NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

JR Smith, who is far away in the Big Apple, could no longer suppress his anger after learning that the winner of this season's Sixth Man of the Year award was not himself, but the rookie from the Spurs who had"provoked" the boss Angua in public.

He posted a message on his social media,"blasting" the league's star-making behavior as having no bottom line and no shame, and insisted that the league officials must be favoring the Spurs' rookie Joey.

My goodness, my goodness!

Many professional basketball commentators said,"JR is crazy, he plays All-Star every day"……This is not a digression.

In all the years since Stern took office, you, JR, are the first player who dares to say that"the league is conducting insider voting". You are really eating someone else's food and then scolding the chef for not cooking well!

Even if you lost the"Sixth Man of the Year" because of"inside information", you can't just say it directly on social media. Aren't you forcing Stern to deal with you?

As expected, just fifteen minutes after JR sent out this tweet, his agent quickly"deleted the post" and made a statement, claiming that JR's account was stolen by hackers, and he was attending a friend's wedding at the time and was completely unaware of it.

As a result, naturally no one believed these words. An hour later, the league office issued a"ticket":

Because JR Smith made improper remarks and seriously damaged the official positive image of the NBA, the league officials sentenced the former to a two-game suspension and a fine of 50,000 US dollars!

This also caused quite a stir in the outside world.

And JR was also"questioned" by the boss Angua."——

You bastard, you averaged 9.7 points in the first round of the series, and I won't bother with you because you have been with me for many years!

But I worked hard for six games and finally led the Knicks, who were short of players, into the Eastern Conference semifinals. But just when we were about to face the strong enemy, the Pacers' five tigers, you suspended me for two games, and it was such a critical moment in the playoffs?!

Damn, are you too proud, or am I too weak to lift the knife?

And your regular season averages of 18+5+2, if you lose to the Clippers' 14+6 Knicks, or the Thunder's 15+3+4 crooked shooter Kevin Martin, I will let you complain on social media, after all, there is indeed a so-called"shady" reason why we didn't win this award with your record and your data.

But Joey, a rookie who is not mature at all and doesn't look like a rookie, played a comprehensive data of 17+9+5+2+1, and the Spurs still achieved a record of 63 wins and 19 losses in the Western Conference. Where did you get the confidence to think you can compete with them? Is n't this just a pure"stealing chicken and losing rice"?

In the end, I am the one who got hurt?

Damn it!

——————

On May 8, the Spurs held another press conference at their home stadium.

Joey took over the trophy for the best rookie of the year from the team owner Holt, and read out yesterday's"acceptance speech" verbatim.

It is worth mentioning that in this year's best rookie voting, Joey received 98 of the 100 first-place votes, and with a high score of 494 points, he was elected the best rookie without any suspense!

This is also the first"best rookie of the year" in the history of the Spurs after Duncan!

After the press conference, Joey turned on his mobile phone and received many congratulations from his friends.

Among them, the congratulatory messages from Davis and Lillard always felt a"sour and sweet" taste...

Oh, this feeling... is really amazing!

(dog head to save life)

With the momentum of Joey's"two awards in two days", the morale of all Spurs players was greatly boosted, and they will start the first game of the Western Conference semifinals at home tonight.——

"The Golden State Warriors, led by the"Splash Brothers", are coming soon!

…………

The Western Conference semifinals kicked off, and Curry exploded in the first game!

He made 4 three-pointers in the first quarter and scored 18 points, leading the Warriors to a 10-point lead over the Spurs, forcing Popovich to change the lineup in the second quarter and replace Joey, who was off the bench in this game, in advance.

Let him be misplaced against the"hot-handed" elementary school student, hoping that he can limit the latter's performance.

Joey did live up to expectations, and blocked Curry for two consecutive rounds right from the start.

That's right, it was a"blockade"!

Not only did Curry have no stats in this minute, but he also prevented the latter from catching the ball at all.

Others didn't notice the change, they just felt that Joey's"death coil" was as stable as ever. Only Curry clearly felt Joey's"change""——

Compared with the last two encounters, Joey is not only faster, but also has a higher level of explosiveness and agility.

Moreover, with a height of 2.

06 meters, he has no pressure to go around the pick-and-roll.

He repeatedly relies on his abnormal lateral movement and pick-and-roll ability to destroy the Warriors' off-ball running and shooting tactics designed for him!

The sense of pressure from this defense is overwhelming.

As soon as Joey comes on the court, it seems as if he has put on a layer of"gloves" for Curry, who is in a hot hand in the first quarter!

Popovich on the sidelines nodded secretly. He thought that Joey's defensive ability has always been reassuring.

Joey on the court once again went around the high screen three times in a row. David Lee and Green of the Warriors took turns to screen for Curry, but they were all easily avoided by Joey. In the end, there was no choice but to pass the ball to Klay Thompson who barely ran out of the open space in the corner - snap - bang!

As soon as the latter shot the ball, he was intercepted in the air by the hurried Spurs No. 2, Leonard.

The ball was blown away, and Leonard, who had just landed, quickly jumped in the direction of the ball. At the same time, Thompson also reacted and wanted to compete with him for the ball that was about to go out of bounds. At this time, Leonard's abnormal static talent came into play. Thompson was obviously one step ahead, but the basketball was touched by Leonard first, and then he jumped out of bounds and successfully intercepted the ball in the air.

���Surprisingly, he didn't even land on the ground, but threw the ball more than ten meters in the air and ran straight to the Warriors' half court - there, Joey had already stretched out his arms and rushed over!

Facing Green's defense, Joey only dribbled the ball and made a layup directly - the latter raised his arms and tried to interfere with Joey as much as possible under the basket, but unfortunately Joey, who had two end badges, ignored the defense and made a layup.

It is worth noting that when Joey made a layup, Green was as obedient as a baby under the basket, and even subconsciously moved back half a step when he saw Joey choose to attack the basket directly - he was really"beaten" to have a stress reaction!

During this period, Joey contributed 8 points and 5 assists in the first half, helping the team to tie the score before the end of the half.

The two teams entered the second half with 57:57.

In the second half, Popovich only made a simple personnel adjustment.

Joey played as the team's fourth position, partnering with Duncan in the frontcourt, and Parker + Green + Leonard on the outside.

This lineup is the one with the most net points for the Spurs since the All-Star Game. Not only does the Princeton system add to the offensive end, but the"death trio" of Joey, Leonard, and Green on the court makes the opponent players miserable, and even plays the least efficient performance of the season.

Warriors coach Mark Jackson naturally saw Popovich's intention, but he couldn't come up with any good ideas for a while. The Spurs are much stronger than his Warriors in terms of lineup strength, tactical diversity... and even average height. The reason why the Spurs were forced to this point in this game is entirely because of Curry's"explosive touch".

But now the Spurs' lineup on the court, whether it is Joey, Leonard or Danny Green, can give Curry a certain amount of interference on the defensive end, and the latter's touch can't always be hot.

Once Curry can no longer play this kind of unreasonable goal that is forced to"50-50", the Spurs will use their extremely oppressive offense and defense conversion tactics to beat the Warriors in one wave!

In the final analysis, it is the gap in lineup strength.

With the team's internal strength, the Spurs are very strong.

"GDP"As the cornerstone, they cultivated two-way players like Joey, and then supplemented them with a group of 3D players such as Green and Leonard, to create a team lineup that is completely in line with the Heat's Big Three - it is not something that the Warriors, who only have the"Splash Brothers" to take on the task, can match.

As soon as the third quarter started, Popovich let Mark Jackson know what it means to be the"Best Coach of the Year".

"——

The inside combination of Duncan + Joey was particularly suitable, and the Warriors' inside line led by Bogut and David Lee could not raise their heads.

When Mark Jackson ordered to double-team Duncan at all costs and prevent him from playing dominantly in the low post, Joey in the high post was like practicing open long two-pointers in his own training hall. He shot an amazing 7-for-7 in a single quarter even though he was left open.

When David Lee repeatedly rushed from the three-point line to the paint area, Joey began to lead his teammates and actively played the Princeton system - the Warriors' inside line was left empty by Duncan and Joey.���Nader and Green set up a double screen for Parker, who cut into the inside. Basically, Joey's pass was in place, and only a layup was needed to end the battle.

Curry, who was not good at pick-and-roll, was"running around", and sometimes even teammates Thompson and Barnes brought by Leonard and Green had to become one of the"screens" that Curry needed to bypass...

The defense consumed a lot of physical strength, so Curry's threat on the offensive end was destined to be greatly reduced.

The Spurs played a 27:15 attack wave in the third quarter, almost taking the game away!

Mark Jackson realized at this time that the gap between the Warriors and the Spurs was not only in the depth of the lineup...

He and the wily and tactical Sima Laozei were not the same level of head coach!

The latter was far more sinister than him... No, he was far better at observing the situation on the court than him, and his on-the-spot coaching ability was far beyond him - the most important thing was that Popovich's desire for victory was no less than any player on the court. In order to win, he could even do anything and have no bottom line!

This is also the biggest difference between him and Popovich!

In the fourth quarter, the Warriors, led by the"Splash Brothers", attempted a final resistance, but were suppressed by Duncan and Parker, who scored 13 points in four minutes.

The score difference was widened to 15 points. At this point, the Warriors replaced all the main players and gave up the first game of the series.

The Spurs"had a narrow escape" and successfully defended the first home court of the series, winning the Golden State Warriors 129:122.

The big score was 1:0.

In this game, Curry scored 44 points, 11 assists and 4 rebounds, setting a new career playoff high in points and assists, and almost led the team to overturn the first place in the Western Conference!

"The North Carolina Black Hawks and Thompson both scored 19 points but it was not enough to save the team.

Bogut grabbed 15 rebounds over Duncan, including 6 offensive rebounds...

For the Spurs, Joey scored a team-high 28 points, Parker also scored 26 points, Duncan contributed 19 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks, Leonard scored 18 points and 9 rebounds, Green made 4 of 9 three-pointers and scored 12 points...

In short, the outside world called this battle a"standard Spurs victory"!

It is worth mentioning that since entering the playoffs, the 37-year-old Stone Buddha has averaged 3.2 blocks per game and ranks first in the playoff block list, but there are endless background board clips of him in these five games on social media...