Volume 4: Golden State Prosperity

He seemed to have fully accepted his role as a reserve, playing earnestly whenever he took the court, no different from before. However, the Players of the Month did not come from the Warriors or Celtics; Westbrook and James shared the honor. Even though Zhang Yu repeatedly called timeouts in the second half, disrupting the Lakers' momentum and trying to fire up his team, it was useless. On December 1, the league officially announced that Kerr and Zhang Yu had been named the Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month for November. The Lakers had given their youngsters plenty of playing time and were only 7–8 before this, sitting tenth in the West. On October 30, the Warriors easily defeated the Suns 117–100 for their third straight win. Now, he was merely a reserve, focused only on winning three straight championships before leaving, with no interest whatsoever in the regular season. Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, had smoothly taken over, his all-around numbers improving across the board. Everyone had a bright future. Most importantly, one regular-season loss truly was not worth worrying about. Leonard scored 28 points, Antetokounmpo had 23, and all four of the Warriors' main players scored 20-plus while their defense was airtight. The two of them had ice-cold shooting nights and certainly had to take some blame, but they were not the primary culprits. He no longer saw himself as the master of the Warriors; he was just a passerby, and a passerby would not pour all his passion into a journey. The Warriors could never shake off their lax, careless defensive atmosphere and could only rely on their offense to keep the score close, but they still lost to the Lakers for their first defeat of the season. The Celtics' roster was not particularly strong, but their motion