On Feb. 19, the All-Star Weekend was played in Cleveland, and Pistons Champion Cunningham laughed to the end, filling in the "Rookie MVP" label on the personal career honor form. In fact, cunningham scored only 5 points in the final, but got 6 of the 9 votes and became the well-deserved MVP.
So, why is there a situation where "slashing" 5 points won the MVP honor?
It turned out that this year, in order to celebrate the 75th anniversary, the league has made a new adjustment to the competition mode of the Rookie Challenge. In the new rules, a team of 12 rookies, 12 second-year players and 4 development league players, totaling 28 players, will be divided into 4 groups for semi-finals and finals.
The team name is named by the four 75 historical superstars, Rick Barry, Gary Payton, Isaiah Thomas and James Worthy. In the semi-finals, 4 teams compete separately, and the team with 50 points in priority wins, the winner advances, and the loser is eliminated. The two teams that advance to the final will become the first team to win with 25 points. (50+25, which happens to be the 75th anniversary, is also a painstaking arrangement of the alliance.) ）
In this new format, the importance of defense and the serendipity of players out make the game a little strange. For example, in the first game between Worthy and Thomas, Jaylen Green played well, he shot 8 of 13 from the field, 4 of 9 three-pointers to get 20 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. Unfortunately, The Worthy team was eliminated by Sadiq Bay and lost the game 49-50.
In the other group of Payton and Bari matches, Lamello Ball was also a hot player, he got 8 points, 2 boards, 1 assist and 2 steals, but his Peyton team was 48-50 and failed to qualify. In Barry, Cunningham had 13 points, 5 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks on 5-of-10 shooting. Mobley had 13 points, eight boards and one assist on 6-of-12 shooting.
Barry and Thomas reached the final, and since it was a 25-point win, the tolerance in the game would be low. Thomas started with a three-point rain, Cunningham showed his all-round technical style, he was able to attack and pass, and Barry played a small 8-0 surge. Cunningham hit the crucial three-pointer, putting the team just one step away from victory. He then completed the steal and helped Wagner to the free throw line. In the end, Barry made up his mind and won the free throws, scoring 25 points first and winning the game 25-20.
In the final, Cunningham made 2-of-3 shooting and 1-of-2 three-pointers with 5 points, 2 boards, 3 assists and 1 steal. Although the scoring is not very high, under this low-scoring rule, Cunningham is already the most exciting player in the team. Moreover, he sent many assists, led the team to reverse the situation, hit three points in key moments, and stole to help the team win, which can be said to be the greatest achievement.
Of course, under this new format, there are also many accidents in the game. Although this time it was Akira who won the MVP of the Rookie Challenge, the next time, it may be a failure to win the draft.