Chapter 82: Delon vs. Paul
The 2008 NBA All-Star Weekend entered its second day, and the All-Star Mixed Shooting Contest began.
The Mixed Shot Contest requires teams to field a current NBA player, an active WNBA player and a retired veteran to form a mixed team, and the team is required to shoot at six different points in two minutes, and the team that completes all the goals in the least amount of time is the champion.
Participating in the tournament are Detroit's Chauncey Billups, WNBA Detroit Shock's Sven Cash and retired star Bill Lambir.
Chicago's Chris Dujon, WNBA's Chicago Sky's Candice Dupree and retired star B.J. Armstrong.
Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix team, Kapi Pandiste of the WNBA Phoenix Mercury team, and retired star Eddie Johnson.
The San Antonio team has Tim Duncan of the Spurs, Becky Harmon of the WNBA San Antonio Silver Stars, and retired star David Robinson.
Detroit won the tournament in 2007, while San Antonio and Phoenix won the tournament in 2006 and 2005, respectively.
The first to play was Chicago, where Dujon and Armstrong shot both well from the first five shooting points, and finally Dujon hit a long-range three-pointer from midfield in just 39.6 seconds.
The second player was Phoenix, where Stoudemire shot from a three-point point range and hit it on his second shot, while retired Johnson was out of shape, but the women's Pandise quickly threw himself into the midfield and shot from beyond distance with 50.9 seconds.
The third player was San Antonio, where the two 7-foot giants had a big problem with their mid-range jumpers, with David Robinson taking 18 seconds to shoot from the first spot, but his first five-pointer threw in a long-range three-pointer in 41.4 seconds.
The last player to play was Detroit, Billups made a three-shot shot at the second point to put it into the basket, but fortunately, Cash threw in a long-range three-pointer on the second shot, and the final time was 57.9 seconds.
The final was played between Chicago and San Antonio, with the former taking too much time to shoot a three-pointer from the midfield, while the latter's Duncan shot a three-pointer in just 35.8 seconds for the team to win the championship.
The mixed shooting competition was followed by a skills challenge.
The Skills Challenge consists of obstacle dribbling, passing, and shooting.
The competition is contested by four players in two rounds, with the shortest two players in the first round advancing to the final before the final is determined.
The 2008 All-Star Skills Challenge was a very strong one.
Competing in the tournament are defending champion Dwayne Wade (2006, 2007 champion) from the Miami Heat, Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets, Jason Kidd (2003 champion) of the New Jersey Nets and Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz.
Deron Williams was the first to come out, and he made one or two attempts in all events, finishing in just 31.2 seconds.
The second player was Kidd, who missed all five of his arc-top jumpers and delayed the clock, finishing with 39.7 seconds.
Paul came out in the third and hit a top-of-the-circle jumper in a single attempt that lasted just 29.9 seconds.
Defending champion Wade was the last to play, conceding the ball while going around the obstacles, missing consecutive jumpers from the top of the circle, and finally hitting three layups in a final time of 53.9 seconds.
At this time, the opponent in the final has come out, Deron Williams VS Chris Paul.
Williams and Paul made it to the finals, with Williams coming first, and his first shot ended with a dunk to get off to a good start, as well as a top-arc jumper that finished with just 25.5 seconds to complete.
Paul followed up with 31.2 seconds.
Paul's face was dejected, unwilling to lose to someone he had been compared to, even if it was an inconsequential All-Star, and his eyes were full of Stephen Nash and Allen Iverson-esque sadness.
Deron Williams, selected by the Utah Jazz with the third overall pick in 2005.
Chris Paul, drafted by the New Orleans Hornets with the 4th overall pick in 2005.
The qualifications of the two are similar, and they can build teams around them, but the Jazz's veteran coach Sloan is more optimistic about Deron Williams, who has more physical fitness and more solid basic skills. And the Hornets (now the Pelicans) drafted talented point guard Chris Paul with the fourth pick.
The two have been in the spotlight since they entered the league, and the outside world sees them as the league's future No. 1 point guard.
The matchup between the two is also in the spotlight, but DeLong, who is better equipped with the team, can always win against the Hornets with Paul. Whether it's the stats or the team, this also makes Delon get a good reputation, eat and sleep to play Paul.
DeLong, who is familiar with Rockets fans and friends, will not forget this name, which is the name that was ridiculed by Maddy for not being able to read well.
Delon has made the Rockets lose for two consecutive years, which is a hurdle that the Yao Mai combination can't get over, and there was a time when Rockets fans hated Delon plus Boozer and all the players and coaches of that team.
I hate everything in Salt Lake City, I hate the old man Sloan who has been fighting for countless years and is not tired of blocking and demolition, even if Yao Mai retired and transferred, he never gave up his hatred for this white iron army.
It wasn't until now that I saw that Millsap was the best in the league among the personnel of that team, and finally there was no point of hatred, and I slowly learned to let go and slowly understand.
Even, more or less, with a hint of pity and that feeling of being overwhelmed, why did Delon actually fall to the point where he was not even qualified to be hated by Rocket fans?
'05 was not a big year for the draft, after the glory of the golden generation in '03, '05 didn't seem to have eased up, and there were only three rookies worth mentioning this year, Delon, Paul, and Granger.
As we all know, Granger is no longer as brave as he used to be after that major injury, and he was ruthlessly sold by the Pacers, so he is not a superstar.
Bogut, the champion of '05, was also on and off, tormented by repeated injuries and not becoming a superstar, and Delon and Paul have been recognized by the league as the face of the future league point guard since their rookies.
This point, until today, is undeniable, but the world is impermanent, one is as a super leader but has not been able to touch the floor of the West for many years, and the other is a little fat man who has played extremely unstable and slowly disappeared from the sight of fans, even if he later joined the Cavaliers, he did not let De Regeny show his demeanor back then.
Deron Paul's matchup became a bright spot in the league for a while, and this landscape broke when Delon moved to the Nets.
Delon quickly fell from the Nets and fell out of the ranks of the league's top point guards. This is a loss not only for the league but also for the fans, who will not see a high-level point guard battle for many years to come.