NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

In the end, Team One won the training match with a score of 30:26.

However, the Spurs were very satisfied with this year's rookie Joey, because he performed very well, shooting 3 of 6 shots, and scored 8 points, 4 assists and 2 steals against the defense of Manu and Parker, with the highest offensive and defensive efficiency of the two teams.

Although this training match did not have real reference significance, it made Popovich and others fully realize Joey's true potential.

But what surprised Popovich even more was that this Asian big point guard seemed to really have the kind of"photographic memory" tactical literacy boasted by the outside media - in just one month, he almost memorized all the tactical arrangements of himself and Holzer, and could use them flexibly in daily team training to direct his teammates to run.

For a time, the entire Spurs team looked at this new rookie with new eyes, and the team's tacit understanding was getting higher and higher in this relaxed atmosphere.

So, after a month of team training, in the first preseason game of the new season, Popovich chose to put Joey in the starting lineup, and the old version of the Spurs Big Three all took turns to rest - taking turns to rest in the first game of the new season, it can only be said that he is worthy of being called Sima the old thief! On

October 6, the entire Spurs team flew to the city of Memphis to play against the Grizzlies led by the black and white bears.

This team is the Spurs... To be more precise, the"victim" of all Western teams! At

8:30 in the evening, the FedEx Center fired the first shot of the 12-13 season on time!

As soon as he came on the court, facing Tony, the best defensive team last season, the sharpshooter Neal, who was promoted to the starting point guard in this game,"rationally" handed the ball to Joey.

Joey faced Rudy Gay, who was about the same height as him but obviously stronger than him, and chose to use speed to force his way in.

With the 90-point breakthrough attribute and 86-point ball control attribute, the first step master badge just lit up, and Gay, who was ready for battle, didn't even react before he was passed by one step.

Facing the defense of this season's"Best Defensive Player" Gasol, Joey didn't even hesitate and threw the ball high. Xiao Jiasao realized that something was wrong and just turned around to see Red Mamba Bonner catch the ball and send it hard... into the basket!

Well, it's not easy for Red Mamba, who is not known for his physical fitness, to score an alley-oop.

In the next round, Conley changed his rhythm several times, shook off Green, and scored a jump shot.

The"honest man" of this period can be said to be the most"killing" first step in the series in the entire league!

Why is it a series? Those who have watched Conley's games in those years know how accurate this little man with a gentleman's face is in his mid-range shots after breaking through. Basically, a lead of one position means a goal, and it can't be stopped.

In the following games, Randolph showed his dominance, turning the tide in the paint, and his flexible small floaters and footwork under the basket were almost perfected. In the first quarter, he scored 11 points on Bonner and Split.

The little sister-in-law and he attacked and defended, not only slowing down the Spurs' offensive rhythm in the paint, but also disrupting the outside tactics that Joey had organized with great difficulty. As long as there was a little sister-in-law in the paint, the young Leonard, who was good at cutting, could not enter the paint area, and if he entered, he would be blocked...

Fortunately, at the end of the first quarter, Joey took turns to force Gay and Conley, attracted double-teaming, and then organized the team. He passed the ball to Green and Neal to make a three-pointer, which barely stabilized the situation.

At the end of the first quarter, the Grizzlies led by 8 points with 19:27.

Popovich only had 12 players in his active roster for this game. In the second quarter, he promoted Blair, who had a strong ability to protect rebounds, to power forward, and Bonner, who had a three-point shooting range, to center. He pulled out the"squatting" Xiao Jiasao from the inside, and then replaced Neil, who had played for the entire quarter, and let Green and Leonard, the defensive 3D partner, play outside, so that the ball was basically in the hands of Joey.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Popovich's training efforts for this year's third pick of the Spurs are obviously much greater than last year's first-round picks Leonard and Joseph combined!

This personnel transfer greatly emptied the Grizzlies' inside offensive space.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the second quarter, Joey and Leonard maintained their attack frequency, and once they encountered Xiao Jiasao's help defense, they passed the ball to Bonner and Green.

After Bonner scored two three-pointers and a mid-range free throw, Xiao Jiasao didn't dare to squat inside to help defend.

At the end of the half, the Spurs pulled the score to 41:43, with a difference of only two points.

But the Grizzlies, a team that is like a rolling knife, is strong in its ability to adapt and adjust.

At the beginning of the second half, Xiao Jiasao directly copied the opponent, opening up space on the offensive end to receive the ball and shoot from mid-range. Black Bear Randolph assisted Gay and Conley to pass the ball to the basket and score.

In short, there is only one word.——""Pressure"!

Don't you want to clear my inside line? Okay, I will clear it for you. Anyway, I will also compress your space on the offensive end. If you pull away, I will shrink it, forcing you to be unable to open up in the inside and run outside to shoot. I, the Grizzlies, have nothing else but two bears in the inside line, and I emphasize an extreme inside attack.

Unless you can kill me with outside shooting, I will compress your offensive space on the defensive end, and on the offensive end, I will rely on the black and white duo, one inside and one outside, to score two points and two points, and kill you with force!

I don't believe that your efficiency in shooting three-pointers can be higher than my efficiency in shooting two points under the basket?

In the 2011 Black Eight Spurs, the Grizzlies used this set of positional warfare compression play, and they killed the Spurs, who were known as the best power forward in history, with two points in the interior!

The defensive strategy is extremely repressive. No one dares to say that this Grizzlies team is second!

As expected, the second half of the game was basically a one-sided situation.

The black and white duo used their tacit tactical cooperation and amazing"dominance" in the interior to teach Joey, the newly promoted third pick in the league, an important lesson.

Although at the end of this game, Joey contributed an excellent data of 17 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists, Leonard and Danny Green also played well, scoring 12 points and 16 points respectively.

But due to the Spurs' interior Without Duncan and Dio, the team's offensive and defensive strength was too weak compared to the Grizzlies. Randolph and his wife scored 57 points together and led the Spurs to the first loss of the 12-13 season with a score of 101:89.

After the game, Rudy Gay, who was facing Joey throughout the game, took the initiative to find the former. When Gay asked to exchange jerseys, Joey readily agreed.

This former"successor to McGrady" is a true NBA"professional" player who relies on his talent for his entire life. Although his slack professional attitude directly cut off his hope of becoming a superstar, with his innate athletic talent, he played in the NBA for 23 years before Joey traveled through time.

This shows his talent. His talent is absolutely at the historical level!

Although he was not in good shape in this game, not only did he lose several goals to Joey on the defensive end with his speed and physical strength, but even his proud offense was blocked by Joey who played as a small forward. He played for 32 minutes, made two of nine shots, and scored 7 points by free throws...

This is still Gay in his prime.

Joey can only say that some bad habits will indeed"ruin" an athlete's life, at least in a sense.

Back in San Antonio, the Spurs played against the Thunder, Wizards, Kings and other three teams at home in succession.

Duncan, Parker, Manu and others were gradually put on the activation list by Popovich - don't get me wrong, except for Parker, they are all"old people" in their thirties.", Popovich said this to reduce the probability of sports injuries.

Joey played as a substitute in the next few preseason games except for the first game against the Grizzlies.

He played for 23 minutes against the Thunder and was beaten by Kevin Durant, the second pick in 2007, the king of Twitter, and the last loser in the NBA, with a combination of breakthroughs and shots. The score difference between the two was 27:8.

What surprised Joey was that history quietly changed at this time - the bearded player who had an extremely unpleasant quarrel with the detonator in the offseason actually played for the Thunder in the preseason, and there was no sign of contact with the Rockets management in the distant history. Until October 28, there was no trade application from the two teams in the trading market.

Strange, Joey could only attribute it to his own butterfly effect.

He played at the level of a third pick in the Wizards and Kings, two weak teams. He came off the bench against the Wizards and scored an economical double-double of 11 points and 11 assists against Martell Webster.

Coming off the bench against the Kings, Joey faced the fourth pick in 2009, Tyreke Evans. Although he was beaten by the latter for several times, he also relied on defense to make him make three turnovers and score less than 15 points. The two scored 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists respectively, and 10 points, 9 assists and 4 steals respectively. It was barely a mutual explosion.

After these preseason games, the US media has basically had a certain understanding of the strength of the rookies of major teams this year.

In the latest 12-year rookie strength rankings ranked by ESPN, Joey ranked third with an average of 11.5 points, 7.75 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2 steals per game.

Assists and steals temporarily lead the rookie statistics list.

The second place is this year's"No. 1" Anthony Davis. In the first four preseason games of his career, he averaged 12.7 points, 13 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. In this year's rookie statistics rankings, he ranked first in rebounds and blocks.

The first pick is not Michael Kidd-Gilchrist of the Bobcats, nor is it Bradley Beal who is the fourth pick. He is not even a top five pick.

His name is Damian Lillard, a senior from Weber State University. After five preseason games, he averaged 21.2 points and 6.7 assists per game, far ahead of his peers.

Reggie Miller, a famous ESPN commentator and former NBA Pacers star, commented on him after commentating his first preseason game:

"He is like Tim Duncan in the guard position. After four years of experience in college, no matter where he is in the professional league, he can adapt quickly and perform brilliantly.……"

The"Tim Duncan" of the guard position is a high degree of praise in itself!

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