Slowly, the huge American Airlines Center arena fell silent, and Shirley's clear and soft voice was transmitted to every corner of the arena through guò's high-quality sound. On the big screen above the arena, Shirley's delicate face had a faint smile, as if she was an elf who walked into people's dreams from under the moon, disturbing people's dreams without a trace.

“…… Homeland and Motherland, do not abandon them, they themselves wash away their dirty footprints with blood. These minions, mercenaries, have nowhere to hide, and cannot escape the fate of defeat and death. But the Star-Spangled Banner will fly forever, in this free country, the home of the Warriors. The jade is broken or the tiles are complete, in front of us, free people will rise up to defend the national flag and show their heads! The motherland has its own nature, and victory and peace are in sight; Build the country, protect the homeland, and thank God for the strength ......"

The lyrics of "Star-Spangled Banner" flowed out one by one, if it was in the past, the fans would have followed the music and sung along, but this time it was different, the fans looked at Shirley in the halo in a daze, except for the occasional murmur, no one yelled.

"Thank God really for making us feel his strength." Stern said softly.

The old lawyer, who has always been known for his calm and rationality, couldn't help but think of the fruitless crush when he was ten years old, when he was a Jewish boy, he had a crush on a sister next door, it was a love affair that was destined to come to fruition, and then as time passed, Stern locked this relationship deep in his heart, he thought he had forgotten, and the result was finally released, and the longing never faded, but became deeper and deeper with time.

Stu Jackson, who presided over this qiē, couldn't help but sigh: "If this girl sings not the national anthem, but the love song, what kind of scene will it be?" ”

"The Star-Spangled Banner Never Falls" is not majestic, but it is definitely impassioned, Shirley sings it in her soft voice, but the fans find that there is no disobedience, but because of the sense of breeze like early summer, they have a different feeling.

At the end of the song, a sweet and simple smile appeared on Shirley's pretty face, she gently pulled the hem of her skirt and folded her legs slightly together and leaned over to make a curtsy, and then the small stage turned again, and her figure slowly disappeared into the middle of the stage.

The stunned fans seemed to wake up from a dream, and the louder voices were louder than the opening dance of Chamberlain and O'Neill: "Don't go, keep singing!" Keep singing! ”

Listening to the voice that swept through the arena like a tornado, Chamberlain, who was standing on the field, looked at Kenel Grandz beside him, and he said calmly: "Sir, do you see it?" That's Shirley, that's the girl you once sold to a damn Indian for a bottle of wine. Do you understand? You almost ruined a paradise! ”

Kennell was still looking at the center of the stage in a daze, even though there was no more Shirley's shadow there, but he still looked straight at the stage, as if his daughter's smiling face was still there smiling sweetly.

Suddenly, Kenel crouched on the ground and hugged his head and cried, he finally realized what he had missed!

All the lights flickered at the same time, and the American Airlines Center was back to its glory, but the fans were not satisfied, and they stood in their seats screaming and roaring, unanimously demanding that Shirley come out and sing another song.

Backstage Taylor had a satisfied smile on her face, and she hugged Shirley and smiled, "Baby, am I right?" All you need is one chance, and then you can hit the ground running! Originally, I wanted to take you to the court, but obviously even God underestimated your charm, let's stay backstage, otherwise I'm afraid the fans will riot when I take you to the stadium! ”

"Even if it doesn't riot, it will definitely take over the crowd, and the stars must be uncomfortable in their hearts right now, I bet!" Stu Jackson strode up and handed Shirley a pen and notebook.

Shirley was stunned with the notebook and pen, and Jackson smiled: "Please sign it for me, otherwise I will never have such a chance to get close to the little diva Shirley in the future." ”

Receiving Jackson's compliment, Shirley was a little shy, she smiled shyly, and said softly: "Mr. Jackson, you have won the award, I am still me, a middle school student." Still, I want to play, I want to see Z. ”

The game hasn't started yet, and the stars are just getting ready to warm up.

The West is the world of giants, Yao Ming, O'Neal, Chamberlain, Duncan, Nowitzki, Gasol, Xiaosi, they have almost no orthodox small forwards, the forward lineup is full of big forwards, and the East is just the opposite, except for Howard and Garnett, other people can also be called giants? Their backup center is Bosh's parallel insider.

However, in this way, the Eastern stars have attracted more attention, because the All-Star is actually not a game but a comedy movie, there is no doubt that from a historical point of view, the giants who can really dominate the game have always been the most lame actors in this movie, counting history, it has been 32 years since the NBA and ABA merged, and only two centers have won the Star Game MVP.

In traditional basketball, the center is the most important position in basketball, but if you have Jordan, James, Robert Spade, and Johnson on your team, even those guys need the help of Langley, Sheikh Parish and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. However, in the All-Star Game, the center is definitely the least popular role for two reasons:

First, All-Star is a stage play, the players are all actors, and letting you play is not to fight with real knives and guns, but to find a way to act, Iverson and Kobe are handsome and have acting skills, in Hollywood, people like them generally play princes, rich and handsome, etc., and what about the centers with big shoulders and round waists? Go back and play your street gangster or terrorist. Second, the center's play relies on the passing of teammates, and most of the offensive methods are hooks, mid-range shots, simple dunks, etc., compared to the various extreme actions that defenders and forwards can do, they obviously can't attract Film.

In the NBA's all-star history for so many years, only two centers have won the All-Star MVP: one is Shark O'Neal and the other is Ralph Sampson. Others, even if they are as strong as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Olajuwon, Ewing, Robertson, Mourning, etc., can only be used as a background for Jordan and Johnson. As for the ticket king Yao Ming, the defensive master Mutombo Big Ben, etc., these people don't mention it, the All-Star is important for them to participate, not to mention whether they can participate or not.

A group of big-name stars gathered together to warm up, and popularity is very important at this time, for example, Kobe Bryant, a birdman with a strange personality, doesn't even bother O'Neal to talk to him, he can only find nothing to do and lick his face to chat, otherwise everyone else is chatting happily and you are practicing silently there alone, how embarrassing is that? Don't mention Duncan, that guy won't open his mouth even if his wife comes.

Chamberlain's popularity in the NBA is not very good, he likes to cause trouble too much and does not give face to the old-timers, he wants to cut a 30+20 in the opposition at every turn, who can stand it? However, he has a lot of teammates, Iverson and Billups are all circling around him, and Yao Ming occasionally comes up to say a few words, and O'Neal looks like he hates to see him late.

Yi Jianlian is the most unlucky, the East is almost clear that he wants to isolate him, and his teammate Harris is even more of a pit, which will go to kneel and lick Garnett and James's thighs early, and not stepping on Yi Jianlian's feet has proved that he is still righteous.

In Yi Jianlian's life, the game finally began, and the two sides started the landing operation.

Yao Ming, Chamberlain, Duncan, Kobe, Iverson, if it weren't for Iverson, the altitude in the West would definitely be enough. The opposite is true in the East, with Howard, James, Yi Jianlian, Wade, and Joe Johnson, the tallest of these people can only finish fourth in the West.

"Which of you is going to jump the ball?" James deliberately asked, he was sarcastic about Chamberlain's signing up for the forward position even though he was a center, and now apart from this, Chamberlain really didn't have to be black.

Yao Ming stood up, Howard rubbed his hands, and when he jumped the ball, he bullied Yao Ming for not being as fast as him, and slapped the ball to Wade.

Wade is worthy of the name of the Flash, as soon as he saw that the altitude in the west was so high, he immediately launched a fast attack, and when he arrived in the front court, he didn't say a word and shot directly with three points!

The basketball crossed an arc in the air and went in, Wade turned around and proudly raised his arms and pretended to be forced, and Chamberlain kindly reminded him: "It has been raining and snowing a lot recently, Dwyan, it's better to pretend less." ”

After all, he is an All-Star, the atmosphere is still relatively good, Wade's shot is very beautiful, although there is a lone wolf component, but no one will accuse him, look at what his interior teammates are, will Howard attack? Is Yi Jianlian an inside line? I can't count on the inside line at all, so let's play it on the outside.

A group of bigwigs in the West, Kobe Bryant and Iverson said with reluctance on their faces: "Allen, you are a point guard, you can control the ball." ”

Iverson laughed, "What's so embarrassing about that?" Aren't you working on triangle tactics right now? You are a good conductor...... it, Z, you come back, give me the ball, I'm the point guard, you're the center! ”

Chamberlain saw that Kobe Bryant and Iverson, the two lone wolves, pushed hard, and without saying a word, he asked for the ball from Duncan's hand, and ran to the front court with the ball himself.

This scene made the fans very excited, and a loud whistle sounded at the scene, and many people shouted: "SUPER-Z, a dragon!" ”

James saw Chamberlain control of the ball, he smiled evilly and waited for the other party to pass the half, and immediately slipped up from behind to steal, but Chamberlain was prepared, and when James appeared behind him, he immediately changed direction, the ball returned to his right hand, he turned around, and carried James into the three-point line.

Duncan landed in the penalty area, Chamberlain swept the ball in, Duncan had no desire to perform, and in the face of Howard's actually quite lax defense, he didn't say a word, turned over and shot in the middle, and the result was iron.

Howard picked up the rebound and threw it to Wade, who was still running forward on a fast break, and Chamberlain quickly chased after it, while opening his mouth and shouting: "Man, you don't want to score with me!" ”

Wade held the ball outside the three-point line and raised his hand again to shoot, Chamberlain subconsciously went up to block, but Wade made a feint, he passed the ball to James who received the ball on the left wing, and the little emperor got the ball and rushed to the basket, Kobe's defense was useless - in fact, he was not defensive, or he stretched out his hand weakly.

James jumped three feet high, and with a wave of his arms, he made a big windmill buckle.

Iverson said lazily: "No matter how good you dunk, it's useless, there are two dunk kings here!" ”

Kobe Bryant once won the lowest-level dunk contest championship in history with a dunk that was not high enough to jump, which he was embarrassed to mention, it was really frustrating, Chamberlain's dunk king at least had a fig leaf such as double dunk and triple dunk, and he was shirtless.

Duncan served again, but Shi Fo, who has always been rigid, didn't know if he had opened his mind or had ill intentions towards Chamberlain, and he didn't give the ball to Iverson or Kobe Bryant but to Chamberlain.

Kobe Bryant and Iverson, the two ball giants, have red eyes, and they don't need the Eastern Stars to do it, they go to steal the ball from Chamberlain.

Chamberlain hurriedly threw the ball to Iverson, and he smiled flatteringly at the two and said, "I didn't think about winning any MVP or anything like that today, I'll just see, I don't speak." ”