NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

On March 3, the Spurs challenged the Detroit Pistons away. All GDPs were rested in this game.

Joey led Leonard, Danny Green and other future"mainstays" of the team to a 120:87 victory over the Pistons.

"The 33-point difference was also the first time since the Pistons entered the new century that they were beaten by 30 points in the regular season!

After this game, all the Spurs players returned to San Antonio to rest and prepare for a"five-game road trip" in early March.

But at this time, a piece of bad news came quietly.

On March 5, during an open training session of the Spurs, the Argentine sword accidentally bumped into the Red Mamba who was assisting in defense during a dribbling layup. He lost his balance and fell on the training ground, causing a fracture in his left hand. He was rushed to the hospital.

This was not the first time Manu had fractured his left hand. As early as the 10-11 season, in a regular season game between the Spurs and the Celtics, he had a collision with the then Celtics backup center, Kendrick Perkins, during a pick-and-roll.

Manu's sudden fracture of his left hand during this period was almost a"wake-up call" to the Spurs, who were on the rise.

When the team doctor announced that Manu would be out for at least 3-6 months, almost the entire team was shocked - this would mean that Manu would be out for the season, and even if he recovered from his injury, that would not be a good thing. Then he can’t return to the team until at least early June!

The premise is that the Spurs can make it all the way to the finals and ensure that they will not be eliminated before then... and this is still under the most ideal conditions. After a professional athlete suffers this degree of injury, he must rest for at least two months after the injury recovers before he can play.

The last time Manu broke his left palm, he missed most of the regular season and returned to the team before the first round of the playoffs.

This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the current Spurs!

This means that Popovich’s increasingly mature Spurs version of the"Princeton System" can no longer continue. It also means that one of the Spurs’"proud" trump cards, the top three thickest bench in the league, is without Manu, the"leader" at the level of the best sixth man."……

It also means that Joey, the No. 3 pick who just secured his starting position in the team, will be forced to return to the bench!

Upon hearing this news, many strong teams in the league also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, the Spurs have been in the limelight recently, and"team basketball""+"Princeton", these two nouns together can't help but remind these old guys of the gorgeous kings at the beginning of the century who almost overturned the"OK Dynasty"... and now this healthy and complete team"GDP"The Spurs, with their potential rookies like Joey and Leonard, are obviously more threatening than the Kings under Popovich's coaching!

Before everyone had time to get over the bad news of Manu's"injury", they boarded a plane to Chicago the next day under Popovich's leadership.

They will play against the"third most powerful team in the NBA" tonight."——Chicago Bulls.

Just as they were setting off for Chicago with a heavy heart, the Spurs were undoubtedly"adding fuel to the fire" when center Joakim Noah made a statement during the Bulls' open training session that day."：

"As we all know, basketball is a black sport. Just like Martin Luther King said, racial division itself is unfair, but our dream is to pursue equal rights for everyone.……"

Noah grinned and looked frivolous in front of the media cameras. He even"distorted" the words of a famous speaker from the Millionaire family.——

"In fact, my understanding of this sentence is that racial differences exist innately. As I mentioned just now, black people are the main force in basketball. Whites and yellow people are just pursuing their dreams and having equal opportunities to compete.……"

"You must remember what I said today. Manu's injury and Joey's selection as an All-Star starter have confirmed what I said! The audience groups behind them are nothing but a group of weaklings who deceive themselves and gather together for warmth!"

Noah's contemptuous and insulting discriminatory remarks quickly spread throughout the Mila basketball circle through the media microphone.

These racially discriminatory remarks were instantly bombarded by many basketball legends, commentators and experts. Former Bulls legend and famous white shooter Steve Kerr posted an article an hour later, announcing that Noah was a"short-sighted" and ignorant villain. The current Pacers general manager, former NBA superstar, one of the"black and white duo", Larry Bird, who is gentle and never sprays people, tweeted"mocking"：

"If you were a player of my generation, I would take the initiative to find you when I played against your team, then score 60 points, and then ask your head coach if he sent someone to defend me.……"

"Go back and ask your senior Michael if he dares to say these words in front of me!"

Such white players in the league have issued articles to denounce and warn Noah of his remarks.

Noah, who just scored a big triple-double of"20 points, 21 rebounds and 11 blocks" in the game against the 76ers, did not listen to the"warnings" of these senior stars at all. Instead, he claimed in a reprimand call from the league in the afternoon:

"I didn't say a single word wrong, in fact, I don't think I did.……"

"I will prove to everyone in tonight's game that basketball is a black sport! I will blow up the inside of the team with the best record in the league to prove it to you!"

These words were quickly posted online by an official in the league. For a time, the"verbal criticism" of the Bulls' starting center Joakim Noah on major social media became more serious.

There have even been extreme white people from the Milwaukee region who left messages on Noah's social media account, saying that Noah is a foreigner with Milwaukee nationality and is not worthy of calling himself an authentic Milwaukee citizen.

In response, Noah directly responded:

I have never admitted that I am a Milwaukee citizen. In fact, I have obtained dual citizenship just to make it easier for me to play here!

Well, Noah is a second-generation rich man with capital, so he is qualified to say such things.

Soon, the story of the incident was passed to the Spurs who had just got off the plane.

In the visiting team's locker room at the United Center, the atmosphere among the Spurs players was unusually quiet, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop on the ground...

Boom-bang!

The door of the locker room was kicked open by a huge force, and Popovich, who was usually calm and composed, walked in with a cold face.

Looking at the Spurs players in the locker room, and then at the first assistant coach Holzer who had just followed in, the old man was silent for a moment.——

"tonight"

"I won't make any tactical adjustments, you guys play your own……"

Then the old man turned around and was about to leave. He still had a pre-match interview to do.

But not long after he left the locker room, he seemed to suddenly remember something and turned back to the locker room:

"I have only one request for you!"

Upon hearing this, the Spurs players were immediately cheered up.——

"Kick the asses of these Chicago puppies and beat that arrogant half-breed bastard into scum!"

Popovich rarely"gets angry"：

"If his points, rebounds, or any other statistic is in double digits tonight, the old man will blame everyone here.……"

(Note: Noah is not a pure mixed-blood. What is meant here is that Noah holds the nationality of the Militarists, but does things that insult the civil rights of Militarists.)

Everyone in the locker room couldn't help but feel a chill down their spines.——

"Got it, sir!"

Joey didn't follow everyone in responding to Popovich's words. He just looked at the photo of him, Manu and Parker in the Chinese restaurant on his phone, his eyes slightly cold...