On April 23, the award for the best sixth man was also announced, which was the second honor of the season.

Curry has worked hard for a season, and now he's finally done it, taking the guns of his predecessors and becoming only the third active Warriors player to win that honor.

Of the 117 members of the media who participated in the poll, 96 chose Curry as the first choice, and Curry also won the award with a total of 513 points, beating Jason Terry of the Mavericks, Thaddeus Young of the 76ers and Glen Davis of the Celtics.

Some people think that this year's Sixth Man of the Year competition lacks dry goods, there are no good players, and the old strong contenders such as super scorer Crawford and Demon Knife Ginobili have either played poorly or have turned into starters, so the director is pulling the general.

But regardless, Curry became the Sixth Man of the Year and paid off for his dedication for one season.

"I'm really happy for him," Nelson Sr. said, "and he definitely deserves it, only I know what he's giving, he's a really good guy, Stephen Curry, that's what I'm talking about, and in my experience, this kid is going to be great in the end." ”

"It's really a nod to the role he's played for the team in recent years," Chamberlain said at Curry's awards conference, "Stephen has the quality to start, he's already one of the best scorers in the league, and I don't think any guard can do much better than him at his age." Now in his position, he has a rare opponent, but for the tactical needs of the team, he is conscientious and relieved to be a substitute, this kind of self-sacrifice spirit is rare. ”

Curry played all 82 regular-season games this season, starting 15 of them, averaging 17 per game. 5 points, 6. 7 assists, 3. With four rebounds, he is shooting 53 percent from the field and 43 from three-point range this season. 3%, both career highs.

This season, Curry has an efficiency rating of 19. 2, this number has reached the threshold of All-Star players, and it is also the highest among all bench players in the league.

In addition, Curry has a total of 28 double-doubles this season, scoring in double figures in 63 games, and scoring more than 20 points in at least 14 games.

What is amazing is that in the past two seasons, Curry has grown very rapidly, and when he first entered the league, he was still worried that he could not adapt to the competitive intensity of the NBA due to physical reasons, but now, he is not only adapting to the intensity of the NBA, but also creating a higher intensity for opponents in the same position.

At the press conference, Curry talked about his college career, talked about when he joined the Davidson College varsity team, his head coach even asserted that he couldn't play in the NBA, and talked about the 2008 draft, Chamberlain's agreement with him: "Enter the NBA, then go and sweep the NBA, let the guys who say you can't play in the NBA hurt." ”

What really makes Curry praised is his selflessness, Popovich said of him: "He's the kind of player that the head coach really wants, very strong, fully qualified to start, but when he sees that the team has veterans who are also suitable for starting, he won't embarrass the head coach, he will offer to play himself off the bench, and then every minute on the court will give his best and give his value, which is the most amazing." ”

In closing, Curry said, "I want to give this trophy to my fans, and what really sustains me is the belief that my fans give me, and every time I come on as a substitute, I can hear the fans cheering." It's for them. If I did win this award, the night I won it, I would probably leave the trophy on the scoreboard and let the fans know it was for them. I would like to express my gratitude to them in this way. ”

In addition, Curry became the first player in NBA history to hold a press conference on the road to receive the award since the Sixth Man of the Year award was introduced, and the Warriors set the scene to receive the award in the hotel conference room where they were staying.

The day after Curry received his award, they had to play Game 4 of the playoffs.

During the race, Paul's love looks terrible, he is like a tired camel, and this race will be the last straw that will break him.

During the warm-up game, Paul did not play, he sat on the bench and looked at his teammates who were warming up on the field with some melancholy.

Although he failed to win the throne of the assist king this season, he is recognized as a well-deserved No. 1 point guard, but in this year, superstars are piled up, bosses are huddled, and there is no future for a person to fight alone.

Paul finally felt the loneliness and despair of the little emperor James in the finals last season, of course, his feeling was especially clear, because the little emperor at least had Mo Williams, Vallejo, O'Neal, Jamison and others to help, and he? The best helper is none other than David West, who also missed the playoffs due to injury.

The fans also noticed Paul's gaze, and the fans who finally had a conscience raised the DIY card in their hands, which read: Chris, it's not your fault, you've done it to the extreme here, and the fans of New Orleans are forever grateful to you! Next season, Queen Bee go fly and find your teammates!

After the warm-up game, the national flag was raised, Paul stood at the front of the queue, looking at the rising national flag, his mouth silently sang the national anthem, and the blood began to boil.

This is my territory, I'm the queen bee, maybe I'll lose in the end, but I'm not going to surrender! Warriors, fight to the death! Paul silently thought in his heart, when the game started, the moment he stepped on the court, he was murderous!

The starting lineup for the Hornets is: Okafor, Asik, Peja, Paul, Belineri.

The starting lineup of the Warriors is: Chamberlain, Ibaka, Jackson, West, Carter.

In TNT's live broadcast room, Barkley said with emotion: "The gap between these two teams is all-round, not only in terms of player strength, but also in the ability of the head coach. It shows that they can't find a suitable starting lineup at all! ”

The referee blew the whistle, and it was still the Warriors who won the ball, and West passed to Chamberlain and started the attack from the inside.

Both teams put defense first, but the game was still exciting.

After the opening, Chamberlain got into a fast pace, he got the ball under the basket and unleashed his own singles, then quickly turned and jumped to score the first ball of the opening game.

On the Hornets' side, Paul looked like he was playing hard, but he changed his tactics and didn't pass the ball to his teammates, but went it alone.

Barkley said: "It's Chris making a silent accusation, it's the last game anyway, he's going to do it himself, because it's all losing, why not let him score?" Hornets, Hornets, Hornets! ”

Paul may have been in a hurry, though, as he missed three consecutive shots and only scored for the first time from mid-range after nearly four minutes of play.

After this mid-range shot was successful, Paul seemed to click on the shot button all of a sudden, and his hand immediately became hot, and then hit one after another, which could not be contained at all.

Not only did he shoot himself, Paul also kept passing to his teammates, and with 5:15 left in the quarter, he made a steal and assisted Okafor for a dunk in front of Chamberlain. He then made another steal, and Carter only had to foul him, and he immediately assisted Peja on a close-range jumper when he returned.

After Paul's backhand layup, the Hornets got off to a strong start and took a 19-8 lead.

The Warriors were stunned by Paul, West and Carter adapted to Paul's tandem style of play, and when he suddenly began to shoot on his own, he was not well prepared, and he scored again and again.

Under Paul's leadership, the Hornets not only went all out to attack, but also played well on the defensive end, with Okafor blocking Jackson's layup, Chamberlain's pass being stolen by Paul, and they were suppressed by the Hornets and led the rout in the first quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, the Warriors trailed by eight points at 14-22.

Nelson Sr. didn't yell and he's confident that his players can get fit and get back in control of the game.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the second quarter, Chamberlain began to exert his strength, he scored 3 points with free throws, Curry came off the bench, as the best sixth man, he hit a three-point shot as soon as he played, and the Warriors scored 6 points in a row, and then Chamberlain blocked Paul's layup, the Warriors counterattacked, and Curitzer scored in response to West's dunk, so that the Warriors played a wave of 8-0 offensive climax and tied the score at 22-22.

After that, the Warriors began to open the gap, with 5 minutes and 43 seconds left in the quarter, West launched a fast break, the Hornets could not defend well, and were caused a one-on-three dilemma in the frontcourt, West missed a layup, but grabbed an offensive rebound himself, and made up for the ball directly in the air with one hand.

Then, the Hornets house leak happened to rain overnight, Ariza landed on the ground holding his calf after a jumper, and Blair on the opposite side was startled, thinking that he was faking a fall, so he opened his arms and yelled at the referee: "I didn't touch him!" It's a fake fall! Damn, I'm still 180 feet away from him! ”

The referee also thought that Ariza was a fake fall, but when he stepped forward, he saw that Ariza's face was full of pain and his calf cramped!

In this way, the Hornets, which were already short of major generals, once again lost one general.

After the game, Paul said of the scene with a wry smile: "At that time, my heart broke to learn that Ariza had a calf cramp and was likely to miss this game! I don't understand what I've done wrong and God wants to punish me like this! ”

Taking advantage of Ariza's absence, the Warriors launched an onslaught.

Although Ariza's offensive ability is average, his defense is commendable, and with him, at least the Hornets' flanks are as stable as Mount Tai.

As soon as Ariza got off the court, Jamison had a chance to let go of his offensive firepower and score on consecutive jumpers, and halfway through the quarter, the Warriors led by nine points at 37-28.

Paul seemed to wake up suddenly, and when he saw his dejected teammates, he called a timeout, and then began to roar off the court: "Do you want to give you a mirror?" Look at what you guys look like now! Are we already besieged by zombies? Are we dead?! It's all cheering me up, the game is still going on, it's our home field! Brothers, this is our team, our place of struggle! Don't be like this, don't let those who love us suffer! ”

"Later, I will charge myself, if there are still men among you, then follow me and charge with me!"

Paul did what he said, and then he began to exert his power on the court, with 5 minutes 03 seconds left in this quarter, he began to accelerate before the halftime, and quickly broke through to the basket, Chamberlain under the basket only had time to pull him, but failed to stop him, Paul jumped up and ended the attack directly with a violent dunk!

This is Paul's first dunk in this playoffs, and the sudden shot is a violent dunk in front of Chamberlain.

Thirty seconds later, Paul shook back past a defender from beyond the three-point line, cut to the basket again, threw the ball in one hand, and slammed his body into Jamison, scoring and causing the latter to foul.

After two consecutive "three-pointers", the Hornets chased 6 points in a row, and Peja also came up with the pinnacle of projection kung fu under the inspiration of Paul, he shot a series of shots from the outside, and hit two three-pointers in this quarter, he shot the last three-pointer of the quarter, and the Hornets unbelievably ended the first half with 46-44.