Seven Hundred and Fifty-Four: I Ate My Own Melon

After the tiebreaker between the Clippers and the Rockets, the general manager of the Grizzlies, Chris Wallace, rubbed his dry eyes, ready to end the tiring day.

Judging from the state of the Clippers in recent games, they are indeed a strong opponent. Don't think that the Clippers are going to play a tiebreaker with the Rockets, which is a poor performance. If it wasn't for Sterling's accident, the Clippers wouldn't have dragged the game to Game 7 at all.

And after the tiebreaker, the Clippers have also been forced out of a better state, which will help them play in the second round.

But even so, Wallace is full of confidence in the Grizzlies.

As long as Link is all right, there should be no injuries. Then, the Clippers are still unable to taste the sweetness in the Grizzlies.

Wallace acknowledged that the Clippers might give the Grizzlies some trouble, but not enough to take away the victory.

Just as Wallace was about to turn off the lights to sleep, his cell phone on the table rang.

As a professional manager of a professional team, Chris Wallace, like most of his peers, usually has two mobile phones on hand. One public and one private.

Wallace didn't expect that in the middle of the night, his public cell phone would actually ring.

After connecting the phone, Wallace realized that it was the call from the Union Office.

"What!? Well, well, I got it. Well, bye." In just two sentences, Wallace hung up the phone.

At this time, the screen of Chris Paul being interviewed was playing on the TV screen. Paul faces the camera, elated, after all, he has taken another big step toward his championship goal.

Seeing this, Chris Wallace couldn't help shaking his head.

What a pity that Paul, who is so ambitious, will wake up tomorrow morning and be disappointed immediately.

Wallace picked up his phone, ready to call Link to inform him of what he had just learned. But seeing the time so late, he decided to rule him again tomorrow.

It's not too late to do good things.

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The Los Angeles Clippers finally defeated the Rockets, and even Link was happy for the Clippers. After all, he has waited long enough to be impatient, and Link may be more eager than Paul to hope that the Western Conference semifinals can start quickly.

After the Clippers made the cut, their entire team was looking forward to the announcement of the Defensive Player of the Year award.

A regular season award is quite a significant boost to team morale. If the Clippers want to commit the following crimes, they first need enough self-confidence and courage.

Facing a team with 74 wins in the regular season, a best defensive player can undoubtedly play a role in emboldening the Clippers.

If the Mavericks just conceded defeat after the first game, the Clippers would be useless no matter how strong they were.

On May 5, Link is also looking forward to the announcement of the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Although Marc Gasol just won the Best Defensive Player Award last season, the possibility of winning this year is very small. Because this year, a lot of good big defenders have popped up.

Currently, the most likely player to win the Defensive Player of the Year award is the Bulls' Joakim Noah.

This center forward, who looks like a tramp,

In itself, the Bulls are the defensive core of this terrible defensive team. The data of 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals per game are also very good. At the same time, Noah is also one of three players who can average 10 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals per game this season.

In addition to Noah, the Pacers' Roy Hibbert and the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan are the other two biggest contenders for this award.

As always, the nominees for this award are big men. In the selection of the best defensive player award, people usually prefer the inside.

In the entire history of the NBA, the perimeter players who can win the best defensive player are no more than 6 players. Since entering the 21st century, Artest has been the only perimeter player who can win the best defensive player.

Unless a perimeter player defends extremely well, it's impossible to compete with a big man. Even perimeter defenders as strong as Kobe, James and Tony Allen haven't tried to be the best defensive player.

After Link got up, he kept refreshing the news page, hoping to get first-hand news. However, instead of waiting for the news, he was the first to wait for Chris Wallace's call.

"Chris, it's so early today?" After Link answered the phone, he looked at the clock on the wall. It's only nine o'clock, and Wallace called himself.

"This afternoon, we will hold a press conference for you." Wallace said straight to the point without greeting Link.

"Hold a press conference, about what?"

"About you winning the Defensive Player of the Year award, Link! Hahahaha, surprise!" Wallace burst out laughing.

"What!?" Link thought he had heard it wrong, so he asked again. Best defensive player? Win yourself! ?

Wallace was not surprised by this. He had long known that Link would be surprised, because he was stunned for a few seconds when he received the notice from the league yesterday.

"You heard that right, Link. In a few hours, the NBA will announce that you're the Defensive Player of the Year. Embrace your trophy this afternoon, man."

After Link hung up the phone, he sat quietly for a few seconds, then suddenly jumped up excitedly and ran around the house with his arms raised.

The best defensive player, this is a personal honor with high gold content! Link, like most people, tacitly tacitly accepted that only big players could win.

But in fact, Link's performance on the defensive end this year is better than them all!

At first, Link didn't expect to win this award at all, so now that the results are suddenly announced, Link is really pleasantly surprised!

Originally, I got up early this morning just to eat melons, but I didn't expect that I would eat my own melons!

Three hours later, exactly twelve o'clock noon. Chris Paul excitedly turned on the TV, waiting for the long-awaited good news in his heart.

However, when the ESPN host announced the league's selection results, Paul's jaw nearly dislocated.

This year, it wasn't Noah, it wasn't Hibbert or the DeAndre Jordan that Paul wanted.

This year's best defensive player, beyond everyone's expectations. Since the best coach a few days ago, the second-biggest "unpopular" of this year's regular season awards broke out.

As Wallace said, Paul, who was excited yesterday, immediately became utterly disappointed today.

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"Link became the seventh non-interior player in NBA history to win Defensive Player of the Year!"

"Since Artest in the 2003-04 season, Link has finally broken the monopoly of inside players on this award!"

"The Grizzlies' defensive efficiency ranks first in the league. Link can also contribute 1.2 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. The best defensive player deserves his name!"

Less than a minute after the announcement, the world exploded.

Typically, regular-season awards are decided among several expected candidates.

But this time, Link suddenly won the Best Defensive Player Award under the circumstances that he had been almost ignored before, which undoubtedly shocked everyone.

It is not easy for perimeter players to win this award. After all, inside players have a natural advantage on the defensive end. They are closer to the basket and are more likely to finish off the opponent's offense.

However, even so, Link still overwhelmed the crowd, disturbing the dreams and expectations of many people.

After the results were announced, the specific media voting data were also made public.

People thought that even if Link won the Defensive Player of the Year, he would definitely win, just like James narrowly beat Link to win the MVP last year.

However, 100 of the 125 media outlets voted for Link!

Five out of six people think Link is better than several other candidates!

"Link's defense is absolutely suffocating. If you ask top scorers like James, Durant and George, who they are most afraid of playing against, they won't say Joakim Noah, they will tell You are Link."

"The tireless physical confrontation, subtle verbal hits and just the right interference, these are the labels that Jordan could win the Best Defensive Player Award. And these labels, you put them on Link, there is no problem at all. "If Jordan can win, why can't Link?"

"Link's one-on-one defense is so powerful that he doesn't even need to rely on the power of the system to lock up the opponent's top scorer! And those big men, who can guarantee that they will not fall behind in one-on-one defense on the perimeter? But Link can guarantee that he can also lock down opponents when defending in the low post!"

This time, the media were all on Link's side. After all, Link was chosen by them.

Link was also very humble when he accepted the award in the afternoon, "Thanks to my team, I could not have won the award without the support of my teammates and coaches. I am very proud to be another non-interior defensive player."

It looks like everything is going well. However, just like Jogel won the best coach, other teams will certainly not be convinced. Moreover, they will test whether Link is worthy of his name in the subsequent games!

The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the most excited.