Chapter 1196: Chapter 489: Youngest MVP in History!

On the morning of May 5th, the NBA officially announced the final three individual awards of the regular season.

Mayo received 71 first-place votes, defeating Rose, who received 26 first-place votes, to win the Rookie of the Year award.

Howard received 75 first-place votes, winning the Defensive Player of the Year award by a large margin, while second place Duncan only got 21 first-place votes.

In the past, Duncan’s team defense was among the best in the league, and his personal defense ranked around the top five, having little to do with the Defensive Player of the Year award, with his highest ranking being third. This year, the Spurs’ team defense was gone, and he held down the fort by himself, delivering a personal defensive performance at the level of a Defensive Player of the Year… but he encountered Howard, whose defensive efficiency was even stronger than Mutombo and Big Ben.

Zhang Yang received 101 first-place votes, winning the regular season MVP by an absolute margin.

The second-place James and third-place Howard both received only 5 first-place votes each, while Duncan, Kobe, Wade, and Paul each received just 1 first-place vote.

But today, the hottest topic among fans wasn’t about them…

Zhang Yang’s heart aches; the youngest MVP in history! 20 years and 11 months old! Yet the attention was defeated by two Mr. Lue!

But there’s no way around it, Duncan’s recent “black eight” hype was at its ‘peak’, and Paul “tied” the largest point difference in playoff history. Who could overshadow these two guys?

Also, Zhang San losing this MVP suspense too early, after Yao Ming defeated James to win the Player of the Month on April 1st, topics about him becoming the youngest MVP in history had been hyped by the media several times.

How could the novelty compare to Duncan and Paul’s “achievements”?

As they say, seeing others have bad luck makes one’s own misfortune less painful, and what comforted Zhang Yang was that Wade also got ‘involved’!

Originally, apart from that slaughter game, Wade averaged 36+8+7 over the other 3 games, and the impact of that issue wasn’t as significant anymore. Then the Spurs got a “black eight” and stole the limelight again.

But now both Paul, a fellow number 3 superstar, was slaughtered by Iverson’s team by 58 points, it’s hard not to think of Wade, another number 3 superstar, being slaughtered by Zhang Yang’s team by 55 points…

Moreover, there were two 50+ point differences in a single season, setting a historical record! In over sixty years before, there were just 3 total occurrences of 50+ point differences!

Looking at the chart-topping Duncan, Paul, Wade, Zhang Yang could only console himself — even if his thunder got stolen, he still was the youngest MVP in history, right? It’s just that their hype was higher, lots of people still praised him, not only him, ‘Super Jordan’ and Beast also won awards and got overshadowed, everyone was the same.

By noon, he went online and fast-forwarded through T.N.T Sports’ coverage of the 58-point game, feeling that Paul was set up…

A 28-point difference at half-time; just putting the main players in the third quarter to narrow the gap a bit should’ve been enough. When the third quarter couldn’t recover, and they were behind by over ten more points, reaching a 42-point gap, at that point, they should’ve given up and started thinking about next year.

Yet, Hornets coach Byron Scott put Paul, David West, and Peja back in the fourth quarter, while George Karl had already put in his water bottle squad lineup in the fourth quarter. Seeing Byron Scott’s move, he wasn’t having it, putting in JR Smith, Anthony, and Kenyon Martin… The Hornets ended the fourth quarter with a 20 to 36 score… Ultimately, the final score was 70 to 128.

Zhang Yang thought to himself, if Spoelstra and Byron Scott were swapped, perhaps those two 50+ point differences wouldn’t have happened.

With the Miami Heat’s new coach, losing by 28 points at half-time would likely mean a direct surrender. If Byron Scott were losing by over 20 points at half-time, he’d definitely think about narrowing the gap and work Wade to death.

In the following two nights, the remaining series of the first round also decided their outcomes.

The Grizzlies defeated the Trail Blazers in two consecutive games by scores of 83 to 79 and 102 to 71, advancing with a 4 to 2 series score.

The last game saw the Grizzlies execute a blowout, scoring over 100 points because the Trail Blazers encountered major changes — Oden, who set a personal playoff high with 13 points, 13 boards, and 5 blocks in Game 5, experienced knee swelling afterward. After a temporary treatment by the Trail Blazers’ team doctors, the pain persisted, and upon arrival in Houston the next day, he exhibited swelling symptoms. His agent forcibly took him for an examination at a hospital in Rocket City, disregarding objections from the team doctors, ultimately diagnosing a torn knee cartilage — a severe injury taking him out of Game 6. Without their series-averaging 10+11+3 center, the Trail Blazers’ defense collapsed.

What left fans feeling most incredulous was that after Oden was declared out, the Trail Blazers’ medical staff publicly stated that Oden going for an examination at a non-partner hospital was irresponsible to the team and partner hospital, severely impacting the good reputation they had built over the years.

The Hawks team faced the Celtics team on the road in Game 6 of their series. Returning to his old home court, Pierce delivered an efficient shooting performance of 9 for 18, scoring 25 points, aided by Joe Johnson’s 20 points, Bibby’s 15 points and 10 assists, and Horford’s 9 points and 16 boards… defeating the Hawks team 90 to 81, winning the series 4 to 2.

The series between the Lakers and the Mavericks ended last, in the pivotal game, Kobe and Nowitzki exchanged critical threes, Kobe hit one to almost win the game, while Nowitzki’s could not close it; the Lakers narrowly won 92 to 90.

In Game 6, the Lakers played on the road and defeated the Mavericks 99 to 91, advancing with a 4 to 2 series score.