95:79, the Spurs easily defeated the Hornets at home, maintaining their opening 8-game winning streak. However, the Spurs would then face two tough road games.
The first road game was to fly to Milwaukee to challenge the Bucks!
This season, the Bucks, under the guidance of veteran coach George Karl, have begun to see their record rebound! The team's core is the "three musketeers" composed of Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen, and Sam Cassell!
Glenn Robinson, nicknamed "The Big Dog," was the number one overall pick in 1994! At that time, the Bucks, holding the top draft pick, chose Glenn Robinson among Glenn Robinson, Grant Hill, and Jason Kidd, which goes to show how exceptional The Big Dog's talent was back then!
Exceptional talent has its advantages, but it can also bring side effects, such as arrogance!
Back then, player contracts didn't have many restrictions. Theoretically, players and teams could sign contracts with unlimited annual salaries. Thus, Glenn Robinson, who hadn't played a single game, demanded a sky-high contract of 13 years and 100 million US dollars from the Bucks management!
This was in 1994, not 2014.
After a process of asking for the moon and settling for a reasonable price, Glenn Robinson successfully secured a super rookie contract of 10 years and 68 million US dollars.
With a big contract in hand, Glenn Robinson delivered a near All-Star caliber performance in his first rookie season, averaging 21.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. However, Glenn Robinson still lost to Grant Hill and Jason Kidd in the Rookie of the Year voting that year! The latter two jointly took home the 1995 Rookie of the Year trophy.
Why? Because of that big contract. By leveraging his talent to threaten the team and the league, how could Glenn Robinson gain the league's full support? If the league were to heavily promote such players, wouldn't future NBA players all emulate The Big Dog and pressure their teams?
This was something NBA team owners least wanted to see.
Therefore, in the second year after Glenn Robinson signed his super rookie contract, the league introduced the rookie salary cap rule, cutting off the possibility of rookie players "holding their talent hostage to dictate terms to the team"! This could be considered a small, insignificant "contribution" from The Big Dog to the development and progress of the league...
This season, the "three musketeers," led by Glenn Robinson, have become increasingly synchronized in their play, and the Bucks' record has naturally begun to improve. In the six games played so far, the Bucks have a record of 4 wins and 2 losses! They defeated the Rockets, Hawks, Pistons, and Clippers, while losing to the Knicks and Suns. In the Eastern Conference, their record ranks fourth, which is a pretty good start to the season.
However, compared to the Spurs' six-game winning streak, they are still a bit short.
This season, since the addition of He Xi Meng, the Spurs' biggest weakness, their perimeter three-point shooting, has been greatly supplemented.
Compared to last season, when the twin towers would inadvertently find themselves trapped in double-teams by opponents, this season, whenever the twin towers are double-teamed, He Xi Meng dares to take unlimited shots from the perimeter... The twin towers plus He Xi Meng are actually enough to contend with most teams in the league.
Add to that the unpredictable "demon knife" on the bench, and even if the twin towers and He Xi Meng simultaneously fall into a slump with extremely low probability, the Spurs still have a 50% chance of turning the tide in desperate situations...
Before the game started, Ray Allen voluntarily walked over to the visiting team's bench and fist-bumped He Xi Meng and Tim Duncan as a greeting.
The intertwined history between Ray Allen and the Spurs' "Dare-Meng" duo could be traced back to the NCAA national tournament! In the Final Four, the "Dare-Meng" duo, leading Wake Forest University, defeated Ray Allen's University of Connecticut to advance to the championship game, where they would compete against Georgetown University, led by Allen Iverson...
Although they were rivals in college rather than friends, the friendship was formed before entering the professional league, and was relatively pure. Moreover, He Xi Meng and Ray Allen both belonged to the '96 generation!
Although the '96 generation had only been in the league for three years, many players had already achieved All-Star caliber performance!
The most prominent players at the time were Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers, Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, and He Xi Meng of the Spurs!
The next tier included Ray Allen of the Milwaukee Bucks, Stephon Marbury of the Nets, Marcus Camby of the Knicks, Shareef Abdur-Rahim of the Grizzlies, and Antoine Walker of the Celtics...
In the tier below that were Steve Nash of the Mavericks, Terrell Brandon of the Nets, and Peja Stojaković of the Kings...
In short, many fans were already calling the '96 generation a "golden generation."
He Xi Meng and Ray Allen, both belonging to the golden generation, were considered both teammates and rivals!
What was even more special about Ray Allen was that in his first three seasons, he was more like a dunker, popular with Bucks fans for his outstanding physical talent. However, starting this season, Ray Allen began to diligently practice his three-point shooting, and increased the proportion of three-point attempts in his games.
In the previous three seasons, Ray Allen's average three-point attempts per game were 3.6, 4.5, and 4.2, with made shots of 1.4, 1.6, and 1.5, and shooting percentages of 39.3%, 36.4%, and 35.6% respectively!
However, in the games played so far this season, Ray Allen is averaging 5 attempts per game, making 2.1 shots, with a shooting percentage of 42.3%!
Across the entire league, Ray Allen ranks second in both average made three-pointers and three-point percentage!
And the player ranked first is the Spurs' number 4 point guard standing before him, He Xi Meng!
This season, thanks to the defensive attention drawn by the Spurs' twin towers, He Xi Meng's three-point shooting percentage has slightly increased compared to last season, reaching a terrifying 44.2%! This is nearly 2 percentage points higher than Ray Allen and nearly 4 percentage points higher than Reggie Miller...
And in terms of average made three-pointers, He Xi Meng is far ahead of the entire league!
In an era where the entire league only uses the three-point shot as a threat, He Xi Meng truly treats the three-point shot as the foundation of his game!
Currently, He Xi Meng controls his shot attempts to around 15 per game for the Spurs!
Tim Duncan's field goal attempts are currently the highest on the Spurs, averaging around 17 per game.
David Robinson ranks third, averaging around 13 attempts.
He Xi Meng ranks second, taking the middle ground between the two, around 15 attempts!
And of these 15 attempts, at least half are from beyond the three-point line! This means He Xi Meng is attempting about 8 three-pointers per game, making 3.5 of them, and scoring 10.5 points from three-point range! This proportion is unmatched in the current league, a truly unique presence...