The whistle blew at the sa ti.
A three-plus-one!
The entire arena fell silent for a mont before erupting in unbelievable cheers.
Kobe clenched his right fist and roared at the sky.
On the sidelines, Jordan began to applaud.
The legends beside him, along with Ronaldo, also started clapping.
Ronaldo, in particular, clutched his heart, looking like he couldn’t take the excitent.
Chen Yu also applauded silently.
’No doubt about it. A ga like this is more exciting than the Finals.’
On the court, Kobe walked proudly to the free-throw line.
This ti, he didn’t miss. He sank it steadily.
The score was tied once again.
The East called a tiout.
Only 5.8 seconds remained on the clock.
The morale was a bit low.
Everyone had thought the win was in the bag.
Brown’s brow was furrowed. ’It’s the All-Star Ga. Surely it won’t go into overti, right?’
Just then, Hill patted Iverson’s shoulder and smiled. "Wait for my pass, then kill the ga. You’ll be the MVP."
He hadn’t been keeping track of how many points Iverson had scored, but it seed like he was already close to 30.
If he hit the ga-winner, no one could take the MVP from Iverson.
Iverson nodded, his eyes as calm as an abyss.
Seeing the situation, Brown didn’t bother drawing up a play. They were all top-tier stars; he would leave these last five seconds to them.
When the tiout ended and the ten players walked onto the court, the entire arena was suppressed, filled with the silence before a volcanic eruption.
Even the referees felt a hint of the pressure.
Crawford took a deep breath and handed the ball to Antonio Davis.
Everyone was running.
Kobe shadowed Iverson relentlessly. He had a strong intuition that this final shot would belong to Iverson.
The ball was finally inbounded.
To Hill!
The mont he caught it, he perford a behind-the-back dribble, deftly slipping past Finley and driving toward the paint.
At that mont, whether it was O’Neal or Duncan, almost everyone’s attention was fixed on Hill.
Seeing Hill leap, O’Neal also jumped, determined to give Hill a huge block.
But just then, the basketball vanished from Hill’s hands.
He had passed.
Not to Iverson, but to Tracy McGrady.
On the wing, Tracy McGrady was wide open.
Everyone, even Kobe, had assud the East’s final shot would be taken by either Hill or Iverson.
Who would have thought that Hill would pass to Tracy McGrady?
Even Tracy McGrady himself was stunned for a mont when he caught the ball.
But his body’s instincts had him jumping without hesitation. In that instant, he rembered Hardaway’s quiet guidance and all the hard work he had put into his jump shot.
The ball left his hands.
The clock slowly ticked down to zero.
Everyone’s eyes were glued to the basketball in the air, watching as it plunged straight into the hoop.
It’s in!
Ga-winner!
The next mont, the entire arena erupted like a volcano, boiling with excitent.
Hill, Iverson, Mutombo, and everyone from the bench rushed over excitedly.
They won!
Although it was just an All-Star Ga, after a final quarter played with such intensity, everyone felt like they had just won the Finals.
"Grant, you tricked ."
Iverson was jumping up and down with excitent, but he gave Hill a thumbs-up. "But that was a beautiful pass."
Hill smiled without saying a word.
In truth, he had wanted to pass to Iverson. He believed that even with Kobe defending him to the death, Iverson could still have killed the ga.
But in that split second, he saw the wide-open Tracy McGrady.
He thought back to the previous play where Tracy McGrady’s defense had allowed Kobe to complete the three-plus-one.
If the East had lost because of that, whenever the dia talked about this ga in the future, Tracy McGrady would have been nothing but a background character in the story.
That could have been a blow to Tracy McGrady’s confidence.
So Hill passed to Tracy McGrady. He wanted McGrady to win the ga with his own hands, to redeem himself.
Fortunately, Tracy McGrady didn’t hesitate.
In contrast, the players from the West were all filled with frustration.
But to lose a ga like this, no one could really complain.
O’Neal let out a long sigh, looked up at the sky, and then said to Duncan beside him, "Damn it, I actually won ten thousand US dollars from Chen."
Duncan paused for a mont, thought blankly, and then said, "Then you’re screwed."
O’Neal nodded in deep agreent. He thought so too.
On the sidelines, Lexi stared blankly at the court. After a while, she turned her head and asked, "Did you lose?"
Chen Yu nodded, but he didn’t mind.
As long as the East won, especially with Tracy McGrady making that final ga-winner, he was fine with losing the bet.
Chen Yu saw Olajuwon in the front row, who had stood up to applaud, and walked straight over to him.
"Hakeem."
eting Olajuwon’s confused gaze, Chen Yu said, "You have two choices right now. One, sit out the rest of the season, co with to Phoenix, have surgery, and recover over the sumr. I can get you back on the court completely healthy."
"Or, wait until the end of this season to get treatnt. But the tiline will be tighter, and I might only be able to restore you to seventy percent of your ability."
The "healthy" ntioned here, of course, didn’t an his peak condition from his youth.
He was old, after all.
What Chen Yu could do was his best to relieve him of the pain he was currently suffering from.
As for the second choice, if the Rockets didn’t make the playoffs this year, then treatnt would start after the season ended in late April, two months later.
"So, what’s your choice?" Chen Yu looked at Olajuwon.
Olajuwon hesitated for a mont, then gave a wry smile. "As much as I’d like to be selfish, I’ll still choose the second option."
Chen Yu smiled and nodded. ’I knew this would be his answer.’
"Then I’ll see you in the sumr," Chen Yu said as he turned and walked away.
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