"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the New Orleans All-Star Game. Tonight is the last night of All-Star Night..."
The New Orleans Arena is crowded with stars, not only the stars on the court, but also countless local American film and television stars and popular singers off the court.
The arena was quite lively, with the cheerleaders dancing constantly on the court and the mascots making pranks and interactions off the court. The atmosphere was very pleasant.
The stars from the East and West stood on their respective team benches.
On the Eastern side, the voted starting lineup is LeBron James, Zhao Feiyang, Kyrie Irving, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, while on the Western side, Kevin Durant, Breguet Griffin, Stephen Curry, Kevin Love and James Harden.
Originally, Kobe Bryant was also selected for the squad, but unfortunately he still has not recovered from his injury, so he did not attend the event.
Before the game officially started, the player list was also introduced on site.
In addition to the starting players, the players on the substitute list are also introduced one by one. The most interesting thing is that the results of the All-Star voting were also introduced on the spot. The person who was ultimately elected the winner was Zhao Feiyang.
He successfully set a new vote record with 3,002,369 votes, surpassing second-placed LeBron James' 2,390,019 votes.
The moment the host introduced the result, the Chinese fans on the sidelines were overjoyed and applauded one after another.
However, more than half of the local American fans looked at him coldly. They did not boo, but they did not applaud either.
Zhao Feiyang was not surprised by this.
After all, this is an American league, and it is their game. It is not a good thing for them that a Chinese comes in and sets such a record.
The game is about to begin.
Players from both sides appear immediately.
The head coaches of their respective teams also simply arranged tactics.
The All-Star coach on the Eastern side is Frank Vogel, the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, and the head coach on the Western side is Scott Brooks, the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After a whistle, both sides stood on the court.
Snapped.
The referee threw the ball high, and Bregg Griffin from the Western Conference took the lead to slap the ball away. The basketball fell into the hands of Stephen Curry, who carried the ball across half court.
Stephen Curry advanced to the half court, and the person who came up to defend him was Kyrie Irving.
One of the two is a rookie in 2009, and the other is a rookie in 2011. Kyrie Irving has a desire to challenge Stephen Curry, so as soon as he gets close to him, he immediately reaches out to interfere.
Stephen Curry was not in a hurry. He did not intend to hit the ball as soon as he came up, so he gave the ball to James Harden on the side.
James Harden got the basketball and saw that the person coming to defend him was Zhao Feiyang. James Harden suddenly became interested and dribbled towards Zhao Feiyang in an attempt to tease him.
He kept shaking the ball while dribbling, but Zhao Feiyang stabilized his body's center of gravity and did not move randomly. Seeing that James Harden was about to take action, Zhao Feiyang subconsciously took a step forward to defend. At this moment, James Harden changed direction and rushed to the basket.
It was too late for Zhao Feiyang to return to defense.
Uh-huh.
James Harden rushed to the basket and shot directly.
The basketball fell steadily into the basket.
There were cheers and applause from the sidelines.
James Harden, who was passing by Zhao Feiyang, also greeted him at this time, "Hey, man, this is my meeting gift for you!"
"Being the top vote-getter is not an easy thing. You have to conquer everyone...LeBron can do it, but I don't think you can..."
James Harden said with a smile.
Zhao Feiyang knew that the other party had no ill intentions, but this kind of "provocation" in terms of strength really gave him a resistance mentality.
It is true that he is a newcomer, but it does not mean that he is a soft persimmon who can be picked up and pinched by anyone who is not convinced.
Victory or defeat on the court always depends on strength.
It was the Eastern All-Stars' turn to fight back.
Kyrie Irving held the ball past halftime, and Zhao Feiyang wanted the ball and hit James Harden in a single to counterattack. However, Kyrie Irving was too attached to the ball. Before Zhao Feiyang finished serving the ball, Kyrie Irving had already accelerated to the half court.
At this time, the players on both sides were not yet firm, and Kyrie Irving took advantage of the situation to get past Stephen Curry and get into the basket. His shaking was very powerful, and he turned around and passed Stephen Curry. After entering the basket, he faced Bregg Griffin who came up to defend and dodged another lever.
Snapped.
The basketball was thrown onto the backboard and hit the basket steadily.
The wonderful passing action attracted exclamations from the scene.
The game goes on.
A stadium where stars gather together is not like the team's usual games. Although Zhao Feiyang is apparently the All-Star vote-winner, his status does not match the vote-winner, which has caused him a lot of troubles.
The other teammates didn't care about him. They all worked on their own, taking advantage of this opportunity to use their own skills to score in front of the fans, in order to gain a wave of popularity and support.
The game lasted until 3 minutes and 41 seconds before Zhao Feiyang finally had a chance to catch the basketball.
This time Kyrie Irving was double-teamed and he stepped up to take over and win the ball. When he was about to break through to the basket, he found that it was Kevin Durant who came up to defend.
Kevin Durant is famous for being a "long-handed monster". His defense is tighter than ordinary people's defense. If you don't pay attention, you are likely to be blocked.
Seeing the emptiness inside, Zhao Feiyang changed direction and dribbled the ball from the left toward the basket. When he was approaching the penalty area, he suddenly stopped and shot a jumper.
Snapped.
His shooting point was actually not low, but unfortunately he was still hit by Kevin Durant's big hand.
This block caused an exclamation from the sidelines.
The basketball that Kevin Durant slapped did not fall out, but bounced back into Zhao Feiyang's hands. Zhao Feiyang was not to be outdone. He was not discouraged at all after being blocked and dribbled straight towards the three-point line in the bottom corner. Kevin Durant refused to give up and also rushed forward.
The two reached the bottom corner one after another. Zhao Feiyang still did not hesitate and threw a three-pointer towards Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant jumped up high and pounced towards Zhao Feiyang as before.
This time, he was never able to restrict Zhao Feiyang from the three-point line. The three-point ball thrown by Zhao Feiyang also fell steadily into the basket.
Uh-huh.
The ball went in.
The pleasure brought by "revenge" finally made Zhao Feiyang raise his head.
The Chinese fans who had been frustrated before on the sidelines also applauded because of this goal.
The Chinese fans on the other side of the ocean were even more surprised.
"Not talking about skills, the mentality is really good! Being able to shoot twice in a row in front of Durant is already better than most players..."
"That's right, Durant's shot blocking is already great. Even if James goes there, he may not be able to withstand it..."
"I don't know about other places, but I believe that not many people can easily suppress Zhao Feiyang within the three-point line..."
