On January 31, the Suns lost to the Knicks 101-105 at home.

Knicks boss James Dolan has always been willing to spend money. After failing last season, he first hired Isaiah Thomas to join the management team and became the team's new manager, and then supported him to make a series of deals and make drastic adjustments to the lineup.

In October 2003, the Nets bought out the remaining contract for former star center Mutombo, who then signed a two-year contract of 8.7 million with the Knicks.

In the summer four-party transaction, the Knicks also introduced white forward Keith Van Horn, who was once known as the "Bird Second Generation".

The Knicks also have the "lone wolf" Marbury who has established his core position; averaged 18.5 points per game, and the team's No. 2 scorer Alan Houston; Antonio McDyce, who is in good shape after returning from injury; and 11+8 excellent blue-collar Cott Thomas.

The Knicks' card lineup looks very strong and currently ranks sixth in the East.

Marbury's touch was hot in this game and played against Guo Xu, making 11 of 22 shots, 5 of 9 three-pointers, 8 of 8 free throws, and scored 35 points and 8 assists.

Guo Xu made 13 of 27 shots, 4 of 10 three-pointers, 6 of 6 free throws, and scored 36 points and 8 assists.

Xiao Si's absence reduced the attack power of the Suns inside a little, and Nene did not have that domineering spirit on the offensive end. Therefore, Xiao Si's nickname was "Little Overlord" in his previous life, and Nene still didn't even have a nickname until the later stages of his career.

Marion, the second-in-commander of the Suns, sleepwalking throughout the game, made 3 of 15 shots, 1 of 5 three-pointers, 6 of 6 free throws, and scored 13 points, 14 rebounds and 4 steals.

In this game, Guo Xu passed Marbury in the counterattack, smashed the ball to the ground without anyone defending, and completed a self-dumping and dunking double-handed dunk, proving his jumping power again.

On February 1, the All-Star Dunk Competition officially sent an invitation to Guo Xu, hoping that he would replace the injured Xiao Si to participate in the competition. Guo Xu happily agreed on the phone.

"No problem, thank you for thinking of inviting me, I'm very willing to attend."

"No, we should thank you..."

Xiao Si will definitely wait for the star to come back after the game and will miss the entire star weekend. He will not represent the second grade in the rookie tournament.

Guo Xu's promise to play was equivalent to saving the dunk contest, which made league officials feel relieved. If he refused, no big-name stars would like to participate this year, and the gimmicks were seriously insufficient. Just for Guo Xu's popularity, even if he was not strong enough, NBA officials would bribe the judges and let him enter the finals, at least four deductions.

After Carter participated in the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, the Slam Dunk Contest on Stars Weekend became tepid every year. Even Jason Richardson won the record three dunk champions, but it did not attract many fans.

If you want to attract fans in a slam dunk competition, beautiful dunks are just one of the factors. More importantly, those who participate in the slam dunk competition must be famous.

Whether Richardson or Nate Robinson, their popularity was not high in their previous life, and their ratings and attention were not high. Robinson was the worst. He had never signed a middle-class contract in his entire career in his previous life, and there were many teams.

The official invited LeBron James, who is the one that he is strongly promoted this year. Stern hopes that he can win the dunk contest and increase exposure, so as to quickly win a large number of fans. James, who jumped up on the back of his head, refused.

As soon as the media reported that Guo Xu was going to participate in the slam dunk contest, fans became excited. He is a regular season MVP and has two championship rings. He is the biggest star in the slam dunk contest since Jordan won the championship in 1988.

Even though Jordan was not as famous as Guo Xu when he participated in the slam dunk competition, he finished the regular season in 1987-88, and Jordan won the MVP for the first time in his career and had no championship.

Guo Xu has participated in the three-point competition and technical challenge before, and has won the championship. As long as he wins another dunk king, he will have all the honors in the personal challenge competition. This is an unprecedented record.

Many people immediately called on James to compete with Guo Xu, and also compete with Ricky Davis, who was sent away by the Cavaliers. This would be even more interesting, and James did not respond at all.

Because James was afraid that he could not win, he was timid before the fight. He knew his strength and his jumping ability were top-notch, but his dunk creativity and lacked flexibility, he could never be as beautiful as Vince Carter and Jason Richardson.

Many people may not know that James once won the slam dunk contest.

In 2003, James locked in the seat of No. 1 high school student in the United States, was selected as McDonald's All-American High School Student, and participated in the High School Student All-Star Competition.

This is a competition for all high school students in the country to challenge James, including the slam dunk contest. Compared with the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest, the high school slam dunk contest is not bad at all. Many future NBA stars with amazing talents, including Kobe, have participated in this event.

At that time, everyone wanted to pull the leader down. It was not just about being competitive. If you could defeat James, you would get the attention of all media in the United States, and overnight, you would become a household name.

Some of James' competitors later left footprints in the NBA, "Hairless Hero" Villanueva, Rockets swinger Vaughan Weiffer, and the amazingly bounced double-powered guard Shannon Brown, etc.

In the dunk final, although Brown scored 90 points in both the second and third dunks, the first dunk was too complicated and he was awarded zero points, which allowed James to play steadily and easily win the championship.

What is a steady and steady game? In the three dunks in the final, James' highest score was only 84 points, and he was straightforward and had no tricks at all. The commentator praised him from the height and strength, deliberately avoiding the beauty and difficulty of the movements.

"To be fair, LeBron won the dunk championship just because he jumped high." JR Giddens, who also participated in the competition, commented: "However, for high school students, jumping high is enough."

In NBA, it is far from enough to win the dunk contest if you jump high.

In Guo Xu's previous life, no matter how fans look forward to it, how the media fooled it, and how their competitors provoked it, James remained silent. Wilkins, Jordan, Kobe, Carter... James was missing in the list of dazzling contestants in the slam dunk contest.

It would be fine if James didn't participate, but the ridiculous thing was that he told reporters seriously in an interview in 2014: "If I participate in the slam dunk competition, I believe I can win the championship."

In the 2015 All-Star Competition, James said in a roundtable interview: "I just entered the league and I did think about participating in the slam dunk contest. This is for sure, but this did not happen, and I don't know why. There were a few times I wanted to participate, but it didn't end up. If I could participate in the slam dunk contest, maybe everything would be cool."

He also said: "I can't jump as high as before now. I don't participate in the slam dunk contest, and I regret it."

Do you regret it? How many times have your hardcore fans begged you? The process translated into the following vernacular.

"I beg the emperor to leave the palace to participate in the dunk contest."

"I'm a little tired."

"I beg the emperor to leave the palace to participate in the dunk contest."

"I have indeed thought about it, just wait a little longer. I don't want to go this time, although I don't know the reason."

"Sister..."

"I can do it, but I'm old, alas, I regret it."

The emperor said that he had the strength of a slam dunk king, but because he did not have Baozhu, Jia Liu, Chunxi around him; or if he did not have Sandezi, Fa Yin, Yifei and others to accompany him, he did not make a move in the end.
Chapter completed!