NBA M3 - Chapter 531: Blake: Season Honors (Patreon)

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said during an interview, “We were eliminated by the Mavericks in the semifinals last season, but...”

“Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili, Tim Duncan.”

“When you hear those three names, I think everyone should understand that the Spurs will still be championship contenders next season.”

“There’s no denying that.”

And he was right.

There was no denying it.

The Spurs had not performed particularly well in last season’s playoffs, and teams around the league had strengthened their rosters during the offseason, but no one dared underestimate San Antonio.

A team driven by that veteran trio was still one of the West’s powerhouses.

The Knicks were also training hard in preparation for the new season.

After an entire offseason for the “STAT + Melo” duo to improve their chemistry, New York’s strength was bound to rise sharply next season.

The media and the organization fully believed that a Knicks team led by two All-Star starters could challenge for the Eastern Conference title.

Then there was Derrick Rose, the “Windy City Assassin,” one of the leading regular-season MVP candidates behind Blake.

His Bulls would remain an Eastern Conference powerhouse next season as well.

After all, make no mistake.

The team that finished first in the East last season was not the Heat, who reached the Finals.

It was the Chicago Bulls.

And it was not just those teams.

Across all 30 teams in the league, players were training hard, improving themselves, and trying to become stronger.

Everyone was preparing for the new season.

...

The players were training, Summer League was over, and most of the major trades had already been completed.

Yet there were still more than two months before the preseason, the next event connected to the new season.

For fans and the media, it was a relatively boring dead period.

But neither group intended to sit around doing nothing.

Soon, a topic began trending on social media.

#Blake: Season Honors#

At a time when there was not a single NBA game being played, the topic shot all the way to number one on the trending list.

And the best part was not the original post.

It was the comments.

“Come on. If we happened to meet here during this boring offseason, then it must be fate. So... speak your mind.”

“Who’s going first? I’ll do it!”

“‘The Emperor’ Blake’s NBA debut was ridiculous. In half a quarter, he went 11-for-11 and scored 23 points on 100 percent shooting. No one else in history has done that.”

“Then, in half a quarter, he led his team back from 22 points down and completed an unbelievable comeback, making history again.”

“And Blake hit a game-winner in his NBA debut. Looking across the entire history of the league, ‘The Emperor’ is the only one to have done it.”

“Three records broken in his debut alone. That’s how absurdly strong Blake is.”

“When you talk about honors and historical records, isn’t Blake basically an endless list?”

“He’s the youngest 50-point scorer in NBA history, the youngest 60-point scorer, and the youngest 70-point scorer.”

“He’s also the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double, and the player to complete one in the shortest amount of time.”

“Eleven three-pointers in a quarter during the regular season. Fifteen threes in a regular-season game. Eight threes in a playoff quarter. Thirteen threes in a playoff game.”

“Nine straight playoff games with 50+ points, and eleven straight with 40+.”

“He’s the only player in playoff history to score 60+ in back-to-back games, and his 64-point game set the single-game playoff scoring record!”

“Thirty-five points in one regular-season quarter, a new single-quarter scoring record. Thirty points in a playoff quarter, another record.”

“‘9 points in 9 seconds’ and ‘16 points in 35 seconds.’ Two legendary ‘Blake Moments’!”

“Player of the Week eight weeks in a row. Player of the Month four months in a row!”

“Blake led the Suns to the miracle of coming back from 0-3 to win four straight in the playoffs, then came back from a 1-3 deficit in the Finals!”

“And Blake is the only player in NBA history to lead the Suns to a championship as a rookie while carrying the team as the lone superstar!”

“In his rookie season, Blake swept Regular Season MVP, All-Star Game MVP, and Finals MVP. He completed the MVP Grand Slam!”

“Blake is also the youngest unanimous MVP in NBA history, and the first player ever to win it unanimously!”

“Blake led the All-Star voting with a ridiculous 3.2 million votes.”

“That meant he broke the 3.15 million-vote record set in 2009 by Dwight Howard of the Magic, and he did it as a rookie. He became the youngest player ever to lead All-Star voting!”

“At All-Star Weekend, Blake was still only a rookie, yet he took Rookie Challenge MVP, the Slam Dunk Contest championship, the Three-Point Contest championship, and All-Star Game MVP!”

“Hey, hey, hey. Listing them one at a time like this honestly isn’t shocking enough.”

“To the guy above, here’s the microphone, here’s the stage, here are the lights. Go ahead. Put on your show!”

“Uh... if we look at the entire season, Blake’s major honors include the scoring title, steals title, and blocks title.”

“Rookie Challenge MVP, Three-Point Contest champion, Slam Dunk Contest champion, and All-Star Game MVP.”

“Regular Season MVP, All-Star voting leader, youngest 70-point scorer, the regular-season records for threes in a quarter and threes in a game, and the playoff single-game scoring record.”

“In the playoffs, he led a comeback from 0-3 to win 4-3. In the Finals, he became the first to come back from a 1-3 deficit, then won Finals MVP, and that’s still not everything!”

“In Game 7 of the Finals, Blake hit eight threes and scored 30 points in a single quarter. He finished with 64 points, scored 16 points in the final 3 seconds to create another ‘Blake Moment,’ and won the game with a switch-hand three-pointer.”

“‘The Emperor’ Blake became the ‘Sun God,’ played the role of the ‘superhero,’ crushed the ‘supervillain’ Heat, and won the championship.”

“Blake... to us fans, he’s an invincible god of war!”

“Damn. Every major honor you can think of, Blake basically collected it. He became a legend the moment he debuted and piled up more honors than anyone can count.”

“In my eyes, ‘The Emperor’ Blake is the Jordan of the new era. If we compare rookie seasons alone, even Michael Jordan, the ‘God of Basketball,’ would be left several streets behind him.”

“On top of that, Blake broke and created countless records in one season, not to mention all the game-winners. To me, Blake is the [Game-Winning Shot Machine] and the [Record-Breaking Machine].”

“Blake is the GOAT!”

“My god. Just reading all the comments above was already enough to feel how strong Blake is, but seeing everything collected in one place...”

“Damn.”

“I only have one thing to say. Blake is ridiculously strong.”

“That’s my man. Blake is amazing!”

“After reading all of this, I only want to say one thing. My husband is the best! My husband is invincible!”

“To the girl above, keep dreaming!”

“To the girl two comments above, can I dream too?!”

“Bro, that’s enough!”

“I already knew Blake was insanely good, but seeing everything summarized like this makes him look completely absurd!”

“Holy crap! I thought I’d seen it all, but this guy is on another level. Who unleashed this monster?!”