Ninth Triple-Double, Undercurrents Behind

First-round voting: 1.01 million ballots...

Nothing like this had ever happened in NBA history. Even Howard, who had received the most votes in history in 2009, had only gotten around 700,000 votes in the first round.

For comparison, James had received only 1.41 million total votes in last season's All-Star voting.

Yet Link had received 1.01 million votes in the first round alone!

Stephen Curry resisted this result. He had originally thought that, with his immense popularity this season, he could contend for the voting crown.

However, the enormous gap between Link and everyone else made Curry give up on that goal after the very first round.

He really couldn't compete. It was just too absurd!

Many All-Star players couldn't even get one million votes by the end of voting, while Link's vote count was like Chamberlain's twenty thousand women.

It could only be admired, never surpassed.

"You really did it—1.01 million votes in the first round! Hahahaha. If you put out a campaign video, you could probably hit 1.1 million!" Jeff Austin laughed so hard over the phone that he could barely stop.

No wonder Link had been indifferent to Curry and James's vote-pulling campaigns. He had known all along that he would be far ahead!

But in truth, even Link was surprised by his vote total.

1.01 million was indeed a little exaggerated, especially considering that Link got criticized every other day.

But then again, which famous superstar didn't get criticized? ESPN also published articles trashing Kobe every other day. James took all kinds of heat, and even Jordan got criticized.

Yet even Jordan himself had been attacked back in the day.

Link's extraordinary vote count proved one saying: "In the world of competitive sports, for every person who loves you, there is someone who hates you."

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