Duncan, another tip-in!
He Xi Meng was speechless.
"You came to participate in the All-Star Weekend this time, didn't the head coach remind you how to play in the All-Star Weekend?"
"Yes, he told me to hold back."
"Exactly, then why didn't you listen to him?"
"I was holding back!"
"I..."
Facing Duncan's innocent gaze, He Xi Meng suddenly couldn't tell if Duncan was telling the truth or lying.
"Don't blame me for not reminding you, if you keep playing like this, this year's All-Star MVP will be yours!"
"That's impossible! With you here, with Kobe here, with Kevin here, this MVP will never fall to me..."
Duncan shook his big head and returned to defense carelessly.
11:0, the Western team was already leading the Eastern team by 11 points! At this pace, it would be difficult for the Western team not to win. But He Xi Meng knew that things were not that simple, and the Eastern team would not admit defeat so easily.
On the next offense, McGrady faced Kobe, held the ball with one hand, and suddenly pulled up for a shot, finally helping the Eastern team break their scoring drought.
After McGrady, Iverson and Carter also scored successively, helping the Eastern team find their rhythm. Although they didn't close the gap, they at least stopped the Western team from widening the lead.
In the second quarter, both teams mostly fielded their substitute All-Stars. Ray Allen led the Eastern team and went on a scoring spree, narrowing the gap to within 5 points.
But before halftime, the Zen Master sent He Xi Meng to stabilize the situation.
The entire crowd chanted "King of Threes," forcing He Xi Meng to shoot.
So, with a bit of entertainment, He Xi Meng took a shot from near the Logo circle. Unexpectedly, it went in immediately, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Turning around, Carter wanted to hit a three-pointer for the Eastern team, but the ball bounced off the rim. Duncan grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it to He Xi Meng immediately.
With only two seconds left before halftime, He Xi Meng didn't even have time to advance past halfcourt and was forced to shoot from his own half.
The ball was still in the air when the halftime whistle blew.
He Xi Meng didn't have much hope for this shot. Because this distance was truly beyond his usual training range... No one practices shots from beyond halfcourt, and even if they did, they wouldn't use them in a formal game. So, for this shot, He Xi Meng was relying on his feel and gambling on luck. 138 reading network
As a result, the ball actually went in!
After flying for most of the court, the ball accurately hit the basket, helping the West score another 3 points and re-extending the lead to 11 points.
In the third quarter, Carter kicked off the Eastern team's comeback with a 360-degree dunk. Iverson followed suit, and the two once again helped the East narrow the lead to 5 points!
But Kobe and Kidd stepped up. They used tenacious defense to continuously steal and block, disrupting the Eastern team's outside shooting.
At the same time, Kidd hit two three-pointers, and Kobe hit three fadeaway jump shots... With their efforts, the Western team once again extended their lead to double digits.
Garnett and Webber's two three-pointers before the end of the third quarter also allowed the Western team to extend their lead to 19 points!
All the fans present thought the game was over and had entered garbage time.
But on the Eastern team's bench, there was still one person who hadn't given up.
"Hey, brothers, don't look so dejected. It's just 19 points, right? We'll win it back. We're all All-Stars, it's no big deal... If you don't have confidence, then leave the last quarter to me..."
Philadelphia's number 3 spoke of the 19 points with a contemptuous tone, as if it weren't 19 points, but 9 points, or even less than 9 points...
No one believed Iverson could reverse a 19-point deficit against the formidable Western team, including his Eastern teammates. But there were exceptions.
"Count me in!" Marbury was the first to support Iverson. "It's just playing from behind, who hasn't done that before..."
Iverson immediately gave Marbury an appreciative look.
On the Western All-Star team, head coach Phil Jackson was calmly setting tactics for the players. To enhance the viewing experience and allow more playing time for the substitute players, Phil decided to keep the starting five off the court. He believed that a 19-point lead was enough for the team to play around with the Eastern team for a while before closing the game... It was a bit arrogant and also a bit of slacking off. Phil deliberately left the Eastern team a chance to narrow the gap, and then extinguish that chance...
The strong ones always have a confidence that everything is under control...
As a result, Phil encountered the unreasonable Iverson! Iverson seized the opportunity in the last quarter and directly slapped Phil in the face twice!
In the early part of the fourth quarter, when the Eastern team went on a rampage and the Western team was being dominated by Iverson, Phil was still smiling and nodding frequently: "The Eastern team is playing pretty well..."
When the Eastern team narrowed the gap from 19 points to 9 points, Phil put away his smile and muttered, "I've given them enough face, the game can be closed now..."
When Iverson scored his 15th point of the quarter, Phil's face had completely darkened, and his muttering turned into uncontrollable profanity, because the Eastern team had erased the entire deficit.
In less than 10 minutes, Iverson led the Eastern team on a 26:7 super run, bringing the game back to square one!
Phil was stunned, and the fans in the arena were also stunned!
Anyone could see that the Western team seemed to have slacked off to make the game more exciting... But even if they slacked off, they shouldn't have given up all the points, right? Did Phil really have such great confidence that the Western team could defeat the Eastern team in the last two minutes with the score tied?
During this process, Phil did make adjustments.
Besides keeping He Xi Meng on the bench the entire time, Phil had already fielded a lineup of Duncan, Webber, Garnett, Kobe, and Kidd.
Why didn't he put He Xi Meng in earlier at this critical moment?
At first, He Xi Meng thought Phil wanted to hide his strength, not wanting He Xi Meng's three-pointers to end the game directly. But gradually, He Xi Meng realized that Phil seemed to prefer using Kidd... No, it wasn't that he preferred using Kidd, but rather that he disliked using He Xi Meng even more...