In the large and spacious living room of a private mansion on the Miami River, James was sitting on a soft chair inlaid with red gems and covered with animal fur, with his hands on his head and a worried look on his face.
The past three months in Miami have been nothing like he expected.
First, the team's record was poor in November, and he was forced to give up the ball to get the team back on track. Then there was the disastrous defeat in the Christmas game and a series of off-court events. In January, he took the ball back from Wade, and the team's record fluctuated again, and even experienced four consecutive losses. His reputation has hit rock bottom.
"King, we better do something in the All-Star Game."
On the sofa opposite the bench were his confidants Furich Paul and Windhorst, and Windhorst made a suggestion.
Speaking of which, he is also an unlucky kid. Last season, he wanted to help James to gain some traffic, but in the end, James lost face in the dunk contest. This season, Xu Yong was forced to say that the Bulls must compete for the championship, and now the Bulls have really become the favorite to win the championship.
If James didn't know that he was loyal, he would have thought he was an undercover sent by Xu Yong.
However, his proposal at this time successfully attracted James' attention.
First of all, let me make it clear that LeBron's change of jersey number to 6 has nothing to do with Xu Yong. He is the king who is high above everyone else, so how could he possibly get into any feud with a rookie?
He changed to No. 6 simply because... the Heat wouldn't let him wear No. 23.
There is a historical issue involved here. When Riley was in the Knicks and the Heat, he was beaten up by Jordan. He was really defeated and called on the entire league to retire the No. 23 jersey.
That's right, Riley had already made the call before James made the call.
And unlike James's appeal which received no response, he successfully persuaded the Heat owner to retire the No. 23 jersey.
So now the No. 23 jersey is hanging above the American Airlines Arena and cannot be taken down and worn.
The reason why he can't wear size 23 but size 6 is, well, 2 times 3 makes him 6, right?
And don’t mention that Xu Yong also wears number 6 or something. As a king who is high above everyone else, does he need to care about what number a rookie wears?
It’s just that sometimes, there will be a big conflict between the will of the world and the will of an individual.
Last season's upset of the NBA and this season's Bulls' repeated defeats of the Heat have all made him and Xu Yong, who is also No. 6, inextricably linked.
And the key point is that it was the No. 6 jersey worn by Xu Yongxian.
In addition, he just won the All-Star voting title, so he didn't care about the rookie on the opposite side, but this rookie dominated him both on and off the court.
So at this time, he really needs to do something in response.
It is difficult to respond to the main competition. Although he will definitely not admit it, Xu Yong can restrain him every time he faces him, and he can be considered his nemesis.
But the All-Star Game can.
You should know that in addition to being a two-time MVP, he is also a two-time All-Star Game MVP!
The All-Star Game and the like, that's the stage he's best at.
Because on this stage, what is being competed for is not only strength, but also connections.
If you want to win the MVP, besides winning the game, the key is that your teammates are willing to pass the ball to you.
In this regard, he, the king of the Eastern Conference who has been in the league for eight years, is far from being comparable to a second-year player like Xu Yong.
Therefore, if he wins this year's MVP, his reputation, which has hit rock bottom, will definitely rebound strongly.
What, the All-Star Game MVP has no value?
You are probably too young to know the power of the media!
When something as small as 20+5+5 in a rookie season can be considered a major achievement, how could the All-Star Game MVP not have any value?
And here's something that fans of Xu Yong's era may not know: the number of times that James led his team in points, rebounds, and assists in the finals was 7 times, while Jordan did it 0 times.
Winning or not is secondary. When the media releases a set of data like this, I ask you whether you are shocked or not!
Besides, if he wins this time, he will become the active player with the most All-Star Game MVPs.
Because among the current players, there are only two players who have won three All-Star Game MVPs, Kobe and O'Neal. However, one of the awards was shared by Kobe and O'Neal in 2009, so if we compare the value alone, O'Neal is definitely the winner.
Besides, he has only played for 8 years. Do you know what 3/8 dominance means?
So not only James was interested in Windhorst's proposal, but even Paul on the side nodded in agreement and gave specific operational details.
James nodded repeatedly in the soft chair.
After Paul finished his story, he stood up from the soft chair and nodded to his two confidants, which meant he agreed.
…
There is still half a month left before the All-Star Game begins, and naturally, there are more and more discussions about the All-Star Game.
For example, in this year's dunk contest, although Xu Yong and James did not continue to participate, Blake Griffin, Nate Robinson and DeRozan were all invited to participate, and the attention was no less than last year;
Another example is the Shooting Stars. Xu Yong, who is the most watched player in this year's All-Star Game, will not play in the Rookie Game, but he will represent Chicago in the Shooting Stars.
Finally, it is the most watched main competition of this year. Kobe has stated in previous games that he will keep the victory of this year's All-Star Game in Los Angeles, which indicates that this year's All-Star Game will be full of competitiveness.
It was at this time that James suddenly became active.
He first liked a fan's comment on social media that "Howard deserves to start in the All-Star Game more than Yao Ming."
Then he publicly praised Rondo after the game against the Celtics: "Rajon (Rondo) is a competitive competitor and the smartest player I have ever seen."
Immediately afterwards, in the news that broke out in the media, in a "giant meeting" of the Heat team with only the Big Three participating, James clearly expressed the concepts of teamwork and sacrifice.
In the subsequent game against the Raptors, James controlled his shots to 15 times and made as many as 15 assists, 6 of which were given to Wade. This approach was also publicly praised by Wade after the game.
This series of continuous operations has earned James a good reputation among Eastern Conference players, both teammates and opponents.
Finally, in ESPN's exclusive interview about this year's All-Star Game, when the reporter asked James whether his goal this year was to win the third All-Star Game MVP of his career, James gave a textbook answer.
"Of course, winning the MVP is the goal of every player participating in the All-Star Game, but for me, I hope to lead the Eastern Conference team to win this year's game. That's what I have to do."
This exclusive interview attracted strong response from fans after it was broadcast.
James' personal support for the All-Star Game reached a peak.
The issue of James vs. Kobe was mentioned again by fans, and it has become a hot topic in this year's All-Star Game.
…
Half a month passed quickly, and it was already mid-February. The 60th All-Star Game officially kicked off in Los Angeles.
The number of spectators for this year's All-Star Game may not be as high as last year, but the All-Star Game in Los Angeles, whether it is the professionalism of the media publicity or the star power on the scene, is unmatched by other cities.
So in terms of live viewing experience, this year's All-Star Game is definitely grand.
Moreover, there were many highlights in the games in the past few days. In the rookie game on the first day, James Harden scored 35 points to pay tribute to his teammate Durant, led the sophomore team to defeat the freshman team, and won the rookie game MVP.
The individual events on the second day are more interesting.
The earliest shooting stars, Xu Yong and Steve Kerr, along with Kathryn Kraft of the WNBA Chicago Sky, defeated Los Angeles, Texas and Atlanta to win the final championship;
In the following skills challenge, Stephen Curry, also from the 2009 class, beat Paul, Rose, Westbrook and others to win the championship;
The three-point contest that followed was extremely entertaining.
There are many interesting players in this year's three-point contest. For example, the addition of Durant and Ray Allen has added new light to this year's competition, while Korver and James Jones have added a touch of Eastern Conference competition to the three-point contest.
But once the game started, none of this mattered anymore.
The point is, Durant only scored 6 points in the preliminary game!
6 points, this score is just one point away from tying the lowest score record of 5 points set by Jordan in the three-point contest that year!
So it doesn’t matter who is the champion anymore, because because of these 6 points, this year’s three-point contest is destined to go down in history.
Of course, after the entertainment, this year's dunk contest was still very exciting.
This year's four players, in addition to the three introduced previously, also include JaVale Olajuwon of the Wizards.
After the game started, McGee also successfully stole the spotlight. In the preliminaries, he used two-handed dunks to dunk three balls, setting a Guinness record.
However, it was Griffin and DeRozan who met in the finals.
Xu Yong fulfilled his previous promise. Although he did not participate in the dunk contest, he became DeRozan's assistant.
Moreover, as a professional assistant, he not only helps DeRozan by throwing the ball, but also provides him with a lot of creative ideas.
This is crucial because before Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine emerged, the tone of the dunk contest was actually more about creativity.
But in the end, Griffin won the dunk contest with his dunk over the car.
The difficulty of this dunk is not that high, but it is full of gimmicks, entertainment, and even commercial nature.
In the face of such a dunk, unless you can perform a dunk from the free throw line plus a move like Xu Yong did last year, you can't win.
And a dunk of that difficulty is not something DeRozan can do.
However, all of these eventually became topics of conversation among fans on social media, and also served as a warm-up for the final day of the competition.
On the day of the game, the All-Stars from the East and West returned to the locker room to rest after completing the open training on Fan Day.
In the Western team's locker room, Kobe was chatting with the people around him.
"That kid will find every opportunity to score tonight." Kobe said with a smile while chewing gum.
When the others heard this, they couldn't help but laugh too.
Although Kobe didn't say the name, they all knew who he was talking about.
The contract between Xu Yong and AJ is no secret.
Moreover, Xu Yong is this year's All-Star voting leader, and the Bulls are ranked first in the league, so he has to fight for it both publicly and privately.
"Don't come tonight, I'll guard that guy," Kobe continued.
Since he has said that he wants to keep Victory in Los Angeles, he will definitely have a head-on confrontation with Xu Yong.
Not to mention that the last time the two teams met, Xu Yong severely restricted him.
The others smiled and nodded.
From their reactions, it can be seen that Xu Yong's personal strength is still highly recognized by them.
Durant showed great interest.
Xu Yong made him suffer in last year's World Championships. It would be nice if Kobe could teach Xu Yong a lesson in the All-Star Game.
…
Later that night, the Staples Center was bustling with activity, with the front rows filled with Hollywood stars.
Someone like Swift didn't have a front-row seat, but only a seat in the middle of the auditorium near the aisle.
She unabashedly wore Xu Yong's white home jersey and held a large bag of popcorn in her hand.
Because the two had not made their relationship public before, this scene attracted frequent camera shots before the game.
The game hasn't even started yet and fans are already talking about it on social media.
Many fans are discussing the relationship between Xu Yong and Swift.
You have to know that Swift is very popular nowadays. She has only worn Kobe's No. 24 jersey in public before.
User "KBforever" took this opportunity to post a photo of Megan Fox wearing Xu Yong's No. 6 jersey during last year's All-Star Game, and wrote: Xu from China has many female celebrity fans in the United States.
This comment quickly became a highlight.
Unlike his predecessors like Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, Xu Yong has been involved in a lot of "scandals" this year, which is quite a lot for a Chinese player.
Of course, in addition to Swift, the on-site photographer also found the man in the middle of the audience on the other side.
Jordan has not appeared in the All-Star Game many times, and his appearance makes tonight's game more interesting.
Because of the Christmas game, Xu Yong showed off his turning and leaning back technique in front of everyone.
Now the encounter between Xu Yong and Kobe is also very interesting.
However, there was a slightly "weird" phenomenon at the scene. That is, when the entrance ceremony was over, the camera was looking for Xu Yong and Kobe when the players were warming up, and even arranged some pre-match clips for Xu Yong.
James, who was warmly welcomed by players and fans before the All-Star Game, was somewhat neglected.
Although there is nothing wrong with this arrangement for Xu Yong as he is the top vote-getter, this kind of differential treatment is somewhat disrespectful to James, who has already signaled that he wants to compete for the All-Star Game MVP.