Anthony the Reborn

Chapter 157 The All-Star Arrival

D'Antoni saw the stalemate between the two sides on the sidelines. He seemed to want to see the limit of the Nuggets, and now he put all the main players on it.

The Grizzlies saw the changes in the Nuggets. Apart from leaving Wells on the field, they also replaced the main players in other positions, but the current Nuggets are obviously not what they can parry, and there is no solution for Brand inside. Anthony's unsolvable point on the perimeter, coupled with Williams' go-between, Nene and Bell are not vegetarians. It can be said that the Grizzlies were completely beaten by the end of the second quarter. spent.

In the end, without any suspense, the Nuggets finally beat the Grizzlies 125:101. Anthony only played three quarters, and finally scored 32 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, while Brand took With a large double-double of 25 points and 13 rebounds, Williams also scored a double-double of 10 points and 14 assists. The Nuggets have a faint trend of forming the Big Three.

When the halftime whistle sounded, Nelles couldn't help but sighed: "Although it is too early to say that they will win the championship, the Nuggets will definitely be a big stumbling block on the road for other championship teams. It cannot be done without peeling off the skin.”

Hearing what Neles said, Walton just smiled and said nothing, not because he disagreed with what Neles said, but because he came from a player, he felt that Neles still underestimated the Nuggets team in front of him, A bombarding team with a balanced offense and defense is rare in the history of the league, and no one can predict how far they can go. The championship may not be just a thought.

The Nuggets finished the Grizzlies game and flew to Los Angeles to challenge the Clippers without stopping. The already weak Clippers lost Brand, and they were completely powerless against the Nuggets. The Nuggets settled the battle at halftime, and a [-]-point victory completely showed the strength gap between the two teams.

Although the Clippers were defeated, the performance of the two players traded from the Nuggets was pretty good. Boykins scored 20 points, and Camby also contributed a large double-double with 10 points and 20 rebounds. Even Elson had 6 points and 8 rebounds. It can be said that the few players from the Nuggets still maintain a high level of competitiveness, but there is still a gap in overall strength.

After finishing the Clippers game, the Nuggets then challenged the Magic and the Bucks respectively, winning two more games. After trading for Brand, they won four consecutive victories.

Williams gave full play to his excellent assisting ability, contributing 10.5 points and 13 assists per game in four games, just like a master of assists, while Brand improved on the original basis. With an average of 25 points and 14.5 rebounds, the performance is not weak.

It's just that the opponents of the Nuggets in these games, except for the Grizzlies, are all underdogs, and the data can't explain much.

After a wave of four consecutive victories ended, most of the Nuggets' players had a rare holiday, because in the next three days, the All-Star Game that fans are looking forward to is about to start.

A few days ago, the league had announced the All-Star ticketing network. Anthony was overtaken by McGrady by nearly 2004 votes at the last moment, but the lead he had accumulated before allowed him to win the [-] All-Star Game in one fell swoop!

Because of this, Anthony, who had already been confirmed to participate in the All-Star Rookie Challenge, now automatically qualified for the All-Star Game, and what is quite interesting is that among the top five players in the Western Conference All-Star votes, Duncan, Garnett and Anthony are both forward players. When the final roster was announced, Anthony was naturally ranked as the starting shooting guard, and Kobe was selected as a point guard for the first time because of this.

This rather miraculous scene immediately became the topic of chat among fans after dinner, making the already star-studded All-Star Game even more exciting.

And just a few days after the All-Star starting lineup was announced, the All-Star bench lineup was also selected by various coaches. Williams of the Nuggets was not selected because of his recent miraculous performance, but Brand undisputedly played as a substitute. The identity of the striker was selected.

This time, the Nuggets suddenly had two All-Star selections, which can be said to be a great victory for Denver.

Of course, the All-Star is a carnival festival for fans. It is not just as simple as two games. It also set up a dunk contest, a three-point contest, a skill contest, and shooting stars. Among them, shooting stars were held just this year. Since it was the first time, it was quite exciting.

Before the start of the game, Anthony was invited to the slam dunk contest again. At first, Anthony wanted to play soy sauce, but in the end, Andrews and Vandeweghe asked him not to participate. In their view, the All-Star is just a leisure Project, Anthony has confirmed that he will participate in the rookie challenge and the main game. Of course, there is no need to participate in the slam dunk contest. If such physical exertion causes injuries, it is certainly not what the Nuggets and Andrews would like to see. give up.

However, Anthony is not unrelated to the slam dunk contest. His former teammate, Chris Anderson, who is now playing for the New York Knicks, has finally confirmed that he will also participate in this year's slam dunk contest. This makes Anthony quite gratified. In fact, in his memory Except for the wonderful slam dunk contest that Carter, McGrady, and Kobe participated in, his memory of other slam dunk contests is not that deep. Who, seeing Anderson participating now, he is naturally going to cheer him up.

However, Anthony got a surprise on the second day. After the league learned that Anthony announced that he would not accept the invitation to the slam dunk contest, he was invited by the league to be the judge of the slam dunk contest. You must know that this competition is in Los Angeles This subversive choice immediately caused the fans to be in an uproar again.

However, the real insiders have already guessed that Stern is working on his star-making plan, and the goal is already very obvious.

Anthony and Brand were going to participate in the All-Star Game, but the rest of the Nuggets were not idle. Although Williams was not selected for the Main Game, he was also invited to participate in the Skills Challenge. Besides him, there were Korver, a player who shot an astonishing 45% from three-pointers this season, was invited to the game without any suspense.

Dior was also invited to participate in the Rookie Challenge as a member of the first-year team, and Nene was also invited to participate in the Rookie Challenge as a member of the second-year team. , The Nuggets have different people participating in each project. It can be said that this is definitely the most neat All-Star tour in Denver history.

On February 2004, 2, the All-Star Game of the season finally started at the Staples Arena in Los Angeles, California. For a while, Staples attracted the attention of basketball fans all over the world.

After completing some preparatory public welfare activities in the early stage, on the evening of the 15th in the United States, the Rookie Challenge was the first to start.

The rookie challenge, as the name suggests, is this year's rookie challenge, but the opponent is the rookie of the previous session, that is, the current sophomore.

Thanks to this kind of event arrangement, Anthony became a teammate for the first time. Because he was not selected for the All-Star Game, it is conceivable that James will definitely do his best in this Rookie Challenge.

In the first grade, besides Anthony and James, the other three starting players are Kirk Hinrich, Dwyane Wade and Chris Kaman. After the game in the draft, Anthony and Hinrich once again became Compared with competing on the same stage with James, this is what really excites Anthony.

Because of the existence of Anthony and James, the first-year team is star-studded, but in comparison, the second-year team is not far behind, led by Yao Ming and Stoudemire, plus Boozer and Ginobili. Sending Titans, it can be said that there is a tacit understanding in the lineup.

And what's even more interesting is that Clippers guard Makojaric, who replaced Ginobili at the end of last year's Rookie Challenge, was once again selected to the second-year team this time as a player in the second-year team. Serve point guard.

The player who once beat Anthony to a bone fracture, this time, as an opponent, once again stood opposite Anthony.

Because of Anthony's strong performance before, coupled with the star-studded, and the entanglement between Anthony and Jarich, this game suddenly made this game full of attention. At this time, the Staples arena was already sitting It was full, which is a miracle in the history of the league.

The two coaches in the city game are also quite intriguing. The first-year team actually chose Doug Collins, who is now a TNT commentator, and the second-year team, the head coach is actually the main coach of the Nuggets. Po, this magical candidate surprised everyone.

But no matter what, this game with countless slots, which was originally not noticed by people, just like this, under the eyes of everyone, started a duel at Staples.

And the scene was full of seats. This time, it was a game where there was no distinction between home and away teams. Fans could support whoever they wanted. Of course, there were also commentators. The commentator for this game was naturally a well-known celebrity. Kerry, but this time his partner has changed, replaced by the current center of the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal, two players who are both extremely funny and talented, and they are already eager to try.

"beep!"

With the whistle of the referee, Camby and Yao Ming in the midfield jumped up from the spot, and the 2004 NBA Rookie Challenge officially started!
(End of this chapter)