bayedsolid Chapter 141: Thailand's Invitation to the Slam Dunk Contest
Chapter 141: Thailand's Invitation to the Slam Dunk Contest
First, he danced an awkward dance, and then Anthony took a pair of big leather shoes from his father and put them on.
The fans waited several minutes just for him to put on his shoes.
Wearing shoes that were either his or his father's, Anthony, after failing twice, took the basketball held up by his father under the basket for the third time and performed a windmill dunk.
Wang Xiucheng's eyes lit up. Anthony's idea was great; he could totally use it.
The five judges began scoring.
40 points!
At least the referees thought the dunk wasn't as impressive as his opening dance.
Of course, it's also possible that the wait for him to change his shoes was too long, and some of the old men were a little unhappy, so they gave him a lower score.
Not satisfied with the score, Anthony shook his head and sat down.
Anderson, who was the second to appear, stood up.
Anderson took off his jacket, revealing his national team jersey in Mexico's colors.
Then he called over his Warriors teammate Wiggins from the stands and had him stand on the restricted area line.
Anderson then walked over to the referee's table, dribbled the ball a bit, and then charged forward.
Once inside the free-throw line, Anderson jumped up, over Wiggins, and dunked the ball into the basket.
Curry was the first to stand up and applaud his younger teammate.
This dunk is definitely more spectacular and more difficult than Anthony's dunk.
And Anderson did it all on the first try, which would at least give the five old men giving the scores a good impression.
Everyone looked at the five judges, waiting for their scores.
9, 9, 9, 8, 9.
44 points.
Curry and Draymond Green were both applauding; it was a good score.
When the replay was shown on the big screen, it appeared that Anderson pressed Wiggins' shoulder after jumping, suggesting he might have used Wiggins' momentum, so the score was reasonable.
The third player to come on is Toppin.
As soon as Toppin appeared on stage, he raised his arms high, stirring up the atmosphere.
Spike Lee, a die-hard Knicks fan in the first row, stood there clapping and shouting something to cheer on Toppin.
Toppin found a burly man at the baseline who he didn't know if he was a friend or a bodyguard, and had him stand under the basket before slowly walking to the center line.
He dribbled the ball twice, then Topping started to accelerate.
Holding the ball in his left hand, Toppin jumped over the strong man a few steps later, and the basketball circled behind his back before being transferred to his other hand, at which point he also reached his highest point.
He received the ball at his waist with his right hand and swung it horizontally, the basketball slamming into the rim with a loud thud.
The fans in the stadium let out a sigh of regret.
Spike Lee stood up again to applaud and cheer for Toppin.
"This ball is very close to success, and there's still plenty of time, enough for Toping to take the challenge," Zhang Weiping said in real-time on Tencent's live stream.
And that was indeed the case. After trying again, Toppin finally succeeded on his third attempt.
The entire stadium gave Toppin a resounding round of applause.
Firstly, this play was truly spectacular, involving a leap over an opponent and a behind-the-back hand switch, which is indeed very difficult.
Secondly, the audience also puts pressure on the next contestant, wanting to tell him that if he wants to win the championship, he has to show something real.
The big screen began replaying the dunk, and the five judges started scoring.
10, 8,8,9,9.
Both scores were 44 points.
Some boos were heard from the crowd, clearly indicating that the fans were not satisfied with the score.
Even Grandpa Zhang Weiping sighed, "The only explanation for this score is that Tuoping tried a bit too many times."
But soon Zhang Weiping's voice became excited: "Wang Xiucheng is coming on stage! Wang Xiucheng is coming on stage!"
Not only Zhang Weiping, but cheers also erupted at this moment.
Even before Wang Xiucheng dunked, he had already won in terms of momentum.
O'Neal grabbed a microphone, pulled the cord, and ran to the basket to watch, shouting as he watched, "Let me see how you're going to win the championship!"
Wang Xiucheng smiled and looked at the Great Shark, then, holding the ball with one hand, walked to the free-throw line amidst cheers from the crowd.
"Free throw line, Wang Xiucheng is going to jump from the free throw line!" Zhang Weiping suddenly shouted.
"For Wang Xiucheng, jumping from the free-throw line isn't difficult at all." Wang Meng was slightly worried: "But Wang Xiucheng has already demonstrated almost all the moves at the free-throw line. Will today be any different?"
During the regular season, Wang Xiucheng did indeed jump from the free-throw line more than once.
So if we don't come up with something special today, we won't be able to explain ourselves to these fans.
Standing at the free-throw line, Wang Xiucheng seemed to be measuring the distance as he walked towards the opposite side, stopping only when he was almost at the basket.
Holding the ball, Wang Xiucheng turned around, dribbled it twice on the ground, and took a deep breath.
The entire stadium was completely silent at that moment, everyone watching Wang Xiucheng, waiting to see his performance.
Wang Xiucheng took off his coat and threw it into Shen Jing's hands, who was waiting nearby. Then Wang Xiucheng suddenly moved.
Holding the ball with one hand, Wang Xiucheng dashed straight out like a bolt of lightning.
The only sound in the quiet room was the screeching of Wang Xiucheng's sneakers against the floor.
Almost instantly, Wang Xiucheng crossed the mid-court line and was inside the three-point line one step away.
Then, with another step, Wang Xiucheng jumped up, holding the basketball in one hand.
With his legs slightly bent, one in front of the other, Wang Xiucheng gracefully flew towards the basket.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment; it looked as if Wang Xiucheng had been gliding for a long time before finally dunking the basketball into the hoop.
But this moment was so short, almost instantaneous, that Wang Xiucheng completed this unremarkable dunk.
Bang!
With a loud bang, Wang Xiucheng landed directly on the ground.
Many people instinctively covered their mouths, especially the current NBA stars in the front row, who could hardly believe what they were seeing.
Wang Xiucheng did indeed jump from the free-throw line.
However, his foot wasn't even on the free throw line!
Players who were close by, such as James and Curry, could see very clearly that Wang Xiucheng's foot was at least three or four centimeters away from the free throw line.
Boom!
The stadium erupted as if it had exploded, belatedly becoming abuzz with excitement.
James, who was sitting on the ground, scrambled and tackled Wang Xiucheng to the ground.
"What the hell else can you do that we don't know about?" James's unrestrained use of profanity clearly revealed his true feelings.
O'Neal slammed his large hand on the floor, seemingly venting his emotions.
The five old men who were giving the scores all shook their heads in unison, looking astonished.
Too scary!
Throughout the history of the Slam Dunk Contest, there have been many dunks that start from the free-throw line, including Jordan, Carter, and even LaVine.
But most of these players were standing on the free throw line.
James White, known as a dunking maniac, has dunked from a step behind the free-throw line.
But today, Wang Xiucheng also jumped from a distance of a bit from the free throw line and successfully dunked.
This allowed Wang Xiucheng to join this group as well.
Most importantly, Wang Xiucheng's height looks to be less than two meters, which puts him at a significant disadvantage compared to players like Jordan and Catravin.
But if he succeeds, this will also become his advantage.
Amid cheers from the fans, the scores from the five judges were announced.
50 points!
The first perfect score of the entire event has been achieved!
Julius Owen, one of the five old men, shook his head as if he had a lot to say.
After all, Julius Erving is considered the originator of the free-throw line dunk.
Wang Xiucheng smiled and bumped fists with some people before sitting down in the waiting area.
The Hollywood actresses sitting opposite him made no attempt to hide their greed for Wang Xiucheng.
Swift even shouted directly at Wang Xiucheng, "Would you like to have dinner with me?"
However, the cheers at the scene were so loud that apart from her friends and a few people not far away, no one else could hear it at all, let alone Wang Xiucheng sitting opposite her.
"Xiao Wang's first dunk was so amazing, I'm really looking forward to the dunks that follow."
With Zhang Weiping's words, the second round of the competition began.
In the second round, players went out in reverse order of their scores, so Anthony, who had the lowest score, went out first.
Perhaps Wang Xiucheng put too much pressure on these players.
Anthony chose a high-difficulty dunk that he himself could not fully master.
He throws himself up, then spins 360 degrees, adding a small windmill motion in front of his body.
If you can do this move, you'll definitely get a perfect score.
Unfortunately, all three attempts ended in failure.
The referee gave a symbolic 30 points, which meant that Anthony was the first to be eliminated.
Anthony shook his head slightly in disappointment and gave a high five to Anderson, who was the second to come on stage.
Unlike Anthony, Anderson didn't dawdle and even awkwardly performed a dance.
Instead, he took the ball and began his performance.
He slid along the baseline, did a 360-degree turn, and then unleashed a windmill dunk.
The first attempt failed, but the second attempt succeeded.
9, 9, 9, 8, 8.
Anthony scored 43 points this time.
Not high, but compared to Anthony, at least he scored points, keeping his hopes of advancing alive.
After high-fiving Curry, Anderson sat back down.
The third player to appear was Toppin.
Last year's defeat left Toppin feeling resentful. He thought that without LaVine, Aaron Gordon, or Anfernee Simons from last year, the championship was a sure thing.
But unexpectedly, a Chinese person emerged this year!
If you had told Toppin before this season that a Chinese player would put a lot of pressure on you in the dunk contest, he definitely wouldn't have believed you.
But now... is this pressure?
That means the other team is going to win!
In the second round, Toppin only needed to advance to the final, and Wang Xiucheng had already scored 50 points, so he didn't attempt any difficult moves.
He tossed the basketball onto the backboard, caught it in mid-air, switched hands between his legs, and then slammed it in with both hands while his abdomen was outstretched.
And it was all done in one go.
9, 9, 10, 9, 9.
Of the five old men, Drexler was the only one to give a perfect 10.
Toppin was very satisfied with the score.
This means he has already qualified for today's final, regardless of the result of Wang Xiucheng's last shot.
After giving Wang Xiucheng a high five, Tuoping sat down.
Wang Xiucheng's appearance brought cheers from the audience once again.
Wang Xiucheng responded with a smile.
The reason why Wang Xiucheng is so popular is, of course, primarily because of his talent.
But Wang Xiucheng always liked to smile, and he had a face that no one could resist, which was also a very important reason.
After dribbling the basketball, Wang Xiucheng slowly walked to the center line.
The cheers gradually subsided, and everyone knew that Wang Xiucheng was about to begin.
Amidst everyone's expectant gaze, Wang Xiucheng gradually accelerated, and once outside the three-point line, he launched the ball directly out.
The basketball bounced off the backboard and landed right in front of Wang Xiucheng, who stepped into the free-throw line.
In an instant, Wang Xiucheng jumped up and caught the basketball with one hand.
It's not over yet.
Wang Xiucheng even spun around in the air before slamming the ball into the basket with one hand.
With a loud thud, Wang Xiucheng landed, taking a few more steps to cushion the impact.
Applause and cheers erupted again at the scene.
To be honest, this dunk seems a little less impressive than the free-throw line dunk I just saw.
But everyone knows that Wang Xiucheng only needs to casually complete a dunk to make it to the finals.
There is absolutely no need to take any risks at this point.
The scores from the five judges were quickly tallied.
9, 10, 8, 9, 10.
46 points!
Thomas and Julius Erving both gave it 10 points, but Rockets veteran Drexler gave it 8 points.
Upon seeing the score, some people in the audience booed, thinking that 8 points was a bit too much.
Drexler shrugged, as if to say that the dunk was worth 8 points.
Wang Xiucheng and Tuoping advanced to the final round.
Anthony and Anderson's All-Star journey has come to an end today.
According to past arrangements, there will be a five-minute break before the final, during which the organizers will invite guests to perform.
The same is true today.
The lights in the stadium suddenly dimmed, and as the music began to play, the fans cheered again.
Because they were so familiar with this intro; it was the intro to Love Story.
Sure enough, Taylor Swift, who had been sitting in the front row, stood up, took the microphone from the host, and began to sing.
This is definitely a surprise for the fans.
I hadn't heard that Taylor Swift would be performing today before the game, so the ticket price is definitely worth it.
Suddenly, the entire audience started singing along. Taylor Swift sang as she walked towards Wang Xiucheng.
Just as Wang Xiucheng was about to take a bite of the banana Wu Di offered, Taylor Swift gestured for him to join in.
Wang Xiucheng was completely dumbfounded. What was going on?
Toppin, who was standing nearby, and James Curry, who was not far away, immediately started to cheer.
Swift didn't leave, just held out her hand and waited, so Wang Xiucheng couldn't just stay indifferent.
So he put the banana down, reached out and held Taylor Swift's hand as he stood up.
Kylie Jenner across from her was practically spitting fire. Was this old woman trying to steal the man she had her eye on?
The song had reached its climax, and Swift held Wang Xiucheng's hand the whole time, even handing him the microphone so he could sing a couple of lines.
But after singing only one line, Swift put the microphone away.
It’s so ugly!
So God is fair; He gave Wang Xiucheng a handsome appearance, but not a good voice.
Some fans have started blowing foul calls, saying Swift and Wang Xiucheng look like a perfect match.
They were a perfect match, a talented woman and a handsome man.
Swift, at 180cm tall, stood perfectly next to Wang Xiucheng.
But some people were booing loudly, especially some female fans who were extremely unhappy.
The Houston female fan wearing Wang Xiucheng's jersey was among the loudest booing.
They seemed very unhappy with the pairing.
The song ended quickly, and Swift reluctantly let go of Wang Xiucheng, but her eyes remained fixed on him.
Wang Xiucheng quickly and awkwardly returned to his seat, then nonchalantly began eating a banana.
How embarrassing! How could I have let myself be seduced into singing like that?
Sigh, my image... If Ma Xiaoxuan finds out, she'll probably be angry again.
The end of the song signifies the start of the final round.
Toppin, who had previously scored fewer points, stood up at this moment.