Los Angeles.
Staples Center Arena.
This is the venue for this year's All-Star Game.
On the first night of the All-Star Weekend, fans poured into the venue to watch the Rookie Challenge. What is different from the past is that the current Rookie Challenge is no longer a first-year player versus a second-year player, but a showdown between the American team and the world team.
Since FIBA revised its rules in the early 1990s to allow professional basketball players to participate, the dream team representing American basketball has achieved a very brilliant record. It can be said that it temporarily dominated the world of basketball with few opponents.
However, with the various changes in FIBA and the improvement of basketball standards in other countries in recent years, American basketball is no longer the dominant player it was before. Especially after entering the 21st century, American basketball has shown a downward trend.
Under this circumstance, the NBA, as the top league in the United States, naturally also noticed these problems. Therefore, they who know business operations very well will certainly not let go of such a gimmick.
It is undoubtedly quite topical to pit the young generation of the United States against the young generation of other countries.
In fact, just as the officials expected, there were many fans attending the game this time, including some Hollywood celebrities and top American pop singers.
Zhao Feiyang specially sat in the VIP seats to watch the game this time. His purpose of coming to the rookie game was simple, that is, to help Adrian Ennis cheer up.
As a sophomore, he performed well this season, so he was specially invited by the officials to play in the Rookie Challenge. Adrian naturally did not refuse this opportunity to become famous.
The live competition was quite fierce, and the rookies of the American team wanted to prove themselves. From the beginning, they were constantly playing in singles to seek breakthroughs in personal data. Compared to them, the young people on the World Team are relatively united. Although there are also players who like to play singles, on the whole everyone is choosing to cooperate with each other.
Comparing the two tactics, the World Team quickly gained the lead through their cooperation. After opening up a 6-point gap in the first quarter, the World Team continued to widen the score gap in the second quarter.
The American team does not lack good players, but the competition for the ball within the team is too fierce. It is not easy to produce stable output in this atmosphere.
It was under such circumstances that the two sides entered the second half.
At 3 minutes and 50 seconds of the third quarter, Adrian, who was not taken seriously, finally got a chance to play. At this time, the score between the two sides was 67 to 77, and the American team was 10 points behind the world team.
call out.
The referee's whistle sounded and Adrian came on to replace his teammate in position three.
The American team serves.
Jaylen Brown held the ball across half court and went to the top of the arc to look for offensive opportunities. After organizing attacks one after another, it was found that only Adrian was running, and Brown decisively chose to transfer the ball to Adrian.
Adrian got the ball and played singles on the wing. He held the ball with his back to Ben Simmons, who was coming up to mark him.
The two met each other, and Adrian suddenly turned around and rushed into the basket. Simmons subconsciously chased after him to cover up the defense. He jumped high and planned to slap Adrian's shot away. Unexpectedly, Adrian only feinted a shot. After getting rid of Simmons' interference, he took a jump ball.
Uh-huh.
A two-point shot landed firmly in the basket.
Adrian's steps shook Simmons for a moment.
There was constant applause outside the court, and Zhao Feiyang even stood up excitedly and shouted for Adrian.
It was Team World's turn to fight back.
Jamal Murray held the ball quickly and entered the penalty area under the cover of his teammates after halftime. Seeing that he had shaken off the defender behind him, but just as he was about to take action, Adrian swooped up and slapped his layup directly onto the backboard.
Snapped.
The whole place was in an uproar.
Many players watching the game were shocked!
The fans outside the stadium were even more surprised.
"Oh! This guy's reaction is too fast!"
"I have watched the Timberwolves' game. I originally thought this guy was just skilled, but now it seems that he has certain physical advantages over these newcomers..."
"Adrian is the main player of our Timberwolves team! This is also thanks to the help Zhao brought to him... If Zhao hadn't been unwilling to give up on him, I'm afraid Adrian wouldn't have been able to stand like this today. on the stage......."
On the field.
After the block was blocked, the ball was quickly taken away by the American team.
Guard Donovan Mitchell was holding the ball on a fast break and was double-teamed by the opponent as he crossed the half court. In the chaos, he passed the ball to Jayson Tatum who was following up behind him. Unfortunately, Tatum failed to score when he rushed to the basket, and the basketball fell out. After getting the rebound, he did not try to advance, but transferred the ball.
By chance, the basketball came into Adrian's hands, and Adrian continued to respond with his singles. He first held the ball on the left side to attract the opponent, pretended to raise the basketball and tricked the opponent into jumping, but in fact, he suddenly rushed out with the ball the next second.
When the players in the penalty area came up to defend again, Adrian stood under the basket and decisively turned around and pulled away. The opponent mistakenly thought that he was going to lift the basketball, but the next second, Adrian turned back to avoid the opponent and took a step forward to throw the ball.
Snapped.
The basketball board falls into the basket.
There was a round of applause.
Adrian's superb footwork once again made the fans scream for excellence.
After scoring a goal, he also waved to Zhao Feiyang while running back.
"Zhao!"
Adrian shouted excitedly.
Zhao Feiyang also stood up and waved to him.
From this moment on, Adrian's performance on the court got better and better. After scoring consecutively, he began to get a lot of ball rights, especially after the head coach temporarily replaced those players who liked singles, Adrian gradually began to lead others on the court.
Although he cannot organize the team's offense like a defender, he can use his abilities to continuously help the team narrow the point difference.
Thanks to his efforts, the American team finally tied with the World team at the end of the third quarter.
Soon it’s the last section.
Adrian is still on the court. In the previous third quarter, he scored 18 points alone and became the best player on the court during this quarter.
Adrian continued to play well at the beginning of this quarter, opening the game with a three-pointer from the start. As a striker, he rarely shoots three-pointers, but he didn't expect to start with a three-pointer this time.
After scoring, Adrian continued to score at the basket with his superb footwork.
In excellent condition, he played his strongest performance of the season in the remaining time.
Beep.
When the live timer sounded, the American team defeated the world team 140 to 136.
Adrian scored a total of 36 points in this game, becoming the player with the most points in the game, and won the MVP of the Rookie Challenge in one fell swoop.
When the league president Adam Silver handed the rookie trophy to him, Adrian did not raise it in a hurry, but took the microphone and spoke in front of countless fans, "This honor is not mine alone. .....I am able to get to where I am today, and I must be grateful to my best friend, who is Zhao..."
"If he hadn't encouraged me and helped me, I wouldn't be where I am today..."
