Chương 91: Boos at Staples Center
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Collins knows how to strike a balance.
After the first quarter, in the second quarter, Wang Chong and Wade, two players who played almost the entire game, did not appear on the court, and the game was handed over to James and Anthony.
As for the sophomores, with Stoudemire leaving the court and Yao Ming not appearing again, the team's overall strength dropped sharply.
James and Anthony teamed up to score consecutively, and then launched a 12:2 attack wave, taking a double-digit lead.
At the end of the first half, the first-grade team was leading the second-grade team by 4 points, 72:68.
James scored a halftime high of 18 points, Wang Chong scored 16 points, and Wade and Anthony both just scored in double digits.
On the sophomore side, the one who scored the most points was naturally Stoudemire. Yao Ming had not planned to play too long in the Rookie Challenge. He only played for less than 10 minutes in the first half and did not take many shots, which did not put too much pressure on the freshmen's inside defense.
However, at the beginning of the second half, the sophomores began to increase the intensity of the game.
Even though the Rookie Challenge was just an exhibition match and was of no consequence, the first graders could easily lose but the second graders could not. Ever since the Rookie Challenge was introduced and the confrontation mode between the first and second graders was stipulated, in most cases, the second graders could maintain absolute dominance when facing the first graders.
No one wanted to be considered so incompetent that a first-year rookie could easily defeat them. Seeing that they not only did not have an advantage but were actually 4 points behind at the end of the first half, the sophomore team naturally started to take it seriously.
At the beginning of the second half, Boozer made a turnaround jump shot in the paint and caused Kaman to commit a defensive foul, making it 2+1. Then Stoudemire continued to face the basket and dunked in the paint. Yao Ming, who came on the court again, easily grabbed the rebound under the basket and scored a tip-in.
In just a few minutes, the sophomore team regained the initiative, closing the gap to 4 points and widening the score to 5 points.
The class of 2002 was indeed very strong, but the quality of the class of 2003 was a little too high.
Except for Wang Chong, whose overall rating has reached 87, the ability values of James, Wade, and Anthony are all above 80, and they have extremely strong personal abilities. On the other hand, in the sophomore class, except for Yao Ming and Stoudemire, there are no players who can reach an overall rating of 80.
Ginobili and Boozer might be able to barely get close to this standard, but based on their strength in the 03-04 season, they definitely could not reach an overall ability score of 80.
The advantage of the second-year rookies mainly lies in their experience, but the pace of the game is getting faster and faster. Wade, James, and others take full advantage of their mobility and turn the game into a melee. Originally, the rookie challenge was a group of players temporarily put together without any specific tactics. The role of the head coach was only to make substitutions and boost morale, so it would easily turn into a melee.
What Yao Ming fears most is chaotic fighting. With his mobility and physical fitness, he is simply unable to support frequent and fast-paced back-and-forth runs. Therefore, after returning to the court for a few minutes, he was taken off again.
Wang Chong and Wade both returned to the court about 3 minutes into the third quarter and immediately took control of the game tempo. The tacit coordination of their offense made it difficult for the sophomore team to resist, and the score was once again pulled back.
"Wang Chong and Wade have very good cooperation. They are worthy of being the golden pair in college. Together they defeated Anthony and won the NCAA championship. Wade's dribbling breakthrough, combined with Wang Chong's accurate mid-range shooting after the pick-and-roll, made it very difficult for the sophomore team to defend either one."
"The initiative of the game was successfully taken back by the first-year students. According to the current situation, the first-year students may win the final victory of this rookie challenge."
"In last year's All-Star Rookie Challenge, the winners were first-year rookies led by Yao Ming and Stoudemire. Is this going to be the same story again this year where the underdogs win?"
And the Chinese fans far away on the other side of the ocean couldn't help but start complaining in front of the TV.
"What the hell? Wang Chong finally got to touch the ball, but why is Yao Ming not playing again? He's a starter in the Western Conference All-Star Game, but he didn't even get playing time in the Rookie Challenge?" "Alas, there is nothing we can do. Yao Ming will focus on the All-Star Game. He will definitely not take the Rookie Challenge seriously. Wasn't it the same in last year's Rookie Challenge?"
"But it's not a loss. Wang Chong has already scored 26 points! He's on track to score 30+ in today's game. If the freshmen win the game, Wang Chong will be the MVP of the Rookie Challenge! James, the chosen one, and Anthony, the offensive kaleidoscope, are all scum!"
After three quarters, the score between the two teams was 96:89, with the freshman team holding a 7-point lead.
The game was much easier than Wang Chong had imagined, and was much better than the original record in which the first graders lost by 24 points 118:142.
This is obviously because there is an additional Wang Chong on the first-year rookie side.
Don't underestimate the dominance of the overall ability value of 87 on the field.
Compared with top superstars like O'Neal and Kobe, Wang Chong still has some shortcomings, but in a small scene like the Rookie Challenge where novices fight each other, he is the strongest one!
After three quarters, Wang Chong had scored 26 points, 9 of 15 shots, 3 of 7 three-pointers, and 5 of 5 free throws. His offensive efficiency was second only to Wade in the freshman team, and his hit rate was much higher than James.
James also scored 24 points at this time. Although his score was overtaken by Wang Chong, the difference was not big.
But behind the close scoring, there is a huge gap in the number of shots taken.
Although Wang Chong and Wade had clearly isolated James and refused to pass the ball to him on the court, there were other players on the court after all, and Collins also noticed some minor conflicts on the court, so he staggered the playing time of Wang Chong, Wade, and James at the beginning of the second quarter.
When Wang Chong and Wade were not on the court, James occupied most of the ball possession for the freshman team, taking as many as 20 shots, making 8 of them, with a hit rate of only 40%, including 3 of 9 three-pointers and 5 of 8 free throws.
Even the fans watching the game from the sidelines could see James' strong desire to win the Rookie Challenge MVP.
After all, this is Los Angeles, not Cleveland. The vast majority of fans at the scene obviously support Wang Chong. Therefore, when James attacked with the ball and failed to score, the fans booed. This is an extremely rare scene on the All-Star stage.
"this..."
Collins on the sidelines keenly noticed that the rhythm of the scene was not right.
As a TNT commentator, his ability to read people's expressions was much better than when he was an NBA head coach, so he immediately realized how to adjust.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Wang Chong and Wade teamed up again, while James sat on the bench with a bad expression.
(End of this chapter)
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