Basketball miracles

Chapter 79 [Record Broken! All-Star Voting King!]

As her tour draws ever closer, Madonna is getting busier and busier. In addition to her daily singing and dancing practice, she also has to appear on television programs to maintain her public profile.

Madonna is often asked about Xiao Tu when she appears on shows, which increases Xiao Tu's exposure as a result.

No matter what Madonna says, even if it touches on their privacy, Xiao Tu won't get angry. They always have something in common in this regard—a shared love of publicity. In this industry, love and fame are always intertwined, making it difficult to remain completely innocent.

Madonna's ambition only impressed Xiao Tu; without that kind of personality, she couldn't have remained popular for 40 years. Xiao Tu believed his own popularity wouldn't last that long; once a star retires, their popularity will decline significantly.

Even most people don't live to retire, and Jordan was no exception. He was selected as an Eastern Conference All-Star with the Wizards, but he still had to be given a starting spot by other players.

Jennifer Connelly spent some time familiarizing herself with the script before officially joining the cast of "Seven Minutes in Heaven" to begin filming.

The film was going to be shot on location, so Jennifer wouldn't be able to see Xiao Tu for a while. She also had to study on her own with her books to keep up with the high school curriculum, making her extremely busy.

Chris Ford, as one of Madonna's backup dancers, often followed her around, but it was mostly just busywork.

Chris got a lot of screen time because he was entrusted with important tasks due to his good relationship with Xiao Tu. Xiao Tu had seen him dance before and was surprised that someone who was 190cm tall could dance so well; he had a pair of long legs.

Xiao Tu suddenly had few friends to hang out with, giving him a lot of time to practice basketball. He focused his extra practice on catch-and-shoot jump shots, trying to improve his accuracy as much as possible.

In addition, he practiced his Euro-step dribbling during counter-attacks, becoming increasingly proficient. He practiced the techniques rewarded by treasure chests, consistently gaining five times the experience, saving a significant amount of time.

Xiao Tu's playing style greatly benefits the team, and Pat Riley is very satisfied with his tactical role. The Lakers' half-court offense spreads out very wide, with the most spacing in the low post among all teams.

Riley repeatedly praised Xiao Tu's hard work and love of extra practice after the game. The media and fans believed he was a hardworking genius, and this persona brought him a lot of popularity.

On January 26, voting for the 1985 All-Star Game concluded, and the twelve-man rosters for the East and West were announced. Xiao Tu surpassed Magic Johnson in popularity during the final week of voting, ultimately taking the lead.

Xiao Tu thus set a terrifying record—he was voted the All-Star vote leader in his rookie season!
He is the first player in all four major North American professional leagues to achieve this as a rookie, a feat unprecedented. Furthermore, he is the youngest player in NBA history to be selected as an All-Star starter.

After rounding down, Xiao Tu became the top vote-getter with 100 million votes, while Johnson came in second with 97 votes.

This is huge news; all the media outlets are reporting on it. People all over America are talking about Xiao Tu, not just basketball fans. Even people who don't watch basketball know that the NBA has produced a super rookie; his handsome appearance has left a deep impression.

Most people think that Xiao Tu deserved to be voted the most, because his playing style is much more explosive than Johnson's, and his average of nearly 4 dunks per game is terrifying.

A minority of people believe that the voting was rigged and that the alliance fabricated the results to promote Xiao Tu, showing a complete lack of shame.

Most of these people are Celtics fans who firmly believe that Larry Bird is the greatest star and say that Bird's low vote count is unreasonable.

Some die-hard young fans even said that Bird was more handsome than Xiao Tu, which led to them being ridiculed by their classmates at school – "When did you go blind?"
Xiao Tu's popularity stems from several factors: his explosive dunks, his relationship with Madonna, and the behind-the-scenes efforts of CEO David Stern.

These three factors gave him more exposure than other stars, and almost everyone in the United States knew him.

Stern's role was particularly crucial; he identified Xiao Tu as the star who best represented the positive image of the NBA. Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, and others would all be ranked behind Xiao Tu, and Stern would also promote him.

The starting five for the Western Conference are: Magic Johnson, George Gervin, Ralph Sampson, Xiao Tu, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The third-ranked Western Conference vote was Sampson of the Rockets, who only received 60 votes, a far cry from Xiao Tu's performance.

Starting center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar only received 55 votes, making him even less popular. He wouldn't have gotten that many votes if the Lakers hadn't been on track to break a record.

The Rockets' strategy backfired. If Sampson had entered the voting as a center, he and Olajuwon could have started together on the Western Conference All-Star team. Olajuwon received 45 votes, finishing second at center and as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's backup. That number of votes would have been enough for a starting position at forward, although less than half of Xiao Tu's, since there are two forward positions.

The head of Adidas was overjoyed, believing that signing Xiao Tu as a spokesperson at a high price was the wisest thing the company had done in the last decade.

This year saw Kareem Abdul-Jabbar receive his highest number of votes yet, and as an Adidas endorser, he was utterly inadequate. His peak was even more awkward; his popularity paled in comparison to Dan Isell and Bill Walton, and he served as a two-time All-Star reserve in the Western Conference.

Neither his image nor his playing style resonated with fans, making it difficult for him to sell shoes. Previously, everyone wore white shoes, lacking individuality, so his low popularity wasn't a major weakness. But this year, that weakness is about to be exposed.

The seven Western Conference reserves are: Kelvin Knight, Alex English (Nuggets), Adrian Dantry, Larry Nance, Hakeem Olajuwon, Norm Nickson, and Rolando Blackman.

Due to Xiao Tu's emergence, the SuperSonics' white center, Jack Hickoma, who averaged 19 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 4 assists per game, failed to make the All-Star team. This is also related to their record; the SuperSonics may not make the playoffs this year.

Eastern Conference starting lineup: Isaiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Moses Malone.

Isaiah Thomas, nicknamed "The Smiling Assassin," was the leading vote-getter in the East, receiving only 66 votes. Clearly, the popularity of Eastern Conference stars cannot compare to that of Western Conference stars.

Moses Malone has been frequently compared to Xiao Tu this season, and his popularity has plummeted, receiving only 61 votes, slightly more than rookie Jordan's 58 votes.

Jordan was selected as an Eastern Conference All-Star starter in his rookie season and should have been the most prominent rookie. However, compared to Xiao Tu, the top vote-getter, he was overshadowed and hardly any fans discussed him.

Jordan scored more points and dished out more assists, believing his skills were more comprehensive and his overall ability was no worse than Xiao Tu's. Unfortunately, his teammates on the Bulls were too poor, preventing him from achieving success.

Jordan was really jealous of Xiao Tu, but he couldn't help his teammate become stronger, so he had to step up himself.

Bird was the least popular starter in the East, with only 51 votes, less than veteran Dr. J Irving.

His vote count was even lower than in the parallel universe at the same time. A large number of white fans switched their attention to Xiao Tu and were no longer die-hard fans of Bird. Voting for him was just a side effect.

Even a compilation of all of Bird's career highlight reels wouldn't equal the number of highlight reels Xiao Tu scored in just ten games. That's no exaggeration; how can he possibly compete with Xiao Tu in popularity?
Bird was a player who relied heavily on jump shots and didn't drive to the basket much. His playing style didn't appeal to fans, and the All-Star Game wasn't his stage. He did, however, win the All-Star Game MVP in 1982, recording 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists.

The seven Eastern Conference reserves are: Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish (Celtics), Terry Cummings, Bernard King, Sidney Moncrief, Mitchell Ray Richardson, and Bill Laimbeer.

The Eastern Conference All-Star snub is the Detroit Pistons' Kelly Tricopp, who averages 19.5 points, 4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.

He received 46.8 votes, surpassing this season's scoring champion, Bernard King, in popularity. Unfortunately, he only ranked third in the forward voting and failed to become an Eastern Conference All-Star starter.

All-Star reserves are selected by coaches through a vote. Eastern Conference coaches select Eastern Conference reserves, and Western Conference coaches select Western Conference reserves. Trae Klopp was unfortunately not selected.

It's worth mentioning that Celtics power forward Kevin McHale wasn't exactly a overlooked talent. He spent the first half of the season as Bird's backup, taking fewer shots and putting up average numbers.

In a parallel world, it wasn't until Celtics small forward Cedric Maxwell suffered a serious injury and was sidelined, forcing Bird to start at small forward, that McHale gained the coach's trust and became the starting power forward, where he rose to prominence.

Xiao Tu realized he had created a butterfly effect: Maxwell remained healthy and started every game. Bird was identified as the power forward, and many fans were waiting to see him face off against Xiao Tu in the All-Star Game.

The Lakers have three players selected, all of whom are starters. The Celtics also have three players selected: one starter and two reserves.

Experts predict that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this year's Finals will again be a Lakers-Celtics showdown. The other teams' roster depth is significantly inferior to these two, with at most two All-Stars.

(End of this chapter)