The Rookie Challenge was scheduled for 8 p.m., and it was already 19:40, and the player entrance ceremony had just been completed, and the players from both teams had already entered and were warming up for the game to begin.

The players on the field are busy, and the stars watching the game from the sidelines are not idle.

The Heat's Wade sat on the sidelines with sunglasses, and as soon as the first- and sophomores entered, he began to cheer for his younger brother, Michael Beasley; The Lakers' Pau Gasol also walked around the sidelines with ease, and his younger brother Marc Gasol is playing today; Yao Ming was still on the sidelines with popcorn in one hand and soda in one hand, and the little giant was cheering for Emperor Wu; At the same time, there are a number of other big names on the scene, and these real big names bring a lot of stars to the relatively uneventful rookie game every year.

But even without the blessing of these off-court superstars this year, this rookie game can be called star-studded.

Needless to say, Wu Huang is the ticket king of the All-Star Game, and when he comes to play the rookie game, the tiger has entered the cat pile, and he can't be conspicuous.

If the first-grade team can only be shot by Wu Huang and Evans, the second-grade team can really be called full of talent.

First of all, both Rose and Westbrook on point guard have the ability to compete with Wu Huang. Mayo on the second seat is Wu Huang's senior, and both of them are elites produced by the University of Southern California. Gallinari in the third position is Wu Huang's teammate and younger brother. Lefu and López in the fourth and fifth positions are already the leaders of the younger generation.

Now, to put it mildly, '08 was undoubtedly a draft year, and many of those players at that time now have quasi-All-Star strength. Nowhere have there been as many rookies as in '08. And there are future leaders like Rose. This has not been the case in the last five years, and probably only in 2003 and 1996.

The rookies of '09 are not low, Wu Huang and Evans are not inferior to Rose and Wei Shao in terms of potential, but the sophomore players have an extra year to grow than them, which is an insurmountable advantage in the initial stage.

Although the first-year players have outstanding potential, the fact is that most of them have not really turned their potential into combat power, and the only hope for the first-year team to end the seven-game losing streak tonight is Wu Huang. Strictly speaking. He is the only one on the first-year team who truly has an All-Star power.

First-year lineup -

PG: Wu Huang, Brandon Jennings, Stephen Curry.

SG: Tyrek Evans, James Harden.

SF: Omi Cosby.

PF: Ty Gibson, Jonas Jerebko.

C: DeJuan Blair.

Second Grade Lineup -

PG: Derek Rose, Russell Westbrook.

SG: O.J. Mayo, Eric Gordon.

SF: Danilo Gallinari, Omi Casby.

PF: Michael Beasley, Kevin Love.

C: Brook Lopez, Marc Gasol.

T-N-T's Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith were in charge of commentating today's game, and before the game even started, ****** introduced the fans: "Last year's All-Star Weekend in Phoenix, Durant's heroic performance taught the rookies of Derrick Rose and Mayo, and now all they have to do is to give the "misfortune" of a year ago to the current rookies. ”

Kenny Smith said: "The sophomores have an all-round lead, they have good players inside and outside, Rose, Westbrook and Mayo will take charge of the team's offense, and on the inside they have Brook Lopez, Marc Gasol, Kevin Love, and the likes of Beasley and Gallinari from the middle and long range, and they will have a more balanced offensive and defensive performance to impact the victory." ”

In fact, it is. In the eyes of the majority of neutral fans, compared to the rookie team. The inside line will be an advantage for sophomores. Lopez, Gasol Jr., and Love are all interior players who have already proven themselves in the NBA, and with the non-trivial Beasley, the sophomore has every ability to dominate the three-second zone.

Charles Barkley smiled: "Although the second-year team has a huge advantage, but in addition to Wu Huang and Evans in the first-year team, there are some other variables, don't forget that Jennings had an amazing performance of 55 points in a single game, but after that, his performance tended to be flat, I don't know if the Bucks guards can use this rookie challenge to regain their feelings." In addition, Curry has a good outside offensive strength, and he and Jennings will try to bring more offensive help to the team. ”

"Guys, now the whole world says that the second grade will win, but I don't believe in this evil, I think we will be the final winners!" Wu Huang completely replaced Durant's assistant coach job on the sidelines, and he is fully qualified to perform the role of captain in front of this group of players. And he did, and he was not polite at all when he stood up for the pre-game mobilization before the game began.

Wu Huang gathered his teammates together and mobilized in an impassioned tone: "Think about it, if this is a close game, we will be laughed at after losing!" But today everyone took the second-year team's victory for granted, so what else do we have to worry about? We don't have to go under pressure at all, and even if we lose, no one will laugh at us. ”

Speaking of this, Wu Huang changed his words: "However, as long as we open the game to surprise the opponent, the pressure will be completely transferred to the opponent's side, because the second-year team can't afford to lose than us, once they lose this game, they will really be laughed at by everyone, and we will become a classic example of defeating the strong with the weak and will be recorded in history forever." So, for us, it's a sure-fire deal, what are you hesitating about? ”

"That's right, Hugo is right, it's a sure-fire deal." Spurs center DeJuan Blair was the first to step up in support of Wu Huang, who had promised the short interior with an unusually long arm span to send the ball inside at every opportunity.

"We're not worse than them on the outside, and on the inside, we're really inferior to them on the offensive end, but on the defensive end and rebounding, I'm sure we won't lose to them." Gibson, as Wu Huang's old teammate, naturally has to stand up and support him.

The head coach of the first-year team, Terry Stotts, said at this time: "Everyone is right, although the second-year team has the advantage, but there is no absolute advantage, and they have obvious shortcomings in the first and second positions - their projection ability is far inferior to ours, today everyone should pay attention to the protection of the rebound and force them to shoot from the outside." ”

That's what Terry Stotts had when he was working out his tactics in the locker room.

Rose and Wei Shao of the sophomore team are the leading point guards in their respective teams, but the two will definitely start together today, Wei Shao is actually in the second position, such a backcourt combination does have a defect in projection ability, as long as the first-year team can amplify this defect of the opponent, and then defend the interior offense of the second-year team, protect the backcourt rebound, they have a hope of winning.

There was nothing wrong with that, and when the game was about to start and the two teams began to leave the field, Rose and Wei Shao stayed on the field together.

First-year starters: Wu Huang, Tyrek Evans, Omi Casby, Ty Gibson, DeJuan Blair.

Second-year starters: Derek Rose, Russell Westbrook, Daroni Gallinari, Michael Beasley, Brook Lopez.

"Boss, I didn't expect us to become opponents today, you must be merciful!" When the players of the two teams greeted each other, Gallinari did not forget to show weakness in front of Wu Huang. In fact, he felt that he had won today, no matter how strong Wu Huang was, the internal disadvantage of the first-year team was too great, one of Ty Gibson and De Juan Blair was less than two meters, and the other was just over two meters, and they were killed in seconds just because of their height.

"What's the mercy, we're going to lose today!" Wu Huangcai didn't care what Gallinari was thinking, the first-year team discussed it before the game, and began to show weakness to the enemy from the previous interview, in front of the media, they talked about friendship first, game second, and constantly praised the strength of the opponent's inner line, increasing the psychology of the second-year players to carelessly underestimate the enemy, in fact, they planned to give the enemy a head-on blow at the beginning!

In the opening scrum, Lopes won easily, which seemed to indicate that everything was as predicted before the game.

Rose advanced with the ball, and although the first grade had the attention to real play, he still did not assist in defense at the beginning, and completely used one-on-one defense.

The Bulls core only played one game last night, and although they made up for sleep this morning, they are still physically tired. The first offense didn't choose to play on his own, passing the basketball to Billis on the wing, who sent a second pass, and Gallinari received the ball and hit a two-point jumper.

The 70,000 fans in front of the stadium immediately cheered for the first goal scored by both teams today! The live broadcast camera swept to the audience, and the fans in front of the TV could quickly find that there were too many fans wearing Wu Huang's No. 14 jersey today.

Charles Barkley said: "I guess at least 10,000 of the 70,000 people in the stadium today are wearing Hugo jerseys, and I haven't seen anything like that with Kobe Bryant and James, and Michael Jordan was no different. ”

Kenny Smith laughed: "Your description is a bit exaggerated, but Hugo does have a surprising number of fans, a large part of them are Asian fans from afar, and there are also a lot of female fans. We all know how much Hugo is loved by female fans, he has the face of an idol star, and he also has the strength of a football star, this is a lucky person who is blessed by God. ”

Wu Huang, the lucky man, was quickly dribbling to the front court at this time, and before the players of the two teams could settle down, he tried to break through Rose.

This breakthrough was originally just a tentative move, but Rose's footsteps were very empty today, Wu Huang's reaction was extremely fast, and when he saw this, he immediately faked it, and got rid of the opponent's layup in two steps to score the ball, and at this time, the interior of the sophomore team had not had time to rush to the defensive position.

Ewing the Gorilla on the sidelines has been an assistant coach for many years, but what he hasn't noticed is that his team is far superior to the first-year team on the inside, but it's not about the defensive end, it's about the offensive end.

If the two teams only compete for defensive ability on the inside, then it is not the second-year team that wins, but the first-year team. (To be continued.) )