locked the door. He now hoped that Rick Carlisle would not show up again before the game.

(End of this chapter)