The Way of the Center

An Jie still remembers that the first time he participated in the All-Star Weekend was in the hot Phoenix.

At that time, he was selected to the All-Star team with Westbrook and Durant. Of course, it was the All-Star rookie team.

At that time, when they saw their huge poster in Phoenix, Anjie, Westbrook and Durant would all be deeply moved and full of longing for their future.

Now, all those visions and fantasies have gradually become reality because of An Jie's efforts.

He's the All-Star ticket king, and he's the most watched guy in the entire All-Star Game. Every time he appears, the event site will be crowded. He has already become a superstar.

The team has a record of 36 wins and 5 losses, and the individual can average 29.2 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. Such a guy has achieved the ultimate no matter from the team or personally. An Jie became the focus of the entire All-Star Game, and he deserved it.

After arriving in New Orleans, he hadn't had a good rest yet. The media event on the first day of the All-Star Weekend kept Anjie very busy.

On this day, many NBA stars will conduct commercial activities in a venue, and of course they will freely accept interviews from the media.

Durant was shooting a commercial for Nike, and James was taking the kids to practice shooting. Westbrook? This guy's outlandish clothes always attract countless sparkles.

But to say that the hottest event in this venue is the "head-up" match between Mutombo and Anjie.

On a small basketball court in the stadium, Uncle Mu and An Jie in casual clothes were "fiercely" confronting the basket.

The duel between these two guys who broke the barriers of the times made all the reporters frantically film the stadium.

While everyone knows that these two guys who met for a charity event were just having fun. But even for entertainment, such a picture is enough to explode.

The "game" naturally ended with An Jie's victory, 10 to 2. An Jie didn't save face for this old man who is a fan. But one of the goals, when Uncle Mu blocked An Jie and shook his finger, directly ignited the audience.

"An, what kind of opponent do you think Mutombo is? If he is young now, will he become a threat to you?" After the heads-up, the reporters asked Anjie such a question.

"He's really good, I mean, this guy's dark elbow is really good." Facing the reporters' questions, An Jie exaggeratedly wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied humorously.

Uncle Mu has always played with Yao Ming from time to time, but he didn't expect that he could have the same fun with another Chinese.

During the day, An Jie undoubtedly became the protagonist. And at night, when it came to the Rookie Challenge, Anjie's teammate Lillard attracted a lot of attention.

As long as he plays with An Jie, he will be more or less lucky. For example, Aldridge, although this low-key guy has been playing well, he was not the object of media attention before.

But since Anjie joined the Trail Blazers, Aldridge's popularity has also soared. Perhaps, this is the so-called superstar effect.

After the Rookie Challenge started, everyone was surprised. Lillard, who killed all sides in the regular season, did not dominate the game. The Pistons' second-year rookie center Andre Drummond dominated the game instead!

In this era when guards are prevalent, there is a big center who can become the focus of the rookie game, which undoubtedly makes An Jie feel bright.

Drummond's body is very strong, he is almost unbeatable around the basket. But you thought he was another Howard? Big mistake!

Drummond does still have to rely more on his body to play now, but he is much better than Howard in terms of technical plasticity at the basket.

Among them, several small hooks with extremely good touch made Anjie look at this Piston Zero with admiration.

After the game, Drummond, who scored an exaggerated 35 points and 20 rebounds, undoubtedly won the rookie game MVP trophy.

When accepting the award, Drummond's expression was not as excited as that of previous rookies. Drummond's extremely calm expression made it seem that this rookie game MVP trophy was originally prepared for him.

An Jie smiled in the stands, it seems that this kid's ambition is not small.

"An also won the MVP in the rookie game back then. After that, his career went all the way. I also won the MVP trophy in the rookie game today. I hope that I can embark on the same path as An Jie." After the game Interviewed by a reporter, Drummond accidentally mentioned Anjie.

No wonder Drummond was not excited after winning the MVP of the rookie game. When he was targeting Anjie, a mere rookie MVP was insignificant at all.

Drummond's wonderful performance undoubtedly gave a good start to this year's All-Star Weekend, and because of the relationship between Anjie's popularity and Drummond's eye-catching performance, the media have declared that the era of the rise of centers is coming .

However, this is just wishful thinking by the media. Anjie and Drummond knew how serious the center's problem was.

Even if Anjie was the double MVP last season, even if Drummond beat the pack and shined in the rookie game. But excellent centers are always in the minority. Compared with the excellent perimeter group in the NBA, centers are as rare as prehistoric dinosaurs.

In the Rookie Challenge, Lillard's limelight was taken away by Drummond. So in the skill challenge on the second day, Lillard did his best to reach the finals on behalf of the West team in one breath.

In the final competition, Lillard's opponent is this year's hottest guard, the 76ers' McAway.

McAway's performance in the finals was not good, maybe this guy didn't take the game seriously in his heart.

But the victorious Lillard is different. From his expression to his competitive state, it can be seen that he did not regard this skill challenge as pure entertainment at all.

As soon as the timer started, Lillard took possession of the ball and galloped out. The picture of him running on the basketball court is almost the same as in the official game.

In the passing link, Lillard, who often feeds Anjie the ball, is a success, which naturally saves him a lot of time.

Lillard missed twice in the subsequent CIC link, but fortunately, Lillard used his own speed to get back a victory at the last moment.

In the end, the Western team led by Lillard successfully defeated the Eastern team with an advantage of 0.1 seconds.

Lillard, who had been holding his breath for a long time, finally won the championship of the Skills Challenge.

Perhaps for a player like Anjie, the All-Star Game awards are nothing. But for a rookie like Lillard, every trophy is not easy for them, and they have to cherish it.

In the three-point contest after the skill challenge, Lillard participated again! The young man will not let go of any opportunity to show himself.

Playing next to Anjie, even a person with a flamboyant personality like Lillard will be covered up to some extent.

Lillard has no complaints about this, but that doesn't mean he's unwilling to express himself.

Now, there is an opportunity to perform alone without Angie in front of fans all over the world, and of course Lillard will seize it all.

It's a pity that Lillard's performance outside the three-point line is actually not stable enough. He's not even technically the best 3-point shooter on the Blazers. Batum, Matthews and Courtney Lee are the real three-point firepower output of the Trail Blazers.

Although Lillard regretted losing the three-point contest, it did not affect Anjie's mood at the scene.

He applauded Lillard and felt sorry for Lillard. The guy watched the game so deeply that he was often the focus of the cameras.

In the end, An Jie, who was so excited that he couldn't help himself, watched this year's dunk contest on the spot. There is no doubt that the name Damian Lillard has appeared again!

However, under the triple threat of George, DeRozan and Wall, the Eastern Stars easily won the slam dunk contest.

Although he only won one championship in three events, Lillard's enthusiasm has been recognized by the fans.

Participating in three events in one day is absolutely unprecedented.

On the third day of the All-Star Weekend, the Eastern and Western All-Star Games kicked off. Anjie, Aldridge and Lillard were selected to the Western Conference Star Team one after another, and Lillard became the only player who played for three days in this All-Star Weekend.

A team has three players selected to the All-Star team at the same time. This season, only the Heat and the Trail Blazers can do it.

Of course, if you count the coaches, the Trail Blazers have four people selected. Because this year, the coach of the Western Stars is still Ricard!

So in the eyes of many fans, this All-Star Game is also an alternative confrontation between the Trail Blazers and the core of the Heat.

But before the game started, the strong smell of gunpowder was completely blown away by Kobe's move.

Although he was injured and unable to play, Kobe did not miss the All-Star Weekend.

Today Kobe came to the scene in a suit and leather shoes. Before the start of the All-Star Game, he joined hands with all the superstars and took the lead in singing the birthday song for Bill Russell.

This move brought tears to the eyes of the 80-year-old Bill Russell. An Jie naturally also joined the lineup to sing the birthday song, respecting the legendary predecessors, this is the principle that An Jie has always believed in.

After experiencing this little episode, the 2014 All-Star Weekend race finally kicked off.

An Jie is still the same as before, focusing on acting. Therefore, fans are fortunate to see Anjie confronting James from beyond the three-point line, or Anjie acts as the number one to direct the team's offense.

It's bound to be fun to do, but the data... that's definitely not pretty.

Anjie and the others played with ease, and the young people would not give up this great opportunity to express themselves.

In the second half of the game, the struggle between Lillard and Irving entered a fierce stage. The two guys seemed to be fighting with real knives and guns, and the scene was very exciting.

In the end, Irving successfully won this year's All-Star Game MVP with 30 points and 14 assists. I don't know how James will feel when he sees such a wizard in Cleveland. Maybe the small town of Cleveland finally has a successor for James.

163 to 155, the Eastern Stars defeated the Western Stars as they wished.

When the players from the East and West star teams returned to the player tunnel to take photos, chat and have fun together, An Jie also knew that from now on this season, there would be no time to breathe.

All-Star Weekend, this event is almost a good memory for An Jie.

But often after good times, difficult challenges will follow one after another...

The 2013-14 season is over halfway, and the breathing time for this season is over. From now until the successful defending of the title, An Jie has to tighten his nerves at any time to ensure that all previous efforts will not be wasted!

The road to NBA title defense has never been easy...