Since the All-Star Game was proposed in 1951, it has been held 49 times in 2000 now, except for last year's boycott because of the labor contract, the league did not organize the All-Star Game, almost every year, this year's game Stern is particularly important, because last year's shutdown, plus the Finals are still between two defensive teams, I wanted to take advantage of the Knicks' geographical advantage to do something, but the Knicks' leader Patrick Ewing was also injured, For a while, the ratings of this finals hit a new low. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

This year's All-Star team must be as good as Stern can be, or the league will lose a lot of fans.

Although it was late at night, Stern still didn't sleep, these days have been completely finalized the list of the slam dunk contest and the three-point contest, the three-point game gradually lost its appeal after the departure of those legendary shooters, and there were no famous players to participate, although the slam dunk contest is the same, after all, no one wants to carry the name of a dunk for the rest of their lives, but the dunk contest has its unique advantages after all, and the audience still has greater attention to it. Stern looked at the list of slam dunk contests in his hand and felt very satisfied, although there were no superstars in it, (Carter was still a sophomore in 2000, Maddie was not a starter, Boss Fergus was a rookie, only Jerry Stackhouse was still a first-class star, not to mention Larry Hughes and Ricky Davis) But Stern also knew that these people were really good in terms of physical fitness, and judging from the season performance of these people, this slam dunk contest can also be expected, And it turns out that this is the case. (The 2000 dunk is really able to make people watch it several times, and the most important thing is that the dunk of that session is actually very good, but Carter's appearance directly shocked everyone)

Stern put down the list and pressed his eyebrows, these have been booked early, if there are no injuries, there is no problem, for Stern, there is only one problem now, the "hand-picked" wild card of the Eastern All-Star.

After Stephen Marbury's injury, an All-Star spot in the East became vacant, and the stars in the East were already a little scarce because of the Bulls dynasty back then, and now it is really difficult to find a few stars who support the façade. At this time, Stern had to select a top All-Star position from a group of first-class players who were close to the star level, and after all yesterday's games, the data sheet and video of a game were sent to his desk, the Knicks played against the Hornets, although the Knicks were at a back-to-back physical disadvantage on the road, but unexpectedly, the Knicks defeated the Hornets with All-Star starting guard Eddie Jones, in this game, because Johnson and Camby were both injured and were promoted to the starting lineup. cut 31 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal, directly helping the Knicks win a wave of four consecutive wins.

Stern was very impressed with the player. At the beginning, Stern always wanted to open the Oriental market, and Mo Xi, a Chinese player who can speak Chinese, naturally became the first choice, but later Mo Xi was admitted to the hospital because of alcoholism, which made him very disappointed, but then he appeared on the stage of the finals again, and also performed well, Stern put him back on the watch list, but the attention was not as good as in the past, because the Mavericks selected a real local player from the East this year. However, it seems that he was not able to come to the United States because of communication problems with domestic clubs, but this is enough for him to set his eyes on him.

But now, Stern has received the latest information about the player who was almost given up by him, and he can't help but have some thoughts in his heart.

So far this season, he has averaged 15 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.3 blocks and 0.2 steals per game, but the average of 1.6 turnovers per game is still a bit too much for a person who has played 21 minutes, with a shooting rate of 54% and a free throw shooting rate of 78%, which is really unusual among centers. Stern looked carefully at the report in his hand, this report is different from the scouting report, and it is also included in Mo Xi's performance on the field, but obviously that is not the point, the core is Mo Xi's usual life, Stern looked at Mo Xi's usual spare time, and couldn't help but be a little bored, he seemed to be watching the life of an ascetic, doing the same thing almost every day, unless it was inevitable life communication, otherwise, his schedule could almost be made into a class schedule for a middle school student in the United States.

This is a player in the mode of Law, and this is when Stern has his first impression of Moxi.

A New York player, a single-parent family, a Chinese, Georgetown University graduate with a tradition of excellent center forwards, and a career with ups and downs in these two seasons, Mo Xi's life can be seen as the protagonist template of another model, and in Stern's view, this is a very inspirational person.

This is obviously another high-quality idol player that can be promoted in the United States after Grant Hill, but, Stern glanced at the Eastern list, on the Eastern All-Star, the Knicks already have four people on the list, thanks to Camby's injury, the Knicks can occasionally participate in the personnel This is less, before this has never been a team with more than three players at the same time to enter the All-Star, after all, the concentration of All-Stars in one team will still cause the number of votes to be scattered, Stern doesn't want a team of four to enter the All-Star so early, not to mention, although the Knicks team is in New York and occupies some geographical advantages, but New York's basketball has always been very iron-blooded, to put it mildly, it is actually a hooligan, Sprewell has even done coaching, Patrick Ewing is also a little old, he didn't seem to be going to enter the All-Star, but it seems that in order to take care of his junior brother, Ewing returned to the All-Star arena without hesitation, It's just to build momentum for his primary school brother. In the United States, you can never detach yourself from this human connection, and Stern himself is like that, as a Jew, New York is a place where Jews gather extensively, and he is also a part of this network.

Stern thought about it, and suddenly took out the information of the previous Eastern All-Stars and looked at it, and suddenly showed a smile, Georgetown, this may also be a good gimmick.

Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, DiCambe Mutombo, Aaron Iverson, plus a pity, a university with four players in the same division at the same time is also a pretty good topic, not to mention that their university is also the university of famous diplomats in Washington, and the veins from here are even wider, even radiating overseas.

After some deliberation, Stern decided to give Mo Xi this opportunity, and as the twelfth man, he was estimated to only play for a few minutes. Stern typed the name XI-Mo into his computer, sent an email to the Knicks' official office and Murphy's agent, Bill Duffy, and then thought about it for a moment, looked at the report on the table, and picked up the phone and dialed it.

"Hello, this is Mo."

Stern looked at the watch on the table, eleven o'clock, just returned from the training gym, and he was really a person with perseverance to maintain such a training volume in the middle of the season. Stern said: "Hello, Mr. Mo, I'm David Stern, the same David Stern in the New York headquarters office, I know you usually train late, so I hope it doesn't bother you, I have good news here, I hope you won't mind if I call you at this time, congratulations, you're on the 2000 All-Star East team." ”

On the other end of the phone, Mo Xi didn't believe that the person talking to him was really David Stern at first, but who would call him at such a time just to entertain him? After hearing that he was selected for the All-Star team, Mo Xi felt a surge of blood all over his body, and although his voice remained calm, his slightly trembling palms betrayed him. "Thank you, thank you for your appreciation, Mr. Stern," said Moxi. ”

How Mo Xi doesn't understand that in this kind of All-Star injury, the top spot is not chosen by the coach or fans, but directly hand-picked by Stern, Mo Xi can enter the Eastern All-Star, Stern's approval is the most important.

Stern was old, he could clearly hear the excitement hidden in Mo Xi's voice, and he said with a smile: "Well, I won't disturb your rest, you can share this news with your friends as soon as possible." ”

Mo Xi nodded hurriedly and said, "Got it, thank you again, Mr. Stern, and I wish you a good night." ”

The two hung up the phone.

After ending the call, Mo Xi was a little difficult to suppress his excitement, he was eager to tell the news to the people around him, the first person he wanted to call was his mother, but after looking at the time, he gave up decisively. At this point in time, who should I call better?

Well, that's you.

Thousands of kilometers away in Philadelphia, the little black man who was doing something like this and that suddenly had a cold war, and it ended half an hour earlier than usual, he muttered something strange in his heart, and suddenly heard the phone ring downstairs, and he had to run down bare-bottomed when he wanted to do it again.

"Hey! Damn, hell, you called me so late just to say this, how could you not get in with me supporting you so much. ”

“……”

"What am I doing? Training, of course! ”

The next morning, Mo Xi came to the Knicks' training hall, everyone could see that Mo Xi was very happy today, of course they knew what the reason was, just early in the morning, the Knicks and the league's official website had announced that Mo Xi became the Knicks' fourth All-Star player in the form of a fill-in, as soon as the news came out, the whole New York fell into a jubilation, this is the first time in the history of the league that a team has four people selected as All-Stars at the same time, which also brings a different hope to New Yorkers, Coupled with Camby, who was taken as an All-Star due to injury, such a lineup is almost within reach, and the Knicks may be able to reach out to that golden trophy for a while.

"Hey, Mo, Mr. Van Gundy told you to go to his office." A staff member appears to be looking for him and asks him to go to the coach's office as soon as they meet.

When he arrives at the coach's office, he discovers that Ewing, Houston, and Sprewell are also there.

Van Gundy said to them, or mainly to Houston and Murphy, who were selected as All-Stars for the first time: "The day before the All-Star Break, the team will send a special plane to take you directly to Golden State, and the meeting time is at 10 o'clock in the morning, you are the participating players, you have to go early, if you want to bring your family, you can also bring your family." "As a wealthy New York, it is natural that they don't care about these things, and they can go with other players if they want to, or just want to have a good rest on this rare weekend.

Houston and Moxi, who were participating in the All-Star Weekend for the first time, were still very nervous, and Ewing took on the lead at this time, and several people had a little conversation in the office about the All-Star Weekend, especially the game.

At this time, the All-Star Game is very strong in nature, but it is not as defenseless as it is more than ten years later, the confrontation is still there, and the fight is very intense, especially the last time, the fledgling Kobe Bryant forcibly confronted Jordan who is about to retire, and many fans are very intoxicated.

Mo Xi listened very carefully at the beginning, but later on, he began to get a little distracted, because he began to think about one thing, if he invited her to see the All-Star, would it be successful?

With such a thought, Mo Xi completed today's training in a machine style, thought of his usual work and rest time, and decisively went out secretly at noon to make a few phone calls.

"So, that, do you have time this weekend?"

"This weekend? It's kind of free, by the way, I want to congratulate you on becoming an Eastern All-Star, and now the whole school has spread that the Georgetown four have entered the All-Star, which is unprecedented! ”

"Yes! So can I invite you to All-Star Weekend? ”

“……”

“……”

"Okay."

"Really? I'll book you a ticket right now. ”

"Bill? I need you to do me a favor and book a round-trip ticket from Washington to New York, yes, for All-Star ......Weekend."