On the 9th, the Philadelphia All-Star Weekend reached its climax.
Although the year before last, in Oakland, in the eyes of the world, Vince Carter had completely killed the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
But just like last year, before Desmond Mason won the dunk contest in Washington, many people were still hoping for someone to dunk a stunning dunk in the dunk contest...
As the highlight of the NBA All-Star Weekend since Stern took over the league, as long as the slam dunk contest is held, it is destined to become the most watched single event during the All-Star Weekend.
And the Wachovia Center was there to support Gerald Wallace, who was about to appear in the dunk contest...
On the evening of the 9th, almost as soon as Boss Qiao and Wang Shuo made their appearance, the security staff at the scene immediately entered the highest alert state.
In the VIP box, Stern, who was here tonight with his assistant Mark to watch the individual events of the All-Star Weekend, sighed and said: "Do you think this year's slam dunk contest can be a little more exciting after being restructured according to your suggestion? "
After hearing this, Mark shook his head and said: "In China, there is a saying that 'it depends on man-made things.'"
In fact, after last year's All-Star Game, which was called "the worst in NBA history" by the media, Stern has been working on improving the game format of the All-Star Weekend.
For example, in the Rookie Challenge held last night, Stern followed the suggestion of his assistant Mark and changed the game to a competition format in which rookies from the East and West compete.
Because compared to the traditional confrontation between first-year and second-year students, in Mark's view, the strength gap between rookies at the same level is not only closer, but also compared to the second-year students who have already attracted a certain amount of attention in the league, first-year students Obviously more stage is needed to express oneself.
Although, last night, Arenas and other Wizards rookies proved with their strength that there will always be some discrepancies between reality and imagination.
But Stern did not deny that the just-concluded Rookie Challenge did allow people to more intuitively feel the different progress made by this group of first-year rookies in different environments.
In Stern's eyes, he has always been very willing to listen to suggestions as long as they are changes that are beneficial to the development of the league.
For example, in the future, when people got tired of the "defense-only" NBA, he immediately ordered the cancellation of the "HC" rule.
But no matter how much Stern listens to advice...
Right now, he was facing an extremely difficult problem.
A problem brought about by Vince Carter after he detonated the basketball world in 2000...it was not solved until the advent of Gordon and LaVine in the future, but it was not completely solved.
That is:
How can the Dunk Contest be guaranteed to be exciting?
According to Mark's suggestion, this year's NBA Dunk Contest has changed the rules so that each player has 2 minutes on the court to complete his dunk action.
However, even if this rule can prevent players from bearing as much psychological pressure as before when dunking, it cannot change the fact that "it depends on man-made things" as Mark said.
It’s the same old saying.
Basketball is such a bully.
In the NBA, not every player has Vince Carter's talent.
Of course, you can't guarantee that every slam dunk contest will be as exciting as the one in 2000.
At the Wachovia Center, looking at Wang Shuo, who has always been full of clever ideas, Jordan also asked Wang Shuo a similar question before the start of the individual challenge, "If you were David, how would you change the dunk contest?"
After thinking about it in his mind for a while, Wang Shuo replied: "I will probably promote the slam dunk contest to the private sector and invite private experts to compete on the same stage."
Upon seeing this, Jordan said with a surprised look on his face: "Can anyone really do what NBA players can't do?"
Wang Shuo smiled and said: "Skills have specializations. The comprehensive quality of NBA players cannot be matched by private masters even if they practice for another hundred years, but what if they only practice dunks?
In addition, I will probably set up a non-professional group and invite players who are not good at dunking in the NBA to participate in the dunk contest. "
Jordan was a little confused and said: "How can a player who is not good at dunking perform a dunk?"
Wang Shuo said: "It's just because they are not good at dunking that it's interesting!"
Just think about it, wouldn't a dunk contest in which "Golden State LaVine" Stephen Curry and "Flying 58" Chris Paul compete for the championship be more enjoyable than watching Desmond Mason and his likes? ?
No idea.
Due to the threshold limit of the dunk contest itself, if this event wants to maintain attention for a long time, it is destined to pin its hopes on a few more Carters in the league in the future.
On the court, after Peja from the Kings won this year's three-point crown in Wang Shuo's memory, the dunk contest officially began.
In addition to Richardson and Wallace, the other two contestants in this year's dunk contest are Steve Francis and defending champion Desmond Mason.
As the least popular of the four contestants and the one least favored before the game, Wallace, who wore dreadlocks, was the first to appear.
At the scene, I don't know if it was affected by last year. When Wallace was introduced, neither Smith nor Barkley, nor the commentators from other TV stations, were obviously very interested.
Only Director Zhang Weiping, who came to Philadelphia tonight with Director Sun to broadcast the All-Star Weekend, excitedly introduced to the Chinese audience: "Oh, now it's the turn of the Washington Wizards, coached by my country's famous basketball coach Wang Shuo. Young player Gerald Wallace appears!"
On the court, despite having rehearsed countless times beforehand, Wallace still looked extremely nervous when he appeared on the court holding a basketball and wearing AJs.
Fortunately, before playing, Wang Shuo and Jordan's "gentle and kind" eyes successfully helped Wallace overcome his psychological barriers.
So, after tearing off his training clothes, Wallace decisively revealed what he had already put on and what was hidden under the training clothes...
Superman COS costume!
Yes.
The reason Wallace was nervous wasn't because he wasn't confident in his dunk drills.
just because of......
This is so shameful!
At the scene, the Philadelphia fans who were still booing Wallace suddenly showed the most sincere nature of human beings...
Almost instantly, Wallace, who appeared as Superman, set off the entire arena!
On TNT, Buckley exclaimed: "Oh my god! He actually cosplayed Superman! Oh, this is so fucking cool!"
In the VIP box, Stern, who was still looking sad, also said to Mark with a surprised look on his face: "Is this what you meant by 'it depends on people'?"
After hearing this, despite being excited, Mark, who still maintained his rationality, said: "This is not enough, David."
Stern nodded.
It's really not enough.
But after about 30 seconds.
Stern and Mark hugged each other tightly.
Because Wallace, who started his run-up from half-court, rushed all the way to the three-second zone, took the basketball from Boss Joe, and then turned around in the air and threw the basketball into the hoop in a cool and domineering manner... ..
That night, with the help of Wang Shuo, Gerald Wallace, who invited Aaron Gordon to the god-seeking event, was undoubtedly the Superman that the NBA had been waiting for! (Gordon, who was only 6 years old at this time:?)
"ladies and gentlemen!
Everyone go home!
Everyone go home!
It has ended!
This year's slam dunk contest is over in my opinion! "On TNT TV, after Wallace's amazing dunk, Smith, who felt like he was dreaming back to Oakland in 2000 tonight, explained with excitement.
In the players' dugout, Francis, who was still chatting with his friends, always felt that he had seen this scene before...
O'Neal, who was already unhappy with Wallace's COS Superman, sat on the sidelines and shook his head even more unhappy.
Regardless of his past life or this life, O'Neal always believed that he was Superman, so for this reason, he would often exclude Howard who cosplayed Superman in the slam dunk contest in the future.
On the court, after the dunk landed, Wallace, who high-fived Jordan and Wang Shuo successively, became the focus of the entire arena.
It was during an interview with the live host that Wallace, who was too young at the moment, accidentally leaked the source of his idea for tonight's dunk.
“All my dunks tonight were designed by my head coach.
In fact, I had even better dunks that I didn't use.
Because my head coach told me not to put the best part at the beginning. "
At the Wachovia Center, as Wallace finished his interview, several cameras were pointed at Wang Shuo...
The scene immediately erupted into boos throughout the audience.
But it was different from the previous retaliatory boos.
The boos at this moment were obviously the fans at the scene expressing their dissatisfaction to Wang Shuo that he was teaching bad children.
What does it mean not to put the best part at the beginning?
When we spend money to buy tickets, isn’t it just to see the most exciting things?
well!
Actually, at this moment, Wang Shuo was quite helpless.
Because he wanted to keep a low profile, but he didn't expect that the boy Wallace would be so upright.
You said, wouldn't it be great if you just dunked on the court honestly?
Why do you have to say that I taught you all your dunks?
Am I the kind of person who has to keep my name for doing good things?
At the Philadelphia scene, people began to discuss wildly, what kind of dunk moves did Wang Shuo design for Wallace...
Although he was very reluctant, after this night, his name as Wang Shuo was destined to become famous all over the world again.
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