Chapter 84 First
The next day at around 1:00 p.m., the Knicks arrived in Indianapolis. It was He Zhongqiu's second visit to this city that had left a deep impression on him.

The temperature at noon was around minus three degrees Celsius, and there was a layer of snow on the streets. The bus arrived at the hotel with some difficulty. In the snow outside the hotel, in addition to some media reporters, there were also some fans wearing Pacers jerseys.

"Tom, you guys keep an eye on it and prevent the fans from attacking Wolverine."

Before getting off the car, Don Cheney asked the several security personnel who came with the team to pay attention.

"Let's stay away from him and avoid getting splashed with the blood of those fans." The madman said hurriedly.

His words were agreed by all the players, and they all sat in their seats and motioned He Zhongqiu to go down first.

"You bastards."

He Zhongqiu stood up, raised his middle finger at everyone, and cursed in Mandarin without hesitation.

"He must be cursing, Wellington, what is he cursing?" The madman ignored He Zhongqiu's middle finger and asked curiously.

Philip hesitated and said, "He said you guys are not loyal enough. You didn't fight last time, but now you are doing this again."

"Uh, haha, can't you defeat them all by yourself? We will definitely go up next time if we have a chance." The madman laughed awkwardly twice, then patted his chest and said.

"Yes, that's right, Wolverine, we'll go together next time we have a chance."

"Wolverine, don't be angry. I will definitely help you next time."

The others started to shout, but they remained seated.

"Wellington, let's go."

He Zhongqiu put on his backpack and strode towards the car door.

Philip, cowering a few steps behind, was also aloof.

Several security guards stood guard at the door of the car, but after He Zhongqiu got off the car, the dozens of fans did not make any extreme moves, but just stood there staring at He Zhongqiu quietly.

He Zhongqiu also observed these fans with great interest, wondering what these people wanted to do.

Unfortunately, these fans just watched him enter the hotel with very complicated looks and did nothing.

"They should just be a group of fans who truly love the Pacers, and now the Pacers are ruined, which has hit them hard," Philip said.

He Zhongqiu shook his head. He totally couldn't understand why these fans were standing here.

Philip added: "But that day, Reggie Miller and more than a dozen others attacked you, so they couldn't blame you. You destroyed their team, but they couldn't blame you. This may make them very uncomfortable."

"An enemy that cannot be blamed?"

He Zhongqiu also felt something strange.

At ten o'clock the next morning, the league officially announced the data from the first week of All-Star voting.

During this week, under the mobilization of the Knicks, many New York media outlets worked hard to promote him. His popularity in the New York area soared, causing Alan Houston and Madman to be dissatisfied, and they looked at him with a resentful face every day.

In addition, the media that Zhou Biao and Lin Cheng belong to are also promoting him in China, and the noise is no less than that of Yao Ming.

Philip opened his laptop, logged into the NBA's official website, and began to refresh it non-stop until three minutes past ten when the All-Star voting data came out.

"Let me see……"

"How many votes do I have?"

Xia Song and He Zhongqiu also leaned over and stared at the notebook.

"This is West, East, Center..." Philip muttered as he moved the cursor.

"Here, here... Happy Mid-Autumn Festival... Number of votes... WC!"

Xia Song pointed at the notebook, his eyes widened, his face full of surprise.

"Brother Xia, stop talking and tell me, how many votes?" He Zhongqiu urged.

Philip laughed and said, "Mid-Autumn Festival, you have made it. More than 45 votes, first among Eastern Conference centers, tens of thousands more than Ben Wallace, who is second."

"So many tickets?" His eyes widened.

Xia Song then said excitedly: "Zhongqiu, you have a chance to be an All-Star starter!"

"Let me see which regions the Mid-Autumn Festival tickets come from."

As Philip continued to mutter, he continued to check it and soon said: "The overseas voting ratio is 31.2%, the United States is 68.8%, including 57.1% in New York and 26.6% in China."

After listening to this, Xia Song smiled and said, "It seems that Zhongqiu is quite popular in New York now. 57.1%, that is, more than 25 people voted for him."

Philip asked in confusion: "Your China has a population of over one billion, how come only 100,000 people voted for Mid-Autumn Festival? Isn't this proportion too small?"

Xia Song explained: "The Internet in our country has just started to develop, and not many people are online."

"Oh."

Philip nodded in understanding.

He looked again and said, "The second-best center in the Eastern Conference is Ben Wallace, with nearly 400,000 votes. It's not far behind. He's performed very well this season."

"Where is Dayao?" He Zhongqiu asked.

"Yao... Yao Ming's votes are almost the same as yours. He is also number one in the Western Conference, tens of thousands of votes higher than O'Neal. It seems that you both have a chance to be selected as All-Star starters." Xia Song said happily after seeing it.

"Give this bad guy a call first."

He Zhongqiu took out his cell phone and the call was quickly connected.

"Zhongqiu, congratulations, you got a thousand more votes than me." Dayao said sourly.

"What's the matter, you, the top scholar, are not convinced? This is popularity, do you understand?" He was not humble at all and said proudly.

"I accept. How can I not accept? If you break a few more boards, your popularity will definitely be higher." Dayao said with a smile.

"By the way, Dayao, I signed a lot of domestic sponsorship contracts yesterday and made a lot of money. How about you?" he said with a smile.

"I signed it a long time ago."

Yao Ming over there didn't want to be humble anymore. If he continued to be humble, that kid He Zhongqiu might climb over his head.

"How much?" he asked.

"How much do you have?" Dayao asked back.

"Well, about 200 million. Not US dollars, but RMB."

He thought about it and multiplied his number several times, saying that if it was less, and he was not as good as Yao Ming, wouldn't that be embarrassing?

"Just brag!" Dayao said unhappily, but after he finished speaking, he couldn't help but ask, "Is it really 200 million?"

"Of course." He laughed.

"boast."

Hearing He Zhongqiu's smile, Dayao felt relieved. This man who had castrated himself must be lying to him.

He Zhongqiu's cell phone rang. It was Zhou Biao calling.

After the two chatted for a while, some more reporters called in.

……

That afternoon, some well-known basketball commentators and NBA celebrities expressed their opinions on the results of the first week of NBA All-Star voting.

"It's a surprising result, it's a completely different, really surprising result to open up the overseas voting channel," Barkley said on TNT's 3 p.m. sports news.

In the East, Wolverine beat Ben Wallace with the votes from China. In the West, Yao Ming beat Shaquille O'Neal with the same votes from China.

I can't imagine, if the result doesn't change, will Shaquille O'Neal, the No. 1 player in the league, become Yao's substitute? "

He is still smart. In the end, he only mentioned O'Neal and not Ben Wallace, because O'Neal is now the best player in the league, and no matter what Ben Wallace is, he is just a blue-collar worker.

Tom, the host, asked: "According to statistics, 30% of the votes for Wolverine and Little Giants come from overseas, which is much higher than other players. Charles, do you think this voting mechanism is unfair?"

Speaking of this, Barkley's attitude became cautious, and he said hesitantly: "This is President Stern's overseas development strategy, and I support the development of the league.

My concern is, you can't have O'Neal come off Yao Ming's bench? He's the best player in the league."

"So do you think Wolverine is qualified to beat Big Ben and become the starting center for the Eastern Conference All-Star Game?" Tom asked.

Barkley hesitated again. As a guy with very high emotional intelligence, he didn't want to offend Wolverine's destructive combat power.

If that kid goes crazy, he might not be able to withstand it. If he gets slapped in the face, he will lose all his face.

"Charles, do you have any concerns that you dare not speak out?" Tom provoked.

"You're digging a hole for your own people, damn you!"

Barkley cursed inwardly and said with a smile: "How is that possible? I'm just organizing my words, not worrying about anything.

Well, I think clearly, yeah, you look at the Wolverines' numbers in January, did you look at them?"

Tom was startled, then shook his head and said, "No."

Buckley laughed and said, "Tom, I knew you didn't, or you wouldn't be asking that question.

You know what? This month, the Wolverine kid averaged 22 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game, which is definitely not worse than Ben Wallace.

I would say either of them is worthy of being a starting center in the Eastern Conference All-Star Game.”

"I understand. What you mean is that Wolverine is qualified, but Yao is not qualified to be an All-Star starter in the Western Conference." Tom said with a smile.

Buckley's face turned a little dark. Damn Tom, you don't have to make it so obvious, right?
……

This evening, at Conseco Fieldhouse.

The Knicks once again defeated the Pacers, achieving six consecutive wins, 16 wins and 16 losses, and still ranked 9th in the Eastern Conference.

He Zhongqiu did not hold back and bombarded the Pacers' restricted area at the Conseco Arena. All of his attacks took place under the basket, making him a true tyrant under the basket.

35分钟之内15投13中，4罚1中，轰下了27分10篮板2助攻1抢断3盖帽2失误3犯规的数据。

The attendance rate of this game was only about 30%, close to 5,000 people, basically all die-hard fans of the Pacers. Every time the Knicks attacked, especially when He Zhongqiu got the ball, they booed loudly.

The Pacers lost eight games in a row after the violent incident involving Conseco, and their morale and the basketball market also hit rock bottom.

Herbert Simon, the owner of one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the United States and also the owner of the Pacers, was watching the game on the sidelines, looking calm.

He did not take the team's setbacks seriously and was ready to rebuild the team.

He wanted to see the team lose. 03 was recognized by many scouts as a great year for the draft. As long as the Pacers kept losing, they might get a good draw, or even select the foundation for reconstruction.

It's just that Reggie Miller disappointed him. The veteran went too far this time, and he is considering whether to trade Reggie Miller.

Reggie Miller has been discharged from the hospital, but his injuries have not yet recovered. The concussion still has some effects, but his teeth have been filled.

He watched the game sitting on the sofa at home. He saw the team's decline and looked very confused.

Management is now cold toward him, and he seems to see that he will be forced to leave the team he has played for 16 seasons.

This makes him very sad, but he will only be loyal to the Pacers. Once that happens, he will have only one choice, which is to retire directly.

The past ten seasons gradually emerged in his mind.

When I first entered the league in 87, it was the era when the Lake Green, Black and White duo competed for the world.

At that time, the god of basketball, Michael Jordan, had already begun to emerge, but was still suppressed in the Eastern Conference and was swept in the first round by the Green Team for two consecutive years.

After the Lakers-Green era, the Bad Boys era came. Jordan was still suppressed in the East, and the same was true for his Pacers.

And he has grown from a rookie to the team's first scoring point and the core on the field.

At that time, he dared to challenge Michael Jordan and any authority.

Then Michael Jordan's flying era came, sweeping the league, winning six championships in eight years, and two dynasties, creating the supreme achievement of the God of Basketball.

And he, like Jordan before him, was suppressed by the Bulls in the Eastern Conference and was unable to make a breakthrough.

For the championship and for the pride in his heart, he endured and endured for sixteen years, until he was 37 years old, and finally until Jordan grew old.

The Bulls were finished, and he thought he had a chance to get out of the East, but he inexplicably lost to a rookie from China.

This time he suffered a terrible defeat. The entire team was destroyed. His championship dream was completely shattered, his teammates' championship dream was shattered, the team's championship dream was shattered, and countless Pacers fans' championship dream was shattered.

And all this is just because they don't want to see their own rebounds being smashed by the rookies, and they want to give the rookies a warning.

Now that I think about it, this reason is really stupid! He agreed with Artest and others' opinions at that time, which was really stupid.

As he thought about it, he didn't know when he was already in tears.

"Ugh!"

Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in this world. His sighs, his tears, and his regrets cannot change any results.

(End of this chapter)