After the rookie awards were handed out, it was time for defense-related honors.
Lin Yu is in high spirits. This year, the Wizards rank first in the league in defensive efficiency, last in opponent points per game, first in rebounds per game, and first in steals per game.
It is worth mentioning that rebounds are officially regarded as defensive data.
The first to come out was the defensive team, Ben, Bus, Malone, Jordan, Kobe, and Payton.
Everyone gasped, three of the Wizards were selected to the defensive first team? This is an exaggeration.
But if you think about it carefully, it's not that exaggerated, because in 1996, three Bulls were selected to the defensive first team, namely Jordan, Pippen and Rodman.
The number of wins this year for the Wizards is one more than the 72 wins of the Bulls in 1996. All low-level defensive statistics and advanced statistics are better than that of the Bulls that year. It is completely reasonable for three people to be selected.
Moreover, this year's defensive first team is quite special, with six people selected. It may be that Kobe and Payton received the same number of votes.
This situation is not uncommon in history. In 1981, 1988, and even later in 1999, six people were selected for the defensive lineup at the same time.
Then there is the defensive second team, Mutombo, Duncan, Webber, Eddie Jones and Hawks main point Blaylock.
After the two defensive lineups were released, the Wizards cheered. Four people were selected into the defensive lineup, which is also ranked high in NBA history.
Big Ben was stunned. He never dreamed that he would be selected for the defensive first team.
Although his defensive performance is indeed good enough and all aspects of the data are excellent, but Mutombo is currently recognized as the league's number one blue-collar center. He actually overcame the mountains of Africa and won the defensive first team?
What made him even more stunned was the following DPOY awards ceremony.
"I announce that the winner of the Defensive Player of the Year Award for the 1997-1998 regular season is Ben Wallace of the Washington Wizards!"
After Stern finished reading, the Wizards locker room became even more excited.
This is an extremely incredible honor. DPOY is the regular season MVP in the eyes of blue-collar players. This award is extremely valuable.
Among all honors in the regular season, MVP is naturally the highest, followed by DPOY, then All-NBA Team, and then Defensive Team.
"Ben, your DPOY came just in time. You can get out of your contract next season. Why can't the boss prepare a contract worth 70 to 80 million US dollars for you?"
Weber laughed, he was sincerely happy for Ben.
Daben shook his head quickly, "No, I don't want that much money. Just give me a middle-class contract and I'll be satisfied."
"As long as I can stay with the Wizards."
Lin Yu's heart skipped a beat. Last offseason, he asked Mashburn and Speedy to get big contracts. I'm afraid the same scene will happen to Big Ben this season.
"Ben, congratulations to you, you deserve the title of DPOY."
"We are the best defensive team, and naturally we are the best defensive player. What I want to ask is why Blaylock can be selected for the second defensive team, but I can't?" McGrady asked distressedly.
His defensive efficiency and defensive win shares are actually higher than Blaylock.
Kobe jokingly asked, "Tracy, is there a possibility that you are a forward?"
"Ma Long, Daba, Webber or Duncan, who do you think your defense is better than?"
McGrady suddenly smiled bitterly, "Damn it, then I will switch to guard next season. The competition for forwards is too fierce."
"Very good, then next season Michael and I will start the All-Star game, and you will come on the bench for me." Kobe teased again.
How did Kobe know that Jordan would retire after this season?
When McGrady heard this, he hesitated. It seemed that a forward was more suitable for him.
The next Sixth Man of the Year award was won by Peja.
The Best Sixth Man Award does not mean that you have to play as a substitute in all games. As long as you play more substitute games than starting games, you are eligible to win the Best Sixth Man Award.
Peja's substitute game is more important than the starting one, and his personal data has reached 16.5 points. In addition, the team's record is really luxurious, and he deserves this award.
Then there is the Most Improved Player of the Year Award. This award is in the Wizards' bag, because both O'Neill and Nash have made amazing improvements this season.
In the end, this award was won by Nash. In his first games this season, he averaged 17 points and 11.5 assists per game, and his shooting percentage was also very high. Compared with last season with the Suns, it was really different.
Wizards players don't average high points per game because the team has too many shooting points.
"Here we go, finally the best lineup. Who will be this year's MVP?"
Lin Yu signaled everyone to quiet down and listened attentively to Stern's announcement of the best lineup candidates on the TV.
The best first team, O'Brien, Duncan, Bus, Jordan, Kobe.
Kobe was so excited that he roared. The double-team achievement was achieved. He became the youngest double-team player in NBA history. If nothing else happens, this record will not be broken in the future.
So far in the regular season awards, Kobe has become the biggest winner.
Lin Yu couldn't laugh or cry. There was nothing wrong with Kobe Bryant's first spell. After all, the Wizards' record was so gorgeous, and Kobe's role on the court was indeed great enough. His personal data was not much worse than Payton, the strongest competitor.
It's just that Kobe is too young. He was directly selected for the double first team, which made Lin Yu a little unacceptable for a while.
At the same time, Bus also became a double first team, but in Lin Yu's view, Bus' double first team was probably caused by Stern, especially the best defensive team. In fact, Duncan seems to be more qualified to be selected for the defensive first team than Bus.
Wait until the next second team, Ben, Webber, Malone, Payton plus Speed.
Lin Yu laughed, but he didn't expect that the speedster also became angry and made a second formation for him.
In fact, under normal circumstances, Speedy is the best second team this season. He and Tim Hardaway are the second team guards, and the first team guards are Jordan and Payton.
Now that Kobe has emerged, Tim Hardaway has been pushed out of the second team.
The next three teams include Mutombo, Grant Hill, Pippen, Reggie Miller and Tracy McGrady.
McGrady also shouted excitedly. He never expected that he would be selected for the third team after missing so many games.
But when he thought about Pippen missing many games, he missed more games than himself, McGrady grinned. This third team also made him the youngest member of the All-NBA Team in NBA history.
There are many benefits for high school students to enter the league. At least they can break many age-related historical records.
"That's wrong, why are you considered a defender again?" Lin Yu asked curiously.
When he heard that Pippen and Hill won the third team, he thought McGrady was out of the game, but he didn't expect to be placed at the guard position.
"Whatever, isn't Miller also a swingman? He hasn't been placed at guard."
"Anyway, this third formation is mine!" McGrady couldn't help but said.
Among the three lineups of the All-NBA Team, five Wizards were selected. This is another incredible achievement in NBA history. It can even be said that it is almost impossible for any team to surpass it.
Let alone five before this, even three selected at the same time have never appeared.
In fact, the main reason why this situation occurs is that the NBA only started to adopt three teams in 1989. The previous best team only had the second team, with a total of ten players. It is difficult to select multiple players in a team. Much larger.
After 1989, we almost entered the era of Bulls dominance. In 1993, Jordan, Pippen and Rodman were all selected to the All-NBA Team. Unfortunately, Rodman was not a Bulls player at the time.
When Rodman arrived with the Bulls, he was never selected to the All-NBA team, which was embarrassing.
Therefore, there has never been a team in NBA history with three people selected to the All-NBA Team at the same time. The Wizards went off the charts this time and directly selected five.
Lin Yu said that this record will not be broken in future generations. That is because in Lin Yu’s memory, at most three people were selected from one team, namely Curry, Tang Shen and Green from the Warriors, James, Wade and the Heat from the Heat. Bosh, Nash, Stoudemire and Marion of the Suns and Paul, Griffin and DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers.
There are only these four teams. What is embarrassing is that these four teams have not been able to win the championship that year.
It's normal for the three best lineups to fail to win the championship, but if the Wizards' five best lineup players fail to win the championship, it would probably be a bit funny, and Lin Yu would become the laughing stock of the entire league.
The players are so strong, but they didn't win the championship. No matter how you look at it, it's the coach's fault.
After the best lineup was announced, everyone held their breath and waited quietly for the regular season MVP honor to be announced.
Everyone is convinced that this MVP will definitely come from their wizards, but they just don't know who will take it away.
It seems that Bus and Kobe are the most likely. After all, they are both best first-team players, which almost means that they are the strongest players in their respective positions.
To say that it almost means that is because the forward position is not divided into power forward and small forward, and the same is true for defenders, so even if it is not the strongest, it is at least second in the league.
"I declare that the Most Valuable Player of the 1997-1998 regular season is..."
"Chris Webber of the Washington Wizards!"
Stern smiled and called out Weber's name.
Lin Yu and the Wizards looked puzzled at first, and then cheered collectively. Weber is definitely the most suitable player to win this award, bar none.
As the team leader, Weber has been working silently. Whenever his teammates are in need, Weber can always be seen stepping forward.
Not only on the court, but also off the court, Webber took great care of Kobe and others.
Even in order to communicate better with Daba, Weber took the initiative to find a Chinese teacher and learn some Chinese.
With such a boss, all the generals can only admire him.
"Huh? No, why is it me?"
"I'm not even for a while, how is this possible? Could it be a mistake?"
Weber looked embarrassed. He was not selected to the All-NBA First Team, which means that he was at least not one of the two best forwards in the league, but he was named the season's Most Valuable Player?
This makes no sense.
Lin Yu laughed, hugged Weber and said, "What's so strange about this? Dave Cowens knows, right?"
Weber nodded, "Yes, the coach of the Hornets."
"He played for the Celtics in the 1970s and was not selected to the first team, but in the end he still won the regular season MVP."
"The Celtics had an excellent record at that time, but no matter how good it was, it couldn't be better than our Wizards. Cowens can win, why can't you?"
When Weber heard that there had been similar precedents before, he breathed a sigh of relief, with a look of relief on his face.
This MVP means too much to him. He was born as the No. 1 pick. After being selected by the Orlando Magic, he was immediately traded to the Warriors. The Warriors paid the No. 3 overall pick Penny Hardaway and three first-round picks.
This shows how high expectations were placed on Weber at the time.
However, the Warriors then made a cool move. They signed a fifteen-year contract with Webber. Yes, fifteen years...
Fifteen years is not considered a cool move. What is really cool is that the contract the Warriors issued to Webber stipulated that Webber had the right to quit the contract in the first year. This is simply treating Webber as his own father.
Then something embarrassing happened. Webber didn't want to play with the Warriors and was ready to opt out of his contract. This made the Warriors miserable. They could only trade him to the Bullets according to Webber's request. The exchange was completely incompatible with Webber's worth. chips.
You know, the Warriors paid pennies plus three first-round picks to get Webb!
Weber's operation is indeed not very kind. In order to play brother basketball with Uncle Huo, he made the Warriors miserable.
After arriving in Washington, the two of them failed to produce anything and became the butt of jokes, especially when they were insulted by fans every time they went to the Warriors' home game.
Now he has finally achieved something, and he will be able to straighten his back in the future.
In fact, Webber has matured a lot since his previous season reimbursement. Every time he thinks of the Warriors, he feels guilty.
Especially after Uncle Huo left the Wizards, Webber felt more and more that he could not stand up to the Warriors.
…
After the regular season awards are over, the fourth game of the Eastern Conference semifinals begins. After winning this game, Lin Yu will lead the Wizards to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time.
"The Heat will definitely not be so clean tonight. Remember, everything is about self-preservation, and try to reduce breakthrough layups and dunks as much as possible."
"We still have the Eastern Conference Finals and the Finals to play, so don't be impulsive."
"After tonight, no matter what they did, I will settle the accounts with them one by one!"
Lin Yu summoned the Wizards before the game and told him that he didn't think Riley could swallow his anger and pretend that nothing happened, so tonight would definitely not go so smoothly.
The generals nodded. After the regular season awards were over, they became more aware of the strength of their Wizards. They were just a stone's throw away from the championship, and there was really no need to be dragged down by a team like the Heat.
Big Ben, Webber, Peja, Tracy McGrady and Nash started the game.
Tim Hardaway was pulled into the hospital the night before yesterday and woke up the next morning. He suffered a moderate concussion and was unable to play tonight.
So Nash will not have any defensive pressure tonight, and he can organize and attack as much as he wants.
…
After the game started, Mark Strickland came to confront Tracy McGrady. His defensive moves were not small. If Lin Yu guessed correctly, Riley probably arranged for him to use black gloves.
McGrady played extremely cautiously. He had suffered a big loss before, and at this critical moment, he didn't want to make the same mistake again.
Kobe frowned on the sidelines.
In the Heat's offensive round, when Mark Strickland walked up to Lin Yu, Lin Yu took out the notebook pinned behind his back.
"Hey, Mark, do you remember when you scolded me before?"
"If you dare to hurt my players tonight, I will put you in my book and wait until the offseason to kill you."
"Death Note, do you understand? If I can kill Childs, I can kill you. You are not as valuable as Childs."
After Lin Yu said that, he raised the black leather notebook in his hand.
Mark Strickland's expression changed drastically. Just as Lin Yu guessed, he did get instructions from Riley before the game and promised that if he could hurt McGrady, he would be given ample playing time next season.
He is not that kind of innocent young man. He is already 28 years old now, and he is well aware of Riley's methods. Maybe he hurt McGrady here, and he will be swept out after the game.
Riley can definitely do this kind of thing, Mark Strickland is absolutely sure of it.
But even if he knew that Riley was not true to his word, he still wanted to try it, at least he could still have something to think about.
However, Lin Yu's threat immediately frightened him.
If he didn't carry out Riley's instructions, he would probably leave the Heat and find another team to join. But if he really fell into the Death Note in Lin Yu's hand, he felt that his career would definitely be over.
After being caught by Lin Yu with the Wizards, Childs never played in a game. Although he was later traded to the SuperSonics, he was still a marginal substitute in the SuperSonics because his shooting ability did not meet George Karl's expectations. I am afraid that next time It's also a disaster.
You must know that Childs is the starting point guard of the powerful Knicks in the Eastern Conference. If Lin Yu is given such a treatment, his career is almost ruined.
Who is Mark Strickland? His strength is incomparable to that of Childs. If Lin Yu catches the Wizards hiding for half a season or even a season, then he will not find this person in the league.
The key is that he doesn't need any chips at all to trade him. Lin Yu can make a random deal and let the other party deceive him from the Heat, and he will die without a burial place immediately.
Mark Strickland was completely scared. His defensive actions on the court were much smaller, and he did not even dare to engage in high-intensity physical confrontation with McGrady.
He was really afraid that McGrady would suddenly be injured, and then Lin Yu would blame him, so who would he ask to reason with.
"You're shooting, why are you running? What if you fall and get injured?"
Mark Strickland whispered to McGrady.
These words made Maddie confused, "Are you sick?"
"Yes, I am indeed sick. As long as you are not sick, you will be fine."
…
Riley soon realized that something was wrong. The black gloves he sent out were as well-behaved as little sheep on the field.
Riley also heard Lin Yu's threat just now. He called a timeout and then negotiated with the referee.
The reason for the negotiation was that Lin Yu threatened his own players on the sidelines.
This is indeed an extremely reasonable reason. The coach's foul is not just about rushing onto the court to fight and verbally interfering with the opponent's players. It is also a foul.
However, this kind of thing is common, and generally no coach of any team will negotiate with the referee because of this matter.
The referee had no choice but to lead Pat Riley to Lin Yu, thinking of giving Lin Yu a warning.
Both parties disagreed.
"What? He threatened my player and said he was going to kill him, just as a warning?!" Pat Riley roared.
"What? Why did I threaten to kill him? I can kill people just by writing a name in my notebook. Do you think I am God?" Lin Yu said aggrievedly.
"There must be something shameful written in his notebook. It must be checked." Riley shouted, grabbing the notebook from Lin Yu's hand when Lin Yu wasn't paying attention.
After opening it, he looked strange. What is this?
He thought it would record some private things, but the notebook was empty, with just rows of names written on the first page.
Mark Strickland.
Pat Riley.
Larry Brown.
P.J. Brown.
Witherspoon.
Childs.
Tim Hardaway.
Carlesimo.
…
Childs is quite special in this field, his name was crossed out by Lin Yu with a red pen.
The wizards and generals also stretched their necks to look at the black leather notebook in Riley's hand. After seeing the rows of names, they couldn't help laughing.
Aren't these people the same people who had offended Lin Yu before?
"Boss, so this is the Death Note? It really belongs to you."
"Childs was crossed out, which means he is finished. I don't know when other people will be crossed out."
"Boss, this is your usual entertainment activity? I wonder why you never go to nightclubs."
The wizards and generals all joked about Lin Yu.
Lin Yu looked embarrassed, snatched the notebook back into his hand, and scolded Pat Riley angrily: "Have you finished reading? Don't worry, you will be next. When I pack up the Wizards and sell them, go Buy the Heat!"
His words were of course made out of anger. This notebook was where Lin Yu usually wrote and played when he was bored. At this point in time, the Death Note had not yet been created.
After Pat Riley did this, the whole world knew that Lin Yu loved to hold grudges and even had a notebook to record his enemies.
It was embarrassing, like wearing women's underwear and then being naked.
Although Lin Yu said angry words, Pat Riley was so shocked that he was speechless. He really believed that Lin Yu, a lunatic, could do such a thing.
Yesterday, Pauline announced at a press conference that he would soon sell the remaining 50% of his shares to Lin Yu.
This means that as long as Lin Yu signs the contract with Paulin, he will be the sole owner of the Wizards. When the Wizards' market value skyrockets in a few years, he will sell the Wizards and really have the financial resources to acquire the Heat.
The referee quickly separated the two men and signaled the game to continue.
There was no suspense in the following game. Mark Strickland knew that he was already on Lin Yu's Death Note. He was so scared that he was shaking like chaff. He even worried that this game might be the last game of his career.
After all, if the Heat lose this game tonight, their schedule will be completely over.
