Chapter 122: Participating in the dunk contest, Jordan will be the judge?

"The ball went in! Zheng Yang made the buzzer-beater. He ended the game with a step-back three-pointer under the long-arm defense of the 6-foot-10 Lamar Odom.

In martial arts novels, whenever the critical moment comes, the protagonist will always stand up and use his best moves to end the battle.

Today, Zheng Yang is the protagonist on the court. Three-pointers are not his best skill, but in the most crucial rounds, three-pointers are his most commonly used weapon.

He can often use this trick to kill the enemy with one sword!
We have seen such scenes countless times, and I believe that Odom must have had past scenes flashing through his mind when he was defending Zheng Yang.

Doesn’t he know that Zheng Yang can shoot three-pointers?

I believe that during the timeout, head coach Phil Jackson must have emphasized this point to them, asking them to keep a close eye on Zheng Yang's three-pointers.

But, just like Kobe's goal in the last round, the reason why a superstar is a superstar is that even if you know what tricks he will use to end the game, you still can't defend him.

On this hot night, Zheng Yang used a game of 57 points and a three-point buzzer-beater to once again prove to the world that his time has arrived.

The great achievements he made in the past were not achieved by standing on the shoulders of giants, he himself is that giant! "

Yu Jia, who is knowledgeable and steady, gave Zheng Yang all the praise without hesitation after he made the buzzer-beater.

Did he exaggerate?
No, after you watch Zheng Yang's entire game, you will know that no matter what words you use to describe his game, it is justified.

His only shortcoming in this game was that he was too independent and failed to connect the team well.

But this shortcoming is not obvious, because he is alone and he can score goals.

He won't cook on the spot and then pass the ball to his teammates. He won't make a series of operations and then miss the shot and complain to the referee.

Although he took 34 shots, he also hit 22 of them.

The fact that he can maintain such a high shooting percentage with so many shots is enough to show how explosive his scoring ability is.

57 points, Zheng Yang’s scoring feast also has this famous dish of the Lakers!
After the game, both teams hugged each other in a friendly manner. Kobe did not leave the court early. Although he was a little disappointed to lose the game in the end, he had a great time playing this game.

Meeting such a scoring master, and both sides being in very good form today, this kind of game is really hard to come by.

"You played really well! I'm not kidding, you are the best opponent I have met in all these years. I feel very lucky to be able to play on the same court with you!"

After hugging and touching shoulders with Zheng Yang, Kobe smiled and said to him.

Then he added.

"Can we exchange jerseys later? The jersey you wear today is of great commemorative value to me."

Of course Zheng Yang had no reason to refuse, so after the two hugged and greeted others, they exchanged jerseys, and the media on the sidelines also took photos of them.

I believe that the story that happened on this court today will be remembered by others in the future.

After taking the group photo, Zheng Yang accepted an interview with the post-match media. When talking about his thoughts on today's game, Zheng Yang thought of Jordan and said with a smile.

"Be thankful. I'm thankful that the person I met today wasn't Michael, otherwise I would only be able to get one or two points under his defense, and definitely not more than three points, haha!

I'm sorry, but my smile has no other meaning, it's just an instinctive reaction because I feel happy."

The media at the scene were all savvy people, and they could all hear the sarcasm in Zheng Yang's tone, so they asked him about his opinion on Jordan.

But Zheng Yang no longer answered questions in this regard. It would be fine to just diss him a little bit about this kind of thing. If he disssss too much, even though the media are calling him "Dear Zheng" all the time now, they will definitely accuse him of "disrespecting seniors" one by one.

Zheng Yang is not stupid either. He doesn’t want to become a plaything for these media to attract traffic!
……

After winning this game, Zheng Yang's hope of winning this year's MVP has increased a little bit.

The MVP selection is different from other awards such as the scoring champion. It is determined by voting, and the most important thing about voting is to leave a deep impression on people.

In other words, whether you play well or not is not the point; what is important is whether the media has the impression that you play well or not.

People will still vote for you even if your statistics are not that impressive, as long as you are well-played.

On the contrary, no matter how good your data is, if the media thinks your performance is average, they will still vote for someone else.

The media's impression involves key matches.

No one will watch every game of your season, and if you want to leave an excellent impression on the media, you have to perform well in those key games that attract a lot of attention.

Just like today's game, Zheng Yang and Kobe faced off head-on, which was not only broadcast live across the United States, but also attracted countless media to the scene to record it. Zheng Yang performed extremely well, not only scoring 57 points, but also winning the game.

This game will definitely leave a deep impression on them. If they vote for MVP in the future, those hesitant people will think of Zheng Yang and today's game, and then they will cast their precious vote for Zheng Yang.

You actually said that the guy who scored 57 points against the Lakers and made a buzzer-beater three-pointer was not worthy of an MVP?

Do you know what basketball is?
Do you know the value of 57 points?

Do you know what a king is?

If you don't understand football, why are you voting?
Do you remember the MVP competition between Kobe and Chris Paul in the 07-08 season in the original history?
那个赛季，个人数据方面，29岁的科比打满了82场比赛，场均可以得到28.3分、6.3个篮板、5.4次助攻和1.8次抢断，投篮和三分命中率分别为45.9%和36.1%。

克里斯·保罗这边，年仅23岁的他也是初生牛犊不怕虎，进入NBA才第三个赛季的他出战80场比赛，场均可以得到21.1分、4个篮板、11.6次助攻、2.7次抢断，投篮和三分命中率分别达到了48.8%和36.9%。

In terms of personal honors, Kobe was selected to the All-NBA First Team, the All-NBA First Defensive Team and the All-Star Team, as well as two Western Conference Player of the Month awards.

Chris Paul was selected as the assists leader and steals leader, and was selected to the All-NBA First Team, the All-NBA Second Defensive Team, and the All-Star Team. He also won two Western Conference Player of the Month awards. It can be said that in terms of personal ability, the two are evenly matched.

Looking at the team's performance, the Lakers have swept away the slump of the previous seasons and once again topped the Western Conference with a record of 57 wins and 25 losses, while the Hornets finished second in the Western Conference with 56 wins and 26 losses, just one win behind the Lakers.

Although the Hornets ranked second, it is clear that such a small gap will not be a key factor in determining the MVP decision.

So why did Kobe win the only MVP trophy in his career with a 65.08% first choice rate and 33.73% vote rate?
The crux of the matter lies in the fourth game in which the two players faced off directly. This game, which was watched by countless people, obviously became the key game in the minds of the media.

In this game, Chris Paul's personal offensive performance was poor, making only 13 of 4 shots and scoring 15 points.

Although he contributed 17 assists, this transcript is obviously not as good as Kobe's quasi triple-double of 29 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

It was because of this game that Chris Paul lost this precious opportunity, and this was also the closest he ever got to the MVP.

So it is somewhat inappropriate to say that Kobe snatched the MVP from Chris Paul. After all, their performances are similar, but he performed better than you at critical moments, so it is normal for him to get the MVP!
……

After the game between the Knicks and the Lakers ended, it was reported by major media and caused a wave of attention.

Zheng Yang's diss to Jordan after the game made Jordan angry again. How dare this guy be sarcastic to me in front of the media? Damn it, doesn't he respect me, the God of Basketball, at all?
And you, Kobe, didn’t you always say that you wanted to be Jordan’s successor?
This guy has had conflicts with me for a long time, and you actually exchanged jerseys with him and smiled so happily. If you continue like this, I will remove you from the list of Jordan's successors!
An angry Jordan later vowed again in front of the media that Zheng Yang would never get the MVP and he would definitely win the $100,000.

But Zheng Yang no longer paid attention to him. He just liked to tease Jordan whenever he had the chance and see him get frustrated and helpless.

Haha!

……

On December 12, this year's All-Star voting opened again, and with Zheng Yang's current strength and influence, it is a foregone conclusion that he will win the most votes.

For a player who has the support of the Chinese and New York markets, who dares to say that his popularity can be greater than his?
This is not a joke, right?

However, last year, due to too many disputes with the team, Zheng Yang's performance on the court was average, and he eventually lost to Yao Ming and lost the throne of the vote king.

When Zheng Yang called on fans to vote for him, he also began to express in front of the media that he had a strong interest in participating in this year's NBA Slam Dunk Contest and had already begun to think about what to do. As for whether he would eventually participate, it would depend on the situation.

In fact, Zheng Yang is indeed very interested in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. After all, in basketball, any tricks pale in comparison to dunks.

This is the most brutal, adrenaline-pumping thing ever.

Before being reborn here, Zheng Yang had never even touched the basket, let alone dunked.

Now that I have such amazing physical fitness, of course I have to participate in a dunk contest to show it off.

As for why you didn’t just confirm that you wanted to participate?
That's of course because only this kind of ambiguous situation can attract more attention from everyone. After a while, when he announces the news that he will participate in the competition, the competition will receive even more attention.

When Zheng Yang announced his participation in this year's dunk contest, rumors began to spread that the judges of today's dunk contest were very excited.

It is possible that Kobe Bryant, the demigod Vince Carter, or even the god of basketball Michael Jordan will be in attendance.

There is a high probability that the judges of this year's dunk contest will be the most explosive judges in NBA history.

Of course, what everyone is most concerned about is whether the basketball god Michael Jordan will participate!
After all, the current conflict between him and Zheng Yang is known to everyone, and everyone wants to see whether there will be any sparks between the two when one of them sits in the judges' box and the other performs on the court.

Another point is, will Michael Jordan make things difficult for Zheng Yang at that time?

After all, this guy's reputation as an old rogue is not earned for nothing. He is not a generous person. Zheng Yang has dissed him so many times in front of the media. Who would believe you if you said that he would remain fair and just?

The topic of this season's All-Star Slam Dunk Contest is heating up rapidly, and David Stern did not miss this opportunity. The Slam Dunk Contest has not been very satisfactory in recent years, and now that it has finally made some waves, it should indeed be hyped up more.

So for the following period of time, Zheng Yang's career dunk highlights were played in a continuous loop on the streets and alleys of New York and other places.

And at the end of these videos, there is always a sentence added.

“Will Zheng be the one to save the dunk contest?”

Everyone knows Zheng Yang's jumping ability, and also knows that this guy can create something unexpected for people.

Therefore, they are all looking forward to Zheng Yang coming up with new things and new moves in this dunk contest!

With such high expectations, if Zheng Yang can meet people's expectations, his popularity will definitely reach a new level.

Of course, where there is a good side, there is a bad side. If Zheng Yang performs poorly or follows the rules, he will naturally suffer backlash.

By then his popularity will surely drop, and similar things like this will no longer be so popular in the future.

Of course, the premise of all this is that Zheng Yang decides to finally participate in this dunk contest. If he doesn't participate, there is no point in talking about this.

However, now that the situation has developed to this point, it is impossible for Zheng Yang not to participate.

If Zheng Yang suddenly decided not to participate in this dunk contest, David Stern would definitely be the first person to strangle him to death.

After all, David Stern has invested a lot of money in this All-Star Slam Dunk Contest. If Zheng Yang suddenly announces that he will not participate, wouldn’t all his efforts be in vain?

However, this is something that is impossible to happen. Zheng Yang will definitely play. In a competition in mid-January, Zheng Yang confirmed the news that he would participate in the competition in front of the media. He also said that he had come up with several perfect moves that would definitely amaze everyone.

Zheng Yang's remarks have raised everyone's expectations for this year's All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, and everyone is waiting to see Zheng Yang's performance.

And the All-Star Game on February 2th is coming soon!
(End of this chapter)