Basketball starts with breathing

Chapter 281 Anecdote Before the All-Star Game [First Update, Ask for a Monthly Pass]

On February 2003, 2, the NBA All-Star Game was the 10rd All-Star Game.

The game was held at the Philips Arena in Atlanta.

The results of the All-Star vote were released a few days ago. Lu Yu became the All-Star vote king without a doubt, Kobe came second, and Yao Ming squeezed out O'Neal's starting center position.

This made O'Neal very dissatisfied, and it was also the reason why he pushed Kobe to clean up Lu Yu.

It's very simple, in his eyes, the two yellow-skinned people are the same thing.

The eastern backcourt combination is Iverson and McGrady, and Jordan is pitifully ranked third in the eastern backcourt.

In the forward position, Carter's votes are not low. After all, he is supported by a lot of people in Canada, but it is still a lot worse than Lu Yu.

In Lu Yu's previous life, Iverson and McGrady were the top two in the backcourt in the East, and Jordan ranked third in the Eastern All-Star voting, but considering that the top two were both in the backcourt, he also had to be a substitute.

Faced with such a situation, McGrady said in an interview with Oran Multimedia that he was willing to give up his starting point for Jordan, because it was what Jordan deserved.

This time around, McGrady said the same thing in an interview.

After all, the basketball god has his own dignity. He rejected McGrady's kindness. Before McGrady gave way, Iverson called Jordan and asked Jordan if he wanted to give him the starting lineup. The final result was the same. , Jordan also refused.

It's all foreplay to the All-Star Game.

Everyone knows that the old hooligan is going to stop playing after this season, he is sad, he stops playing, and he is ready to retire again. This All-Star Game is his last All-Star Game, and this season is also his retirement season.

Even the All-Star Game MVP trophy is engraved with the word MJ!

McGrady's statement in front of the media that he was willing to give Jordan the starting lineup was also praised by Oran Multimedia, who wrote: "This is the best way to hand over Jordan and his successor."

But McGrady did not become Jordan's successor, and Jordan did not accept it, although Jordan said in an interview: "I understand their good intentions, if it were me, I would also make room for Dr. J, and Dr. J would also give his predecessors. Give up, but I won't accept it, they deserve it, I'm good as a substitute."

It's better to say than to sing!
In Lu Yu's previous life, the evolution of things was like this.

Fans don't accept that their basketball gods are on the bench in the All-Star Game. They see Iverson and McGrady give up their positions, so they think of Carter, who is Jordan's North Carolina junior, and is also considered Jordan's best. Good successor.

But Carter said in an interview: "He won the All-Star Game, and he will start to give back to the fans."

It means that I don't want to be some bullshit successor!
This also changed his direction and refused to give up the starting lineup. In fact, it is reasonable for the fans to want him to give up the starting lineup. Carter has played very few regular season games this year, and the tickets are not as many as Jordan, but Carter made it clear that he would not give up. Starter.

However, what is unexpected is that after the start of the All-Star Game, Carter gave up his starter, and Jordan accepted it.

This is completely inconsistent with the previous practice of the two, what is going on?

It turned out that Carter told Jordan before going on the court that if you didn't start, I wouldn't play, and he didn't change his jersey and gave up the game. Jordan couldn't beat him and finally accepted the starting position.

Carter gave way. I heard that he couldn't bear the criticism from the outside world. There is also news that the coach found him and told him to give up his position. Anyway, Jordan finally accepted the start. After all, this is his stage.

This time there is nothing to do with Carter, after all Carter is also a substitute.

Trouble came to Lu Yu's head.

Who made Lu Yu the starter at the small forward position?

Lu Yu received a call from coach Isaiah Thomas before the full name game. The call was very euphemistic, saying that someone asked him to help persuade Lu Yu to let Lu Yu give up the starting position to Michael Jordan.

Lu Yu asked him directly, "Have you forgotten when Jordan didn't let you join the Dream Team?"

Isaiah Thomas was silent.

This is the eternal pain in Smile Assassin's heart. Although no one said it, everyone knew that he couldn't become a member of the Dream Team because of the old hooligan.

Don't look at him being the head coach of the Pacers now. He also became the head coach of the East Team in the All-Star Game this year. His achievements as a player were also outstanding. If nothing else, it would be no problem to enter the Hall of Fame, but the dream team's Honor, but with him forever missed.

Isaiah Thomas, known as the Smiling Assassin, is one of the greatest players in the NBA. He was the brain of the Pistons' Bad Boys days. He was able to stop Jordan in the East for a few years. For a lifetime.

He was second only to Magic Johnson at the point guard.

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the International Olympic Committee agreed for the first time that NBA players could participate in the Olympic Games. Since the United States had a lesson from the failure of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the league decided to organize a team composed of the best players in the NBA. The team participates.

But in those days, he failed to enter the star-studded Dream Team, which became a pain in his heart forever, but all of this was due to the grievances between him and Jordan in the past.

Because Jordan's opponents in the finals every year will change a lot.

It's not like the NBA of Lu Yu's previous life. It's almost a battle of cavalry, becoming Thanos Zhan VS Avengers.

In that era of the NBA, Jordan has defeated countless superstars, including Magic, Barkley, Malone and so on.

To say that among these people, the player Jordan hated the most was Isaiah Thomas.

Don't look at Joe's current status is unmatched, but he was bullied in the NBA back then.

This starts with Thomas' isolation goal against Jordan in the 1985 All-Star Game.

1984-1985年这个赛季是乔丹的作为新秀球员的菜鸟赛季，但他在当时已经开始展露出巨星潜质，场均28.2分6.5篮板5.9助攻的表现征服了一大波球迷。

Of course, this performance also earned Jordan the Rookie of the Year Award.

The most important thing is that Jordan's All-Star vote that year was also surprisingly high, only 60000 votes away from Thomas, and this was only Jordan's rookie season, which made Thomas feel threatened.

But what really pissed off Thomas was that rookie Jordan didn't say hello when he met him in the elevator, so he offended the guy.

Before the game, Smile Assassin used his appeal to unite with the Eastern Conference stars to teach Jordan a lesson, that is, not to pass the ball to Jordan. After the whole game, Jordan scored 9 of 2 and scored 7 points.

It was the worst All-Star season of Jordan's career, even worse than his performance in his 40s.

After the game, Jordan learned that Thomas was playing tricks in the dark, and the two became friends.

In the next three seasons, Jordan was eliminated from the playoffs three times by Thomas' Pistons.

The Detroit Pistons where Thomas was in that year was an unsurmountable mountain for Jordan, who was as strong as Jordan and fell under the iron cavalry of this Pistons army known for its iron-blooded defense three times!

In the game, the bad boys led by Thomas and Laimbeer did everything to Jordan.

The Jordan Law of the Pistons also made Jordan suffer a lot. That is not the gentle defensive policy of Lu Yu's basketball in his previous life. According to the concept that the Pistons coach instilled in the team, I will see blood later!

Almost every breakthrough Jordan has to face the possibility of career reimbursement.It's enough to see how much Jordan's headache was with the Pistons Bad Boys.

In order to defeat the Pistons, Jordan did not hesitate to give up his speed to gain weight. In the end, Jordan pressed the Pistons to the floor and rubbed them hard.

But this process also made the grievance between him and Thomas more and more irresolvable.

In fact, the Dream Team at that time was not only Michael Jordan who opposed Thomas' selection, but also the black and white magic Johnson and Larry Bird who also opposed Thomas' selection.

Many people don't know that Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson are good friends, and this incident has also turned the two of them against each other.

In the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the United States chose to organize NBA players to participate in the Olympic basketball game for the first time. At that time, the No.1 Jordan of the NBA League put forward his own requirements for the competition, that is, not to allow Isaiah Thomas to be selected.Jordan said: There is him without me, there is me without him!

Jordan was a crucial figure for the U.S. team that sent NBA professional players to the competition for the first time. The coaching staff of the U.S. team finally forced Thomas to participate in the U.S. team's game due to Jordan's request.

The coach of the Dream Team at the time was Daly, who was also the head coach of the Pistons.

Even Daley couldn't keep his disciple Thomas, which shows Jordan's toughness.

This matter was an insurmountable obstacle in Thomas' heart. When he heard Lu Yu's questioning, he did not speak, and decided not to persuade Lu Yu anymore.

There are also many critics from the outside world, saying that Lu Yu does not respect the god of basketball.

In an interview with the media, Lu Yu said directly: "I have always respected Michael, he is my target, just like we are going to break the 72-win record he led the Bulls this season, I want to surpass him, I believe him I wouldn't be expected to behave humbly, that's not Michael's style."

Clearly touting Jordan, but actually discrediting Jordan's rejection.

I have to say that after two years of training, Lu Yu's words in the face of interviews and questions have become perfect.

Anyway, don't let it go!

In fact, it's not just Lu Yu. Although many players regarded Jordan as their idol before entering the NBA, after they really played against Jordan, few people would respect Jordan.

In Lu Yu's previous life, in this All-Star Game, the MVP trophy should belong to Jordan, after all, even the name was engraved.

But Kobe and Garnett teamed up to destroy Jordan's All-Star curtain call.

After the start of the All-Star Game, everyone wanted to feed Jordan the ball, and Jordan played smoothly. During the regular season, the two sides came and went. The Eastern side is strong in the backcourt, while the Western side is stronger in the interior. The tie went into overtime, and 5 seconds before the end of overtime, Jordan printed Marbury's defensive throw and the iconic fallback jumper to give the team a 2-point lead.

Maybe this is the best curtain call, right?

Not!
Because someone doesn't allow it, he is Kobe!
Kobe Bryant just wanted to give back to Jordan by beating Jordan. He faced O'Neal's three-pointer and fouled O'Neal. He made two of three free throws and entered the second overtime.

Jordan wanted to stomp his feet!
In the second overtime, Garnett stepped up to help the West have the last laugh, and Garnett's 37-point performance won the All-Star MVP, an MVP trophy with Michael Jordan's name engraved on it.

Anyway, no matter what the result is this time, Lu Yu will not give up the starting lineup.

Jordan also had nothing to say, and he had to praise Lu Yu when interviewing the media: "Lu Yu is right, if he gives me the starting lineup, I will feel that he can't lead the Bulls to go further, I hope He broke all my records, but it should be difficult."

The previous sentence was very good, but the last sentence exposed Jordan's careful thinking.

Later, the fans stopped pursuing this matter. After all, the relationship between Lu Yu and Jordan is not very good. Although Lu Yu is in the Bulls, it is Jordan's inheritance, but you must know that Lu Yu rejected Jordan before he entered the NBA. The trial training, and Jordan did not say anything good about Lu Yu.

It's a good thing for the two of them to not have Liangzi, and they still expect Lu Yu to be generous to Jordan?

As soon as this happened, fans immediately looked forward to the All-Star Game, especially Lu Yu's fans. This time Lu Yu will represent the second-year rookie to accept the challenge of the first-year rookie.

Among them is the confrontation between two Chinese players, Yao Ming and Lu Yu.

Don't look at the fact that the two of them are not in the same position. In this All-Star Game, they have a lot of gimmicks. They belong to different camps in the Rookie Challenge and the All-Star Game.

There are still many fans who are concerned about whether Lu Yu will continue to participate in the three-point contest.

You must know that last year's Lu Yu was the three-point king, will this year's Lu Yu continue to take it?

If Lu Yu participates, other players may simply give up.

"I won't participate in the three-point contest, I will participate in another one." Lu Yu answered the reporter's question with a smile.

Another item?
NBA All-Star Skills Challenge?

It's a new program heading into All-Star Weekend this year, and it's designed to showcase the skills of the best point guards in the league.

The content of the game is that four players complete several links such as dribbling, passing and shooting in a field with various obstacles within the specified time, and the one with the least time is the champion.

Last year's American Dream five team, which was made up of NBA players, failed to return from the Indiana World Championship held on home soil.

Having lost to China, Argentina and the former Yugoslavia, they not only humiliated the NBA, but also ended the 58-game winning streak of the American men's basketball team in international competitions, and made the Americans their first time in the World Championships. Missed the quarterfinals.

The NBA, who has been through the pain, realized that the players' advocacy of physical confrontation and personal performance and the neglect of basic skills are the key to the defeat of the Dream Five. So that USA Basketball can regain its lost halo, this year, the NBA added a new game to the All-Star Weekend - the skill contest.

Artest was speechless: "Lu, you are a forward, is it appropriate to run to the point guard game? The key is the rules of this game, do you understand?"

The Skills Challenge just came out, and many people don't even know the rules.

In addition to Lu Yu, the players participating this time are Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Stephen Marbury and Tony Parker.

Lu Yu just smiled. He didn't know if he could win the skill competition in the future, but this was the first year of the skill competition. When others were still studying the rules, he already knew all about it.

　Ask for a monthly ticket~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)