Chapter 156 Rookie Challenge Begins(1/2)
On February 12th, the NBA All-Star Weekend officially begins.
For fans, the NBA All-Star Weekend is undoubtedly a star-studded basketball feast.
For players, they can take advantage of the All-Star weekend to relax and adjust their condition.
However, some players still have to work "overtime" to bring a basketball visual feast to fans around the world.
Sun Yi is such a "hard-luck person" and cannot escape the fate of "working overtime".
In this All-Star Game, he will participate in the Rookie Challenge and the All-Star Game.
Originally, the league officials suggested that he sign up for the skills challenge to add some gimmicks.
Sun Yiyi refused without hesitation. He didn't want to be too tired and just wanted to enjoy the fun of the All-Star Game.
Although Sun Yi escaped the league's arrangements, he had to deal with more trivial matters off the court and was even more tired than usual in games.
Taking advantage of the popularity of the All-Star Weekend, Sun Yi's agent Schwartz arranged a series of activities for him. The day was so full that there was no time for training.
Fortunately, such days only lasted a few days, and they were over in a matter of seconds. If he did this for a long time, Sun Yi would really not be able to bear it.
As time passed quickly, the day of the Rookie Challenge came in a blink of an eye.
After Sun Yi completed the exclusive interview with Sports Channel, he took a special car to the American Airlines Center Arena for pre-game public training for the rookie game.
In this All-Star Rookie Game, the first-year team is led by Sun Yi, Curry, Evans and others, with teammates including: Jennings, Harden, Flynn, DeRozan, Gibson, and Blair.
The second-year team is led by Rose and includes Westbrook, OJ Mayo, Eric Gordon, Beasley, Gallinari, Love, Anthony Randolph, and Marc Gasol.
From the overall strength level, the second-year team has a great advantage.
Moreover, the first-year team has lost to the second-year team for 7 consecutive years, and even the Platinum Generation has not been able to reverse this situation.
Therefore, the outside world is basically optimistic that the second-year team can win again.
Sun Yi was originally not interested in the outcome of the game, but after being prompted by the system, he thought that he should be rewarded for being the MVP of the rookie game, so he changed his mind and decided to win.
Under the escort of security personnel, Sun Yi entered the arena and walked to the locker room.
In the process, he thought about how to lead those guys to win.
"I have to make them listen to me."
Sun Yi muttered something under his breath, then entered the locker room, changed into training clothes and headed to the training ground.
When he arrived at the training ground, Curry quickly greeted him.
"Busy man, you are finally here, but you don't know that the guys across the street are so arrogant that they don't take us seriously at all." The primary school student made a small report.
"Oh, there's this matter, what's the attitude of our teammates?" Sun Yi asked.
"That guy Jennings wants to lead us against the second-year team, he really wants to eat shit!" Curry said dissatisfied.
"That guy is so arrogant, you have to understand." Sun Yi replied.
"I just scored 55 points. I will definitely exceed this score in the future." Curry said angrily.
"Okay, I'll go over and meet him."
After the exchange between Sun Yi and Curry, they went to the training ground of the first-year team and said hello to his teammates.
Harden and others responded in a friendly manner, but only Jennings had a bad look on his face and ignored Sun Yi.
"This guy is simply arrogant, so don't blame me for my sharp tongue."
Sun Yi came to the opposite side of Jennings and said angrily: "I heard that you are going to lead us. Do you really have the strength to lead us to defeat the second-year team?"
Jennings did not rush to answer, he is not a brainless person.
If he doesn't win the second-year team after making a promise, he will be in great disgrace.
"This hateful guy in front of me wants to set a trap for me, so I have to fight back."
After Jennings made his plan, he said: "If you can promise to lead us to defeat the second-year team, it's okay to listen to you."
"I don't want to lead you, I just don't want to lose. The outside world is saying that our first-year team cannot win the second-year team, but I don't think so. I am best at things like slaps in the face. I want to win, what about you?
?" Sun Yi asked loudly.
In the first-grade team, Sun Yi is qualified to say such words, because except for Curry, all of them are defeated by him.
"I have long been dissatisfied with those guys on the second-year team. They are as good as 25,800,000 yuan. Sun, if you have a plan, just tell me and I will be the first to support you." Curry stepped forward to support you at the right time.
"Count me in. Although my offensive ability is not good, I am good at rebounding. Leave this job to me. You just shoot." Blair said, patting his chest.
Upon seeing this, other people also expressed their willingness to follow Sun Yi's arrangements.
Just when the first-year team reached a consensus, Dan Terry, the first-year head coach of the rookie team, came to the training ground with the coaching staff.
This guy was just here to make some fun. After assigning some shooting training tasks to the players, he led the coaching team back to the lounge.
The players on the first-year team were not surprised to see the head coach take over as the boss, as they had always done so in the past.
After the head coach left, the first-year players gathered together again.
"Okay, the coach is gone, it's time for us to discuss tactics."
After Sun Yi finished speaking, he asked Curry to borrow a tactical board. He was going to transform into Coach Sun and lay out tactics.
At the same time, the players on the second-year team noticed something unusual about the first-year team and discussed it with interest.
"What are these guys doing? Discussing tactics to deal with us?" Westbrook said curiously.
"Whatever tactics those guys can come up with, we can defeat them casually." Mayo said disdainfully.
"OJ, don't underestimate the enemy. There are several players on the first-year team who are no weaker than us." Rose reminded.
"Derek, you are too cautious. Even if you don't fight, we can still ravage those rookies." Beasley said confidently.
Anthony Randolph, who is familiar with Sun Yi and Curry, did not participate in the discussion. He knows the strength of Sun Yi and Curry, and feels that it will not be easy for the second-year team to win.
The second-year team players did not waste time on this matter. The familiar players gathered together and continued chatting, discussing where to spend the night.
On the other side, after Sun Yi finished laying out the tactics, he went to the lounge to discuss it with head coach Dantrey.
"Sun, just do what you want. The rookie game is your stage. You make the decision. Then tonight's game will be left to you."
Daintree smiled and patted Sun Yi on the shoulder, entrusting him with the important task.
Sun Yi nodded, expressed his gratitude, and then left the lounge to join his teammates and continue to discuss tactics.
Dantrey looked at Sun Yi's leaving figure and thought of Brandon Roy, who he once coached.
"This kid has the temperament to be a leader. The Warriors have found a treasure!"
After sighing, Dantrey fell into salty mode again and stopped caring about anything.
…
…
February 13, Dallas, American Airlines Center Arena.
At this time, the stadium was already full, and the enthusiastic fans were patiently waiting for the game to start.
There is no shortage of celebrities in the front row seats again, but this time players from the All-Star Game are basically here to watch the game.
James, Wade and others are discussing who will win this game.
"I'm optimistic about the first-year team. They have great potential and should be able to win the game." James said.
Wade, Nash, Duncan and others nodded in agreement.
Howard had a different opinion. He felt that the second-year team was stronger and supported the second-year team to win.
Durant definitely supported his good brother Westbrook and agreed with Howard's proposal.
At this moment, the lights at the scene suddenly dimmed.
Under the introduction of the on-site host, the players of the second-year team ran out of the player tunnel one after another.
When Rose made his final appearance, the cheers reached their peak.
Immediately afterwards, the host began to introduce the players of the first-year team.
When Sun Yi came on the stage, the cheers and shouts on the scene surpassed that of Rose before, and he became the most popular player in this game.
After the entrance ceremony, players from both sides came to the competition venue one after another for warm-up activities.
Sun Yi and other first-year team players were conducting warm-up activities in a regular manner.
The second-grade team was much more high-profile. There was a dunk contest, and every player completed a dunk.
In the end, Westbrook became the winner of this little game.
After the warm-up activity ended, the starting lineups of both sides were displayed on the big screen.
The first-year starting lineup is: Curry, Evans, Jennings, Sun Yi, Blair.
The second-year starting lineup is: Rose, Westbrook, OJ Mayo, Beasley, Gasol.
Not long after, the referee signaled the starting players from both sides to come to the center circle and prepare for a jump ball.
Sun Yi quickly took off his training clothes and followed his teammates to the court.
To be continued...