Chapter 185 184. How could such a genius end up in such a team?
Yesterday afternoon, the heat of Zhang Yang's 82 points in the Rookie Challenge began to cool down, and the media and fans focused their attention on the triathlon, but today, the topic has become hot again.

During the roundtable interview at noon, on the Western Conference All-Star side, Okur, who was selected as a substitute, had no reporters around him, while Kobe was surrounded by three layers of people.

A reporter asked Kobe if he would score 83 points tonight to grab the highest score in a single game among active players.

The reporter thought Kobe would answer that the rookie game is not a formal game.

Unexpectedly, Kobe responded, "No, I will not compete with Jack for this kind of thing tonight. He is only 18 years old, and I am already 28 years old. No matter how high my score is, I may be surpassed by him in the future. Future players have unlimited possibilities."

Reporters feel that Kobe is a little different this year.

At this time, someone asked, "Are you going to score 83 points again when you play against the Raptors?"

Who is this? According to the rhythm of the interview, shouldn’t he move on to the next topic after answering like this? Kobe looked at the person who asked the question with dissatisfaction... and was speechless for a moment.

Charlotte Zhang got a microphone from somewhere and hid among the reporters to ask questions secretly, but his tall stature of nearly two meters when wearing shoes was like a firefly in the dark night, and he could not hide no matter what.

Kobe stared at Zhang Yang for a long time with his dead eyes, and used his eyes to drive Zhang Yang away...

This was a small episode in today's roundtable interview. The reporters found it very interesting and reported it.

They didn't expect that the bad boy Jack had such a side.

Soon, it was 8 o'clock in the evening and the much-anticipated All-Star Game began.

As Kobe said, he did not mess around. After the game started, he cooperated well with his four starting teammates, McGrady, Marion, Garnett and Duncan.

The Eastern team also played very hard. O'Neal and James lobbied everywhere to help Wade win the MVP.

The Eastern Conference All-Stars still have to give face to O'Neal + James.

But the Western team beat the Eastern team 16 to 9 at the start.

The gap in strength is a bit too obvious.

The five-man team of Wade, Zhang Yang, James, Gerald Wallace and O'Neal were beaten 16 to 9 by the opponent at the beginning.

The dual-core play of McGrady and Garnett, with Duncan receiving the ball from mid-range, Marion cutting in to compress the defense, and Kobe pulling away and playing one-on-one, the Eastern team was completely unable to defend.

The Eastern Army attacks...

This season, O'Neal's attendance rate was less than half. For the first time in his career, he played until February and his weight was still around 160 kilograms. He was completely unable to break through the defense of Duncan and Garnett.

The Eastern team's offense can only rely on James and Wade's counterattacks and... Zhang Yang's one-on-one against McGrady.

Wade encountered Kobe's mad dog defense + double 21 twin towers, and James encountered Marion + double 21 twin towers, and both failed.

Zhang Yang thought that as a sophomore, he came to the All-Star Game to be a pendant, but he ended up becoming a pillar!

Seeing that the opponent was about to make another three-pointer and the score difference was about to widen to double digits, the Eastern team coach Bickerstaff called a timeout and replaced O'Neal with Okafor and Arenas with Wade.

Western Conference head coach D'Antoni also made a lineup rotation. On a whim, he replaced Parker, Josh Howard, Anthony, Nowitzki, and Kobe, wanting to try out the Mavericks' style of play.

D'Antoni was just curious, but he ended up killing the game...

In the next 12 minutes, Parker, Kobe, Josh Howard, Anthony and Nowitzki took turns to score singles and paralyzed the Eastern Conference team.

打到第二节3分16秒，东部队得分提升到36分，对这年头的全明星赛来说也不算太大，05年全明星赛两队半场也就50多比50多。

But the Western team has already scored 60 points!

The lineup that D'Antoni replaced out of curiosity can be regarded as the ultimate luxurious and enhanced version of the Mavericks' one-on-one scoring tactics!

Replace the third-year Harris with the peak Parker, replace Terry with the peak Kobe, replace Stackhouse with Anthony... Even Nowitzki, who always thinks he lives a wealthy life, has never fought such a luxurious battle!
D'Antoni saw this invincible offense and was reluctant to replace anyone, and accidentally messed up the game...

By the end of the third quarter, the score was 123 to 90.

In the final quarter, the Western team let go and the Eastern team scored 42 to 30, which had little impact on the outcome of the game.

科比31分6助攻、诺维斯基29分3助攻、安东尼20分4助攻、约什-霍华德12分4助攻、帕克18分、麦迪8分11助攻、邓肯4分9板4助攻、加内特7分4板10助攻……西部队以153比132吊打东部队。

东部队，詹姆斯28分、张杨20分6助攻，是得分最高的两人了，其他人，奥尼尔13投5中拿到10分6板、韦德12投5中拿到10分3助攻、阿里纳斯12分4助攻、霍华德10分12板……没其他人得分上双了。

Zhang Yang once again felt the huge impact that O'Neal's trip to Miami had on the NBA.

After the All-Star Weekend was resumed in 00, from 00 to 04, in the five All-Star games, the Western team had 5 wins and 4 loss. The only time the Eastern team won was when Allen Iverson broke out and led the Eastern team to an upset victory of 1 to 110. Yes, the news reported it as an upset at the time. The fact that the word "upset" could be used in the All-Star Game was enough to show how big the gap in strength between the Eastern and Western All-Star players was in people's eyes at the time.

The most intuitive point is that in those years, Dale Davis, Antonio Davis, Big Z, Brad Miller and others were all selected as All-Stars.

It wasn't until O'Neal joined the Heat that the Eastern Conference All-Star team had hope of winning, but both wins were very difficult. In 05, Iverson won the MVP with 15 points and 9 assists, and last year's victory was narrow thanks to O'Neal's defensive counterattack in the final moments.

O'Neal has been in a slump this year, and Okafor and Howard, who are only in their third year, are not able to take on the leading role on such a stage, let alone Bosh.

In the end, Kobe beat Nowitzki to win the Most Valuable Player Award of this All-Star Game, and the Las Vegas All-Star Carnival officially came to an end.

Although the unlimited singles tactics used by the Western team in the main competition were terrifying and invincible, they also made the strength gap between the East and the West too huge. The game was a foregone conclusion. The Western team's style of play was multi-faceted, but no one was scoring so many points and there was not much to watch. In the three events, although Felton and Capono won the championship, these two events did not attract much attention. The dunk contest was also unremarkable, just a little better than last year, and did not cause much waves.

Fans in front of the TV did not expect that the most interesting game of this year's All-Star Weekend would be the Rookie Challenge...

...

February 2th, a new week has arrived. At noon, Zhang Yang took Xiao Wukong, who was thrown into his hotel room by his parents early this morning, back to Charlotte. Xiao Wukong was very happy to be with his brother. He chattered all the way. Zhang Yang didn't care whether his brother could understand or not, and complained about his parents' unscrupulous behavior all the way.

As they were sitting on their boss's private plane, Zhang Yang didn't have to worry about offending strangers. His teammates were still very nice to his brother. When he got off the plane, little Wukong had a few gold chains around his neck and a watch on his hand... Zhang Yang was so annoyed, and he had to think about how to return the favor when he saw his teammates' children in the future.

However, when he arrived at his parents' house, the nanny took care of little Wukong's eating, drinking, defecating, urinating and sleeping. Zhang Yang only needed to go back to the living room and play games with his younger brother after he was tired of training in the yard. It was not hard work, and the brothers could spend more time alone.

The next morning, Zhang Yang's parents came back and he also had to go to the gym to prepare for the afternoon training. At this time, he was a little reluctant to leave.

Seeing her eldest son reluctant to leave, Yang Jing teased, "Children are fun, right? Find a girlfriend and have one!"

Zhang Yang rolled his eyes at his mother and said, "I want a child now, who won't be much younger than Little Wukong. Won't it be awkward for them to play together when they grow up?"

Yang Jing: "That's right... But it's not us who are embarrassed, it's them. Isn't it more fun?"

Zhang Yang rubbed his chin when he heard this: "Yeah! This is quite interesting."

Zhang Chen on the side: "..."

What is right? It's right! What do you mean it's very interesting? This mother and son are too unreliable! The key is that this mother and son are his biological wife and son... destroy them!

After chatting with his mother for a while, Zhang Yang left his parents' home and went to the Turkish Airlines Arena.

When he saw his teammates again, he saw that after a few days of fun and rest during the All-Star Weekend, their spirits and energy were completely different from what they were at the end of the mid-season.

Necessary rest is still very important!
He, Gerald Wallace and Okafor were responsible for travel, food and lodging, which didn't cost much after the three of them shared it, and it also improved the relationship within the team.

In the afternoon training, as Zhang Yang expected, his unlimited firing rights were taken back at the tactical level. Bickerstaff fine-tuned the tactics back to the team style of play in the early season. In positional warfare, he returned to the role of containment + support + singles.

He was not dissatisfied with this, but rather felt relieved.

This All-Star Weekend trip made him more aware of his shortcomings.

Zhang Yang's feelings about participating in the All-Star Game are completely different from Yao Ming's.

Last year, Zhang Yang participated in the All-Star Game for the first time. Yao Ming shared his experience with him: "Don't be too involved in the All-Star Game, don't take it too seriously, otherwise you will feel lost when you return to the team and will be disappointed in your teammates' abilities."

Zhang Yang’s feeling after participating in two All-Star Games is that I still have a gap with them and I need to work harder.

The difference in feelings is related to the environment the two are in. Zhang Yang's teammates are stronger. Although no one can compare to McGrady, his other teammates are much stronger than Yao Ming's other teammates.

Moreover, the overall strength of the Eastern Conference is weaker than that of the Western Conference, and the competitive environment is more relaxed. Earlier in the season, when the media analyzed the performance of the strong teams in the East and the West in the first half of the season, they said that if the Rockets went to the East, they might be able to get 55 wins and be first in the East, but they would have no chance of entering the top four in the West, and they would not be able to get 55 wins in the West.

There is also the personality of the two. Yao Ming cares about a lot of things, but Zhang Yang... he just wants to play basketball well.

Zhang Yang also longs for victory and honor, but he does not carry so many things.

...

On February 2th, the Bobcats' 15rd game day of the season arrived.

They finally enjoyed the treatment of a strong team in the playoffs. Their first game after the All-Star Weekend was played at home, and their opponent was not strong either, the Hawks, who are currently third from the bottom in the Eastern Conference.

At 6:40 in the evening, players from both teams entered the stadium.

After entering the court, Zhang Yang did not look at the opposing forwards, but at the three point guards of the Hawks - Tyronn Lue, Anthony Johnson, and Speedy Claxton.

During the All-Star Weekend, the Hawks sent out two 206-centimeter backup forwards in exchange for Speedy Claxton and Lorenzen Wright.

Claxton, a point guard from the 00 class, has averaged 9 points, 4 assists and 1.5 steals per game in his career so far, making him a very high-quality substitute.

Lorenzen Wright was once a very important part of the "Memphis Game" of the logo man. He was a lottery pick of the 96 golden generation. He is 211 cm tall and weighs 116 kg. He averaged 12 points and 9 rebounds per game in his peak period. In the past few years, he played as a power forward for the Grizzlies and helped Gasol protect the rim. The logo man is ready to end the "Memphis Game" and the Grizzlies entered a rebuilding phase. Lorenzen Wright was sent away by the Grizzlies last summer and has now been traded back by the Hawks.

Felton said on the sidelines: "The Hawks management finally figured it out and stopped sticking with five 5-foot- starting players. They also traded back a normal-height substitute for Pachulia."

Zhang Yang: "Yes, they used Smith as a backup point guard and backup center before. As an opponent, I was anxious when I saw such a talent being wasted by them."

Felton looked at Josh Smith and nodded in agreement.

If they could have Josh Smith, the strength of the frontcourt would immediately be raised to a higher level, and they might be able to compete with the top three teams in the Western Conference.

How did such a genius end up in the hands of the Eagles?

Zhang Yang: "However, their point guards and centers are still too weak compared to their forwards and guards. If the point guard is the player who controls the direction of the team, these three point guards are like a small horse pulling a big cart."

Felton looked at Zhang Yang in astonishment: "A small horse pulls a big cart, isn't this a verb?"

Zhang Yang: "Ah? Isn't it an adjective?"

Felton thought for a moment: "It can also be used as an adjective..."

Okafor on the side closed his eyes and groaned. How could these two, when talking about such a serious topic, stray so far?

……

……

I slept too long this morning and got up at 12 o'clock. I will update one chapter first and continue writing. Please vote!
(End of this chapter)