Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 375 Han Sen teases James again

The All-Star selection is scheduled to take place in a week, when Hansen and James will join the TNT Big Three in the live selection.

After the news was announced, this episode of TNT became the most booked show of the season.

However, during this process, something big happened in the league.

It's not a big deal because it didn't have much impact on the entire league, and it's not a small deal because it had a devastating impact on the Warriors.

In the game against the Rockets at the end of January, Cousins ​​played well and contributed a triple-double of 1 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists. This was his third triple-double of the season and the ninth in his career.

His running-in with the Warriors is starting to click.

However, just the next day after the game, Cousins ​​was diagnosed with a torn left Achilles tendon and was out for the season.

在为勇士队出场的48场比赛里，考辛斯场均出场35.2分钟，得到24.2分11.6篮板4.6次助攻1.5抢断1.9盖帽，发挥可谓相当出色。

From an emotional point of view, Cousins ​​suffered a season-ending injury in his contract year, which will inevitably have a significant impact on his free market next year. He is really unlucky.
But from a rational point of view, Cousins' injury is a high probability event, and it can even be said to be expected.

Although he moves faster than many people expected, which makes him not look out of place like when O'Neal joined the Suns, his weight is unavoidable.

Just like Yao Ming, he is okay in defending the position, but when he really starts running and playing, it puts tremendous pressure on his ankles and knees, and injury is inevitable sooner or later.

For the Warriors, it was both bad news and good news.

The bad news is, of course, that Cousins ​​is out for the season. The good news is that Cousins ​​was injured before the trade deadline. Although this year's trade deadline was moved forward to February 2, they still have about ten days to negotiate with other teams to strengthen their roster.

This also has an impact on the All-Star Game, because Cousins ​​is an All-Star starter in the Western Conference. His starting position needs to be replaced by someone from the bench, and his absence due to injury also needs to be filled by someone.

In terms of starting lineup, this year's Western Conference All-Star head coach D'Antoni finally appointed Klay Thompson into the Western Conference starting lineup, while Cousins' position was filled by Blake Griffin of the Clippers.

As the live broadcast of the draft draws near, the two captains, Hansen and James, were also asked some questions related to it.

The most interesting thing is, of course, who he will make his first choice.

Faced with this question, James' answer fully demonstrated his intelligence.

"We know the league does this to make the game more competitive, and I will choose the most suitable lineup to win the game."

When the reporter further asked him whether he would choose Davis as his first choice, he showed his humorous side.

"If AD sends me a fruit basket, I'll consider him as my first choice," James said with a smile.

The same question was given to Han Sen, and Han Sen's answer was very direct.

"If I were the one who picked first, Nicholas would be the first one to be picked. If I were the one who picked later, if Nicholas was still around, he would be my first choice."

This time, he really showed off the "love" between his teammates.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it is already the day for the live selection.

In TNT's live broadcast room, there is a semi-circular round table. Hansen and James are on each side, and between them are the Big Three of TNT.

After the show started, Kenny Smith also introduced the selection rules.

The selection is divided into two rounds. The first round is to select the starting lineup, that is, the two players need to choose 8 people from the remaining 4 starting players based on the voting results, plus themselves to form the starting lineup.

As for substitutes, the two players will each choose 7 people as their substitutes.

After explaining the rules, Barkley took out a simple coin from under the table.

The classic game of guessing the heads or tails of a coin, the person who guesses correctly will be the first to choose someone.

Buckley flicked the coin into the air with his thumb, then caught it with the back of his hand and covered it.

Hansen guessed heads, and James guessed tails.

Barkley took his hand away and saw a bald eagle.

James was lucky.

This result actually raised the suspense of the show.

Because if Han Sen started first, then given Han Sen's character, he would definitely keep his word and would choose Jokic first.

But James had left himself a loophole before, including when he was warming up just now, he also kept it a suspense, saying that the answer would be revealed naturally when it comes to selecting players, so no one knows who he will choose.

James also played up his media persona to the fullest, just like when he made the decision live, and made his choice after making a thoughtful and conflicted expression.

"Kevin Durant."

After hearing James' choice, Han Sen couldn't help but laugh.

Before the selection, it was still a puzzling question who James would choose, but after the selection, it felt like there was no suspense.

How could James not choose the strongest one in the pool?
And Hansen said that his first choice is Jokic, so Davis can still be picked with the second pick.

Hansen chose Jokic, but James' second choice was unexpected again. He did not choose Davis, but Curry!

This choice shocked everyone present.

So James is the legendary "rich man" who only chooses expensive things instead of the right ones?
The choice came to Han Sen again, and Han Sen touched his chin.

I have to say, as long as he is not playing basketball, James is indeed quite smart.

Cousins' injury has to be mentioned here. Only Jokic and Davis are big men in the starting pool, and the remaining Antetokounmpo is still a serious mobile power forward.

So since Hansen has already chosen Jokic, he doesn't have much reason to choose Davis. Instead, he should find an outside partner for himself first.

In that case, even if James doesn't choose Davis with the second pick, he can still get him with the third pick.

James really made all the arrangements for Han Sen very clear in a short period of time.

However, although James and Han Sen have been rivals for so many years, he still doesn't know Han Sen well enough.

Once Han Sen realized that he was being led by the nose, he would definitely not be led by the nose.

Hansen selected Davis with the second pick.

After Han Sen made his second choice, the popularity of this talent show instantly reached its peak.

No one understands show effects better than Han Sen.

Let's go back to the issue of Cousins' absence. Hansen's choice forced James to choose Antetokounmpo, the only inside player left in the pool.

Hansen then began to take the initiative in selecting players, because he selected Klay Thompson, who James would definitely like to select. When the selection process came to this point, an embarrassing process that he had not paid attention to before arrived.

Just like the players who were not selected in the green room back then, there is one person who will not be selected in either the first round or the second round.

Because when the person who chooses first has finished choosing, the remaining person will naturally go to another team.

All six people in the starting pool have been selected, leaving only Irving and Harden.

This means that one of the two people will definitely be "left behind".

Fortunately, this program was carried out in advance. If the teams were really divided temporarily at the All-Star Game, the person left behind would be so embarrassed that he would pick his feet.

However, James thought about this last option for a long time, stroking his chin. After Han Sen did not follow his plan, he was now forced into a corner.

As for the remaining two people, Harden is also a core player with the ball, and he is also a guard. If they are on the same team with him, they are just stealing his ball rights.

As for Irving, he is a good match for him, but when Irving was playing for the Cavaliers, he once said, "No one wants to be LeBron's teammate"!

Han Sen was also looking at James with great interest at this time. This was what they called "you reap what you sow".

Originally, if James chose Davis calmly, this situation would not happen because Hansen would choose Irving for the show effect, but now James is forced to make a choice.

After a period of struggle and even some painful expressions, James finally made his choice.

He chose Irving!

Han Sen was stunned for a moment, then laughed again.

Still...it didn't surprise him at all.

Between data and face, James of course chooses data.

Of course, James later tried to save his face, explaining that he made the choice in order to win, and that Irving's technical characteristics were more suitable for their team.

Han Sen was just listening for fun at first, but after listening to James' explanation, he felt that there was one more reason to win this year's All-Star Game.

James wants to win so much, so of course we can't let him win.

What, any other reasons?
Because this year's All-Star Game is held in Cleveland!
After winning the championship in 2016, Gilbert wanted to increase Cleveland's influence in the league and among fans by hosting the All-Star Game.

However, given the conditions at the Quicken Loans Arena at the time, it was completely incapable of hosting the All-Star Game.

But after the arena was renovated at great expense, the conditions were met, and coupled with the Cavaliers' current influence, it was natural for Cleveland to host the event.

James chose Irving, and Harden became the one left.

Han Sen observed a moment of silence for the bearded man.

In "history", Harden was said by fans to be unpopular because he was left behind. Now it seems that he still cannot escape that fate.

After both teams have finished selecting, the starting lineup for this year's All-Star Game is officially announced.
The size of Han Sen's team is obviously larger than that of James' team.

Even in terms of space, Hansen's team is better than James' team.

Adding in the strength gap between the two captains, Hansen's team has a great chance of winning.

Of course, this is just the starting lineup, there are still 7 substitutes to be selected.

Barkley also added a rule here that the person selected last when selecting the starting lineup has the right to choose first when selecting the substitute.

In this way, the side that is passive when starting will have the initiative when coming on as a substitute.

Of course, James was a little bit tearful at this time.

Because now that the starting lineup has been selected, he is the passive one, and the person selected as a substitute is still him. He has to bear everything alone.

It was during the selection of substitutes that Han Sen also demonstrated his gentlemanly style of seeking revenge all day long.

James has been changing teams in the league over the years, and he has many "enemies" in the league.

For example, Irving is in the starting lineup, and Westbrook and Green are on the bench, so Hansen will definitely leave him for James.

After all, James said that everything is for winning. Since he has already suffered once, it should not be a problem to suffer a few more times.

And this time Han Sen had the first choice, so he had absolute initiative.

So when the bench selection came down to the final player, Westbrook and Green were the only ones left in the pool.

At this time, even the photographer who was broadcasting the show live was quite understanding and gave James a close-up shot.

James' expression at this time was extremely constipated.

Because the remaining two people were nothing but shit-flavored chocolate and chocolate-flavored shit to him.

This was the second time that Han Sen had cornered James, and unlike the first time, at least he had some choice back then, but now he could only leave it to fate.

Speaking of which, when the league announced that he would be the captain, he jumped up with excitement.

After all, he was no longer even Nike's top star at that time, but he was able to get the captain position. It was like waking up from a dying illness and suddenly a spring breeze came.

But now, he felt like a clown on the stage, unable to find a hole to hide in.

"I choose...Russell."

Han Sen made his final choice.

Hansen is a good person after all. You see, James did not choose Harden because Harden is a ball-handling core. Then he fully considered James's request and chose Westbrook, who is also a ball-handling core.

Moreover, James' team is short of inside players, and a defensive player like Green is perfect for James.

James' face was so gloomy at this point that he couldn't pretend anymore.

To him, Westbrook is shit-flavored chocolate, which tastes bad but is at least non-toxic.

But Green, after Green criticized the Green Formula, he became his biggest enemy in the league.

He thought he would never be teammates with Green again in this life, but he never expected that after only half a season, they would become teammates again!

-Dividing line-

① Hansen team starting lineup: Hansen, Harden, Thompson, Davis, Jokic
Substitutes: Lillard, Lowry, Westbrook, Jimmy Butler, Hayward, Griffin, Towns

James' team starting lineup: Irving, Curry, Durant, James, Antetokounmpo
Substitutes: Paul, Wall, Paul George, DeRozan, Green, Aldridge, Embiid
(End of this chapter)