Basketball boy, starting to shine from the slam dunk

"Requesting a timeout."

Coach Budenholzer called a timeout.

After several players came off the court, he made a personnel rotation, replacing Harden and Middleton with Paul and Lillard.

Paul was substituted in to let him organize the offense and let James be responsible for scoring. Seeing that the score was about to be caught up by the opponent, James had to stand up at this time.

Lillard was also sent in to score.

Of course, Harden played very well in the previous few minutes, but Coach Budenholzer still had to take care of his disciple Antetokounmpo.

So Harden was replaced.

Although Lillard's scoring ability may not be comparable to Harden's, he mainly shot three-pointers today. He basically played the role of a three-point shooter and did not take up too much ball possession.

At the same time, the Western team also changed its personnel.

Zhuang Yu, Westbrook, Leonard and Jokic were all replaced by Mitchell, George, Towns and Butler.

Coach Scott knows that Zhuang Yu has no interest in MVP, so he will not favor him like Coach Budenholzer does.

What's more, although Zhuang Yu was not very interested in the MVP today, with his super high hit rate, he had already scored 25 points without taking many shots, plus 7 rebounds and 5 assists. This data is already very impressive.

......

The timeout ends and the game continues.

Seeing that the Western team actually replaced Zhuang Yu, Antetokounmpo felt a little regretful. Although he scored a lot of points just now, he did not have many opportunities to match up with Zhuang Yu.

Moreover, he still failed to block Zhuang Yu, not even once. He really wanted to achieve this, but unfortunately Zhuang Yu was replaced.

Although he couldn't compete with Zhuang Yu, Antetokounmpo was still very aggressive on the offensive end and played very actively.

Antetokounmpo has scored 23 points so far.

He and Zhuang Yu are the only two players who have scored over 20 points so far. Even though Harden scored a lot of points before, he only has 19 points now, not even 20 points.

When the timeout ended, James on the Eastern team began to exert his strength.

First he broke through and dunked, then he hit a three-pointer from the outside, scoring 5 points in a row, helping the Eastern team maintain its lead...

Afterwards, Paul assisted Antetokounmpo with an alley-oop slam dunk, allowing Antetokounmpo to score two more points, bringing his personal score to 25 points, tying Zhuang Yu.

On the Western team's side, the points came mainly from Davis and George.

George hit a three-pointer, and Davis scored two consecutive goals in the low post.

As for the other three, although they all took shots, unfortunately they were unable to score.

For a moment, the gap between the two sides widened again.

This made the fans supporting the Western Conference team a little depressed. The two sides had finally narrowed the gap and were about to catch up, but the gap widened again after a while.

"Coach Scott shouldn't have substituted Zhuang Yu. The Eastern Conference team didn't even substitute Antetokounmpo or James."

"Yes, there was only one ball left. If Zhuang Yu had stayed on the court, he could have tied the score with one more three-pointer. He was the top scorer on the Western team today, and his shooting percentage was amazing. As long as Zhuang Yu was on the court, he could guarantee the Western team's offensive firepower."

"It would be better to keep Westbrook on the court. It is really too risky to replace four people at once."

in the audience.

Some fans were shaking their heads and couldn't help but complain about Coach Scott. They were about to catch up with the team, but this move made the gap widen again.

There are also fans who remain confident in the Western team, saying that it is only the second quarter and the score gap is not too big.

When Zhuang Yu and others returned to the court in the second half, they were able to catch up quickly.

Afterwards, Coach Scott made another substitution, replacing Tatum and Trae Young with Davis and Mitchell.

In this quarter, the Western team was the same as in the first quarter. Every player got playing time. Although the amount was not the same, every player was indeed taken care of.

But the situation is different for the Eastern team.

Antetokounmpo played for more than 9 minutes before being replaced, James played for more than 8 minutes, and Irving played for more than 7 minutes.

Other players, such as Gobert, Simmons, Walker, and Doncic, did not get much playing time, and some did not even play in this quarter.

The first half ended quickly with the score 78:70 and the Eastern team leading by 8 points.

"The Eastern team is still in the lead. It seems that the Eastern team is still stronger."

"Antetokounmpo has already scored 27 points, surpassing Zhuang Yu in personal points and ranking first in the game. If the Eastern team can win the game today, he will definitely win the MVP."

"Not necessarily. This is only the end of the first half, there is still the second half."

"I'm saying this because it's only the end of the first half. Antetokounmpo scored 27 points in the first half. It's no problem for him to score 30+ today, maybe even 40+. With his current form, I think there's hope. Don't you think scoring 40+ won't win the MVP?"

"That's true..."

During the half-time break, fans in the stands were discussing the first half of the game.

Antetokounmpo's performance in the first half became the focus of discussion. He scored 27 points in the first half. It is almost certain that he will score 30+ today, and there is a high possibility that he will hit 40+. In the history of the NBA All-Star Game, a player who scores 40+ points has basically secured the MVP.

Of course, the prerequisite is that his team can win.

If the Eastern Conference team fails to win in the end, it will be useless even if Antetokounmpo scores 40+ or ​​even a 40+ double-double.

At the same time, Zhuang Yu was also the focus of people's discussion.

"What about Zhuang Yu? He also scored 25 points in the first half. It will be no problem for him to score 30+ today."

"Brother, I think what we should worry about is not Zhuang Yu's scoring ability. He has proved it in the first half. Although his score is not the highest in the game, his hit rate is undoubtedly the first in the game. His scoring efficiency is too high. I even think that if he wants, even getting 50 points today is not a problem. The question is whether he wants to?"

"Well, you have a point. It seems that Zhuang Yu is not very interested in the MVP today. The reason why he scored 25 points in the first half was entirely because of Harden's provocation."

Fans naturally expected Zhuang Yu to continue his scoring form in the first half in the second half, but they couldn't help but worry that Zhuang Yu would not want to score in the second half.

This is not impossible.

As long as Harden doesn't continue to provoke Zhuang Yu, and as long as no one on the Eastern team provokes Zhuang Yu, Zhuang Yu will most likely not take a single shot in 1 minutes, just like in the first quarter.

"I don't think Harden will give up so easily."

"Who said he lost? I'll be the first to disagree. He must continue to provoke Zhuang Yu. I still want to see Zhuang Yu score like crazy..."

In order to prevent Zhuang Yu from stopping in the second half, fans even began to pray that Harden would not give up so easily and would preferably continue to provoke Zhuang Yu in the second half.

Of course, don't expect Harden to take the initiative to challenge Zhuang Yu in the second half. Harden had already given up this "brainless" behavior in the second quarter.

......

The second half began amid the fans' anticipation.

Entering the third quarter, the Western team sent out Zhuang Yu, Westbrook, Leonard, George and Davis.

The Eastern team fielded Paul, Harden, Middleton, James and Antetokounmpo.

Both teams used a lineup of one big and four small players, with one inside player and four outside players, but no real center.

So when entering the third quarter, both sides directly launched an offensive against each other, and the pace of the game suddenly became much faster.

on the field.

The Eastern team attacked, Paul dribbled the ball to the frontcourt, and then passed the ball to James.

As soon as James got the ball, he broke through, attracted the defense and threw the ball into the basket, assisting Antetokounmpo with an alley-oop slam dunk.

Turning around, Westbrook of the Western Conference team quickly came to the front court with the ball, and Zhuang Yu ran back and stretched out his hand to ask Westbrook for the ball. When Westbrook passed the ball to him, Zhuang Yu immediately raised the ball and pretended to shoot a three-pointer.

Harden rushed forward.

But Zhuang Yu did not shoot a three-pointer. It was just a fake move. He then broke through and passed the ball to Leonard with one hand.

Leonard took a three-pointer as soon as he received the ball and made it accurately.

In the next round, the Eastern team missed the shot. Davis grabbed the rebound and immediately passed it to Zhuang Yu. Zhuang Yu rushed to the frontcourt and made a one-handed dunk.

Zhuang Yu had already scored 25 points in the first half. He did not want to continue scoring like crazy in the second half, but he did not want to lose the game.

So he will not be soft-hearted when it comes to scoring.

In fact, Coach Scott sent out such a lineup in order to chase points. Westbrook has the speed to break through, Zhuang Yu, Leonard and George can shoot three-pointers, Davis has low-post offense and can grab rebounds, and several of them are very fast, which can speed up the offense and defense rhythm and catch up with the score or even surpass the score with the three-point advantage.

However, the Western team was scoring, and the Eastern team was also scoring, especially Antetokounmpo, James, and Harden.

After entering the second half, Harden did not show any initiative to provoke Zhuang Yu, but he was still secretly competing with Zhuang Yu in his heart.

He played at his best on the defensive end and fully utilized his one-on-one ability on the offensive end. As long as he was not facing Zhuang Yu, he would decisively play one-on-one.

As for James and Antetokounmpo, there is no need to say more.

In the second quarter, the two propped up the Eastern team's offense and helped the Eastern team gain the upper hand.

Antetokounmpo wanted to win the MVP, so even though he had already scored 27 points in the first half, his desire to score remained unabated in the second half.

As for James, his thoughts were similar to Zhuang Yu's. He was not interested in the MVP and did not want to score many points, but he also did not want to lose the game.

So when he needs to step up and score, he will still step up...