Chapter 278 Anecdotes before the All-Star Game, ask for a monthly ticket]
On February 10, 2003, the NBA All-Star Game was the 53rd All-Star Game.
The game was held at Philips Arena in Atlanta.
The All-Star voting results were released a few days ago. Lu Yu undoubtedly became the All-Star voting leader, Kobe Bryant ranked second, and Yao Ming squeezed out O'Neal's starting center position.
This made O'Neal very dissatisfied, which was why he encouraged Kobe to deal with Lu Yu.
It's simple. In his eyes, the two yellow-skinned people are the same.
The Eastern backcourt combination is Iverson and Tracy McGrady, and Jordan is pitifully ranked third in the Eastern backcourt.
For the forward position, Carter's votes are not low. After all, he has a lot of support from people in Canada, but he is still far behind Lu Yu.
In Lu Yu's previous life, the top two backcourt players in the Eastern Conference were Iverson and Tracy McGrady, while Jordan ranked third in the Eastern Conference All-Star voting. However, considering that the top two players were both backcourt players, he could only be relegated to the bench.
Faced with this situation, McGrady said in an interview with the Orlando media that he was willing to give up his starting spot for Jordan because this is what Jordan deserves.
The situation was similar this time. McGrady said the same thing during the interview.
After all, the God of Basketball has his own dignity. He rejected McGrady's kindness. Before McGrady gave way, Iverson had already called Jordan and asked Jordan if he wanted to give up the starting lineup to him. The final result was the same.
, Jordan also refused.
This is all prelude to the All-Star Game.
Everyone knows that the old hooligan is planning to stop playing after this season. He is heartbroken and will stop playing. He is planning to retire again. This All-Star Game will be his last All-Star Game, and this season will also be his retirement season.
Even the All-Star Game MVP trophy is engraved with the word MJ!
McGrady expressed his willingness to give up the starting job to Jordan in front of the media and was praised by the Orlando media. They wrote: "This is the best way to hand over Jordan and his successor."
But McGrady did not become Jordan's successor, and Jordan did not accept it. Although Jordan said in an interview: "I understand their good intentions. If it were me, I would also give up my position to Dr. J, and Dr. J would also give it to his seniors."
Give up my position, but I won't accept it, they deserve it, I'm good as a substitute."
What you say is better than what you sing!
In Lu Yu's previous life, things evolved like this.
Fans did not accept their basketball god playing as a substitute in the All-Star Game. They saw Iverson and Tracy McGrady giving up their positions, so they thought of Carter. He was Jordan's junior at North Carolina and was considered Jordan's best player.
A good successor.
But Carter said in an interview: "He won the All-Star Game, and he will start to give back to the fans."
It means I don’t want to be some bullshit successor!
This also reversed his refusal to give up the starting lineup. In fact, it is reasonable for the fans to want him to give up the starting lineup. Carter played very few regular season games this year, and his votes were not as many as Jordan's. However, Carter made it clear that he would not give up the starting lineup.
First release.
However, what is unexpected is that after the start of the All-Star Game, Carter gave up his starting position, and Jordan accepted it.
This is completely inconsistent with what the two of them did before. What's going on?
It turned out that Carter told Jordan before he took the field that if you don't start, I won't play either. He didn't change his jersey and looked like he was giving up on the game. Jordan couldn't resist him and finally accepted the starting position.
It is said that Carter gave up his position because he could not bear the criticism from the outside world. There is also news that the coach found him and told him to give up his position. Anyway, Jordan finally accepted the starting position. After all, this is his stage.
Nothing will happen without Carter this time. After all, Carter is also a substitute.
Trouble came to Lu Yu's head.
Who makes Lu Yu the starter at the small forward position?
Before Lu Yu's full-name game, he received a call from coach Isaiah Thomas. The phone call was very tactful, saying that someone asked him to help persuade Lu Yu to give up his starting position to Michael Jordan.
Lu Yu asked him directly: "Have you forgotten that Jordan didn't let you join the Dream Team?"
Isaiah Thomas is silent.
This is the eternal pain in the heart of the Smiling Assassin. Although no one says it, everyone knows that he cannot become a member of the Dream Team because of the old gangster.
Don't look at the fact that he is now enjoying great success as the head coach of the Pacers. He also became the head coach of the Eastern Conference team in the All-Star Game this year. His achievements as a player were also outstanding. If nothing goes wrong, he will have no problem entering the Hall of Fame, but the Dream Team's
The honor will never be with him.
Isiah Thomas, known as the Smiling Assassin, is one of the greatest players in the NBA. He was the brains on the court during the Pistons' Bad Boys era. His ability to stop Jordan in the Eastern Conference for several years alone is enough for him to win the title.
A lifetime.
He was second only to Magic Johnson as a point guard at the time.
In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the International Olympic Committee agreed for the first time that NBA players could participate in the Olympics. Because the United States had learned from the failure of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the league decided to organize a team composed of the best players in the entire NBA.
The team participates.
But back then, he was not able to join the star-studded dream team, which became an eternal pain in his heart, and all of this was caused by his past grudges with Jordan.
Because the opponents Jordan encounters in the finals every year will change a lot.
It's not like the NBA in Lu Yu's previous life, which was almost a battle between heroes, and became Thanos James VS Avengers.
In the NBA of that era, Jordan defeated countless superstars, including Magic, Barkley, Malone, etc.
Among these people, the player Jordan hated the most was none other than Isaiah Thomas.
Although Gang Leader Qiao’s current status is unrivaled, he was also bullied in the NBA back then.
This starts with Thomas’s isolated incident against Jordan in the 1985 All-Star Game.
The 1984-1985 season was Jordan's rookie season as a rookie, but he had already begun to show his superstar potential at that time. His performance of averaging 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game conquered a large number of fans.
Of course, this performance also earned Jordan the Rookie of the Year award.
The most important thing is that Jordan's All-Star votes that year were also surprisingly high, only 60,000 votes behind Thomas. And this was only Jordan's rookie season, which made Thomas feel threatened.
But what really made Thomas angry was that rookie Jordan didn't say hello when he met him in the elevator, thus offending this guy.
Before the game, the Smiling Assassin used his appeal to unite with the Eastern Conference stars to teach Jordan a lesson, which was not to pass the ball to Jordan. After the whole game, Jordan made 2 of 9 shots and scored 7 points.
This is the worst All-Star season in Jordan's career, even worse than when he was in his 40s.
After the game, Jordan learned that Thomas was behind all this, and the two had a feud from then on.
In the following three seasons, Jordan was eliminated from the playoffs three times by Thomas' Pistons.
The Detroit Pistons where Thomas worked at that time was an insurmountable mountain for Jordan. Even Jordan, who was as strong as Jordan, fell to the iron cavalry of this Piston army known for its iron-blooded defense three times!
During the game, the bad boys led by Thomas and Laimbeer did everything they could to Jordan.
The Pistons' Jordan Rules also made Jordan suffer a lot. It was not the gentle defensive policy of Lu Yu's previous basketball life. According to the concept that the Pistons coach instilled in the team, he said, "I will see blood later!"
Every time Jordan made a breakthrough, he almost faced the possibility of career reimbursement. This is enough to show how much of a headache the Pistons' bad boy army gave Jordan at that time.
In order to defeat the Pistons, Jordan did not hesitate to give up his speed to gain weight. In the end, Jordan pressed the Pistons hard against the floor and rubbed them.
But this process also made the grudge between him and Thomas more and more irresolvable.
In fact, in the Dream Team at that time, not only Michael Jordan was opposed to Thomas' selection, but Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who were both black and white at the time, also opposed Thomas' selection.
Many people don't know that Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson are good friends, and this incident also turned the two of them against each other.
In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the United States chose to organize NBA players to participate in the Olympic basketball competition for the first time. Jordan, the first player in the NBA at the time, put forward his own requirements for the participation, that is, Isaiah Thomas should not be selected. Jordan said: Yes He doesn’t have me, he has me but he doesn’t!
Jordan was a crucial figure for the U.S. team, which sent NBA professional players to compete for the first time. The U.S. team's coaching staff was finally forced by Jordan's request and had no choice but to exclude Thomas from participating in the U.S. team's game.
The coach of the Dream Team at the time was Daley, who was also the head coach of the Pistons.
Even Daley couldn't protect his disciple Thomas, which shows Jordan's toughness.
This matter was an obstacle that Thomas couldn't get over. When he heard Lu Yu's question, he said nothing and decided not to persuade Lu Yu.
There are also many criticisms from the outside world, saying that Lu Yu does not respect the God of Basketball.
Lu Yu said directly in an interview with the media: "I have always respected Michael. He is my goal to catch up. Just like we are going to break the 72-win record he led the Bulls this season, I want to surpass him. I believe in him." He also wouldn’t expect me to behave modestly, which is not Michael’s style.”
They were obviously praising Jordan, but in reality they were completely ashamed of rejecting Jordan.
It has to be said that after two years of training, Lu Yu has become extremely proficient in speaking skills when facing interviews and questioning.
Anyway, I won’t let you!
In fact, it is not just Lu Yu. Although many players regarded Jordan as their idol before entering the NBA, few people will respect Jordan after they actually compete with Jordan.
In Lu Yu's previous life, in this All-Star Game, it stands to reason that the MVP trophy should belong to Jordan, after all, his name was even engraved.
However, Kobe and Garnett teamed up to ruin Jordan's All-Star finale.
After the start of the All-Star Game, everyone was interested in feeding Jordan, and Jordan played smoothly. During the regular season, the two sides came and went. The Eastern side was strong in the backcourt, while the Western side was stronger in the interior. Both sides
The game went into overtime without a tie. Five seconds before the end of the overtime, Jordan used Marbury's defensive shot and his iconic fadeaway jumper to give the team a 2-point lead.
Maybe this is the best curtain call?
Not really!
Because someone doesn't allow it, he is Kobe!
Kobe only wanted to repay Jordan by defeating Jordan. He faced O'Neal's three-point shot and caused O'Neal to foul. He made two of three free throws and entered the second overtime.
Jordan was so angry that he wanted to stamp his feet!
In the second overtime, Garnett stepped up to help the West have the last laugh. Garnett scored 37 points and won the All-Star MVP, an MVP trophy engraved with Michael Jordan's name.
Anyway, no matter what the result is this time, Lu Yu will not give up the starting lineup.
Jordan had nothing to say, and even praised Lu Yu when he was interviewed by the media: "Lu Yu is right. If he gives up the starting lineup to me, I will feel that he will not be able to lead the Bulls further. I hope
He broke all my records, but it should be hard."
The first sentence is very good, but the last sentence exposed Jordan's little thoughts.
Later, the fans stopped pursuing this matter. After all, the relationship between Lu Yu and Jordan was not that good. Although Lu Yu was in the Bulls and was regarded as Jordan's inheritance, you must know that Lu Yu rejected Jordan before he entered the NBA.
During the trial training, Jordan didn't say anything good about Lu Yu.
It's a good thing that the two of them don't have any ideas. How do you expect Lu Yu to be generous to Jordan?
As soon as this happened, fans immediately looked forward to this All-Star Game, especially Lu Yu's fans. This time Lu Yu will represent the second-year rookie to accept the challenge of the first-year rookie.
There is also a confrontation between two Chinese players, Yao Ming and Lu Yu.
Even though they are not in the same position, they have a lot of tricks up their sleeves in this All-Star Game. They belong to different camps in the Rookie Challenge and the All-Star Game.
There are still many fans who are concerned about whether Lu Yu will continue to participate in the three-point contest.
You must know that Lu Yu was the three-point champion last year. Will Lu Yu continue to win this year?
If Lu Yu participates, other players may give up directly.
"I will not participate in the three-point contest. I am participating in another event." Lu Yu answered with a smile when asked by reporters.
Another item?
NBA All-Star Skills Challenge?
This is a new project entering the All-Star Weekend this year, and its purpose is to showcase the skills of the best point guards in the league.
The content of the game is that four players complete several links such as dribbling, passing and shooting in a field with various obstacles within a specified time. The player with the least time will be the champion.
Last year, the American Dream Team, composed of NBA players, failed in the World Championships in Indiana held in the United States.
They were defeated by the Chinese team, Argentina team and the former Yugoslavia team. They not only embarrassed the NBA, but also ended the U.S. men's basketball team's record of winning 58 consecutive games in international competitions, and allowed the Americans to win the World Championships for the first time.
Didn't qualify for the semi-finals.
After learning from the painful experience, the NBA realized that the players' admiration for physical confrontation and individual performance and the neglect of basic skills were the key to the failure of the Dream Team 5. In order to encourage players to pay attention to the three basic skills of "dribbling, passing, and shooting", it also wanted to
So that American basketball can regain its lost halo, this year, the NBA added a new competition event during the All-Star Weekend - the Skills Competition.
Artest was speechless: "Lu, is it appropriate for you, a forward, to join the point guard game? The key is, do you understand the rules of this game?"
The Skills Challenge has just come out, and many people don’t even know the rules.
In addition to Lu Yu, the players participating this time are Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Stephon Marbury and Tony Parker.
Lu Yu just smiled. He didn't know whether he could win the skill competition championship in the future, but this was the first year of the skills competition. While others were still studying the rules, he already knew it well.
