I just want to play healthy basketball

Chapter 235 Defending Rookie Challenge MVP!

Rookie Challenge sophomore locker room.

Before the start of the game, He Li encouraged his teammates: "Today, this stage is left to you!"

Before the others could reply, Arenas was the first to ask in doubt, "He Li, aren't you going to defend the Rookie Challenge MVP?"

"I'm going to defend the All-Star Game MVP!

What's more, today I still need to participate in the three-point long-range shooting contest and the dunk contest.

Remember what I said, this stage is up to you! "

In the eyes of others, He Li really didn't take the Rookie Challenge MVP seriously.

After all, the Rookie Challenge is the simplest and least attention-getting part of the All-Star Weekend activities over the years.

The MVP of the Rookie Challenge deserves the attention of other people here. For a rookie season champion like He Li, FMVP, it doesn't mean much.

So, when He Li said that, everyone immediately became excited!

This All-Star Weekend, they don't need to participate in the All-Star Game or any other games.

Achieving some achievements in the Rookie Challenge is their biggest purpose in coming to Atlanta.

Now, everyone found that He Li didn't want to seize what they thought was the sweetest cake—the MVP of the Rookie Challenge!

Then, this tempting cake will naturally be enjoyed by one of the lucky ones.

It has to be said that He Li's short few words inspired the fighting spirit of most players in the locker room.

Originally, the second grade had a lot of advantage against the first grade, but this time, with this sudden momentum, the rookie of the first grade might be even more overwhelmed, and be knocked down by the second grade!
The facts are basically as everyone expected.

It is a little surprising that this year's Rookie Challenge has lost a large number of students and many more adult audiences.

The arena is basically full, with only a few seats vacant.

This also made the rookies of the two teams very excited.

"This is the atmosphere of the All-Star game!"

After the warm-up is over, the first-year players make their debut.

As expected, Yao Ming is not the absolute core of the first graders. Yao Ming played third in the starting lineup, which is the normal order of appearance.

Unlike when the Lakers used O'Neal as the team boss back then, Kobe, the second guard, played first, and O'Neal, the center boss, appeared last.

The last player in the first grade was Jay Williams. It has to be said that this second-best point guard who is known as a genius is indeed more famous than Yao Ming.

If it weren't for his love of riding motorcycles and no major injuries, it would still be possible to guarantee an All-Star.

Besides, in the second grade, apart from He Li, there was no one else on the big axis.

However, Arenas, who has been in the limelight recently, is also the first to appear on the stage, and he has more cards than Gasol.

"Kwame, go jump the ball with Yao Ming! Don't be careless!" He Li patted the shoulder of the second-year starting center Kwame Brown and motioned him to jump the ball in the middle circle.

Kwame Brown has played with He Li for half a season. It is also because of He Li's help, coupled with the good playing atmosphere and environment in the Bucks, that Kwame Brown has grown a lot, and he has averaged 12.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

Judging from the data alone, Kwame Brown is similar to Yao Ming, and the two are the top picks in the last two drafts. They will compete on the same stage in the Rookie Challenge, and they will be more topical.

It can be said that this simple jump ball is good for both parties to expand their popularity.

"I'll win." Kwame Brown is no longer as submissive as he was when he first came to the Bucks.

Although there are occasional performances of lack of self-confidence, many times when doing my own work, I still show some self-confidence.

Coincidentally, jumping is what he does most often and is also good at.

Yao Ming's static talent is better than Kwame Brown, but the jump ball is not enough to rely on static talent alone.

Kwame Brown's jumping talent is better than Yao Ming's, and he has more experience in jumping the ball. The opportunity for the first attack in the Rookie Challenge was still grasped by the second grader.

Originally, the ball was driven by the point guard Arenas, who then looked for an opportunity to attack.

If that's the case, He Li doesn't have much opinion.

Unexpectedly, Arenas, the guy who played gunfights with his teammates in the locker room, sometimes showed a good high EQ.

After halftime, Arenas pretended to rush to the basket, but just accelerated to get near the free throw line. Then he looked back at the moon and passed the ball back to He Li at the top arc.

Because it is a rookie challenge, the opponent is a first-year rookie who wants to prove himself in the game and also wants to shine.

The first-year rookies can't play any decent tactics, and their physical strength and energy are more focused on offense.

Therefore, knowing that He Li was defending, and seeing Arenas break through with the ball, he also looked at Arenas. Simply put, he was staring at the ball and not at people.

In this way, He Li was missed.

Then, He Li had no doubts to catch the ball and shoot, and easily scored a three-pointer.

"Rookies, have you ever read a book? Very good, I am here to give you a class! Stand still for me! Next, I will give you the most exciting lesson in your life!"

He Li, who scored a three-pointer, hadn't celebrated yet. Arenas, who scored a three-pointer with the help of He Li and got an assist, became arrogant.

Immediately afterwards, Arenas turned around and ran towards He Li, and gave He Li a high-five: "He Li, I just knew that you would be able to throw the ball into the basket! You are a god!"

Emmm, He Li was a little upset before, but now this emotion is swept away.

He Li even had another thought in his heart.

"Has Arenas' contract expired this year? Will he have his own contract next season? He is a point guard, a shooter, and he can make breakthroughs. This is more fragrant than Alstom!"

He Li thought, should he take this opportunity to get in touch with Arenas more and see if Arenas has any idea of ​​playing brother basketball.

Although Arenas's peak period is short, he is also a fierce man who can compete with Kobe [-]-[-]!

What's more, Arenas hasn't hit the All-Star stats yet, he just hit a quasi-All-Star stat for the belly team.

There are too many stats in the NBA where bad teams use stats, and when it comes to strong teams, there is no way to adapt.

In the next offseason, Arenas will be a free agent, and the Warriors probably won't be able to keep him, and other teams will not be too anxious to give him a big contract.

If He Li can be lured by the championship, it is not impossible for Arenas to join the Bucks.

These days, it's not that there are stars who don't compete for the championship first, and then get big contracts.

Arenas started from the second-round pick, and his ambition may not be as big as the first-round pick.

As long as He Li can suppress Arenas, the Bucks' lineup will be even more explosive next season.

Even, within four years of his rookie contract, He Li is expected to win 4 championships and 4 FMVPs!

If this is the case, He Li is guaranteed to be among the top ten super giants in history.

If you find more like-minded brothers in the future, He Li doesn't have to leave the Bucks and follow James' path, leaving him nowhere to go, and he can reach the height of touching Jordan.

Thinking about it carefully, I was a little excited!

In order to have more topics and opportunities to chat with Arenas after the Rookie Challenge, He Li is preparing to find more opportunities to make some balls for Arenas in the future.

However, unexpectedly, in the next round, Jay Williams singled Arenas and hit Arenas with his heavy shoulder.

This made Arenas very upset, and immediately stretched out his hand to push Jay Williams away, but the referee called him a criminal.

Previously, the Rookie Challenge was basically not so explosive, and everyone basically didn't defend much, so there would be no conflicts, so the referees naturally wouldn't whistle too harshly.

But today Arenas is really pretending to be big, and Jay Williams is a promising player in the league. Arenas directly pushes people, and it is no problem to be whistled for criminals.

But the problem was that Arenas had not been arrogant for a long time, and then he was going to sit on the bench. He Li's brother basketball had just started, and he declared bankruptcy.

He Li wanted to go down to have a chat with Arenas, but for a while, the first-year team persisted, because the defense was not strong, and the two sides fought back and forth at first.

As for the coaches of the two teams, they basically did not call for a timeout, and the players resolved it by themselves.

So He Li, as a second-year starter, has remained on the court.

"You all perform well, don't worry and make bold moves!"

Although He Li had the idea of ​​grabbing the MVP of the Rookie Challenge, after all, he said that he was indisputable and wanted to give everyone the opportunity.

Therefore, in addition to shooting two shots at the beginning, He Li received the pass, and more often passed the ball out to create more comfortable shooting opportunities for other teammates.

Seeing this, the second-year players were quite grateful. Not only did they throw in most of the balls passed by He Li, but they also passed (shuai) back (guo) some balls that they felt uncertain to He Li.

Due to the limited attack time, He Li had no choice but to shoot some more balls.

Just like that, slowly and silently, after the first half, He Li had 12 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds.

The conscience of heaven and earth, He Li said that he didn't want to get a triple-double before, but the current situation seems to be too much for He Li not to get a triple-double.

With the situation at this point, He Li can only let nature take its course.

In the third quarter, He Li spent a lot of energy fighting for the rebounds, and before He Li was off the court, he already had a triple-double.

He Li thought for a while, and the time was almost up. In the end, after three quarters, the score reached 21 points.

Accidentally, He Li has achieved 20+ triple-double achievements.

The score on the court was 82 to 95 again, and the second grade had already achieved a 13-point lead.

In this way, who else can win the Rookie Challenge MVP?

Although some second-year players felt cheated by He Li, they didn't work hard in the fourth quarter.

But among the second-year players, many of them have established a good relationship with He Li.

Everyone is not very willing to do something as embarrassing as losing to a first-year rookie.

In the end, the second grade scored 127 points, beating the first grade who only scored 111 points.

He Li also got his wish and won the Rookie Challenge MVP again.

But next, He Li wanted to acquire honor points, but it was not so smooth.

After the Rookie Challenge, the next event of the All-Star Weekend - the Skills Competition.

This year's skill competition is the first of its kind, and the registration conditions are limited. Only point guards are allowed to participate, and He Li did not participate.

After the skill competition is over, it will be similar to last year's All-Star Game, including the All-Star Three-on-Three Exhibition Game, the Three-Point Long-range Shooting Competition and the final Slam Dunk Contest.

It is said that this year's three-point long-range shooting competition is different from previous years. With the growing influence of sports brands in the NBA, this year's three-point long-range shooting competition players represent different sports brand sponsors to participate in the competition.

As last season's three-pointer champion and a contemporary superstar supported by hooks, He Li will naturally continue to participate in this year's three-point long-range shooting competition.

Moreover, for this competition, He Li also put on the second generation of He Li, which is about to be launched - Deer King.

The name of the sneakers is a bit vulgar, but the appearance and color matching are okay.

The color scheme is dominated by the forest green and beige of the Bucks, and there is a championship trophy logo on the upper.

Deer King can be said to be He Li's first crown commemorative signature shoe. As for why it was not launched until the All-Star Game.

The main reason is that the Bucks won the championship last season, and the Hook management did not expect it, so they were not prepared. After the Bucks won the championship, they took advantage of Dongfeng to directly produce the second generation of He Li.

And by the time the hook responds, the best opportunity has been missed.

In the end, it can only go to the All-Star Game, and then the second generation of He Li will be promoted to the market.

It is said that He Li wears the second generation of He Li, and he feels pretty good.

There are only 6 people in the preliminary round of this three-point long-range shooting contest, namely He Li, Ray Allen, Kidd, Peja, Nash, and Pierce.

Because He Li was the last three-pointer champion, He Li can take the lead in the finals of the three-point long-range shooting competition last year.

But He Li is not so pretentious. After all, He Li no longer needs to be so young and frivolous to win everyone's attention.

He Li honestly waited for the final appearance, but he didn't want Ray Allen and Kidd to shine, scoring 29 and 28 points respectively.

This put tremendous pressure on the next few contestants, and Peja missed because of this. The previous point was all empty. In the end, he only scored 17 points after the vote and was the first to be out.

Nash may also have been affected, and the psychological pressure was not small. He only scored 20 goals, of which he missed 3 flower balls, and only scored 22 points.

When it was Pierce's turn, it relieved some pressure on He Li.

Pierce didn't know if he was here for a cutscene, or if he had a problem with the Eagles' basket. As soon as he came up to 9 consecutive irons, he closed his eyes when he saw O'Neal off the court.

O'Neal: "I avoided the L.A. blacksmiths, but not the Boston Ironclads."

After that, Pierce's touch improved, and he scored 11 goals, but it was slightly better than Jordan's original record of 5 points.

In other words, He Li felt like he had never seen this scene before.

"By the way, Pierce only scored 8 points last year." He Li suddenly recalled that last year Pierce performed equally poorly in the three-point long-range shooting competition.

So here comes the question, even if Pierce's three-point ability has improved, but only a little bit, how did he have the nerve to wear a hooked sponsored jersey and sponsored shoes to participate in the three-point long-range shooting contest?

Pierce in the end is to play happy basketball, or self-indulgence?

He Li is convinced too!

Fortunately, in the preliminaries of this year's three-point long-range shooting competition, the hooks were not wiped out.

As the last three-point leader, He Li made his final appearance and scored 25 points on 21 of 25 shots without too much pressure.

Although it is worse than Ray Allen and Kidd, but fortunately it is better than Peja, Nash, and Pierce.

He Li took advantage of the trend to enter the semi-finals of the three-point long-range shooting contest.

However, after a few minutes, He Li took off the three-pointer crown.

In the rematch of the three-point long-range shooting competition, Kidd did not perform as well as in the preliminary round. Although He Li adjusted his state to a better level, he did not get a full score.

He Li finally made 25 of 23 shots and scored 28 points, which is quite a good result.

But Ray Allen, He Li's former three-point leader, is more stable and better.

Ray Allen made 25 of 25 shots and snatched back the three-point leader he lost last year from He Li.

However, compared to other people who won the three-point champion, He Li still has a higher tolerance for Ray Allen to do this.

After the game, He Li chatted with Ray Allen and congratulated him by the way.

Ray Allen was not surprised, but instead chatted with He Li about his plans for tomorrow's All-Star Game.

"Hey, I can see it, you guys came prepared!" He Li felt that he missed the three-point leader in this wave and missed Jingzhou a bit carelessly.

He Li originally thought that his three-point ability was enough, and with the blessing of shooting hotspots, he would never lose the three-point leader.

But there are no absolutes in everything. Under the intensity of the three-point long-range shooting competition, He Li can't put the ball 100% into the basket.

On the contrary, Ray Allen didn't have a system, but he was able to rely on his personal efforts and ability to defeat He Li with a hundred hits.

After missing the three-pointer with a little regret, He Li defended the dunk king.

Although He Li has gained weight this season, his running and jumping ability has not declined.

The players participating in this season's slam dunk contest are the same as last season. Before there are any bright newcomers, He Li's defending slam dunk contest champion will not be a problem.

After all, He Li still has the dunk moves of LaVine and Gordon in his mind, so he is not short of creativity.

As for physical fitness, it is not lacking.

(End of this chapter)