no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 302 Double MVP

"You know, we're playing against the team with the best record in the league, and of course that doesn't necessarily mean they're the best team, you know, I think we're the best, actually (pause, Pouty) The outcome of a game doesn't mean much. You know, we were evenly matched with them in the second half. We were just a little slack at the beginning. I believe the next time, it should be the playoffs (confirmed with reporters) , yes, we will win the game."

"You ask me how I can do better? Man, you go look at the statistics, I scored 25 points in the second half, and that was the most points on the field, I don't know why you're asking that. question."

(Davis suddenly turned his head and looked at James in surprise. Seeing that James didn't seem to notice him, he turned back helplessly. After he turned back, James turned his head and glanced at him.)

The atmosphere at the Lakers' postgame press conference seemed a bit tense and treacherous.

"The empty stadium doesn't affect us because we know there are just as many fans watching our live broadcast and we will give our best."

"We don't regard the Lakers as our biggest opponent. Our biggest opponent is ourselves."

"I'm not worried about DeMar, he has proven himself very good this season, he just needs some time to recover, and I believe that will be soon."

On the other hand, for the Mavericks, Xu Yong's relaxed words have reflected the entire state of the team.

Although an argument was inappropriate, they continued in this state until they achieved their goal.

In the second game against the Grizzlies, facing the Memphis people who had lost their black and white duo, Jokic played bravely and scored a double-double of 30 points and 16 rebounds.

In the third game against the Clippers, Irving was in hot form and scored 40 points, leading the team to play back and forth with the Mavericks. In response, Xu Yong scored 51 points.

Playing the Celtics for the fourth time, Jokic was unable to perform well in the paint against Horford and Porzingis. Xu Yong once again scored 54 points.

In the fifth game against the Thunder, the Mavericks and Thunder were inseparable. Xu Yong also staged a scoring battle with Durant. Durant scored 46 points and Xu Yong scored 58 points.

This is the first time Xu Yong has scored 3+ points in three consecutive games since his comeback and the second time in his career.

Even though everyone already knew his strength, his bravery after returning from the epidemic still left everyone in the outside world stunned.

In this situation where the performance of most players has been weakened, Xu Yong actually played crazier than before. This is simply unreasonable!

In the sixth game against the Bulls, DeRozan finally recovered. He had almost no miss in the mid-range and scored a game-high 30 points.

But it is a pity that the Mavericks lost the game in the end.

It can be felt that the enthusiasm that the team had when they first came to the park has weakened as time goes by.

And the Bulls showed full resilience and competitiveness.

Fortunately, after some adjustments, the Mavericks won the Magic and Jazz one after another, ending the park battle with a record of 7 wins and 1 loss.

This record is also the best among all 22 teams.

The end of the park games also means the official end of the season.

This is probably the most special season in the history of the NBA, because the teams that come to the park have different games due to previous games, and 8 teams did not come. The result is that the least team only played 64 games in the season. Then there are 65, 66, and 67, and the most is the Grizzlies, who played a full 74 games.

This has also caused a lot of controversy in the final ranking of the season, because playing more games than others means that you will be more advantageous in the ranking.

Of course, there is no suspense in the first place.

Relying on their excellent record before the epidemic and the best record in the park, the Mavericks finally ranked first in the league with a record of 65 wins and 7 losses.

This record gives fans a lot of room for imagination.

"If there had been no epidemic, would the Mavericks have broken the Warriors' previous regular season win record in one fell swoop?"

At first, this was just a discussion among fans, but it soon spread to the media, and was then used as a question by reporters to ask Xu Yong.

"Because of the epidemic, you have played 10 fewer games and missed the opportunity to break the Warriors' record of 73 wins. Does this make you regretful?"

When asked this question, Xu Yongyong couldn't help but ponder for a while, because he was thinking about the championship and how to better compete for the championship.

But after thinking for a while, he smiled and answered: "I think this question is just like after Kobe scored 62 points in three quarters, people asked him if he regretted not playing in the final quarter."

Xu Yong didn't seem to have a direct answer, but he had already given the answer.

The Mavericks are first in the league and naturally first in the Western Conference.

The other seven teams in the Western Conference that have advanced to the playoffs are the Thunder, Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, Jazz, Trail Blazers, and Grizzlies.

The Mavericks' opponent in the first round is the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies Randolph and Gasol left the team one after another, and now it is Home Alone.

Among the five starting players, three are still players on their rookie contracts. On the back is third-year Dillon Brooks, and on the inside is second-year Jaren Jackson Jr., partnering with the new draft pick Zion William. Sen.

In addition, the remaining two players are veteran Conley and Jae Crowder in his prime.

This kind of team formation between the old, middle and young people is considered to be the most conducive to the development of the team.

Conley, in particular, is a player whose leadership of the team is seriously underestimated.

In history, a very critical part of the rise of the Timberwolves was their trade for Conley, which is a part that cannot be reflected in the data.

So this will not be an easy game for the Mavericks.

Before the playoffs officially begin, the league announced the first batch of awards for the season.

Mike Malone was undoubtedly elected as the best coach of the season.

Although he did not debut at the top like his former boss Thibodeau, it is quite good to get this honor in the second season.

And unlike Thibodeau, he was elected almost unanimously, which means that the outside world fully recognizes his coaching ability.

However, within this first batch of awards, there is another additional award that is very interesting.

That is the [Park MVP] award added to the regular awards.

Yes, although there are only 8 games in the park, there is an MVP award.

Not many people may know this in the world before Xu Yong was reborn, but Xu Yong's explanation must have understood it.

At that time, Lillard was given, and now, Xu Yong is also elected without any suspense.

In 8 games, he scored 3+ points in 50 consecutive games. This is already a height that others cannot reach.

So before the opening game of the series between the Mavericks and the Grizzlies, two award ceremonies were held on site.

Although there is actually no distinction between home and away games in the park, the Mavericks already have a psychological advantage.

Also relying on this momentum, the Mavericks defeated the Grizzlies in a devastating manner 118-83 in the first game.

The performance of this game made many people think that this series has lost its suspense. However, for the Mavericks, both head coach Malone and core Xu Yong have a cautious view of their opponent.

"I always think they (the Grizzlies) are the best team in the bottom half and underestimating them will cost you in the end."

Ma Long's mouth is a bit big, this is a wave of AOE.

"They will be one of the most competitive teams in the West in the future."

Xu Yong's words were more praising their opponent.

Although their words were ultimately considered overly cautious by fans, in Game 2, the Grizzlies played impressively.

Without the Mavericks performing abnormally, they fought with the Mavericks until the decisive moment.

However, Conley is not the kind of player with a big heart. They lacked players who can make key shots at critical moments, which ultimately led to their defeat.

But their performance also made the media give them a "glory despite defeat" evaluation, and recognized what Xu Yong said, the Grizzlies are not the Timberwolves, they can convert their potential into combat power. of.

Of course, the previous two games were almost completely different from each other, which also reflects the characteristics of the Grizzlies as a young team. Their performance has ups and downs.

This also continued to show in the third game.

Malone showed his best head-coaching qualities in Game 3, seizing on the Grizzlies' weaknesses in perimeter shooting and shrinking the defense during the game.

Especially for Williamson, as a rookie, he also enjoys the treatment that only rookie James can have, with no one in front of him.

But as soon as Williamson rushes forward with the ball, the Mavericks will immediately shrink their defense, and Williamson will immediately hit the wall of two or even three people.

Although in the end, Williamson felt like striker O'Neal in terms of the scene, his performance was very poor.

Because he can neither break through that kind of wall nor pass the ball to an open teammate before impact.

But this is a bit overwhelming. If he can do this, then he will really be a combination of O'Neal and James as the media boasted before the draft.

Once Williamson loses the threat of holding the ball and has no shooting threat, he will have a negative effect on the court just like rookie James.

So in the third game, the Grizzlies lost basically without any temper.

3 to 0, this result is similar to what the outside world had speculated.

But the reason why it's almost the same is because the Mavericks pay enough attention to the Grizzlies.

In the end, there was no suspense in this series. In the fourth game, the Grizzlies exploded from the outside and defended a home court. However, it is difficult to do something like this again and again. The Mavericks finally swept their opponents 4-1 to advance into the half. finals.

Their opponents have not yet been announced.

The series between the Warriors and Clippers was extremely intense.

After playing Tianwangshan in four games, the battle will not end in six games.

But this also gives the Mavericks some rest time.

Speaking of which, starting from the time we entered the park, due to the tight time, the competition arrangements were quite rushed, basically one game every two days.

It was at this time that a piece of news broke in the park.

Daniel House of the Clippers was anonymously reported that House violated rules by letting an unknown woman into his hotel room without permission from the campus and stay there for several hours.

Obviously, everyone knew they were playing poker (an abnormal kind).

In the end, the league issued a penalty after obtaining the evidence. House was asked to leave the park, and the Clippers were unable to replenish their personnel.

This is the first time the 113-page manual has included a maximum penalty. Before that, Paul George was also warned for letting his wife enter the park.

Of course, even the Clippers did not appeal the penalty in the end.

Because it is obvious that a foreign woman brings great risks to the park. Once she is recruited, this hard-won competition opportunity will be ruined.

This punishment also served as a sufficient warning. After killing the chicken to scare the monkeys, no one else left would dare to take such risks again.

It was at this time that the league announced the third batch of the season and the most watched award, the season MVP.

最终的结果，凭借着球队65胜的傲人战绩，以及赛季场均31.2分7.2板4.5助攻2.7抢断1.7盖帽的出色数据，徐永以全票方式当选了2019~2020赛季的常规赛MVP。

This is also the first time Xu Yong won the MVP honor after two seasons.

The result was not much suspense at the end of the season, but when he arrived, the fans were still filled with emotions.

Fans thought Xu Yong would perform better this season than last season, but they just didn't expect him to be this good.

Moreover, Xu Yong is very likely to lead the Mavericks to win the championship this season.

Now fans look at the words under the statue that the Bulls have erected at the United Center. Xu Yong is fully worthy of the name GOAT.

Xu Yong's winning of this MVP also unlocked a unique achievement in history, that is, becoming the first and probably the only player to win double MVPs in the regular season.

This means Xiao Hua is no longer in the league, otherwise the competition would have to come out throughout the mid-season tournament to give others a chance to get close.

Not long after the MVP award was awarded, the match between the Warriors and the Clippers also came to an end.

House is a member of the Clippers' rotation. His departure not only affects the Clippers' rotation (the rotation in the playoffs is already relatively small), but more importantly, it makes the team's hearts float. The Clippers The performance is obviously not as good as before.

So a piece of mouse droppings can really ruin a pot of porridge.

The Warriors finally won two games in a row and eliminated the Clippers with a score of 4-2.

It is worth mentioning that when the Clippers were eliminated, Griffin covered his face and cried on the bench. This should be the closest he has come to a championship in so many years with the Clippers.

This also caused many fans to sigh and sigh. Griffin once defeated Xu Yong and was elected as the No. 1 pick, but now he can only watch Xu Yong continue his legendary road.

Mavericks VS Warriors, the encounter for the second consecutive season, coupled with the fact that both teams are traffic teams, this time can be regarded as filling the fans' expectations.

But for the members of the Mavericks team, they don't care what the outside world thinks or thinks at this time, because at this time, they only have one thought in their minds: revenge!

(End of this chapter)