Chapter 1 The First Game

The first quarter of the game became a microcosm of the entire night.

Allen's defense against Tang Tian was effective, but his stamina was limited.

Whether it was Lee or Prince, their defense against Tang Tian was ineffective.

Tang Tian really had too much energy tonight.

However, the Grizzlies did have a significant advantage in the paint, and Davis was heavily suppressed.

The two teams remained deadlocked until the second half of the fourth quarter.

At a crucial moment, Marc Gasol picked up his sixth personal foul and was ejected.

The Pelicans seized the opportunity to attack the paint, building a 5-point lead and ultimately winning the game 83-77.

Tang Tian didn't have a good shooting night in his comeback game, making only 11 of his 25 shots.

But he still had a game-high 31 points and 7 assists, leading the team to its first win of the season against the Grizzlies and ending the team's five-game losing streak!

Davis was suppressed on the defensive end, but played well on offense, recording a big double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds.

This was the first time this season that the two had played like a two-star duo.

Of course, in addition to the victory itself, Tang Tian's three spectacular dunks tonight were also eye-catching.

After the game, the media even used Tang Tian's over-the-rim dunk as a news photo, with the caption "All-Star Vote Leader Makes Strong Comeback to End Losing Streak."

Welcoming Tang Tian's return, defeating an opponent they had never beaten before this season, and ending the losing streak, it was a wonderful night for the Pelicans.

Fans on social media were very excited after the game.

"Why do I feel like Tang is even more at ease after recovering from his injury than before? Is it just my imagination?"

"Actually, Tang is still the same Tang, but his teammates got a chance to practice and get stronger during his absence, so that's why you feel that way."

"That makes a lot of sense. Especially AD, he can shoot a little now. And Holiday, he made 2 three-pointers tonight. It seems that Tang's absence wasn't a bad thing after all!"

"But Tang's role is still obvious. Although his shooting percentage didn't look high tonight, he's already on Kobe's level when he can turn Allen into that."

"Are you talking about shooting percentage? Manual dog head."

"Haha, actually, the most amazing thing for me tonight was those dunks, especially that over-the-rim dunk, it was explosive!"

"Yeah, after seeing that dunk, I suddenly really want to see Tang at the All-Star Dunk Contest!"

"Really, if he hadn't done that dunk, I wouldn't have realized that Tang's jumping ability was so good! He's always being underestimated!"

"This is the first time since I watched Carter, Kobe, and McGrady's era that I've been so excited to see someone at the Dunk Contest!"

…

The day after the Pelicans and Grizzlies game, someone from the league office contacted Tang Tian to ask if he was interested in participating in this year's dunk contest.

The speed was partly because Tang Tian's over-the-rim dunk was so amazing.

On the other hand, the league's dunk contest had lacked excitement and buzz in recent years.

It was basically just rookies playing, and there weren't any particularly amazing rookies.

If it continued like this, this originally most exciting individual event would become dispensable.

Tang Tian.

Of course, he agreed.

This was originally part of his plan, but it had been delayed due to injury.

Now the league's reaction was faster than expected, which was a good thing!

After taking down the Grizzlies, the Pelicans followed up with back-to-back games against the Jazz and Kings.

Both of these teams were rebuilding, and the Pelicans ultimately won both games.

Tang Tian scored 25 points in one game and 27 in the other, but his shooting percentage wasn't very high.

In addition to the impact of the shoulder injury, it was also related to the opponents targeting his ball control and using over-the-top defense against him.

Time passed imperceptibly, and it was already January 31st.

On the last day of January, the league announced the All-Star reserve lineups and the participants for each individual event.

In the Eastern Conference reserve lineup, Noah, Roy Hibbert, Bosh, and Millsap were selected for the frontcourt positions.

Because the starting lineup no longer had a center position, the reserves had more frontcourt players.

DeRozan was selected for the forward/guard position.

For the guard positions, Wall and Joe Johnson were selected.

This list was the same as Tang Tian remembered, but it still surprised him a little.

Because Walker wasn't selected.

The Bobcats added Jefferson this season and were now ranked sixth in the East, and Walker was averaging 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists per game.

The team's record and his stats were definitely worthy of a reserve spot.

After all, Irving had already become an All-Star starter.

It could only be said that those coaches still felt that players with this kind of simple style weren't suitable for the All-Star Game.

In the Western Conference, Anthony Davis, Aldridge, and Howard were selected for the frontcourt positions.

Harden was selected for the forward/guard position.

Parker, Westbrook, and Paul were selected for the guard positions.

In the East, basically all the players who performed well were selected, and there weren't many controversies.

But in the West, there were quite a few snubs, including Lillard, Duncan, Nowitzki, and DeAndre Jordan.

Davis's selection even drew a lot of criticism.

Although Davis had been performing well recently, his average of 17.3 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game wasn't as good as Love, Cousins, or even Nowitzki.

And the Pelicans were now ranked outside the top eight in the West.

"They (coaches and media) really like AD too much, but he's really overrated right now."

This was a comment made by an anonymous general manager of a Western Conference team.

This was also the focus of many fans' complaints.

"Don't worry about it, it's not like you forced them to choose you. It's a good thing to be appreciated by others. Just play better than they expect and shut them up."

Tang Tian saw that Davis wasn't in a particularly good mood during training, so he touched his head and said to him at the end.

He had also been heavily criticized when he was selected as a starter, so he was considered an experienced person.

Davis nodded.

Now he would listen to anything Tang Tian said.

Shortly after the All-Star reserve lineups were announced, the league announced the rosters for the individual events.

Rookie Challenge: Skipped, not wasting words.

Shooting Stars: Same as above.

Skills Challenge: Antetokounmpo, Michael Carter-Williams, Oladipo, DeRozan; Trey Burke, Reggie Jackson, Lillard, Dragic.

Three-Point Contest: Arron Afflalo, Irving, Belinelli, Anthony Morrow, Curry, Lillard, and Love.

Dunk Contest: Paul George, Wall, Terrence Ross, Lillard, Harrison Barnes, Tang Tian!

After the individual event rosters came out, two names were very eye-catching.

One was Lillard. As a second-year player, he was going to participate in four events other than the All-Star Game itself!

He became the player with the most non-All-Star Game events in All-Star Game history!

The other person was Tang Tian.

In addition to participating in the All-Star Game itself, he would also participate in this year's All-Star Dunk Contest as fans had hoped!