Champion, please stay!

Chapter 239, Section 237: Which of you is second?
Yi Shui talked with the management and coaching staff for about ten minutes. There were unexpected situations, but he did not choose to resist.

He left Cowboys Arena and went to the restaurant recommended by Yao Ming. Curry and Chalmers had already ordered the dishes he might want to eat... but he didn't have much of an appetite.

He really doesn't want to part with any of his current teammates, especially those who have been playing together since their rookie year.

From being considered a tanking team, to making a stunning debut with a 5-game winning streak, to being in the top five in the Eastern Conference halfway through the season, to breaking into the top four at the end of the season, to starting his second year with a 16-game winning streak and becoming the league leader halfway through the season...

But change is inevitable, sooner or later.

For the past year and a half, Executive Vice President Walsh has given Yi Shui the impression that he is particularly determined to focus on the free agency market this summer, and that no deal or signing should affect his long-term goals.

Walsh's desire to make changes now must be the result of careful consideration.

We saw hope, but also problems, and we wanted to improve.

This is far better than the management of teams like the Kings and Timberwolves who think, "It's time to make a trade," or the Pistons who think, "I have to do something to prove myself."

Yi Shui didn't discuss this topic with Curry, Chalmers, or others. He kept it to himself. The deal might not even go through; it was just that the other party had made a request, and there would inevitably be bargaining involved...

After dinner, the group returned to Cowboy Stadium.

Yi Shui and Curry's agents were already waiting, leading them to a basketball training court inside the arena that appeared to be temporarily set up for the All-Star Weekend. The interview preparations were complete, and the equipment was already set up.

Bartelstein has explained the situation: FNC, or Fox News Dallas, added a last-minute interview segment before the Rising Stars Challenge, inviting Yi Shui and Curry.

The host was Grant Hill, and the other three guests were Dirk Nowitzki, the star player of the Dallas Mavericks; Tony Romo, the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys; and Nelson Cruz, the home run king of the Dallas Rangers.

The program is quite conventional; it's simply a discussion between top players from different sports, guided by the host.

What Yi Shui found particularly interesting was the reason for the show's appearance—Bartelstein speculated that it was Hill's father paving the way for his son's career after retirement.

Yi Shui had heard of the Hill family's illustrious background before, but today she truly understood just how outrageous it was.

Hill's mother is a close friend of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a Pentagon legal counsel; Hill's father is one of the vice presidents of Major League Baseball; and the head of Fox News' Dallas television station is a classmate of Hill's mother...

Yi Shui recorded the program properly, it was a courtesy, a mutual favor, and he treated it as an opportunity to get to know the superstars of the other two top-level competitions.

At 6 p.m., the second-grade team gathered to start warming up.

After getting his hands on the basketball, Yi Shui put aside the possibility of the team being traded. Whatever his worries were, playing a game of basketball would solve them.

...

After warming up, Yi Shui and his teammates from the second-year team arrived at the player tunnel.

The venue was packed with over 100,000 seats. Even players like Yi Jianlian, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Love, who had played in the 3rd Madness Finals, found the scene incredibly impressive.

At 7:30 p.m., the pre-match performance ended, and the host introduced the players from the second-year team and the rookie team.

All 18 players from both teams were incredibly excited when they took to the court. Playing in front of so many people was a once-in-a-lifetime experience... except for the guys who will be playing in the main tournament the day after tomorrow.

The rookies, participating in the All-Star Weekend for the first time, were incredibly excited.

The Rising Stars Challenge, broadcast live in over 100 countries worldwide, is a stage for outstanding rookies to showcase their talent and make their names known to basketball fans around the world.

They've been excited since the event this morning, thinking all day about how to crush the second-graders and make a name for themselves like they did last year, until...

At 7:58, the starting lineups of both teams took to the field.

Rookie Team Starting Lineup: Evans, Harden, Casspi, Blair, Gibson.

Harden, who was excitedly running onto the court, stopped in his tracks and his mouth dropped open when he saw the five players slowly walking onto the court from the other side.

After a two-second pause, he turned to Evans, who had caught up with him, and said, "Tyreek, these five guys on the other side could go straight to the All-Star Game!"

Evans glanced at the other side and nodded: "Yes, even the weakest of these guys is no worse than me."

Harden: "..."

He didn't know what to say after hearing that reply.

What he wanted was a confident answer from the strongest player in his cohort, something that would give him confidence.

But why does this guy seem to have no competitive spirit at all?

It wasn't just Harden who felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head; the other starters on the rookie team and the four substitutes on the sidelines were also a bit bewildered when they saw the five starters on the second-year team.

Rose, Curry, Yi Shui, and Love are all scheduled to participate in the All-Star Game the day after tomorrow.

Brook Lopez, the only non-All-Star, averaged 17.5 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks per game.

Newbies: Give me the ball, I want to go home!
...

The Rising Stars Challenge was... a brutal affair.

The rookie team played very hard.

Evans didn't talk much, but he played very hard after the game started, playing 29 minutes and scoring 28 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Jennings was the most energetic player, putting up 22 points and 8 assists with a crazy drive-and-kick game;

Harden made four three-pointers and scored 20 points, showcasing his talent;
Blair's performance of 22 points and 16 rebounds was explosive;
吉布森6投6中加上4中2的罚球拿到14分7板1盖帽，也还过得去。

With all five starters scoring over 100 points, the rookie team fought hard and scored 140 points.

But on the other side...

维斯布鲁克17分10板11助攻、罗斯13分2板6助攻、易水16分9板6助攻、加索尔6分5板6助攻。

在4人传球带领下，库里22投14中，其中三分球11中7，加上5中5的罚球，狂轰40分；埃里克-戈登26分、小乔丹16分14板、乐福14分、大洛佩茨12分。

上半场79比67、下半场81比74，二年级队以160比140屠杀新秀队！
The second-year team broke the 2007 Rising Stars Challenge record of 155 points in a single game, previously held by players from the 05 draft class!
Ultimately, Curry, who scored 40 points, and Westbrook, who grabbed two rebounds under the basket to complete a triple-double, jointly lifted the MVP trophy.

Westbrook clearly wanted to compete for the MVP award, but Rose didn't compete with him and only played half the minutes of Westbrook.

In the afternoon, Rose put in a lot of effort to compete with Turtle for a starting position, just to save face by being in the starting lineup.

As for the Rising Stars Challenge trophy... Rose is already an All-Star player, he doesn't care about that.

After the match, commentators from various TV stations joked that the second-year team was bullying them, not only showing no mercy but also executing tactical plays that left the rookies with no chance.

A topic that sparked debate after last season has resurfaced – which draft class of the 21st century was the strongest, the 08 or the 03 draft class?
Last summer's debate ended with the 2003 draft class being considered stronger, as four of the top five picks from that class produced superstars: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade. Moreover, the talent of the second overall pick, Darko Milicic, still evokes regret to this day.

But now the situation has changed dramatically. Yi Shui, the number one pick in the 2008 draft, has already started to compete for the MVP; Rose, the third pick, is already an All-Star and led his team to the Western Conference playoffs; Love, the sixth pick, is averaging 17 points and 12.5 rebounds and is a reserve All-Star; Curry, the eleventh pick, helped Yi Shui lead his team to the top of the league and was selected as an All-Star.

Westbrook, Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, Brook Lopez, and others have all demonstrated All-Star talent!

...

The next day, February 20th, at 8 PM, the All-Star Weekend's multi-event day began.

Yi Shui had a great time bullying the rookies last night, but after building a lead of more than ten points in the first half, they started to play around in the second half.

Today was different; he stood on the sidelines, brimming with intense fighting spirit.

“……投篮基本功：远距离91（左侧底角86、左侧45度角91、顶弧90、右侧45度角93、右侧底角89），中距离85（左侧底线77，左侧45度角85，正面87，右侧45度角88，右侧底线80），近距离93……”

After two and a half years of hard training, he has become a top-tier three-point shooter, a first-class mid-range shooter, and a top-class rim attacker.

Last year, we went in unprepared and failed miserably, resulting in a huge embarrassment along with the elementary school students. This time, we must redeem ourselves.

First up was the Shooting Stars Challenge.

The four participating teams are: Minneapolis, led by Mayo; Los Angeles, led by Gasol; Atlanta, led by Joe Johnson; and Dallas, led by Nowitzki.

In the preliminary round, everyone's performance was average, and the time taken was more than a minute. The main reason was that all four teams allowed WNBA players to shoot from the center circle, which was considered as giving them a chance to perform individually. However, the female basketball players generally lacked strength and took a long time to shoot.

The Dallas team and the Los Angeles team advanced to the finals by a narrow margin.

In the final, neither team allowed their female players to shoot individually. Instead, international basketball superstars Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki took turns shooting from the center court. The Los Angeles team took 27 seconds to shoot from both inside and outside the three-point line, which was very fast. Gasol's shot from the center court... wasn't much better than the female players', taking 29 seconds, more than his teammates combined. His final time was 56 seconds.

When the host team Dallas played, their shots inside and outside the three-point line took 40 seconds, half as long as the Los Angeles team's shots.

Everyone thought Dallas was doomed, and then... Nowitzki hit a shot from mid-court! From catching the ball and adjusting his stance to the ball falling into the basket, it only took 4.8 seconds!
Seeing Nowitzki, former three-point champion George McLeod, and WNBA's Hammon raise the trophy together, Yi Shui looked around the sidelines and found the long-necked player.

With the Silver Horned King so formidable, how could the Dragon King be absent? It's such a pity for Yi Shui.

The Shooting Stars Challenge served as a warm-up for the three-event competition, and after the awards ceremony, the main event finally arrived.

The first event was a skills challenge.

The four participating players are Nash, Curry, Rose, and Westbrook.

Initially, the league arranged for three up-and-coming point guards to face off against Chris Paul, a superstar point guard from the middle generation.

But Paul got injured and withdrew from this year's All-Star game. Deron Williams, seeing that Paul was not there, was not interested in participating either. So the league brought out veteran point guard Steve Nash again. Before Deron Williams won the championship in 08, Nash was the record holder in this event.

Last year at the Phoenix All-Star Game, the NBA wanted Nash to participate again, but Nash was not selected for the All-Star Game due to the team's record, and he did not go to the American West Arena for the entire All-Star Weekend.

Coincidentally, this year's host team, the Dallas Mavericks, is also Nash's former team, and theoretically the team he played for during his most peak years, and also has a certain fan base in the local area.

Last year, Rose defeated Paul, Harris, and Parker, and was highly anticipated.

Westbrook is fast, has excellent passing and ball-handling skills, and is one of the best of the new generation of point guards.

Curry is excellent at passing, ball handling, and shooting. He plays in New York and is just as well-known as Rose.

The more than 100,000 fans at the scene were all looking forward to the performance of the three second-year prodigies... but the result was that the three were completely outplayed by Nash.

In the preliminary round, Nash took 31 seconds and in the final round, 29 seconds, giving the three youngsters no chance at all and easily winning the championship.

Of the three second-year prodigies, Curry performed the best, with 36 seconds in the preliminary round and 37 seconds in the final.

In fact, Westbrook and Rose performed much like Nash in most aspects, but they both failed because of their three-point shooting. They took several attempts before making the shot, and by the time the game was over 40 seconds left, they were eliminated in the preliminary round.

After the competition, the elementary school students were both unwilling to accept defeat and very impressed. The Wind Child had made almost no mistakes throughout the preliminary and final rounds! His skills were astonishing.

After Nash lifted the trophy and enjoyed the cheers,
The staff removed the equipment for the skills challenge and set up the ball racks. Then, the third competition—the three-point contest—would begin.

The host introduced each of the participating players one by one.

First, he shouted out the nickname "The Great Emperor," then walked onto the field and waved to the fans.

Texas is really different from Arizona.

Last year at All-Star Weekend, Yi Shui was greeted with cheers no matter what game he played. This time it was different; Texas fans didn't seem to like him as much.

Yesterday's Rising Stars Challenge went well, but today there were noticeably more boos.

Perhaps it's because the Knicks recently defeated the Mavericks?
When Curry came on during the Skills Challenge, there were boos.

It is said that every redneck has a separate budget for watching sports events in their daily expenses, and Yi Shui has witnessed this firsthand.

When Curry returned to the court, he was also booed.

Yi Shui was very satisfied; he wasn't the only one who was booed, and Curry received far fewer cheers than him.

The other four participating players are defending champion Granger, bad pitcher Billups, the best player in the universe Pierce, and host country star Nowitzki.

The order of appearance was drawn by lot, and Yi Shui was the first to flip a card... She flipped over a '1'.

He picked up the sign and faced the camera with a bit of annoyance, and this time the cheers from the crowd were quite unified.

In previous years' three-point contests, the first player to appear was usually eliminated early on.

For example, he himself was also drawn as the first to appear last year, and was the first to be eliminated.

接着库里抽到3、皮尔斯抽到5、格兰杰抽到6、比卢普斯抽到4，诺维斯基不用翻牌了，第2个出场。

After a 3-minute preparation period, during which the players warmed up their hands by shooting hoops, the host announced the start of the competition.

Yi Shui is the first to appear!
The other players all focused their attention on him.

Unlike last year when no one thought Yi Shui could compete for the championship, this year he is indeed a championship favorite, averaging 2.5 three-pointers per game, second only to Granger who averages 3 three-pointers per game; Yi Shui's three-point shooting percentage of 41% also ranks second, second only to Pierce's 42%.

Curry is at 40.9%, Nowitzki at 40.6%, Billups at 39%, and Granger at 38.1%.

Yi Shui arrived at the right corner of the goalpost, and a system notification appeared!

"You are participating in the NBA All-Star Three-Point Contest. Skill: Performer Activation. You are in peak shooting condition."

One of the rewards he received after winning the Player of the Month award in his first month of his rookie season and setting a new record for the fastest time to win the award.

Last year's three-point contest also ignited his passion. He started off quite well, making 7 shots from the first two spots, including a fancy one, for a total of 8 points. However, he only made 8 shots from the next 3 spots combined for a total of 8 points, and he didn't even finish the last shot from the left corner...

Yi Shui turned off the system screen, exhaled a breath of stale air, and nodded to the referee.

The referee nodded in response, raised his hand, blew the whistle, and then lowered his hand to start the match!
Just like last year, Yi Shui felt great when he picked up the ball and threw it. He made 3 shots in a row right away. After missing the 4th shot, the last fancy shot fell into the basket.

5 points on the first point!
Yi Shui's accuracy was so good that the other players were not surprised. He was always accurate with his long-range shots, and his three-point and long two-point shooting percentages were both over 40%.

Granger also participated in the three-point contest with Yi Shui last year, and he remembers that Yi Shui was very accurate with the first two shots.

But the difference is that Yi Shui's shooting speed was much faster this time!

Last year, it took more than 30 seconds to complete the first two shots at Yishui.

This time, Yi Shui's ball-catching and shooting motion was more concise and fluid, and his release speed was significantly faster. He took only 8 seconds to shoot 5 times!

Moreover, after the ball was thrown, Yi Shui quickly moved to the right 45-degree angle and immediately started the second shot!
Then, gasps of surprise rang out from the crowd.

Yi Shui scored 5 consecutive goals from the right 45-degree angle, followed by 4 more from the top arc! Adding the free kick from the right bottom corner, that's 10 goals in a row!
Curry heard the other four players next to him using slang and wanted to join in.

Elementary school student: No, bro, I've never seen you this accurate when we were training together!

Seeing Yi Shui pick up the ball, adjust it, and shoot, Curry instinctively shouted "No," but it still went in!
14 of the first 15 shots were made, with only one regular shot missed. Yi Shui has scored 17 points! Just 30 seconds have passed!
At the 45-degree angle on the left, Yi Shui Lian Zhong's shot finally broke, with two quick attempts hitting the wrong ball.

Yi Shui then adjusted his shot and shot again, finally succeeding. His last two shots from the left 45-degree angle were noticeably slower, and the effect was obvious; they both went in, making three consecutive shots.

After shooting from the first four spots, Yi Shui had already scored 21 points!

Based on previous years' results, this score would definitely qualify him for the finals.

And there's still one spot we haven't invested in yet!
Yi Shui arrived at the left corner, but unlike the left 45-degree angle, he wasn't in a rush. He took a look at the first ball before shooting, and then slowed down his release speed for the second ball, just like the two balls from the left 45-degree angle.

He scored the first two goals, bringing his score to 23 points, and the cheers from the fans in the stadium grew louder and louder.

When Yi Shui missed his third shot, the fans in the stadium couldn't help but sigh with regret. They wanted him to make the shot even more than Yi Shui himself did!
After Yi Shui scored 11 consecutive goals and 17 points from the first 3 spots, the data was displayed on the big screen and the host announced that he was poised to break the record!
Having the chance to witness a record-breaking game, the Texas redneck didn't care whether he liked Yi Shui or not. He didn't really have any deep-seated hatred for Yi Shui; he just didn't like Yi Shui and even less so the Knicks who had just defeated the Mavericks.

Immediately afterwards, Yi Shui's fourth shot from the left corner went straight into the basket, bringing his score to 24 points.

On the last shot, Yi Shui grabbed the ball, got into a shooting position, paused for a moment, and with 5 seconds left, he didn't rush. He exhaled heavily, lifted the ball, jumped, and released the shot!

At that moment, the volume of the crowd dropped sharply, but when the ball fell into the basket, the volume suddenly rose, and more than 100,000 people erupted in deafening cheers!
The referee confirmed that Yi Shui scored 26 points in the preliminary round, making 16 of 20 regular shots and a perfect 5 of 5 fancy balls!
The other five contestants on the sidelines were all staring at the big screen, dumbfounded.

The post above shows the single-round scoring rankings for the three-point contest. Craig Hodges and Jason Kapono, who were previously tied for first place with 25 points, have now dropped to second.

Yi Shui scored 26 points on 21 of 25 shots, breaking the three-point contest scoring record!
After enjoying the cheers of the fans, Yi Shui walked back to the sidelines.

The other five contestants all turned their attention to him.

Yi Shui felt uneasy under their gaze. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Let me guess who among you will be second?"

(End of this chapter)