Basketball miracles

Chapter 95 [Golden Treasure Chest, Talent Skill]

After reading the interview, President David Stern breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that Xiao Tu would say he was only participating in this dunk contest.

After watching Xiao Tu's performance, the audience definitely won't be able to watch anyone else's dunks. If Xiao Tu doesn't participate, the dunk contest could be canceled altogether.

How could Stern possibly cancel the Slam Dunk Contest? It's only been held twice, and it's been a huge success in promoting the NBA. As long as Xiao Tu is willing to participate, he can make a request to Stern later, and the organizers will cooperate with the performances.

Xiao Tu will definitely continue to participate, because winning the Slam Dunk King title will unlock a treasure chest. This time it's a golden treasure chest; will winning the championship next time also reward a golden treasure chest?
He needs to give it a try. Even if the reward is worse, just a silver chest, he wants to win three consecutive championships before considering quitting. He wants to make himself the undisputed greatest dunker of all time, someone future players can't surpass.

Xiao Tu knew very well that the league needed him to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest. As long as Stern asked, he could participate every year without getting tired.

If Xiao Tu doesn't participate, he will offend the president; there are examples of this.

In a parallel universe, Vince Carter is the idiot who offended the commissioner. He only participated in one dunk contest, refusing to go even when Stern called him, seemingly unaware of how he became famous.

In a later interview, Carter surprisingly stated, "Dunking is overrated; I won't dunk anymore."

These words were tantamount to "I am overrated," and from then on, Carter was no longer favored by the league, and his fan base dwindled.

Xiao Tu still has many dunking tricks he hasn't used yet. Even if he runs out of ideas, he can go to the future and search for amazing dunking videos online, then go back to this era to practice.

Xiao Tu gets a solo stage every year at All-Star Weekend, what's wrong with that? Can you imagine the Chinese Spring Festival Gala inviting a singer to perform a song from an entire album? Xiao Tu is that kind of singer.

Back at the hotel, Xiao Tu ate the premium grapes he had brought to relieve his fatigue, and on a whim, he opened the golden treasure chest.

A golden light flew out of the box and entered his body, creating a special effect.

Magic Johnson on the court: "You've acquired Magic Johnson's top-notch passing awareness, and from now on you'll be able to see and hear everything around you."

After receiving the information, Xiao Tu swallowed.

The rewards from the Golden Treasure Chest are amazing! They completely made up for my biggest weakness.

Does this mean I should follow the path of magicians in the 80s, leaving magicians with nowhere to go?

The two players are similar in height, but Xiao Tu has a stronger impact. If he adopts a core-heavy playstyle, their positions will overlap.

After a moment's consideration, Xiao Tu realized that he couldn't fight like this for the time being.

To maintain the Lakers' balanced roster, the playmaking task must be left to Johnson.

I'm better at receiving the ball, attacking the rim, and shooting jumpers. Johnson's off-ball style of play doesn't allow him to utilize his full potential. I can't do things where 1+1 is less than 2.

Johnson is a very easy-going person, and he's always happy to answer his teammates' questions about passing. But no teammate can match his fancy assists; it's something I can't learn.

Xiao Tu knew that passing techniques could be taught, but passing awareness couldn't be taught; awareness was key, and one had to be able to see their teammates' movements.

The most typical example is the future "White Chocolate" Jason Williams. In terms of passing flair, no one can match him; he has even more tricks than Magic Johnson. However, his assist numbers are negligible: a career regular season average of 5.9 assists and a playoff average of 3.3.

Yes, a point guard known for his passing skills only averaged 3.3 assists in 25.9 minutes per game in the playoffs.

White Chocolate's most distinctive feature is that "when one person gets the ball, nine others are on edge." His teammates never know when he will pass the ball to them, or whether it will be a good pass or a mistake.

If a teammate is even slightly slow to react when receiving his pass, a mistake will occur, and the mistake is often blamed on the receiver. Perhaps the worst kind of pass is a last-minute attempt to shift blame at the buzzer.

Lacking sufficient passing awareness, flashy passes are actually the least desirable tactic, only offering high entertainment value. Magic Johnson is no exception; his most flashy season, 1983-84, saw a career-high 4.6 turnovers per game. This season, he primarily targets Shawn Yue for passes, resulting in better performance, with a career-low 3.6 turnovers per game.

Magic Johnson had a lot of assists, and despite a few turnovers, he was still an excellent playmaker. White Chocolate, on the other hand, had a phenomenal season with the Kings, averaging 7.3 assists and 3.7 turnovers per game at his peak, which is kind of funny.

After Xiao Tu's passing awareness improved, many of the passing techniques Johnson taught him, which he previously didn't understand, suddenly became clear. He really wanted to participate in a game immediately and experience the difference. This reward was crucial for him; his inability to combine drives, passes, and shots effectively stemmed from a lack of passing awareness.

His assists all involve drawing double teams and finding teammates in fixed positions, leaving no room for players to move freely. Even after half a season with the Lakers, he has yet to record a single game with double-digit assists.

Xiao Tu is highly valued by the coach and will become the Lakers' primary ball-handling offensive option by next season at the latest. If Pat Riley trusts him enough, he could try making him the second ball-handling offensive option in this year's playoffs.

He employs a combination of drives, passes, and shots, and even without much game experience, his tactical effectiveness surpasses that of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's playing style was too one-dimensional; he mainly relied on back-to-the-basket attacks in the low post on both sides and rarely received the ball in other positions. He didn't have any "triple threat" or similar abilities.

In a parallel universe, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won 6 championships, 6 regular season MVPs, and 2 Finals MVPs in his career. His lower reputation compared to Jordan is not an underestimation.

After winning the grand prize, Xiao Tu inevitably became a little arrogant.

He firmly believed he could reach the pinnacle of the NBA and dominate the 80s, becoming an even better interior player than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his prime. He also believed it wouldn't be long before he replaced Magic Johnson as the Lakers' leader, without even waiting for Magic to retire.

That night, Xiao Tu made headlines on major sports news outlets, with Los Angeles media calling him the "dunk king who created a miracle!" The other contestants collectively lost two perfect scores, suffering a crushing defeat.

Xiao Tu's arrogant pre-match comments, such as "using a lower dimension to attack" and "everyone else is here to compete for second place," have all come true. His words have become classic trash talk, and all the fans think they're incredibly cool.

Jordan, the runner-up, was only mentioned casually by a few media outlets, and most didn't even mention him. He was terrible.

The next day, people all over America were talking about Xiao Tu's dunk; he was much more popular than NFL and MLB stars.

Compared to other leagues, the NBA has a unique advantage: basketball is the sport that best embodies individual heroism, unmatched by any other ball sport.

The NFL currently has 28 teams, each with 53 players in the regular season. With this setup, it's impossible for fans to focus their attention on any one player. Furthermore, football players wear helmets and other protective gear, making it difficult for fans to identify each other during the game.

In basketball games, star players often decide the outcome with their individual abilities. The Slam Dunk Contest is the ultimate display of individual heroism, and fans were completely focused on Xiao Tu, who shone brightly.

Xiao Tu attracted a large number of passersby, all eager to know just how powerful his physical abilities were. After watching his dunk, everyone was astonished and admitted that he truly was a superman.

Many people used to think that only those rejected by football teams would choose to play basketball, but that's no longer the case. Xiao Tu's physical attributes are more than enough for football, but the NFL isn't the right league for him.

Is it really interesting to have a handsome guy put on a helmet and physically confront and collide with a bunch of rough guys?

People think about it for a second and realize the game isn't that exciting. That's a real waste of talent; handsome guys have to get their eyes on the action.

The idea that the best physical athletes are all in the NFL is nonsense; the two sports require completely different physical attributes. American football is only popular in the US and a few pro-American countries, and it doesn't have a large following.

Even before tonight's All-Star Game has started, Xiao Tu is already a star among stars.

The fans were still eager for more and were waiting to see Xiao Tu's in-game dunk performance. Under these circumstances, if other Western Conference players didn't pass him the ball, they could expect to be criticized by the fans after the game.

Indeed, several veteran Western Conference All-Stars disliked Xiao Tu and wanted to team up to teach him a lesson. George Gervin, Adrian Dantley, Alex English, and others...

As a result, their plan was abandoned before it even began, and they were worried that they wouldn't be able to receive the pass.

During a Western Conference All-Star practice, Pat Riley devised a pick-and-roll play between Xiao Tu and Magic Johnson. Ralph Sampson's task was to create space and draw one defender.

This is equivalent to making Sampson, who is 224cm tall, play small forward, but without the ball. It seems unreasonable, but Sampson has no choice but to accept it. He knows that he is inferior to Xiao Tu in many aspects.

The key to this tactic is screens and rolls; players who can roll quickly after a screen and have a mid-range shot are more threatening.

(End of this chapter)