Link has long known that the first round of the series will end like this, although in the original history, the Nuggets and the Lakers played a tie-break, but that tie-break did have too many accidental factors.

There are even conspiracy theories that the Lakers deliberately played 7 games with the Nuggets in order to wait for the banned Artest to be released so that they could play the second round.

Link doesn't know if the reason why the Lakers and the Nuggets played 7 games is so evil, anyway, he only knows that the strength of the Nuggets should not be fighting with the Lakers to tie seven, which is a fact.

And now, Link and his teammates are proving it.

Now they only need one more game to say goodbye to the Nuggets this season.

May 7, the day of the fourth game between the Grizzlies and the Nuggets. Link woke up early and looked out the window at the sky.

Although it was only eight o'clock in the morning, it was already completely bright. Summer frenzy has arrived, and Link can't wait to wrap up tonight's game before heading to the next round against the Spurs.

The Spurs swept the Mavericks, which undoubtedly deprived the Grizzlies of a chance to get revenge with their own hands. But equally, the grizzlies have to fend off the revenge of others.

The San Antonio Spurs certainly haven't been so easy to play against this season, as Randolph no longer has an advantage over Duncan, and the Spurs' No. 5 spot is no longer the same as old and short.

Of course, the most important thing is that their number three is not so weak anymore.

Link remembers that last season he was almost as much a give-and-take as he wanted with Richard Jefferson, playing as he wanted. But by this time, the Spurs' No. 3 spot had become Leonard and "Martial Saint" Stephen Jackson.

Both guys are notoriously defensive, especially Leonard, and maybe that guy isn't that famous right now. But Link knows very well what level of athlete he is!

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

If the Grizzlies can defeat the Spurs this time, it will definitely be very fulfilling. It's no exaggeration to say that the Spurs are one of the best teams in the West this year. If you want to prove yourself, it's not enough to beat an opponent of the Nuggets' level.

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

Just as Link was imagining in his mind that he and Leonard were fighting naked and not hand-to-hand, but fierce, his phone rang.

Link took out his phone and saw that it was not Mr. Tony who called him for breakfast, but the call from head coach Hollins.

"What the hell? Are you going to ask me to go to my room to arrange a secret tactic? It's all 3-0 against the Nuggets, and you still need to be in such trouble? Curious, Link answered the phone.

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

"Oh, it's coming soon," Link pouted, why was Hollins so serious?

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"Hurry up and have breakfast and get a decent suit. In the afternoon, before the game starts, we have to give you a press conference! Hollins hurried, looking a little at a loss.

"Press conference?" Link scratched his head, before the game started, a press conference was held specifically for himself? Under what circumstances did you get traded?

What are you kidding, it's the playoffs, and you can't trade players.

"What's going on? Leon. Link asked weakly, and after coming in for a long time, Link found that he still didn't understand anything.

Hollins stopped what he was doing, looked at Link, and then slapped his head sharply, "Damn, I didn't tell you yet." Just now Chris Wallace called me and told me that the league voting results have come in, and you beat Magic forward Ryan Anderson to win this year's Most Improved Player Award! Hurry up and get ready, the press conference in the afternoon, but it's your award ceremony. ”

After all, Hollins hasn't experienced such a moment, and in all his years with the Grizzlies, no player has won a regular-season award. So, it's a bit of a rush to face this kind of thing.

Link was stunned for a moment, then immediately became agitated again. Regular season prizes? This year, it was not in vain.

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The Most Improved Player Award recognizes the players who have made the most improvement from last season, and a total of 121 basketball journalists and commentators from North America voted for it.

Each voter can write the names of the three players in the order in which they are on their ballot, with the first choice receiving 5 points, the second choice receiving 3 points, and the third player receiving 1 point, with the player with the highest total score receiving the award.

And this year, out of 121 voters, 5 voted for Link with their first choice! This number is already significantly higher than that of Ryan Anderson in second place!

Therefore, Link almost overwhelmingly won this Most Improved Award.

Now that the NBA has not been taken over by Xiao Hua, there will naturally be no award ceremony after the season. All regular season awards are presented at a press conference on the day the results are announced.

So Link accepted the first regular-season award of his career in the media reception room at PepsiCenter.

Although Link won the rookie game VP last year, he also won a three-point contest this year. But both of these honors are All-Star awards, not regular season awards.

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

At the press conference, after the 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 honored. The rookie game VP trophy and the three-point contest championship trophy are not engraved, so when you hold those trophies in your hand, you always feel a little less honored.

At this time, Link got a real personal honor! I got a trophy engraved with my name engraved on it, which belongs only to me!

Indeed, the Best Progress Award is not the most expensive award, and it is a notch lower than the VP and the Best Defensive Player award announced the day before yesterday.

But those who can win this award are not idle people. From '01 to '04, the award was won by Maddie, O'Neill Jr., Arenas and Randolph. As a result, these four people have become influential figures. Although they all sank later for various reasons, it must be admitted that at their peak, they were also A-list stars.

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

Missing out on the best rookie last year, but this year he got the fastest improvement award, which is also a kind of compensation for Link's self.

Link was on the verge of 20+5+5 in his rookie season, and just a year later, he became one of only two players in the league to have 20+5+5 stats this season.

Link has improved significantly in almost every piece of data, and his efficiency has improved a lot. Therefore, Ryan Anderson is naturally no match for Link.

"I'm very happy to get this honour and I have to thank my team-mates and my coach. They have allowed us to grow rapidly, and I hope to take it even further in the future. Of course, hopefully the Grizzlies can go one step further. Last year, I was an undrafted undrafter. Now, I've got a hard-earned regular season award. So, who knows what the future holds? All I need to do is keep trying. ”

Link's speech was unscripted, and when Hollins asked him to write his speech, Link had no clue at all. So, at the press conference, he improvised a heartfelt word.

Link didn't break his promise, and the night after winning the award, the Grizzlies swept the Denver Nuggets 102-0 on the road, 4-0 overall.

Link used 25 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks to fill the stat sheet and give the Grizzlies a step further.