Halfway through March, most teams ended halfway through the schedule.

The Pistons have a far ahead of their record.

Since the beginning of the season, they have only lost two games, with a record of 22 wins and 2 losses, and the two teams that defeated them are the Pacers and the Celtics.

In the game against the Celtics, Duncan showed his might and scored 420108 blocks in the game. In addition, Rick Pitino's full-game pressing strategy successfully ran, which caught the Pistons off guard and lost the game with a double-digit score difference.

They lost more happily in that game because the Celtics were well prepared and suppressed the Pistons in the whole game. It was reasonable to lose.

The end of a winning streak represents the beginning of another winning streak.

Now, the Pistons are in a state of victory with seven consecutive victories.

Portland is the largest city in Oregon, and the second largest city in the Pacific Northwest United States after Seattle.

This is the Trail Blazers' base camp.

The Trail Blazers this season have unusual ambitions. In order to become a team with championship competitiveness, the management made drastic moves, first making a three-party deal that shocked the league last summer, winning Chris Webber in one fell swoop.

After the shutdown, they obtained Sprewell, who almost strangled Calesimo to death last season through a trade.

In this way, the trident that hits the championship has been formed.

Weber, Sabonis, Sprewell. The problem is that Sabonis is a good guy. Weber's career has been six years, and he can only be regarded as a talented problem player. As for Sprewell, a person who dares to lock his throat, isn't he good at stuttering?

The Trail Blazers played and ran in. In the first ten games, they scored a winning rate of 50, which was not matched by their luxurious configuration.

When the team owner Paul Allen saw that it was not good, he invited Weber and Sprewell to the party overnight to show his sincerity.

That night, Allen informed the two that they would renew their contracts at the end of the season.

You know, even with the current lineup of the Trail Blazers, their total salary has reached 5 million.

What is this concept?

The salary cap this season is 0 million, and they are far beyond this line. The luxury tax is only 4 million, and their tax exceeds the tax is nearly 20 million.

Therefore, not only did Allen pay a huge salary, but he also had to pay the same amount of luxury taxes at a rate of 1 to 1 - how much more than the tax.

In other words, maintaining this lineup is equivalent to paying 70 million US dollars.

If you still have to renew your contract with Weber, Spraywell and others at a high price at the market price, the Trail Blazers will be a veritable billion yuan team starting next season.

However, this is Paul Allen's character, rich and willful.

After that meeting, the Trail Blazers opened up the Ren and Du meridians and won fourteen consecutive victories. They are currently ranked first in the Western Conference with a record of 19 wins and 5 losses.

This is the top battle between the East and the West.

It can also be said that since that meeting, they have not lost a single game and have begun to show the momentum of the strongest team in the West.

The Jazz, who had a strong start earlier, lost form in a large number of back-to-back games.

The Pistons walked out of the airport, accepted an interview with the on-site media, and then went to the hotel.

After a while, Mo Mengchen and Hill received the news.

Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen invited them to lunch.

"Do you know him?" Hill asked.

"There is no intersection." Mo Mengchen couldn't understand the invitation at all.

Hill smiled freely and said, "Let's accept it, it's no big deal anyway."

Mo Mengchen didn't know if Hill was optimistic? Or optimistic? Or optimistic? Who is Paul Allen? The world's top rich man; a genius who scored 1,600 points after graduating from high school; he dropped out of school for two years in college and joined forces with his junior Bill Gates to establish Microsoft; Gates' lifelong think tank; one of the shareholders of DreamWorks; a large number of sponsors of charitable foundations.

How could such a person invites them to have lunch? How could it be "no big deal"?

However, it is precisely because Alan is an extraordinary person that Mo Mengchen and Hill need to attend the banquet.

Valencia

There are famous restaurants in Portland, but they are not from Paul Allen's name, but Allen likes to come here to eat.

"You two are more punctual than I thought." Allen smiled faintly.

It seems that in his eyes, the players are not too punctual?

Maybe, maybe it was because the players under him didn't understand how awesome their boss was, so he had neglected him? It wouldn't be possible to think about it carefully.

"Please sit here, you can order food anywhere, they can make it." Allen hopes that he will look a little more natural.

Hill and Momonchen would not believe it even if they died. Alan, who was sitting in front of them, was a little nervous.

This one of the best successful people in the world actually had a fan-like mentality in front of two sports stars.

Mo Mengchen looked at the menu and looked at Paul Allen from time to time. Could it be because of PS? Allen's skin looked different from the posters that could be seen everywhere on Portland Road.

"Sir, this is the best restaurant I've ever seen in the United States, but did you just invite both of us here for that?"

It is better to explain some things in advance.

Allen suddenly calmed down and smiled freely, "I am a pure basketball fan, I like your game, so when you come to Portland, I finally have the opportunity to call you here for a private conversation."

Private?

Hill ordered the dish, not realizing that Allen's words were in the way.

"How private?" Mo Mengchen asked.

Hill also raised his head, wondering what the legend is going to say.

"Recruiting you two." Allen said in amazement, "Is it private enough?"

Hill didn't say anything, Mo Mengchen replied: "If Mr. President learned about this, he would be happy to take millions of fines from you."

"The lion doesn't care about someone taking a mane from him, it only cares what it wants." Allen let go and said, "I can satisfy you no matter how much you two want, please believe me."

It's just a little past.

Can you really do whatever you want if you have money? It is OK in most cases.

Mo Mengchen and Hill looked at each other.

Hill said: "It's probably not a matter of money."

"My management told me that all the players are in line with money, so I think the success rate of this recruitment is very high." Allen was a little proud.

After this conversation, Mo Mengchen discovered that Alan was not much different from those ordinary people we know.

The difference between him and ordinary people is that he has the free thoughts of ordinary people, but unlike ordinary people, he can only think that he has enough financial resources to get everything he wants.

The food is on.

It is as harsh as Mo Mengchen, but it is difficult to pick on the chefs in this restaurant. They are indeed the world's top cooking skills.

"Sir, the season is continuing. I have no idea about this. Your conversation with us is also illegal, so why not let us change the topic?" Hill said with a smile.

Allen's main target is Hill, and Mo Mengchen doesn't know why he is targeting Hill.

Is there any reason? Hill's contract will not expire until the next year. Is it too early to recruit now?

Waiting for a while may not be the year after tomorrow?

Mo Mengchen thought of the player options.

"Well, I just hope you know that as long as you are interested, I can sign you no matter how much money." Alan, like those who got rich, really thought that money could solve all problems.

He only ate half of it and put down the tableware: "I've been getting worse and worse lately. I used to be able to eat two plates in one go."

After saying that, he coughed continuously.

"Sorry." He said embarrassedly.

Skin suspected lesions, cough, and extremely poor appetite

Combining these symptoms, I think of the non-Hodgkin lymphoma that Allen suffered in the 1980s - Mo Mengchen suddenly said: "Sir, have you been to the hospital for a checkup recently?"

Upon hearing this, Allen looked at Mo Mengchen sharply: "Do it."

Mo Mengchen asked: "Have you found anything?"

Allen laughed, "Same as you think."

"It seems you discovered it very promptly." Mo Mengchen said.

Otherwise, we should be preparing for the funeral now, rather than recruiting him and Hill in a leisurely manner.

"What are you talking about?" Hill was stunned when he heard this.

Allen smiled and said, "I've had a serious illness recently, and Ethan saw it."

Mo Mengchen remembers that Allen controlled his condition in the 1980s. It was a big and small miracle. The recurrence rate of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was very low, and people like him had a high reexamination rate. Even if they relapse, the condition would not develop to an uncontrollable level.

But getting such a disease in that era was like walking from hell.

"How do you feel when you first recover from a serious illness?" Mo Mengchen asked.

Allen laughed and said, "I'm free from now on."

He has money (holds shares of Microsoft 28). And, through this illness, he realized that life is short.

He was a shy Seattle boy, but since he was free, he decided to find his favorite. For example, he started the largest toy collection in the world at that time; for example, he bought a bunch of old World War II fighters he liked (really guys, not models); he collected guitars and records, and he donated $18 million to the University of Washington in Seattle to build a library. As for his various charitable foundations, there are countless.

Allen talked about the disease and his feelings: “From then on, this incident became the most important tool I used to motivate myself to make major decisions in life.”

At the end of lunch, Hill still didn't know what they were talking about.

Before parting, Allen said: "I will go to the scene tonight, I can't wait."

Mo Mengchen and Hill had no choice but to say on the spot that they would do their best tonight, strive to live up to his expectations, and beat the Trail Blazers from the inside out.

Wait, is this really his expectation?
Chapter completed!