Chapter 870 869. Top Star Dwyane Wade

"Kwame, what are you doing?" Liu Mang was confused as he watched Kwame Brown walking around.

After arriving in Miami, Liu Mang took a nap and went to the hotel gym to train his back muscles. He had just finished stretching his waist muscles when Kwame Brown came in and out and wandered around.

"Boss, we're going to play against O'Neal tomorrow!" Kwame Brown said excitedly. He was so panicked now!

"I know, you think we're here for a trip in Miami! The coach has forbidden us to go out tonight."

"Boss, we're going to play against O'Neal!" Kwame Brown repeated like a repeater.

"I know! It's not me against him, it's none of my business!" Liu Mang said impatiently.

"Uh..." Kwame Brown felt like his heart was stabbed.

However, he couldn't blame Liu Mang, because Kwame Brown was now, in addition to being panicked, he was also very surprised!

At nine o'clock this morning, the first phase of the All-Star Weekend voting, which ended on January 2, was announced.

Yao Ming ranked first in the number of votes for the center in the West with 970,000 votes, which is also the current All-Star ticket sales. He was just a little short of breaking the million votes in the first stage like Liu Mang last season.

After O'Neal's trip to the East, Yao Ming was undoubtedly the best center in the West. The key is that he didn't know when he started to become more "self-centered". He didn't play like before, just fighting blindly. He played more when he felt good and asked for rest when he felt tired. Although his playing time dropped from 33 minutes last season to 31 minutes, his data increased to 21 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 assists per game.

Among the active players who really play center in the NBA, only Yao Ming, O'Neal and Duncan can get 20 points per game. There is no fourth one. Even since the new century, only these three players who are truly centers have averaged 20+ per game.

Mourning suddenly suffered from kidney disease in 2000. At the beginning, he made a mistake in the examination and thought it was ordinary kidney disease. He failed to receive timely and correct treatment and delayed for three years before getting a kidney transplant. It is indeed a pity, otherwise there would be a fourth one.

Yao Ming ranked first with 970,000 votes. Brad Miller, Marcus Camby, Wang Zhizhi and Dampier ranked second to fifth, but Yao Ming did not get as many votes as him.

Wang Zhizhi made the roster this year. The Lakers did not have many players listed as All-Star starters, but with Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi did not get many votes from Chinese fans.

For the Western Conference forwards, the double 21 dominated the screen again, both of them received more than 700,000 votes. Richard Jefferson ranked third with 550,000 votes. After that, no one had more than 300,000 votes. Nowitzki and Anthony both received about 300,000 votes.

Richard Jefferson rode on Yao Ming's bandwagon, and like Francis in the previous two years, his popularity in China has soared, that is, the popularity of double 21 is stable. Similar to Francis' inability to shake Kobe, Richard Jefferson cannot shake double 21.

For Western guards, Kobe still ranks first in the number of votes among Western guards with 790,000 votes, Francis ranked second with 410,000 votes, Nash ranked third with 390,000 votes, Ray Allen, Ginobili, Tony Parker, Baron Davis... and others all received more than 200,000 votes. Except for Kobe, the competition for another position is very fierce.

After Francis left Yao Ming, his popularity is not so stable.

For Eastern guards, Liu Mang ranked first with 920,000 votes, Iverson ranked second with 860,000 votes, James ranked third with 560,000 votes, and Jason Terry ranked fourth with 540,000 votes.

Liu Mang and Iverson's All-Star starters are still very stable. Liu Mang is defending his title and is the scoring champion. Iverson was still as stable as the All-Star starter until the last season of the 2009-2010 season when he was 35 years old.

In the Eastern Conference forwards, the cousins ​​continue to occupy the two starting positions. McGrady received 940,000 votes and is also the temporary vote king in the Eastern Conference. Carter ranked second with 740,000 votes. Rahim and Grant Hill both received more than 600,000 votes, following Carter.

In the Eastern Conference center, Kwame Brown was surprised and panicked. Kwame Brown ranked first among Eastern Conference centers with 790,000 votes! Overwhelmed O'Neal with 620,000 votes! Ben Wallace, who ranked third, only had 190,000 votes. The votes for the Eastern Conference center position were basically concentrated on Kwame Brown and O'Neal. The fans are making trouble.

According to the unreliable gossip media, this number of votes has a lot to do with the unusually enthusiastic participation of California fans in the All-Star voting. In the early morning, there were bursts of sinister laughter in the training hall of the Toyota Center in Los Angeles.

But no matter what the reason is, Kwame Brown is the one who benefits. The words he said in the previous interview were the fuse that triggered all this.

Kwame Brown felt his hair stand on end when he saw that his votes surpassed O'Neal!

At that time, he was tempted by the possibility of becoming an All-Star starter and was fooled by Liu Mang. Now, breathing the air of Miami, he seemed to feel O'Neal's anger.

Seeing Liu Mang's indifferent look, Kwame Brown was so sad and angry, but the pirate ship had already been boarded, and the other party would probably chase him even if he jumped into the river, and it might be even more fierce. Kwame Brown could only grit his teeth and do it.

Kwame Brown continued to say to Liu Mang with a thick face: "Boss, don't say that. I was defeated by O'Neal. What should I do if I can't make the All-Star starter? Our team will not have three All-Star starters!"

"Why can't you be in the All-Star starting lineup? Don't you already have more votes than O'Neal? It must be possible." Liu Mang gave Kwame Brown a little encouragement.

"But I know myself very well, and I am no match for O'Neal..." Kwame Brown is quite self-aware.

Really, Liu Mang glanced helplessly at Kwame Brown. This guy was self-aware and had a very good mentality, but he was too impulsive and "whimsical" like a young player.

After thinking about it, Liu Mang had an idea and said: "Kwame, it doesn't matter if you are beaten by O'Neal. Just try your best. Don't give in even if you are beaten. That's enough!"

"Huh?" Kwame Brown didn't understand.

"You're stupid! Don't those fans who voted for you know that O'Neal is the number one center? What they like is your mentality of not being afraid of O'Neal, and your fighting spirit that you keep fighting even if you are beaten by O'Neal, otherwise Why did they vote for you?" Liu Mang got to the point.

The increase in votes that Liu Mang brought to his teammates was mainly concentrated on McGrady and Jason Terry. McGrady had higher votes than Liu Mang, which made Liu Mang unhappy when he saw McGrady, and Jason Terry was also unhappy. Ranked fourth among Eastern Conference defenders.

Kwame Brown also received some bonus votes due to Liu Mang, but it was mainly due to his trouble-making interviews, Kwame Brown's gratifying progress, and his efforts to do his best every time he met O'Neal. The gesture made those fans want to see how Kwame Brown would be tortured by the angry O'Neal...

As long as Kwame Brown keeps his momentum, even if he falls behind in the matchup with O'Neal, he will always try his best as long as he faces O'Neal and let O'Neal go all out to abuse him. Fans will always want to see this scene. …

Although it is slightly different from what Liu Mang said, fans may not really like Kwame Brown, but Kwame Brown believes this ambiguous statement!

"I understand, boss, I will definitely try my best not to disappoint you and the fans!"

…

…

The next day came, January 5, when the Hawks challenged the Heat away from home.

After Liu Mang attended the team meeting in the morning and the tactical training in the afternoon, he discussed with Tracy McGrady, Prince, Iguodala, and Calderon how to deal with the Heat's back line. Prince focused on one-on-one training. On defense, Mourning was like Ratliff last season, taking several young teammates to discuss how to deal with O'Neal.

Mourning will not show mercy when dealing with his old club.

Especially regarding O'Neal, Mourning racked his brains to teach Kwame Brown how to deal with O'Neal.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, after eating a nutritious meal, the Eagles came to the American Airlines Center to prepare for the game that will be broadcast live by ABC TV and China's three major TV stations: Chaoying Sports Channel and Time Warner Cable TV starting at 8:30 p.m.

When the Eagles were warming up, a huge fat man was stopped outside the visiting team's training ground and kept yelling.

Yes, this person is O'Neal.

After O'Neal came to the arena, the first thing he did was to find Kwame Brown.

It was impossible to fight, he just wanted to scare Kwame Brown to vent his resentment.

But when he arrived at the door of the visiting team's training ground, he was stopped by security!

"Let me in! This is our team's arena." O'Neal said angrily. The two security guards actually stopped him and refused to let him in.

"This..." The security also has a headache!

"Let me in! Or I'll have Pat Riley fire you!" O'Neal yelled.

"us……"

Someone on the Eagles side told them not to let O'Neal in. If they let O'Neal in and the Eagles complained to them, they would be fired. But if O'Neal was not allowed in, and O'Neal complained to them, they would probably be fired as well. Fired.

Now the two security guards don't know what to do, so they can only stop O'Neal. If O'Neal complains, they can still argue that it was the Heat management who arranged for them to protect the Hawks players, who are now the Hawks players. The protected person must listen to the words of the protected person. If O'Neal is allowed in, he will definitely be fired as long as he is complained because it violates the work content.

But if O'Neal complains to them, they can still have a say, and the possibility of being fired is lower.

"Ah, hello, Shaq."

Liu Mang came at this time. He had expected this scene. He asked the security to stop O'Neal, which was what he ordered. However, in order to prevent the two innocent security guards from being retaliated by the petty fat man, he kept waiting, as long as there was a noise at the door. , he immediately went over to open the door and said hello to O'Neal.

Sure enough, when O'Neill saw Liu Mang coming, he forgot about the two security guards.

"Ace, what do you mean, you don't want me to go in and catch up with you and Tracy?" O'Neal spat at Liu Mang.

Liu Mang hid aside and pointed at the door: "Shaq, look over there!"

O'Neill hadn't noticed anything on the door before.

O'Neal looked at what was written on the paper on the door and read: "People who weigh more than 310 pounds are not allowed to enter the Eagles' temporary training ground - Kwame Brown... Damn guy, I'm going to blow it up tonight." You! Let you lose your dream of basketball!”

310 pounds... Before Yao Ming gained the most weight, O'Neal was the only one in the NBA who weighed more than 310 pounds. It was obviously targeting him!

After reading it, O'Neal roared toward the training ground.

After O'Neal yelled angrily, he vented his anger and began to calm down a little. He felt something was wrong, but before he could think about it, Liu Mang spoke again: "Shaq, how much are you going to take tonight?" What about points? Let’s be mentally prepared!”

"Huh?" O'Neal didn't expect Liu Mang to react like this when his teammates were threatened. He had always felt something was wrong, and now it felt even more wrong.

O'Neal came to Kwame Brown with a purpose, to threaten Kwame Brown, in order to undermine Kwame Brown's confidence, but he did not expect that when he came here, his mentality was unbalanced.

Now seeing Liu Mang seeming very happy, O'Neal felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong, so he asked: "Ace, what do you mean?"

"Wow, Shaq, you are not as courageous as Kobe. After Kobe lost to us last time, he said he would score 62 points in the next game against us, which is one point more than you." Liu Mang started to sow discord again.

"Ah?" O'Neill didn't expect Liu Mang to say this at all.

O'Neal did the math. The last time he scored 61 points, he took 35 shots and made 24. He took more than 20 free throws and made 13 free throws before he scored 61 points...

So the question is, O'Neal doesn't know whether to make bold statements or not to make bold statements now?

He can speak freely, but if the score for speaking is too low, it will be lower than Kobe's. If it is too high, he himself will feel that he can't do it, and he will be embarrassed!

O'Neal is also very thoughtful, and he immediately came up with a solution, saying: "Hmph, I don't bother to compete with that guy. Dwyane will score 50 points in this game and beat you!"

O'Neal arrived at the arena a few minutes later. Wade, who wanted to see Liu Mang to say hello, had just arrived when he heard these words and his legs went weak!

"Boss Shaq, what are you talking about!" Wade didn't dare to go past the corner. "Boss Shaq, must he be crazy!"

Liu Mang was also shocked by how shameless O'Neal suddenly became. He is a fellow man!

Liu Mang and O'Neill looked at each other and felt a sense of sympathy for each other...

…

Kobe turned on the TV and waited for a while to watch the national live broadcast of the Eagles and Heat. The Lakers had no game today and the next game was at home, so he could watch the game at home.

Who would have known that when the TV was turned on, the commentator on Time Warner Live before the game was discussing "Kobe Bryant said he would score 62 points, one more than O'Neal, against the Hawks next time."

Kobe was confused: When did I say this? Do you want to refute the rumors? It’s better not to refute the rumors...

…

…

At 8:10 p.m., the Hawks' away game against the Heat was about to begin.

Mourning returned to Miami, but was booed, mainly because he didn't come back and went to Atlanta when the Heat needed a backup big man.

Mourning felt heartbroken. He expected that most of the fans in Miami would leave as long as they lost the game before the game was over. This is his virtue. But when he actually encountered this scene, he was still heartbroken. He was Brought two of the best defensive players to this team!

Heat fans have always been known for being ruthless. After booing Mourning, they went to boo the five starters who played for the Hawks.

The fans at the scene are very enthusiastic now because the Heat have risen, and the fans in front of the TV are also very enthusiastic about this game.

The conversation between O'Neal and Liu Mang outside the training ground was leaked by someone. It might even have been leaked by two security guards who might be part-time "intelligence sources."

This game has some extra highlights, and also creates highlights for the next time the Lakers play the Hawks away from home.

The highlight of this game is, can Wade score at least 50 points against the Hawks?

In response to this, Wade jumped up and hung from the neck of the basket. He was in despair for a long time before he regained his energy and just did it!

There is also the duel between Kwame Brown and O'Neal. O'Neal roared that he would torture Kwame Brown until he didn't want to play basketball, just like the center who was dunked by Carter and retired within two years.

This is what fans want to see. Under O'Neal's power, can Kwame Brown remain so motivated?

This is how people's hearts are...

Liu Mang looked at the Heat team and observed the strength of the opponent's two strongest players.

O'Neal's ability evaluation is still 96. After reducing his weight to 141 kilograms, his continuous output has become higher, but his absolute output has become weaker and he can play longer on the court. So far this season, O'Neal has averaged 38 minutes per game, reaching the highest level since 2000-01. After the season, he averaged a new high of 23 points, 11 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. He was also the strongest at the center position, but his shooting percentage was a career low of 56%. He was not as completely invincible as before. Of course, it was not completely Invincible is still the most invincible at the center position, but his dominance has dropped a lot.

O'Neal is expected. He is 33 years old soon. It is normal to decline. At 33 years old, he still has an ability evaluation of 96. He is already a monster. This is a center.

What Liu Mang values ​​​​is Wade.

Dwyane Wade, ability evaluation 90...

Sure enough, as Liu Mang expected, Wade was more powerful than James in the early stage!

In terms of statistics, Wade's average of 24 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists is slightly worse than James, but his defense is stronger! With both of them having an offensive rating of 92 and not being good at long-range shooting, Wade's defensive rating of 87 is the key to his becoming a top star!

However, Liu Mang was surprised by one thing. Wade...

As for Wade, Fatty said that, so he had to fight. He has been training hard, isn't it just for this day!