The way of the center

Chapter 135 Entertainment First
"Hey guys, how are you getting ready?" Just as An Jie was still bowing his head in the locker room, a familiar voice came into his ears.

"Oh, D-Wade!" Before An Jie looked up, he heard the shouts of his teammates.That's right, the person who came into the locker room was Dwyane Wade.But at the moment, Wade is not wearing a jersey, a black suit and big black-rimmed glasses. Wade's image is eye-catching.

"You can't be" Wade's teammate in the Heat, the former "National First Talent" Michael Beasley seems to have guessed Wade's intention to come to the locker room of the first-year team.

"Don't doubt Michael, I am your assistant coach!" Wade laughed and opened his arms to the players in the entire locker room.

In order to increase the gimmick of the Rookie Challenge, it is already a common tactic in the NBA to use popular stars as assistant coaches for two rookie star teams.When the game starts, the two assistant coaches will immediately "return to normal", and their every move as coaches on the sidelines will be faithfully captured by the camera.

"Oh my god, you guys are so incredible." Wade shook his head. Although it was only a team composed of first-year players, the lineup was still dazzling enough.Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, these small guards who played against Wade impressed him deeply.

However, apart from these four guards, the person Wade is most familiar with is undoubtedly that Anjie with a very special skin color and height.

He has dealt with this Chinese kid since the trial training during the offseason last season. It can be said that Wade is the first NBA player to see Anjie's strength.Even now, Wade often hears Pat Riley mentioning Angie's name.

"Ann! Don't worry! I'm good at using centers!" Wade also took the initiative to high-five An Jie. The reason why he said this was actually to make fun of An Jie with the previous Carlesimo incident, and to relieve An Jie by the way. Jay's nervousness.

In fact, Wade was a little worried. If Anjie was alone in the locker room with this group of first-year geniuses, he would indeed be very nervous.But fortunately, Westbrook has always been inseparable from An Jie, which makes An Jie feel very comfortable.

Wade drew a few random strokes on the tactical whiteboard in a decent manner. In fact, what he said were some very basic and simple tactics. After all, this is just a game where entertainment is paramount. The players can perform whatever they want. There is no need to consider whether the tactics are reasonable or not.

When Wade led the first-year team to play, Anjie was surprised when he saw the assistant coach of the second-year team.

"Hey, Coach Wade! I'm looking forward to the match with you!" The assistant coach of the second-year team came up to shake Wade's hand. With this burly figure and humorous tone, who else could it be except Dwight Howard?

"Is Howard a coach?" An Jie had to admit that the All-Star Game is really about entertainment.Even Dwight Howard, who can only play with his body, can coach the team.

Gray suit, red patterned tie.When Howard is dressed like this, he really looks like a coach.

"Brother, you have a good reserve of inside players. If my people can't open up the situation later, don't force me to play in person." Howard tilted his head and looked at the lineup of the first-year team. Mark Gasol, Brook Lopez, Angie, the three most highly rated rookie centers are all concentrated together.If it weren't for Oden's injury, the first-year team's center lineup would be even brighter.

"Be careful Dwight, my outside firepower is not weak either!" After shaking hands, the two smiled and sat back on their respective benches. Now that the fans have not entered the field, the rookies of the two teams naturally got a long shot warm-up time.

In addition to the warm-up, the rookies selected for the All-Star Game took a group photo with each other, which is also an essential part. Anjie has long been regarded by Brook Lopez as his rival in his career.But at the same time, Lopez respected An Jie, and he admitted that this Chinese kid was really capable, so Lopez also invited An Jie to take a group photo.

The players were talking and laughing as they warmed up before the game. Durant and Michael Beasley even tried spot-up shooting.And the vacancies in the auditorium have become less and less over time.

"Come on, Ann!" Suddenly there was a scream from the empty stadium, An Jie waved his hand in the direction of the sound, Catherine and the bearded man had already entered and sat down.

"Oh, look who's here." Kenny Smith's working environment changed from a studio to a live scene this time, and today his partner also changed accordingly.Charles Barkley did not appear in the commentary lineup, and LeBron James, wearing brown sunglasses, took over Barkley's task and served as the guest commentator for the Rookie Challenge.Although the little emperor is "well-versed" on the basketball court, James is really a "rookie" in terms of commentary.

"Don't worry, Tina, your voice will definitely move everyone." At this time, the entire Meixi Arena was already filled with fans.Even if it was just a rookie challenge for the All-Star Weekend "appetizer", it still attracted many enthusiastic fans to participate.

A long-haired man in a white suit is cheering for his new idol.

"Well, I will control myself, don't worry, Mr. Abrahim." A young and beautiful young girl nodded and replied.

"Next, let's welcome Tiffany Giardina!" shouted the stadium announcer as the young girl clenched her fists and stepped onto the field.

At this time, the players of the two teams had already stood in two rows, and Giardina, who was 1 meters tall, looked very petite when passing by the players.

Under the standing tribute of everyone in the audience, Giardina showed the world his delicate and soft singing voice with only one American national anthem.The All-Star Game is not the only player that can benefit from it. As a 16-year-old rookie singer, Giardina is also known by more people today.

"It's really tall." Giardina looked up at An Jie, the highest point in the audience, when he left the court. An Jie suddenly turned his head and looked at the young girl, but Giardina found himself Actually a little blush.

"Okay, I think this group of guys can't wait to have a big fight. Come on, let's see if the second-year team can beat the first-year team with the champion Rose!" As LeBron James said After I finished my first commentary, the game has already started.

The second-year team only has Al Horford as a center, so the first-year team's height advantage is very obvious.

As soon as Durant came out, he made a breakthrough and dunked in front of Anjie. Anjie just jumped symbolically. If it wasn't because he and Durant were opponents now, he really wanted to applaud Durant's dunk.

However, to Anjie's expectation, his teammates OJ Mayo and Eric Gordon played surprisingly seriously.Under the slack defense of the second-year team, the two of them hit consecutive three-pointers and led the team to a 9-2 spurt as soon as they came out.

Seeing the guys in the first grade being so arrogant, Durant must be the first to refuse.He also responded from outside the three-point line, and his fiery touch surprised even An Jie.

Then Al Horford finally got a one-on-one chance with Anjie under the basket, and the cheers of the fans continued to increase.In addition to the performances of the defenders, the duel between the talented centers in this game is also exciting.

Under Anjie's half-successful defense, Horford easily turned around and scored with a hook.After scoring the goal, Horford naturally knew that An Jie had given him enough face, so he smiled and patted An Jie's butt in a friendly manner.

An Jie gave Horford face, and Horford would naturally not embarrass An Jie.With 14 minutes left in the first half, the outside players finally got tired of shooting, so Anjie also received a pass from his teammates for the first time.

After leaning lightly a few times, Horford tactfully handed over the restricted area.An Jie was not polite, he turned around and dunked the ball in one go.

"You are awesome, Anjie!" Catherine was bouncing around in the auditorium. The reporters thought Catherine was a shy girl at first, but at this moment Catherine revealed her true colors.

The first half ended in this basically undefended state, and the exaggerated off-court actions of Wade and Howard undoubtedly added a lot of color to the game.

75 to 61, with Jeff Green's final ultra-long-range three-pointer at the buzzer, the second-year team narrowed the point difference to 14 points.

Although the halftime game was over, Giardina in the audience still held her chest. The exciting game made her heart beat wildly.Basketball, before being invited by the NBA to sing, she knew nothing about this sport.But now, basketball seems to be full of magic, so Giardina is immersed in it, unable to extricate himself.

In the second half, the rookies obviously began to compete.Although the intensity of the game and the regular season are still completely two concepts, at least the defense in the second half is well done.

"Kevin Durant's breakthrough! He's in a brave state today. If he can continue, he will be the MVP of this year's rookie game!" Kenny Smith shouted excitedly.

Durant rushed up to speed, jumped on one foot, held the ball with both hands, and was about to dunk.

"Crack!" Just when Durant thought he was about to score another two points, Anjie suddenly appeared and sent Durant's dunk block out of the three-point line.

"Oh! Terrible defensive height! Do you know that when I played against the Thunder, the most fearful thing was Anjie's blocking!" LeBron James also confided.

"You boy." Durant smiled and pointed at An Jie, who innocently spread his hands, as if the ball just flew out by himself.

After catching Anjie's block, Westbrook seized the opportunity and completed a iconic Tomahawk dunk in the All-Star Game, bringing the audience to another climax.

The first-year team had the advantage in the first half, but in the second half Durant's abnormal touch gradually opened up the score.

"39 points! Durant broke the rookie challenge record created by Stoudemire!" With another three-pointer into the net, the second-year team finally overtook the score.Seeing this, Coach Howard almost jumped to the commentary stand with joy.

"15 points! This is the highest score ever scored by a Chinese player during the NBA All-Star Weekend!" Of course, in China, Anjie also has his own record to break.

The subsequent games were not as exciting as the previous ones. Because of Durant's strong performance on the outside, the point difference was widened. When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, the score was finally pulled to double digits.

122 to 112, the second-year team came from behind under the leadership of Durant, and successfully extended the second-year winning streak to seven games.

After the game, the Thunder's three young masters hugged each other. For some reason, the three of them just wanted to share the joy with each other as soon as possible.

After that, it was natural to come to the moment of awarding the MVP of the Rookie Tournament.This year's award can be said to be without suspense. If Durant, who broke the scoring record and led the team to victory, can't get this award, who would be more qualified?

Sure enough, Wade picked up the microphone and officially announced that Kevin Durant had won the rookie game MVP award.Durant happily held up the trophy, broke the single-game scoring record in the Rookie Challenge with 46 points, and finally won an award. Durant can be said to be the biggest winner today.

However, Anjie's 17 points and 8 rebounds are still enough to make domestic fans happy for a while.

The crazy game is over, but the entire All-Star Weekend has just begun.

(End of this chapter)