"Hello audience friends, today is the All-Star 3-Point Contest." On Saturday, February 12, 2000, the day before the All-Star Game, the Oakland Arena will host two very important events, one is the All-Star 3-point contest, and then the much-anticipated All-Star Slam Dunk Contest.

The first thing to do is the All-Star 3-point contest, and today's 3-point contest can be said to have gathered all the 3-point players in the entire league, from the Jazz's defending champion Jeff? Hornacek, Bucks star Ray Allen, Grizzlies' Mike Bibby, 76ers' big man Allen Iverson, Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki and his teammate Hubert Davis, Cavaliers' Bob Sula and Spurs' Meng Xu, a total of 8 people will participate in this year's 3-point competition, and the NBA league is also invited, 3-time All-Star 3-point contest champion Larry Bird, and Craig? Hodges served as the guest commentator for the game.

"Haha, Meng, are you ready to bring the trophy home in today's game?" Just as all the players walked out of the tunnel of the players, the defending champion of the 3-point tournament, Jeff? Hornacek looked at Meng Xu with some playfulness.

No matter what Meng Xu said to that group of reporters yesterday, basically all the headlines of sports newspapers this morning belonged to Meng Xu, not because Meng Xu won the MVP of the rookie challenge, but because Meng Xu said wildly, "I can win the championship with my eyes closed", countless newspapers have used this sentence as a front-page headline, and as the defending champion, Jeff? After seeing such news, Hornacek was obviously very unhappy with Meng Xu, which obviously wanted to step on his own position.

"Of course." Meng Xu towards Jeff? Hornacek squeezed his eyes and walked to the sideline and sat down. After the 8 participating players were seated, it was obvious that they were divided into several small groups. Hornacek and Hubert Davis sat together, while Allen Iverson sat with the middle generation players such as Ray Allen and Bob Sula, rookies in the same year, and the rest of Nowitzki, Mike Bibby, sat closer to Meng Xu.

"Meng, you did a great job yesterday." After taking his seat, Nowitzki also chatted with Meng Xu, who is also an international player, and there is still a lot of common language between the two.

"Thanks, Dirk, you're doing a great job too." Meng Xu said and swept his gaze over the several participating players on the field, and he was already thinking about the game that would start in half an hour.

"Larry, which player are you most optimistic about today's game? Do you think your successor will make it to the finals? This little guy can win the championship with his eyes closed, which is really not bad at all compared to you back then. When the DJ began to introduce all the players to the audience on the field, Craig? Hodges also looked at Larry Bird with some amusement.

"Hahaha, that's true, this little guy really looks like me." Larry Bird looked at Meng Xu, who was waving to the crowd in the center of the court, and smiled: "There are many factors to win the championship, but I think he has no problem entering this year's final." ”

This morning's newspaper headlines, Larry Bird has also read it, for this little guy's wild words, Larry Bird is also a little speechless, if he wins the championship, then his sentence will be the same as his own sentence "Are you all here to compete for the second child?" "It's another classic in the 3-point game, but if he fails, it will be the same as Jordan's 5 points, and it will become a stain that he can't shake off for the rest of his life.

This year's All-Star 3-Point Contest has not changed much from the usual, with a total of 5 shooting points, two bottom corners on the left and right, two 45-degree angles on the left and right and the top of the 3-point arc, 5 balls at each point, 1 point for each of the 4 orange balls in front, and 2 points for the last flower ball, with a time limit of 2 minutes and a full score of 30 points. It is still divided into two rounds, the three players with the best results in the first round enter the final, and the best player in the final wins the championship, and if there is a tie, then there will be an extra minute of extra time. According to the results of the competition in recent years, as long as you score 20 points, you can enter the finals, or even the championship, you must know that in the previous 12 3-point competitions, only 4 have won the championship with a score of more than 20 points, and the highest score record in the final of the 3-point competition is only 24 points.

Allen Iverson, who came out first, Iverson obviously does not belong to the game shooter, after 5 points and 25 basketball shots, he only hit 9 balls and scored 10 points, and Iverson also smiled awkwardly when he got off the court, waved to the fans in the audience to thank him, and after returning to his seat, Iverson got dressed, and it was basically impossible for such a result to enter the finals.

As a rookie last year, Mike Bibby was obviously a little nervous, and finally scored 9 points, which is basically determined to be at the bottom.

The third appearance is Nowitzki, as a big man of 2.13 meters, being able to participate in the 3-point competition itself is an affirmation of his 3-point ability, and Nowitzki did bring a lot of surprises to the audience after he came on the court, except for the first two points of the shot is a little crooked, the back 3 points are all 5 shots and 4 hits, a total of 20 points, such a score can already win the championship in previous years.

Bob Sula and Hubert Davis, who came out next, were mediocre, scoring 13 and 14 points respectively, and the third from the bottom was Ray Allen, the most vocal player in the 3-point tournament this year, who was called Reggie Miller, the league's best scorer did not disappoint, hitting 14 consecutive goals in the middle three points, and finally ranked first with 22 points.

And the next defending champion Jeff? Hornacek's arrival was a big high-end for the game, as the 37-year-old once again left Ray Allen behind with a record-breaking 24 points.

When Jeff? After Hornacek left the court, there was also an uproar in the press box, 3 of the first 7 players scored more than 20 points in the first round, and Meng Xu, who was the last to play, must score 21 points to enter the final round.

"This arrogant rookie is likely to be eliminated in the first round, hahaha, and he said that he can win the championship with his eyes closed." The New York Times reporter is the most excited one at this time, I don't know if Meng Xu has a hatred for taking his wife with the reporters of the New York Times, since Meng Xu entered the league, they have been hacked, and the headline of the sports section of the New York Times this morning is the most arrogant rookie in history.

"Meng, come on." When Meng Xu was about to play, Iverson's voice came from behind him, and at this time, the eyes of the audience also focused on Meng Xu.

"Hmm." Meng Xu looked back at Iverson and nodded, 21 points, at least 21 points to enter the finals, this score is not easy, you must know that the bottom corner of the 3 points is Meng Xu's shortcoming, if you want to enter the finals, you must first ensure that the middle 3 points can not be lost, and the two positions in the bottom corner must take at least 3 to 4 points to make up the score for the finals.