Three Hundred and Thirty-Two: The First Regular Season Honor

Link had known for a long time that the first round of the series would end like this. Although in the original history, the Nuggets and the Lakers played a tiebreaker, there were indeed too many accidental factors in that tiebreaker.

There are even conspiracy theories that the Lakers deliberately played 7 games with the Nuggets in order to wait for the suspended Artest to play in the second round.

Link doesn't know if the reason why the Lakers and the Nuggets played 7 games is so evil. Anyway, he only knows that the strength of the Nuggets should not fight the Lakers to the tiebreaker. This is a fact.

And now, Link and his teammates have proved this fact.

Now they only need to win one more game to let the Nuggets say goodbye to this season.

On May 7, the fourth game between the Grizzlies and the Nuggets started. Link woke up early and looked at the sky outside the window.

Although it was only past eight o'clock in the morning, it was already full daylight. The frenetic summer has arrived, Link is ready to move, and can't wait to finish tonight's game quickly, so that he can go to the next round to fight the Spurs.

The Spurs swept the Mavericks, which undoubtedly made the Grizzlies lose their chance of personal revenge. But at the same time, the Grizzlies also have to resist the revenge of others.

The San Antonio Spurs are definitely not that easy to deal with this season. For one thing, Randolph no longer has an advantage over Duncan, and the Spurs' fifth position is no longer old and short.

Of course, the most important thing is that their third position is no longer so weak.

Link still remembers that last season he could almost ask for anything from Richard Jefferson, playing as he wanted. But at this time, the third position of the Spurs has become Leonard and "Martial Saint" Stephen Jackson.

These two guys are well-known defensive fighters, especially Leonard, maybe that guy is not so famous now. But Link knows very well what level of athlete he is!

Even though Leonard is still in his infancy, based on Link's experience of playing against him in the regular season, Leonard's defense is already very strong.

If the Grizzlies can beat the Spurs this time, it must be very fulfilling. It is no exaggeration to say that the Spurs are one of the best teams in the Western Conference this year. If you want to prove yourself, it is not enough to just defeat an opponent at the level of the Nuggets.

Therefore, Link is also ready to move about the arrival of the second round of the series.

Just as Link was imagining that he and Leonard were fighting naked... no, it was a fierce fight, his phone rang.

Link took out his cell phone and saw that it wasn't Mr. Tony who called him to have breakfast, but the head coach Hollins called.

"What the hell? Are you asking me to arrange a secret strategy in the room? The Nuggets have already beaten the Nuggets 3-0, so why bother?" Out of curiosity, Link answered the phone.

"Link, come to my room as soon as you wake up!" Sure enough, Hollins asked Link to go to his room as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Oh... I'll be there soon..." Link curled his lips. Why is Hollins' tone so serious?

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"Hurry up and have breakfast, and then change into a decent suit. In the afternoon, before the game starts, we have to hold a press conference for you!" Hollins hurried, looking a little at a loss.

"Press conference?" Link scratched his head, holding a press conference just for himself before the game started? What's the situation, he was traded?

What a joke, it is now during the playoffs, and players cannot be traded.

"What happened? Leon." Link asked weakly. After coming in for a long time, Link found that he still didn't understand anything.

Hollins stopped what he was doing, looked at Link, and then slapped himself on the forehead, "Damn, I haven't told you yet. Just now Chris Wallace called to tell me that the results of the coalition vote have been confirmed. Come out, you beat Magic forward Ryan Anderson to win this year's Most Improved Player Award! Get ready, the press conference in the afternoon will be your awards ceremony."

Hollins, after all, had never experienced such a moment,

In the years he has coached the Grizzlies, no player from the Grizzlies has won a regular season award. Therefore, facing this kind of thing is also a bit of a rush.

Link was stunned for a moment, then immediately became excited again. Regular season awards? This year, it really wasn't in vain.

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The Most Improved Player Award recognizes the player who has made the most significant improvement from the previous season. A total of 121 North American basketball reporters and commentators voted.

Each voter can write the names of three players in order on their ballot paper. The player with the first choice gets 5 points, the player with the second choice gets 3 points, the third player gets 1 point, and the player with the highest total score gets 5 points. Players receive this award.

And this year, out of 121 voters, 58 voted for Link as their first choice! This number has clearly surpassed the second place Ryan Anderson!

Therefore, Link won the Most Improved Award with almost an overwhelming advantage.

Now that the NBA has not been taken over by Xiao Hua, there will naturally be no awards ceremony after the season. All the regular season awards are awarded after a press conference is organized on the day the results are announced.

Therefore, Link accepted the first regular season award of his career in the media reception room of the Pepsi Center.

Although Link won the rookie game MVP last year, he also won the three-point contest this year. But these two honors belong to the All-Star award, not the regular season award.

Regular season awards are often the most valuable awards in a season. Compared with the All-Star awards, the regular season awards can better highlight the strength of a player.

At the press conference, after the NBA officials announced the voting results, they handed the transparent crystal trophy to Link.

Seeing his name engraved on the base of the trophy, Link felt extremely honored. The rookie game MVP trophy and the three-point contest championship trophy are not engraved with their names, so holding those trophies in their hands always feels a little less honorable.

But at this time, what Link got was a genuine personal honor! I got a trophy with my name engraved on it, which belongs only to me!

Indeed, the Best Improvement Award is not the most valuable award, and it is a grade worse than the MVP and the Best Defensive Player Award announced the day before yesterday.

But those who can win this award are not ordinary people. From 2001 to 2004, this award was won by McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal, Arenas and Randolph respectively. As a result, these four people have become influential figures. Although they all sank for various reasons later, it must be admitted that they were also first-line stars at their peak.

It can be said that this award is likely to become the beginning of a player's peak.

Last year, he missed the best rookie, but this year he got the most improved award. This can be regarded as a kind of compensation for Link to himself.

Link was almost 20+5+5 in his rookie season, and after only one year, he became one of the only two players in the league who can get 20+5+5 data this season.

Almost every statistic of Link has improved significantly, and his efficiency has also improved a lot. Therefore, Ryan Anderson is naturally no match for Link.

"I am very happy to receive such an honor. I have to thank my teammates and the coach. It is them who allow us to grow rapidly. I hope that I can go further in the future. Of course, I also hope that the Grizzlies can go further. Last year, I was an unknown undrafted pick. Now, I got a hard-earned regular season award. So, who knows what will happen in the future? All I need to do is keep working hard."

There was no script for Link's speech, and when Hollins asked him to write the speech, Link had no clue. So, at the press conference, he impromptuly said something from his heart.

Link did not break his promise. On the night after winning the award, the Grizzlies swept the Denver Nuggets with a total score of 4-0 in the away game.

Link used 25 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, which filled the performance of the data sheet and brought the Grizzlies a step further.

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