In the first dunk of the final, Howard started from the bottom corner, threw the basketball to the backboard, jumped, caught the rebounding basketball and dunked it into the basket.
This ball is not very difficult, but it is nice to watch, very powerful, and very stretchy.
Originally, this was supposed to be a high-scoring move, but because Zhang Zhiyuan was in front, Howard only scored 45 points for this dunk.
Then Zhang Zhiyuan came on stage, and at the same time there was a Mercedes-Benz car. This is the endorsement brand signed by Zhang Zhiyuan this year, with a price of 100 million US dollars in 5 years, a sky-high price.
Among the various endorsements for NBA players, only sneaker contracts are relatively large.
Endorsements for other beverages, suits and watches only cost two to three million a year.
Zhang Zhiyuan's endorsement is a precedent. It is 20 million per year, which is larger than other people's sneaker contracts.
Of course, it's worth it for Mercedes-Benz to pay so much.
Just like now, Zhang Zhiyuan directly uses the dunk contest to advertise for them.
Such a big Mercedes-Benz is placed under the basket, even a blind person can see it.
Zhang Zhiyuan's dunk involved leaping over a car, but unlike Griffin, he didn't leap over the front of the car, but directly over the roof. The difficulty level went up a notch, and it was very dangerous.
Even if other dunks fail, the player can still fall on a familiar floor. Players with extensive falling experience are generally less likely to be injured.
But now there is an extra car under the basket. Once the dunk fails, no one can predict what will happen.
It can be said that Zhang Zhiyuan put his health on the line for this advertisement.
At least that's how fans see it.
Zhang Zhiyuan accelerated, took off, jumped, and leaped all at once.
After dunking in, he hung on the rim and then jumped off.
"Hey guys, Mercedes-Benz is really famous now. This dunk must be watched by at least 100 million viewers."
Buckley guessed.
"As long as one out of 100,000 viewers is affected, Mercedes-Benz can make back its money."
Smith said.
50 points, no suspense.
This dunk is very difficult and dangerous. We need to give Mercedes Benz some face. It can't be justified if we don't give it 50 points.
Howard smiled bitterly, realizing that he might never win a dunk championship in his life.
His second dunk was a dunk while stepping on the free throw line. This kind of dunk has been done by many players.
The only difference between him and others is that he is a center, while the others who perform this action are forwards and defenders.
In comparison, it is more difficult.
Howard finished it in one go, and the audience applauded.
It's a pity that the judges only gave 45 points, and the two deductions totaled 90 points. He had no chance of winning the championship.
Zhang Zhiyuan's second dunk also took off from the free throw line, but he had a few more tricks. After taking off, he also made a hand-changing movement under his crotch.
Just with this extra step, the difficulty level soars and the enjoyment doubles.
Run up, take off, change hands under the hips, and buckle in.
Zhang Zhiyuan completed this action and fell to the floor.
"Oh sell cakes, sell cakes."
The scene erupted in cheers again.
"Where are the limits of mankind? Where are the limits of mankind?"
Smith shouted loudly.
When Jordan took off and dunked from the free throw line for the first time, countless people immediately exclaimed that human beings had broken through the limits.
At the same time, I also believe that Jordan's dunk is the limit of mankind.
However, there was Carter before and Zhang Zhiyuan now. Their dunks surpassed Jordan's and reached a new level.
Will there be more outrageously difficult moves in the future? No one knows.
With 50 points and two dunks both being perfect scores, Zhang Zhiyuan easily won the dunk contest championship.
Seeing Zhang Zhiyuan's dunk, James lost the little thought he had about dunking and decided not to participate in the dunk contest.
As long as they don't compare with Zhang Zhiyuan, fans will not notice the gap between them.
Carter is also glad that he did not agree to the alliance's invitation, otherwise he would have humiliated himself.
His jumping ability is no longer at its peak, and he has no better ideas.
As long as he doesn't participate, his fans can still say that Carter didn't lose.
"Will you participate in the dunk contest again in the future?"
The host asked Zhang Zhiyuan.
"Probably not. It's pretty boring without an opponent."
Zhang Zhiyuan showed a very helpless look.
The next day's All-Star game.
Zhang Zhiyuan appeared in his third generation of Ambition, one generation after another. Anta is crazy about money.
But it doesn't matter, Zhang Zhiyuan is now popular and the fans are buying it.
Last year, his sneaker sales reached US$350 million.
In comparison, Kobe’s was only 110 million, a difference of three times.
James's is even less, only more than 70 million.
He doesn’t have a championship honor yet, it’s useless no matter how beautiful his statistics are, and his popularity cannot compare with Zhang Zhiyuan’s Kobe.
70 million, after deducting costs, Nike didn’t make much money from him.
Anta has made a lot of money, with a gross profit of 140 million US dollars a year, while Zhang Zhiyuan's endorsement fee is only 20 million US dollars per year.
Anta is already preparing a lifetime contract for Zhang Zhiyuan. This contract will be better than the lifetime contract between Jordan and Nike, and the sales share will be greater.
After the players came out to warm up, Ray Allen approached Zhang Zhiyuan to communicate.
In the end, he was unable to leave the Celtics because Angie and the Lions opened their mouths and did not receive a satisfactory offer.
Ray Allen has decided to build a good relationship with Zhang Zhiyuan first, and when his contract is over, he will go to the Clippers to become a mid-level player, and then become a champion.
He now believes in Zhang Zhiyuan and has no confidence in the Celtics.
He didn't know the reason, it was just a man's intuition.
Faced with Ray Allen's proactive overture, Zhang Zhiyuan continued.
When Ray Allen gets old, you can lead him to win a championship.
Garnett and Pierce were both a little dissatisfied with Ray Allen's move, but they had nothing to do.
The team has become like this, and their confidence in winning the championship has dropped by another 20%.
The warm-up is over and the game begins.
Howard won the jump ball and the Eastern team took the lead.
James advances with the ball.
Iverson is not playing well with the Pistons, and the Nuggets are playing particularly well after losing him. He is now under a lot of pressure, and the media has criticized him a lot.
Therefore, he has no intention of playing in the All-Star game, and he no longer controls the ball.
James is different. He hopes to win and win an All-Star Game MVP.
No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. He needs more honors.
James broke through for a layup, Maggette didn't do much to defend him, and Yao Ming also watched him go for a layup.
Scored, 2-0, and the Eastern Conference opened first.
The Western team attacks.
There are also several people on their team who want to be AMVP, including Kobe Bryant, Zhang Zhiyuan, Stoudemire, and Anthony.
Kobe didn't want to give up every honor, but Zhang Zhiyuan needed these honors.
As for Stoudemire and Anthony, their situation is the same. They have strength but no decent honors.
How can you be a superstar without honor?
In the eyes of the outside world, the two of them are one level behind Kobe James.
Zhang Zhiyuan advanced with the ball. Kobe asked for the ball on one side, but Zhang Zhiyuan did not give it to him, which made Kobe very embarrassed.
Zhang Zhiyuan shot a three-pointer of his own, but Wade pounced on it.
Normally, in the first half of the All-Star Game, everyone is just showing off and not taking defense too seriously. In other words, in the second half, they will compete for victory.
But Wade made an exception. Instead of dealing with Zhang Zhiyuan, he wanted to cause some trouble for Zhang Zhiyuan.
Unfortunately, the ball went in.
When the Eastern Conference attacked, James continued to make breakthroughs. He was very popular and had no enemies. Maggette just blocked it symbolically and James scored.
When the Western Conference attacked, Maggette served. Kobe wanted to catch the ball, but Maggette passed it to Zhang Zhiyuan who was farther away.
This move made Buckley laugh out loud.
"Kobe is so pitiful. I think he should give up the idea of competing for MVP. Zhang has teammates."
Smith joked.
"I don't know if Kobe will be angry when he asked for the ball twice but was ignored. It would be great if he could fight with Zhang Zhiyuan."
Buckley said.
"Nonsense, how can we start a fight?"
Smith complained.
On the court, Zhang Zhiyuan broke through to the basket and Garnett covered up the defense. Zhang Zhiyuan had no choice but to take the shot and the ball missed.
It’s not only Wade who is unhappy with him, but also Garnett, Kobe, Anthony, and even James, Paul...
In short, players who want to reach the top must not be friendly to him.
He is the mountain in front of everyone and must be leveled.
"Oh, Wade and Garnett are too ignorant. This is not a regular game."
After two consecutive defenses, Zhang Lili saw something wrong.
"It seems that it will be difficult for Zhang Zhiyuan to win the All-Star MVP again. All his opponents are targeting him."
Sun Zhengping said.
"It doesn't matter if you can't get it, it's just the All-Star Game MVP, and the gold content is not high."
Zhang Lili doesn't care much, and neither do the fans.
On the court, Zhang Zhiyuan was a little angry.
Originally, he just wanted to have fun and didn't use the attribute chain.
Now that Wade and Garnett are serious about it, he has also given up on his plan to talk about martial ethics and tied up Wade and Garnett with chains.
This was only temporary. If things went bad later, he wouldn't even mind using another prop to explode.
In short, he is determined to win the MVP, and even Jesus can’t stop him.
The Eastern team attacks, and James passes the ball to Garnett.
After all, it is an all-star stage, and it is impossible for him to perform alone.
Garnett hit a mid-range jumper.
During the transition between offense and defense, Anthony passed the ball to Kobe. Kobe singled out Wade. Wade thought for a moment, and Kobe got inside and turned over and hit a jumper.
This differential treatment was so obvious that Zhang Zhiyuan's fans couldn't help but booed, and the audience in front of the TV even cursed.
The Eastern team attacked, and James assisted Howard to score.
The eastern team was in harmony, while the western team was in chaos.
Kobe was asking for the ball, and Anthony was also asking for the ball. Yao Ming was embarrassed and passed the ball to Maggette.
His move seems to be telling the fans, you see, I am not partial to my fellow countrymen, I am giving it to Maggette.
Maggette then handed the ball to Zhang Zhiyuan, but Zhang Zhiyuan assisted Yao Ming under the basket. Yao Ming jumped lightly and dunked to score two points.
Assists are also statistics, and Zhang Zhiyuan does not dislike them.
The Eastern team attacked, James broke through, and Anthony blocked it.
If you want to compete for MVP, your team must win, and Anthony doesn't want the Eastern Conference to lead too much.
James made a jump shot, but the ball missed.
"This year's All-Star competition is more intense."
Buckley commented that there was no performance atmosphere at all.
"I think this is to blame Zhang Zhiyuan, this guy is simply an honor-harvesting machine. MVP, scoring champion, assists champion, first team, slam dunk champion, three-point champion... he has all been snatched away by him. Can others not be anxious?
?”
Smith complained.
There are only a few honors and they are fixed.
If Zhang Zhiyuan grabs one, the others will lose one.
Now Zhang Zhiyuan has grabbed so much that no one wants to let go of a useless All-Star MVP.
"What you said makes sense."
Buckley agreed.
On the court, Kobe took another shot and threw a three-pointer.
Wade didn't do much defense, but Kobe's touch didn't seem particularly good today, and the ball didn't go in.
Howard was about to grab a rebound, but Zhang Zhiyuan suddenly appeared and took off the rebound and made a tip-in.
Howard was immediately confused and once suspected that he was playing in the playoffs.
"Hahaha......"
Watching Zhang Zhiyuan actively fighting for rebounds, Barkley was very happy.
"He is too obsessed with honors. To be honest, he already has enough honors. There is no need for this."
Smith complained.
"There is no way, he needs those honors to surpass Jordan."
Buckley guessed.
On the court, the game has gradually changed.
James broke through and scored the ball, assisting Wade to make a shot.
When the Western Conference attacked, Kobe was still actively asking for the ball.
He didn't care about the audience seeing through his thoughts, so he gave up.
Then he forced a shot and scored.
After playing for a few minutes, Maggette and Yao Ming only threw once together, and the rest were basically divided between Zhang Zhiyuan and Kobe.
Then Dunleavy began to make substitutions, replacing Maggette, Yao Ming and Zhang Zhiyuan, and replacing them with Stoudemire, Paul and Luo Yin.
They are all players with a strong desire for performance, and Dunleavy is going to let them compete with Kobe and Anthony for the ball.
Later, let Zhang Zhiyuan lead Duncan, Yao Ming and others who have no desire to take action.
In this way, Zhang Zhiyuan can get more shot rights when everyone has about the same playing time.
This is something Dunleavy can do, and he certainly won't refuse.
On the court, Paul controlled the ball and advanced and shot.
He did see that Kobe and Anthony wanted to win the MVP, but did this have anything to do with him?
Playing in the All-Star Game for the first time, he also wanted to make his presence felt.
The ball was scored and the Western team retreated.
The Eastern team attacked and they also changed some people.
However, Joe Johnson, who was replaced, had no desire to take action, and Mo Williams was James' teammate.
Ray Allen and Lewis have no intention of stealing the MVP.
As a result, the ball rights were naturally concentrated in James' hands and could be controlled by him at will.
James either scored or assisted, and occasionally grabbed a rebound, and his statistics skyrocketed.
As long as the Eastern team can win, he will definitely be the MVP.
In contrast, the Western team was in a mess, each fighting its own way, and its efficiency was far less than that of the Eastern team.
The strength of the Western team was obviously higher than that of the Eastern team, but after the first quarter, the Eastern team was 45 to 38, leading by a full 7 points.
If things continue like this, Kobe and the others might end up fighting for their own solitude, and eventually James will be fulfilled.
