Chapter 1 Time Flies

Time flew by, and a week passed in the blink of an eye.

Teams had successively finished their games before the All-Star break.

The Pelicans continued to extend their winning streak, achieving an incredible record of 57 wins and 1 loss before the All-Star Game, firmly holding the top spot in the league.

In the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers also achieved an excellent record of 50 wins and 8 losses, second only to the Pelicans in the league.

This meant that the coaches for the Eastern and Western Conferences, or this year's James Team and Tang Tian Team, had been determined.

James Team's coach would be Tyronn Lue, while Tang Tian Team's coach would be Stevens.

Interestingly, both of them were also the head coaches of their respective captains.

This made fans even more eager for the upcoming All-Star Game.

Whether the favored James Team would achieve victory as expected, or whether the Tang Tian Team would create a surprise, was something everyone was looking forward to.

Time flew by, and it was February 17th, 2018. The NBA All-Star Game kicked off at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

This was the third time the NBA had hosted the All-Star Game here, after 2004 and 2011.

The Lakers and Clippers were both in their respective rebuilding phases, making the All-Star Game a rare major event for Los Angeles fans this season.

Fan participation in activities this year was very high.

This could be seen from the attendance rate of the Celebrity Game and the Rookie Game on the first day.

It should be noted that both of these events were essentially warm-up events.

By the second day's skills competition, the Staples Center was packed to capacity.

Not only were the seats full, but the aisles and second-floor railings were also crowded with fans.

They knew that today there was a dunk contest that was no less exciting than the main game, and those who could get in had spent a lot of money and effort.

The Skills Challenge started first, with the big man group and the small man group as in the past.

This year, the small man group finally ended the dominance of the big man group. Lou Williams finally defeated Markkanen to win the final championship.

Brogdon had performed well yesterday and won the MVP of the Rookie Game, but he lost to Williams in the semi-finals today, which was a bit of a pity.

After the Skills Challenge, the Three-Point Contest followed.

Devin Booker of the Bulls performed well. He finally defeated Harrison of the Mavericks and Klay Thompson, the most popular player to win the championship, to win the Three-Point Contest.

This result also made fans talk about the "No. 13 scoring guard" meme on the hotline again.

However, this meme did not last long, because the last and most watched individual event of the day was about to begin.

When Carter, Gordon, LaVine, and Tang Tian appeared on the stage one after another, the Staples Center was already filled with unstoppable cheers.

The climax had arrived before it even started.

The reaction at the scene was the best interpretation of this sentence.

"Finally, finally, the dunk contest we've been waiting for is finally here."

In the commentary booth, TNT's Barkley and Smith, plus ESPN's Miller and Breen, were ready.

Barkley used three "finally" in a row to express everyone's feelings.

"I don't know how many perfect dunks there will be tonight, but I believe it will be the most I've ever seen."

Breen echoed.

From their words, it could be felt that the media was also looking forward to this year's dunk contest.

Not far away in the judging panel, legendary dunkers such as Webber and Dr. J were invited to the scene as judges.

O'Neal, who was originally supposed to be in the commentary booth, was also among the judges.

It is said that this was O'Neal's strong request.

And there was one thing that was different from the past two years.

Because the system of relying solely on fan voting was not so popular, this year's competition system was changed back to scoring by judges again, including the preliminary round and the final.

This change was also warmly welcomed by fans.

After entering the arena, Tang Tian sat on the sidelines and chatted with Butler next to him.

The order of appearance in the dunk contest had been determined by lottery before.

Carter first, Gordon second, LaVine third, and Tang Tian fourth.

Tang Tian was the last one, which was the best order of appearance for him.

For example, he could now sit leisurely on the sidelines and watch the other three people's dunks first.

The game was about to begin, and when Carter took off his training suit and started warming up, layers of cheers rang out from the scene.

Carter was the youth of many fans.

Now that Carter was standing on the dunk contest arena again, it was like letting them return to their youth.

That feeling was indescribable.

Only cheers and shouts could vent it out.

And what was even more rare was that Carter was wearing his No. 15 jersey from the 2000 dunk contest.

This definitely brought back all the memories of the fans.

Carter took the ball and prepared outside the three-point line. The scene quickly quieted down, and everyone looked at the court.

"He's coming, guys, he's coming!"

Barkley shouted excitedly in the commentary booth.

Only his voice was heard at the scene.

Carter dribbled into the paint, took off three meters away from the basket, and started to rotate his body while jumping up, pulling the ball down.

This action was too familiar to the fans, so familiar that they couldn't help but shout out.

360° turn windmill!

Carter's most classic dunk!

It was also the dunk that killed the game in the 2000 dunk contest!

When this action came out, the cheers of the fans at the scene had already exploded.

Although many players had reproduced this action in the dunk contest after Carter made this action known to everyone.

But it had to be said that only Carter completed it with the most elegance, grace, and beauty.

This was an action born for him!

"Vince! Vince!"

A large number of fans at the scene shouted Carter's name in unison.

This was really a kind of sentiment.

On the judging panel, the five judges gave their scores.

A unanimous 10 points.

The first dunk of this year's dunk contest was a perfect score!

Tang Tian, as an opponent, also got up and applauded Carter.

The meaning of this dunk was greater than its difficulty, it was worth 50 points.

The second to play was Gordon.

As the defending champion, he seemed very confident.

For his first dunk, he chose a layup behind-the-back dunk after running from the baseline.

When he had just finished dunking, the reaction of the audience at the scene was still average.

But when the slow-motion replay showed that Gordon first pulled the ball to the back of his head and then to the bottom of his feet.

It was equivalent to pulling the ball three times in the air, showing the ability to stay in the air to the fullest.

Moreover, the contrast between the beast-like body and the light movements had a great visual impact.

However, the final score came out, and the judges only gave a total score of 48 points.

It could be seen that with the four major dunk kings competing on the same stage, except for Carter's first dunk which was of extraordinary significance, they were very cautious in giving scores for other dunks.

The third to appear was LaVine. His first dunk was a baseline self-toss, and then a behind-the-back dunk after catching the ball.

This action was very difficult, but LaVine completed it very easily.

Not only was the visual impact of the dunk impressive, but LaVine's calm expression after the dunk also added points.

The judges were not stingy with such a dunk and gave the second 50 points of this year's dunk contest.

Although the scoring standards were already stricter than the average dunk contest, 2 perfect scores still appeared in 3 dunks.

The level of this dunk contest was really unparalleled.

At this time, after the three people finished dunking, only Tang Tian, who was the last to appear, was left.

When he got up, the cheers at the scene were overwhelming.

The popularity of the league's number one player.