One Thousand and Eighty: Those Christmas Surprises

"Merry Christmas, Link!"

December 24, Christmas Eve.

Rachel raised her juice and clinked her glass with Link. The young couple spent Christmas together as a family for the first time.

Tomorrow is the Christmas Day game, and it stands to reason that the Grizzlies should go to Cleveland to prepare for the game today.

But because of the holiday, Joger decided to let the players have a good holiday at home. Early tomorrow morning, we'll head to Cleveland.

Although it is good to be able to spend the holidays at home, it also means that the Grizzlies players will have a very tight preparation time for tomorrow's game. Basically, as soon as you get off the plane, you have to go directly to Quicken Loans Arena to prepare for the game.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

But if I can get a chance to spend Christmas with my family, it's all worth it.

The Grizzlies have played Christmas games almost every year in the past few seasons, and their attendance rate is higher than that of the Los Angeles Lakers!

Therefore, it is completely a luxury for the Grizzlies players to want to spend Christmas at home.

It’s hard to get this opportunity this year, and the players are dreaming of it.

Link was also very happy, not only because he could spend Christmas Eve in peace, but also because this was the first time he spent Christmas in the small family he had formed.

Although there are only Link and Rachel in this small family now, it is already lively enough.

"Here, this is your Christmas gift." After drinking the juice, Link handed a small gift box to Rachel.

Rachel happily opened the gift and found that the contents of this small gift box were not small at all.

Inside the gift box, there is a car key!

Rachel couldn't help but cover her mouth, very surprised.

"Link, did you really buy it?"

"Of course, we still have room in our garage anyway." Link smiled.

While shopping a few days ago, Rachel saw an advertisement for the latest Chevrolet Camaro, and casually remarked that it was beautiful.

Unexpectedly, Link not only remembered it, but actually bought it back.

"Thank you, Link. I also prepared a surprise for you, um...but I don't know if you will like it."

"Come on, tell me. I've been waiting for this surprise for long enough. You shouldn't have told me in advance that there was a surprise a few days ago."

"Well..." Rachel said, standing up and walking to Link's side, and then put her mouth to his ear.

※※※

On the plane to Cleveland, the Grizzlies players seemed to be still having fun with Christmas Eve last night.

Gasol kept showing off the greeting card his daughter made for him, with an old father's smile on his face.

Carter held up the razor his daughter had given him and felt like tears were about to fall out.

The "Old Flying Man" and his wife have divorced long ago, and his daughter follows her mother more. Therefore, Carter is in an "empty nester" state most of the time.

Carter was very pleased to receive a gift from his only daughter this year.

After a discussion, everyone turned their attention to Link, who had been silent.

"Link, you and Rachel spent Christmas together as husband and wife for the first time. Yesterday must have been unforgettable." Randolph was the first to take the lead. Although "Big Black Bear" is now 35 years old, you will never forget it. Count on him being serious during non-game time.

"Yes, yes, what gift did Rachel give you? It must be a very sweet gift!" Tony Allen played his part in cooperating with Randolph.

The Grizzlies would definitely have fewer laughs without them.

Link scratched his head sheepishly,

He recalled what Rachel whispered in his ear yesterday.

"My gift...is something special."

"Oh? Could it be ***? Damn, I didn't expect the 2K goddess to have such a hobby."

"Can you have something normal in your mind, Zach?" Link rolled his eyes at Randolph, then took a deep breath and smiled.

"I'm going to be a dad, guys!"

※※※

While the Grizzlies players were still debating whether Link's child should be named Lin Daxiong, LeBron James had already walked into Quicken Loans Arena alone.

Time flies so fast, and before you know it, this is James' third year back in Cleveland.

When James returned to Cleveland, he was full of ambition. He hopes to bring a championship to his hometown, and more than one.

But now, two seasons later, the Cleveland Cavaliers still have nothing except the Eastern Conference championship.

In five days, James will be 32 years old. He knows that his peak period is a thing of the past.

From now on, his abilities will no longer grow wildly. Not to mention progress, in the future he will have to put in a lot of effort to even maintain his current state.

He knows that there is not much time left for him to win the championship.

This year, all members of the Cavaliers are in excellent condition, and both Irving and Love are in their best form since the formation of the Big Three.

There is no doubt that this is the most promising year for James to lead the Cavaliers to the championship.

If it can't be done this year...no, they have to!

James shook his head and started shooting shots alone on the court to warm up.

How many years has it been since he won the Christmas War? James himself doesn't even remember.

But this year, he's determined to pay his respects to Cleveland on Christmas Eve.

No matter what, he would fight to the death with Link today.

A few hours later, Quicken Loans Arena was starting to get busy.

At the connection between the underground parking lot and the player tunnel, countless reporters squatted here to take pictures of the Grizzlies players entering the stadium.

For NBA players, this short period of time is like walking on a red carpet. Everyone will show their most glamorous side in casual clothes here.

But just under the cameras of reporters, Link ran into the player tunnel at a fast pace.

Most of the time, the players walked through this section eager to stay in front of the camera for a while longer.

Link was lucky, he just ran over, as if he was avoiding the camera on purpose!

"What is that guy doing? Is he in a hurry to go to the toilet?" The reporter who was filming was speechless. At the moment, the only explanation was that he went to the toilet.

However, there was a reason why Link hurried back to the locker room.

The Christmas gifts he prepared for his teammates had been placed in the locker room in advance.

Lin was the first to run into the locker room, just to confirm that everything had been arranged properly.

Soon the rest of the Grizzlies team followed.

Randolph was the first to open the door. As soon as he walked into the locker room, he saw Link standing in the middle of the locker room with his hands on his hips, so the "big black bear" started complaining again.

"Link, what were you running for just now? You made me think something happened and followed you for two steps! Damn it, I'm going to be embarrassed again tomorrow."

But midway through his words, Randolph suddenly became silent.

After that, more and more people poured into the locker room. And their reactions were all the same as Randolph's, they were all dumbfounded!

I saw a golden championship belt placed on every player's locker at this time!

On the belt, there are also the words "World Champion" written on it. And each belt is engraved with the name of the corresponding owner.

It is so well made that it looks like a gold belt from a real fighting event.

"Link, these are..."

"These are my Christmas gifts for you this year. I hope you all like them. It's boring to always give out championship rings. Sometimes you have to change some new tricks. I think a gold belt is good. Of course, I also I hope that in half a year, we can wear this belt and stand on the real podium. So, everyone perform well in today’s preview of the finals!”

After Link finished speaking, he solemnly awarded the belts to his teammates one by one.

Seeing this family-like scene, both Joger and Snyder couldn't help laughing.

Indeed, it seemed childish, like every little boy’s dream of becoming a champion.

Professional wrestling and professional boxing are both very popular sports in the United States, so many men fantasized about winning a gold belt when they were young.

Today, Link made their wish come true.

Men can be so childish sometimes. This seemingly childish scene has undoubtedly ignited the championship hearts of everyone on the Grizzlies team.

Carter, who was about to turn 40 in a month, smiled like a little boy when he took over the golden belt from Link.

When Link was photographed picking gifts for his teammates before, he was criticized by the media for not paying enough attention to the game and not respecting the Cavaliers enough.

But in fact, Link values ​​this game more than anyone else!

He believes that after the gifts are given out, his teammates will be able to perform in a more desperate state.

Finally, all the Grizzlies players took a photo together wearing their gold belts.

Soon, the photo was posted on social media.

And there is no doubt that Link's arrogant behavior of privately awarding awards will be criticized again.