First in scoring

Chapter 543 542. Raise the glass when you come on stage

Little did he know that Zhang Yang on the other side, looking at the big screen showing Kobe making 24 of 11 mid-range shots, also felt that the opponent's mid-range shots made no sense at all. In such a game, he could still shoot a 45%+ mid-range shot percentage!

The pressure resistance, suppression and consumption capabilities brought by such mid-range shooting ability are all incredibly strong.

If it weren't for his last two three-pointers, he would have been killed by Kobe's mid-range shots tonight!
There is more than one such player in the NBA. There is one in Dallas, and he is even more terrifying when he enters the playoffs!
Zhang Yang believes that one day, his CIC will be better than these two, but when these two are still in their prime, it is basically impossible. Basic skills, technology, experience... there are too many things to catch up.

When the two of them get old, even if his mid-range shooting surpasses them, there will be no opponent to compete with him.

Durant? He is a very powerful opponent, but it is difficult for Zhang Yang to think that he must be defeated. If he meets him on the court, he will definitely want to win, but that's all.

But for the three-point shot, if he is given another year or two, he should be able to reach the historical level! No, he should be able to become the first historical three-point shooter!
He is confident that, as of now, no one in NBA history is better at three-point shooting than him. Maybe some people are more accurate than him in single-position running, catching the ball and shooting, some are better than him in running and finding opportunities, and some are more accurate than him in fixed-point catching and three-point shooting... but in terms of comprehensive three-point ability, he is the best!

In his impression, Nowitzki still has a year and a half to go before his peak, but that's not certain.

In the 11-12 season, Nowitzki seemed to be declining rapidly. A big reason was that the Mavericks' lineup was not good enough. Kidd lost hope after winning the championship and his form plummeted. Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson left the team. These three were all starters in the championship and even the core of offensive and defensive tactics. Nowitzki was basically a pure scorer. His playing style was simplified to the extreme, a pure championship puzzle. For such a player, his team performance and even his personal performance are greatly affected by the lineup!
It mainly depends on the intensity of Cuban's financial investment in the later period. Zhang Yang remembers that after Cuban fulfilled Nowitzki's championship dream, his investment was greatly reduced. Only one season after winning the championship, in the 12-13 season, the Mavericks broke their historical record of paying luxury tax for 12 consecutive years.

As for Kobe, his offensive peak period can last for at least three more years...

The three-point king versus the mid-range king? A clash of the old and the new era?

Zhang Yang, who was almost pissed off by Kobe, became excited again when he thought about this.

The main reason why he has such a lively mind is that he won tonight. If he loses, he will be as stubborn as Kobe on the other side. Who knows, he might practice mid-range shots with the ball every day during the All-Star weekend...

...

With 35 wins and 17 losses, the Bobcats entered the All-Star break in third place in the Eastern Conference.

The first place in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers, 42 wins and 10 losses; the second place, the Magic, 36 wins and 16 losses; the fourth place, the Celtics, 32 wins and 20 losses; the fifth place, the Bulls, 34 wins and 18 losses...

The Cavaliers are currently far ahead, and the Celtics, relying on their title in the Atlantic Division, are firmly in fourth place. The Magic, Bulls, and Bobcats are competing fiercely for second and third places.

The competition for the scoring title among Zhang Yang, Durant and Anthony continues to be intense.

张杨半程收官连续两场20+将单场20铁次数提升到17次……不对，是连续两场40+，场均得分暴增0.5分，以场均31.1分反超场均31分的安东尼、场均30.8分的杜兰特，重新登顶得分榜。

James fought for a while at the beginning of the season, but gave up early. Wade was more casual about scoring this year, only playing hard when playing against opponents he considered to be opponents, and did not participate in the competition directly.

In the assists list, Paul caught up with Nash after his crazy performance in January. The competition between the two is fierce. Deron lags behind the two by 1 assist per game, which makes it difficult for him to catch up. Rondo, who is fourth, averages less than 1 assists per game and is not in the competition.

Howard dominates the rebounding list with an average of 13.5 rebounds per game, and Zhang Yang is also far ahead in the steals list, averaging 2.9 steals per game.

In the block list, at the beginning of the season, Duncan ranked first... but later he dropped, and now he only averages 2.3 blocks per game, lagging behind Howard who averages 2.7 blocks per game, and it seems impossible for him to catch up.

A few days later, at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Zhang Yang, Felton, and Okafor came to the sidelines with their families to watch the game.

The team's record this year is not so outstanding, and Felton, who averaged 15+3+6+1 per game, was not selected as an All-Star reserve.

The Eastern Conference All-Star reserves selected are Wade, Joe Johnson, Pierce, Okafor, Granger, Bosh, Horford, and Iverson, Zhang Yang, James, Howard, and Yao Ming to form the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

The Western Conference All-Star reserves selected are Paul, Roy, Deron, Durant, Nowitzki, and Bynum, who form the Western Conference All-Star team with Nash, Kobe, Garnett, Stoudemire, and Duncan.

Because Roy was injured and asked to withdraw from the All-Star Weekend, Stern designated Rondo as a substitute.

Bynum was selected as an All-Star frontcourt substitute, but Anthony was not... Bynum was already unpopular enough, and Zhang Yang didn't expect Anthony to be even less popular. This is not the first time that Anthony has been unable to compete with other forwards despite having an advantage in record and statistics.

Anthony was not the only one who unfortunately failed to be selected in the Western Conference. There were also Aldridge, Gasol, Kaman, Gerald Wallace, Parker, Rose... The frontcourt was the most missed because there were too many outstanding forwards.

Although Felton was not selected for the All-Star Game, he was invited to participate in the Skills Challenge and compete with Nash, Paul, Deron, Kidd and Rondo.

Zhang Yang was also invited to participate in three events for the first time. He accepted the invitation to the three-point contest, and his opponents were Curry, Pierce, Gallinari, Frye, and Billups.

In this year's Rookie Game, no one from the Bobcats was selected, including Collison, because... they were not worthy.

Jrue Holiday of the Warriors, Curry of the Knicks, Evans of the Timberwolves, and Jennings of the Bucks, these four talented point guards, have locked up the four backcourt spots in the 4 Rookie Challenge. It's not that Collison is not good enough, but that the opponents are too buggy, especially Evans, who averaged 09 points, 4 rebounds and 20 assists per game, and became the big man on the outside when he went to the Timberwolves.

Not only Collison, but even the Hornets' talented scorer Marcus Thornton, who is expected to become another rookie of the year sixth man, failed to make it into the rookie game.

The five frontcourt players of the rookie team are Omer Casspi of the Kings, Josh Jerebko of the Pistons, Taj Gibson of the Bulls, Terrence Williams of the Nets, and Sam Young of the Grizzlies. These people are not as dazzling as the point guards of the same class, but they also became the team's main rotation or even the starters in their rookie year.

Looking at the entire history of the Rookie Game, this year's rookie team is unrivaled in terms of talent and combat effectiveness.

But the sophomore team looks more powerful!

Rose of the Thunder, Westbrook of the Clippers, Mayo of the Celtics, and Harden of the Knicks, the four of them pushed DeRozan to the frontcourt!

Eric Gordon, the 76ers' favorite candidate for the best sixth man, averaged 15+3+3 per game, but was eliminated from the Rookie Game in his sophomore season!
The other four players in the frontcourt are Brook Lopez of the Rockets, Marc Gasol of the Lakers, Kevin Love of the Timberwolves, and Danilo Gallinari of the Nets. Gallinari, at the very least, is also the team's top scorer, and the other three are already tactical cores.

The three young players of the Bobcats came to watch the game this time purely for the players of both teams... Zhang Yang, on the other hand, has work to do.

Not only them, there are many active superstars and retired celebrities in the front row. In terms of talent, this is probably the best rookie season in history!
And the one they are most looking forward to is Tyreke Evans!
After the game started, as everyone expected, Evans became the most handsome guy on the court. Rose, Mayo, Harden, Westbrook and DeRozan couldn't defend him!
At 7 minutes and 22 seconds, when the first official timeout came, Evans, who was "controlling" Curry, the most accurate shooter in the game, and Blair, the most powerful inside player, scored 6 points and 4 assists, leading the rookie team to beat the sophomore team 21 to 19!

Westbrook and Mayo, feeling embarrassed, fired up after the timeout. They both scored over 15 points in the first half. However, after their efforts, the sophomore team trailed the rookie team by 55 points at 72-17 at the end of the first half...

At the beginning, the rookie team only had the powerful Evans, Curry who dared to compete with Zhang Yang, and Blair who looked unhappy. They were not afraid of the talented seniors from the sophomore team. The others were somewhat timid. When the score was 21 to 19, 21 of the 18 points were scored by Evans, Curry, and Blair.

But when the three led their team to overwhelm the sophomore team, the temporary teammates found that the sophomore team didn't seem to be that strong, or they had stronger teammates. Their confidence soared, and under the leadership of the three, they suppressed the sophomore team!
However, such a huge score difference made the geniuses of the sophomore team even more angry. They launched a fierce counterattack in the second half, scoring 10 to 45 in the first 34 minutes, narrowing the score difference to 6 points in one fell swoop!
Seeing that the sophomore team was about to make a comeback, Jennings and Curry stepped up. The 09 double wave fired continuously and made 5 three-pointers in a row. Even though the sophomore team's firepower was not cut off, they scored 15 to 10 and forced the score difference back!

At 12 minutes and 37 seconds in the second half, when the sophomore team called a timeout and entered the last official timeout, the score was 121 to 110, and the rookie team regained an 11-point lead!
After the timeout, the sophomore team wanted to fight back again. They didn't believe Curry and Jennings could keep making shots.

Indeed, 09 Shuanglang lost his touch after returning from the timeout and missed three consecutive shots. During this period, he only got two points from Blair's tip-in. The opponent beat him 3 to 6, and the score difference came to 2 points again.

But when the sophomore team was about to gain momentum again, Evans stood up, scoring three times in four rounds, and in one round he passed the ball to Terrence Williams on the wing, who received the ball and hit a three-pointer. He single-handedly beat the sophomore team 4 to 3, making the score 9 to 4.

The game entered a timeout again, and the sophomore team fought hard, but the score gap did not narrow, but widened by one point!
The few minutes of fighting had made many of the sophomores lose their morale...

In the end, the score was fixed at 146 to 128. The rookie team defeated the sophomore team!
维斯布鲁克拿到了全场最高的37分，梅奥33分，对面新秀队一个30+都没有，但库里有27分、詹宁斯23分、埃文斯26分15助攻、布莱尔20分22板……

Finally, Evans, who scored 25+15, and Blair, who scored 20 points each, received the "Zhang Yang Cup" from the award presenter Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang said in an interview: "This is the most exciting and highest-level rookie challenge I have ever seen."

The reporter asked, "Is your level higher than that year? If you participate in this competition, can you still get such a high score?"

Zhang Yang smiled and said, "If I go to college for a few years and then enter the NBA after getting my degree, I might be on the rookie or sophomore team this year. I'm really curious whether I can get such high scores. What do you think?"

The Dallas reporter's questions were obviously ill-intentioned, but Zhang Yang grasped the ambiguity in his words and made him stammer and stop talking.

However, this interview made the fans in front of the TV fall into fantasy.

Even Zhang Yang's fans and haters would not think that Zhang Yang would not be able to play well in college. They directly equate Zhang Yang who entered college with Bird and Duncan in college.

Wade fans are upset. Zhang Yang completed his graduation thesis defense ahead of schedule in 08. If he had entered the NBA at that time, they would have had the combination of Wade + Zhang Yang, one breaking through and the other shooting. Just thinking about it... it makes me upset.

Los Angeles fans are also very crazy. If Zhang Yang finished college before entering the NBA, judging from the fact that he skipped grade 05 in 12 and was admitted to North Carolina based on his grades, he would still go directly to college if he didn't enter the NBA. That means he would participate in the draft in 09. The Lakers wouldn't be able to pick him, but if the Clippers did, they could watch local game live broadcasts every day... And if Zhang Yang went to college, and normally he should go to USC or UCLA, a local genius + a local university superstar, in that situation, if Sterling didn't pick Zhang Yang, they would definitely use American Iai.

...

The next day, Zhang Yang, Felton, and their relatives and friends arrived at the competition venue.

Zhang Yang looked around and felt as if he was back at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games the summer before last.

The stadium is full of people. Standing on the stadium, it seems that there is no end in sight! There will be at least 100,000 people on the scene tonight!

The All-Star Weekend has changed its stage!
The American Airlines Arena in Dallas is considered one of the best arenas in the NBA. In terms of the advanced equipment, only the Hawks' Phillips Arena, the Bobcats' Turkish Airlines Arena, and the Trail Blazers' Rose Garden Arena can be compared with it.

But during this year's All-Star Weekend, the arena only hosted one game, the Rookie Game.

The newly named individual events and finals were held at the Arlington Cowboys Stadium, home of the NFL super powerhouse and the world’s most valuable sports club, the Dallas Cowboys.

This stadium is located about 5 miles north of Dallas. Construction began in early 05 and took 4 years to complete. It was completed in early 09 and put into use in the fall of 09. It has just hosted one NFL season. The cost exceeded 12 billion US dollars. Without considering other factors and only looking at the construction cost, it is nearly three times that of the Bird's Nest. However, in terms of size and internal specifications, the two stadiums are actually similar.

The ball carrier of the Dallas Cowboys and Cowboys Stadium is Jerry Jones, a good friend of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the owner of the largest sports investment group in Texas.

When Cuban applied to host this year's All-Star Weekend, he discussed with Jerry Jones that the three events and the main competition would be held in the new stadium which had not yet been built.

This can make Cuban look good. If the Cowboys Stadium hosts basketball games, the audience capacity will start at at least 100,000, and he can also make a lot of extra money.

Although the proceeds from the All-Star Weekend have to be donated to a designated foundation and it is not his turn to make money, those who are willing to spend money to buy tickets will buy some peripheral products, and that all means money.

Jerry Jones can use the NBA All-Star Weekend to expand the worldwide popularity of the Cowboys Stadium. The global influence of football is indeed far less than that of basketball. A stadium that cost more than a billion dollars to build is certainly not just used as a home court. The NFL season is actually very short, much shorter than that of the NCAA.

As for why the rookie game was not held here, it was mainly because Cuban was afraid that the tickets would not be sold out. There are more than 100,000 seats, and he was worried that the first and second year players would not be able to bear such a high box office.

The venue was confirmed before the training camp started. Although the rookies of the 08 team had already shown their talents at that time, who could have thought that 9 out of the 8 players on the sophomore team would become tactical cores and the worst one would become the Nets' top scorer?
And who knew that the 09 rookie season would produce players like Evans, Jennings, and Curry? After all, the No. pick was written off.

As a result, tickets for last night's rookie game were hard to come by and the ratings for the rookie game also hit a new high.

And because it was so popular, Cuban gave away more than 2,000 tickets, and there were hundreds of active players watching.

Zhang Yang saw a media report after the game last night that Cuban was regretting his decision. Looking at the market last night, there was no problem selling out tickets at the Cowboys Stadium. With at least 8 fewer spectators buying tickets to watch the game, a lot less peripheral products would be sold. It is estimated that tens of thousands of jerseys were sold less, not to mention that some fans may like more than one young player.

Moreover, more than 2000 free tickets would not even account for a fraction of the seats at Cowboys Stadium, but at American Airlines Arena, they would account for more than one-tenth of the seats...

He said that he glanced at Cuban a few times last night and saw that guy had a stern face. At that time, he thought it was because the Mavericks picked the wrong person in 09. The first pick was Casspi and the second pick was Taj Gibson, both of whom were excellent combat players with the ability to become main rotation players in their rookie year. However, the Mavericks chose Byron Mullens, a white center who couldn't even play a ball.

Now it seems to be a matter of money. Cuban is very generous with his money, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like to make money. Only if you can make money can you be generous. Just look at Boss Joe.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the first individual event to start was the Shooting Stars. This year's Shooting Stars were divided into regions, with the Southwest Conference led by Nowitzki, the Pacific Conference led by Fisher, the Atlantic Conference led by Mayo, and the South Coast Conference led by Big Q competing against each other.

Nowitzki of the Mavericks, retired Rockets player Kenny Smith, and Becky Hammon of the WNBA Silver Stars easily defeated the other three leagues with absolute advantage to win this year's Shooting Star championship.

After the warm-up games, the main course eventing came.

Felton, Nash, Paul, Deron, Kidd and Rondo took the court to compete for the Skills Challenge championship.

The top three point guards of the 05 class...were collectively eliminated in the preliminaries and stood there staring at each other.

Kidd and Rondo both made three-pointers in one shot and made only a few mistakes in other events. Their preliminary results were better than Nash's!

Kidd is fine, his three-point shooting percentage has been over 04% since the 05-35 season. Rondo's three-point shooting percentage is 31%!
However, Felton remembered that although Rondo was slow in three-pointers with the ball, his accuracy was still good when he stood still and received the ball and had space to adjust and shoot in a wide open space. It was just that most of Rondo's shots on the Kings were after dribbling, so his hit rate was so poor.

In the finals, Kidd and Rondo lost their good luck in the preliminaries. It took them several attempts to make the three-pointer. Nash, on the other hand, seemed to have returned to 05. He completed everything from the three-pointer to the final layup in one go, and easily defeated Kidd and Rondo with a time of 28.7 seconds to win his second Skills Challenge championship.

...

Next was the three-point contest. When Zhang Yang walked onto the court, the crowd was filled with cheers and boos.

He is very popular in Texas. The most popular basketball team in Texas is the Mavericks. Many fans blamed the Bobcats for the Mavericks' upset in 07.

In the eyes of many Mavericks fans, it was because the Bobcats took the lead in dealing with Nowitzki that they were eliminated in the black round. As the star player of the Bobcats, Zhang Yang became the focus of their firepower.

Zhang Yang felt like he was being taken out on. They had only played against the Mavericks twice that season, and they had only used that trick in the fourth quarter of an away game to complete a comeback.

Shouldn't we blame the young general for being too clever and deliberately losing the game by picking on the Warriors?

However, that choice was praised by the local media in Texas before the start of the playoffs, because the Clippers, who were eventually pushed to ninth in the Western Conference, defeated the Nuggets in the playoffs in the previous season, 05-06, and reached the second round.

Zhang Yang took a deep breath, ignored the boos from the crowd, and looked at his opponents - Curry, Pierce, Gallinari, Frye, and Billups.

Curry, Billups, Frye...these three are all extremely accurate in making open three-pointers!
Especially Frye, next to Nash, he averaged 44 three-pointers per game with a hit rate of 2.3%!
Pierce is also accurate in open shots.

There was originally another strong rival, Daequan Cook from the defending champion Heat, but Cook has been injured since December and has not returned yet. Gallinari was selected to replace him, which relieved Zhang Yang of some pressure.

Soon, the game started. Zhang Yang was unlucky and was the first to go on the court.

1分钟后，张杨投篮完毕，普通球20中13、彩球5中3，拿到19分。

He was not very satisfied with the result. Most of the missed shots were concentrated on the right side. He only scored two ordinary balls in the right bottom corner; two ordinary balls and one colored ball were scored at the right 45-degree angle; all the ordinary balls at the top arc were scored, but the colored ball was lost in the end; three ordinary balls were lost again at the 1-degree angle on the left side; and finally he got the feeling and made five consecutive hits in the left bottom corner.

Not only was I dissatisfied, I was also anxious. With these opponents, with 19 points, I wouldn't even make it to the finals, would I? It was a hasty decision to participate in the competition. I should have waited until I became the first historical three-point shooter in the NBA before participating.

Zhang Yang was dissatisfied and anxious, but Curry, who was the second to play, was extremely excited!

He glanced at the remaining opponents: Billups, Frye, Pierce... If the four of them work harder, maybe they can keep Zhang Yang out of the finals!

Curry started the game with great ambition and courage... He only scored one colored ball at the first point, and the first four shots were all missed!
His performance in the next four points was also very bad. One minute later, Curry's playing time ended. He made 4 of 1 regular balls and 20 of 8 colored balls, and scored 5 points.

Zhang San: Huh? That's it?
Next, Billups scored 12 points, Frye scored 15 points, and Pierce scored 17 points...

Zhang Yang had a blank expression. As long as Gallinari, who replaced the defending champion in the final match, didn't perform too badly, the three toughest competitors in his mind would be eliminated? Even if Gallinari surpassed Jordan, at least two of them would be eliminated in the preliminary rounds...

No, can it be possible, elementary school student! Zhang Yang remembers that Curry seemed to have won the three-point contest championship two or three times!

Zhang Yang did remember this correctly, but he got the time wrong. Curry won the three-point contest championship for the first time in 15. In the three or four times he participated before that, he was a cheerleader on the field, forcing a smile and applauding his opponents.

Tonight, Curry, who was participating in the All-Star Weekend for the first time, obviously didn't know what "business" meant. After Frye and Pierce scored more than him, his emotions were written all over his face.

Gallinari, who played last, had the best performance in the preliminaries except Zhang Yang. He made 20 of 10 regular balls and 5 of 4 colored balls, scoring 18 points.

Zhang Yang, Pierce, and Gallinari advanced to the finals, while Curry, Billups, and Frye were eliminated early!

In the final, Pierce, who played first, scored another 17 points.

Gallinari's luck was not as good as in the preliminaries. He only scored 11 points, made two colored balls and 7 ordinary balls, and basically said goodbye to the possibility of being in the top two and getting the bonus.

It was Zhang Yang's turn to play, who ranked first in the preliminaries. Pierce stared at his opponent intently, and the cheers and boos from the fans at the scene burst out again.

On Zhang Yang's side, the opponent was gone early, and he felt inexplicably depressed, but he was no longer under any pressure. He walked onto the court after hugging his parents, girlfriend, and teammates, with no distractions. Even the voices of the fans at the scene seemed to become smaller, and he focused on shooting.

Then came the amazing moment, he made 45 consecutive shots in three points: the right bottom corner, the right 15-degree angle, and the top arc, and scored 18 points!
With two points left to shoot, Zhang Yang defeated Pierce in advance and secured the championship!

Truth: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

You can't play like this!
When it reached the 45-degree angle on the left, the angle changed and Zhang Yang's 15-game winning streak was interrupted. Even the fans who were booing at the beginning couldn't help but sigh.

It has just been posted on the $4000 million "world's largest big screen" at the Cowboys Stadium. Zhang Yang made 15 consecutive shots, the second-highest number of consecutive shots in the history of the NBA All-Star Three-Point Contest, second only to the 1991 consecutive shots created by three-time three-point champion Craig Hodges in 19.

However, Zhang Yang on the field was not affected and continued to throw the ball. He then scored three goals in a row, raising the score to 3 points. But unfortunately, the last colored ball at the 21-degree angle on the left was missed, which once again caused the fans to sigh.

Although he failed to break the 19-game winning streak, he scored in the first three points. They felt that Zhang Yang had every chance to set a new scoring record, but he ended up missing a colored ball!

卡波诺08年和克莱格-霍奇思在1986年的25分历史纪录、卡波诺在07年和马克-普莱斯在94年的24分历史第二高分，都有一个共同点——彩球全进。

On the court, Zhang Yang came to the last left corner. This spot was the most accurate spot for his open shots, bar none...

“Swish, swish, swish”…“Swish”!
When Zhang Yang shot the first ball in the left corner, the fans at the scene gradually quieted down. When the last colored ball went into the frame, the 100,000 people at the scene cheered loudly!

Zhang Yang came out of his concentration and was startled when he heard the crazy cheers of 100,000 people in the audience. He tilted his head to look at the big screen and blurted out "Fuck!" The camera gave a close-up of his mouth shape. Everyone watching the live broadcast in China could see it...

He was completely focused on shooting in the last minute. He knew he made a lot of shots, but he could also see that some of them missed. By the end of the time, he knew he had won the championship, so he shot more casually... but he didn't expect he made so many shots!

From the original situation where the cheers and boos were at most 40% and 60%, to now the whole audience cheering, he knew he was not mistaken!

27 points! He made 20 of 19 regular ball shots and 5 of 4 colored balls, surpassing Kapono and Craig Hodges and setting a new record for the three-point contest!
It was the first time for most of the fans at the scene to watch Zhang Yang play live, and most of them would probably only do so once in their lives.

Those local fans who booed Zhang Yang at the beginning, although they had seen Zhang Yang play in live broadcasts and videos, they thought it was just so-so because they had a negative filter. In addition, they were more willing to pay attention to negative news about Zhang Yang, and did not think Zhang Yang was really that good.

Now, after watching Zhang Yang's record-breaking performance at 'close range', with the most talented pitcher of the new generation 'New York Little Jack', Truth Pierce, and FMVP Billups as the background, and more than 100,000 people around him in high spirits, those local fans suddenly discovered that Zhang Yang was really amazing, at least in terms of three-point shooting, he was too good!

Maybe later on, they would still stand against Zhang Yang and regard Zhang Yang as an enemy, but at this moment, the fans at the scene were collectively conquered!

Frye and Gallinari, even Pierce and Billups, all accepted the defeat. They had tried, but it was difficult for them to score 20 points in such a game. The guy in front of them should be competing with Bird, Craig Hodges, Mark Price, and Kapono. They were not on the same level in such a game.

When Zhang Yang was interviewed, he said, "How come there is no one who can play?" Pierce and Billups couldn't stop laughing. Their highest scorer was 10 points behind Zhang Yang. What could they say? If it were them, they would definitely be more pretentious.

Only one elementary school student was so unwilling that his emotions exploded...

Amid the enthusiastic cheers of 100,000 fans, Zhang Yang raised the trophy and donated the prize money to an unknown charity foundation together with runner-up Pierce. In the words of Pierce in a private chat with several participating players - just feed it like cattle feed to those vampires.

...

Nash and Zhang Yang's outstanding performances pushed the atmosphere to a climax, and then... it was extinguished by two-time dunk champion Nate Robinson who walked onto the court.

Has any dunk contest champion ever been booed by fans during the game? Only Little Potato in 07.

That dunk contest almost exhausted the fans' patience with the event, and the calls to cancel the dunk contest have intensified in recent years.

Zhang Yang’s only expectation for this year’s dunk contest is - Ronaldinho, beat Little Potato!
But unfortunately, although DeRozan made it to the finals, whether it was the dunk over his idol Kobe or the final windmill dunk with one step inside the free throw line, the viewing experience was only average.

Although Nate Robinson has been criticized by fans, he is indeed the best dunker among all the players who have participated in the dunk contest over the years.

His barefoot height of 168cm makes his vertical jump of 110+cm look very exaggerated. His dunks are always powerful, so it is entertaining to watch, but it fails to bring a sense of amazement. After watching it, there is nothing worth recalling. I only remember the dunk in which the preparatory action failed more than a dozen times.

In the end, Nate Robinson defeated DeRozan and won the dunk contest again, becoming the first three-time dunk champion in history.

Whenever watching the dunk contest, Zhang Yang would have a little bit of expectations for Silver. After Silver began to take full charge of the All-Star Weekend, the competitions have indeed become much more interesting. Silver has a lot of ideas for these entertainment competitions.

The next night, still in this stadium, Arlington Cowboys Stadium, the All-Star Game arrived and the pre-game show was underway.

When preparing for the game, James suggested helping Iverson win the MVP tonight.

It's quite straightforward - Iverson is about to retire.

Then he added that the NBA is using the "No. 3 Era" as its slogan during this year's All-Star Weekend, and that we cannot let the Western Conference snatch the MVP away.

The Eastern teammates all supported this.

Zhang Yang has already won the All-Star MVP in the so-called "No. 3 era". He has no objection to James' initiative and supports it. Wade is the same. They both won it together.

However, Zhang Yang heard Wade muttering when he turned around - "Do I need you to say that I helped Iverson win the MVP?"

Zhang Yang was actually somewhat dissatisfied with James's "generosity towards others", as if he was the leader of the Eastern Conference and could make decisions regardless of others' wishes.

It was just because the person he was helping was Iverson, a veteran who loved to take care of newcomers. He, Zhang San, had been taken care of when he first participated in the All-Star Weekend, so any slight dissatisfaction was quickly put aside.

And from the perspective of basketball heritage, this is what should be done. Iverson is definitely a very iconic athlete among the athletes at the beginning of the century who further promoted basketball to the world.

We must maintain minimum respect for such veterans. This is also a kind of inheritance. How they treat veteran superstars is how future stars will treat them.

But Zhang Yang didn't expect that Wade was also dissatisfied with this, but his dissatisfaction was different from his. Wade himself wanted to be the "initiator".

Zhang Yang was surprised, mainly because he was surprised that Wade was dissatisfied with James. He didn't think it was strange that Wade wanted to be an "initiator".

Wade is a native of Chicago, and his idol is Jordan. But not only Jordan, there is another idol, none other than the 'representative of black people' Iverson.

Wade changed to No. 10 jersey when he was in 97th grade in 3, and he wore No. 3 jersey until he left school. It was not like some people said that the Heat had retired the No. 23 jersey and he could not wear it so he had to change the number.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the All-Star Game begins!

As agreed before the game, the Eastern Conference attacked around Iverson from the beginning.

In the West, after playing for a while, the first dead ball was taken out, and Nash, who had scored 2 points and 1 assist against Iverson, was replaced by Paul.

When Nash left the court, he hugged Paul and massaged his shoulders.

He is a veteran and is telling the fans that he is not being targeted, but is taking the initiative to give playing time to Paul.

There have been rumors that Nash's back and Kobe's fingers were injured, and they originally wanted to rest during the All-Star Weekend. However, after much hesitation, Iverson decided to participate in the "last event of the No. 3 era." Nash and Kobe, who are both from the 96th class, also chose to participate, not wanting to miss the last stage for the "three MVPs of the 96th class" to compete on the same stage.

After playing against Iverson for a few rounds and fulfilling his wish of "the three MVPs of the 96th class competing on the same court for the last time", Nash did not plan to continue competing with Iverson. After winning the regular season MVP, he was no longer as obsessed with Iverson as he was in his early years, and handed the game to the three young players from the 05th and 06th classes.

Kobe is different. Now that he is here, he must compete with Iverson.

The theory is that he was repaying Paul for helping him win the MVP last year, and was helping their "No. 3 superstar" win the MVP.

After the game resumed, both teams launched attacks around their respective No. 3 superstars, but after half of the first quarter, the "Iverson vs. Paul" matchup was cancelled.

Iverson's breakthrough is still sharp, but his finishing ability is far worse than before. He can break through but can't make the shot!
Because Iverson's playing style was one-on-one, Paul also chose one-on-one at the beginning. Then... he was frustrated by Zhang Yang's one-on-one defense, Howard's assist defense, and Yao Ming's rim protection.

During the official timeout, Iverson took the initiative to ask to go off the court to rest, allowing Zhang Yang and Wade to compete.

This choice is very un-Iverson-like for Zhang Yang.

But Wade acted as if he had received some precious mission. He took off his training suit, stepped onto the court, and was full of energy.

After the timeout, Wade and Zhang Yang, together with Joe Johnson, Bosh and Howard, started a breakthrough, passing and cutting cooperation.

On the other side, Paul saw that Iverson was out, but it didn't matter, there were still two No. 3 players on the other side! He also changed his style of play, launching a pick-and-roll attack with Stoudemire, leading Kobe, Durant, and Nowitzki, three big shooters, to play pure offense and face the opponent!

In the first and second quarters, Paul played for a total of 19 minutes and only scored 6 points, 4 of which were scored during the matchup with Iverson, but he had an exaggerated 13 assists!
He launched the offense through pick-and-roll cooperation with Stoudemire and Garnett, who took turns playing, and led the team to beat the Eastern Conference team 69-65, leading by 4 points into the halftime break.

However, with this small score difference, after the halftime break, Yao Ming pressed Bynum in the paint and scored two consecutive dunks to tie the score.

After Yao Ming opened the game, the Eastern team started a new kind of team cooperation. Wade passed the ball, Yao Ming assisted, Zhang Yang and Okafor set screens on the wing to find open space, Joe Johnson supported on the weak side... With so many All-Stars, it was easy for Zhang Yang to come up with a sufficient tactic.

The teammates' abilities were there, and taking their playing styles into consideration, they cooperated very smoothly. After Yao Ming scored 4-0, the Eastern team followed up with a score of 19-13, going from a 4-point deficit at halftime to a 6-point lead, with the score at 88-82!

Kobe and Nowitzki rested for less than half a quarter and entered a timeout. Both of them took off their training suits speechlessly. Philip Saunders asked them to go on the court early, even though they were supposed to go on the court at the end of the quarter.

The five players on the court - Paul, Deron, Durant, Duncan, and Bynum - played ridiculously well! The three All-Stars of the 5 class, Paul, Deron, and Bynum, only knew how to score singles when they had the ball. They couldn't stand each other and had no intention of cooperating.

Durant created opportunities on the wing and in the high position with the help of Duncan's screen, but he just couldn't catch the ball!

Although the three brothers from the 05 class had their own abilities and scored 5 points in 13 minutes, which is a good performance even in the regular season, this was the All-Star Game! The opponent scored 23 points!
After Philip Saunders replaced the combination of Paul, Kobe, Durant, Nowitzki and Stoudemire, the Western Conference's offensive firepower immediately took off.

But the three All-Stars of the 05 class not only dug a 6-point gap, but also allowed the Eastern team to quickly exploit Zhang Yang's tactics!
第三节后面7分钟时间，东部队以24比23力压西部队1分，以112比105领先7人进入末节。

In the final quarter, the three major pitchers, Kobe, Nowitzki and Durant, took two turns to play and launched a fierce counterattack under the leadership of Paul.

Wade, together with Yao Ming, brought two pitchers, Zhang Yang or Joe Johnson, and a forward combination of James, Bosh, Pierce and Horford, to give a strong counterattack.

At the last moment, the Eastern team was leading by 3 points and had possession of the ball.

Yao Ming assisted from the high position and passed the ball to Wade who cut in. Wade received the ball and rushed to the low post on the right side, then passed it again and made a lob!

Zhang Yang turned around, used Bosh's screen to get past Kobe and rushed into the inside, jumped high and pressed his hands into the basket...an alley-oop slam dunk!
11 minutes and 41 seconds, with only 19 seconds left, the score difference widened to 5 points again, and the Eastern team secured the victory!

Yao Ming, Wade and Zhang Yang cooperated to score this time. The Western team didn't play after dribbling the ball across half court. They defended it in the last round and had a chance to shoot a three-pointer to tie the score, but they didn't defend it... Committing a tactical foul at the last moment and fighting to the end is a bit too much in the All-Star Game. Even Paul, who is about to lose to the two "No. 3 superstars", doesn't think it's worth it.

The final whistle sounded as Paul casually threw the ball towards the basket in the last two seconds, but it missed the target.

152 to 147, the Eastern team defeated the Western team with a 5-point advantage and won this offensive battle!

保罗11投6中，其中三分球5中2，加上3中3的罚球，拿到17分6板22助攻3抢断，追平了魔术队在1984年创造的全明星单场助攻纪录。

If the Western team won, even Kobe with 36 points and Durant with 28 points and 15 rebounds would have no chance to compete with Paul for the MVP, but the Western team lost.

那悬念就来了，韦德打了35分钟，18投12中、其中三分球1中0，加上6中4的罚球，拿到28分6板12助攻。

姚明打了33分钟，12投10中，加上5中5的罚球，拿到25分10板6助攻。

张杨打了31分钟，25投15中、其中三分球10中6，加上4中4的罚球，拿到40分3板2助攻4抢断。

This was a rare highlight moment for Yao Ming at the All-Star Weekend. He made all 8 shots in the paint, only missed two mid-range shots, and had 6 assists, 25+10+5. The commentators all felt that such a big center had a high chance of winning the MVP with such a performance.

Of course, they also felt that it was a good story for the "No. 3 Superstar" to raise the toast together again after a year, and that Zhang Yang and Wade's performances were definitely worthy of the AMVP.

Or an unprecedented three players raising a toast together?

But the award presenter read out Zhang Yang's name!
The commentators were puzzled by this result. Zhang Yang scored very high points, but he did basically nothing else tonight except scoring points!

The hit rate of 60+60+100 is very crazy, but many of these opportunities were created by Wade and Yao Ming who were the main attackers, and James, Iverson, Pierce and others who were the auxiliary control players when they were resting!

Of course being able to seize opportunities can also reflect Zhang Yang's ability, but judging from Zhang Yang's playing style tonight, it would not be much different if Joe Johnson or Pierce came to support him. In terms of contribution to victory, the two core partners Wade and Yao Ming are definitely better than Zhang Yang.

The Jewish guy in the box was watching the live broadcast on TV and his face was full of laughter. He chose the most controversial style of play, and the response was indeed the biggest!
And if you really want to say it, how can you not get the AMVP if you win the game and score 40 points in a single game?
The commentators were very controversial and fans had also started arguing online. However, on the court, Wade and Yao Ming, the two AMVP candidates who had tried their best to lead their team to defeat their opponents, did not show any dissatisfaction when they heard Zhang Yang won the award. In front of the camera, the two hugged Zhang Yang one after another and then went aside to continue chatting.

Wade had won the AMVP before, so he didn't really care if there was a second one. It was enough for him to try his best to win the game and defeat the lone 'No. 3 superstar' in the West.

Yao Ming never expected to win this award, and he never even thought he would be able to perform like this in the All-Star Game. No one would feed him the ball like this before. He played for 12 minutes in the first half tonight and only got 5 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, and was just used as a rim protector.

It was during the halftime break that Zhang Yang temporarily pulled him out as the core player and arranged him to form a dual core partnership with Wade. Only then did he score 21 points, 20 rebounds and 7 points in 5 minutes of playing time in the second half.

Zhang Yang, who was toasting to the cheers of more than 100,000 fans, caught sight of Big Cheeks and Little Giant, who were chatting happily... Did they become so close after playing well together? Well, it seemed that the last time he and Wade played well together, their relationship changed from being unfamiliar and hostile to being pretty good...

During this All-Star Weekend, Zhang Yang participated in two competitions and won two trophies, a great harvest!

He was a little disappointed that Iverson played for only 16 minutes tonight, made 5 of 3 shots and scored 8 points, 1 rebound and 5 assists. He was promised to help the team win the last All-Star Game, and they did win, but they did not achieve the real goal.

But Iverson didn't really care about this. After winning, he smiled happier than anyone else. When he was interviewed, he praised the young stars as usual...

(End of this chapter)