NBA: The Dynasty Crasher

On the 22nd, the Knicks rolled into Indiana, ready for a back-to-back—Pacers first, then the Hornets.

After settling into the hotel at noon, Zhao Dong got hit with another sniper mission.

Hall of Fame Sniper Mission:

Hit Reggie Miller with three three-pointers.

Hit an early celebration in front of Reggie.

Stay cool under Reggie's trash talk.

Block Reggie at the three-point line.

Drop either a 20+10 or a 20+5+5 stat line.

Reward: Reggie Miller's pull-up jumper.

"Yo, System, you serious with this BS?" Zhao Dong muttered. "Man, I don't even match up with Reggie like that. Dude's a two-guard, sometimes plays the three. You expect me to shoot seven or eight threes in his face? Where the hell am I getting that many chances?"

Indiana was no joke—they'd been playoff regulars for seven straight years and even hit the Eastern Conference Finals in '95. But this season? Mid as hell. A 19-19 record, barely hanging onto a playoff spot.

This game wasn't getting a national broadcast, not even on CCTV. The Pacers' commentator, Hanks, took the mic.

"Has the New York media lost its damn mind?" Hanks scoffed. "They're hyping up a rookie like he's a legit All-Star starter? Come on."

His partner Rolle laughed. "Ewing's got a lock on his spot, but now the Knicks want to push a rookie in? That's greedy as hell."

"I get it, the kid's been hooping," Hanks added. "But Allen Iverson's been better. If Zhao Dong deserves a starting spot, then AI damn sure deserves one too."

"Bunch of idiots," Zhao Dong muttered in the visitors' locker room.

He knew the history—Iverson wasn't getting an All-Star nod till 2000, and Kobe? Dude was gonna be a starter next year, all off hype from LA media and Lakers fans. 15-3-2 stat line? Not even worthy of a damn bench spot, let alone a starter role.

Right now, though? The New York machine was working for him, and his fan votes were catching up to Pippen's. The NYC media had that reach, and the New York metro area's massive population was pushing the numbers.

Smaller-market teams? They couldn't compete in the fan vote. No matter how good their players were, their cities just didn't have the numbers.

Two and a half hours later, the Knicks scraped by with a two-point win over Indiana.

Zhao Dong, though? Failed the sniper mission. No real matchups against Reggie meant no chance to hit those threes in his face.

After the game, the squad flew straight to Charlotte and caught an L against the Hornets.

Now at 32-10, the Knicks still held onto the No. 2 spot in the East.

During the downtime, Zhao Dong kept hitting up Ernie Grunfeld for All-Star vote updates.

The news? Good as hell.

That monster game against the Bulls gave him a huge voting boost. He'd been stacking 20+10 games since then, and now? He was breathing down Pippen's neck.

On the 27th, Grunfeld called him up.

"Zhao, you passed Pippen," Grunfeld said. "You got 1.58 million votes. Pippen's at 1.57 million."

Chicago.

Pippen, pissed as hell, stormed into Jordan's spot.

"Mike, you gotta help me," Pippen gritted. "That rookie's got more votes than me."

Jordan, lounging back, gave him a look. "Scottie… how exactly do you want me to do that?"

Even MJ was lowkey shook. Zhao Dong not only jumped Rodman, but now Pippen too?

The problem? Chicago ain't New York. The Windy City had only a quarter of New York's population. Jordan sure as hell wasn't about to campaign worldwide for Pippen.

Still, he made a move—hit up the media.

"All-Stars are for real superstars," Jordan said in an interview. "Fans wanna see elite guys perform, not some rookies who ain't proved themselves yet. Scottie and Dennis deserve more votes than some random rookie. I hope people start supporting them."

That got Pippen a small boost, but it wasn't enough to stop New York's machine from flooding votes for Zhao Dong.

By the 29th, Zhao Dong finished his ball-handling training—his skill jumped three levels to 88.

That boosted his whole offensive game. More control, more flexibility, easier buckets.

On February 1st, the league dropped the official rookie rankings.

Zhao Dong was averaging:

30.5 MPG

21.2 PPG

9.4 RPG

1.8 APG

1.8 SPG

2.9 BPG

1.9 TOs

2.8 fouls

Ranked above Rahim, but still behind Iverson.

Same day, the Player of the Month was announced—Grant Hill took it home.

22-9.7-7.9 stat line? Yeah, solid numbers.

Then came the big drop—the league closed All-Star voting and announced the starting lineups.

Eastern Conference All-Star Starters:

C: Patrick Ewing

F: Zhao Dong

F: Grant Hill

G: Michael Jordan

G: Anfernee Hardaway

Western Conference All-Star Starters:

C: Hakeem Olajuwon

F: Charles Barkley

F: Shawn Kemp

G: Gary Payton

G: John Stockton

Zhao Dong saw his name on that starting list and jumped out of his seat.

First rookie from the '96 draft to make the All-Star Game. Only rookie this year to get in.

And on top of that? He was locked in for the Rookie Challenge too.

"Congrats, Zhao," Oakley and the squad dapped him up.

One problem—Ewing and Allan Houston? Cold as hell.

Houston, whatever. But Ewing? That was a problem.

Ever since the Knicks' front office pushed to get him an All-Star spot, Ewing had been switching up.

Ewing got 1.4 million votes—first among East centers—but still 200K less than Zhao Dong. No doubt, that was eating at him.

Zhao knew his votes weren't from pure fan love yet—NY media carried him. But he needed Ewing on his side to take down MJ and the Bulls.

If Ewing started hogging the rock again, Zhao wasn't about to let that slide. If it came to it?

He'd fight back.

---

Meanwhile, in Utah…

Karl Malone? Livid.

Dude just kicked over a table, sent his phone and everything else flying.

Back from his suspension, but he still got cooked in the fan vote—finished third in West forwards, missed the All-Star starter spot.

Meanwhile, Zhao Dong? A rookie just took a starting spot in the East.

Mailman wasn't delivering shit today—just straight anger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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