Not long after New Year's Day, the Timberwolves led by Zheng Ke were sniped by a large wave of opponents with strong strength.

There are old strong teams such as the Lakers, Rockets, Celtics, etc., as well as new strong teams such as the Bulls and Grizzlies.

Finally, on January 14, the Orlando Magic suffered their third loss of the season.

Although the Timberwolves lost, it was not a bad thing, at least it relaxed the tense nerves a little. Because when you're on a winning streak, every player is excited, mentally and physically. This slight relaxation helps the Timberwolves to better exert their combat effectiveness.

At the same time, the official NBA All-Star voting closed.

Zheng Ke became this year's vote king with more than 4 million votes, which once again broke the NBA All-Star Game record, and he surpassed the second-place Kobe Bryant by nearly a million votes. In addition to proving that the NBA has more and more audiences after the rise of Zheng Ke and others, it also once again proves that Zheng Ke now faintly exudes the atmosphere of "the first person in the league".

As soon as the voting channels closed, the respective starters of the east and west were also determined.

In the East, Rose and Wade are at guard, James and Stoudemire at forward, and Howard at center. In the West, Paul and Kobe Bryant are partners in the backcourt, Zheng Ke and Durant are in the frontcourt, and Yao Ming is the center.

Yao Ming is 31 years old this year, and he does not have the super data of the previous two years that is almost comparable to the four major centers of the year.

He averaged 22.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season, and with the combination of Martin, Brooks and other outside players, his average points per game dropped by nearly five or six points from the previous two seasons, but the team's record is still half-dead, not even as good as when he worked with Maddie.

Yao Ming is also distressed by this, and he hopes that the Rockets can make some moves in the free market, specifically the trading model like the Heat Big Three, which can improve the instant combat power of the Rockets. This is the last year of his contract. Yao Ming also had a showdown with the team and did not rule out the possibility of leaving Houston. This scared Alexander, the cash cow was about to run away, and it paid off. Hurry up and convene an emergency meeting to inform Morey to start the "giant plan" as soon as possible.

This is also the origin of the Rockets' non-stop moves on the free market last summer, but unfortunately they couldn't find the right superstars, James, Wade, and Bosh made the Rockets management heartbroken. After that, there were no big fish in the market, only some small fish and shrimp, which could not meet the standard of "giants" at all.

They have already kept their eyes on Anthony, who is in his contract year, but they don't want Anthony to have already made eye contact with the Knicks.

This time, the Rockets are looking for giants all over the world, but here the Timberwolves are in a happy trouble because there are too many people who can play. Like in the center position. The winner of the championship last year, "Birdman" Anderson, has now become the third substitute, although he is not the kind of person who cares about time, it is inevitable that he will be unhappy after a long time.

Reasonable allocation of playing time for each player is also the most important thing for the head coach, which is related to the improvement of the combat effectiveness of the whole team and the harmony of the relationship. It just so happened that Pekovic had a muscle strain in his left thigh, so Anderson got a lot of chances again in the center position. soothed his restless mind.

After losing to the Magic, the Timberwolves won every game they had since January — a seven-game winning streak that they were accustomed to.

The media exclaimed that the Timberwolves were "defeated in January"!

From the start of the season to the present, losing to the Clippers in November, the Trail Blazers in December, and the Magic in January, the Timberwolves have lost one game a month. This is also an unheard of event in the history of the NBA, and the Timberwolves' strong record has blinded everyone's eyes.

And rookie head coach Tom Thibodeau is even more sought after by everyone. "This is definitely the strongest rookie show in history!" Barkley bluntly said, "Head coach Tom Thibodeau has made a huge difference to the Timberwolves. The strength of the Timberwolves has accumulated to a certain height, and his arrival has added the best chemicals, produced the most wonderful chemical reactions, and achieved a qualitative change. Timberwolves from the inside out. Unloaded the youthfulness of the previous two years, it became savage and domineering, full of power! ”

Everyone loves to listen to it, and Zheng Ke is no exception, and people began to praise him as the league's number one star. He couldn't help but be overjoyed.

This year's All-Star event will be held in Los Angeles, and the time is set for February 20 (US time). The All-Star Game is an affirmation of the players, and the players who are selected as All-Stars may not necessarily be strong, but at least the performance in the first half of the season has entered the eyes of coaches and fans. A player who doesn't want to be an All-Star isn't a good player, and any player who enters the league is eager for that day.

Especially this year, the venue was also set in an international metropolis like Los Angeles, which attracted a group of players to compete on the field.

And with the advantage of the location, the coaches will also consider the feelings of the host when voting, like the Clippers, the difference in record is outrageous, but Griffin also managed to become one of the remaining seven.

And the long-awaited Lefu finally got his wish this season and became an All-Star player. He's a perverted team like the Timberwolves that has only lost three games so far, and he's averaging a double-double of 19.4 points and 14.5 rebounds per game.

Unfortunately, Billups was defeated.

This season, Billups has reduced his playing time to 30 minutes per game, especially when he is not possessing the ball, scoring only 14.8 points, and although it has been a huge help to the Timberwolves, he has been beaten by Deron and Westbrook, who have better stats.

In the end, the Timberwolves were selected only two All-Stars.

On the Western Conference All-Star lineup, in addition to the starting five, Love, Griffin, Delon and Westbrook, there are Duncan, Nowitzki and Anthony.

The Timberwolves were selected only two, and the defending champions of the Lakers were even worse, with even Pau Gasol failing to be selected as an All-Star.

Kobe Bryant was immediately dissatisfied, and after the list came out, he avenged his younger brother: "Paul (Gasol) has been treated unfairly, his contribution, his strength should be enough to make him an All-Star starter, but he didn't even make the bench lineup, and those who despise him should really keep their eyes open." ”

But once the list is out, it can hardly be changed, unless someone is injured during this time.

Unfortunately, by the day before All-Star Weekend, all 30 teams in the league had finished their games, and there were still no injuries to any players who had been selected as All-Stars.

In the East, there are four players from one team on the bench. Pierce, Ray Allen, Garnett and Rondo occupy four spots, leaving Bosh, Al Horford and Joe Johnson. I have to say that there is a big difference in the voting between the coaches of the East and the West.

"So, the 12-man All-Star team in the East is actually only from six different teams." Zheng Ke shook his head, his face full of incredulity. He was on the flight to Los Angeles, and the Timberwolves specially chartered a plane to send Zheng Ke, Lefu, and Pekovic to the plane.

"Hey, I can't help it! It's a pity that Chauncey wasn't able to join us. Lefu was wearing a pair of huge sunglasses, although his expression was calm, but Zheng Ke's eyes were insightful, and he knew that Lefu was still excited, thinking of this, he opened his mouth to joke about Lefou: "It seems that Chauncey said the same thing last year, but unfortunately Kevin couldn't go with him." ”

"Really?" Lefu raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "It's a pity that I will always go in the future." ”

"It's true." Zheng Ke laughed, nodded in acknowledgment of Lefou's strength, and said: "If you can maintain this data all the time, it is not a big problem to enter the All-Star every year, maybe you can be a starter or something in the future." ”

"By the way, who's going to be in the slam dunk contest this year?" Taylor on the side asked with interest.

"Looks like there's a Griffin!" Zheng Ke also asked uncertainly, he was obsessed with the game during this time, where did he have the time to pay attention to this, but some time ago it was also a day when promotional videos were flying all over the sky, and he seemed to remember that the kid from the Clippers participated in the slam dunk contest.

"There's McGee!"

Lefu replied, almost without raising his hand.

"What, he's there!" Zheng Ke was taken aback, and he was thunderous about McGee. Not because he was seven feet long, with his arms above his knees; It's not because he's averaging 2.5 blocks per game this year. It's because McGee made a lot of unbelievable moves in a game with the Timberwolves this year, and once he inexplicably ran to their own half-court fast break, which made Zheng Ke look inexplicable.

So when it came to McGee, Zheng Ke was happy, and asked Lefu with interest: "Who else?" "And Ibaka and DeRozan!" Love, who had apparently seen the news and remembered every player hit well, explained: "Jennings was supposed to be there, but because he was injured, DeRozan was going to play the dunk contest." "Really? I said how DeRozan went to the game again, and he was a big hit for me last year. Zheng Ke said with a smile.

Lefu took off his sunglasses, then rubbed his eyes, and said: "You dunked so well last year, plus Griffin's crazy dunk in the first half of the season, his fame has soared, so that fans are quite looking forward to the slam dunk contest this year." “

Speaking of Griffin, Lefu is still depressed now, and said: "Griffin's dunk is really unreasonable, but I have a good heart and can't do it, maybe one day the dunk will pull him down ruthlessly, so that he can taste the pain of being fallen." “

Zheng Ke deeply agreed.