The Fifth Point Guard

This year's All-Star Weekend in Atlanta is from February 9th to February 10th, a total of two days.

The program on the first day includes the Rookie Challenge, Skills Challenge, 3-on-3 Exhibition, 3-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest.

After the rich appetizers, the dinner of the All-Star Weekend will kick off on the second day of the Eastern and Western All-Star Game, and there will be an All-Star celebration after the game.

After the starting lineup of the NBA All-Star Game was released, the list of substitutes was also quickly produced.

On January 28, 2003, 29 NBA coaches voted to select 7 substitute players for the East and West of the All-Star Game.

Among them, the high-profile Michael Jordan was selected to the All-Star for the 14th time by virtue of his strong influence.

Karl Malone lost for the first time since 1987.

Jordan has confirmed before the All-Star break that this will be the last season of his career.

Such a result can't help but make people sigh. In 1998, the Bulls played against the Jazz in the finals where the sky was dark and the sun and the moon were dark, as if it was just yesterday.

Years make people old.

The flowing water of the Yangtze River flows eastward.

The gears of history ruthlessly run over the glorious era of those stars.

In addition, stars such as Jason Stackhouse and Jalen Rose missed the game.

The East's bench ultimately consisted of Washington Wizards' Jordan, Nets' Jason Kidd, Celtics' twin stars Pierce and Walker, Pacers' Miller, Cavaliers' Ilgauskas and Hornets Team Mashburn together.

Among them, Lithuanian center Ilgauskas, who is 2.21 meters tall, was selected as an All-Star for the first time in his career.

Big Z, who is firmly in the team's starting lineup this season, averaged 17.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 blocks per game, and his performance was very impressive.

The current boss of the Cavaliers, Ricky Davis, was not selected, but Big Z was favored by all the coaches in the East.

Among them, the birth of Yao Ming, who is 2.26 meters tall, also made Ilgauskas, who is also more than 2.20 meters tall, regain everyone's attention and scrutiny.

On the offensive end, Big Z can either force an attack, or feint his opponent with realistic feints and then score a layup. His low-post singles and high-post jump shots are both the offensive weapons of the Cavaliers. When the first offensive point - Ricky Davis's offense is blocked, Big Z can rely on his height and technical advantages for the team's offense Open up the situation.

On the defensive end, Big Z's defensive skills are still commendable, relying on his own field experience to make up for his own physical disadvantages, the only regret is that due to physical problems, his lateral movement and supplementary defense can be described as heart There is more than enough but not enough strength, and his natural muscle type is destined to not be the kind of strong man who fights his opponents in the paint.

Like his predecessor Sabonis, Big Z is a typical European center player with long-range attack ability, high basketball IQ, and the ability to use physical confrontation reasonably. Big Z's comprehensiveness is due to his early training in Lithuania. He played point guard as a teenager, then small forward before moving to center. The fly in the ointment is that his assist ability is far inferior to Sabonis, and his defensive ability is insufficient.

The West's bench consists of O'Neal of the Lakers, Marbury and Marion of the Suns, Nowitzki and Nash of the Mavericks, Payton of the Sonics and Webber of the Kings.

There are many fans complaining about the Kings.

The record ranks first in the Western Conference, Peja Stojakovic and Mike Bibby both played an impressive season, but missed the All-Star, which is puzzling.

But there is no way, the generation of substitute players does not rely on the votes of the fans, but the choice of the coaches.

Jordan, who was selected to the All-Star 13 times before, was the main starter in the All-Star Game. Although he was shortlisted as a substitute this time, he was similar to the last All-Star Game. With his extraordinary influence, he won the starting qualification for Tracy McGrady. .

Although Jordan refused again and again, McGrady told Jordan that Ron Artest was his buddy, and Jordan respected him rather than obeyed.

This selection makes Jordan, Malone, and West rank second in the total number of All-Star selections, only behind "Skyhook" Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 19 times.

Before the game, there were media reports that Jordan averaged 21.3 points per game in the All-Star Game, the first record in the history of this event. At the same time, he was only 10 points behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in total points, ranking second in history with 241 points. As long as Jordan gets another 11 points, history will be rewritten.

After the full roster of the All-Star Game was released, the rosters of participants for several other events were also produced one after another.

The most eye-catching thing is this year's slam dunk contest list, because the current league star Shentong has confirmed that he will participate in this competition.

In addition to Shentong, the Suns' explosive inside dunker Amare Stoudemire will also participate for the first time.

The two "junior brothers" will challenge last year's slam dunk king Jason Richardson and the year before last year's slam dunk king Mason.

This event is hot before the competition, and people are looking forward to how a yellow man from Asia will perform in the slam dunk contest.

Shortly after the slam dunk contest list was released, the participants in the three-point contest were also officially determined.

Last year's three-pointer Wang Shentong did not continue to participate in this event, which also created better conditions for other players to win the championship.

A total of 6 players participated in the three-pointer competition this time.

Kings' Peja Stojakovic, Celtics' Antoine Walker, Sonics' Brent Barry, Hornets' David Wesley, Grizzlies' Wes Leigh Person and the Magic's Pat Garrity announced their participation in the three-point contest.

On the list of players for the Skills Challenge, fans finally saw the name of another Nets player-Jason Kidd.

He and Payton of the Sonics, Parker of the Spurs and Marbury of the Suns will participate in this game together.

Because there are many first-line point guards participating in this skills challenge, fans also give high hopes.

In addition, today's NBA rookie challenge is particularly different from previous years because a record 6 overseas players have been shortlisted.

Grizzlies Spanish center Pau Gasol will lead a first-year team that includes Jazz's Russian forward Kirilenko and Spurs' French guard Parker against Yao Ming and other rookies this year.

Due to the tight schedule of this All-Star Weekend, Yao Ming, who has been confirmed to participate in the All-Star Game, will "miss" the rookie game on February 9. Also absent is another Chinese player, Shen Tong.

However, Richard Jefferson of the Nets will represent the sophomore team in the rookie challenge.

Other players on the rookie team include Williams of the Bulls, Butler of the Heat, Gooden of the Grizzlies, Stoudemire of the Suns, and Boozer and Wagner of the Cavaliers.

In addition to the three international players including Gasol, other players selected as second-year teams include Chandler of the Bulls, Jefferson of the Nets and Arenas and Murphy of the Warriors.