NABC Chapter 381 is about extorting you in front of the whole world! I miss that...
Chapter 381 is about extorting you in front of the whole world! I miss that...
"See you next year!" Richardson, whose legs were aching from standing, was finally able to change his posture and move the trophy from his left hand to his right hand, instead of standing there motionless for the sake of momentum.
See you next year!
These few words instantly caused a huge uproar at the scene!
They're here!
The greatest dunk contest in history is coming!
The fans immediately erupted in wild cheers and shouts!
The epic battle of 2000 can actually be rematched!
And this time, the lineup will definitely be even stronger!
The fans were chanting Lin Tian and Carter's names wildly, creating a cacophony of noise; they were genuinely happy!
The fans watching on TV were incredibly excited!
What is happiness?
This is the ultimate happiness!
Lin Tian and Carter's fans, in particular, were so excited they were practically jumping for joy!
A real man!
A real man!
It's about fighting face-to-face! It's about accepting the challenge head-on!
Then, almost everyone began to ponder another question.
Lin Tian, Carter, and Richardson are three of the greatest dunkers in history, so who is the fourth?
Who will be the fourth person? Who is qualified to stand here and compete with the other three?
Kobe?
Although he's also a dunk champion, it feels like he's missing something.
McGrady? Francis? Mason? Or some other top dunker?
In short, the anticipation for the next NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest has already been pushed to the absolute top by Lin Tian and others the moment this one ended!
The NBA has garnered tremendous attention and traffic! They are also thrilled to have found these five people to be judges for the Slam Dunk Contest!
The only one in the entire NBA's temporary office area in Philadelphia who wasn't so excited was probably Stern. What could that old man say right now?
Tangled!
He was naturally incredibly excited that the dunk contest was generating so much buzz!
But the problem is, he was blackmailed!
Just now.
Stern's phone screen was still lit up.
There was a message from Lin Tian.
"benefit!"
This simple word made Stern so angry he wanted to grind his teeth!
That damned bastard!
That's why Lin Tian was making those little tricks with his hands under the table just now!
While the whole world was waiting for him to make a statement, Lin Tian quietly took out his phone and sent Stern this message.
Before Stern received the message, he was in a state of utter excitement! He instantly fell in love with Richardson! He was a promising talent! He was worth nurturing!
Then, just as he began to analyze and guess how Lin Tian and the others would respond and what kind of trouble they would cause, he received this text message and almost went straight to the other side!
Cerebral hemorrhage? No!
The blood clots in my brain were about to burst through my scalp and spray all the way to the ceiling!
What kind of stinky fox would send him such a text message during the Slam Dunk Contest, with tens of millions of fans around the world watching the live broadcast?!
Stern's hand was trembling so badly that he almost crushed the phone!
Hmm, he can't crush it.
After all, the old man was using a Nokia 1100!
It sold a total of 250 million units, making it the best-selling mobile phone in history!
This indestructible device can be used for self-defense, injuring enemies, cracking walnuts, and propping up table corners!
Why am I suddenly introducing this phone?
Because the Nokia 1100 comes pre-installed with the Snake game, and Lin Tian had already acquired the rights to the Snake game's studio.
Lin Tian earns a lot of money for every game he sells that has Snake built in!
It's no exaggeration to say that this phone is Lin Tian's number one cash cow!
Therefore, it is necessary to give it special attention!
Okay, back to Stern, with an excited heart and trembling hands, watching Lin Tian actually sit there motionless, waiting for his reply. For the sake of the show, for next year's Slam Dunk Contest, and even for the entire All-Star Weekend, he replied to Lin Tian's message.
"Participating in the dunk contest alone is not enough."
"benefit!"
Lin Tian's reply was still just that simple sentence.
Stern took a deep breath and told himself not to get angry, because anger gives the devil a foothold!
Then he sent another message: "Give me a full meal at next year's All-Star Game, and make the schedule for the new season a little easier for you guys."
No reply
FUXX!
"The simplest schedule!"
Stern had no choice but to send another message.
He knew he only had a few dozen seconds left, and after that, Lin Tian would definitely not agree to any of his requests!
What can you do when your lifeline is in Lin Tian's hands? Who can blame you when he's popular and good at creating drama, he can pull off anything?
Who told the league's number one player to be such a bastard?
Who made such a bastard the most important person in the NBA's globalization and expansion plan?
What can I do? Just bear with it.
"The fewest number of back-to-back games, the most relaxed schedule, giving you 3 games against strong teams and 4 games against weak teams!"
Forced into a corner, Stern had no choice but to reveal his trump card and hope that Lin Tian would agree.
This was absolutely the best treatment he could give Lin Tian within the rules!
It's important to understand that setting the NBA regular season schedule every year is an extremely complex task! It involves considering the rationality of the travel, the rationality of the schedule, and also taking into account the situation of each of the 29 teams. It's incredibly difficult!
Of these, the league can intervene in one aspect: back-to-back games, which are games played on two consecutive days.
Furthermore, aside from the number of back-to-back games that can be arranged, playing two back-to-back games at home is a completely different concept from playing one game away and then flying to another city overnight to play another game away!
Even the strength of back-to-back opponents and the comparison of team strength between the first and second games can be manipulated!
For example, when other teams play back-to-back away games, they beat the Lakers and Mavericks in Los Angeles and Dallas within 24 hours, while you play back-to-back home games against the Warriors and Grizzlies. Although both are back-to-back games, are they the same in terms of difficulty?
In addition, the league plays 82 games each season. Of these 82 games, the confirmed games are 56 games, which are played once at home and once away against the other 28 teams, and 64 games, which are played against the other 4 teams in their own division.
These 64 matches are unmanageable, but they must be played!
But the remaining 18 matches are something that can be manipulated!
According to the rules, these 18 matches will be played against 10 other teams in the same half of the bracket but not in the same division, which means 9 home and 9 away games!
Anyone who has learned addition and subtraction within 20 can see that the remaining matches cannot be evenly distributed!
So, deciding who to play at home, who to play away, who to play four times and who to play three times—that's definitely something that can be manipulated!
To give another example, next season the Pacers will play four games against weak teams like the Raptors and Cavaliers, but only three games against strong teams like the Magic and Nets.
Then the Magic, Nets, Heat and other strong teams will play each other for four more games!
These tiny differences may seem insignificant, but when you consider both the inside and outside factors, the difference in wins and losses can easily amount to 2-3 games!
To put it bluntly, if Stern keeps his promise, the Pacers will start next season with three more wins than any other team!
Of course, this is all on the premise that they don't lose when playing against weak teams like the Raptors, Wizards, or Cavaliers.
This shows that Stern really put in a lot of effort!
If Lin Tian still doesn't agree after all this, then he'll have no choice but to hire an assassin to throw Lin Tian into the Mississippi River.
That's outrageous!
"make a deal!"
Fortunately, this time Stern didn't even wait two seconds before Lin Tian sent an OK.
Needless to say, this guy had been watching the phone the whole time, waiting for him to open up!
This action prompted Stern to swear again.
Dead fox!
Seeing Lin Tian stand up and challenge Richardson to a fight, Stern stopped watching the live broadcast. He knew what would happen next and that the ratings would inevitably skyrocket!
Stern would no longer worry about these inevitable events.
What he needs to worry about now is how to maintain this momentum and how to add fuel to the fire so that people remember this event!
And more importantly...
Lin Tian promised to treat everyone to a full meal at next year's All-Star Game!
I participate in all kinds of projects!
Since he had already agreed, Stern couldn't possibly let Lin Tian happily participate in a main game, dunk, and shoot a three-pointer before leaving.
We have to give him some extra trouble!
This is also why Stern quickly left his office.
He quickly assembled the competition department staff and issued work instructions.
"No matter what you do, no matter what you do, next year's All-Star Game must come up with a completely new individual competition! Give me at least 10 proposals within a month, and then we'll carefully study those 10 proposals to figure out exactly what we should do!"
"Mr. President, what are the specific rules and requirements for this new individual competition?"
"It's fun, people want to watch it, anyone can participate, and most importantly: it's completely different from the old events like dunking and three-pointers!"
"What I mean is: those mid-range shooting contests and layup contests are just for show and make us look bad! If anyone gives me that kind of suggestion, I'll fire them immediately!"
"And what's with all this nonsense about knowledge competitions and rapid-fire Q&A? I don't even want to hear about it! We're a sports league, what do you think this is? Some kind of Ivy League knowledge competition? I can just name this lousy idea 'The Brain,' how about that?"
"Alright! If you understand, get to work and stop getting in the way!"
"clear!"
As the staff quickly dispersed, Stern's eyes narrowed once again.
The little fox is always trying to take advantage of me.
Now, let me show you who really got the better deal!
You won't be getting away with any of next year's projects!
After tonight's dunk contest, the players went out to play as usual, then lazily got up to participate in the final charity event, followed by a complicated, long, and boring interview session in the afternoon.
If there's anything worth mentioning about this whole day, it's that during the roundtable discussion, all the All-Stars from the Eastern Conference expressed unparalleled respect and admiration for Jordan!
They showed Jordan the utmost respect they had ever received, praising him as as great as Jesus who guided them to a new world!
Jordan wisely frowned at the team's collective frenzy of praise and flattery.
He felt things weren't that simple!
These scumbags, they've played against me before in the regular season, and they're acting like they're going to tear my old bones apart!
respect?
Jordan didn't care whether they respected him or not; in fact, he enjoyed the way these bastards disrespected him and challenged his authority!
That's how sports leagues are supposed to be. If I get angry when someone looks down on me today, and I condemn someone who says I'm no good tomorrow, what's the point? Is this some kind of child's play?
You have to hate each other, despise each other, and then on the court, you want to smash each other's brains out—that's what makes it exciting!
That's the real NBA!
Therefore, Jordan expressed considerable vigilance and concern about this sudden change in the team's behavior, which seemed almost like they were possessed.
Throughout the interview, from the subsequent training session to finally entering the locker room to change clothes, Jordan exuded a strong sense of vigilance and caution, as if several burly men might put a sack over his head and transport him to the Atlantic Ocean to sink him.
The consequences of Jordan's actions were extremely tragic.
Just as everyone was about to go on stage, Lin Tian slapped Jordan from behind, trying to tell him it was time to go to the arena. But Jordan, who had been on guard, turned around and punched him!
What will happen if Chong Lintian throws a punch without warning?
The next thing Lin Tian did was instinctively reach out and grab Jordan's fist, then with a quick press and a flick, Jordan was back to Lin Tian, or rather, back to the world.
Lin Tian twisted his hands behind his back and pressed him to the floor.
Of course, it only takes a moment.
The next instant, Lin Tian finally realized what was happening and quickly let go, stepping back with a slightly embarrassed expression: "Michael, why are you joking with me like this? I swear I didn't mean it."
Whether it was intentional or not is not important at all.
Anyway, everyone else in the east clearly saw this scene, and they unconsciously moved a little further away from Lin Tian.
That's terrifying, damn it!
Some even whispered, "Never attack Lin, whether it's a direct confrontation or a sneak attack."
Another person said, "If you absolutely have to fight, go head-on. If you go head-on, he can hold back and not kill you!"
"Ben, Vince, what are you two muttering about? I can hear you."
These two lads are utterly rebellious!
They're actually discussing how to deal with me?
I'm tired of living! Absolutely tired of living! I'll find a chance to get intimate with you all!
After the DJ and various celebrities finished their interludes, the MC finally began to introduce all the players!
As is customary, the order will be substitutes first, then starters.
This time should have belonged to Iverson and Mutombo, after all, this is Philadelphia, and the fans would definitely have given them the biggest and most enthusiastic cheers.
However, since reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last year, the 76ers have had a very bad season. Mutombo and Iverson were injured one after another, and as a result, neither of them made the All-Star starting lineup.
Because their injuries prevented them from fully recovering before the All-Star Game, they naturally failed to make the All-Star Game reserve roster.
In other words, this year's Philadelphia has no absolute protagonist and no host country participating!
Under these circumstances, fans can cheer for the players on the field with the utmost passion and without any burden or scruples!
At this point, the difference in popularity between the players becomes apparent.
First up were Da Zhi and Yao Ming. Not only did they not receive any cheers, but they were also booed by the fans in the stadium.
After all, everyone is saying that these two won unfairly and don't deserve their All-Star starting positions!
Apart from those two, the other players didn't receive any boos. Including Lin Tian and others, the fans cheered enthusiastically!
Among them, Jordan, Lin Tian, Kobe, Carter, McGrady and others received the loudest and longest cheers.
These are some of the most popular and well-liked stars in the league today.
"Relax, it's okay, just treat it as an exhibition match." When the opening ceremony finally ended and both sides began their final warm-up, the first thing Lin Tian did was to find Yao Ming and tell him not to be nervous.
"Now you can think about how you want to play, I'll pass you the ball in a bit!" Lin Tian patted Yao Ming's butt and said.
"I'm going to shoot a three-pointer." Yao Ming grinned sheepishly, scratching his head to indicate that he didn't have many options.
Okay, if you can shoot threes, then you're really letting loose! After all, Yao Ming's playing style is about the same as Duncan's. Neither of them should complain about the other's playing style. These two are simply not suited for the All-Star Game. They should play for a while, score some points, and then go off the court as soon as possible.
Otherwise, it would be torture for both the fans and themselves!
After offering a few more words of advice to Yao Ming, Lin Tian turned around and decided to go to the west to talk to him and tell him to relax. After all, Yao Ming had only defeated the one-kidney warrior Mourning, so it wasn't too much of a problem for him to become a starter.
But Garnett is someone who can be roughly defeated! The pressure on him is immense!
However, just as Lin Tian was about to go over, he found Nash punching in front of Dazhi, telling him to relax. To Dazhi's side was Nowitzki, the shy German, who was rubbing Dazhi's head.
Seeing this, Lin Tian knew: he didn't need to go himself! They probably had their own friends!
So, Lin Tian began to do something even more important.
While the old man Jordan was still doing a long stretch, Lin Tian gathered everyone around the bench.
"Ladies and gentlemen, do you remember what we said that night? This All-Star Game is not our stage, and we are not the main characters."
"Tonight, we fight for Michael! We're going to give him a perfect, brilliant, flawless finale! Let him leave this stage as a victor! Is that alright?"
"No problem! Leave it all to us!"
"But there's still one problem," Lin Tian continued, outlining his plan. "If Michael finds out about this, given his personality, he'll definitely be unhappy, refuse, and might even give up playing to reject this offer."
"So what I mean is, let's not tell him, let's keep it a surprise!"
"No problem!" The young players from the East nodded in agreement. At least outwardly, no one objected to Lin Tian's call for everyone to pass the ball to Jordan and help him win the MVP.
Anyway, most of them didn't really have a chance to get this thing anyway; only a few were capable of getting it.
Lin Tian, who had the best chance, gave up directly. Carter, who was the most popular, was Lin Tian's little brother. The remaining two starters, Yao Ming, were also Lin Tian's little brother. McGrady might have had some thoughts about it, but he has never been the type to fight for something, so he didn't say a word.
As for the others, they all knew they were just supporting characters tonight, so who the main character was didn't matter to them!
Of course, the main reason why everyone agreed so easily is that most of the players selected for the All-Star team this year are young. The only veterans are Mourning and Kidd, who can be considered half a veteran. The rest of them have clear and bright eyes.
Well, Duncan's eyes were filled with boredom and a sleepy look; he had absolutely no interest in this thing.
If Miller, Barkley, Ewing, Payton, and other seasoned veterans were selected for this year's All-Star game, they definitely wouldn't fall for Lin Tian's tricks, and they certainly wouldn't be manipulated by Lin Tian with just a few words. They could see through Lin Tian's thoughts in an instant, and then...
Then they would be even more excited to plot with Lin Tian!
They screwed over Jordan!
That's so damn funny!
He still misses the good old days when the big guys would put their arms around each other's shoulders and discuss how to provoke Jordan.
It's all part of youth!
"You little brat, you're up to no good, aren't you?" Mo Ning walked over with a gloomy face and asked Lin Tian.
Unfortunately, this guy wasn't prepared to ask for an answer at all, and he left before Lin Tian could even share his thoughts.
Boring!
Then Kidd walked over while pulling up his pants, and Lin Tian immediately got excited when he saw him!
If we're talking about who has the dirtiest heart in the East right now, it's Lin Tian and Kidd!
This guy is definitely thinking the same thing as me! Come on, let's plot together!
"That girl last night was really something! Lin, how about we go again tonight?"
Go to hell!
Lin Tian gave Kidd the middle finger, a guy whose brain was full of worms.
He deserved to get beaten up by his wife!
Get out! Get out!
Looking at the others, Lin Tian was truly disappointed that no one wanted to come over and talk to him about this.
For a moment, Lin Tian actually felt a sense of being on top of the world, a feeling of loneliness at the top.
However, despite their disappointment, no one actually tried to undermine Lin Tian.
After quickly reaching an agreement, everyone in the East had already gone to warm up. Lin Tian wasn't even sure if Jordan had seen what was happening, but he didn't care whether Jordan knew or not.
I'm calling on the whole world to feed you balls, what are you going to do about it?
How selfless I am!
Lin Tian sighed, then strolled over to the western half of the field.
"Brother Lin!" This time, he was much more relaxed than before and walked over obediently.
"Play well, don't be nervous. I need to talk to Kobe about something." Lin Tian patted Dazhi on the shoulder, then walked forward and sat down next to Kobe, who was stretching at the baseline.
"What's wrong, Lin?" Kobe didn't stop what he was doing and continued stretching.
"I'm thinking that with Michael's age and mentality, he might not accept your challenge or fight you one-on-one!" Lin Tian said immediately. "He's here to enjoy the weekend, and the match is just something he does casually. I just found out that he means he'll only play for 15 minutes at most before leaving the game."
"No way!" Kobe immediately objected. "Didn't we agree yesterday that we'd have a lot of fun tonight?"
"So, we're brothers, that's why I'm here to help you out!" Lin Tian chuckled, knowing there was a chance, and immediately put his arm around Kobe's shoulder, whispering a string of words in his ear. Kobe kept nodding, indicating how amazing it was!
Jordan, watching the two guys from a distance, scoffed inwardly and said to Mourning beside him, "Alonzo, see over there? I bet Kobe's going to get screwed over by Lin!"
Mourning doesn't even bother with Jordan. You'll know who got screwed over by Lin Tian after the game. Why are you still here watching others make a fool of themselves?
However, with one kidney missing, Mo Ning's adrenaline levels were indeed lower, and his temper wasn't as fiery as before. He just shrugged, indicating that he didn't care, and then turned around and sat on the bench.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will definitely be the player with the least playing time tonight.
After all, his physical condition is still very bad, and the doctor said that his illness could relapse at any time. Therefore, Mourning cherishes the rest of his career immensely!
If we can consume less, then we should consume less.
As time went on, the referee walked onto the field with a relaxed expression, ready to start the game.
The ten starting players from both sides quickly took their places on the field, ready for the game to begin!
"It's started! It's finally started! I think this All-Star Game will be an unparalleled experience for us Chinese!" Su Qun said with a smile, "All three Chinese players have become All-Star starters!"
"This is the first time in NBA history that three foreign players have started simultaneously!"
Sun Zhengping added, "That's right. Our Chinese basketball team is, after all, a world champion and an Olympic gold medalist! So it's only natural that we have this level of skill! Of course, we also know that Da Zhi and Yao Ming have faced a lot of criticism because of their starting positions this time."
"Even many of our own people say these two are unworthy of their positions! But I want to say this: the standard for All-Star starters has never been about the strength or ability of the players! There has always been only one standard for who can become a starter: the number of fans and the popularity!"
"These three of us clearly meet this standard!"
With the two commentators once again expressing their support for Dazhi and Yao Ming, the highly anticipated All-Star game finally officially began!
"Beep beep!"
After the whistle blew, Yao Ming jumped easily and, relying on his huge height advantage, won the first offensive possession for the East team.
Lin Tian, unusually, didn't pass the ball directly to McGrady and Carter who were fast-moving. Instead, he dribbled the ball around in place like a spinning top before slowly advancing.
Upon reaching the frontcourt, Lin Tian passed the ball directly to Jordan, shouting, "Michael, it's been three years since you've been back! Go for it! Fulfill your little fanboy's dream!"
"Bring it on!" When Jordan saw Kobe's gritted teeth and play-off-like attitude, he immediately lowered his center of gravity, faked a crossover step, took a step forward, and then pulled up and threw!
With a crisp "swish!", Jordan scored the first basket of the game!
Then, the West's offense went directly to Kobe, who was the most eager and practically begging for the ball.
Here, here, take it all!
After receiving the ball, Kobe got excited and actually imitated Jordan's move, dribbling with a crossover step and then shooting!
"Whoosh!"
After another crisp sound, Kobe scored 2 points with the same move.
"Look at me, you old dog!" Kobe glared at Jordan with an arrogant look, saying, "I can do everything you can! And I'll be even better! I'll completely replicate your game and show you that this league no longer belongs to you!"
"Retire early and go home to grow pumpkins!"
"It's no use yelling at me here." Jordan's eyelids twitched visibly, but he remained calm and said casually, "If you've got the guts, beat Lin in the Finals and win a championship first."
"You never beat Lin Yao in the playoffs either," Kobe scoffed. "You can't beat him, so you bring up others, even your former underlings. I thought you'd be a bit more manly."
"Let me clarify something," Lin Tian said, dribbling the ball past the two of them. "I've never been Michael's little brother; we're equals."
"Shut up!" Jordan and Kobe once again demonstrated their strong teamwork, simultaneously snapping at Lin Tian.
Lin Tian shrugged, didn't say anything, waved for Yao Ming to come up and set a screen for him, then quickly broke apart and made another behind-the-back pass to Yao Ming beyond the three-point line.
Tonight's goal is definitely to patronize Jordan, but it can't be too obvious, right?
Everyone needs to perform, and then at the right moment, pass the ball to Jordan.
As for when the right time would be, that would depend on Kobe's trash-talking skills. Lin Tian was confident that if Kobe used all the trash talk he had just secretly taught him, he would definitely hit Jordan's weak spot and force Jordan to have a crazy one-on-one battle with him.
Yao Ming received the ball beyond the three-point line, faked a move towards the sky, and his opponent, Wang Zhizhi, cooperated perfectly, jumping up with a smile on his face.
The main selling point is that Yao Ming dares to dribble and Da Zhi dares to jump!
After a feint, Yao Ming took a step to the side, then pulled up for a sudden stop and three-pointer. The basketball slid towards the rim and bounced out with a 'bang'.
That shot was incredibly bad; the trajectory of the ball was completely off.
Even though the ball went astray, the entire Chinese football fanbase was laughing their heads off.
This is what they came to see today!
In the Western Conference's offense, the ball once again came directly into Kobe's hands. Facing Jordan, he suddenly switched to a back-to-the-basket move, followed by a Jordan-signature spin move and step-back jumper, scoring another 2 points!
"How about it, you old dog? Do you see what you could never achieve when you were young, no matter how hard you tried? I'm 10 times better than you were when you were young!" Kobe's trash talk never stopped, he just kept spewing it out.
"Did this bastard take the wrong medicine tonight?" Jordan was still too lazy to talk to Kobe. It would be too difficult to provoke him with just a few trash words, especially since Jordan was watching his watch!
Head coach Rivers promised him that he would play for a maximum of 5 minutes before being substituted, and that Rivers would not send him back onto the court for the rest of the first half.
There are 4 minutes left in the mission.
Jordan really couldn't be bothered to take it to heart.
While Jordan strolled around as if he were just wandering around the court, Lin Tian and McGrady had already completed a spectacular alley-oop.
Then it was Kobe again in the West! After getting the ball, this guy forced his way through, drove into the paint, and then, against Yao Ming who wasn't even thinking about defending him, made a meaningless and unnecessary reverse layup.
"Whoosh!"
Another layup.
"I jump higher than you, and my layup is bigger! I'm not Jordan's successor, I'm Jordan's terminator!" Kobe continued his trash talk.
Jordan remained unmoved, while Lin Tian passed the ball to Carter this time, allowing Carter to drive into the paint and complete a powerful one-handed dunk!
In the next few offensive possessions, the West finally stopped giving the ball to Kobe. After all, it's the All-Star Game, and it's fine to be a fan, but the player also has to perform, right?
However, the ball possession in the West is not as evenly distributed as it is in the East, where everyone gets a share.
After all, the other starting guard in the West was Francis, who was also eager to show off and played very selfishly. He couldn't wait to take possession of the ball and start his own show.
Under these circumstances, when the first quarter had reached the 6-minute mark, all five starters on the Eastern Conference side had scored: Yao Ming and Lin Tian each had 2 points, Carter and McGrady each had 4 points, and Jordan had 7 points.
You can rest assured about Lin Da Guanren's control of the game. He focuses on giving everyone an equal share of the ball, and Jordan even gets a tiny bit more possession than others!
The situation in the West was much more interesting. Kobe scored 8 points, Francis scored 6 points, and the rest of the players combined only took 3 shots and scored 3 points.
Ball possession allocation? They didn't allocate ball possession at all; they just played their own game and then figured things out!
At this point, Rivers should have waited for the ball to die, called a timeout as agreed, substituted Jordan, and started the first round of rotations.
Of course, Rivers did just that. He called a timeout at the technical table, waiting for the Western Army's attack to finish before calling a timeout.
"You need to give him a tough Kobe." Lin Tian whispered to Kobe while defending Francis, "If I'm not mistaken, Michael will be out of the game at the end of this possession. He won't be back until at least the third quarter! Think about it yourself."
"I know!" Kobe muttered with a gloomy face, then dribbled the basketball to the frontcourt and faced off against Jordan once again.
This time, Kobe chose a very aggressive style of play, without any footwork to deceive, no changes in rhythm, or any fancy feints to assist him.
Kobe turned around and shoved his shoulder into Jordan's chest!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
With three muffled thuds, Jordan was forced back by Kobe's attack, all the way to the vicinity of the three-second zone. Then Kobe gathered his strength again, exerted his power, and slammed into Jordan again!
"Bang!"
The sound became even more frightening; someone who didn't know better might have thought there was some deep-seated hatred between the two!
Then, as Kobe's impact caused Jordan's ribs to ache, he suddenly turned and attempted to drive towards the basket.
Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any problem with turning around, but Kobe's elbow, whether intentionally or unintentionally, was raised higher than Jordan's chin, almost hitting Jordan's nose directly!
"FUXX!" Jordan was really angry this time!
Hey bro, I was just messing around with you, and you're actually going to go all out?
Jordan, who never suffers a loss, stopped playing defense this time and grabbed Kobe's arm with both hands, throwing him to the floor.
"Bang!"
After another thud, Kobe was knocked down. Then, he immediately got up from the floor, pressed himself against Jordan's chest, and even pressed his forehead against Jordan's forehead, and unleashed a barrage of attacks on him!
"So you resort to violence when you can't win? If I were you, I'd apply for retirement after today! Oh, I forgot, you can't retire; you promised the boss you'd play for him this season!"
"Then, since you're useless, your boss will treat you like a stray dog and kick you out!"
"At that point, you'll be homeless! The alliance will no longer need you!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jordan's sore spot was hit again!
Ever since Lin Tian reminded him during the opening game, Jordan had tried to probe the Wizards' owner, saying that he was a bit tired and should retire early, return his shares to him, and that he should just manage the team instead.
But the outcome of the conversation clearly disappointed Jordan.
The other side made a lot of excuses and empty promises, but they just didn't want Jordan to retire early and insisted that he finish the season.
He cited all sorts of reasons, such as for the team, for the market, for Michael's reputation, for the entire NBA, and for world peace.
They only offer empty promises, but don't give you a single sesame seed!
If Lin Tian hadn't said those words to Jordan, Jordan might not have taken it to heart at all.
The problem is that Lin Tian said it, and now it seems that not only did he say it, but he was also very likely right. Jordan's mood was extremely bad at one point!
In the past month or so, the Wizards have had a decent record, and Brown's stats have even reached an average of 6 points and 4 rebounds per game, double that of the first month. Brown's progress has also made Jordan feel a little gratified.
At this rate of improvement, by the end of the season, he'll be averaging 12+8!
Even if we don't win Rookie of the Year, it's because we're too young and haven't developed properly yet!
By next year, they'll easily crush players like Yao Ming and Pau Gasol!
This is also why Jordan ignored Kobe's provocations and trash talk at the beginning of the game.
He's no longer the young man who was easily provoked and ready to fight at any moment.
Jordan is always dressed in a suit and tie, looking every bit the successful man.
T-shirts and jeans? He locked them in the closet a long time ago!
But now, Kobe's words hit a nerve with Jordan, causing Jordan to lose his temper, though not completely.
He glared at Kobe, his eyes wide, and said, "If you've got the guts, don't go down to rest. I'll show you what a real tough guy is!"
"We'll see!" Kobe wasn't about to back down at a time like this. He continued trash-talking while winking at Lin Tian.
In just that one blink, Lin Tian felt that this kid's acting skills had improved again! He has the potential to become a cunning old fox! (End of Chapter)