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Chapter 390 - 183. The All-Stars’ Apprehension_3

Chapter 390: 183. The All-Stars’ Apprehension_3

Kobe’s popularity hadn’t just returned over the years, it was even higher than when he had won the All-Star vote king in 2003!

This time Kobe was attending the Skills Challenge as a reserve, which the media saw as a signal from the league, reinstituting him as one of the NBA’s front-face superstars.

Felton’s performance in the qualifiers this year was even better than last year, achieving a time of 28.6 seconds, ranking first.

It was Kobe’s first contest and he performed well. Knowing his nature, once he decided to participate, he would definitely prepare thoroughly, advancing to the finals with an excellent time of 29.8 seconds.

The defending champion, Wade, made it to the finals with a time of 32 seconds, surpassing Deron’s 33.3 seconds.

James and Paul were runners-up again, the former finishing the course in 58 seconds, and the latter, too anxious after seeing Felton and Deron’s performances, missed repeatedly in the shooting phase and ended up without a score...

In the finals, Kobe made the same mistake as Paul, acting in haste, missing consecutive shots and ultimately finishing in 45 seconds, missing out on the prize money.

Felton maintained his performance from the qualifiers, winning the Skills Challenge championship with a time of 29.1 seconds, beating Wade’s 30.3 seconds.

The three-point contest had no one from the Bobcats participating this year; their best shooter was Matt Carroll. In such contests, role players like him find it hard to participate consecutively, unless they win the championship on their first try like Voshon Leonard did, and once they fail to defend their title, it’s hard to get another chance.

However, this year’s three-point contest was very exciting with Arenas, Terry, and the defending champion Nowitzki participating, along with three rookies: Jason Kapono, Damon Jones, and Mike Miller, all famous three-point sharpshooters in recent years.

Kapono made a name for himself in this three-point contest, topping the qualifier and tying the best final round performance of 24 points maintained by the back-to-back Three-Point King, Mark Price, in ’93 and ’94, dominating the championship.

At 10:30 PM, the Dunk Contest that Zhang Yang was most looking forward to finally arrived.

This year, the league had again amended the rules: a player could only fail once per dunk, and as soon as the player took the ball from the referee to start a move, regardless of whether the dunk was completed, it counted as an attempt.

Nate Robinson faced a ’nerf,’ while Gerald Green scored 91 points in the finals and made the only perfect score dunk of 50 points in the contest, winning the championship and earning the nickname ’Nine-finger Dunk King’ from domestic fans.

Actually, this year’s Dunk Contest was not very spectacular, but Zhang Yang, having witnessed Nate Robinson’s lengthy and lackluster performance live last year, found this year’s Dunk Contest quite enjoyable...

...

February 13, the All-Star Weekend game day arrived.

After watching the contest last night, Zhang Yang and his parents, DeRozan, Harden, and the coaches stayed together in a rented large house overnight.

After resting for a day and two nights, Zhang Yang woke up at six in the morning, fully revitalized!

He got out of bed and headed to the gym, started on the elliptical and lifting weights at 6:30 AM, and after finishing his workout at 7 AM, he returned to his bedroom to take a bath, and when he came back to the living room, his mom had already prepared breakfast for him, which felt very heartwarming.

When in Charlotte, he did this occasionally, visiting his parents’ home to enjoy some cozy moments, which made his parents happy, and him as well.

However, this warmth was soon interrupted...

Zhang Yang said, "Am I taking Goku back to Charlotte alone tomorrow? What about you guys?"

Yang Jing replied, "Tomorrow your dad and I have plans, and we’ll go back the day after. It’s fine if you go back tomorrow because I’ve checked, and your team doesn’t start training until tomorrow afternoon."

Zhang Yang pressed, "What’s so important that you would leave your son behind?"

Yang Jing responded, "Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I have a date with your dad! Honestly, I thought about sparing your feelings since you’re single, but you kept asking."

Zhang Yang said, "..."

Yes, it was his fault for prying too much!

After breakfast, Zhang Yang quickly escaped; he was never coming back to this dreadful place again.

Upon reaching the Thomas & Mack Center, a busy day began.

Yesterday, while watching the tri-contest, Zhang Yang sat in the fifth or sixth row with his parents, somewhat further back, opting not to mingle with the stars courtside. Today, having joined the All-Stars, he was thoroughly teased by everyone.

O’Neal, in front of Kobe, slapped Zhang Yang on the shoulder and said, "Jack, you truly are the most talented scoring shooting guard in NBA history, casually breaking the active player’s single-game scoring record. In my eyes, you are the top scoring guard in the league!"

Kobe looked disdainfully at O’Neal and walked away.

Zhang Yang felt he was nearly broken apart by O’Neal’s claps and quickly moved away, seeking retaliation.

He shouted towards Wade, "Dwayne, Shaq said I’m the best active scoring shooting guard, and he doesn’t think you match up – might be he’s just jealous you got the Finals MVP!"

Wade, initially a bit annoyed by O’Neal’s comment but hearing Zhang Yang stirring trouble, merely puffed his cheeks and said, "I too think you are the most talented scoring guard. I wish you surpass Michael Jordan."

Zhang Yang was quite surprised – this Number 3 was not so dumb, but why did he end up so miserably later in his career?

He turned his gaze towards James... that guy really had something going for him.

While Zhang Yang was watching James and Wade, the other All-Stars were watching him.

Teasing aside, Zhang Yang scoring 82 points the night before had indeed given the All-Stars a bit of a jolt.

If it had just been a breakout in the Rookie Game, it might have been overlooked, but Zhang Yang also had games during the regular season where he shot over 30 times for more than 50 points.

The All-Stars became more wary of Zhang Yang — better be careful not to let this kid burst out during a game! They certainly did not want to end up like Bosh as a mere backdrop.