NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

With the coming of the NBA regular season, it is time for the rookies of each team to really test their quality.

Among the rookies of this year, the two teammates from the University of Kentucky, the top pick Anthony Davis of the Hornets and the third pick Joey of the Spurs, who are the most concerned by experts, are the two teammates.

I don’t know if it was specially arranged by the league or what, but the two teams faced each other in the first game of the regular season.

This game also set a record for the number of people watching the live broadcast of the two teams in the regular season!

(It’s ridiculous to say that a veteran team that has won five championships is actually compared with a team that has only been established for ten years.)

The fans, experts and basketball commentators who followed this game did not disappoint. The two highly anticipated rookie players each played a wonderful performance in this game.

First of all, the top pick Davis played 34.2 minutes. Facing the veteran superstar and a mountain that cannot be avoided in the historical power forward rankings, Tim Duncan, he scored 21 points and 7 rebounds, a near double-double data, which amazed the whole country!

ESPN famous basketball commentator Damon Jones:

"This is the next real son of the Millionaire family, the hope for the revival of the NBA inside line. We can see from many details of this game that Anthony participated in the London Olympics with the national team this summer and learned many useful basketball skills from those big brothers. He is the next inside giant of the league after Shaq!"

In response to this, TNT commentator and commentator O'Neal responded on INS:

"If he (Davis) can average 20+10 in his rookie season, then I will agree with you. If not, haha, let this unibrowed gibbon from Kentucky go and become a circus performer as soon as possible.……"

The two commentators have been attacking each other over this topic in recent days, causing quite a bit of controversy in the American basketball circle.

In fact, O'Neal doesn't really hate Davis, he just doesn't like it when some young player with inside talent or inside giant emerges, and those so-called expert commentators blame themselves for it - those little guys couldn't stand his"muscle collision" when they were at their peak, but they dare to use it to touch his great"Shaq".

It's ridiculous!

As for Joey, because of his skin color and Asian identity, plus the fact that he is a rookie player who doesn't like hype and plays honestly, the evaluation of him in the American basketball circle is generally a level lower than Davis.

Amy Turnern, a writer for Bleacher Report, wrote a report on Joey, which was widely recognized by American basketball expert commentators:

"It is undeniable that Joey is a very good team player and barely deserves the third pick.

In today's game against the Hornets, he got a double-double in just 25 minutes of playing time.

When he was on the court, the team's offensive efficiency was an astonishing 119.

Moreover, his static talent is extremely good and he is almost a natural forward defender.

However, he uses this talent to play as a guard, which is an attempt to waste talent.

In the future, he will regret not making the transition earlier!

"

"You know, the NBA is not a college league.

In a professional league where competition, confrontation, and basketball tactics have risen to several levels, Joey can't play his physical advantage as a guard in the college league.

He is not suitable to be a field commander.

If I were Popovich, I would let him practice defense and three-pointers immediately, because the Spurs, a team-oriented team, is now most in need of a defensive gate who can defend against super-giant forwards like LeBron and Cameron!

"

The implication is that talent limits Joey's future development. He should play a 3D role like George Hill, the former Spurs forward, instead of handling a large number of ball rights.

Such remarks quickly aroused a consensus, and many so-called"basketball-savvy" basketball commentators stood up to take advantage of the opportunity to get a wave of"heat".

Joey has no time to pay attention to the outside world's discussion about him, or he has no channel to understand it at all - at this moment, he is in Oklahoma, busy with ball control and passing training in the Spurs' temporary training hall.

"Peng——"

After untying the sandbag tied to his legs and throwing away the basketball that he had been dribbling with his left and right hands for 30 minutes, Joey collapsed on the court out of exhaustion.

Every day, he trains himself like crazy, and with the blessing of Andre Miller's Bug-level star card, he hardly has to worry about any injuries.

Yesterday's game against the New Orleans Hornets just ended. At 8:30 tonight, they will challenge the Thunder away at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

Because his teammates flew to Oklahoma City overnight, most of them are catching up on sleep in the hotel at the moment. Only Joey slept for three hours on the plane, and then took a taxi to the training hall prepared for away teams at the Chesapeake Energy Arena to conduct basic training.

He was still a substitute in today's game, and like the last game, his playing time was basically between 22 and 25 minutes.

Unlike Larry Brown, the old bastard who also pursues the championship, Popovich treats rookies more like the Thunder, which gives them enough time to grow and play. He will not pass a rookie directly because he does not perform well in a certain game, and will not leave him on the bench for the entire season.

Because he knows that it takes time for any player to grow, and he cannot be rejected directly because of a mistake. Instead, he should be allowed to hone himself more and find ways to improve himself. Only when he encounters more setbacks can he grow faster.

So, tonight, in the second regular season game against the Thunder...

Joey encountered a"setback" as expected.

This time, it was not the same Durant as when he met the Thunder in the preseason. After all, the preseason was just for fun. It happened that Durant, who already had three scoring titles, was itching to play with Joey, so he went down to"play" with him for a while. In the end, in just seven minutes, he scored 14 points on Joey, allowing the latter to feel the power of the league's top scorer for the first time! Joey

's main opponent in this game was the third pick in 2009, who was also selected by the Thunder three months later.���Yidao Houston, James Jingdezhen's son Harden, who has completely opened the peak of his career.

Six minutes into the third quarter, Harden successfully cut into the inside with Ibaka's pick-and-roll. Joey keenly noticed that he was going to pass the ball and prepared to cut the ball away in advance.

Who knew that the cunning Harden was just a fake shot, and the exquisite"Euro step" shook off Joey who wanted to steal the ball and made a layup.

The score came to 59:67!

Harden, who has grown a series of thick beards, nodded his head and made a"salt in the wound" gesture towards Joey who was serving the ball at the baseline.

So far in this game, the two have been the longest pair of opponents in the whole game. Because Harden broke out in the playoffs last season, averaging 9.4 points in the fourth quarter of the series, and even scored a key three-pointer in the decisive battle, completely blowing up Manu, who is also the team's sixth man, and helping the team advance to the finals.

Manu wanted to avenge his previous defeat in this game, but for some reason, Popovich put Manu on the list of players to watch for this game because of Manu's toe cramps. He did not let him play, but let the"new recruit" Joey play as the team's sixth man against Harden.

As of now, Harden has played for 19 minutes and scored 12 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists over Joey, completely beating Joey's"three singles" of 5 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds.

At the same time, Harden also made Joey commit two shooting fouls and one off-ball foul, making the latter struggle now.

Coach Popovich stood on the sidelines, folding his arms and watching all this coldly.

Joey gritted his teeth and served the ball, and took the ball from Leonard and moved forward quickly. It would be a lie to say that he was not angry at this moment, but he knew that this was a test specially arranged for him by Popovich off the court.

If he passes, he will be able to gain a firm foothold in the Spurs, gradually gain his trust, and get a higher tactical position; if he fails, Popovich may give him a second, third, etc. chance later, but he, Joey, will never accept this kind of"alms" opportunity!

He wants to regain his lost face in this game by himself.

"James, you are the best sixth man in the league. Shouldn't you completely beat this rookie who is in and out of the league?"

"That is, teach him a lesson, James.……"

"Let him see what a real sixth man of the team is!"

"……"

The Thunder fans burst into laughter, making Durant and others who were watching the game on the sidelines laugh - they were also looking forward to Harden beating the Asian defender on the opposite side, just for fun!

The Thunder's young team that successfully crossed the Spurs, the"high mountain" in the West last season, was completely arrogant. They didn't take the old and powerful Spurs, which were gradually declining, seriously at all. In their opinion,"GDP"They are the past of the league, and they are the future of the league!

On the court, Joey faced Harden's defense and chose to take a step back. He played a hand-to-hand pass with Leonard. Harden, who was not good at defense, was active for once and quickly followed up.

Joey ran to the corner to make a fake screen for Bonner. After Ibaka, who was afraid of Bonner's shooting range, switched defense, he used his speed advantage to quickly cut into the inside. At this time, Leonard's pass was in place -

Joey was about to take the ball and the black shadow behind him jumped high. It was Ibaka, the block king and a member of the best defensive team last season!

Everyone thought that this ball would be blocked by Ibaka, but Joey was just a fake move. After shaking Ibaka off, he easily made a layup. He shook

Leonard with an expressionless face and retreated. The two seemed like two ferocious door gods, one on the left and one on the right, firmly controlling the defense line entering the Spurs' paint area.

Looking coldly at Harden on the opposite side, Joey secretly said fiercely:

The game has just begun!