NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

"Hey kid, it seems like the Spurs fans really like you, a pretty face with nothing but good looks?"

As soon as Joey came on the court, Randolph took the initiative to walk in front of him. He didn't defend, but took advantage of the referee's serve to"chatter" in the former's ear:

"Did you see that Canadian dwarf in the first row?……"

Randolph continued to talk trash, clearly trying to mess with Joey's mentality:

"Before the game, he came to the locker room to find me and asked me to beat you completely in the game, so that you, a basketball idol who looks like a woman, would be exposed in front of the whole world.……"

"And I, the great Zach, will graciously grant his wish.……"

Poof -

Randolph's trash talk hadn't finished yet, and Joey in front of him took advantage of the referee not noticing the situation on the sidelines and directly pushed away"Tennessee O'Neal" with an elbow. The latter covered his chest and couldn't help but take a step back!

It was this"step" that Joey had completely shaken off Randolph and ran straight to the basket, pointing to the sky with one hand.

Leonard, who was serving the ball in the midfield, understood. The two of them had already understood each other after a season of running-in -

Leonard stood outside the midfield and directly pushed the basketball away like a"cannonball". The Grizzlies players who had arranged the defense on the court had no time to react, and only heard a"bang"...

When they looked back, Joey, who had just come on the court, had been hanging on the basket without knowing when, and the wonderful cooperation of serving and passing the ball was also one of the few"Top Five Goals"-level goal performances in the game between the two defensive teams!

"What are you doing Zach?"

"Beat him up! Let this clown show his true colors in front of the public.……"

Before Grizzlies head coach Hollins could reprimand Randolph for his"distraction" on the sidelines, a childish voice suddenly caught his attention - no, isn't this the Canadian pop star?

"Shut up, Hobbit!"

Randolph, who had suffered a loss, was angry and immediately retorted.

The face of the"Canadian Little King" who had already stood up on the sidelines and was watched by 20,000 Spurs fans turned red...

This time Bieber made a"big fool" of himself, being mocked by NBA players in public as a"hobbit". Now those Hollywood entertainment media have something to write about again——

《The Memphis Bad Guy and His Canadian Wife》、《The reason Justin Bieber broke up with Selena was because he liked black, thick and hard things?》、《》……

At this moment, no one knows what others think of Bieber, but Selena, who was behind the Spurs bench, sneered and started to complain about Bieber's"black material" with Elizabeth Olsen next to her.

The contempt was beyond words!

But Joey was also"a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers". He dared to"elbow" Randolph, a famous tough guy in the league, in his first direct match?

This really pissed off the arrogant black bear!

In the next round, Randolph asked for the ball in the low post on the right side. Conley didn't want this bastard to disrupt the team system, but there was no way - who made him shoot a terrifying 52.2% field goal percentage in the playoffs this year?

Looking at the entire NBA history, the only ones who can perform like this in the playoffs are"top inside rulers" such as O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, and Unseld...

(Note: The efficiency of the series against the Thunder that year was even more terrifying. Those who are interested can search for Randolph against the Thunder. What is low-post dominance? That round of series fully demonstrated it.)

When Conley passed the ball to Randolph, Joey, who was defending him, instantly felt what it meant to be an"inside bulldozer""——

Bang-bang-bang!

Muscles collided, terrifying forces invaded... Joey gritted his teeth, relying on his 90+ strength to withstand Randolph's three powerful back-to-back shots.

Joey stretched out his long arms and kept interfering with his dribbling. Unfortunately, Randolph was like a mountain, standing still!

Just as Joey was preparing to meet his fourth back-to-back collision, Randolph suddenly turned around and left the space. Joey had no time to stop his strength, and watched Randolph hit a hook shot in the three-second zone.——

""Swish!"

13:10!

Damn!

Joey's expression didn't change at all, but he was actually cursing in his heart - this old bastard!

"Hey! Hey! Hey!"

After Randolph scored the goal, he did not rush to join the defense, but stood in front of Joey and clapped his hands continuously to"provoke" Joey."：

"Cheer up, sissy, fight like a man! Soft defense, you're softer than a stripper's pussy……"

"How come you reached the G-spot when I haven't even exerted any strength yet?"

"……"

Unlike Reggie Miller, Glove Payton and Jordan, who used relatively"elegant" trash talk, Tennessee O'Neal, who had experienced the"Portland Prison" and the"Clippers Brawl", often used this kind of dirty talk to provoke his opponents in the game.

In the first round of the playoffs against the Clippers this year, the"White Beast" was mentally broken by Randolph in this way. Basically, as long as he got the ball, he had to face Randolph's"18 generations of ancestors" greetings.

In the end, he only averaged 13+8+5 per game, and the Clippers were defeated by the underdogs and ended up with an embarrassing"one-round tour"...

Joey's mouth twitched slightly, and he calmed down and threw himself into the offense.

Parker rushed into the basket with the ball, attracted a double team, and passed the ball to Joey in the high position. The latter received the ball and aimed at the basket and was about to shoot. Randolph hurriedly jumped to interfere, but he didn't expect that he was just faking a shot and passing the ball quickly without looking at anyone, passing it to Danny Green who was left open at the baseline——

""Shua!"

Huang Ama had a good touch in the first quarter, and he made four three-point shots... and one of them was hit. It's not Huang Ama's fault, after all, his original name was"Zhang Tielin"."……

Well, no kidding, the Grizzlies' defensive strategy in this game was very"targeted""——

The inside line contracted to double-team Duncan, and the outside line left Leonard, Neal, Parker and others who had unstable shooting open, mainly defending steady shooters such as Huang Ama and Bonner who shot 43% from three-point range in the first two rounds.

(Don’t ask why the 2.08-meter-tall Bonner is a shooter. During this period, which inside player have you seen shoot 40% of the three-pointers per game all year round? Note: But the output is not high)

The two teams tied!

In the next round, the Grizzlies"repeated the old trick". Randolph asked for the ball in the low post, intending to use Joey as a breakthrough point to strive for a lead in the first half!

But they obviously miscalculated... or underestimated the value of"defensive first team".

With the experience of defending Randolph's low post in the last round, Joey quickly adjusted his defensive strategy. Almost at the moment when Randolph got the ball to confront——

"With a"pop", Joey suddenly lost his strength!

Bang!

The 244-pound"Tennessee O'Neal" felt nothing behind him, and before he could stop, he fell to the ground.

Shit!

Before Randolph could react, he fell on the court floor. Before he could feel the pain in his butt, the ball in his hand was snatched away by a pair of big yellow hands - it was the pretty boy who looked like a waiter in a gay nightclub!

"Wow! Wow! It's incredible……"

People watched Joey drag the basketball that Randolph was holding away, and then quickly launched a fast break!

Leonard took the lead, young people are so aggressive! As soon as

Joey crossed the half-court three-point line, Leonard"impatiently" reached out and"crying for food""——

This scene often appears in the Spurs' games this season. Fans jokingly call the combination of Joey and Leonard:"The Virgin Mary and her crying baby in her arms."

Just when everyone thought that the Spurs' defensive counterattack was going to succeed, a black shadow suddenly appeared behind Leonard.——

""Bang--smash!"

Joey's ground assist was extremely exquisite, and it was accurate from any angle; and every time a fast break was launched, people could feel what the"art of passing" was!

However, this time, the Virgin Mary and her baby"miscalculated".

The black shadow jumped high, and a black arm seemed to be equipped with a locator, just right to intercept this wonderful shot!

Looking closely, oh, it turned out to be the guard player of the best defensive team this season, Tony Allen...

Damn it!

The fans of the Holy City who were ready to scream and shout were like a thorn in their throats -

Damn, I took off my pants, and you show me this?

Joey thought to himself that it was not good, and then the copper ball-holding defensive elite badge flashed in his sight, and he reacted quickly, almost like a"stress response" to rush into the inside line - at this moment, Marc Gasol received the pass from Teacher Tony, and while there was no one under the basket, he jumped up and was about to dunk!

"boom——"

Another shadow flashed by, and Xiao Jia's wife's eyes blurred. A big yellow hand appeared at some point, half an arm's height above the basket, blocking his dunk outside the basket!

The ball flew straight out of the court like a derailed train, rushing towards the stands...

This was a difficult block comparable to a"volleyball smash"!

The audience in the ATT Arena gasped for a while, and rubbed their eyes in disbelief - wait, when did Joey appear?

""Exciting block!"

In the studios of TNT and ESPN, Barkley and Mike Breen almost simultaneously said excitedly to the camera.

This"volleyball block" is extremely"explosive" even among DPOY-level inside defenders!

"The"party involved", Xiao Jia's wife, was knocked over by the huge force, as if she was lifted into the air - in fact, Joey, with his agility attribute and 90+ strength, rushed up, and the power that burst out at that moment was indeed enough to knock over any top inside player in the league!

"Joey! Joey! Joey……"

When Joey's name began to be called regularly and rhythmically in the audience seats of the ATT Arena, Xiao Jia's wife finally woke up from her confusion and looked at the expressionless young rookie in front of her in disbelief.��—

How is it possible? In the three regular season games, this freshman did not show such amazing speed and strength in his defense?!

This season's DPOY Gasol did not react from his surprise until Randolph and Conley came to pull him up.

Randolph was about to go up to Joey and have a"verbal argument" in the name of helping his teammates, but Tony, who rushed over, hurriedly pulled him back and said that it was his bad pass...

The fierce and fierce"Tennessee O'Neal" gave up - in fact, he was just pretending.

After all, in the playoffs, especially at such a critical moment as the Western Conference Finals, any player on the roster being sent off or suspended may affect the direction of the series...

The three referees on the sidelines were almost biting their whistles - any one of these two could turn a basketball game into a UFC fight scene...

(Note: Zach Randolph, according to incomplete statistics, the big black bear's record in NBA fights is a terrifying"28 wins and 2 losses", including but not limited to beating teammates on the training ground, elbowing Reuben Patterson, angrily scolding Perkins, and fighting with head coach and general manager Isaiah Thomas off the court during the Knicks period.)

At this point in the game, the players of both teams were already angry and the defensive actions became more and more rude -

Randolph was elbowed by Joey, his shorts were pulled, his shoelaces were stepped on... he used every possible means; over there, Teacher Tony"jumped" sideways in front of Parker and Green by himself, disturbing the Spurs' backcourt combination; from time to time, the new DPOY would block the Spurs players' layups, and in the next round, Leonard and Joey's"death forward lock line" combination would fight back, and the iconic defensive counterattack was successful!

…………

Until the last second of the first half, Joey assisted Split to score an alley-oop, and the two teams tied at 43:43!

During the halftime break, every player felt like they had rolled in a quagmire, and every muscle in their body was sore...

The confrontation between Joey and Randolph lasted for most of the first half. The two of them"went back and forth", and no one benefited.

The latter even complained to the referee before leaving the court:

"You don't even see how dirty that Chinese boy's moves are. Every move is meant to destroy me!"

"You shouldn't favor him, because the traffic and popularity he brings give him a star whistle that doesn't match his strength.……"

It's a pity that the referee today, Clyde, is a senior brother of Crawford - they have always disliked the"voices" that oppose them on the court!

In fact, from the end of the first half today, the total score of the two teams was close to 100, which can be seen - the main feature of the Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and the Grizzlies is a"suffocating" defensive battle!

The players of both teams also know that this duel between the first and second defensive efficiency in the league has just begun...

(To be continued)