NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

Entering December, the Spurs faced the Grizzlies, Bucks, and Rockets at home, winning three games in a row.

The record also quietly came to the second place in the Western Conference, successfully surpassing the Los Angeles Clippers, who had two losses and one win this month, and led by half a win.

And just the day after the Spurs played the Heat last month, that is, on November 30, the league's free market once again reported a big deal: the Houston Rockets sent Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and future draft picks to the Thunder for James Harden, Cole Aldridge, DeQuan Cook and Lazar Hayward.

In other words, the deal that Joey remembered would change the entire league's landscape in the future was a little late, but it finally happened.

Harden, who had been alienated from the detonator because of the contract period, the team's future plans, and the high luxury tax, finally came to the team where he started his career peak - the Houston Rockets.

The bearded player excitedly announced the good news on the social media platform that day, and tagged a number of Rockets legends such as Olajuwon and Yao Ming, showing his determination to emulate his predecessors and bring the Houston Rockets back to the top of the league.

Anyway, this deal caused quite a stir at the beginning of the month.

Rockets general manager Mo Gou and owner Alexander (who sold the team to catering tycoon Fertitta in 2017) also held a media meeting for Harden at the Toyota Center on the day of the transaction, and publicly promised to give James Harden the core and absolute dominance of the team.

You know, this is a treatment that neither McGrady nor Yao Ming have ever received.

At the same time, the Rockets management also signed a five-year maximum salary contract with James Harden worth US$78.5 million (effective in the summer of 2013 and expiring in the summer of 2018).

After that, on December 7, the Houston Rockets visited the Holy City and played against the Spurs away.

This is also the first regular season game after the bearded player joined the Rockets.

Harden played 35 minutes in the game, took 28 shots, hit 13 goals, and scored 37 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 block with a shooting percentage of 46.4%. He became the first player in NBA history to score at least 30 points and 12 assists in his first game with a new team."GDP"The Rockets are now in the playoffs, and they met their old team, the Thunder, in the first round.

Joey, who contributed 13 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds in this game, also received a notice from the league the next day.

"Congratulations, Mr. Joy!"

"After being screened by the league's fair and equitable voting mechanism, you have been successfully elected as the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for the first month of the NBA 12-13 season. You (the winner) will receive the award before your team's next home game!"

Joey was a little surprised, and immediately shared the news with his teammates who were training on the court.

The old man immediately announced that this afternoon's training game was cancelled, and the team's award-winning rookie Joey would treat them to a meal at one of the most famous Chinese restaurants in San Antonio. However, he had to control the oil and sugar intake so that they could carry out large-scale physical training normally the next day! The

Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month was awarded to Bobcats rookie forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Joey's college teammate. In the games in October and November, Kidd-Gilchrist averaged 10.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.

On December 8, the day after the league officially announced the first month's best rookies in the East and West, the two best rookies of the month in the East and West, who were also rookies who were college teammates, met.

The Bobcats visited the Holy City to challenge the Spurs, and the outside media and fans were curious,"No. 2 pick VS No. 3 pick"，"College teammates rivalry"……Who will win in the end?

The answer will be revealed soon.

Joey replaced Green as the starting small forward in this game. He played against McGee throughout the game. He played for 29 minutes and contributed 18 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals efficiently, leading the team to a 30-point victory over the visiting Bobcats with a score of 102:132.

McGee, however, was in a slump in the matchup with Joey, his junior and teammate. He made 2 of 11 shots and could only get 7 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. At the same time, he had four turnovers. He was restricted by the death striker lock line combination of Joey and Leonard.

After the game, the media mocked McGee for acting like a"real rookie" in the head-on confrontation with Joey, while Joey acted like an old bird who had been in the league for many years and had a mature and smart playing style.

And this farce-like"Best Rookie Competition" also came to an end.

In the 21 regular season games of the new season, Joey was suspended for five games. He started two of the remaining 16 games and played as a substitute. He averaged 14.8 points, 7.8 assists, 5.3 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. His scoring ranked second among all rookies, and he ranked first in assists and steals, and third in blocks.

He is indeed the best rookie of this year. If it weren't for the conflict with Howard at the Staples Center, his performance and data would have been better.

Many expert commentators in the league have begun to predict that the winner of this year's Rookie of the Year should be Joey, the third pick of the Spurs.

In the next game in Houston, the fans agreed more with the experts' statement...

The Spurs and Rockets will play again, and the Spurs will visit the Toyota Center.

James Harden, who was in a hot state,"ran wildly" throughout the game. In the first home game, he scored 32 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 6 steals and 5 turnovers, an alternative"5×5" data. The final score was 134:126, almost overturning the Spurs, a Western powerhouse that was as steady as an old dog.

In contrast, the Spurs' standout player was not any of the GDP trio, but the rookie who came off the bench, Joey. He made 9 of 16 shots and 3 of 6 three-pointers, playing more like a"team 3D" than the emperor, scoring a career-high 27 points. While competing with Harden, he also contributed 11 assists and 4 steals, leading the positional warfare master Spurs to play a five-second defensive counterattack 16:4 offensive tide.

Once silenced the away Toyota Center!

ESPN、The commentators of the game on TNT and other TV stations shouted"wolf is coming"!

After the game, Joey said this in an interview with several sports media:

"Before the game, my senior, the Rockets' legendary center Yao Ming, had a phone conversation with me. He encouraged and told me how to maintain the season state of a professional player. This benefited me a lot and was also the reason why I was in good shape in this game.……"

When talking about this, Joey showed a rare smile on his face in front of the camera, as if he was very honored to receive guidance from his predecessor.

This is indeed the case. Yao Ming is indeed the most influential"sports idol" for Joey's generation of young fans. He is no less impressive than Michael Jordan. In other words, Yao Ming is our own"basketball GOAT"!

Some bad media also took advantage of this opportunity to raise some"unfavorable" questions about Joey's reputation."：

"Could it be that the reason why you are so hot in this game has nothing to do with the Hollywood star Selena Gomez who came all the way from Los Angeles to Houston to watch the game?"

An unscrupulous tabloid reporter from Houston's local magazine Weekly asked innocently:

"You know, as a popular player in the league, you were photographed by the media entering and leaving a local hotel in the Holy City with Miss Gomez just a week ago.……"

Joey frowned, thinking about his date with Selena after the game:

"I have already responded to this matter. I just sent my friend back to the hotel. I didn't mean what you think!"

In fact, Bill Duffy had already used some water army and public opinion to suppress the scandal between the two.

But Joey was"popular" at this time."，"One of this year's best rookie candidates + Chinese player + orthodox EJ successor"——This fucking topic's popularity buff is completely stacked.

No wonder there are always some unscrupulous entertainment reporters who want to dig out some unusual news about this matter. After all, who doesn't want to make money?

Even the Spurs head coach Popovich didn't say much about this matter. He just simply told Joey,"Young people should not be dazzled by the current bright lights and wine," and so on, and didn't care much.

In fact, the old man didn't have the leisure to worry about this matter. In his eyes, a young player like Joey who is self-disciplined and hardworking, and doesn't have the bad habits of other professional players, what's wrong with being a little lustful?

Which young person is not lustful? Even he, an old man, usually has to"appreciate" a beautiful woman for a while when he sees one, not to mention the young players with the most active hormones...

As long as Joey doesn't do something like"**Also did"、"The old man was very lenient with Joey in these off-court incidents.

The system also rewarded Joey for winning the Western Conference Rookie of the Month:

【Congratulations to the host for winning the"Rookie of the Month" honor in the first month of the 12-13 NBA regular season. Reward: Free Attribute Points *8]

Joey added these eight points to dunking, free throws and perimeter defense. It is worth mentioning that his perimeter defense attribute officially reached 90, which is also Joey's second attribute to break through the 90 mark so far.