The award for best defensive player is actually quite toxic.
After all, the judging criteria of defense are originally vague and inconsistent, looking at both individual performance and team framework, looking at both basic data and high-level statistics, which requires both excellent performance in the season and past reputation accumulation.
Therefore, the candidates selected in the regular season every year are not necessarily good in the playoffs.
For example, In the previous years, Gobert, the regular season was quite raw? As a result, as soon as he arrived in the playoffs, he was taught by The Harden Masters continuously, and last year he was bullied by Mann.
For example, Leonard just finished defending his title in the 2015-16 season. In the Western Conference semifinals, he was beaten by Durant, who was still in the Thunder.
For example, Uncle Mu in the 2000-01 season looked invincible defensively and blocked, but he was beaten by the sharks in the finals and could not take care of himself.
Since the 21st century, the best defensive players who can win the championship with the team are actually the dream in 2017 and the KG in 2008.
The latest victim is the first defender in 26 years, DPOY, Marcus Smart.
In Celtic vs Bucks' fifth battle of King's Hill, the Green Army played Kai almost all the way, until the last two minutes to lead 105-99.
Then Smart started the whole thing.
After Alphabet Brother hit a long-range shot to narrow the gap to 102-105, he first made a reckless layup to give the Bucks a chance to counterattack, and Holliday hit a three-point shot to equalize.
Then, in the case of Alphabet Brother's second free throw miss, he and Jaylen Brownka made a mistake, and Portis made up the key frontcourt rebound, and the Bucks rebounded 108-107.
Then, with 14.2 seconds left in the game, when the Celtics made the final attack, he recklessly chose to make himself a layup and was knocked down by Holliday.
The Bucks hit two free throws to make it 108-105. The Green Army served the bottom line quickly, and it was Smart who ignored Tatum, who was empty in front of the field, and was cut off by Holliday, and the game ended.
In front of Smart, Holliday was like a "highway thief", stealing not only the final victory, but also the reputation of smarter's hard-earned best defensive player.
Juju Holliday is undoubtedly a better defender, a more lethal defensive toughster.
This isn't the first time he's saved the Bucks in a life-or-death situation while losing face to the opposing star players.
In the fourth and fifth games of last year's Finals, it was he who made consecutive steals of Paul and Booker, and finally helped the Bucks to let the two chase four and win the championship.
Leaving the disappointment to Paul and Booker, giving up glory to The Alphabet Brother, Holliday just quietly won the championship and drove the Bucks steadily until yesterday shocked the world again.
He is such an introverted to almost ordinary strongman, but no matter how strong the star defender, it seems that it is difficult to really cross him.
Three years ago, on a podcast in the United States, players were asked to choose the most underrated players in the league, and the answer was surprisingly consistent:
Judah Holliday.
Durant: Definitely Holliday, he's the best defensive guard in the league.
Curry: Of course it's Holliday, it's recognized, we all know it.
Bill: I don't think anyone is undervalued in the current information conditions, except for Holliday, who thinks so.
McCollum: In the eyes of us players, we know which players do it and which don't, because we're closer to the media than we are to the media. Holliday is the kind of opponent you're hard to come up with.
Paul: Some people think Holliday isn't strong because he hasn't really aligned himself with him. When I played against him, both offensive and defensive ends were uncomfortable.
He's gotten used to it all, having embraced it since he joined the league and even UCLA in 2009.
First, from the "Westbrook successor" to the first post-90s starting point guard
In 2008, when Westbrook, who was selected by the Thunder with the fourth overall pick, returned to his alma mater, UCLA (UCLA), for the first time to practice, his college coach Ben Holland quipped:
"Play well in the NBA, Russell (Westbrook). We've found a calmer you, whose fighting spirit and defense are as good as yours. ”
Holland's newcomer was Juul Holliday, who was the best guard in the National High School at the time, averaging 25.9 points, 11.9 rebounds, 6.9 rebounds and 4.8 steals per game in middle school.
Paired with veteran Darren Collison, he averaged 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.5 blocks in 27.1 minutes per game and was named to the Pac-10 Rookie Team.
In 2009, the two announced their participation in the draft at the same time.
Now it seems that the 2009 rookie can be called the new "golden generation", not only Curry and Harden, but also All-Stars such as DeRozan and Griffin, as well as top supporting roles such as Danny Green and Beverley.
And the low-key Holliday.
He was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 17th pick in the first round.
The Philadelphia 76ers at the time were very strange, their boss was Iguodala, an All-Star forward who was all-powerful but didn't like points very much.
The most famous are the badly injured "Captain" Brand, and the "AI" who has returned briefly and is ready to retire, but the real sharp weapons are Actually Lou Wei on the bench and Sadius Young, who is extremely chicken-cut.
This team plays extremely selflessly and as a team, anyone can make a splash, anyone can silently sacrifice for the team,
They played not at all in the NBA, more like a college team.
This instead made Holliday, who had just graduated and played with the same team, a fish in the water, and he made the start the next month, becoming the NBA's first post-90s point guard (born in August 1990).
In his rookie season, he averaged 8.0 points, 2.6 boards and 3.8 assists per game, which was decent.
But from the second year onwards, it was already mature like a stunned young man who had just turned 20.
In the 2010-11 season, 82 starts, 14.0 points, 4.0 boards and 6.5 assists, Philadelphia won 41 in the East, he reached the playoffs for the first time, and as a result, he met the "Heat Big Three" in his first year.
1-4, lose without suspense. But Wade, who was still full of horsepower at the time, was under Holliday's defense, and only shot 43.8% from 22.2 points in the series, compared with 25.5 points and 50.0% in the regular season.
That was the first time someone recognized that this little defender, who was only 1.90 meters tall and his unassuming appearance, was an absolute stubble.
In the following two years, Philadelphia was one of the most "modest" teams in the East, their starters Iguodala, Holliday, Brand, and Elvin Turner were all good players of the league's famous team > individuals, while The bench's Luway and Sadis Young were even more intimidating.
In the 2012 playoffs, they contributed their most recent black eight, 4-1 to kill the Bulls without Rose.
In that series, Holliday scored 18.2 points, 5.2 boards and 4.7 assists, the highest score between the two teams.
In the 2012-13 season, he scored 17.7 points, 4.2 boards and 8.0 assists, and was even named a 2013 All-Star. Along with Harden, he became the second and third All-Star after Griffin in the 2009 rookie class, even before Stephen Curry.
But that year, the Philadelphia general manager was replaced by Sam Singki, who is now a "legend." He didn't look at the players who were playing in the game, he just wanted the top talent, the best rookie.
So the "most faceless" swing in history began.
Turner, Sadis Young, Lou Wei, McAvoy these high and low "semi-finished products" were sent away by him one after another.
Including, of course, Holliday.
He was sent to the Pelicans in 2013 in exchange for a no. 6 pick at the 201z3 draft and a 2014 first round.
For the 76ers at the time, a 23-year-old All-Star point guard, it was so cheap.
In the three seasons since Holliday's departure, Philadelphia has won just 47 games in total.
Second, the great hidden in the city - in the years when the pelicans were buried
Coming to the Pelicans, for Holliday, can only be regarded as the beginning of another nightmare.
If the 76ers are still a once brilliant team to change their lives, then the Pelicans are a rotten league weak chicken.
They had Paul, but sent him to the Clippers because of poor management, and they soon had thick eyebrows, but the most promising interior line in the United States could not bring revitalization to the team.
And Holliday was on this team for seven years.
From 2013-2020, from the age of 23 to 30, he also went from the youngest All-Star point guard to the most underrated veteran.
They made only two playoff games during that time, one swept 4-0 in the first round by the revitalized Warriors in 2015. The other time was his only highlight at the Pelicans.
In the 2019 playoffs, together with Thick Brow and Rondo, he killed the third-place Blazers in the West 4-0 in the first round and reached the Western Conference semifinals for the first time in his career.
In a match against Lillard, a super guard who ranked fourth in the league's MVP and averaged 26.9 points per game, Holliday's close-knit pressing, coupled with the thick eyebrows in the back, allowed Lillard to play the worst round of his career series.
In those four nightmarish games, 18.5 points and 4.8 assists, shooting a pitiful 35.2%.
Lillard became the first super defender to fall under Holliday.
But that's the end of it, the pelicans are chicken feathers after a short period of glory.
Rondo went to the Lakers, and Thick Brow also followed Los Angeles after suffering an injury. Such Pelicans have a hard time standing in the wolf-like West on Holliday alone, and in the 2018-19 season, they were only third from the bottom in the West.
At the end of the season, Thick Brow went to Los Angeles as he wished, and the Pelicans also successfully obtained Zion and The Warblers began a new round of reconstruction, leaving only Holliday, who had reached the age of standing, and did not know where to go.
He was once the youngest starting point guard, an All-Star better than Curry, but in the six or seven years that followed, he seemed to be forgotten by the whole league. He has a reputation for defending, but has been dragged down by poor performances around the world, only two times in the best defensive team.
His all-Star selections have always been fixed in 2013, because the public can't stand that the pelicans with poor grades have a second person other than thick eyebrows to be selected, and they don't deserve it.
Holliday, became a forgotten strongman.
It wasn't until the 2020 offseason that he and the Pelicans finally decided to end the relationship with the last year of their contract. He wanted to pursue more for what he had left in his career, and the Pelicans wanted to cash out at the end, and the two sides hit it off.
He immediately became a feast for the trading market, and the Lakers, Nets, Clippers and other hot people want to have this strongman.
The final winner was the Bucks, with the chips put in by Bledsoe, R. George Hill and five first-round picks.
They needed to find a reliable defender for Brother Alphabet too much.
Third, driving the bucks - the fateful "letter manual"
In NBA history, a great champion inside line, there will definitely be a jewel-in-one guard around.
Russell has Kusi by his side, Skygot has a "big O" after the magician, Duncan has Parker and Ginobili, and the Sharks take turns with Penny, Kobe, and Wade, and the luckiest
Even now, Thick Brow has LeBron delivering cannonballs for him.
And the alphabet brother before 2020 is missing such a partner.
At that time, the alphabet was already two mvp, the fast attack throughout the field was invincible in the NBA five, and the terrifying physical fitness and efficient end were called the "big shark" O'Neal of this era. However, rough technology and one-sided playing style will be like a mud cow in the sea when facing top opponents.
In 2019-20, the playoffs for two consecutive years were defeated by the Raptors and the Heat, two teams that are strong overall and have top defenders who can limit him, and have become the laughing stock of the whole league.
And Holliday is the best guard that a small market team like the Bucks can find for him.
So the 2020-21 season began, and the alphabet brother and the Bucks were different.
They had a high-caliber organizer, no longer needed the strong thrust of the letters and the dry pull of Middleton in the wartime of the position, and their attack was much more detailed and comprehensive.
They have a reliable first-line iron gate, whether it is against Irving, Harden or Curry, Paul, they all have the defensive resources to fight head-on.
So it came to last season's playoffs, facing the Heat who had killed them 4-1, directly 4-0 away.
Facing the Nets, which have durant, Irving and Harden at the same time, the Bucks can also face the hard bar. Holliday even had a brilliant resume of taking turns against two of Irving's and Harden's top attackers.
In the Eastern Final, he also blocked a new generation of star defender Trey Young, who is 1 meter 85 tall and weighs less than 75 kg, and is too immature in front of the strong Holliday.
In the finals, he used his strong body, flexible pace and fierce confrontation to drain Chris Paul step by step.
In the first four games, Paul's performance showed a stepwise decline, with points decreasing by 32, 23, 19 and 10, and the three, four and five games that were overturned were forced by Holliday to make 15 mistakes.
By the end, Paul's physical strength was completely unable to support himself to fight with the brave Bucks to the last quarter, and he could only watch the Bucks run all the way to the championship, leaving only Holliday's back after stealing.
From the earliest Rose, to Lillard of the Trail Blazers, last season's Trae Young, Paul, Booker, and yesterday's Smart, in front of Holliday, all the star defenders and the best defensive players seem to be the prey of his strong and agile play.
Before the age of thirty, his fame was only widely spread among the players, and the media and fans did not understand his strength. Coming to the Bucks, at the side of Brother Alphabet, the world learned of his terribleness.
If you don't know how Dennis Johnson, Pippen, and Billups quietly assisted the core of the team and led the team forward.
Then look at Holliday today, he is really a fierce character for the big scenes, the championship.