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Chapter 391 - 184. How did such a talent end up on a team like this?

Chapter 391: 184. How did such a talent end up on a team like this?

Yesterday afternoon, the heat from Zhang Yang’s 82-point performance in the rookie challenge began to cool down as media and fans shifted their attention to the Skills Challenge. But by today, the topic was hot again.

At the roundtable interview at noon, the Western All-Stars had backup selection Okur with not a single reporter by his side, while Kobe was surrounded inside and out.

A reporter asked Kobe if he would score 83 points tonight to reclaim the record for the most points in a single game among active players.

The reporter thought Kobe would answer with something like "The rookie game doesn’t count as an official match."

Unexpectedly, Kobe replied, "No, I’m not going to compete with Jack over something like this tonight. He’s only 18, and I’m already 28. No matter how many points I score, he could surpass it in the future, as the players to come have endless possibilities."

Reporters felt that this year’s Kobe was a little different.

Then someone followed up, "So are you planning to score 83 points when you play against the Toronto Raptors?"

Who was that? Following the rhythm of the interview, shouldn’t Kobe be moving on to the next topic with that answer? He looked at the person who asked the question with annoyance... and was momentarily speechless.

Charlotte’s Zhang San somehow got hold of a microphone and secretly asked questions among the reporters. But with his nearly two-meter tall frame, he stood out like a firefly in the night, impossible to hide.

Kobe glared at Zhang Yang with dead fish eyes for quite a while, using his gaze to drive Zhang Yang away...

This was a little interlude at today’s roundtable interview. The reporters found it amusing and reported the incident.

They didn’t expect the bad boy Jack to have such a side.

Soon, it was 8 o’clock in the evening, and the highly anticipated All-Star game commenced.

True to his word, Kobe didn’t mess around, but rather cooperated nicely with his starting teammates McGrady, Marion, Garnett, and Duncan after the game started.

The Eastern team also played hard, with O’Neal and James lobbying everywhere, trying to secure the MVP title for Wade.

The East All-Stars, out of respect for O’Neal + James, complied.

But the West team started off by striking the East a blow of 16 to 9.

The gap in strength was a bit too obvious.

Wade, Zhang Yang, James, Gerald Wallace, and O’Neal as a five-man squad, were beaten by the opposite side with a 16 to 9 run from the start.

McGrady + Garnett’s dual-core strategy, Duncan’s mid-range support, Marion’s cuts to condense defense, and Kobe’s isolation plays left the Eastern team unable to defend.

As for the East’s offense...

This season, O’Neal had an attendance rate of less than half, and for the first time in his career, he was still around 160 kg in weight when February arrived. Facing the defense of Duncan + Garnett, he couldn’t make a dent.

The East’s offense had to rely on Wade and James’ strong counterattacks and... Zhang Yang’s one-on-one against McGrady.

Wade faced Kobe’s tenacious defense plus the twin 21 towers, and James faced Marion + the twin 21 towers, both came up short.

Zhang Yang thought he was just going to be a decoration in his second-year All-Star game but ended up being the main support!

Seeing another three-pointer from the other side about to widen the gap to double digits, Eastern team head coach Bickerstaff called a timeout, subbing in Okafor for O’Neal, and Arenas for Wade.

West team head coach D’Antoni also made lineup changes, whimsically putting in Parker, Josh Howard, Anthony, Nowitzki, along with Kobe, wanting to try the Mavericks’ style of play.

D’Antoni was just out of curiosity, but that move directly killed the game...

In the following 12 minutes, Parker, Kobe, Josh Howard, Anthony, and Nowitzki took turns isolating and passing the ball, completely baffling the Eastern team.

By the second quarter with 3 minutes 16 seconds left, the East had only increased its score to 36 points, which was not too bad for an All-Star game at that time; the 2005 All-Star game ended with just over 50 each by halftime.

But the West had already scored 60 points!

The lineup that D’Antoni switched in out of curiosity could be described as the ultimate luxury strengthened version of the Mavericks’ isolation and ball distribution strategy!

Substituting peak Parker for third-year Harris, peak Kobe for Terry, Anthony for Stackhouse... even Nowitzki, who always thought he lived a life of luxury, had never fought such an opulent battle!

D’Antoni, upon seeing this unstoppable offense, was reluctant to make substitutions, and inadvertently let the game spiral out of control...

By the end of the third quarter, the score had reached 123 to 90.

In the final quarter, the West eased off, and the East managed to score 42 to 30, which had no real impact on the outcome.

Kobe with 31 points and 6 assists, Nowitzki 29 points and 3 assists, Anthony 20 points and 4 assists, Josh Howard 12 points and 4 assists, Parker 18 points, McGrady 8 points and 11 assists, Duncan 4 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, Garnett 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 10 assists... The West beat the East 153 to 132.

For the East, James scored 28 points, and Zhang Yang, with 20 points and 6 assists, were the highest scorers. O’Neal managed 10 points and 6 rebounds with 5 out of 13 shooting, Wade got 10 points and 3 assists with 5 out of 12, Arenas 12 points and 4 assists, Howard 10 points and 12 rebounds... and no one else scored in double digits.

Zhang Yang once again felt the huge impact of O’Neal’s move to Miami on the NBA.

Since the All-Star weekend was resumed in 2000, from 2000 to 2004, in the 5 years of All-Star games, the West won 4 and lost 1. The only win for the East was when Iverson exploded, leading the East to a shocking 110 to 109 victory. Yes, the news used the word "shock," which just goes to show the perceived disparity in talent between the East and West All-Stars at the time.