NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 297 Winning the award is the most important thing

Jia Fei's victory over Curry to become the league's new regular season MVP has sparked heated discussions. Earlier reports suggested he would win the award, as the voting actually ended before the first round of the playoffs, although the official announcement was only today. A reporter involved in the voting had previously leaked this information, but the hype died down quickly because the final list wasn't released.

This is the first time a person of Asian descent has won the NBA regular season MVP award. Even someone as strong as Yao Ming at his peak never managed to be ranked in the top 3 for this award.

When the award was announced, many people publicly congratulated Jia Fei, including his mentor Jim Cahon at UConn, his teammate Kemba Walker at UConn, his senior Ray Allen at UConn, and NBA legend "The Glide" Drexler.

But for every player who praises Jabeur, there's a critic. Charles Barkley, a well-known Jabeur critic, stated clearly during a show with his partner Kenny Smith: "I don't think Jabeur is an MVP-caliber player! Note that I said 'MVP-caliber'! Of course, I admit he's a decent player, but not MVP-caliber. He won the award because of the Hawks' league-best record. Honestly, any other All-Star wing on that Hawks team would have done just as well. I respect the league's decision and the objectivity of the voting reporters, but this is my opinion. It's not that he's not good enough, but he simply doesn't qualify as an MVP!"

A reporter also interviewed basketball legend Michael Jordan about this matter.

Upon hearing the news, Jordan smiled and said, "Jia Fei? You mean that Asian kid from the Hawks? He won MVP, that's good. But what do you think he can achieve in the future? Heh, come ask me when he has this!" With that, he showed off a bunch of rings on his hand.

The reporter also interviewed Isaiah Thomas, the "Smiling Assassin".

In an interview, the commentator said, "Jackson is a very promising young man. It's incredible that he won the MVP at the age of 23. Although he didn't break Derrick's record as the youngest regular season MVP, he's already excellent enough. And his team is still in the playoffs, and they're doing very well right now. I admire him. He's not just a scorer; he's a great team leader and very mature. I don't think MJ is right. We can't judge a young player's future based on whether they have a championship ring. Aren't many stars without rings great? What was MJ doing when he was 23? If I remember correctly, he was already 28 when he won the championship. What was he doing before he won the championship at 28? Was his career only six seasons long?"

It has to be said that media people understand the power of clicks. The feud between Jordan and Isiah Thomas is long-standing; the two dislike each other, and naturally, their opinions on each other are often contradictory. Sure enough, their opinions on Jia Fei winning the MVP award are completely different.

External evaluations also kept reaching Jia Fei's ears.

When a reporter asked him about Jordan and Barkley's comments on him, he simply smiled and said, "What others say is their business, I can't control that. I'm happy because I won the MVP, that's the most important thing!"

On May 6th, Game 3 of the Hawks vs. Wizards series will be held at the Wizards' home arena, the MCI Center.

Washington, D.C., or simply Washington, is the capital of the United States. Some girls who don't pay attention to geography or watch the news might think that the capital of the United States is New York or Los Angeles. Of course, that's not their fault; they should blame the people who chose the capital in the first place.

As the capital, Washington, D.C. boasts the White House, the Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, and more. It's worth noting that Jia Fei's former teammate, Kevin Durant, is from here.

If Durant wants to emulate the Running Man show and play "hometown basketball," then joining the Wizards and teaming up with the two stars would obviously be a great option.

Jia Fei's deepest impression of the Wizards wasn't that the name was anything special (he actually thought it sounded pretty bad), but that Jordan made his comeback with the Wizards.

In his past life, he and his friends would watch the sports channel on TV, watching an older Michael Jordan. Back then, the Wizards roster also included Jordan's junior, Stackhouse, center Haywood, and I think Tyronn Lue...

That was back in 2003, and now, 12 years have passed...

This game is very important for the Wizards. If they lose, they will face the same situation as the Nets and Raptors in the last round – almost being eliminated.

Trailing 0-3 in the series, no team has ever come back from a 7-4 deficit since the NBA adopted the best-of-seven format. Not even once.

Jia Fei recalled that the Trail Blazers were down 0-3 against the Mavericks and eventually tied the game at 3-3, but ultimately they were unable to make history.

Creating this history is incredibly difficult. Even setting aside basketball games, a probabilistic calculation for a single game reveals just how challenging it is.

Let's say your team is down 0-3. From this point on, your probability of winning and losing is 50%. To ultimately complete a comeback, you need to win four consecutive games, which is 0.5 * 0.5 * 0.5 * 0.5 = 0.0625, or a 6.25% probability. This probability doesn't seem low, but you need to understand that if your winning probability were truly 50%, you probably wouldn't be down 0-3 in the first place. Considering changes in player mentality, psychological advantages, and other factors, the actual probability of a comeback is almost zero.

Reporters attempted to interview Wizards players before the game but were refused. The Wizards are now refusing all interviews, citing their desire to focus on preparing for Game 3 of the series.

That night, Game 3 officially began. Contrary to what many media outlets and experts had speculated, the Wizards did not make any lineup changes; their starting lineup remained unchanged.

The Hawks didn't change their lineup, and they had no need to change it either; if the enemy doesn't move, neither will they.

After the game started, the strategies of both sides were not much different from the previous game. The Wizards were still double-teaming Jia Fei, but compared to the early double-teaming in the previous game, they were more cautious this time, because they had experienced the Hawks' ability to break double-teams and were wary of the Hawks' ability to punish from the outside.

The referees were tight in this game, which favored the Wizards playing at home. Both Wall and Nene in the paint relentlessly attacked the basket, drawing numerous fouls from the Hawks.

Wall not only attacked the paint, but he also had a rare hot streak from beyond the arc in this game, hitting 4 three-pointers and punishing the opponent for leaving him open.

The Hawks' interior defense got into foul trouble, making it difficult to maintain defensive intensity, and they were constantly on the back foot in the game.

Ultimately, the Hawks lost to the Wizards on the road, bringing the series score to 2-1.