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The 2007 All-Star Game was held in a special place—Las Vegas, the famous city known for its casinos, rather than in an NBA team city.The events would take place on February 16th, 17th, and 18th, featuring the Rookie Challenge, the Three-Point Contest, the Slam Dunk Contest, and the final highlight, the All-Star Game.
For NBA fans, the All-Star Game is a carnival where they get to see multiple stars playing on the same stage. However, for someone like Wang Chong, who focuses on tangible results, the All-Star Game doesn't hold much significance, as it's a performance-based event where victory and honor don't carry much weight.
Especially when the schedule moved into early February, the system—which had been quiet for a while—released new tasks, making Wang Chong even less interested in the trivialities of the All-Star festivities.
"Random mission: Ding."
"Mission Objective: Lead the team to secure the top regular-season record in the 2006-07 season, win First Team honors, secure the scoring title, and claim the regular-season MVP."
"Mission Reward: 1,000 points and a random golden-level badge."
The system had been silent for a long time, and now it dropped a big task out of nowhere.
In Wang Chong's view, the difficulty level of this task was moderate. The Bulls currently held the top spot in the regular season standings, and while the Mavericks, Suns, and Spurs were close behind, as long as the Bulls maintained their form, they could finish the season with the league's best record.
In terms of the scoring title, Wang Chong was currently second, averaging 31.2 points per game, just behind Kobe Bryant, who was averaging 32 points per game.
However, Wang Chong knew that overtaking Kobe in scoring was just a matter of will. His 31.2 points per game weren't the ceiling of his scoring ability—it was simply the result of his energy being focused on defense.
With Billups on the Bulls improving their defense, Wang Chong could afford to ease his defensive responsibilities slightly without any issues.
As for the regular-season MVP, if both the team's record and Wang Chong's stats remained consistent, it would be difficult for anyone to challenge him for the honor.
In ESPN's MVP rankings, Wang Chong had topped the list for two consecutive months, consistently outperforming other players in the league.
All in all, as long as Wang Chong and the Bulls maintained the status quo, completing this system mission was practically guaranteed—a free reward.
In the first half of February, the Bulls kept their winning ways, going 7-1 in eight games. Their only loss came unexpectedly on the road against the Golden State Warriors.
That loss was a game where the Warriors couldn't miss. Even the Bulls' strong defense couldn't stop the Warriors, who were running and gunning under Don Nelson's system, where offensive success often depended on the players' rhythm.
This explained why the Mavericks, with the best regular-season record in the league, were such a dangerous team when they hit their stride.
On February 14th, after defeating the Charlotte Bobcats 100-85 on the road, the Bulls got a brief six-day break as the All-Star Weekend approached.
As mentioned earlier, this year's All-Star event was unique because the host wasn't an NBA team city, but Las Vegas.
Being one of the richest entertainment hubs in the U.S., Las Vegas was a favorite destination for NBA players, many of whom enjoyed the thrill of gambling. Among them, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were known to be particularly addicted to it.
After the regular season schedule ended, many NBA stars couldn't wait to head to Las Vegas to "unwind" midseason.
Wang Chong, however, wasn't interested in the party scene. Instead of heading to Las Vegas with his teammate Billups, who was selected as an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve, he first flew to Los Angeles to pick up Jessica before heading to Las Vegas with her.
Filming for Transformers had wrapped up, and post-production, which focused heavily on computer-generated effects, had begun. For this film, the special effects were the real heart of the production, consuming most of the budget.
The movie was set to release within six months, bringing excitement to fans of the Autobots worldwide.
Though Transformers was expected to be a box-office hit, Wang Chong's share from his earlier investment wouldn't amount to much compared to his current endorsement earnings. Still, any profit was better than none.
The All-Star Rookie Challenge kicked off on February 16th.
Featuring sophomore players like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Monta Ellis, the second-year team comfortably defeated the rookie team.
Even though the 2006 rookie class had standouts like Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, and LaMarcus Aldridge, they couldn't match the strength and experience of the second-year players.
The final score was 155-114, a huge 41-point margin.
Notably, Bulls rookie Paul Millsap participated in the Rookie Challenge on behalf of the first-year players. Unfortunately, he didn't have a standout performance in the game.
Though Millsap hadn't made much of an impact in the Rookie Challenge, he had been solid for the Bulls this season. However, with Wang Chong and Luol Deng occupying the forward positions, Millsap had limited playing time, averaging just over 20 minutes per game.
Nevertheless, in his limited minutes, Millsap managed to average 8 points and 5 rebounds per game, making him the Bulls' highest-scoring bench player.
Wang Chong wasn't in a rush to promote Millsap to a larger role. For now, his current contribution from the bench was enough.
Unlike Monta Ellis, who had been forced into a starting role as a rookie due to the Bulls' lack of better options, Millsap's situation was different. The Bulls had a complete lineup, and there was no immediate need to rush his development. Wang Chong, being a player and not a coach, preferred to let Millsap prove himself over time.
On February 17th, the main All-Star events kicked off.
To increase interest in the Skills Challenge, the NBA brought in superstar contestants like Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Paul. Unsurprisingly, Wade defended his title, winning the Skills Challenge for the second consecutive year.
The Three-Point Contest was won by the relatively unknown Heat player, Jason Kapono, who, according to Wang Chong's memory, would go on to win it again the following year.
This year, the league invited Wang Chong to participate in the Three-Point Contest due to his high shooting percentage from beyond the arc. However, he declined without hesitation.
Wang Chong's philosophy was simple—he never worked overtime.
He had only participated in the Three-Point Contest before to fulfill a system mission. In his view, these events were extra work. The regular season was tiring enough, so why work overtime during the All-Star break?
The Three-Point Contest was lackluster, and the Dunk Contest wasn't much better. The judges were more entertaining than the actual dunkers.
As for the Dunk Contest, it had gradually lost its luster over the years. Only creative moments like Dwight Howard's Superman costume next year or the future showdown between Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon would revive its appeal.
Watching the dunkers perform various acrobatic slams, Wang Chong couldn't help but feel a tinge of envy.
Every guy dreams of making a stylish dunk, after all.
Of course, Wang Chong could dunk easily now, but due to his physique and height, his dunks lacked the flair of some of the best in the league.
If Wang Chong had chosen to model his game after Giannis Antetokounmpo's physical growth, his dunking ability would have been much more dominant. However, this would have come at the cost of his accurate outside shooting.
In the end, practicality won out over style. After all, no matter how beautiful a dunk is, it only counts for two points, whereas a three-pointer is always worth more.
Finally, on February 18th, after two days of All-Star Weekend events, the main event—the All-Star Game—was about to begin.
The game was held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, with fans flocking to see their favorite stars in action.
The starting lineups for both the Eastern and Western Conference All-Stars were introduced, eliciting huge cheers from the crowd.
Eastern Conference starters: Arenas, Wade, James, Wang Chong, and O'Neal.
Western Conference starters: Kobe, McGrady, Garnett, Duncan, and Nowitzki.
Yao Ming missed the game due to injury, so Dirk Nowitzki took his place in the starting lineup.
The game began.
Duncan and O'Neal contested the opening tip, with the Western Conference All-Stars gaining possession.
Wang Chong, retreating on defense, gave a wink to Jessica, who was sitting courtside.
Just like last year, he didn't plan on taking the game too seriously and was just there to have fun.
However, it seemed like not everyone shared the same mindset.
Before Wang Chong could settle into his defensive position, Kobe, handling the ball near midcourt, called for a pick-and-roll from Duncan, putting Wang Chong in the position of defending Kobe.
Wang Chong raised his eyebrows slightly, watching Kobe slowly dribble the ball while staring him down.
"What's this about?"
End of this chapter
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