Jamal Murray on April 13, 2021 during a match against the Golden State Warriors (Warriors again?). ) ruptured the cruciate ligament in his left knee during a layup, beginning his year-and-a-half-year journey of recovery.
In the 2020 All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, Magic forward Aaron Gordon, who had twice succumbed to LaVine, scored only 9 points after Tucker Farr who flew 2.26 meters, and finally finished second for the third time after Heat forward Derek Jones with 47 points.
I vowed never to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest again.
In 2017, Michael Porter Jr. won the MVP of the National McDonald's High School All-Star. As a freshman at the University of Missouri, he was once considered a talented forward who could compete with Ayton.
However, a back injury and surgery made his performance suffer greatly, and he was finally dropped until the 14th pick in the first round in the 2018 draft before being picked up by the Nuggets.
And 18-19 spent an entire season treating injuries and not playing a game.
In the 2020 park playoffs, Cardwell Pope averaged 10.7 points per game second only to Jammei and was the Lakers' No. 3 scorer, and after a bad 20-21 season, he and Kuzma and Harrell were packaged and sent to the Wizards to trade for Westbrook and embarked on a wandering journey again.
Before the start of the Western Conference finals, even if they had just taken out the championship favorites Phoenix Suns 4-2, few people felt that they could finish off the Los Angeles Lakers, who were popular with the league and fans.
Located in the Colorado Plateau, they have experienced too many hardships, even if they have played first place in the West and contributed wonderful basketball for several years, but they have never been on the main stage of the league.
Like the boss of this team, Nikola Jokic, he has conquered most with his talent for the Wizards, as evidenced by the defending MVP, but this year's better performance has met with even greater resistance to see a three-in-a-row for the simple reason:
"Bird, who was last three-time MVP, won two championships, something that even Jordan and LeBron have not been able to do, and you are a Serbian who does not even have a championship?"
So he half-pushed and half-awarded this year's MVP to Embiid, but once it came to the playoffs, people understood that there was a gap between MVPs, or even a big difference!
Since 2020, no one has questioned Nikola Jokic's talent.
He was the first center playmaker in NBA history.
There are many centers who can pass the ball in the history of the league, from Russell in the early days, Oxlade-Chamberlain, who won the assist king, to Unseld, Bill Wharton, and Jokic's FIBA predecessors Sabonis and Divac.
But no other team has put the organizational power of the team in the hands of Mr. Joe like the Nuggets do today.
Each round of the team's attack must be initiated by the teacher who decides the entire offensive idea.
It's not so much that he's a center who can pass, but that the basketball god has stuffed the soul of a top point guard into a 2.11 skin bag to create a new species.
At the same time, he has developed the offensive methods adapted to this era to the extreme, he can play tricks with small guards, he can shoot from outside the three-point line, he can drag his not very strong body back to hit opponents, and then finish with a not very beautiful but absolutely accurate rollover jump shot or small hook.
In the basketball encyclopedia, there is no teacher who can't, and even he himself is already writing a whole new chapter.
On the offensive end, his talent has never been seen, and on the defensive end, his bounce, explosiveness, and movement make him unable to be as thorough as those traditional American centers, but his greatest value is that he can increase his teammates indefinitely.
Aaron Gordon is by his side, from a muscular man who has never shot more than 50% from the field in his career and can only dunk and fast-attack. Grow into an all-round forward who averages three assists per game, shoots more than 35% from three-point range, and is both offensive and defensive.
Pope shot a career-high three-point percentage (42.3 percent) around him.
And Jamal Murray and Porter Jr. have enjoyed the ultimate space throughout their careers under his shadow.
This Nuggets team has been averaging assists and scoring doubles per game for many years, and plays basketball that focuses on dedication and sharing, because of Nikola Jokic.
The team has been determined to build a championship team around the talent since the 2015-16 season saw Jokic start playing NBA games, but the journey has been full of bumps.
In 2014, the Nuggets took the 11th pick in the second round when he was still napping and had no idea that his future would be tied to the NBA.
At the time, he was still a Coke fat man who "couldn't do a plank for 10 seconds" (Jokic himself admitted), and the Nuggets had no choice but to let him exercise for another year before landing.
But when he made his debut in the '15-16 season, he conquered everyone, and the rookie started with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, and also made the Nuggets decide to give up another European center, Nurkic, to secure his position.
Nurkic was sent to Portland in the 16-17 season, and Mr. Joe officially established the center position. More and more coquettish assists appear in the top five.
In '17-'18, they lost to Butler's Timberwolves in the final game of the regular season, lost to a direct rival in the playoff ticket race, and were ninth in the West for the second year in a row.
But at that time, Mr. Joe was already an all-round center with 18.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 6.1 assists, and even won the Western Conference Week of the Year twice.
In the 18-19 season, he made his first All-Star appearance, first All-NBA team, first playoff appearance, and third in the Nuggets West.
The 19-20 season was the first time that people realized that Mr. Yo and the Nuggets were gradually terrifying.
Jamal Murray, as one of the team's initially selected mentors, has become a famous "small steel cannon" in the league, not only averaging 18+ per game but also scoring 50 points in front of another offensive master, Irving, and his unruly personality also complements Mr. Joo, and the two have become the cornerstone of the Nuggets.
Porter Jr. recovered from injury and finally showed his potential after a year of hard training. His height of 2.08 meters and soft dry feel make everyone think, even if there are still a lot of problems, people are happy to see his growth.
Coupled with two fierce players up front, Jeremy Grant and Millsap, the team built around Joss has taken shape.
They took out the Utah Jazz in the first round of the Western Conference (first in the league the following year), and Murray and Mitchell's 50+ matchup became a classic. Then, after falling 3-1, they overturned and killed the Clippers, who were popular in the West at the time, and Jog's dominance on the inside and Murray's outside gunfire completely scuttled the Clippers' "luxury battleship".
Although the Western Conference lost 4-1 to the eventual champion Lakers, the Lakers' last three wins were within 10 points except for the first game. Even had to rely on the thick eyebrows' killer three-pointer, and James' final personal eyeing of Murray to solve the battle.
And just when people thought they would be a force to be reckoned with in the future West, doom and tribulations began to find them.
Striker Jeremy Grant left the Pistons in pursuit of higher tactical status, and had to rely on Porter Jr. and 35-year-old Millsap for the first half of the 20-21 season.
It was hard to get Aaron Gordon from the Magic to get the team on track, but Murray suffered a serious injury.
Murray, who learned that he supported the big injury, once asked Coach Malone with tears in his eyes: "Will you trade me?" Sir"
"You're our family, child"
In the '21 playoffs, they were eliminated by the Suns, who later reached the Finals, and Paul and Booker's mid-range shots severely humiliated Mr. Yoyo, while he was stuck to Ayton on the offensive end, and it was difficult to open a breakthrough for him without Murray's Nuggets.
In the 21-22 season, Murray continued to hang the waiver card, and the disaster was that Porter was also reimbursed for the season because he played only 9 games due to a back injury.
Mr. Joe took Will Button, Monte Morris, Rivers Jr., and Highland to the sixth place in the West and went straight to the playoffs.
In the first two years, Mr. Yori was like Steve Nash in 2004-06, although he did not lead the team to win the championship, but his personal play and ability to drive his teammates really conquered too many judges and audiences.
They lost 4-1 to the future champion Warriors in the playoffs, and the huge gap between the two teams on the outside allowed Steve Kerr to even let Curry play as a bench and still easily draw the Nuggets, because they even needed Austin Rivers, who was already past his prime, to play 21.6 minutes per game.
Has this season's Yoshima gotten stronger compared to last season? And it didn't.
But last offseason, management's manipulation made the Nuggets stronger.
They brought in champion striker Pope, and from then on they had a reliable outside 3D where Murray didn't have to face the fiercest firepower in his hands.
They signed Bruce Brown, who worked hard with Harden in the Nets that year, providing tough confrontation while also giving Mr. Joe an extra "efficient pie eater" around him.
And with Murray and Porter returning from injury, the Nuggets are finally ready for the 2022-23 season.
They finished first in the division in the chaotic West and were the most consistent team throughout. Josso's numbers aren't as exaggerated as in the previous two years, but that's because the team already has enough firepower.
At the same time, Gordon's presence and Porter's maturity allow Mr. Joe to be more daring to make pinch shots, and with them completing the task of guarding the basket, this Nuggets offensive end has an all-powerful Joyo teacher and a group of musketeers.
And the defensive end is far stronger than expected.
They eliminated the Timberwolves with the "twin towers" of Towns & Gobert, Western Conference favorites Suns, and now lead the Lakers 3-0 ahead of James, who eliminated themselves three years ago.
They have proven themselves to be able to achieve their realisation after a lot of hardship and are just one win away from winning the first Grand Final in their history.
They have such a genius as Teacher Yo, and they have spent years to build such a team, which should have been the time to produce results,
And this year, it really couldn't be a good opportunity.
Genius teenagers are famous all over the world after hardships, which is the best life script.