Nine Hundred and Five: Popular Monsters
113 to 81. The Eagles, known for their three-pointers and high shooting percentage, barely scored 80 points today.
Before the start of this game, people thought that the Hawks could become another unpretentious championship contender like the Spurs before.
But it turns out that the Hawks can only be the "Eastern Spurs" at best. Compared with the real Spurs, they are completely different.
Indeed, the Spurs are also a team team. But unlike the Hawks, the Spurs have superstars who can stand up and turn the situation around at critical moments.
Manu Ginobili is fine if he doesn't break out, but once he breaks out, he will be at a super level.
Tony Parker is not a fuel-saving lamp. In 2007, he averaged 24 points per game on a team-oriented team, which is already amazing. You know, no player on the Hawks has averaged more than 20 points per game this season.
Of course, when it comes to Spurs superstars, we have to mention "Stone Buddha" Tim Duncan.
When the Spurs faced the Kings in the 2000 playoffs, Duncan scored 32+20, overwhelming Webber and helping the Spurs overcome difficulties.
Facing the Suns in the 2008 playoffs, Duncan scored 40+15 and hit a key three-pointer at the last moment, allowing the Spurs to survive.
On June 24, 2005, Duncan ushered in the first tiebreaker of the Finals in his career. Facing the powerful Pistons, Duncan scored 25 points and 11 rebounds, winning his third championship after this game. In addition, this is Duncan's third Finals MVP title in his career.
These honors cannot be obtained by Al Horford or Paul Millsap.
On the surface, there is no difference between the Spurs and the Hawks. But in fact, the Spurs' success is inseparable from the silent waiting of the GDP trio.
To put it bluntly, if you replaced Duncan with Horford, or replaced Parker with Teague, or Ginobili with Korver, the Spurs might not be that great.
Superstars play an irreplaceable role at all times.
In the NBA, you cannot win a championship just by relying on reasonable basketball.
There is no doubt that the Grizzlies taught the Eagles a good lesson today.
Link's superb performance as a guest at the fifth position, coupled with Whiteside's 10-block triple-double... these two guys almost single-handedly reversed the Grizzlies' unfavorable situation inside.
Facts have proved that personal ability can indeed change the game.
At the post-game press conference, Link and Whiteside undoubtedly became the two most popular stars.
Both had triple-doubles today and both made the Hawks pay in the penalty area.
As soon as Link and Whiteside entered the media room door, the flashing lights didn't stop.
"Hassan, can you tell me what Link said in your ear before the game started?"
What Link whispered in Whiteside's ear before the game naturally became another "unsolved case."
Of course, it also aroused great interest from reporters.
"Hmm... Do you really want to say it?" Whiteside smiled, then glanced at Link beside him.
"You can say whatever you want, I won't let you bullfight with me tomorrow, Hassan."
Link's reply made the reporters laugh, and soon they got Whiteside's answer.
"Actually, Link lied to me. He told me to pass me an alley-oop on the first offense, but in the end everyone saw the result. It was just a pass fake."
The reporters laughed again, thinking Whiteside was joking.
No one believes this is fucking true...
"Link, can you tell me what it's like to play the fifth position? Will you often appear in the fifth position in the future?" A local Memphis reporter who looked very friendly stood up.
"No, I won't play the five position often. As soon as the game ended, Marc Gasol told the coach that he wanted to come back, otherwise he would definitely be traded before the All-Star Game. For Marc, I just I can go back to No. 2 or No. 3."
Link continued to blame his teammates, and the reporters' continuous smiles made the atmosphere of the press conference more enjoyable and less tense than usual.
Facts have proved that as long as reporters and opponents don't cause trouble, Link can still get along with everyone peacefully.
This "villain" is not an extremely evil person.
This "unqualified" league face seems to be becoming more and more popular.
That night, Stephen A. Smith wrote on his social media, "Link didn't swear, talk trash, or knock someone's head into his ass tonight. Instead, he talked to everyone. It was a bad joke. For a moment, I had an illusion. I found that Link seemed to be becoming popular."
However, the day after the game between the Hawks and the Grizzlies, Stephen A. Smith discovered that he was not delusional.
Link is definitely becoming more popular.
On the morning of January 8, 2015, the results of the final round of NBA All-Star voting were officially released.
This year, there are many new faces among the top ten in All-Star voting.
Anthony Davis, John Wall and Marc Gasol were all selected in the top ten.
Among the top three players, the biggest surprise is undoubtedly Stephen Curry.
In the past few years, the top three in voting have almost always been occupied by Link, James and Durant. But this year, Curry took Durant's place and became the player with the most votes in the Western Conference's backcourt and the third-most votes in the league.
Facts have proved that the Warriors and Curry have accumulated a lot of popularity this season.
James, as always, became the vote leader in the Eastern Conference. His 1.34 million votes were almost the same as last season. Facts have proved that James is still one of the most popular stars in the league.
That's right, just one of them.
After the final results of this year's All-Stars were announced, people were indifferent to the votes received by James, Curry, Durant and others.
Almost everyone looked directly at Link's vote data.
As it turned out, Link did not disappoint!
In 2009, Howard became the All-Star vote leader that year with 3.15 million votes, and broke the record for the highest number of votes in the history of the NBA All-Star program.
Before this, no one could break this record, not even a single vote came close to it.
But this year, this seemingly unbreakable record was finally surpassed by "Record Terminator" Link!
In the 2015 NBA All-Star voting, Link's final number of votes was 3.51 million!
That's a full 360,000 more than Howard's 3.15 million!
That's 2.17 million more votes than James' 1.34 million, more than twice as many as James!
In other words, there is a gap between Yao Ming and Yao Ming.
This time, Link not only broke the NBA All-Star voting record, but also became the fourth player in history to be the All-Star voting leader for three consecutive years.
Previously, only Jordan, Carter and "Dr. J" Julius Erving in the league could achieve the achievement of becoming the vote king for three consecutive years.
During this period, great players such as Grant Hill, O'Neal, Iverson and Kobe, who were extremely popular, had never had the experience of becoming the vote winner in three consecutive All-Star games.
In other words, Link's current popularity is not inferior to them at all!
Three consecutive votes plus the record for the most votes in history. If this is not considered popular, then there is no popular player in the world.
Stephen A. Smith really wants to see if Link still dares to make jokes after he becomes a popular monster...
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