Author: Tiamo the Withered

Not to mention these, the list of All-Star substitutes has been announced one after another, but it has not been finalized yet. Due to injuries and other reasons, there may be changes by then.

However, Li Chengming's name is not included in the current list. This was actually expected, but he is still a little disappointed.

Van Gundy also comforted him. Although he thought it would be good to give him more rest if he had this opportunity, young people who want to show themselves on such a stage should also be encouraged.

It's a pity that he can't help much in this matter, otherwise he can find a way to arrange more time for Li Chengming to perform.

And even if Li Chengming can be selected for the All-Star next season, their "mentor and apprentice" will no longer be able to cooperate on the All-Star. After all, the head coach of the All-Star cannot be served by the same person for two consecutive terms.

And not only Li Chengming, Turkoglu and Lewis were also substitutes who missed the All-Star Game. Howard was the only one from the Magic to become the representative of the All-Star Game. He undoubtedly became the starting center in the Eastern Conference for this year's All-Star Game.

His votes were second only to Garnett and Kobe.

Garnett is the All-Star vote leader this time, and this is also the first time in his career that he has won the All-Star vote leader.

Coming to Boston seems to be the right decision for him. Not only has his record improved, but his popularity also seems to have improved.

As a wealthy team in the NBA that is comparable to the Purple and Gold of Los Angeles, the Celtics have a deep foundation, but they have not had very good results in recent years. This is the first time they have seen hope of winning the championship after many years, and the fans are also

One by one they appeared as if a coffin had been lifted.

As the only "native" among the Green Army's Big Three and the current scoring leader in the team, Pierce entered the Eastern All-Star lineup as a substitute. This also made some fans of Li Chengming feel unhappy. After all, he ranked second in the Eastern Conference forward voting.

Three, but Bosh and Pierce became substitutes, and he lost the selection.

It can only be said that there must be differences between the coach's choice and the fans, and there may even be some considerations of human relations.

Of course, it is impossible for Li Chengming to miss the All-Star Game.

Although he may not be able to enter the main game, he will definitely be indispensable in the rookie game. If he is not invited, it will be a real shady.

In addition to him, outstanding first-year rookies such as Durant, Kong Yi, Horford and Scola, as well as second-year players Aldridge, Roy and others, will all participate in the first night of the All-Star Weekend.

Rookie Challenge.

The All-Stars will certainly be a great experience for young players, but the old stars probably have no interest in it at all, and may even find it a burden and a waste of time that should be spent with their families during the holidays.

But the fans and the league elected them, and it’s impossible not to come.

Compared to Xi Bi, the current NBA at least knows who is the "father".

During the training before the game day, the team arranged interviews with the media, and Li Chengming naturally received special attention.

In addition to some sharp questions about whether you regret not being selected for the All-Star Game, or whether you feel you were suppressed, there are also more conventional questions, such as: "How do you feel about being selected for the All-Star Rookie Game?"

At this time, Li Chengming couldn't show his disdain for this, so he still smiled and said: "This is a good opportunity to entertain and show myself. I hope that I can be more relaxed and perform more for the fans."

Something new."

His words made the reporters a little excited. Someone asked impatiently: "Can you reveal it a little bit? In what form?"

Li Chengming smiled and said: "We will know when we wait for the competition..."

In fact, that's all he said, and he hadn't even thought about how to answer.

And since he said this, it's not good for reporters to continue asking questions. Anyway, the All-Star Game will start soon, and the answer will be revealed soon.

Before that, the Magic's last game before the All-Star Game was played as usual, still at home. This time their opponent was the Denver Nuggets, who are in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference.

This is the second battle between the two sides. The Magic won the final victory last time, and this one is no exception.

To be honest, Li Chengming felt a little disappointed after the actual battle between the so-called 2003 duo, James and Anthony.

After all, James still plays an offensive and defensive role, and his organizational and athletic talents are still visible, but Anthony's offense is indeed very strong. With the three threats presented, the defender will immediately be overwhelmed.

And he also has a big butt, coupled with the size advantage of the third position and a soft shooting touch, which makes his low post play difficult to defend.

Even Li Chengming found it a bit difficult to deal with his big butt, and he couldn't find a hole to get in.

Hmm, something seems a little wrong?

But defensively, Anthony and Iverson are really like two colanders.

If Iverson can be said to have some desire to defend, his awareness is actually good, but limited by his height and size, he is really not a good defensive material.

Moreover, he has a bad habit. He likes to gamble and steal. I used to think this was good when watching games, and he could often produce wonderful performances. But in the game, if he was on the same team, he would definitely be pissed to death.

Think about it, as the first line of defense on the outside, if you just throw yourself out for a steal, allowing the opponent to break in easily, and you often have to pay the price of a foul if you want to make up position inside, do you feel happy?

So Mutombo did not guard O'Neal in the Finals, but without him, the Philadelphia team would never have made it to the Finals, including Snow, who helped Iverson wipe a lot of defensive ends.

in this way.

It's a pity that in the end, everyone only remembers Iverson's glory and his "single-core" victory over OK, ignoring his teammates who worked hard to defend.

In fact, the two are mutually beneficial, because for Philadelphia at that time, the offense was left to Iverson, and everyone else could defend. They each performed their duties, did what they were best at, and took advantage of it.

There is that Eastern Conference champion team.

In fact, they just met OK. If they were on another team and there was no big shark inside, they might actually be able to win the championship.

Of course, it is only possible. After all, the Spurs, Kings and other teams that were blocked in the Western Conference by the Lakers at that time were not weak. It was just because the Lakers not only had the big shark, but also a black mamba.

There is even an alliance...

Back to Anthony's defense, this guy is really a matter of his own will. With his physical fitness, he will definitely not be bad if he defends seriously, but if he doesn't defend well, letting him run a few more steps seems to be exhausting.

Even when Li became famous, he did it in one step. He was really unwilling to even extend his hand.

Of course, Li Chengming didn't know whether it was because he had always been like this or because of the current situation of the Nuggets, which made this proud man of the 2003 generation dissatisfied.

Speaking of which, as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 class, Anthony not only failed to win the first place in the draft, but also did not win the Rookie of the Year award or the first championship. Over the years, apart from scoring, there seems to be nothing worthy of praise.

of.

Of course, this league values ​​scorers, so Anthony still has good star power, but the gap has gradually been widened by James. If it weren't for injuries, Wade would have been better than him in the past two years.

Anthony must be extremely tired of the Nuggets' current situation of neither top nor bottom, and the cooperation of two guns, two scorers with strong offense and weak defense, has now proven to be inappropriate.

Anthony is more suitable for a point guard who is good at defensive organization. For example, Billups from the Pistons is good. If you replace him with him and get a good run-in, he might be able to directly compete in the Western Conference Finals.

The offensive power of the two guns is still there. With their firepower, it is not a big problem to deal with ordinary teams, but their opponent is the Magic.

The Magic, who have been in hot form recently, naturally cannot let go of the victory at home. Although Li Chengming knew that he was basically out of the All-Star game, he still went all out for this game.

And we just happened to run into a team like the Nuggets, which is a rare team that doesn't spend any time on defense - maybe it's useless, they just want to kill people with offense. As long as the score is higher than the opponent, won't they win?

In the end, it was Li Chengming who was the first to play well. He used all kinds of martial arts, including the basket, three-pointers, mid-range, low post, and no blind spots in the offense.
Chapter completed!