I'm really strong in basketball

Chapter 77 30 Points and 6 Points (2004 All-Star Three-Point Contest)

Stern then walked off, giving the stage to the reporters.

Without waiting for Stern to end, the reporters swarmed and surrounded Liu He.

Seeing the excited reporters, Stern shook his head speechlessly.

"Is rookie so popular with reporters?"

Of course, the reporters interviewing Liu He have always been full of rewards and never disappointed.

Who doesn't like it?
There was an on-site host to maintain order. The scene looked chaotic, but the interview was conducted in an orderly manner.

The first person to interview was a local reporter in Los Angeles, and Liu He was already familiar with it.

The reporter asked: "Liu He, this should be the first time you compete with James as a teammate. How do you evaluate him?"

Good guy, do things as soon as you come up.

Everyone could see that James not only failed to help Liu He in this game, but wanted to steal Liu He's limelight.

It's okay to change places, but this is Los Angeles!
According to the tradition of the NBA, everyone will generally help the players at home to win honors.

With Liu He's style, can he get used to James?
It must be a spray!
So in an instant, all the reporters were excited.

Liu He was stunned for a moment, glanced at the reporter, showed a sad expression, and asked instead: "You don't even want to congratulate me on winning the MVP, so you go directly to the final process?"

The reporter smiled awkwardly.

"My own people! Everyone is my own people! Those links are omitted."

The crowd burst into laughter.

Liu He thought for a while and replied calmly: "You know, LeBron James is an excellent player, he is very talented, and he played well tonight."

Reporters: "..."

That's it?

They were not disappointed, because the more bland Liu He said the first sentence, the more explosive the latter sentence would be.

Everyone is an old man, who doesn't know who?

So everyone is looking forward to Liu He's next words.

But Liu He closed his mouth, quietly looked at the reporter who asked the question, and didn't intend to speak again.

reporter:"……"

Is it really over?
No way?
Will Liu He stop spraying tonight?

Is that still Liu He?

But Liu He just didn't speak.

Until the host signaled the reporter whether to ask again.

The reporter finally came to his senses, and tried to ask again: "How do you evaluate Anthony?"

"You know, Carmelo Anthony is a great player, he's talented and played well tonight."

Reporters: "..."

This line...you don't even want to change a word.

Liu He, you have changed!

Are you still on your own?
How do you become as vulgar as other players?
If you play like this, how should we work and make money in the future?

There are also reporters who don't give up.

"Then what do you think of Wade?"

"You know, Dwyane Wade is a great player, he's talented, he played well tonight."

What the hell!

Liu He really changed his mind!
My heart is dead too!

The reporters wailed.

But after all, there are smart people among journalists.

Someone tried to ask: "Then how do you evaluate Haslem?"

"You know, Udonis Haslem is a great player, he's talented and played well tonight."

Liu He's answer really didn't change a single word.

The hearts of the reporters were even more dead.

But the reporter who asked the question just now showed a smile, and tried to continue asking: "So you mean, James and Haslem are the same?"

This time, other reporters also reacted.

James is the chosen one, and Haslem is an undrafted pick. The two are so different, how can they be the same?

But Liu He gave them exactly the same evaluation.

so……

Sure enough, Liu He asked back: "Are they different?"

The reporters finally figured it out completely, Liu He was playing this trick.

You James is talented, but you played like shit tonight, what is the difference between your performance and Haslem?
Anthony and Wade are naturally like this...all of them are at the level of Haslem.

Haslem: I feel offended, but also kind of happy.

It has to be you, Liu He.

There was not a word of criticism, but James was scolded for nothing.

On the sidelines, James' face darkened.Anthony and Wade are naturally not much better.

O'Neal looked at Payton: "Gary, how did you teach a rookie like this?"

Payton was full of grievances: "Do you think I have the ability to teach him? Then I can spray you to retirement ten years ago."

Ma Long nodded: "Indeed!"

Kobe concluded: "Don't think too much about it, this guy is bad in his bones."

The other three nodded together.

The reporter finally asked: "Then how do you evaluate Josh Howard?"

"You know, Josh Howard is an extremely good player...sorry, to put it bluntly. Howard is really bad! He's more talented than me, better defensively than me, and has better offensive ability than me... ...Under such circumstances, he has not been able to play the main position in Dallas, so you can say that he is not a good player?"

reporter:"……"

Where are you spraying Josh Howard? You are obviously spraying the Mavericks coaching staff. You didn't reuse Josh Howard and wasted his talent.

Good guy, you say that James, Anthony, and Wade are useless, and you praise Josh Howard as heaven and earth, unique.

As expected of you!
Looking at the sidelines, Josh Howard was almost moved to tears.

And even if the fans of the four rookies want to complain about Liu He, they can't do it.

I, Liu He, said this not to belittle the four rookies, but to help my good brother Josh Howard.

What a touching story!
For Josh Howard, I am against the whole world, what else do you want from me?
You still scold me?Have you no brothers yourself?Are you so cold-blooded, heartless, and unreasonable?

Ok!

No matter what Liu He thought, the reporters were full and hiccupped.

That night, a series of news about the 2004 NBA Rookie Challenge hit the papers.

"Turning the tide: 9 three-pointers in the last quarter, the three-pointer devil dominates the Rookie Challenge."

"The king of rookies, Liu He!"

"133:121, the first grade reversed the second grade, Liu He was elected MVP!"

"Hosts win, Los Angeles player named Rookie Challenge MVP."

“刘河35分6篮板4助攻3抢断1盖帽，力压斯塔德迈尔38分9篮板3盖帽！”

"Rookie Challenge MVP Liu He: Both James and Haslem are the same!"

"Rookie Challenge MVP Liu He, support brother Josh Howard, he is better than me!"

……

Liu He naturally gained all the attention.

He is the most dazzling star on the first day of this All-Star.

In this way, the first day of the All-Star Weekend is over.

The next day ensued.

Beginning at 09:30 in the morning, the Staples Center will host a series of games.

Shooting Stars.

Skills Challenge.

Three point contest.

Dunk contest.

The first thing to do is the shooting star game, which is also a new game just launched by the NBA.

Mainly entertainment, supplemented by competition.

There are a total of four groups of contestants, with three people in each group.

The team consists of one NBA active player, one WNBA active player, and one NBA legend.

Each group shoots at 6 different shooting points, and the time to complete the shot is recorded, and the team with the shortest time wins.

The four groups of players participating this year are from the Lakers, Clippers, Pistons, and Spurs.

The Lakers lineup consists of "Little Fish" Fisher, "Magic" Johnson, and Sparks center Lisa Leslie.

The final score was 43.9 seconds for the Lakers.

Spurs 46 seconds.

The Clippers have 49.8 seconds.

Pistons 1:02.

The host Lakers won another round, which made the fans at the scene extremely excited.

What followed was a Skills Challenge.

This game was still regarded as a No. [-] stage back then, and the contestants were all No. [-] players.

This year's players include the Nuggets' "Little Man" Boykins, the Knicks' Marbury, the Hornets' "Bearded" Davis, and the Lakers' "Little Fish" Fisher.

In the preliminaries, Fisher and Beard performed well and successfully advanced.

It's a pity that in the final, Fisher wasted too much time on touchdown passes and three-pointers.

In the end, "Big Beard" Baron Davis won the championship.

Then, it came to the three-point contest.

Liu He will go into battle again.

Contestants for this three-point shootout include:

Kings' Peja Stojakovic, Nuggets' Voshan Leonard, Pistons' Chauncey Billups, Sonics' Rashard Lewis, Rockets' Cardino Mobley, Kyle Korver of the 76ers.

Plus Liu He of the Lakers.

There are seven people in total, all of whom are well-known sharpshooters in the league.

What's interesting is that Liu He's upper limit Peja and lower limit Lewis are both in Liu He's template.

Sure enough, NBA scouts are also good at it.

The on-site host was ingenious and specially asked all the contestants to issue a combat declaration first.

Leonard was the first to play: "I'm sorry, everyone. I'm here for the championship."

The teammates of the Nuggets immediately cheered for him, including Anthony.

Korver's second appearance: "I brought an [-]x lens tonight!"

The 76ers led by Iverson yelled.

Billups played third: "Who can be more accurate than me?"

The Pistons were even wilder, pumping their fists one by one.

Mobley's fourth appearance: "Must win!"

The Rockets players also cheered.

Lewis played fifth: "I'm not fighting alone tonight, I'm carrying Ray Allen's blessing, so I'm going to be double accurate tonight."

Ray Allen laughed.

Peja came in sixth: "Guys, are you here for second?"

In an instant, the entire Staples Center became lively.

These words are the original words of "Big Bird" Bird.

Peja paid tribute to Bird in advance.

After all, Peja is the highest among the seven sharpshooters and the most promising favorite to win the championship.

But this also made everyone think of a detail before the All-Star Weekend.

At that time, a reporter interviewed "Big Bird" Bird, saying that if Peja won the championship again this year, he would be able to complete the three-point shot contest for three consecutive times, just like Bird, and asked him how he evaluated Peja.

Bird said immediately: "Peja is an excellent player with superb shooting skills. He is exactly the same as me."

The reporters were dumbfounded: "Really?"

The king didn't even refute?
The reporter said this, of course, for the sake of making troubles. He even brought Bod to the same level as Peja, but he didn't expect the king to bear it.

"Big Bird" Bird: "I won three consecutive championships because I only participated in three three-point contests. Peja won three consecutive championships because I only participated in three three-point contests... You said, yes Isn't it the same?"

What Byrd means is that he can beat Peja when he comes back now.

reporter:"……"

It has to be you!
The top spot in the pretentious world, if you don't sit, you will have to stand if the corned egg comes.

Of course, no one will underestimate Peja.

When a shooter can get involved with Bird, that's an honor in itself.

You see, instead of being angry, Peja paid tribute to Bird by quoting Bird's classic trash talk.

Peja was the winner of the 2002 and 2003 All-Star Three-Point Contest.

If he wins again today, Peja will be able to achieve three consecutive championships in the three-point contest, which is comparable to "Big Bird" Bird.

It seems that this guy is very confident to complete the three-peat, full of confidence.

Peja's declaration was so classic that it made Liu He, the host, a little embarrassed.

The Los Angeles people are very worried: what will Liu He say in order not to be suppressed by Peja.

At this time, Liu He came up, first bowed to everyone, and then said sincerely: "Thank you for coming to my award ceremony!"

All the fans were taken aback for a moment.

Then the entire Staples Center exploded.

Fuck, it's you!

The other six people just wanted to win, but Liu He had already thought about his acceptance speech.

In this wave, the other five people are on the mountainside, Peja is on the top of the mountain, and Liu He is already in outer space.

The main thing is a self-confidence!
Immediately, the game officially began.

In the preliminaries, everyone has a chance.

Each person has five points, including two bottom corners, two 45-degree corners, and the top of the arc.

5 balls per point.

4 ordinary balls count as 1 point.

1 bouquet counts as 2 points.

Scores are calculated at the end, and the top three enter the final.

Of course, there is a time limit in the three-point shootout competition, which requires players to shoot fast, and they cannot take their time like usual training. The difficulty is not small.

Braised Egg: It's really hard enough!It's not hard. I can get 5 points?
The first player to play was the veteran Leonard. He scored 18 points very steadily, which is considered a relatively good result.

The second player to play was rookie Korver. Korver finally scored 19 points, which was even better than Leonard's performance.

Seeing the performance of the top two, the faces of the players behind are not good. The level of this year is a bit high, and the competition is very fierce.

Billups played third and seemed to be affected by the first two. He performed poorly and scored only 12 points. Mr. "Big Heart"'s performance is really unexpected!Of course, it is also possible that this scene is not big enough, and Billups' big heart has not yet been activated.

Mobley played fourth and also scored 14 points.

Billups and Mobley made consecutive mistakes, which relieved the players behind.

Lewis played fifth and played so-so, scoring 16 points.

In this regard, Billups and Mobley were eliminated.

Immediately, Peja played sixth.

The reaction at the scene was very enthusiastic, with cheers and boos.

After all, this is the biggest favorite to win the three-point contest.

In the end, Peja scored 21 points in the preliminaries.Worthy of being a top shooter.

Lewis was eliminated tragically, showing a helpless smile.

The current top three are:
Peja 21 points, Korver 19 points, Leonard 18 points.

Liu He was the last one to play. As long as he can score 19 points, Liu He can steadily enter the final.

But 19 points is not so easy to get.

"The time to test the three-point devil has come. Is it worthy of its reputation, or is it not worthy of its name?"

Finally, Liu He stepped onto the court.

In an instant, the Staples Center Arena erupted into cheers like a tsunami.

This is the advantage of playing at home.

Peja pouted, not paying attention to this, whoever can laugh till the end is the real winner, and the rest is meaningless.

Beside Peja, his teammate and fellow countryman Divac said: "This little guy should not be underestimated. He is nicknamed the Three Point Devil. There are only wrong names in this world, but there is no wrong nickname."

Peja chuckled lightly: "Three-point devil? That's his nickname in college. But this is the NBA, and it's no longer a college arena where kids play."

In the words, Peja was full of extreme confidence, and did not take Liu He seriously at all.

Divac saw that Peja was confident and it was not easy to hit him, so he kept his mouth shut.But he himself always felt that that rookie was definitely not easy to mess with.

At this time, Liu He stood at the first point.

The referee asked if he was ready, Liu He nodded, and the game officially started.

In an instant, the entire Staples Center became silent again. The Los Angeles native was afraid that any sound he made would affect Liu He's performance.

Liu He gently picked up the first ball, aimed at the basket, moved his fingers, and shot.

The basketball crossed a high parabola and drilled into the basket with precision.

Swish!
1 points.

second ball.

Swish!
2 points.

third ball.

Swish!
3 points.

fourth ball.

Swish!
4 points.

fifth ball.

Swish!
6 points.

This is a flower ball, representing 2 points.

The first point was 5 of 5 shots, and Liu He's performance was perfect from the beginning.

But Liu He looked calm, as if he had expected it, and ran to the second point silently.

During this process, the Los Angeles people seized the time and quickly offered their cheers.

Billups, Mobley, and Lewis, who watched their opponents' performance, smiled: There is something about the rookie.

They've been knocked out, no pressure.

Leonard is also quite relaxed, after all, the game has just begun.

As for Korver and Peja, they have already made it to the finals, so naturally there is no pressure.

When Liu He ran to the second point and grabbed the basketball, the cheers stopped immediately.

The Los Angeles people almost held their breath, watching Liu He's performance.

first ball.

Swish!
7 points.

second ball.

Swish!
8 points.

third ball.

Swish!
9 points.

fourth ball.

Swish!
10 points.

fifth ball.

Swish!
12 points.

The second point is still 5 of 5 shots, a total of 10 of 10 shots.

Liu He completed the score of Billups with only two points.

Billups, Mobley, and Lewis looked a little more serious. This rookie has more than just something.

Leonard's forehead began to sweat.

Korver and Peja are still calm.

Immediately, Liu He came to the third point.

first ball.

Swish!
13 points.

Second ball.

Swish!
14 points.

Third ball.

Swish!
15 points.

Fourth ball.

Swish!
16 points.

Fifth ball.

Swish!
18 points.

Still 5 of 5 shots, a total of 15 of 15 shots.

Billups, Mobley, and Lewis couldn't laugh anymore.

Veteran Leonard smiled wryly: Liu He caught up with his total score in three points, what else do he play?
Korver felt the pressure on his face.

And Peja is finally no longer calm.

At this time, Liu He came to the fourth point.

first ball.

Swish!
19 points.

Leonard was eliminated and Liu He entered the final.

Second ball.

Swish!
20 points.

Third ball.

Swish!
21 points.

Fourth ball.

Swish!
22 points.

Fifth ball.

Swish!
24 points.

It was 5 of 5 shots again, for a total of 20 of 20 shots.

And the score of 24 points has already tied the historical record created by the Cavaliers marksman Mark Price in the 1994 All-Star.

Liu He is now tied for the first place in history with Mark Price.

At this moment, the Staples Center resounded with earth-shattering cheers.

Even Los Angeles fans who are used to seeing big scenes cannot ignore an NBA historical record.

At this moment, Billups, Mobley, Lewis, Leonard are all calm.

The four of them watched the game seriously.No!It is a performance, and send your own blessings and expectations.

Korver couldn't help touching his forehead, only to realize that he was sweating.

And Peja's face has turned to ice.

One last point.

When Liu He picked up the first ball, it was still a standard and natural movement, which was honed through hard work.

Swish!
"25 points!"

Under the leadership of the host, everyone shouted in unison.

second ball.

Swish!
"26 points!"

third ball.

Swish!
"27 points!"

fourth ball.

Swish!
"28 points!"

last ball.

The basketball cut through the sky and got into the basket.

Swish!
"30 points!"

In an instant, the Staples Center exploded.

All the fans jumped up and celebrated wildly.

The Lakers teammates who came to watch the game rushed onto the court to celebrate around Liu He.

This is a new historical record, and one that will never be broken.

too crazy!

It took more than ten minutes for the on-site host to react, and said through the microphone: "Please take a break for the finalists Korver, Peja, and Liu He to prepare for the final."

Only then did everyone react: the game is not over yet?

Yes, although the performance just now was crazy, it was really just a preliminaries.

Still, is there any point in the final?

Are Korver and Peja still throwing in the towel?
Soon, the final came.

Competitors will enter the field according to their preliminaries, and those with the lowest scores will enter the field first.

Korver played first.

Korver was under tremendous pressure and finally scored 20 points, which was even better than the preliminaries.

Although compared with Liu He, Korver was overshadowed.But in the past, Korver's result could even win the championship.

Peja played second.

The Los Angeles native looked serious.

If there is anyone who can challenge Liu He, then it must be Peja.

Don't forget that Peja is the upper limit of Liu He's template.And Peja has won two consecutive championships before, and is the king of the three-point contest.

If Liu He's performance in the final is not as good as in the preliminaries, Peja still has a good chance of defeating Liu He.

But no one expected that Peja only scored an ordinary goal in the first point.

1 points.

The second point made a bouquet and still stumbled into the basket.

3 points.

After five points, Peja only scored 6 points.

This is this...

Everyone was dumbfounded.

6 points!

It almost equaled the worst record in the history of the three-pointer contest created by "Marinated Egg", with 5 points.

It's not really surprising.

Throughout Peja's career, it can be called "the dragon in the regular season, the bug in the playoffs".

As soon as the key game came, Peja's data dropped, his shooting percentage was sparse, and he was often injured and missed.

He is just a regular season star, and he has no ability to withstand pressure at all.

It should be that Liu He's performance in the preliminaries put too much pressure on him, which caused Peja's mentality to be unstable and seriously affected his performance.

The Staples Center was in an uproar.

O'Neill even said boldly: "I should sign up for this year's three-point shooting contest. Although I may not win the championship, I will definitely not be at the bottom."

Look, even O'Neill feels that he is more accurate than Peja, and Peja's performance has indeed reached a certain level.

(End of this chapter)