One Thousand and Twelve: 1 Year Later

The early morning sunlight filtered into the bedroom through the cracks in the curtains. Link was awakened by the dazzling sunlight, and he opened his eyes hazily.

He sighed, turned to look beside him, and found that his fiancée was sleeping soundly.

So, Link tiptoed out of bed, went to the bathroom to wash up, and planned to prepare Rachel for the morning.

Outside the kitchen window, the sun is shining brightly and the wind is gentle. The lake in the backyard rippled due to the breeze.

Seeing this scene, Link was stunned.

All this seems to be so similar to last summer, even exactly the same!

He quickly took out his phone and looked at it, then shook his head slightly.

He didn't dream, he didn't wake up and go back to the summer when he established a dynasty last year.

The year on the phone is 2016.

Everything that happened this year is real...

That’s right, a year. A year has passed since the Grizzlies established their dynasty in 2015.

In less than a month, Link will celebrate his 28th birthday.

From the age of 22 to now 28, Link has been a professional player for 6 years without knowing it.

He couldn't help but look at himself in the mirror. Although 28 was not old, he did look older than his youthful appearance.

Moreover, now he is no longer considered a young player in the league.

Link shook his head, time passed faster than expected.

It seems like yesterday the last time I experienced a morning like this. In the past, when I thought about running for my third year, it seemed like it was far away.

But now, everything is close at hand.

Link took two eggs out of the refrigerator, heated them in a pan, and started making breakfast.

While frying eggs, Link recalled the scenes of the past year.

Time passed so quickly that he didn't have time to savor it as slowly as he did today.

This year has not been too smooth for both the Grizzlies and Link.

Last summer, the Grizzlies bombed the free agent market. On the other hand, the Grizzlies' biggest opponents have all received reinforcements to varying degrees.

As a result, the Grizzlies started their new season without being favored.

This year, Marc Gasol is 31 years old, and he has finally passed the age called "young".

"Big Black Bear" Randolph is 35 years old. This childish guy who stuffed popcorn into Link's car six years ago has come to the end of his career.

Vince Carter is 39 years old, and everyone is discussing whether this will be his last season.

Tony Allen is 34 years old, and you can obviously see that he is somewhat incompetent when it comes to defending young men who are more than ten years younger than him on the basketball court.

The former "little AI" has also reached the age of 32. He dunks less and less. The scoring average in the playoffs and regular season has also dropped to single digits.

Contrary to the aging lineup, the Grizzlies' new blood is young.

In the main rotation, Harrell, Jokic, Richardson and Dinwiddie are all first-year rookies. Although Jokic and Dinwiddie are technically sophomores, they are officially playing in the NBA for the first time.

When a team has so many rookie players entering the main rotation, this is usually a matter of rebuilding the team.

Therefore, no one is optimistic about the Grizzlies' season. After winning three consecutive championships, everyone took it for granted that it was time for the Grizzlies to fall.

After the regular season starts,

With Durant joining the Golden State Warriors, they became the Grizzlies they once were.

They are killing everyone in the league and are invincible.

The 24-game winning streak at the start broke the league's longest winning streak record set by the Grizzlies in the 2013-14 season.

No losing streak in a single season, becoming the second team after the Grizzlies to achieve this achievement.

They have not lost to the same team more than once in a single season, which is also the first time since the Grizzlies.

Ranked first in road wins in a single season, second fastest in history to lock in the playoffs, ranked first in history with 1,077 three-pointers made in a single season... Moreover, the Warriors tied the Grizzlies' record of 74 in a single season. wins record, tied with the Grizzlies for first place in history.

No matter how you look at it, the Warriors have the shadow of the Grizzlies of the past. In the words of Bill Simmons, "They are an overly strong team!"

And what about grizzly bears? The Grizzlies won't even be able to make the playoffs this year. But their record of 58 wins in a single season is naturally far from the Warriors' 74 wins.

This is also the first time in four years that the Grizzlies have not won more than 60 games in a single season!

This year's regular season, the Grizzlies did expose some problems of declining strength. But what really defeated them was not the strength of the lineup, but injuries!

If we talk about last season, the Grizzlies were already under an injury curse. So this season, they fell directly into purgatory caused by injuries.

Gasol only played 52 games this season. On February 10, 2016, he announced an indefinite hiatus due to a fracture in his right foot. On February 24, the Grizzlies reluctantly announced that Gasol had undergone foot surgery and would miss all remaining games of the season.

Conley wasn't much better, playing only 56 games, the second-lowest appearance rate of his career. Also in February 2016, Conley underwent surgery on his left heel to remove a small protruding bone, which cost him the season.

Among the remaining veterans, Randolph played in 68 games, Iguodala in 65 games, Tony Allen in 64 games, and Carter in 60 games. All three of them played in and out with minor injuries.

This season, the Grizzlies have a total of 28 players who have played for the team! Most of them are firefighters who have played less than 15 times.

We all know how serious the Grizzlies' injury problem is.

However, not every time the Grizzlies sign a firefighter, they can sign a guy like Whiteside.

In the end, Link could only take a bunch of young people, a bunch of old bones, and a bunch of mercenaries to enter the playoffs as the third seed in the Western Conference.

In the first two rounds, the Grizzlies had a very difficult time. They first eliminated the Trail Blazers 4-2, and then in the Western Conference semifinals, through a tiebreaker, they defeated this year's second-placed team in the Western Conference, the Spurs, the favorite to win the championship with the "double German combination".

After two rounds of the series, Link averaged 35.4 points per game! It can be said that he single-handedly pushed the Grizzlies to the Western Conference Finals.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Grizzlies met the Warriors, who were nearly invincible this season.

In the end, Kevin Durant finally got his revenge. He finally defeated Link and experienced the feeling of victory.

4 to 2, cleanly, the Warriors eliminated the Grizzlies. For the first time in four years, a Western Conference team has overcome the Grizzlies!

To most people, it's a miracle that Link made it this far, he's already proven himself.

It would be impossible for anyone else to lead this year's Grizzlies better than him. Last year, Westbrook led the Thunder, which was in better shape, by himself, but ended up not even making the playoffs.

But Link didn't think there was anything to be happy about. Losing to the Warriors and Durant were the last things Link wanted to face.

This year, the regular season MVP was taken away by 74-win Durant, and the best defensive player belonged to Draymond Green. Except for a double formation, Link's hands were empty.

Although Link had long thought that the Grizzlies were likely to fail, when failure actually came, this extremely competitive guy, this guy with three championship rings, this guy who was used to dominating others, was extremely... anger.

Link closed his eyes, and in his mind were the images of three championship rings. And the voices behind them.

"The game is over! The Memphis Grizzlies, who participated in the finals for the first time in team history, won the NBA championship. They are the championship! They are the biggest dark horse! Ladies and gentlemen, a new era begins!"

"LeBron took a knee and the game ended! Link led his team to successfully defend this supreme honor in Miami! 4-0, they swept and won, they are the king of the world!"

"Link sat on the ground, Mike Conley threw the basketball into the air, the electronic buzzer sounded, it's over, it's over! The Grizzlies won, not once, not twice, but three times, three times! They won They are the championship, they have established their dynasty, their golden era! Long live the Memphis Grizzlies, long live Link!"

These voices gradually became smaller and farther away, until they disappeared from Link's mind.

At this time, Link suddenly smelled a burning smell.

He quickly opened his eyes and saw, sure enough, the eggs were burnt...

Link shook his head and poured the completely blackened egg into the trash can.

He knew that those three championships had become the past forever.

Next, the Warriors and Cavaliers battle in the finals. And he was frying eggs in his kitchen...

The golden era of the Grizzlies is over. It ended two days ago at Oracle Arena.

Now, Link only has two options.

Or, sink completely, become a hero in people's memory, embrace the honor you already have with peace of mind, and live in the past forever.

Or, as he told Pera last year, find a way to build a new golden era and regain everything that belongs to the Grizzlies.

Even though it's almost impossible to accomplish. Even if all efforts are likely to be in vain.

Link shook his head, no matter which path he chose. This summer will definitely be extremely busy.

(End of Golden Age Volume)