As the All-Star Weekend approaches, the entire league is filled with the festive atmosphere of the event.
Many players are looking forward to the All-Star break, mainly because the NBA regular season is too tight, and players rarely have time to rest and adjust.
All-Star players are only a minority; most players don’t need to participate and will have about a week off.
For the All-Stars, most of them also bring their families to the event; it’s more of a big party with little pressure, just having fun.
This year’s All-Star is held in Toronto, and because Kobe is retiring after tonight, many fans are here for his last All-Star game, and the league is almost openly attempting to give the AMVP to Kobe.
After all, for a commercial league, giving this award to Kobe is the most profitable.
From the moment he landed in Toronto, Zeng Xingyang hasn’t had a moment of freedom.
He is taken by league staff from one room to another, facing interview after interview with the media.
Among the media, there are many Chinese journalists.
Penguin Sports even dispatched several commentators along with three female hosts to cover this All-Star game.
Zeng Xingyang is occupied with work during the day, and in the evening he schedules basketball games with Song Xue.
For Zeng Xingyang, the All-Star Weekend is more of a mental drain, not much of a physical challenge.
The All-Star Weekend quickly got underway.
The first event was the celebrity game. This match has a lot of hype, given it features basketball-loving celebrities from various fields, yet is less about watchability.
Ultimately, Team Canada defeated Team USA 74-63, with famous rapper Drake and American comedian Kevin Hart as the respective head coaches of the teams.
After the celebrity game came the Rising Stars Challenge.
The Rising Stars Challenge was split into the World Team and the USA Team.
The World Team lineup was: Zeng Xingyang, Jokic, Bogdan, Capela, Mirotic, Porzingis, Powell, Wiggins.
The USA Team lineup was: Towns, Russell, Clarkson, Okafor, Parker, Smart, Noel, LaVine, Hood.
Booker was absent due to injury.
These kinds of games don’t have much predictive value, but most fans are focused on the matchup between Zeng Xingyang and Jokic versus LaVine and Towns.
It’s the future stars of the Nuggets against the future stars of the Timberwolves. As for Wiggins?
He’s often lackluster even in regular season games, and even though this is Canada, fans don’t expect him to put in much effort in the All-Star Rising Stars Challenge.
The arena was packed, with celebrities considering it a grand party.
Numerous journalists gathered here, and any star attending this major event will likely be featured in a report.
Therefore, attending such large events can help celebrities boost their personal influence.
Moreover, coming here allows them to network with many people.
For the NBA and celebrities, it’s mutually beneficial.
During the pre-game warmups.
Towns enthusiastically came over and gave Zeng Xingyang a big hug.
Since the game between the Nuggets and the Timberwolves a month ago, the two haven’t seen each other.
"Hey, Zeng, you’ve been doing well recently. I keep hearing the media mention your name." Towns patted Zeng Xingyang on the shoulder.
"Haha, are they saying that last year’s top pick should have been me?" Zeng Xingyang laughed and asked.
"Don’t think too much, I’m not playing badly either." Towns retorted.
Though the Timberwolves’ record isn’t great, Towns has been consistently performing well, and there aren’t any doubts regarding his draft position.
"I heard Devin and Kendall broke up again?"
"Yeah, who knows what he’s thinking, broke up four times last year and starting again this year with the first one."
"Ah, the Kardashian family women are quite something, always so flamboyant every day."
"Who knows what this guy is thinking, messing with such women and hasn’t been playing well lately."
After catching up and gossiping for a bit, Towns laid down the challenge: "Zeng, I won’t hold back tonight; I’ll give you several blocks."
Zeng Xingyang replied, "I’m going to pull you out and play one-on-one, destroy you, and make you cry home to mama."
The two exchanged some trash talk.
While they are friends off the court, on the court, they are opponents.
World Team starting lineup: Zeng Xingyang, Bogdan, Wiggins, Porzingis, Jokic.
This is a talented and intelligent lineup, appearing very formidable.
Bogdan and Jokic are national teammates and are adept at pick-and-rolls, while Porzingis has shooting ability and strong defensive skills as a big man.
USA Team starting lineup: Russell, LaVine, Clarkson, Towns, Okafor.
Similar to the Nuggets’ twin towers, the USA Team has two bigs, with Towns even playing at the power forward position.
Towns and Porzingis jump ball.
The ball was tipped by Porzingis but intercepted by LaVine, who jumped high.
LaVine quickly dashed past half-court, with Bogdan’s defense being quite lax, allowing LaVine to easily blow by him with a big crossover.
LaVine unhesitatingly showcased his bounce, palming the basketball, stepping up, and delivering a ferocious tomahawk dunk.
The basketball slammed hard into the hoop from LaVine’s dunk.
LaVine’s play fully displayed his elite slam dunk skills, with an exceptionally long hang-time dunk.
Both the extension and air-time were impeccable.
The crowd’s cheers erupted instantly as fans loved such displays.
"Zach LaVine is really something, delivering such a spectacular dunk in the first play, catching all the attention," Wang Meng said.
"Yeah, let’s see how the World Team responds," Kovan said.
The World Team’s offense.
Zeng Xingyang brought the ball over half-court.
Jokic had a laid-back attitude towards this All-Star game and wasn’t taking it seriously.
Zeng Xingyang passed the ball to Jokic, who then dribbled once before returning it to Zeng Xingyang.
Russell was guarding Zeng Xingyang but wasn’t very committed.
Zeng Xingyang didn’t hold back
After a simple jab step, he chose to pull up for a three-pointer.
The basketball arced beautifully through the air.
Zeng Xingyang’s response was sharp, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Zeng Xingyang was arguably the most popular among these players.
Both World Team and USA Team players were dumbfounded; isn’t this Canada? Why is Zeng Xingyang getting so much applause?
Isn’t this supposed to be Wiggins’ home turf?
Okafor looked at Zeng Xingyang’s immense popularity with some envy.
As the third pick, Okafor always thought he was playing well, especially being in a big city like Philadelphia.
But his popularity never seemed to rise.
In the next play, Okafor received the ball inside, backed down Jokic, spun to the basket, and scored easily with a layup.
The crowd didn’t have much of a reaction; such an offense was quite ordinary.
World Team’s offense.
Zeng Xingyang and Jokic continued a hand-off pick-and-roll.
After the pick, Zeng Xingyang shifted and took a three-point jumper.
Zeng Xingyang wasn’t going to be polite with these temporary teammates, taking shots when necessary; he was aiming for the MVP.
Otherwise, what’s the point of playing such a game?