Zhiba NBA

Chapter 208 (two hundred and seven) Harvest All-Star
The next two opponents of the Houstonians are the rebuilding Jazz and the weak Knicks. The two failed to cause too much trouble to the defending champion, and the Rockets easily passed.

On February 2, the Rockets went to Staples to play against the Clippers.The Lakers are too eye-catching this season, covering up the edge of the Clippers in the same city.In fact, they have also played a good record of 14-29, and their winning rate is far higher than that of the previous years. They are second only to the Huohu Duo and Niu Mayang in the West, but they are still ranked No. 20 after the first place in the Northwest District.

Unfortunately, due to the absence of Maggette and Radmanovich, the Clippers have a big gap between the bench and the Rockets. After the first quarter was inextricably beaten, the absolute gap between the second team in the second quarter determined the outcome of the game.The Clippers lost by 12 points in the second quarter and another 10 points in the third quarter, and they were defeated.Reid made 5 of 4 three-pointers and scored 21 points efficiently, while the Clippers only made 3 three-pointers.

The last battle before the All-Star Game turned into a battle between two star guards.Nash and Billups came and went, scoring points and assists and fighting non-stop.

Although the Suns players can't handle Yao Ming's strong inside shots, both Boris Diaw and Kurt Thomas are very good at jump shots inside. Both of them made more than 4% of their long-range shots. In particular, nearly half of Thomas' shots came from long-range shots.Yao Ming was very uncomfortable with this style of play, and was beaten terribly.The exhaustion on the defensive end also affected his offensive touch, and he began to miss consecutive shots.

Billups, another core player, continued to show off his power. He continued to assist the Rockets' outside shooters and scored 19 points and 14 assists.But Yao Ming made a crucial mistake at the last moment and ruined the Rockets' hope of a comeback.Thomas made a steal, and Nash assisted Raja Bell to hit a three-pointer to widen the point difference to 6 points.In the end, the Rockets lost to their opponents 106:112, and their record dropped to 46 wins and 6 losses.

Losing the ball in the last game before the All-Star Game, the generals of the Rockets were not in a good mood, and the atmosphere in the locker room after the game was a bit dull.But a set of statistics made them happy again.

"The record for winning percentage before the NBA All-Star Game was set by the 1967ers in 76. Their winning percentage was as high as 90.7%, followed by 96% for the Bulls in 89.4, 72% for the Lakers in 89.1, and 97% for the Bulls in 87.5."

(Small knowledge: In the 15-16 season, the Warriors had a winning percentage of 92.3% before the All-Star Game, setting a new record)

The players who were frustrated at first couldn't help but cheer up after hearing Yuan Fei's words.

"Don't forget that we deliberately let the Heat take a game during the rest." Yuan Fei continued: "If we can win one more game, our winning percentage will reach 88.5%, which is enough to surpass the great team of the 97 Bulls and rank fourth in history. So there is no need to cry, the initiative is still in our own hands. If we continue to win in the next season, we still hope to set a record of 4 wins!"

"Yes!"

"Let everyone enjoy the All-Star Weekend. This time it will be held at our home court, so we can spend it easily." Adelman said with a smile.

The Rockets' excellent record has naturally been recognized by the fans. In the All-Star voting, although only Yao Ming entered the starting lineup, other players also received a lot of votes.Especially Billups is a pity, he has a high number of votes, but the performance of competitors Kobe and Nash is really good.Chauncey eventually became the No.3 guard in the Western Conference with a slight disadvantage and failed to enter the starting lineup.And Yao Ming even beat James and Kobe to be elected as the All-Star vote leader. His number of votes was three times that of the second center in the West, Camby, and more than five times that of the third center, Okur.

As the Rockets led the West, Adelman became the coach of the Western All-Star team and had the right to choose seven substitute players for the Western team.Ashuai is a modest gentleman, but he recognizes his players from the bottom of his heart, and he will not deliberately avoid suspicion.He did not hesitate to choose the Rockets players Reid and Billups, and the other five selected players were Marion, Ginobili, Nowitzki, Brand and Gasol.Although A Shuai would like to select Bosh into the All-Star, the competition for the forward position in the West is too fierce.

The starters in the Eastern Conference are O'Neal, James, Carter, Wade and Iverson.Eastern coach Sanders also chose a number of Pistons players to enter the bench: Bodi Loga, Hamilton and Double Wallace, plus Pierce, Joe Johnson and Stujakovic.Among them, Stujakovic just came to the East in the player swap completed by the Kings and Pacers on January 1. The one who swapped with him was the former best defensive player Artest.

In the first three-point contest, Nowitzki won the championship.He also became the tallest three-pointer in NBA history.In contrast to it, in the next slam dunk contest, the "little potato" Nate Robinson, who was only 175cm tall, beat Iguodala to win the slam dunk crown.As the host, Roy also congratulated the old teammate.However, Nate is not the shortest slam dunk king in history. In 1986, the slam dunk king Spud Webb was only 170cm tall.

Finally, when it came to the All-Star Game, the starting lineups of the two sides stood on the court, and the judgment was judged.In addition to Yao Ming standing out from the crowd in the west, Garnett and Duncan are also big men with a height of more than 210cm, while the forwards in the east are James and Carter, which is a big difference in height.Wade and Iverson on the back line are also shorter than the opposing players, and the starting five in the Eastern Conference are collectively shorter.

The two sides started to play lively, the west crushed the inside with a high degree, while the east relied on the superhuman athletic ability of James and Wade to hit gorgeous fast break dunks again and again.In the first quarter, the two sides battled to a 30-level tie.But in the second team, the debut of the Pistons turned the All-Star Game into a hand-to-hand battle, and the game suddenly became much uglier.Since the All-Stars are just entertainment, people usually just want to play well.This time Sanders destroyed the harmonious atmosphere between the two sides, and the West team also became serious, giving the ball to Yao Ming for low singles regardless of aesthetics.Yao Ming has the advantage of the home court, and the players also know the beauty of adults through their worldly skills.It has been verified countless times that Double Wallace is very difficult for Yao Ming, not to mention that it is not easy to foul in the All-Star Game.Yao Ming gained a large number of shots, so it is natural for the gods to block and kill the gods and Buddhas to block and kill the Buddha.

In the end, as James missed a three-pointer, the game ended.The Western team narrowly beat the Eastern team 124 to 122. Yao Ming scored a game-high 22 points on 15 of 33 shots, and was elected as the All-Star MVP without any suspense.

This All-Star tour ended with a bumper harvest for the Rockets, and the players will soon be thrown into the tense regular season again.At this time, Yao Ming was full of longing for the future.

"I already have the All-Star MVP and Finals MVP, can I also get a regular season MVP to achieve the Grand Slam like Tracy?" Yao Ming became more and more confident.

(End of this chapter)