"Paul, think about it again. I don't need you to make any big moves, as long as you can show up in Houston. You can treat it as a vacation, a trip or something else."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stern, I'm really tired. I'm having a very unsatisfactory life right now. I think you should have heard about it. I just want to have a good rest at home and spend time with my parents. I don't want to go anywhere.
I don’t have the energy to go.”
"Okay, I respect your decision, but I still hope you can carefully consider my suggestion." Even though he was on the phone, Edison could still clearly feel David Stern's earnest feelings.
"Okay, I will seriously consider it." Edison dealt with it politely, and then added in his heart, "But the final result will not change."
After a few seconds of silence, Stern's slightly hoarse voice came over the phone again, "Paul, how are you doing with the Magic now?" [
After hearing this, Edison laughed self-deprecatingly, "It's much better. At least now the team's record is stable, and my pressure is much better than when the game just started."
"Well. You may not know that I have never thought that there is anything else that I can't handle in this league, but I didn't expect to encounter it now. If, I mean, if the worst result occurs in the end, what do you have?
Intend?"
"Mr. Stern, I don't think too much right now, and I don't want to think about anything. At most, I only think about what will happen one day later, and further away, I don't know how to face it."
Stern heard the frustration and loneliness in Edison's tone. This passive feeling made him, who stood at the top of the pyramid, very unhappy, so he decided to end this unpleasant call.
"Okay, that's it for today. But in the end I have to repeat it, I really hope you can attend the All-Star Game in Houston."
"I'll consider it Mr. Stern."
After hanging up the phone, both David Stern and Edison let out a long sigh. Stern was unhappy because he had not achieved his goal, and Edison just wanted to say that he was too tired. Not physically.
The fatigue is psychological.
Finally on February 18th, the All-Star Weekend kicked off, and the league announced the participating lists three days in advance.
The Western Conference All-Stars are Yao Ming, Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Kidd, Garnett, Gasol, Ray Allen, Marion, Anthony, Nowitzki and Parker. The head coach is Popovich of the Spurs.
In the East, there are O'Neal, O'Neal Jr., James, Wade, Iverson, Hamilton, Nash, Brand, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Billups, and Arenas. But
Unfortunately, on the night when the league announced the full roster, Arenas strained his calf muscle during the game against the Hornets and had to sit out for 20 days and was unable to participate in the All-Star Game.
So the next day, the league made an emergency decision to let Paul Pierce of the Celtics take Arenas's place. The head coach was Saunders of the Pistons. Counting the coach and Pistons, five people from the Pistons participated in the All-Star Game.
There was a lot of controversy among the fans, who felt that it was inappropriate to select so many players for one team, and they were all players with no entertainment spirit.
However, the league has stated that the candidates are selected by the head coaches of each team. These people are the best in their minds this season and the most qualified to participate in this event. The league respects their choices.
The rookie list was also released at the same time, and the Magic once again became a major player like last year. Five players, including Howard, Josh Smith, Iguodala, Martin, and Roy, were selected by the assistant coaches of each team.
Of course, in addition to group projects, Iguodala also signed up to participate in the dunk contest at the instigation of Josh Smith and Howard.
The first one to appear was the rookie game. The first-year and second-year rookies used their momentum to dedicate a dunk feast to the fans.
In 2000, NBA revised the All-Star Rookie Game. The East-West Rookie Game was renamed as first-year rookies challenging second-year seniors. In the name of "Rookie Challenge", fans were given an All-Star appetizer. In the six games that have been held, many
The veterans, who had been professional for one year, led the rookie team with an absolute advantage of 4-2.
Although Edison personally took the lead last year, the second-year team with players such as James, Anthony and Wade still severely defeated the rookie team with Howard, Gordon and Iguodala.
Before the start of the game, many people were still optimistic about the first-year team. After all, they have Queen Bee Paul, the "boasted number one pick" Bogut, and the sudden dark horse Roy. These three people can form a classic inside-outside triangle combination.
Moreover, there are also some powerful players such as Deron and Felton, so the first-year players may not be incapable of fighting.[
On the second-year side, although there are Howard, Iguodala, Luol Deng and other players who have established themselves in the league, they are only role players on the team, and none of them plays the core role like the three above.
Howard and Iguodala are doing blue-collar work in the Magic, and Luol Deng is Iverson's assistant. The only one who is the core of the parent team is Okafor, but now he is also considered to be just a senior inside player.
For blue-collar workers, the ultimate level of achievement is to reach All-Star qualification.
If you really want to find a star-level player among the many rookies today, the first candidate is definitely Chris Paul. Now many people compare the influence of "rookie" Paul with Kidd, Nash and others.
They even think that he is the next Smiling Assassin, and think that he is the only rookie who can be selected for the All-Star team. The answer can be found in the ESPN poll: more than half of the fans believe that the backup guard for the Western Conference All-Stars should belong to Paul.
But one more year is one more year, and second-year players have more advantages in terms of experience and physical confrontation. After the passage of time, last year's rookie finally paid off, winning 106:96 in the Rookie Challenge.
The new queen bee Paul teaches a lesson to the newbies of "Chicken Head".
In particular, Iguodala regarded the rookie game as a warm-up game for his dunk contest. In addition to scoring multiple three-pointers in the game, he also often performed wonderful dunks, leading Paul to 8 points and 11 times.
Assists and Bogut's brilliant results of 14 points and 10 rebounds came back.
In the end, Iguodala made 13 of 17 shots, 9 of which were dunks. He also hit 4 three-pointers and scored 30 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Iguodala did his part.
Became the mvp of the rookie game.
However, this small honor cannot satisfy Iguodala. He has more ambitious goals. He hopes to perform on the All-Star Game stage like his teammates Nash and Brand. "After the game, Nash and I
"I said, unless I participate in the Sunday game (All-Star Game), I will not have another All-Star Weekend," Iguodala said, "I am eagerly looking forward to this day and hope it can come as soon as possible."
Edison also sent blessings and praise to his favorite player after the game.
But if you want to watch dunks, you still have to watch a serious dunk contest.
Although Iguodala unexpectedly hit the backboard when he caught the ball for a dunk during the game, it was rookie "Little Potato" Nate Robinson who had the last laugh.
Although Iguodala lost in the dunk contest, he did not lose on technical ability, but on entertainment spirit.
In his performance, Iguodala challenges the limits of his body and performs various leaping and folding movements in the air. Although it is very difficult in the eyes of experts, it is not pleasing to the eye.
But Nate Robinson is different. In terms of entertainment spirit, Robinson completely beat Iguodala by two blocks, maybe three. In the second dunk of the final, he passed the idol "Potato" Webb (height 1.70 meters, the highest in NBA history).
The shortest dunk king) successfully dunked.
First of all, this dunk is very difficult in terms of difficulty, and it is a test of jumping height; secondly, it has a strong visual impact. Although Weber is a dwarf in NBA, he is considered to be of adequate height among normal people, so the audience cannot bear to leap over someone.
You can't help but sigh "oh, mygo!" or "wtf"; the last dwarf leaps over another dwarf to be elected as the slam dunk king. This is a gimmick in itself, and people can't help but fulfill them.
To sum up, Robinson won the house in the end, and the judges gave him full marks for this dunk, allowing him to defeat Iguodala.
The final finale will be staged on time at 8pm on the 20th.
Although a lot has changed, history still followed its original path. The Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 122-120, and James won the MVP.
In fact, at the end of the first half, the Western Conference led the Eastern Conference by 17 points, 70-53. However, in the third quarter, Sanders suddenly sent out a combination of James and the Pistons. The All-Star team was suddenly defeated.
The game has shifted from entertainment-based fan carnival activities to boring but rigorous official games.
In this regard, although Western Conference head coach Popovich also wanted to copy it, there were too many big names in the Western Conference, and there was no sense of a team at all. He could only watch the Pistons relying on their tacit cooperation and personal dedication.
The spirit made James successful.
Nash played 18 minutes and scored 8 points and 6 assists, especially the two alley-oops he sent to James and Wade respectively, which attracted a lot of attention.
Brand is obviously not suitable for this kind of game. His performance ability and desire are not strong, and his playing style is not gorgeous, so he only played 7 minutes, scored 4 points and ended hastily. But this is not good for the Magic.
This is good news, after all, our players can get more rest and recovery time.
After the All-Star Game ended, apart from James, the most mentioned name in the media was Paul Edison, a person who did not attend the All-Star Game.
"Although this year's All-Star Game was very exciting, and rarely played in a practical style. The winner was not decided until the last second. But compared with last year, in terms of topicality, entertainment, and the creation of surprises and suspense, it was better
It’s far from that. This year, there seemed to be celebrity performances during the halftime break of the game, but readers will forgive me, I went to the toilet at the time, so I didn’t see it. But I believe there are not a few people who do the same thing as me.”
[
"Thinking about last year, the time I went to the toilet seemed to be when someone called a timeout. I sat obediently in front of the TV from the beginning to the intermission without missing a single shot. The final result also made me very happy.
Satisfied. Paul Edison showed a side beyond his wisdom and rationality. I admire his humor, talent, and grace. It can be said that he alone supported last year's All-Stars."
"But it's a pity that he didn't come this year, so this year's All-Stars always feel that something is missing. When James picked up the MVP trophy, my colleagues and I looked at each other and exclaimed, 'This is it.' And.
After Edison sang a song last year, my colleague said at the time, 'Okay, that's enough, it's over.' I'm not saying that Sanders is not good. This year's Pistons' performance is enough to support him becoming an All-Star in the Eastern Conference.
Coach, but from an entertainment perspective or a broad perspective from NBA, I suspect Paul Edison is a better choice. He is more suitable for activities like All-Stars. The bigger the stage, the more charming he shines."
After the game, ESPN's Mark Stein wrote an article to express his views on this year's All-Stars, and many others also echoed his statement, including Edison BS's bitter rival Matt Moore who also made the same call.
David Stern looked at these newspapers, grabbed his hair in frustration, and then shouted, "Naihe."
