NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

On February 2, all the Spurs flew to Washington, where they will challenge the Wizards at the MCI Arena (Washington City Center Arena).

This game is Tony Parker's first game after his injury. In order to get him back to form in time, Popovich arranged for him to play as a substitute in this game.

Joey is still the team's starting PG, facing his old senior, John Wall.

The game was very monotonous and boring. The home team was"beaten" unilaterally, and the situation on the court was always firmly controlled by the Spurs.

The"Wizards Double Guns" composed of Wall and Beal played mediocrely, with nothing outstanding. The former made 10 of 22 shots, 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 22 points and 9 assists with a true shooting rate of 46.8%; this year's No. 4 pick Bradley Beal was"specially taken care of" by Joey, making 2 of 9 shots, 3 of 6 free throws, and ended with 8 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 turnovers.

On the Spurs side, the best performance was not Joey, nor Manu, nor even Tim Duncan who was in hot form recently... but the French sports car Tony Parker, who came off the bench for 34 minutes and scored a season-high 37 points.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Parker was obviously"suppressed" and crazy during the more than one month of hospitalization for observation.

He took 20 shots in the game and scored 37 points with an extremely high hit rate of 78%. Both on the offensive and defensive ends, he put great pressure on the Wizards'"rising star" Wall.

(Parker: I can't play basketball, and I can't control the"ball". Isn't it crazy?)

In the interview with the visiting team after the game, Popovich half-jokingly joked:

"Our old guy is worried about losing his starting position and is eager to come out again to tell the fans that San Antonio is not only an excellent backcourt player like Joey.……"

"We won't forget our old love just because we have a new one, hahaha!"

The old man's humorous remarks made most of the media reporters present laugh.

Some reporters also took the opportunity to ask whether the first appearance of three Spurs players (Duncan, Joey, Parker) in the same year's All-Star Game foreshadowed the arrival of the"new and old handover" of the Spurs.

The old man thought about it and was about to organize his words to answer, but Parker grabbed the microphone:

"We (GDP trio) are the present, Joey and Kawhi are the future!"

When these words came out, the reporters in the audience jumped for joy, and the spotlights kept flashing, recording Tony Parker's serious and solemn face.

The old man was a little surprised.

He could imagine how"enthusiastic" the outside media would discuss this matter after today.

Joey, who had already asked Popovich for leave and went to see the world of the"Fruit Plate Club" in the capital of the Millionaires with his senior schoolmate Wall, naturally didn't know about this, but soon, he realized something from the team's tactical ratio and the proportion of ball possession.

………

On February 6, the Spurs challenged the Minnesota Timberwolves away. This was their second match of the season against the Huskies.

The Wolves management, which had already made it clear that this year would be another"study with the prince", directly began to play badly. The wily Sima Laozei of the Spurs naturally would not miss such an opportunity for a rest.

Duncan, Dio, and Manu took turns to rest, and Parker led the team to a 98:83 away victory over the Timberwolves.

Without Love, the Wolves really became the Huskies. The French sports car had his way in the paint, and earned 13 free throws in the Wolves paint area where"Montenegrin Big Boss" Nikola Pekovic and Derrick Williams were in charge, and made all of them. Scored

31 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds, the first back-to-back"30" of the season.+"

In addition to him, Danny Green and Leonard also performed well. The former made 7 of 9 three-pointers, tying his career single-game three-pointer record, and scored 23 points; the latter contributed 12 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and the"death front lock line" formed with Joey limited the overall hit rate of the Timberwolves' outside players to less than 35%.

Joey came off the bench for 24 minutes in this game, contributing 9 points, 5 assists and 1 steal. Because of Parker's return, his personal playing time was limited by Popovich, and the team's positioning also returned to the front line defense gate from the tactical starting point.

Fortunately, Joey was well prepared and switched between the two"positions" freely and easily. On

February 8, the away game challenged the Detroit Pistons.

The eight-man rotation of the Pistons fully demonstrated the tough court temperament and tough style of the"Motor City".

Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight, one inside and one outside, brought great trouble to the Spurs.

The former grabbed 16 rebounds over Duncan and turned the tide in the paint, scoring 26 points, 16 rebounds and 5 assists, almost turning the old stone Buddha into a"stone idiot".

(This really happened. In that regular season, I remember that Monroe was like a spring, completing five or six second attacks in the Spurs' paint, and also caused Dio and Split to commit five fouls in total, which was awesome)

Brandon Knight also achieved a tie with Parker in the"battle of wits", both of them scored 20+.

Fortunately, the Spurs bench, which ranks first in the league in average points per game this season, led by Joey and Manu, played a 21:7 scoring wave in the third quarter and overtook the score. In the last fourth quarter, Leonard and Danny Green made 4 of 7 three-pointers, continuing the team's firepower in the third quarter. While Duncan and other team players were troubled by conservative fouls in the paint, the score difference advantage was maintained until the end of the game.

The Spurs successfully extended their winning streak this season to eight games!

When Spurs reporter Cruz participated in a morning sports news program on ESPN, he mentioned this.

People then realized that the Spurs became the first team after the Heat to win more than eight games in a row in the 12-13 regular season, which was already halfway through.

(There is another team that has won seven games in a row, the Oklahoma City Thunder)

The Spurs are currently ranked second in the league with 43 wins and 11 losses, first in the Western Conference, second only to the Miami Heat with 44 wins and 9 losses.

(The Big Three of this period have already started the famous"27-game winning streak")

Looking back at the history of the Spurs, the last season that reached more than 40 wins before the All-Star Game was the 2002-03 season.

That year, Duncan really"killed Buddhas and gods", and defeated the"OK combination" to lead the team to win the first place in the regular season (60 wins and 22 losses).

That season, the Spurs eliminated the Suns, Lakers, and Mavericks in the playoffs and entered the finals, and defeated the Nets led by Kyrie Irving with a total score of 4-2 to win the O'Brien Cup.

So, when Cruz emphasized this point in the game, people remembered a fact that they had"automatically" ignored - the long-silent San Antonio Spurs, a team that has always been known for its obscurity and making a fortune, quietly completed another"team inheritance" handover.

Now, people are beginning to care about another thing:

Can the Asian guard named Joey and the silent boy in the team who was traded for Popovich's confidant Hill take over the"flag" of the San Antonio Spurs from the GDP trio?

Let's wait and see!