pinnacle of basketball

Chapter 449 Rookie Challenge

sluggish!

This is the unified expression of the three people after watching Thompson's highlights.

"Is he really in the second grade?" Mu Chenfeng couldn't help asking. His performance on the court has a strong dominance. Although the highlights sometimes can't fully reflect a person's personal ability, this highlight of Thompson is a bit different, that is, the video clips are all about Thompson and the league's top stars.

Thompson's background board record is impressive. He has won the league's top stars such as James, Wade, Barrett, Chris, and Muller. Being able to reduce these people to the background board is the greatest affirmation of his strength.

Thompson is known as "James' successor" because his basketball skills and talents are very similar to James.

And his composure in the game and his ability to handle key balls are very good. In last year's All-Star Rookie Challenge, he led the first-year team to a big victory over the second-year. Thompson won the Rookie Challenge MVP with his triple-double performance of 34 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Winning the Rookie Deathmatch MVP consecutively is extremely difficult, because the challenge is only open to first-year and second-year rookies, so a player can only participate in a maximum of two years, and it is two consecutive years. It is very difficult to win the MVP in two years.

At Thompson's level, he could completely refuse the invitation to the Rookie Challenge, but he still accepted it because he wanted to challenge for consecutive rookie MVPs. So far, no rookie has won two MVPs.

"Thompson is really strong!" The three sighed one after another. Thompson played very fiercely, and it was impossible to limit him in the game.

"As the No. [-] pick in the last draft, he vowed to prove to the entire league that he should be the No. [-] pick from the moment he lost the No. [-] pick."

Thompson had been regarded as the No. [-] pick before the draft. However, the Charlotte Hornets, who held the No. [-] pick at the time, didn't know how much water was in their brains, and directly abandoned Thompson. Instead, they chose power forward Alexander from the University of Kentucky. Charlotte's choice paid tribute to Michael Jordan's draft and missed the only star in that draft.

After being selected as the No. 20 pick, Alexander did not perform as well as the No. [-] pick. On the contrary, Thompson, who was selected by the Pelicans, was at the peak when he first entered the league.

A similar experience also appeared in the former Kevin Durant, but Thompson's performance was even more brutal than Durant.

As the first-year rookie camp, the three can match Thompson's strength slightly, and the heavy responsibility of playing against Thompson naturally falls on their shoulders.

"It's not easy to be the MVP of Lianzhuang." Mu Chenfeng has already started thinking about countermeasures against Thompson.

"Wait a minute!" Oscar interrupted, "Leave the task of defending him to me." The former big brother once again took the responsibility of defending the opponent's general on his shoulders, just like what he did at UCLA.

However, it is not the NCAA now, this is a professional arena, and Mu Chenfeng and Felix are no longer the children who need to be protected, they have long been able to play their own roles.

Even Mu Chenfeng's performance in the NBA was even better than Oscar's.

"There is only one Thompson on the opposite side, but we have three people, not enough points." Even Felix joined the battle to defend Thompson. He usually plays the role of organizer in Lakers games. He rarely confronts the opponent's main player on the defensive end, so he is also a little itchy and wants to try to defend Thompson.

The three who had just expressed their emotion over Thompson's highlights were actually scrambling to confront him.

Counting the lineup of the second grade, there are a few players sitting in the team's starting position, but most of them are some blue-collar functional roles. Only Thompson has become the core of the team. As for the champion Lang Alexander, after a tormented season in Charlotte, he was completely hidden by the team.

Compared with Thompson's unlimited shooting rights, the playing time made up of such patchwork is simply pitiful.

The three debated for a long time on who to defend Thompson, and finally reached an agreement. The three defended Thompson respectively. Calculated by the minute, a game lasted 12 minutes, and the three scored equally.

"Big Brother" Oscar became the first to defend Thompson, and he was not completely sure in his heart. Felix was the second to defend, and finally Mu Chenfeng.

Although it is a pity that he cannot defend Thompson in the whole court, he is quite satisfied with the division of the whole time. The second half of each quarter is usually the most intense and tense. Mu Chenfeng is arranged to play against Thompson at this time. It is very likely that he will meet Thompson who is fully fired, which is exactly what Mu Chenfeng needs.

In the last game between the Heat and the Pelicans, Mu Chenfeng was completely defeated by Thompson, although the victory in that game was saved by Wade and Barrett, allowing Thompson to score 34 points.

Another highlight of this year's All-Star rookie game is that two legendary coaches were specially invited to coach these rookies. The second-year rookie was coached by former San Antonio Spurs head coach Popovich, and the first-year head coach was Phil Jackson, who single-handedly created the Bulls and Lakers dynasties.

The coaching of the two legendary coaches made the rookie game even more interesting. The selection of starters by the two old coaches also whetted the appetite of the audience. The first starter arranged by Phil Jackson was Mu Chenfeng, who formed a strong first-year team with Oscar, Felix, Jackson and Enzo Ronnie. Popovich also selected a pretty good team among the averagely talented second-year students. Thompson was the absolute core of this team.

The Rookie Challenge is about to begin. Players from both sides were welcomed by the audience when they entered the field. Since there were no Orlando Magic players among the rookies, the audience cheered and cheered for their favorite players and teams respectively.

Judging from the audience's reaction, the audience's reaction to the first-year rookies was obviously higher than that of the second-year group.

This is the first time for Mu Chenfeng and others to experience the feeling of the NBA All-Star Game in person. Previously, Oscar and others in the NCAA had experienced the All-Star Game in college, but the environment and atmosphere at that time were completely incomparable to what they are now.

(End of this chapter)