Chapter 155: 82 Points in a Single Game

The lead had widened to 23 points.

With five minutes left in the game, it was essentially garbage time.

"Timeout!"

This time, it wasn't the Lakers who called the timeout, but Coach Gold.

"Look at that!"

As the Suns players came off the court, Coach Gold proudly said, "This is what you call tactical execution!"

"I'm good at math. I calculated that if Wade Dong scored four three-pointers, we could lead by over 20 points."

Coach Gold continued to talk non-stop.

"Old Gold, can you stop talking?"

Wade Dong frowned. He felt that Coach Gold was becoming more and more talkative.

Now, Coach Gold was like a class teacher who didn't teach classes. His main job was to educate naughty students during breaks, give them some mental pep talks, and share some chicken soup for the soul. Wade Dong even worried that Coach Gold might gain weight if he kept this up.

Coach Gold looked at the stats and asked, "Wade Dong, you've already scored 82 points. Do you want to keep playing?"

"No, I don't."

Wade Dong took a drink from the ball boy, draped a towel over his shoulders, and sat on the bench. "I'm not a stat padder."

The Suns players looked at each other in confusion.

Wade Dong didn't have a strong desire to score high points. After all, he had once scored 90 points in a single game, which was an astonishing performance. He didn't expect the game to enter garbage time with five minutes left.

So, Wade Dong had no intention of continuing to play.

In the previous game, the reason he padded his stats was because he wouldn't always play the power forward position. The opportunity to break the block record was rare, and Wade Dong was aiming for the block title this season. In future games, Wade Dong might still play the power forward position and pad his block stats.

He wanted to secure the block title as soon as possible.

...

After the timeout, the fans saw that Wade Dong didn't return to the court and expressed their disappointment.

What a great opportunity!

Wade Dong was only 18 points away from 100 points. With his three-point shooting frequency earlier, he only needed to make six more three-pointers to break Wilt Chamberlain's scoring record.

However, this also showed how impressive Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game was. Wade Dong scored 82 points, with half of those points coming from three-pointers, while Wilt Chamberlain, a center, rarely shot three-pointers.

...

Until the referee blew the final whistle, Wade Dong did not return to the court.

The Suns won the game 132-117.

Game stats:

Wade Dong: 82 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks.

Kobe Bryant: 47 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks.

Steve Nash: 11 points, 3 rebounds, 21 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks.

Dwight Howard: 21 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks.

Wade Dong broke Kobe Bryant's scoring record with 82 points, which is the second-highest single-game scoring performance in NBA history. The highest is 100 points, but although Wade Dong didn't break Wilt Chamberlain's record, he left fans with endless imagination. After all, Wade Dong sat out the last five minutes of the fourth quarter. If he had played those five minutes, who knows if he could have broken Wilt Chamberlain's record.

...

The fans were both excited and disappointed by this game. They were excited by Wade Dong's incredible scoring performance but disappointed that he didn't continue to pad his stats in the last five minutes like he did in the previous game.

"I will never say Wade Dong is a 'stat padder' again."

"It turns out that when Wade Dong doesn't pad his stats, it's even more painful for me!"

"Please, Wade Dong, continue to pad your stats..."

"I want to see Wade Dong break all the league records!"

This became the plea of almost all Chinese basketball fans.

...

Before the All-Star Game, Wade Dong had two impressive performances.

One was against the Celtics, where he broke the league's block record with a quadruple-double, and the other was against the Lakers, where he scored 82 points.

After winning the next three games smoothly, the All-Star Weekend arrived.

This year's All-Star Weekend events, including the Rising Stars Challenge, Three-Point Contest, Skills Challenge, and Slam Dunk Contest, took place on February 13th, with the All-Star Game the following day.

The Eastern Conference starting lineup was: Wade, Rose, James, Anthony, and Garnett.

The Western Conference starting lineup was: Wade Dong, Kobe Bryant, Durant, Griffin, and Howard.

As for the reserves, the Eastern Conference had George, Bosh, Irving, Holiday, and Chandler, while the Western Conference had Paul, Parker, Aldridge, Duncan, Westbrook, and Harden.

Unfortunately, at this time, Curry and Thompson had not yet made a name for themselves in the league, so they were not in the All-Star Game. However, Curry did participate in this year's Three-Point Contest.

The Eastern Conference All-Star team was coached by Spoelstra, and the Western Conference All-Star team was coached by Gold.

The All-Star Game was held in Houston.

On the afternoon of February 12th, Wade Dong flew to Houston with his parents, in-laws, and Li Jiajia.

This year's All-Star Weekend was very busy for Wade Dong, as it was his first time participating. Wade Dong didn't have much experience, so he signed up for all the events: the Skills Challenge, Three-Point Contest, and Slam Dunk Contest. He didn't know which event he could win.

The All-Star Weekend was a celebration for basketball fans around the world.

Many retired legends and celebrities also flew to Houston to enjoy the All-Star Weekend.

Fans watched the events on TV.

On the morning of February 13th, the least anticipated Rising Stars Challenge ended.

In the afternoon, things started to heat up.

The Three-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest were both held in the afternoon.

First up was the Skills Challenge. This year's Skills Challenge had a slightly lacking star power, with Wade Dong being the only Chinese player participating, along with last year's champion Parker, as well as Holiday, Nate, and "Flat Earth" Irving.

A total of six players participated.

Wade Dong didn't put much thought into the Skills Challenge. In the preliminary round, he finished first with a time of 26.7 seconds.

In the Skills Challenge final, Wade Dong won again with a time of 27.1 seconds, beating Parker and Lin Hao to claim the Skills Challenge title.