After a decent Christmas, the Magic regained a three-game winning streak in the final three games of December, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-94, the Detroit Pistons 95-88 and the Chicago Bulls 113-94.

With December's games all over, the Magic lost four games in December, but even so, they still sit in the top of the league with a 27-5 record.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in second place with a 25-6 record, while the Los Angeles Lakers in the West are third in the league with a 24-5 record.

The above three teams, belonging to the same echelon, have relatively close records, with a winning rate of more than 80%, and are likely to get 60+ regular season wins at the end of the regular season.

Under these three teams with a high winning rate, it is the second echelon composed of the Celtics Big Three, Spurs, Rockets, Trail Blazers, Nuggets and other teams, with a winning rate of about 65% and a record of more than 50 wins at the end of the regular season.

These teams make up the general situation of the NBA in the 08-09 season, and this season's championship will also be born among these teams.

The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are of course the biggest favorites to win the championship, but the Magic team led by Wang Chao Howard, James' Cavaliers and the Celtics also have high odds to win the championship, which undoubtedly makes the 08-09 playoffs highly anticipated.

And just before Christmas, the league had opened the first round of voting for the 2009 All-Star Weekend.

The two core players of the Magic team, Wang Chao and Howard, quickly occupied the top two votes as soon as the voting channel opened, and even firmly suppressed James, Kobe, Wade and other top stars.

It's not surprising at all that while the Magic team is playing the best record in recent years, Wang Chao and Howard, as the core of the team, are also very luxurious.

Wang Chao relies on 70 points per game and a large number of high-scoring performances, and currently ranks first on the scoring list with an average of 34.4 points per game, and is 4 points ahead of Wade, who averages 30.2 points per game, who is second on the scoring list.

With such a stable, efficient and excellent scoring efficiency, Wang Chao has officially entered the ranks of super scorers.

As for Howard, as the NBA champion in 2004, his original popularity was even higher than that of Wang Chao, although the scoring data performance is average, and he has only averaged 20+ points per game so far, but Howard's value has never been reflected on the offensive end.

At present, his average of 14.2 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game are the first in the league, and there is a big gap with other opponents.

In the game, Howard's style of play is also very enjoyable, whether it is a variety of bloody and brutal violent dunks flying in the sky on the offensive end, or a variety of volleyball smashing hats on the defensive end, all of which make fans watching the game deeply love Howard.

At present, Howard's reputation as the league's No. 1 center has been completely confirmed, even if Da Yao's average of 20+10 double-doubles per game in the West is not much inferior to Howard's, but whether it is from the perspective of subsequent career prospects or actual performance on the field, it is obvious that Howard is more worthy of the title of the league's No. 1 center.

Because of this, Howard received a large number of votes in the league's first round of All-Star voting.

On January 6, in the first round of voting results announced by the league, Howard topped the list, and Wang Chao ranked second by a very narrow margin, ranking third and fourth respectively.

Howard is just that, Wang Chao was able to suppress No. 24 and No. 23, which can be called the top cards in the league, which really surprised many people.

It is undeniable that Wang Chao's average of 34 points per game and 70 points per game are excellent performances with high fan attraction ability, but in the United States and even the world, there is still a big gap between the number of his fans and Kobe James.

Don't even think about it, behind Wang Chao's votes, there must be a commission brought by the huge fan base of Huaguo.

In fact, not only Wang Chao, but also Da Yao and the United Arab Emirates have also enjoyed the dividends of Chinese fans.

Da Yao ranked sixth in the league in first-round votes, topped the list among Western centers, and the gap with Kobe Bryant, James Wade and others is not large.

Although the UAE does not have so many votes, it can still rank sixth among Eastern players and fourth among forwards, second only to Wang Chao, James, Garnett, and more votes than Pierce, Bosh, Turkoglu, Marion and others.

If the number of votes of Wang Chao and Da Yao can be directly proportional to the strength shown by the two in the game, then it is somewhat embarrassing for the UAE to rank in such a high position.

In the 08-09 season, the UAE did not change his NBA career because of the Olympic gold medal record of the Chinese men's basketball team, and he was still packaged and traded by the Bucks to the New Jersey Nets.

The Nets are still willing to give the first season of the United Arab Emirates a chance, so in the regular season, the United Arab Emirates are starters, but the performance on the court is not satisfactory, the average data per game is almost no improvement compared to last season, it is still about 8+5, and the shooting rate has further dropped below 40%.

This kind of performance undoubtedly disappointed the management of the Nets, who originally hoped that the UAE could play like Da Yao and Wang Chao, and the future interior core of the team, Brooke, who had just joined the league. López formed an inside twin-tower combination, but it seems unlikely that way right now.

And a player with an average of only 8+5 per game, the All-Star votes are actually higher than Pierce, Bosh, Carter and other well-known stars in the league, which is more or less ironic, the league is particularly nervous, in case the UAE really soars all the way in the number of votes and is finally selected as an All-Star starter, isn't this a big joke to become an NBA All-Star?

is also thanks to the position of the forward, with Wang Chao, James and Garnett, the three gods are in the town, and it is unlikely that the UAE will become an All-Star starter.

It is worth mentioning that Wang Chao's announcement that he was invited to participate in the All-Star three-point contest again was officially announced by the league early.

Wang Chao has won the three-point contest championship for three consecutive years, and has almost absolute dominance in this field, with his early announcement to participate in the three-point contest, many players with good ability in the field of three-point shooting have begun to retreat, no one wants to be someone else's background board, since they know that they can't win, it's better not to participate in their own humiliation.

Some well-known stars who have been active in the previous three-point contests, such as Dirk, who has participated in four consecutive three-point contests. Nowitzki did not continue to participate in the three-point contest, and Nash, Hamilton, Peja and others who participated in the last edition did not participate.

The league officials didn't expect that the situation would turn out to be like this, and the 6 contestants in the last three-point competition, except for Wang Chao, the other contestants invited were not very famous.

Mike. Bibby, Dai Quinn. Cook, Jason. Capono, Roger. Mason and Danny. Granger.

Among these people, Granger is the most famous, but he is also a rising star this season, averaging 26 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists per game so far in the regular season, ranking seventh on the league's scoring list, and it is by virtue of his performance this season that he successfully entered the All-Star ranks and won the 08-09 Most Improved Player Award.

Looking at this list alone, Wang Chao's three-point contest championship has basically been nine out of ten, as long as he doesn't have any major problems himself, none of these players will be his opponents.

And Wang Chao's teammate Howard also announced that he would participate in the slam dunk contest.

As Howard, who played Superman on the 08 All-Star and soared to the sky to win the dunk king, he did not have the same dominance as Wang Chao in the three-point contest in the slam dunk contest, because this slam dunk contest, the slam dunk king in 06. Robinson will also participate, and as a traverser, Wang Chao knows that Robinson will be COS Superman's nemesis Kryptonite, leap over Howard to complete a dunk and win the dunk contest.

Of course, the All-Star Weekend itself is an occasion for entertainment, and even Howard, who was used as a background board, didn't say anything at the time, but was very happy, after all, for Howard, the honor of a slam dunk king doesn't matter, and he doesn't want Wang Chao's three-point contest champion to be directly linked to the system task, he just goes to play.

……

The All-Star votes, as well as the determination of the participants in other events, are just after-dinner conversations for fans of the league, and everyone is more concerned about the progress of the regular season.

In January, the Magic's record returned to stability, and the Magic won all of their games in early January, only losing to the San Antonio Spurs on January 11.

In this game, Duncan scored 31 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks, and the performance suppressed Howard, who had 22 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks.

At the same time, the other two people of GDP, Parker 24 points and 5 assists, Ginobili 18 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, all played very well, so even if Bowen was once again ruthlessly beaten by Wang Chao, the Spurs still won the game at home and pulled one back.

Then, on January 16, the Magic challenged the Los Angeles Lakers away, and this time the team successfully avenged the last time in Orlando on the road, winning the game 109-103.

In this game, Kobe Bryant's hand was obviously not as good as the last time he played against him, shooting only 10 of 26 from the field, with a shooting rate of 38.5%, although he got a triple-double of 28 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, but he was not perfect in terms of scoring at what he was best at.

On the other hand, Wang Chao continued to perform efficiently and steadily in this game, scoring 31 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists with a 54% shooting rate.

It is worth mentioning that in this game, the two "magicians" once again staged a direct duel, and it was Odom who had the last laugh, who scored 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in the whole game, and the shooting rate also reached 54%.

On the other hand, Turkoglu was once again suppressed by the opponent, shooting only 28.6% from the field, with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Tekoglou's two defeats to Odom still prove that although the two have similar technical characteristics and styles, there is still a difference in physical fitness, although Odom is not known for his physical fitness, but as a black athlete, he is more outstanding in all aspects of physical function than Tekoglu, who is about his height and weight.

However, neither Turkoglu nor Odom were key factors in their respective teams' wins, and their performances could certainly make the team more competitive, but they were not absolutely necessary.

The Magic team is because in addition to Turkoglou, Wang Chao can also occasionally play the position of a point forward, although he does not have Turkoglou's ability to control the court, but with his current offensive ability and the eye to find vacant players in bullet time, he can fully shoulder the burden of the Magic team's ball-holding offense in certain periods of time.

And the Lakers' Odom, since he will serve as the team's best sixth man, it can also explain his status in the Lakers, not that the best sixth man is not powerful, and it is undeniable that Odom is important during the Lakers' championship period, but no matter which team, as a player with the team's sixth man, it is impossible to serve as the first or even second core, and he can only serve as the third core if he dies.

Whether it's the Lakers' Odom, the Spurs' Ginobili, or the Mavericks' Terry.

Getting back to the point, the Magic team after defeating the Lakers, and in the next games, they defeated the Nuggets, Hawks, Heat and other strong opponents one after another, and only lost one game each to the Celtics and the Cavaliers.

Throughout January, the Magic lost a total of 3 games, achieved a 10-3 record, and the overall record also came to 37-8, continuing to maintain a super high win rate of 82%.

And as the clock comes to the end of January, the final results of the All-Star voting are officially released.

Magic center Dwight. Howard was elected the '09 All-Star vote champion with a total of 3.15 million votes, while Wang Chao was second in the All-Star vote with a narrow margin of 3.11 million votes, and both entered the All-Star Game as All-Star starters.

In addition to Wang Chao and Howard in the East, the other three starters are James who received 2.94 million votes at the forward position, Wade with 2.7 million votes and Iverson with 1.8 million votes at guard.

It should be mentioned that Iverson was traded by the Nuggets to the Pistons at the beginning of the season to switch point guard Billups, and Iverson on the Pistons did not have a satisfactory life, with his average points per game plummeting from 26.4 points last season to 17 points.

And Garnett, the big forward of the Green Army, is also unlucky, because Wang Chao and James, two guys with 3 million votes, caused Garnett, who obviously received 2.06 million votes, to miss the All-Star start.

What made him even more speechless was that the UAE, as a Chinese player, averaged only 8+5 data per game, and finally won 1.9 million All-Star votes, ranking fourth among Eastern Forwards, almost overturning Garnett.

Compared to the East, the situation of the All-Star voting in the West is not so involuted.

The five players selected for the All-Star starters are not much different from last year, Kobe, Duncan, and Da Yao Yu were steadily elected as starters, and the other two selected starters are Chris. Paul & Stoudemire.

(End of chapter)