Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 243 MVP
The Warriors were pushed to the brink. If they lost another home game, they would basically say goodbye to this season as they were trailing 1-3.

It was at this point that Jackson finally realized the importance of Curry.

People are like this. Unless it reaches that point, they won't reflect and make changes.

Fortunately, Jackson's various lineup experiments against the Grizzlies last season have shown that he is not as stubborn as Hollins.

Jackson designed a lot of tactics for Curry, which really tested Curry's personal abilities.

Whether a player can transform from a star player to a superstar depends on whether he can handle this kind of crucial battle.

Those who can’t catch it are called All-Stars, and those who catch it are like a butterfly emerging from the cocoon, and a phoenix reborn from the ashes.

It turns out that although Curry is physically thin, he has a strong mental quality.

G4战，他三分球14投7中，全场20投10中，砍下了系列赛最高的33分外加7篮板7助攻，甚至还有2抢断1盖帽。

Under his leadership, the Warriors once again made crazy three-pointers throughout the game, making 32 of 15 shots, which is close to a % hit rate.

Of course, there are more details in this game, such as Jackson replaced O'Neal with Green as the starting player, sacrificing low-post defense in the interior in exchange for better pick-and-roll three-point offensive opportunities.

It turns out he was right.

The only way for the Warriors to beat the Grizzlies is to shoot three-pointers from the outside and take advantage of points that the Grizzlies' twin towers can't defend.

However, this is also related to the Grizzlies' own decline in form. Last season, the Warriors' Bogut and Green combination were beaten by the Black and White Duo, but this season the Grizzlies are more dependent on Hansen, which makes it impossible for Joerger to arrange for Hansen to keep a close eye on Curry the whole time.

The Grizzlies and Warriors played a decisive game, but this did not surprise the outside world.

Because the four first-round matchups in the Western Conference, after all the previous 1-1 scores, are now all headed to the decisive stage!

"This is the most brutal first-round conference game in NBA history." Such a process made the battle-hardened O'Neal couldn't help but sigh.

Goodbye to the decisive battle, Hansen Grizzlies' third decisive battle in four years.

Joerger also took the initiative to make changes in this game, replacing Randolph with Battier as the starting power forward.

In addition to this, there is another change, which is that Hansen was defending Curry from the start.

This was not an arrangement that Jorgel would make. Hansen himself was preparing to challenge his limits at Tianwang Mountain.

Han Sen's life dictionary is [courage]. The more crucial the game is, the more obvious this characteristic will be.

As it turned out, the Grizzlies' motto of "the brave prevails when two meet in a narrow road" was verified once again.

The Grizzlies defeated the Warriors 100-93 to win the decisive game.

Curry was defended by Hansen and only took 14 shots, of which he made only 3. He only scored 11 points from free throws in the entire game.

Han Sen also played a stunning game.

他全场比赛打了45分钟，出手24次命中了11次，拿到了31分11板6助攻4抢断4盖帽。

"I know a lot of people will object to this, but I still have to say that as far as tonight's game is concerned, Han and Michael are athletes of the same level," Jackson exclaimed in front of reporters after the game.

He has played against both Jordan and Kobe, but the shock Hansen gave him tonight was greater than that of Kobe who played in the finals with a grade 3 sprain.

Because Hansen has to run two or three times more than others on the court just to defend Curry's tactical running, not to mention that he has to take offense into consideration as well.

You should know that among the 11 rebounds Hansen grabbed, 6 were offensive rebounds.

This shows that Han Sen is not only omnipresent on the defensive end tonight, but also on both offense and defense!
Of course, what Jackson didn't know was that Han Sen went to get an IV drip after the game.

The price of pushing yourself to your limits is a little dehydration.

Just after the Grizzlies won the decisive game, the league announced the biggest award of the season, the regular season MVP.

There was a lot of suspense before the award was announced.

In terms of record, the Spurs' 62 wins are the best in the league, but they are playing standard team basketball this season, with 6 players averaging double-digit points, and Parker, who has the most points, averaging only 16 points per game.

In this case, it is impossible to give them the MVP.

This is also the reason why the Grizzlies did not force their way to first place in the Western Conference at the end of the season.

Because whether or not he surpasses the Spurs will not affect Hansen's MVP competition, the key is to surpass the Heat.

The final result was that the Grizzlies had one more win than the Heat.

Theoretically speaking, with better results and better statistics, it would be enough for Han Sen to win the MVP.

However, you have to consider that the league is still a Nike league, and there are cases in "history" when the Heat ranked fourth in the league and James won the MVP.

There is no hope for James this season, but there is still Durant.

Especially now that Nike seems to be making Durant its top star, or there is a trend that if Durant can win the championship this season he will become Nike's top star.

Therefore, everything remains uncertain until the final result comes out.

The final result was that Hansen received 38% of the votes, defeating Durant's 27%, and was successfully elected the regular season MVP for the first time in his career!

It turns out that the selection of season awards is a comprehensive matter.

Just like the draft lottery, how the ping-pong ball spins is one thing, but how the league considers it is also very important.

If Stern were still the current league commissioner, Durant might really have a chance to win the honor again.

But now Silva is in office.

Silva’s biggest characteristic is that he puts profit first and cares about money.

In order to generate the greatest benefits, competition is necessary.

This is also the fundamental reason why he expressed his attitude of "very happy to see" when the media asked him about whether Hansen had surpassed Jordan at the beginning of his tenure at the All-Star Weekend.

UA rose along with Hansen, and as its president, he was eager to compete with Nike.

Apart from anything else, the league's jersey sponsorship is now provided by Adidas, and the contract ends in 2017.

When the three giants Adidas, Nike and UA compete together, the ultimate beneficiary will be the alliance.

Only when the bosses receive more dividends can he stay firmly in this position.

You have to know that unlike Stern who was expanding the territory, the reason he was able to take office was that he negotiated a new broadcasting contract for the league.

So although he will not help Han Sen, he will not help Nike to discredit Han Sen's MVP title.

After Han Sen successfully won the MVP, UA also carried out extensive publicity.

Because Hansen won the MVP, in layman's terms, he has completed the MVP Grand Slam.

They even made another assumption in advance, that is, Hansen really has a chance to surpass Jordan this season.

If Hansen eventually wins the DPOY and leads his team to three consecutive championships, he will be the first player in NBA history to win the scoring title + DPOY + MVP + FMVP.

Jordan was one DPOY away from this achievement, while Olajuwon was one scoring title away.

Although this kind of surpassing is a bit forced, after all, the Bulls in the first few years of Jordan's career were a super bad team and were not comparable to the Grizzlies where Hansen was.

But one thing is certain: if Han Sen really did it, UA would definitely be pushed to the altar by Han Sen just like Nike did back then.

Even Nike would be suppressed at that time.

Hansen didn't care about UA's propaganda. Compared with those fantasies, what he was more realistic about now was to beat the Warriors in Game 6.

If the Warriors are really forced into a seventh game, they will no longer be playing the role of a warm-up boxer.

Series G6, Oracle Arena.

The Warriors had nowhere to retreat. The Grizzlies also made another lineup adjustment, with Randolph returning to the starting lineup.

Then, when he returned to the starting lineup, he beat Green to a pulp.

Joerger's psychological warfare is very interesting. If you have no desire to play, then he will put you on the bench to motivate you.

Curry was also strangled by Hansen.

However, the Warriors were not defeated by the Grizzlies early on, because unexpectedly, Thompson performed unexpectedly well in Game 6.

He made five three-pointers in the first half and scored 5 points.

Thanks to his performance, the Warriors and the Grizzlies were deadlocked in the half.

If they can continue to maintain the stalemate and drag the game into the decisive moment, the Warriors will have a good chance.

Because Han Sen had consumed too much energy on Mount Tianwang, it was impossible for him to recover all his energy after just two days of rest.

The third quarter became the key to deciding the outcome of the game.

Joerger did not make any lineup adjustments in this quarter, but he made major changes in tactics.

Hansen did not continue to defend Curry, but instead focused all his energy on the offensive end.

The rest of the team focused more on defense.

This style of play is very Grizzlies style. Last season, the Grizzlies relied on this style of play to defeat the Heat in Game 6 to defend their title. This season, it has been used more frequently because the team's overall condition is not as good as before.

And now, it has once again become the Grizzlies' winning factor in changing the situation.

Hansen scored 24 points in this quarter, turning the Oracle Arena from a place of deafening defensive cheers at the beginning to complete silence at the end.

The Warriors failed to hold on defense and failed to get going on offense.

Many of the Warriors' previous three-pointers were made by relying on defensive counterattacks to catch the Grizzlies when they were not yet firmly established.

When the Grizzlies used a lineup of one big and four small players, there weren't that many opportunities to just shoot three-pointers from the field.

Not to mention that Curry couldn't get his touch back for a while after being defended by Hansen for half the court.

The Grizzlies eventually scored 36 to 21 in this quarter and extended their lead to 15 points at the end of the third quarter.

In the opening phase of the fourth quarter, the Grizzlies maintained their lead under the leadership of Gay.

This made the Warriors anxious.

After the main players came back, they started taking three-point shots from the outside, which was a lot of gambling, but the more they shot, the less likely they were to make the shots.

With five minutes left in the game, the Warriors were already trailing the Grizzlies by 20 points.

Although Jackson was unwilling, he had to accept the outcome in the end.

He called a timeout to replace the main players, and hugged his players one by one when leaving the court.

The Warriors fans at the scene also gave their players applause and cheers, just as the Memphis fans did for the Grizzlies back then.

Although they failed to beat the Grizzlies in the end, they did a good enough job to force the Grizzlies to this point.

And more importantly, like the Grizzlies back then, they have also figured out a style of play that suits them.

Of course, players’ disappointment is inevitable.

The backcourt combination of Curry and Thompson did not say a word after leaving the court, and their eyes were full of resentment as they looked at the score.

For them, it is hard to accept that they were eliminated in the division semifinals last year, strengthened the team significantly this season, but still lost in the first round.

The final score on the field was 116 to 101, and the Grizzlies eliminated the Warriors with a score of 4 to 2.

After the game, Hansen and Curry said the same words when they said goodbye.

"Come on, the future is yours."

This time Curry did not refute, but hugged Hansen tightly.

The Warriors' postgame press conference was a bit heavy.

However, in this heavy atmosphere, Curry reproduced Hansen's classic performance.

"No one will want to face us next season."

No one stipulates that a famous quote can only be said by one person.

Look at what Hansen said to Curry, it’s what Duncan said after he swept James in 2007.

However, Han Sen did not add the sentence "but it's mine now".

As the No. 2 figure at UA, there's nothing wrong with Curry paying tribute to the No. 1 figure, right?

Of course, Curry was ridiculed by many people for saying this, just like Hansen did back then.

Who is Han Sen? Who are you Curry?

The Grizzlies were eliminated in the Western Conference Finals, but your Warriors were eliminated in the first round!

Don't forget that you, Curry, and Hansen are from the same class. Hansen led the team to the Western Conference Finals in his sophomore year, and you, Curry, are far behind.

However, after saying this, Curry should have been prepared to face the pressure from public opinion.

The Grizzlies' postgame press conference was after the Warriors'.

When Hansen was sitting there, a reporter brought up Curry's previous tribute to him and asked him to comment.

Han Sen's expression was somewhat interesting, because he remembered that in the "history" he knew, it was Curry who said this.

Just like Jay Chou always feels like he lives in Charlotte's shadow in the "Charlotte's Troubles" universe, Curry should have the same feeling.

However, Curry chose to pay tribute to him, which shows that he is ready to improve himself this summer.

Maybe Curry next season will be even crazier than he knows.

"What doesn't break you will make you stronger."

Han Sen’s attitude has always been: failure can divide people into many types, and it is character that determines the type.

Curry's character and his behavior of playing with a closed leg last season destined him to achieve something in this era.

The Grizzlies were the first team to advance in the Western Conference, but surprisingly, they were also the only team to advance early.

Because the remaining three series all went into tie-breaks!

Even Hansen didn't expect this, especially the Spurs. The Mavericks were eliminated in the first round that year, but this time they are so close to the first round.

But in the end, the Spurs still defeated the Mavericks in the seventh game with a big win, and they scored 120 points.

This is the biggest difference for the Spurs this season. They relied on defense before, but this season they relied on the [Hammer Tactics] and broke through their offensive ceiling.

In the other two sets of game 7s, the Thunder successfully eliminated the Trail Blazers. Although Aldridge played like crazy, Westbrook and Anthony's offensive firepower was even more ferocious.

As for the Rockets, after a decisive seventh game, they successfully eliminated the Lakers 4-3 and met the Grizzlies in the Western Conference semifinals.

It is worth mentioning that Paul's experience of joining the Rockets and eventually eliminating the Lakers is quite telling.

And he will once again charge toward the Western Conference Finals.

(End of this chapter)