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Chapter 178 Christmas Battle
The Suns ushered in the annual Christmas game after a two-day break.

Every year, the NBA is ingenious about Christmas games, and specially arranges more interesting games. It seems that the most controversial and topical players or teams every year, the league will arrange them for the Christmas game, like the Sharks in the past, and the Heat played against the Lakers.Another example is Yao Ming or Shark, who is better?The league has also arranged for their Christmas game. In short, the NBA Christmas game has become one of the most anticipated NBA events for NBA fans.

This is also the result of David Stern's years of management. Under David Stern's careful design, the NBA's vengeance has been created.

For example, the Bulls in the Jordan era, as the overlord of the league, are naturally the VIPs that must be invited every year. The most important thing is the selection of supporting roles.The grievances between the Bulls, the Knicks, and the Heat are well known in the world. The Eastern Conference semifinals of the 1991-1992 season were recognized as the biggest test the Bulls encountered on their 6-time championship journey. Jordan almost lost his composure during the tireless stalking by the Knicks.With such a shocking series as a foreshadowing, in the new season, there will be a finale Christmas drama between the two teams. Naturally, there will be no worries about attendance, ratings and TV broadcast fees.

The Heat had the honor of co-starring with the Bulls in the Christmas drama in 1997. It is also due to the soul-stirring 1996-1997 Eastern Conference finals, plus two old scores in the 1992 and 1996 playoffs.

After Jordan retired, the Christmas game naturally became the Lakers' backyard party.As the first dynasty team to win three consecutive championships in the new century, O'Neal and Kobe are also indispensable guests on Christmas Eve every year, and their opponents, from the Trail Blazers to the 76ers to the Kings, are all David Stern's best dance partners carefully selected from the deep hatred formed between the two sides in the playoffs last season.The only thing that is special is the Rockets. Yao didn't even meet O'Neal in the playoffs, and he swaggered into the auditorium of the Christmas game.It can be seen that Dayao's charm is extraordinary, and more importantly, for the vast Chinese market behind Dayao, and for the so-called center battle between him and O'Neal, the NBA did not hesitate to issue a wild card to the Rockets.

Therefore, it can be seen that the annual Christmas game is a record of grievances and enmities in the NBA. Without grievances, there is no world, and the NBA itself is a world. Here, grievances can be the beams of the poignant playoffs, the riots caused by the fight of fists and kicks, or the public arena where popular stars compete for popularity and market. Everything is to attract attention.

David Stern is well versed in the principle of "go up if you have the conditions, and go up if you don't have the conditions". In order to attract attention and create the greatest comprehensive benefits, he even does not hesitate to artificially concoct the so-called "enmity". The "Yao Shark War" is the best example.Both Dayao and O'Neal knew how to avoid conflicts with each other on various occasions, but they were kicked by the profit-seeking alliance to catch up with the front stage.

Even opponents who already have deep hatred may not be interested in the NBA's Christmas game.O'Neill has long publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with working on Christmas. In fact, he always uses various excuses to try to escape this obligation.

Robert Horry also had a similar view: "I hate the Christmas game. From the moment my daughter was born, I thought Christmas should be spent with my family." Their mortal enemy, Kings coach Adelman also rarely stood on the same front: "The Christmas game hindered the reunion of players and their families. It is really unnecessary to hold the game on this holiday."

Even the "thin wrists" with a relatively small reputation are mostly unwilling to report to the stadium on Christmas night. Listen to what current Hornets coach Byron Scott said-"I am a family man. It is best to cancel the game on Christmas Day like the ice hockey league."

But David Stern would not pay attention to what other people said. The businessman's instinct drove him to make the "Christmas War" cake bigger and better.At least as far as today is concerned, the "Christmas brand" strategy that Stern has worked hard to create has been fruitful. Except for popular stars sacrificing a little bit of family happiness to spend a good time with their families, the league, fans, TV stations, advertisers, and all peripheral industries related to basketball have benefited a lot from it.

And this year's Christmas game still maintains this style. As usual, this year's Christmas game still has five games arranged, namely the Suns are a guest at Staples against the Lakers, the Nets against the 76ers, the Jazz against the Clippers, the Warriors against the Celtics, and the Bucks against the Mavericks.

Among them, the grievances between the Suns and the Lakers were mainly due to Jiangbei. Everyone knew that Jiangbei was invited by the Lakers to try out at the beginning, but the Lakers didn't know why they didn't choose Jiangbei.

Now, with Jiangbei's outstanding performance in his rookie season, everyone's jaws dropped in shock, and Jiangbei has a faint tendency to become the leader of the Suns. With Jiangbei's blessing, the Suns, a playoff team, suddenly became the favorites to win the championship. Now they rank first in the league's record.

The executives of the Lakers even thought that if they signed Jiangbei desperately at that time, the current Lakers might be a lineup of James and Kobe, and it would not be unstoppable!

But the top executives of the Lakers also know that this is unrealistic. Jiang Bei is not willing to stay in the Lakers as the second-in-command, especially under James.

Because the talent of the physical test is not everything, there are too many players with outstanding talents, and players who have performed well in other basketball leagues, whether they can realize their talents once they enter the NBA is another matter!
One is a rising star in the league. As Kobe's successor, he has publicly stated that his idol is Kobe more than once. Such a player should have a good impression of the Lakers and Kobe's old club.

The other is the league's old dynasty team, which has a rich team honor and history. There are also famous stars such as James and Davis in the team. It has the hope of winning the championship, but it rejects the joining of a new star.

Will the newly rising sun continue to shine brightly, or will the ancient dynasty remain immortal?
This is a new round of grievances created by the NBA.

(End of this chapter)