At noon the next day, Chen woke up and stared at the hotel ceiling, his head still foggy.
"Damn, I should've drunk less. Hard liquor's nothing like beer." He got up, holding his head, and went to the bathroom to wash up.
What? A woman? Give me a break. Forget being a neat freak—he could barely walk straight, and he was supposed to go chasing women? Who in their right mind could still get it up after nearly drinking themselves unconscious?
After washing up, Chen Xi checked the time they were supposed to meet, then hurriedly woke up a few teammates in the next room. The group rushed to the meeting point. They still had to fly back to Oklahoma today.
On February 15, the Thunder hosted the New York Knicks.
The Knicks always had a roster that looked dazzling at first glance, and this season was no exception.
Carmelo Anthony, the Third Overall Pick in 2003; Derrick Rose, the Number One Pick in 2008; and the Unicorn, Porzingis, the fourth pick in 2015. Put those three together, and their roster looked incredible on paper. Yet they were only twelfth in the Eastern Conference, with a record that was downright awful.
There were a few reasons for that, and each of the three had his own issues.
Melo had never been the type to play defense. Now that he was getting older, he played even less of it. If a team's star forward wouldn't defend, there was no reason to expect the team's defense as a whole to be any good.
Derrick Rose had been cast aside by the Bulls and traded to the Knicks. He was still a pretty good player, and his numbers had even improved slightly from the previous season: 18 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.8 rebounds