NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

On February 13, the Spurs played against the Cleveland Cavaliers at home.

Joey came to the ATT Arena and witnessed a game in which O'Neal, who was still normal at this time, was pressed to the ground by the"French sports car" who was still in his prime.

However, surprisingly, the best performance of the Cavaliers in this game was not O'Neal, who had been established as the core of the team and had unlimited firing rights, nor was it the team veterans such as Speights and Livingston.

Instead, it was the Cavaliers' fifth pick, Dion West, who was also a rookie of this year with Joey. He faced Danny Green in this game, made eight of 14 shots, and no shot came from outside the three-point line. He scored 24 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Although the team lost the game 98:115 in the end, the TNT commentator who commented on this game, former Cavaliers star Larry Nance, praised him as the league's"next Hamilton".

It is worth mentioning that the Spurs' only defeat in February came from the Chicago Bulls, where Hamilton now plays.

As for the Cavaliers' current"star player", Kyrie Irving...

As an old bird who has been in the league for many years, Parker knows how to deal with the No. 1 pick in the second year of his career, whose shooting is unstable on the offensive end and whose physical confrontation ability is still at a disadvantage.

Relying on the sophisticated rhythmic turnaround jump shot and the tacit pick-and-roll cooperation of Split, he constantly pulled Irving's defensive distance - if you let me go a step in the pick-and-roll defense, I will play inside, if you press me, I will use the pick-and-roll to go straight inside.

The defensive footsteps simply can't keep up with the speed of the little sports car's conversion. In this game, Irving was beaten into a"defensive negative teaching material", and the Spurs clocked out in three quarters.

Parker easily scored 23 points and 4 assists on his head.

The immortal Owen, who was obviously targeted by the Spurs, did not perform well. He played 32 minutes, took 15 shots, and only hit two goals. In the end, he ended with a dismal data of 6 points and 7 assists.

In fact, looking at the first three years of Irving's rookie season, Tony Parker was the opponent he least wanted to meet. His team, the Cavaliers, and the Spurs met 9 times in the regular season, with 8 losses and 1 win.

The Spurs' team system and tactical position, coupled with Parker's style of play that originally restrained Irving, resulted in Irving's average data of only 13.3 points, 8 assists and 2 rebounds in the first four regular seasons when he met Parker.

In contrast, the French sports car averaged 23.9 points, 7.8 assists, 4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, almost suppressing Owen in all directions and without dead ends.

Joey didn't know whether other people enjoyed the game or not, anyway, he and Duncan were sitting on the sidelines and almost fell asleep watching it...

After the game, Joey was about to go to the locker room with old Duncan to attend each"post-game meeting", but he was suddenly stopped:

"Joey!"

The two turned around and saw Knight No. 3 with dreadlocks, goggles and a defiant look on his face.

"Hi Joey……"

""Hi Dion."

Unexpectedly, Dion West took the initiative to approach Joey and extended his hand to greet him.

Behind him followed a large group of media reporters who were ready to interview him. They also came to Joey together - praise - praise - praise.

The spotlights kept flashing, and Joey could even hear the sound of the film"burning".

"You're a really awesome guy.……"

"It's a pity that I couldn't fight with you today, brother!"

West's tone didn't sound fake. He hugged Joey affectionately, and the smell of sweat hit him in the face. Joey couldn't break free, so he had to ask patiently:

"What can I do for you, Dion?"

West didn't answer immediately, but just glanced at the reporters surrounding the two of them.

Joey was a little surprised. It seemed that this guy had some"shameful" purpose in looking for him.

He suddenly became interested and gave West his contact information, then left with Duncan.

Only West from the visiting team was left to accept interviews from the media:

"Dion, we just saw you and the Spurs rookie Joey talking privately. Can you tell us more?……"

"……"

………

As early as February 8, the NBA officially announced the list of participants for the 2013 Houston All-Star Weekend"Rookie Challenge".

This year's Rookie Challenge is still divided into"Team Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) vs. Team Barkley (Charles Barkley)")"

All players were selected by O'Neal, Barkley and the general managers of this Rookie Challenge.

Team Shaq:

Harrison Barnes (Warriors), Andre Drummond (Pistons), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Bobcats), Kyrie Irving (Cavaliers), Damian Lillard (Trail Blazers), Chandler Parsons (Rockets), Klay Thompson (Warriors), Dion Waiters (Cavaliers), Kemba Walker (Bobcats), Tyler Zeller (Cavaliers);

Team Barkley:

Bradley Beal (Wizards), Anthony Davis (Hornets), Kenneth Faried (Nuggets), Brandon Knight (Pistons), Kawhi Leonard (Spurs), Joey (Spurs), Alex Shved (Timberwolves), Isiah Thomas (Kings), Tristan Thompson (Cavaliers), Nikola Vucevic (Magic).

Because of Joey's appearance, Ricky Rubio, who was originally selected for this year's Rookie Challenge, was not selected, and Joey replaced the"European Golden Boy" who performed well in the Timberwolves this season.

(Rubio averaged 10.7+7.3+4.0 this season)

This year is the second consecutive year that the first and second graders are mixed into the team. The head coaches of the two teams are the first assistant coaches of the Eastern and Western All-Star teams. The Spurs assistant coach Budenholzer will coach the Barkley team, and the Heat assistant coach David Fizdale will coach the O'Neal team.

——————

After attending the locker room meeting and returning home, Joey just turned on his phone and found a message from Dion West.

After reading the message, he was stunned for a few seconds, and a"brainstorm" flashed through his mind...

No, you professional players still play"intrigue"?

To be honest, after reading West's letter, Joey was a little suspicious whether these Westerners had secretly read our domestic"American Heart"*》

West, a player of the Cavaliers, actually took the initiative to find Joey, who was also selected for this year's Rookie Challenge and was not on the same team as West, and asked the latter to"go easy" on him in the game?

Can you believe this?

The content of the letter is roughly like this:

West believes that if his O'Neal team wins this year's Rookie Challenge, then there will be three people who have a chance to win the MVP - Lillard of the Trail Blazers, him and Irving of the Cavaliers; and although Lillard has averaged 19.3 points per game so far this season, he is the only one selected for the Rookie Challenge this year for the Trail Blazers, while the Cavaliers have three (not counting TT of Barkley's team).

The so-called"one tree cannot support the whole", his probability of winning the MVP is theoretically much lower than that of him and Irving.

Of course, this is based on the situation that O'Neal's team wins. If Barkley's team wins, there will be only two people who have a chance to win the MVP -

Brand Knight, a sophomore of the Pistons, and Joey, the third pick of this season's Spurs.

The former averaged 15.8 points, 5.3 assists and 4 rebounds per game before the All-Star Game, and is the most eye-catching"new star" of the Pistons this year. His model is the rookie of Isaiah Thomas; the latter, needless to say, is an all-around rookie with 16.3 points, 8.2 assists, 5.1 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, and is hailed as the league's next"Magic".

And this rookie is a recognized"tough guy" in the league."——

Elbowed the league's top center, the peak player, causing him to miss a month and a half.

"Scare off Bostonians' proud"fight and retreat""；

""Kill the Golden State leeches" for the people... no, revenge for himself!

Now, some fans of the Milwaukee team even privately call Joey"Bowen in the sun".

Bowen said"unfair"!

Knight: Whose template is Isaiah Thomas?

West saw this and proposed a"mutually beneficial and win-win" deal to Joey -

Joey can"waterproof" him appropriately during the game to defend other outside rookies, and he will also take the initiative to"propose" the request to defend Joey. As for the defensive effect...

Moreover, he also"suggested" Joey went to defend Irving of O'Neal's team - he knew this too. If Joey defended him seriously, O'Neal's team might win, but he would basically miss out on the MVP of the Rookie Challenge...

Joey's defensive skills are already recognized as strong in the league.

Whoever he defends will be"dead"!

To sum it up, no matter which side wins, the most likely MVP will appear between him and Joey!

Joey, who understood what West meant, sat on the sofa at home, opened the system panel, and after a careful look, a"sinister smile" suddenly appeared on his face."：

"Want the Rookie Challenge MVP?"

"hehe……"

"This award should unlock some good rewards.……"