No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 195 - 111. I want to have another one-on-one with Kobe as a high schooler! _2

DeRozan was chatting away, but then he just wandered off to sulk by himself, looks like he’s going to be demoted to third brother!

DeRozan is frustrated, and Zhang Yang is even more so.

DeRozan is nearly two meters tall with his shoes on!

Luckily, Harden was with him, who hasn’t grown much over the past half a year, right, Tatum had stopped growing a long time ago, he was the same height when Zhang Yang entered Compton High School and he’s the same height now, indeed not born of the same mother as little Jason, Zhang Yang remembered Jason grew up to be even taller than DeRozan.

As for Zhang Yang being selected as a starter for the All-Star game, everyone was happy, since there wasn’t much to be jealous of, and as for being upset... Zhang Yang wasn’t just an All-Star reserve, but a starter purely voted in by fans, they would only blow a gasket if he made the reserve.

...

Attending the All-Star game for the first time, Zhang Yang had been sticking to the principle of keeping a low profile these past few days.

During the day today, he remained low-key, praising others during interviews and not hogging the spotlight during charity events.

As a rookie, he didn’t snatch the limelight, and indeed no one targeted him.

Weakness implies sly growth, he always adhered to this belief.

This year’s All-Star players, from the East: Iverson, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, James, O’Neal as starters, with Billups, Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Wade, Arenas, and Carter making up the 7 reserve slots.

From the coaches’ votes, Kidd lost to Arenas by just 3 votes, missing the All-Star game for the second year in a row.

From the West: Nash, Kobe, McGrady, Duncan, Yao Ming as starters, with Parker, Ray Allen, Marion, Brand, Gasol, Garnett, Nowitzki among the 7 reserves.

Compared to the East’s All-Star reserves with 5 guards, the West had a bunch of frontcourt players, Anthony, Kaman, Okur, Camby, Artest, Brad Miller... and others were left out.

All-Star players also have their cliques, Kobe and McGrady hung out together; Nash, Carter, Marion, Brand were all in together; Gasol, Parker, and Duncan stuck as a group; James was greeting everyone with the demeanor of a leader...

Zhang Yang spent his time with Gerald Wallace and Yao Ming, with Gerald being quite forthright and getting along well with Yao Ming, while Zhang Yang played the part of a listener.

Gerald Wallace also went to take a photo with the All-Star frontcourt Wallace duo from the Pistons, and the media’s posted picture headline read—NBA’s strongest surname.

This sparked a heated debate; just looking at this season, this trio of half-brothers did seem to be the strongest surname gathered together, and they all had a passion for defense.

If only the Pistons had taken Gerald Wallace in the last pick of the first round in ’01, and he had played under Carlisle for two years, even going forward with Larry Brown, his passion for defense surely would have earned him a significant role, three Wallaces on one team... one can hardly imagine.

Night fell, and at 7 PM at the Toyota Center, the 2006 All-Star game participants made their entrance.

This year’s All-Star game held no clear hometown bias, as not many locals came to watch.

Zhang Yang had played an away game here before, and indeed the atmosphere was lacking, even falling short of the rowdy crowds in Salt Lake City.

However, come All-Star weekend, the local fans weren’t enthusiastic about snapping up tickets, and the crowd was mostly out-of-town fans, which created a better atmosphere, and every All-Star was greeted with loud cheers as they entered.

In such an atmosphere, at least there wasn’t a situation where a certain No. 8 player was booed from the moment he stepped in until he won the AMVP.

Getting booed by the hometown crowd upon entrance, continuing to get booed with the ball, that No. 8 player on that night took 25 shots on offense, clamped down Iverson to 2 of 9 shooting and secured the AMVP... a perfect illustration of the attitude, "I just love it when you dislike me but can’t do anything about it."

After the players’ entrance was completed, it was time for the ’Shaq show,’ as O’Neal first danced a routine, setting off the entire arena.

Then O’Neal issued challenges to various All-Stars, with Yao Ming, playing on home turf, being his primary target.

In his 4th All-Star appearance, Yao Ming was prepared and performed a dance for a few tens of seconds; his movements were stiff, not particularly graceful, but they were amusing and once again set off cheers from the crowd.

Zhang Yang also faced a challenge; he subdued the urge to fight back and stated that he couldn’t dance, but O’Neal insisted on teaching him, so he awkwardly followed along with a few moves, just as the phrase "Only because..." was about to escape uncontrollably from him, O’Neal ceased harassing him and left, saying, "You’re much more interesting than that high school kid, he would never dance with me," and departed.

Zhang Yang breathed a sigh of relief, but not having sung the tune out loud, not having used his "might," oddly felt a bit disappointing.

Zhang Yang understood why O’Neal was currently the NBA’s most beloved star among fans, and this affection wasn’t about how high his popularity was; after all, who could compete with Kobe, Iverson, or James?

One is loved by fans for unknown reasons and strives to perform well, another is an unyielding leader of the black community, and another, the son of American basketball... These three men’s popularity is such that it could stand out separately in the entire history of the NBA. Even Jordan, in his final year at age 40, missed the All-Star game, but these three, even in their last year when they no longer had it, couldn’t be kept out of All-Star starting ranks.

But it’s not certain that all three of those guys are actually that beloved by fans; many will pick at their shortcomings or even attack them from here or there, whereas O’Neal is different, everyone likes him and sees him as one of the most dominant players in history.

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