Dangjosh- Hart Taking the last rebound, the score was fixed at 118-115 New York Knicks Won the sixth game of the series, eliminated Philadelphia 76 with 4-2 total score, and advanced to the second round of the East.
Hart and his teammates Brunson And Di Vincenzo hugged each other, and the whole crowd shouted "Villanova" loudly. This is the university where the three of them play. This is also their home stadium, the Wells Center Stadium. It is the home stadium of both the 76 people and Villanova University.
The three of them made great contributions: Di Vincenzo played 48 minutes, Brenson and Hart together only had a rest of 7:09 seconds, and the data they got together were 80 points, 21 rebounds and 26 assists.
In a familiar venue, and a familiar group of people, so familiar to celebrate the victory. New York Knicks won, and Villanova University also won.
The last three points in this game was also their old rival Buddy Hilde who had been in college. As if everything had not changed, they still sat together after the game and gave interviews, just like they had been in the university and dormitory before.
Back in the autumn of 2015, the two freshmen, Brenson and Divenzenzo, met for the first time and were assigned to the same dormitory. The two beds were less than 5 feet apart. This was the first time they had lived on campus and shared the same room with others.
At first, everything had to be readjusted: they shared a TV remote control and a mini refrigerator. They came from different cities and had different personalities - Brenson looked serious, but occasionally told cold jokes to particularly good people; Di Vincenzo is better to get along with, relaxed and kind. They soon found something in common with each other: Brunson was cold outside and hot inside, and DiVincenzo was the opposite.
In less than a week, their living habits were exactly the same - "If he wants to stay up late, I will stay up late. If we don't sleep at night, we will order a pizza and eat it together."
When did they establish the tacit understanding between their teammates, the two gave a common answer: in the dormitory. Sometimes the room gets very messy, and then they both pick up the broom and take a partner to clean it. Di Vincenzo calls this "teamwork", and the cooperation in cleaning the room is even earlier than that on the court.
The two of them and Mikal Bridges joined the team after the beginning of school. There were also several veterans in the team: Hart in the third year and Assidia Kono in the fourth year. The freshmen quickly adapted to the intensity of the university, especially Brenson. After only half an hour, he conquered all the coaches and seniors. His calmness and leadership were inherent, His teammates were naturally united by him.
However, the integration of Di Vincenzo was very difficult, because his senior student, Josh Hart, was not successful.
In fact, Brenson and Hart quickly become friends. Brenson doesn't like talking, while Hart chatters endlessly. Brenson sometimes smiles and doesn't speak, and then Hart will nag with him all the way. Brenson said that he soon realized what kind of person Hart was: he would take the initiative to share his favorite things with you. I hope you will like all the topics. Even sometimes he doesn't take into account other people's feedback. Brunson described him as "a dog who wants to mark his own territory".
"Everyone has to go through different stages of treating Hart: disdaining him, avoiding him, tolerating him, and embracing him." This is the conclusion made by Brenson. But Di Vincenzo didn't like Hart's joke on him. "It was very offensive," he recalled. "I said I didn't like it, but he still wanted to talk about it."
The conflict happened quickly: shortly after the start of school, Hart made a mockery of Devinzenzo, and Devinzenzo stood up to collide, which later evolved into physical confrontation - but it didn't happen. Devinzenzo walked up to Hart, put his head against Hart's chest, and then Hart locked Devinzenzo with his hand, and he couldn't move.
The two men were quickly pulled apart by their teammates. They stood there and looked at each other with hostile eyes. Both of them knew that the team mate or the team mate would play normally, but after that, they didn't speak alone.
Compared with Brunson, his freshman season was very unlucky. He played only nine games and suffered a fracture of his right metatarsal bone, which was reimbursed for the whole season. When his teammates were fighting on the field, Divenzenzo could only stand on the sidelines in protective boots. He said he felt only lost.
Fortunately, there is Brunson. Divenzenzo said that he has ten thousand words of thanks to his roommates. After admiring Brenson's brilliance on the sideline, his teammates should help him back. Generally speaking, protective boots cannot always be taken off. The team doctor and teammates only know his recovery time, and no one knows too much details.
But his roommates are not like that. They talk about a lot of things every day. Di Vincenzo's depression is gradually cleared away. Sometimes he will take off his protective boots in front of Brunson's face and "look at it!"
In February, he was finally allowed to take off his protective boots, and then began to resume training from scratch. He can stand on the court, but he can't play. The task assigned to him and other substitutes by the team is to play the other team's players and give the team's main coach.
Di Vincenzo still remembers that he was arranged to play the most important role of the ace player Buddy Hilde of the University of Oklahoma, who had to play the most classic stop jump shot with the help of a borrowed screen.
Di Vincenzo played several rounds, and the effect seemed not good enough. His shooting speed was far less smooth than Hilde's, and the speed of holding the ball was almost funny.
The teammates didn't say much, but Hart shouted out: "I said that if Hilde shoots so slowly with you, we don't need to arrange defensive tactics. You just ran out of these balls and replaced them with Hilde to celebrate."
This time, Di Vincenzo did not refute. Of course, he knew that Hart was right. What he can do is to increase the speed again and again to run this boring tactic.
"He improved the speed and accuracy at the level visible to the naked eye," Hart recalled, "so much so that we thought, 'If Hilde is really as strong as he was in training, what can we do?'"
"What we can do is to go all out to chase him."
The day of the duel finally came, when Hilde made a three-point backward step as soon as he came up, and then Brenson and Hart frantically chased and fought back. The final result was that Hilde made 4 of 12 shots in the game, and only got 9 points; Brenson scored 8 points and Hart scored 23 points. Villanova University beat Oklahoma University 95-51 in the quarter finals, creating the biggest difference in the history of the quarter finals.
"Let's put it this way, Hilde on the field is far from Divenzenzo on the training field," Hart said.
Two days later, they defeated the University of North Carolina, and stood on the podium of the champion.
But by the time they were sophomores, Hart was a senior. The champion of the previous year, after all, Di Vincenzo did not play, and he and Hart did not have the opportunity to cultivate feelings on the court. They had no communication, but because of this, the conflict finally broke out.
At that time, the weight lifting room of Villanova University was being renovated, and the whole team of students came to the same large fitness center. He and Hart chatted for some reason, and then Hart sprayed some words. Devinzenzo stood up abruptly, held up the 10 pound barbell piece in his hand, and excitedly said, "Do you TM say it again?" Hart said it again as if nothing had happened. Devinzenzo threw the barbell piece directly.
This is their greatest conflict and the last conflict. Overnight, it seemed that everyone had become mature. Although DiVincenzo still didn't like Hart's mouth: "No big brother thinks about how to satirize his brother every day," he also sincerely recognized Hart's strength - "He was really tough, he never feared any confrontation, he was always hard hitting, and he never just laughed at his opponents."
Hart and Brenson admire each other, while Hart and Divenzenzo love and kill each other.
"His behavior style is like this. He thinks that taunting you and joking is familiar with you, but when he comes to the court, he will work hard for you. He is the first to stand in front of all conflicts."
In Hart's last year, the team did not win the championship, and then he entered the election. The last one in the first round was selected by the Lakers.
The next year, together with Brunson, Divenzenzo won the NCAA championship again and was elected MOP. Then they ran together. At the 2018 draft conference, Di Vincenzo was selected by the Bucks in the 17th place in the first round, and Brunson was selected by the lone ranger in the 33rd place in the second round.
After that, things became tortuous and wonderful.
Brunson came to the Knicks free and quickly grew into the leader of the team and the core of the backcourt. Then the Knicks traded Hart to partner him. Six months later, Di Vincenzo signed a middle-class contract, and the Villanova trio (during which there was also a senior student with a short contract, Asidi Yakono) completed the team building here.
"I signed the contract with the Knicks because of him, Josh Hart," DiVincenzo said in the Knicks locker room. "He is an asshole, a bully, and he knows how to bully me."
"Then I thought, how good it would be for such a person to bully my opponent for me. Isn't that why we won?"
After Di Vincenzo finished saying this, Hart just walked in, "Did he say something bad about me?" Hart came over with a bad smile, "What's wrong with you? You're making trouble again, aren't you?"
They both sprayed some dirty words at me, but their faces were very happy. "You talk," Hart walked to the door. "When you mentioned me, remember to emphasize, 'He is a polite bastard'."
The New York Knicks in the 2023-24 season seems no different from Villanova University in the 2015-17 season. The three of them are still teammates, have dinner together off the court, and have a podcast called "Dormitory roommates". The only difference is that this time they are really friends.
Under the leadership of Sibodu, the three men were used to the extreme. After the All Star, they played together for longer than any trio. When Randall and Mitchell - Robinson After the injury, three backcourt players took turns to fight for the rebounds in the front court, and the tactics of circling the screen and cutting out the jump shot has become the killer weapon of DiVincenzo.
At the Fuguo Center Stadium, they once again heard the cheers of all the fans.
As before.
Di Vincenzo still remembers the 2018 championship award ceremony. He saw Brenson coming and asked him, "I'm going to the NBA. Is there any chance to be a teammate again?"?
He walked over and gave Brunson a huge hug. He said to him, "Who can tell exactly what will happen in the future?"
