NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

On November 4, the San Antonio Spurs played against the Utah Jazz away.

The Jazz at this time was in a period of transition. Last year, the team's main point guard Deron Williams left. The"academic" Daniel Sloan resigned due to health reasons, and the team's assistant coach Ty Corbin took over the head coach position.

(In fact, the direct factor that led to the disintegration of the Jazz, a strong team in the West at that time, was the conflict between De's expansion and Sloan.)

The Utah Jazz, who had a 36-30 record in the regular season of the shortened season last season and barely squeezed into the playoffs, missed the playoffs with a record of 43 wins and 39 losses in the West this season.

This game was played on the plateau of Salt Lake City.

The situation throughout the game was basically one-sided. The Jazz, who had only a few big cats and a few small cats, met the old strong team Spurs, who were"boiled frogs in warm water", and had no chance to explode at all. The depressing and dull style of the game ran through the entire game.

On the Jazz side, except for Al Jefferson, who is known as the"power forward offensive kaleidoscope", who barely stood up and scored 21 points and 14 rebounds over Duncan, no one else even scored in double digits.

In the end, the Spurs clocked out in three quarters and took the victory from Salt Lake City with a score of 78:63.

Joey came off the bench for 24 minutes. Facing the"Mo Bu Chuan" and the still-developing Gordon Hayward, even though he was slightly affected by altitude sickness, he still contributed high-efficiency data of 10 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. In this game of the Spurs, the demon sword Ginobili and the French sports car were killing like crazy, constantly attacking the Jazz's weak inside line, and scored"Spurs-style" high scores of 19 and 21 points respectively.

These two people alone accounted for half of the team's points.

Gordon Hayward said in an interview after the game:

"The player who impressed me the most in this game was the No. 3 player on the other side. When I was playing against him, I always felt that his perspective seemed to be above the entire stadium.……"

"Oh my God, I can’t imagine how he saw his teammates who were blocked by three walls of people, and how he passed the ball to his teammates with such precision as a scalpel!"

""Third grader," Hayward said in disbelief.

After the game, the Spurs rested in Salt Lake City for one night and flew back to the Holy City the next day. They will face the challenge of the Indiana Pacers at the Holy City home court ATT Arena next Tuesday.

On the plane the next day, an official NBA news caught the attention of the Spurs players. The

NBA 12-13 season's first week's Player of the Week was announced. The Eastern Conference Player of the Week was"Little Emperor" James, who led the Heat to three consecutive wins and averaged 27.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game. The

Western Conference Player of the Week was awarded to the Los Angeles Clippers' leading point guard Chris Paul. The"58-gun" led the Clippers to a record of three wins and one loss in the four games last week, averaging 18.7 points, 13.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game.

This is also the first Clippers Player of the Week since Elton Brand.

"The rookie who was beaten by Tony in the playoffs has now become a superstar who can be compared with LeBron.……"

The team's veteran"Red Mamba", Matt Bonner sighed

"Hey, don't say that, Matt."

"In the 2008 playoffs, we almost lost to the Hornets.……"

At this point, Tony Parker, who was leisurely tasting red wine,"I have never been the first point guard, but I send the first point guard home"

"What about that series, let me think……"

Manu pretended to be"thinking hard":

"Oh - I remember that guy who had been suppressing Chris in the first six games was almost beaten in the seventh game, right?"

He looked at Parker with a coquettish smile.

"Hahaha……"

Some Spurs veterans who obviously knew the details of the playoffs that year got this point.

Joey, Leonard and others looked at them in confusion, feeling that they could not fit in with this group at all...

In the end, it was Popovich, who was tasting red wine next to Parker, who smiled and explained:

"In the 2008 Western Conference semifinals, Tony was our most stable scoring point in the first few games, averaging 23.4 points and 7 assists per game, making Chris, who was still the star player of the Hornets at the time, act like a high school student who couldn't play basketball.……"

"Unfortunately, apart from him, the other players in that series did not perform well, which gave New Orleans the opportunity to play a seventh game.……"

Before the old man finished speaking, Manu, who was standing beside him, interrupted with a sly smile:

"So in the seventh game, Chris scored 17 points and 11 assists to beat him!"

"Bastard!"

Parker's face flushed, and he felt embarrassed in front of Joey and other juniors, so he tried to"save face" and said:

"That doesn’t count as a big win, I still got 17 points!"

"Hahaha, but you were defended and made 7 mistakes……"

There was another round of laughter, and the French were so angry that they wanted to strangle the Argentine vulture who was so mean.

The atmosphere on the plane was harmonious and joyful.

Even Joey and Leonard, the two rookies who usually didn't talk much, became much more cheerful.……

——————

On November 6, the fourth game of the regular season was held at the ATT Arena in the Holy City.

During the warm-up session between the two teams before the game, Paul George, chewing his braces and looking cool, took the initiative to find Joey:

"I heard you are the next EJ in the league?"

"I think after this game, no one in the outside media will call you that anymore.……"

"Because, I will expose the true colors of you, the clown in the king's new clothes!"

After saying some"harsh words" for no apparent reason, George left in style.

Not to mention Joey's bewilderment, even his teammates on the Pacers team couldn't understand George's"operation"."——

No, I haven't heard you say you don't like the first-year rookie?

Only Danny Ranger, who has the best relationship with George in the Pacers, knows the whole story.——

"The game videos of"Magic" Earvin Johnson (EJ) have been with George throughout his childhood. Born in California, his father was a loyal fan of the Lakers during the"Show Time" period.

So George has always regarded EJ as an idol and"spiritual pillar".

So when he met a"Chinese Magic" who was hyped by the American media, he was very happy."、"When George was asked"next EJ", he was not surprised to find that he was full of fighting spirit!

As expected, George showed his strong"spiritual attributes" at the beginning of the game.

He first broke through the defense of the emperor and rushed to the basket, wanting to dunk through Duncan, but unfortunately, the old man was still able to eat!

He was directly blocked by him. George, who grabbed the offensive rebound, didn't care and jumped up for a layup again, this time causing Duncan to foul. He made two free throws! In the next round, relying on his strong outside switching ability, he forced Parker and Green to stop the ball one after another. Finally, when Blair came out to receive the ball, he quickly stole the ball and broke through.

It ended with a difficult and highly stretched gliding slam dunk!

He scored four points in the first minute and directly Silence the ATT Arena!

Coach Popovich, who was sitting on the Diaoyutai, frowned. What he hated the most, or what a team like the Spurs least wanted to encounter, was players with top mental attributes and personal abilities.

Obviously, George at this stage already had the strength to break through the threshold of superstars...

But the Spurs are a veteran strong team after all, and they quickly stabilized the situation with smooth tactical coordination.

Eight minutes into the first quarter, Popovich made his first substitution.

Joey also got a chance to play at this time.

In fact, in the first three games, Joey played as a small forward most of the time, and his style of play was more like organizing forwards like James and Iguodala.

And in this game, it is obvious that he didn't understand. Why did Chu George"explode"? Old man Pop still did not change his style and let Joey replace Green as the front line defensive gate.

And the main rotation player who has been cooperating with Joey, the second-year Leonard was also"adapted" to the power forward position by the old man, but this was only when he played with Joey. He played more as a small forward in the rest of the playing time.

As of now, the Pacers are temporarily leading by two points with 21:19.

Paul George is currently the best scoring player of both teams. He has made five of seven shots and scored 11 points. His state is hot.

Joey directly faced George as soon as he came on the court.

In the Spurs' offensive round, under Parker's command, Leonard made Joey set an off-ball screen, and the latter ran to the left corner to receive the pass and prepare to shoot.

However, George, who had bypassed the pick-and-roll, rushed up actively, and David West of the Pacers was with him.

The two formed a double-team, completely blocking Joey's passing vision.

It seems that after the previous regular season games, NBA teams have had a new understanding of Joey's three-point shooting ability!

West was called up, and George had already pressed in front of him. Joey wanted to break through at the baseline but was quickly blocked.

He had no choice but to throw the ball to Dio in the inside - snap!

Hibbert, who came out halfway, stretched out his arms and intercepted the ball.

The Pacers launched a fast break.

George followed Joey slowly and began to talk trash:

"Hey rookie, this is just your level. You gave us a ball as soon as you came on the court. Are you our Spurs non-staff member?"

"Oh, I like you so much, Asian EJ, the next No. 1 point guard in the league... These titles are enough to scare any kid on the street court in front of my house, you are so awesome!"

Joey glanced at him coldly without responding.