Three Hundred and Thirty-Three: Fierce Revenge

On the base of the Most Improved Award, there are four lines of small characters written.

The first line, "2011-12".

Second line, "NBA Most Improved Player."

The third line, "Tom Lin." These are also the two largest words in the four lines.

Line four, "Memphis Grizzlies."

Link was still looking at the trophy in his hand until he got on the plane back to Memphis. The Most Improved Player Award, perhaps in the eyes of some people, this is not an important award.

After all, when people compare the personal honors of a star, the three honors that are mentioned the most are first team, championship and MVP. You rarely see someone saying that whoever won the Most Improved Award is awesome.

But after all, this is Link's first regular season award in his career, and he still cherishes it very much.

This time, Link was really happy because he won the award from the bottom of his heart. The joy brought by this sense of accomplishment even exceeds the joy brought about by triggering the reward clause.

Therefore, when Link got off the plane and found that he had hundreds of thousands of dollars in his account, his heart was calm. Now, Link is not winning honors for money, but for his career.

After all, what player wants his career to be flat? What's more, it's still Link who has the ability to be an idol.

As soon as the players walked out of the airport exit passage, they found that reporters and fans had gathered in large numbers in the airport hall.

The Grizzlies returned to Memphis with a total score of 4-0, and Link also took home a Most Improved Player trophy, which naturally made the local media and fans in Memphis very excited.

Link looked at the reporters and fans gathered around, feeling like a hero returning home in triumph.

"This is just a Most Improved Award, it's such a big battle. Tell me, if I can come back with the MVP trophy one day, what will Memphis look like?" Sitting on the team bus, watching the enthusiastic fans outside the window They, Link and Randolph chatted.

"If you can get the MVP trophy, I guess the mayor of Memphis and the governor of Tennessee will come to see you. The whole of Memphis is probably empty." Randolph replied casually, anyway, he didn't really think about Link getting the MVP trophy what would it be like. Because the word MVP is too far away for the Grizzlies players.

After all, it is the MVP trophy, and only the most dominant players are eligible for such an honor.

But looking at Link's changes over the past year, Randolph suddenly felt that anything might really happen to that kid...

He was just undrafted last year, but this year he became the most improved player and became the core of the Grizzlies. God knows what else he can do in the future. MVP? Maybe it will work.

After the Grizzlies team bus arrived at FedEx Arena, the players disbanded on the spot and got a rare rest time.

Since both the Grizzlies and Spurs swept their opponents 4-0, they can both rest for a few more days. Therefore, Hollins can also suspend training for a day to give the players a breather.

The Grizzlies' series war has temporarily ceased fire. Of course, everyone knows that this is just a short calm before a more intense war.

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, the players' routine continued as usual.

Boris Diaw was wandering around in the locker room with a cup of coffee. Duncan was discussing something with Popovich, flirting from time to time.

Parker was sorting out his sneakers, and Ginobili kept an eye on his locker, for fear that his underwear would be stolen and frozen again.

This is the Spurs locker room, where the full day of the Spurs players begins.

Among all these players, Kawhi Leonard is the most special.

He doesn't like to tell bad jokes, and basically doesn't respond to other people's jokes. During the whole day of training, you may see Duncan's cute smile, and Popovich makes the media laugh with different tricks.

But it is very likely that Leonard will not change his expression.

Even, it is very likely not to hear him say a word.

However, this taciturn silent child has now been fully accepted by the Spurs. In the middle and late stages of the regular season, the first-year Leonard is already the unshakable starting third position of the Spurs. In the Spurs' 4-0 sweep of the Mavericks series, Leonard also played quite well as a starter.

Everyone knows that Leonard doesn't like to talk, and doesn't like to yell. But everyone knows how much power lies within this taciturn child.

During practice this afternoon, Popovich found Leonard's three-pointers very hot. During the regular season, Leonard's three-point shooting percentage was 37.6%, but since Leonard only took 1.7 three-pointers per game, the sample is not large, so this does not prove that Leonard's three-pointers outstanding.

In fact, Leonard's three-pointers are indeed not stable. His mission in the Spurs is more defensive than offensive.

But today, Leonard's three-point shooting during training made Popovich's eyes shine.

The guy's hands are too big to be able to touch the ball comfortably.

So Leonard's shot has a very low arc and is very flat. Ordinary people want to shoot with this kind of arc, and the three-point shooting rate is estimated to be 20%.

But Leonard today, no, to be precise, during the entire playoffs, his three-point performance was not bad.

In the playoffs, Leonard averaged nearly 3 three-pointers per game, and his shooting percentage can be as high as 40%!

To be honest, this is a surprise that Popovich did not expect.

The old man suddenly felt that maybe he could let this kid who averaged less than 8 points per game take on a more difficult offensive task, so as to contain Link.

So, Popovich picked up the tactical board and started writing and drawing.

If you want to deal with Link, you can't rely on a firm defense alone, you have to have a matching offense.

Popovich smiled smugly, he seemed to have found an important offensive point in the third position.

※※※

On May 15, 2012, the second round of the NBA playoffs officially started. The Grizzlies will go to a place they are very familiar with - the ATT Center in San Antonio.

For this game, players and fans have been looking forward to it for a long time. But the process and results of this game were unexpected.

In the fourth quarter of the game, the Grizzlies trailed the Spurs by 12 points! The San Antonio people are fully fired today, and there is no weakness in the face of the Grizzlies last season.

Now it was the Spurs' offensive round, and Leonard ran to the three-point line silently. At this time, Tim Duncan had already got the position and the basketball inside.

Lao Dengtou performed very well today. He has scored 26 points so far, and his shooting percentage is as high as 60%. It can be said that after being beaten by Randolph last season, Duncan has completed his revenge this year, and tortured Randolph, who has bad knees, to death.

Seeing this situation, Link had no choice but to double-team up. Duncan is really too strong today. If Randolph alone defends, it is estimated that "Stone Buddha" will have to score this round.

Double-teaming Duncan, that's what Lionel Hollins meant.

However, as soon as Link clipped it, Duncan gave the ball to Leonard who was ambushing outside the three-point line very tacitly.

Link chased after him as fast as he could, trying his best to interfere. Leonard's inaccuracy of three-pointers is a well-known problem. Link believes that as long as the interference is in place, Leonard's three-pointers will not be able to continue to hit!

However, Leonard's long arms allowed him to easily avoid Link's block and take the shot calmly. As soon as Link landed, he heard the sound of the net rolling behind him.

"How is that possible!?" Link cursed, then looked up at the data on the big screen.

"Three-pointer again! This is Kawhi Leonard's third three-pointer today! Three-pointer three-pointer, 100% hit rate! God, I think it may even be Bobo Vicky didn't even expect Leonard to be so accurate today!" Steve Kerr on the commentary stage helped Link explain Leonard's statistics, and Leonard is full of confidence today!

After this goal, Leonard has scored 16 points tonight! As a player who averaged only 7.9 points per game in the regular season, Leonard has overfulfilled the task!

Of course, this also means that Link's defense today is seriously negligent!

After this three-pointer, the point difference between the two teams has also become 15 points! At this time, there are only 5 minutes left before the end of the game, and the Grizzlies are in danger!

Link gritted his teeth, playing against the Nuggets in the first round was too easy. Unexpectedly, as soon as the Western Conference semifinals came up, the Spurs gave themselves a blow.

Leonard put tremendous pressure on Link on both ends of the offense and defense.

Seeing Link's unbelievable appearance, Popovich smiled smugly.

Leonard's 3-point shooting actually didn't surprise him, since he intentionally increased the number of shots Leonard took from beyond the arc.

He already knew that No. 2 would not let him down!

Link looked at the taciturn No. 2 in front of him, feeling very uncomfortable. Playing against such a "can't speak" player can really suffocate people.

San Antonio's revenge is very violent!

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