The second quarter.
It began with a battle between the benches. Led by Goran Dragić, the Suns' second unit kept growing more confident with a 20-point lead already in hand.
During the 4-minute-and-11-second rotation stretch, the lead grew even wider, reaching as many as 24 points.
And once the starters returned, Blake Su, who loved pressing an advantage and never letting up once he had momentum, first handed out two assists, setting up George for a driving finish and Curry for a made three.
Then, right after that.
"Swish!"
"Swish!"
From both sides of the three-point line, still a full meter beyond the arc, he hit back-to-back unreasonable threes over Arthur's defense.
The lead instantly ballooned past 30 points.
"Tsk, tsk..."
"Gay has an 'Unblockable Shot,' but if we're really talking about 'Unblockable Shots,' Blake Su's jumper is even more impossible to deal with.
"That's it. The first half isn't even over yet, and the lead is already over 30. There's no suspense left in this game."
Van Gundy clicked his tongue and declared the game over early.
"Yeah."
Mike Breen agreed. "Suns versus Grizzlies, two games on a back-to-back. Without 'Black Bear' Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies really can't handle the Suns.
"Barring any surprises, the Suns should sweep both games against the Grizzlies."
Exactly.
Just as Mike Breen said, the Suns won without any suspense. It was a 27-point massacre.
"The Suns were in good form, the Grizzlies were in poor form, and the Grizzlies were missing 'Black Bear' Randolph. This loss doesn't really count. It wasn't an even matchup."
That was the Grizzlies' excuse to save face.
Of course, that was just wishful thinking from Grizzlies fans. Suns fans were not buying it. In their eyes, when the Suns played the Grizzlies, it was domination. It was a slaughter.
At the same time, for the Suns as a team, compared with sweeping the Grizzlies in two days, what truly made them happy was the strength of their evolved run-and-gun after George entered the starting lineup, along with the further improvement in their defense.
That was what really mattered.
...
March Madness continued.
For strong teams like the Suns, Spurs, Bulls, and Heat, making the playoffs was not something they needed to worry about. Their only concern was securing a better seed and earning more home-court advantage in the postseason.
However, for players and teams on the edge of the playoff picture, every additional loss felt like another pile of straw pressing down on them, threatening to crush them at any moment and knock them out of the playoff race.
Among them... the Grizzlies, who had barely been holding on to eighth place in the West, were overtaken by the Hornets after losing consecutive games to the Suns and dropped to ninth.
At the same time, the Rockets, sitting tenth in the West, were right on their heels.
The Grizzlies were now burning with urgency. With only a dozen or so games left, they had to win as many as possible and fight their way back into the top eight.
The good news was that Randolph was recovering well from his injury and was expected to return in the next game.
"No matter what, we have to hold on to the top eight!"
"We have to make the playoffs somehow."
"Let's go!"
Inside the Grizzlies' locker room, the players were fired up, fully focused on the playoff push.
Meanwhile, the Hornets, the Grizzlies, and even the Trail Blazers, who were slightly higher in the standings, were all giving everything they had, gritting their teeth as they prepared for the postseason.
Of course, in the Eastern Conference, the fight for the final two playoff spots, seventh and eighth, between the 76ers, Pacers, Bucks, and Bobcats was also extremely intense.
March Madness. The fiercer the battles between the teams became, the stronger the scent of the playoffs grew, signaling that the postseason was almost here.
The battle for the championship trophy was about to begin.
And that was exactly what the fans wanted to see.
The tense and heated playoff race was already in full swing. But... two days later, March Madness passed, and the calendar turned to April.
10:00 a.m.
The NBA officially announced last month's Player of the Month, Rookie of the Month, monthly MVP rankings, monthly rookie MVP rankings, and Defensive Player of the Month list.
In the East, Rookie of the Month went to John Wall, while Player of the Month went to Derrick Rose.
And in the West, Rookie of the Month once again went to Blake Su.
"The Blake Show" Griffin averaged 20-plus points per game. Was that good? Very good. But in front of Blake Su, it looked so insignificant that he did not even qualify for a nomination.
In addition, Player of the Month once again went to Blake Su.
Beyond that... on both the monthly rookie MVP rankings and the monthly MVP rankings, Blake Su, despite being a rookie, continued to dominate, holding the top spot on both MVP lists.
Lastly, Defensive Player of the Month.
During March Madness, the "The Kid" Kevin Garnett ignited another push toward the championship.
In March, he put his hard-nosed defense and reliable mid-range jumper on full display, ultimately edging out "Superman" Howard to win Defensive Player of the Month.
As soon as all this news was announced, the fans burst into another uproar.
And the center of that uproar was not Rose, nor Garnett. Naturally, it once again fell on rookie Blake Su.
"Hey, hey, if I remember right, after winning this Player of the Month, Blake Su has already won it four straight months this season."
"So what?!"
"So what? Bro upstairs, how can you say that so casually? Do you know what that means?!
"In NBA history, only one player has ever won Player of the Month four straight times in a single season. That was 'King James' LeBron, with the Cavaliers last year.
"LeBron, the strongest player from the '03 Platinum Generation' and the 'Chosen One,' still had to grind in the NBA for a full seven years before achieving that.
"And now, Blake Su has reached that height in his rookie season. I think... this rookie Blake Su is truly a generational force."
"Exactly."
"Blake Su, with four straight Player of the Month awards, has already matched 'King James' LeBron."
"No. In my opinion, Blake Su reaching this level as a rookie means he has already surpassed 'King James' LeBron."
"That's right."
"Agreed!"
"I'm with that!"
"Tch. Rookie or not, both Blake Su and LeBron have achieved the record of four straight Player of the Month awards. How does that mean Blake Su has surpassed LeBron?"
"..."
By winning Player of the Month once again, Blake Su tied LeBron's record from last season of winning the award four straight months. And because he had done it as a rookie, countless fans believed that, in this particular record, Blake Su had already surpassed LeBron.
Of course, people tended to follow the crowd.
There was still some minor controversy, but no matter what, Blake Su, as a rookie, had once again stunned the entire league with the sheer strength of his individual ability.
...
And with Blake Su winning Player of the Month again, with April arriving, and with the 82-game regular season nearing its end, the battle for playoff spots had completely reached a fever pitch.
...
...
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