The way of the center

Chapter 335 Orlando Romantic Journey
This year's All-Star Game is not as useless as imagined, at least the Rookie Challenge, which started first, is enough to make everyone applaud.

Anjie, Morris, Aldridge, Durant and others all came to the scene of the Rookie Challenge. They did not forget that they also came out of this field back then.

This rookie challenge looks so familiar, but a little strange.In order to make the All-Star Weekend continue to attract the public, David Stern has come up with many plans to change the competition system.Today's All-Star Game is the product of another reform by Stern.

In Anjie's time, the rookie game was divided into two teams, the first-year team and the second-year team.But now, it has been changed to a competition system in which O'Neill and Barkley, two living treasures, select their favorite players to form teams and compete against each other.

Although O'Neal and Barkley have a good relationship in private, the two have always been old enemies on the stage.Now let them choose rookie players to fight against each other. Relying on the relationship between the two, such rules are definitely enough to attract attention.

Before the game started, O'Neill and Barkley had been fighting with each other.Both of these men felt that the players they selected were the best, but anyone who knew them knew that they were just putting on a show.

Although the spat between O'Neal and Barkley was unattractive to Anjie and the others, Anjie and his friends still came to the scene for the publicity effect of the NBA and because they really wanted to watch the game.

On the O'Neal team, Jeremy Lin, a Chinese-American, has attracted much attention. Of course, Blake Griffin, who has become famous in the past two years, has become the star of the O'Neal team.

Barkley's side has gathered a group of excellent scorers.John Wall, Paul George, Kyrie Irving, DeMarcus Cousins.
After the game started, the confrontation was really fierce.In particular, Wall and Irving, the double champions of the Barkley team, led the audience.The two of them kept scoring points with breakthroughs and dunks, which caused the cheers on the scene to be louder and louder.

Seeing Irving's fancy dribbling and Wall's precise shooting, An Jie shook his head helplessly.The defenders of this era are really too powerful.It's no wonder that the center position will decline, so that the All-Star Game voting directly canceled the center position.

But Anjie is also fortunate that at least now, he can play for a team that is willing to play around the center.

An Jie and his team were very eye-catching on the sidelines, and even the photographer's lens would leave the arena from time to time to shoot at them.The exaggerated expressions and movements of Anjie and the others were not intentional, it was all because the game was really exciting.

In the end, the Barkley team with a stronger lineup on paper also defeated the O'Neal team as it wished. 146 to 133, Kelly Irving, a young man, shined brilliantly in the game.Maybe the Cavaliers without James can really count on this guy to bring them back to the top.

After a night's rest, Anjie and the others will officially start their training for the All-Star Game.It's not because there is anything to practice together in the All-Star Game, but because the public training and interviews of the All-Star Game are also part of the All-Star Weekend.

The public training in the morning is even more popular than the NBDL All-Star game in the evening.This is the star effect. Stars train, in the eyes of fans, they look better than non-stars playing official games.And David Stern is a person who is very good at taking advantage of star value.

In the public training of the All-Star Game, everyone, including superstars like Kobe and James, just shot shots casually.Only An Jie, he asked the trainer to lead him to do a series of formal systematic training.Even for the All-Star Weekend, Anjie doesn't want his training to be relaxed.

In the evening, in addition to the NBDL All-Star Game, there will be a series of All-Star Weekend activities.But in this kind of event, Anjie's fans might be disappointed.Maybe you can see Kobe at the fan Jialianhua event, but no matter how long you wait, Anjie will not appear this year.

"I'll be there tomorrow, hehe, it's been a long time since I went to the All-Star Weekend." Catherine happily waved the ticket in her hand, and her voice fully reflected her excitement.

"This time, I guess you are the same as me. You have to work hard to get out of the airport." An Jie sat on the basketball while holding the phone.Surrounded by brightly lit, but empty training ground.Taking a break in the middle of extra practice and calling Catherine has become one of the things An Jie must do every day.

The All-Star Weekend is in full swing, even for stars like James and Kobe, they are all about playing.But An Jie still gets up at 06:30 every day, and trains with his trainer for three hours.When night fell, An Jie would still come to the training ground to conduct additional training by himself.

"You are simply too dedicated, Ann. You really amazed me." Aldridge is not ignorant of Anjie's diligence, but it is true that Aldridge did not expect to train like this during the All-Star Game.

An Jie also really wants to go to Fan Jia Lianhua to play, and he will be very tired after training for a long time.But An Jie has already set a goal for himself in his heart.In the past, as long as he could play in the NBA, he was already very satisfied.Once, reaching the playoffs was the biggest dream.But at the moment, only the golden O'Brien Cup can become An Jie's next goal.In order to achieve his goal, he is willing to pay sweat and time.A professional player's desire for a championship far exceeded An Jie's expectations.Now he has also become one of them.

After hanging up the phone call with Catherine, An Jie took a deep breath.He was the only one on the huge training ground, but it didn't matter, An Jie had long been used to being lonely and fighting alone!

If the Rookie Challenge the day before had given fans enough surprises, then today's slam dunk contest was really boring as expected.

An Jie and Catherine sat in the front row, and beside him, there were also many star couples or lovers.That whole row of "star wives" is more dazzling than the players participating in the slam dunk contest on the field.

Although the scene was very noisy, An Jie really wanted to doze off.If there were not hundreds of cameras staring at him all the time, An Jie might have been unable to bear the need to take a nap.

From the lineup to the quality of the competition, this dunk contest can be said to be the worst in the past five years.An Jie originally placed high hopes on Rockets small forward Chase Budinger, but the performance of the former McDonald's Slam Dunk Contest champion was far from what people imagined for him.

Finally, in the unremarkable process, the slam dunk contest finally came to an end.Yes, finally.Whether it is the fans or the stars who are helping outside the field, they have already wanted to flee the scene.Maybe it's time for some fresh blood to stimulate this stagnant dunk contest.

"My God, it's still comfortable outside." An Jie drove aimlessly on the streets of Orlando. He didn't know the way, so he just drove wherever he wanted.But even so, An Jie felt that this was much more interesting than the slam dunk contest just now.

"Ann, do you know the way back?" Catherine found that they seemed to be getting farther and farther away from the city.

"Don't worry, I don't know you." An Jie smiled at Catherine. He didn't think about how to go back at all.Anyway, in this convenient age, the map on the mobile phone is enough to get everything done.

"Okay, bring your phone, let's navigate back." An Jie extended a hand to Catherine while driving.

"My mobile phone is out of battery. I took too many photos and sent too many messages during the game. Why don't you use your own?" Catherine found An Jie's mobile phone, but found that the screen couldn't be turned on.

"What a coincidence, mine is out of battery." An Jie looked at the unfamiliar streets of Orlando. Yes, since kindergarten, An Jie never thought that he would get lost on the street in his twenties.

A Mazda RX-7 is parked in an open-air parking lot in an unknown park. This parking lot may be more appropriately called a parking space, because there are only three parking spaces drawn with white lines.In such a small corner, the beautiful scenery of the park and the shining starry sky of Orlando are exposed outside the windshield, and the view is unobstructed.

An Jie just called Moslav in a public phone booth. He couldn't tell Moslav his exact location, so he could only let Moslav guess where he was by describing the surrounding environment.

"Beautiful lawn and starry sky? Orlando is full of the places you mentioned! I said, you are such an old man, and you still get lost in the city." Moslav held his forehead angrily, and was working Among them, An Jie is definitely a mature man.But in life, An Jie always does some stupid things from time to time.

"Okay, Mr. Meslav, don't complain about me now, and quickly find some people to pick me up." An Jie looked at his watch, and it was already 11:30 in the evening.Tomorrow Anjie still has the All-Star Game to play, if he delays for too long, it will greatly affect his competitive state.

Although the All-Star Game has nothing to do with winning or losing, Anjie must also be worthy of the votes and expectations of the fans.Without a good state, how can you dedicate a good performance?
Back in the car, Catherine didn't seem worried at all.She stared at the scenery outside the windshield with a smile on her face, and held An Jie's hand.

"It's so beautiful." Catherine's eyes didn't move. The lawn and the starry sky seemed to divide the world into two parts.

With the help of the faint moonlight, An Jie carefully looked at Catherine.At the All-Star game just now, there were so many people and noisy, An Jie didn't have a chance to get along with Catherine seriously.But now, he found that the girl beside him was more than twice as beautiful as the scenery from the car window.

"Is there something on my face?" Catherine noticed An Jie's strangeness and touched her cheek with her hand.

An Jie didn't answer, but leaned towards Catherine.Yes, maybe the paparazzi are everywhere around here now.But so what?He and Catherine were originally lovers.They are just doing what every ordinary couple would do.

The two kissed together, a kiss may be commonplace for ordinary couples.But for An Jie and Catherine who have been separated for a long time, a kiss is so precious and so rare.

"Ann, I really don't want to leave you." Catherine suddenly hugged An Jie, and An Jie let Catherine snuggle against his chest.It may be God's arrangement to drive to this quiet park indiscriminately.

It was already two o'clock in the morning when the people sent by Moslav found Anjie and Catherine.Since the phone could not communicate with the outside world, An Jie and Catherine did not dare to move their positions in order to prevent others from finding them.

"Dong dong dong." Only when he heard someone knocking on the windshield did An Jie dimly open his eyes.And what about Catherine?She was still nestling in An Jie's arms, sleeping peacefully.

This date is really unusual.In the end, they had to rely on the rescue of others before they could go back.

At two o'clock in the morning, the sound of the RX-7 rotary engine filled the empty Orlando streets.Don't get me wrong, this isn't some drag racer racing down the street, it's a guy who just got off a date and is sending his wife home.
A romantic night in Orlando, this is probably the most unexpected harvest of An Jie's trip to the All-Star Tour.

(End of this chapter)