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

There are even conspiracy theories that the Lakers deliberately played 7 games with the Nuggets just to wait until Artest, who was suspended, to lift the ban and play in the second round.

Link doesn't know if the reason why the Lakers and Nuggets played 7 games is so evil. Anyway, he only knows that the Nuggets' strength shouldn't have competed with the Lakers in tiebreak, which is a fact.

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

Now they only need to win another game, and they can make the Nuggets say goodbye to this season.

On May 7, the day when the Grizzlies and the Nuggets started their fourth battle. Link woke up early and looked at the sky outside the window.

Although it was only eight o'clock in the morning, it was already bright. The fanatical summer had arrived, and Link was ready to move and couldn't wait to end tonight's game quickly and then go to the next round to fight the Spurs.

The Spurs swept the Mavericks, which undoubtedly made the Grizzlies lose the opportunity to take revenge with their own hands. But in the same way, the Grizzlies have to resist others' revenge.

The San Antonio Spurs are definitely not that easy to deal with this season. First of all, Randolph no longer has an advantage over Duncan, and the Spurs' No. 5 position is no longer the old and short.

Of course, most importantly, their third position is no longer so weak.

Link still remembers that last season he was almost willing to give in to Richard Jefferson, playing whatever he wanted. But at this time, the Spurs' third position had become Leonard and "Martial Saint" Stephen Jackson.

These two guys are both famous defensive players, especially Leonard. Maybe that guy is not that famous now. But Link knows very well what level of athlete he is!

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

If the Grizzlies can defeat the Spurs this time, they will definitely feel very accomplished. It is no exaggeration to say that the Spurs are one of the best teams in the West this year. To prove themselves, it is far from enough to defeat opponents of the Nuggets level.

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

Just as Link was fantasizing in his mind whether he was fighting naked with Leonard and was fighting fiercely, his phone rang.

Link took out his cell phone and saw that it was not that Teacher Tony asked him to have breakfast, but that the phone was called by head coach Hollins.

"What the hell? Do you want me to go to the room to arrange secret tactics? It's 3-0 against the Nuggets, so it's necessary to be so troublesome?" With curiosity, Link answered the phone.

"Link, if you get up, come to my room soon!" Sure enough, Hollins asked Link to go to his room as soon as he spoke.

"Oh, come soon." Link curled his lips. Why was Hollins' tone so serious?

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"Go to have breakfast quickly and change into a decent suit. In the afternoon, before the competition begins, we have to hold a press conference for you!" Hollins was in a hurry, looking a little helpless.

"Press conference?" Link scratched his head. Before the competition began, he held a press conference specifically for himself? What was the situation? He was traded?

What a joke, it's during the playoffs now, so you can't trade players.

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

Hollins stopped the movement in his hand, looked at Link, and then slapped his forehead, "Damn, I haven't told you yet. Chris Wallace just called me and told me that the league voting results have come out. You beat Magic forward Ryan Anderson and won the fastest-progress player award this year! Get ready, the afternoon press conference will be your award ceremony."

After all, Hollins has never experienced such a moment. In the past few years, no player of the Grizzlies has ever won the regular season award. Therefore, he is a little busy in the face of such things.

Link was stunned for a moment, then immediately became excited. Regular season awards? This year, it was indeed not in vain.

※※※

The Fastest Progressive Player Award is designed to recognize players who have made the most outstanding progress compared to last season. A total of 121 North American basketball reporters and commentators participated in the vote.

Each voter can write the names of three players in their votes in order. The first player selected will get 5 points, the second player selected will get 3 points, and the third player will get 1 point. The player with the highest total score will win this award.

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

So, Link won this fastest progress award with an almost overwhelming advantage.

Now that the NBA has not been taken over by Xiao Hua, there are naturally no awards after the season. All regular season awards were awarded when a press conference was organized on the same day.

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

Although Link won the rookie MVP last year and won the three-point competition championship this year, both honors are All-Star Awards and unconventional awards.

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

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

Looking at the base of the trophy with his name engraved on it, Link felt extremely honorable. The Rookie MVP trophy and the Three-point Championship trophy are not engraved with names, so those trophys in hand always feel less glory.

At this time, Link received a real personal honor! He got a trophy with his own name engraved on it!

Indeed, the Best Progress Award is not the most valuable award, which is one level 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, O'Neal Jr., Arenas and Randolph respectively. After that, these four people became famous figures. Although they were all devastated for various reasons, it must be admitted that at their peak, they were also first-tier stars.

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

Last year, he missed the best rookie, but this year he won the fastest progress award, which is also a kind of compensation for himself by Link.

Link almost got 20+5+5 in his rookie season. As a result, just one year later, he became one of the only two players in the league who can get 20+5+5 data this season.

Link has made significant improvements in almost every data, and his efficiency has also improved a lot. Therefore, Ryan Anderson naturally cannot compare to Link.

"I'm very happy to have such honors. I have to thank my teammates and coaches. They allow us to grow rapidly. I hope I can go further in the future. Of course, I also hope the Grizzlies can go further. Last year, I was an unknown undraft. As a result, now, I have won a hard-won regular season award. So, who knows what will happen in the future? All I need to do is continue to work hard."

There was no manuscript in the whole speech of Link. When Hollins asked him to write the speech, Link had no idea. So, at the press conference, he improvised a sentence from his heart.

Link did not break his promise. On the night after winning the prize, the Grizzlies swept the Denver Nuggets 102-88 away, with a total score of 4-0.
Chapter completed!