Basketball: Starting from the Rodman template

Chapter 123 All-Star Rookie Challenge

On the first day of arriving in Los Angeles, Woody participated in various business activities from the moment he got off the plane to the hotel, until the evening before he had time to rest.

After a busy day, Woody had a feeling:
tired!
No wonder Yao Ming said that when he participated in the All-Star Weekend for the first time, he was more tired than playing "back-to-back".

The All-Star Weekend is a "program" used by David Stern to give back to fans.

Therefore, in terms of publicity, it can be described as "super double"!
Especially the "super hot new star" like Woody, he couldn't pass up an event.

This is not only the meaning of David Stern, but also the meaning of the brand behind Woody.

How can we shirk this "zero distance" opportunity to contact potential consumers?

Originally, Woody had made an appointment with Scarlett, but when he returned to the hotel that night, he fell into bed and fell asleep. What awaited him the next morning were twelve missed calls from Scarlett.Just as he was about to make a call and explain, Johnson was already knocking on the door.He could only send a hurried text message:

Definitely next time!
The first day of the All-Star Weekend is the Rookie Challenge.

First-year rookies form a team to challenge second-year rookies.

The attention of this show mainly depends on whether there are "super rookies".

Last year did not receive as much attention as the previous ones, because these two drafts were young draft years.

This year, fans have been looking forward to it since a long time ago.

There is no way, the popularity of the "03 Golden Generation" is too high!
"St. Mary's Gemini" will become teammates again on this stage, which is also a very gimmick to watch.

A reporter asked LeBron James about his expectations before the Rookie Challenge.

He had just been robbed of the limelight once by Woody, and he hasn't fully recovered yet. He didn't expect that, from Akron to Los Angeles, the city changed, but the topics around him remained the same:
Woody!

Woody!

What the hell is Woody!

If you want to know so much, why don't you ask Woody what to expect from the upcoming team-up with LeBron James?

In fact, some reporters asked Woody about this question.

But in the process of asking questions, the reporter's questions about Woody are as follows:
His first All-Star Weekend experience.

Prepare for the upcoming All-Star Game.

Then there's what it's like to play next to LeBron James again.

When it comes to LeBron James, the "St. Mary's Twins" teamed up in the Rookie Challenge, but it was the reporter's first question...

Obviously, the less important issue for Woody is the aspect that these reporters are most interested in him.

I, the majestic ESPN "A King" actually set off to such a point!
This……

But even with so much dissatisfaction in his heart, when answering this question, LeBron James still had to squeeze out a smile of reminiscence: "I can't wait to fight side by side with Woody again. I think this must be a great thing. Cool thing!"

There is no way, the "brotherly love" character set has already been released, he can't shoot himself in the foot, can he?
However, he has already made up his mind, no matter what, he must not be Woody's foil this time!
On the first-year team, in addition to Woody and LeBron, there are Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, TJ Ford, Hayes, Hinrich, Josh Howard, and Chris Kaman. .

Wade missed the All-Star Rookie Challenge due to injury, and his position was won by Barbosa.

As far as the lineup is concerned, except for Chris Kaman and Barbosa, everyone else is the starter or even the core players of their respective teams. The "Three Great Talents" are the cornerstone of the team.

Although it is only a first-year lineup, the strength of the lineup is much stronger than that of the first-year lineup in previous years.

Compared with them, 02 was originally a small year for the draft.

Yao Ming and Stoudemire are the leaders of this second-year team, but because Yao Ming is going to play in the All-Star Game, he has already determined that he will not play for too long in the Rookie Challenge.

In addition to Yao Ming, the only player this team can get is Manu Ginobili, the "sixth man" of the Spurs.

Others, such as Dunleavy and others, can only be regarded as good main players, and their competitiveness is similar to that of Josh Howard and others.

This team lacks a core defender who can organize.

So before the game, most of the media were more optimistic about the first-year team.

Of course, this group of media is optimistic. Sometimes, it’s really not a good thing. LeBron is also afraid of "poisonous milk". Before the game, he specially gathered everyone together and said impassionedly:

"Guys, we're called the 'Golden Generation,' and this challenge is our game to prove to everyone why we're the 'Golden Generation,' guys, let's fight!"

These words are very mediocre, but also in line with this age.

These rookies who have just entered the league are also proud of the "03 Golden Generation". LeBron James's words speak to their hearts.Everyone is gearing up and eager to try.

Seeing everyone's positive response, LeBron James feels that his reputation is still enough!
There are more smiles on the face.

This should be the happiest time for him these days.

But this joy did not last for too long. When the Rookie Challenge started, when he saw the Woody poster with the largest number in the auditorium, and when all the reporters pointed their cameras at Woody for the first time, he I felt that my limelight had been robbed again.

Woody just stood there without doing anything, and he was already more dazzling than him!

This feeling made him very uncomfortable.

What made him even more uncomfortable was that today, in order to make the fans on the scene go up to heaven from the beginning, Woody specially made an action of "throwing magnesium powder" that he hadn't done for a long time.

This action made the audience scream again and again, which made LeBron James' eyes hot.

God knows how excited he was when he saw this action from the team.

When practicing this action, he really felt like he became a "King"...

"Emperor!"

"Emperor!"

"Emperor!"

……

A unified "Emperor" sounded at the scene.

The effect of Adidas' overwhelming publicity has already appeared. Now as long as fans who pay attention to the NBA, they all know Woody's intention of choosing the No. 95 jersey.

The shout of "Emperor" Woody also began to spread in the mouths of every Woody fan.

As LeBron James listened to these shouts, he belatedly remembered that his team would not let him call himself "King" anymore.

Because "King" is just a king, and "emperor" is an emperor!
In terms of force, there is a big gap between the king and the emperor...

They don't want to see LeBron James less aggressive than Woody.

However, he has always dreamed of wearing a crown on his head and practicing in front of the mirror.Now he is not allowed to use the title "King", he is really too unwilling... This made him secretly say again in his heart:

This time, it must not be Woody's foil!
Just wait, when this game is over, the names in these people's mouths will all change to another name...

LeBron made up his mind.

So much so that he was very motivated from the beginning of the game.

His signature "tank charge" came right up, but at this time, Yao Ming was still on the court and slapped him down.

Woody followed closely behind and just caught the ball. Yao Ming just stretched out his arms to cover LeBron.

As for the tense and exciting "China insider collision" with Woody in the air, Yao Ming's answer is:

No!

"Bah!"

The first time he got out of the way, Woody also slammed the ball hard into the basket.

The first goal of the 04 All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge came from Woody's iconic follow-up dunk, and the second attack succeeded.

Seeing Woody's goal, Shaq O'Neal, the head coach of the first-year team on the sidelines, rushed towards Woody at that time, wanting to send a "big shark" kiss, but Woody reacted in time.

Ugly refuse!

"Dude, just fight like this, don't worry I'm behind you!"

Woody landed, caught up with LeBron, and tapped him on the shoulder.

In a tone of "I knew you would be covered".

LeBron James forced a smile and responded to Woody's shoulder tap.

This frankly agreed that it should not be a foil, why did it become a foil again as soon as it came up?

Bill Walton said: "It seems that Woody is still very familiar with LeBron James. We have reason to believe that this has happened many times at St. Mary's High School!"

Otherwise, how could you be so familiar with the road?

Especially the action of patting the shoulder after the dunk is really "a stroke of magic".

Having never played ball before, it is really impossible to have such a subconscious reaction.

Judging from his appearance, LeBron should be the big brother!
The second-year team counterattacked, and Manu Ginobili faced Josh Howard on the flank, and his signature skill "serpentine breakthrough" easily got rid of the latter.

In other words, this guy is a player under his own hands. Otherwise, the head coach of the second-year team, Barkley, might send a sentence:
"This is the most twisty thing I've ever seen, even better than the most expensive girl I ordered!"

But the problem is that on the first-year team, from LeBron at position [-], to Woody at position [-], and Chris Bosh at position [-], they are all very defensive players. How can it be twisted, it can only take two steps after taking the ball.

After the game, Ginobili recalled his performance in the Rookie Challenge and said this: "When I jumped up, I felt like there were palms all over my head..."

Airtight!

"Snapped!"

I don't know which hand blocked his ball, anyway, his ball was blocked.

LeBron rushed towards the ball as soon as it landed, but Woody was the first to control the ball.

In terms of physical coordination and flexibility, LeBron really can't compare with Woody.

"ball!"

LeBron subconsciously wants the ball.

He didn't want to be Woody's foil for this game, so his plan was to keep the ball firmly in his hands from the start and then...

Take the ball and attack!

As long as he has the highest scoring data on the first-year team, as long as the team wins, then he will be the ultimate "Rookie Challenge MVP".

If you lose, that's okay, as long as Woody doesn't get the MVP of the Rookie Challenge, he can accept it!
But at this moment Woody took the ball in his hand, and the memory deep in his memory emerged:
In the high school league, after this guy grabbed the ball, he always took the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt.

This guy can handle the ball!
However, the second-year team returned to defense very quickly. Woody advanced quickly with the ball, and did not get any fast break opportunities until the frontcourt.

LeBron James immediately breathed a sigh of relief, now he has to give me the ball, right?
But what I didn't expect was that Woody didn't give him the ball very much, but dribbled to the flank to face Stoudemire who was defending from the opposite side, and then kept raising his hands, stirring up the atmosphere of the scene.

As the cheers grew louder, Woody also started his "dribbling show"!
After loading Barkley's template, Woody's dribbling potential came to 90 points.With his continuous practice during this period, his dribbling ability has also reached 73 points, although he has not yet reached the level of the main players in the NBA.

In the regular season, he will not actively dribble offensively.

But this dribbling ability is enough for him to show off his "continuous hip dribbling" on a stage like the Rookie Challenge.

His playing style, which is completely opposite to the usual one, made the whole atmosphere of the scene all of a sudden excited.

Shaquille O'Neal also laughed out loud.

In his opinion, Woody is paying tribute to his funny performance at the All-Star Weekend!

Children can be taught!

Drexler in the commentary seat looked at Woody's sudden move and said with a smile on his face: "It can be seen that Woody knows how to express himself on this stage!"

LeBron James looks on with his hips akimbo.

he……

shocked!
As for Stoudemire, who was guarding Woody, he looked seriously at Woody after showing off his "crotch" and waited very seriously for the moment he broke through.

Woody has been observing his movements, and he knows very well that this guy is very serious about defense.

Although Stoudemire is only an inside man, his mobility is not inferior to that of ordinary strikers. With his ability to break through with the ball, it may be difficult to force a breakthrough against Stoudemire.Some redirection had to be added.

But as for Woody's ability to change direction...

I'm afraid he didn't shake Stoudemire away, but first shook the ball out of his hand.

It has to be a little bit of a surprise!
Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught McGrady in the auditorium on the sidelines.

This "man who can't wake up" is also here.

Got it!

A certain image appeared in Woody's mind. He immediately broke through with the ball and stepped on the three-point line. Stoudemire was completely blocked in front of him. Woody took another step forward and held the ball with both hands. After making a shooting motion, he successfully tricked Stoudemire into jumping and then smashed the ball toward the backboard.

Suddenly, very hard, the ball hit the backboard, made a "bang" sound, and bounced straight back, and when the ball bounced straight back, there was a burst of exclamation from the audience.

A figure wearing the No. 95 jersey flew into the air, took the rebounded ball in his hand, and smashed it straight into the basket.

"Bah!"

One-handed split button after gliding!

The scene suddenly boiled.

(End of this chapter)