366. The All-Star opening time passed slowly but surely, and soon, 2005 ushered in his February.

2005 was a great year because it was the World Year of Physics, the International Year of Physical Education, the Year of Einstein, the Year of Hans Christian Andersen. Of course, these have nothing to do with ordinary people, and American citizens just look at these names with curious eyes, and maybe they will briefly discuss them after dinner.

In February 2005, many major events occurred, such as on the 1st, King Gyanendra of Nepal suddenly dismissed the prime minister and established a new cabinet headed by himself, which alarmed the United Nations. Annan urged Nepal to restore the freedom of boil as soon as possible. On September 9, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) admitted for the first time that they possessed nuclear weapons and claimed that the six-party talks would be postponed indefinitely. On the 13th, a major event occurred in Iraq, which was of concern to American citizens, when the Shiites, who make up the majority, declared victory in the elections...... On the 16th, after nearly eight years of controversy, the "Kyoto Protocol" to limit global greenhouse gas emissions was finally confirmed by more than 120 countries to officially enter into force. Schwarzenegger showed his fatherly side and uttered the words that made the world admire: "There are some things that you don't do doesn't mean it's not right, and I think a great country should take on great responsibilities." The United States refuses to sign it, but we in California want to sign this agreement for our children and grandchildren. ”

For the world's fans, none of this is a big deal, and for them, the real big thing is that on February 19, 2005, the NBA All-Star Game kicks off.

This year's All-Star Voting campaign began on November 24, 2004 and ended on January 25, 2005, lasting two months. As early as February 5, the NBA All-Star Voting Committee announced the results.

In three rounds of voting, Huaben has always occupied the position of the king of votes, all the way to the end, and finally became the king of votes with 3558278 votes. More than 3.5 million fans voted for him, which not only made him stride into the All-Star Championship, but also set a record for the NBA All-Star vote. The previous voting record was set by "Flyer" Jordan in 1997, when it was 2451136. Hua Ben raised the record by 1 million in one fell swoop, and the media exclaimed after the results came out: After the efforts of generations of NBA stars, Stern's NBA globalization strategy has made milestone progress, and half of these votes came from Asia and Europe!

In second place was Yao Ming, who received 2.2 million votes and became the vote king in the West, followed by Garnett in the West and Wen Si in second place in the East. Carter. Originally, O'Neal was second in the East in the first round of voting, but unfortunately he was injured in the later stage, and Huaben began to snatch the votes of the center, which threw him away in one fell swoop.

It is worth mentioning that Wang Zhizhi got the second place in the Eastern Strikers with 1.9 million votes, and he was followed by Grant. Hill, the difference between the two is only 50,000 votes. In other words, after the unremitting efforts of Asian fans, the all-star Chinese style was finally born, and Yao Wang will appear on the NBA all-star stage.

For this result, NBA stars have expressed their dissatisfaction: A backup forward turned out to be an NBA All-Star starter? It's not funny at all – how many fans are there in China? They want to vote for Yao Ming and vote for Daben, how can they still make up 1.9 million votes for Wang Zhizhi?

Whether full or dissatisfied, the results were announced like this, and the president of the NBA did not speak, so it was useless for anyone to speak. The stars can only complain to vent their envy, jealousy and hatred.

In the Eastern Striker's vote, the third is Grant. Hill, but Hill didn't say anything to Wang Zhizhi, just said helplessly: "All-star, it's a feast for fans, they will vote for whoever they want to watch, I can only congratulate Wang, he is a lucky guy." ”

The starting lineup in the West is, center: Yao Ming, forwards are Duncan and Garnett, and guards are Kobe and Maddie. Their benches are Stoudemire (Suns), Nash (Suns), Marion (Suns), Nowitzki (Mavericks), Ray Allen (Supersonics), Lewis (Supersonics), Ginobili (Spurs).

The Spurs are still as slow as in previous seasons, and by the time they reached the All-Star, their lineup was already the first in the West, so Vicky became the All-Star coach in the West.

The All-Star coach in the East should be Brown, because the Pistons are still the team with the first record in the East, but considering Jordan's popularity, and the fact that this season is his first time coaching the team, he led the new Bobcats to become the second in the East, after discussion, Brown is willing to give up the honor of All-Star coach to Jordan.

The starting lineup of the Eastern Conference All-Stars is, center: Warben, forwards Carter and Wang Zhizhi, and guards are Iverson and James. The benches are the hapless O'Neal (Heat), Darko. Milicic (Pistons), Arenas (Wizards), Wade (Heat), Grant. Hill (Magic), O'Neal Jr. (Pacers), Pierce (Celtics).

The Charlotte Bobcats were the biggest winners of this year's All-Star Games, not only because they had two players in the All-Star starters, but also because the game will be played at Time Warner Center, the home of the Charlotte Bobcats.

Originally, according to the plan, this year's All-Star Game was held at Pepsi Center Field in Denver Plateau, considering that the Bobcats rose so quickly after joining the NBA as a newcomer, the NBA decided to temporarily change it from a commercial point of view, and the All-Star Game in Denver was postponed for one season, and the All-Star Game will be held in Denver next year.

The Bobcats also have a reason to hold an All-Star Game, as they will send the most All-Star players this season: in addition to the All-Star starters of Huaben and Wang Zhizhi, there will also be Pattin, Iguodala, Allen and Martin in the All-Star Game rookie game. In addition, Padin will also participate in the Skills Challenge, Cappano will participate in the All-Star Three-Point Contest, and Iguodala will participate in the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, which means that except for the mixed shooting contest, the Bobcats will be in the shadow of other events!

At 6 p.m. on February 19, 2005, the Time Warner Center was crowded, 20,000 seats were packed, and the large parking lot was already out of stock.

All-Star Weekend officially began, with the first event being the Rookie Challenge.

The Bobcats were the biggest winners of the Rookie Challenge, contributing a total of four people, including one sophomore and three first-yearers, which means that all of the rookies they selected made to the All-Star Game.

The entry list for the first grade is: Little Warcraft. Howard (Magic), Tony. Allen (Bobcats), Devon. Harris (Mavericks), Lore. Deng (Bull), Ben. Gordon (Bulls), Josh. Smith (Hawks), Iguodala (76ers), Yudri (Spurs), Kevin Brown. Martin (Bobcats).

Compared with the first-year list, the second-year entry list is star-studded, and Huaben sees all the famous figures in the future from this list: James (Cavaliers), Wade (Heat), Anthony (Nuggets), Bosh (Raptors), Haslem (Heat), Josh. Howard (Mavericks), Patin (Bobcats), Hinrich (Bulls), Milicic (Pistons).

This is the sixth time the NBA has held the Rookie Challenge, after the previous five times the sophomore team led 3-2. The rules of the game are different from NBA games, a bit like NCAA games, divided into two halves, each of which is 20 minutes each, and both teams are allowed to call one long timeout and one 20-second short timeout in each half. In addition, individual fouls will be saved, but players will not be sent off.

In terms of strength, the sophomore team is obviously stronger than the first grade, and the starting lineup is James + Milicic + Anthony + Wade + Patin, which has three All-Star players. The first grade was already weak, the unlucky list show Okafor was also injured, and there was no one on the inside to compete with the second grade.

At six o'clock, the players entered, and Hua Ben and a group of star players who came to watch the exhibition sat in the audience early. There are a lot of stars who came to the exhibition today, such as Kobe Bryant, O'Neal, Hill, Iverson, Pierce, Maddy, Yaoming, Garnett, etc., basically all came.

Hua Ben greeted these people and walked to the side of the court, and when he stood on the court, the audience suddenly burst into cheers, "Boss, wow! Tens of thousands of fans stood up and applauded Waben, who smiled and turned around and waved around, which sparked more enthusiastic shouts from the fans.

However, Hua Ben was not here to show off, he grabbed Milicic and said, "Hey, Darko, don't be too ruthless today, save some face for your little junior brothers." Pattin, you control the ball and mess up the rhythm a little bit. ”

Patin and Milicic burst into tears, and the latter exclaimed, "Hey, boss, you only listen to the laughter of the newcomers and not the crying of the old ones, Pattin, what is the Chinese phrase that the boss always muttered at that time?" ”

Padin groaned for a moment and said uncertainly, "Have a new love and forget the old face?" ”

Milicic slapped his palms vigorously and exclaimed, "Yes, that's it!" Boss, you can't do this! ”

Warben pulled Milicic and whispered, "Be quiet, don't let anyone else hear me, damn it, I want to gamble." Listen to me, I guess I'm going to lose the first grade today."

"I don't have to estimate it, it's a must, we lost last year." Milicic said.

Iguodala's face suddenly revealed, and she exclaimed, "Boss, it's too demoralizing for us, isn't it?" Why do you say we're going to lose? ”

Hua Ben grinned embarrassedly, Nima, it was really Zhu Bajie who was not a person inside and outside the mirror, he waved his hand and said, "Okay, you guys come by yourself." But, Darko, you and Patin need to work well. With that, he turned to look at the others in the second year and shouted, "Guys, my Padin is here for the MVP, you all give me a little bit of cooperation!" ”

James said dissatisfiedly: "Ben, you are not the head coach, you are not qualified to command us. ”

Wade and Anthony nodded, and the three of them discussed together before, planning to get an MVP for Anthony.

Hua Ben laughed when he heard this, he walked over and hugged James and Wade and said, "At the All-Star Game the day after tomorrow, believe it or not, I let you two not get the ball?" Isaiah. Thomas and the Magic can block Michael. Jordan, I can also pull a group of people to block the two of you, believe it or not? ”

Wade also laughed suddenly, and he said happily: "Ben, why be so excited, in fact, LeBron was joking just now." Okay, we're going to work with the Padding brothers, we're on good terms, and yes, he's going to be the MVP. ”

Anthony wanted to cry without tears.

Milicic smiled and winked at Patin and said, "Man, the boss got you a consolation prize, which makes me jealous because I can't get the MVP of the rookie game in my career." (To be continued)