Stern glanced at Xiao Hua, not speaking immediately.

His ideas were different from those of his predecessor, President Larry O'Brien, and Adam Xiao Hua beside him.

He was a pioneer dedicated to the globalization of the NBA, or rather, what he had been doing for so many years was promoting the NBA to the world.

Yao Ming was the most successful example.

The NBA's current influence in China was inseparable from Yao Ming.

A very obvious statistic was that after Yao Ming retired and Yi Jianlian performed poorly, the NBA's ratings and attention in China clearly decreased.

Now the league really needed a new Chinese player.

Tang Tian was undoubtedly the best choice.

However, the NBA Rookie of the Year award had always been given to the player with the most outstanding statistics.

And what Xiao Hua said was not without reason.

Tang Tian's strength was not bad, but this style of play was indeed too much like a role player, and not suitable to be a Rookie of the Year.

"Let them choose for themselves, don't interfere too much."

Stern finally spoke and made a decision.

"But..." Xiao Hua wanted to continue.

"Do you think they'll pick Tang if it's a normal vote?" Stern interrupted him.

Xiao Hua was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.

Kyrie Irving's flashy playing style, even with Tang Tian's Godfather aura, was still a big difference in the eyes of reporters.

If it was a normal vote, Tang Tian really didn't have much of a chance.

The league ultimately did not interfere with the reporters' voting.

Kyrie Irving successfully won the 2011-2012 Rookie of the Year award with an average of 19.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.

His final score was 510 points, with an overall vote rate of 50.1%.

Tang Tian ranked second, with a final score of 270 points and an overall vote rate of 18%.

"14.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.6 steals, 1.1 blocks, 49% shooting percentage, 51% three-point percentage, 18% vote rate?"

"Those people only look at stats! Tang Tian plays on the best team in the league!"

"No, they also watch the games, but they only look at how many points that person scores."

"Yes, brother! You hit the nail on the head, they don't care at all how many people Tang defends."

"Who needs defense, as long as you can score! Stats = honor."

"And whether you make the shot or not doesn't really matter, as long as you play stylishly?"

"Screw the Rookie of the Year, let's use the most powerful championship to speak!"

"Hopefully this won't affect the Godfather's performance in the playoffs, the Spurs are about to play the Clippers."

...

"The league is always doing some flashy things now." Even Popovich complained in an interview during training.

Head coaches are public figures, and public complaints can easily lead to league fines.

Popovich's statement at this time, in addition to supporting Tang Tian, had another reason because of the league's announcement of the Rookie of the Year.

The Spurs' Western Conference Semifinals against the Clippers was about to begin, and this announcement was not a good thing for the Spurs.

If Tang Tian had won the Rookie of the Year, or even narrowly lost, it would have been an encouragement to him and the Spurs.

But now the situation was exactly the opposite.

This result was more surprising than the MVP. In addition to the fans' discussion, reporters also interviewed some of the stars who were fighting in the playoffs.

Most people felt that Tang Tian should have received more votes. Many of these people had been Tang Tian's opponents, and they naturally had the right to speak.

However, Kobe had his own unique insights:

"There's no problem with this selection result. Irving is the most talented rookie, and he deserves this award. As for the others, you need to do more than complain, you need to put up performances that are enough to conquer them."

The discussion about the Rookie of the Year had not yet subsided, but the next day, the Spurs sat at home and welcomed the game against the Clippers.

Because of the two teams' regular season grudges, this matchup also attracted extra attention.

TNT sent out their commentary trio, Barkley, O'Neal, and Kenny Smith.

"Tang only got 18% of the votes, will this affect his performance tonight?"

After discussing the daily topic of who would win the series, they quickly turned to the Rookie of the Year issue.

"I think it will somewhat, this result is not very friendly, considering the Spurs' record and his personal performance, he should have gotten more votes."

Smith was now half a Godfather fan.

"I think what Kobe said is right, this thing should be spoken for with on-court performance." Barkley continued.

"No no, Kobe's words are not credible." O'Neal immediately shook his head.

Barkley and Smith were stunned for a moment, then laughed.

O'Neal and Kobe were on good terms on the surface, but he accidentally revealed his true feelings!

"Ahem, I'm just saying that Tang is a special guy, he might have an outstanding game tonight in response."

O'Neal reacted quickly and immediately changed the subject.

"I agree with that." Smith nodded in agreement.

Tang Tian, after all, was the kind of person whose actions always spoke louder than words.

Before the game started, the cameraman gave Tang Tian and Kenyon Martin a split-screen shot.

Tang Tian had given Martin a solid punch the last time the two teams played, and both of them performed well in the first round of the playoffs, which was also one of the highlights of the game.

After the opening ceremony, the two teams' starters took to the court one after another.

The Clippers were still their regular lineup, the Big Three plus Caron Butler and Randy Foye.

On the Spurs' side, Popovich did not let Duncan go up against DeAndre Jordan. He put Diaw back on the bench and used Splitter as the starting center.

The other positions were the same as in the first round, with Parker and Tang Tian on the perimeter, and Leonard and Duncan on the front line.

Jordan won the tip-off against Duncan, opening the prelude to this Western Conference Semifinals.

Paul came up and coordinated with Griffin, who broke into the paint and scored with a one-handed dunk.

Facing the Black and White Shuangsha (two towers) in the first round, he had a very uncomfortable series, and he was finally able to let loose.

On the Spurs' side, after the zip hammer play, Leonard hit a three-pointer from the baseline corner.

The Clippers' defense was still very poor. It should be noted that the Grizzlies, the team least likely to score in the league, also had two games with over 100 points in the first round.

However, their offense felt very good tonight, with Paul and Griffin firing on all cylinders inside and out.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 30 to 28, and the Clippers were still leading by 2 points.

Having scored 28 points, the Spurs' offense actually didn't have too many problems, but giving up 30 points in a single quarter in the playoffs made the old man angry.

"What the hell are you doing?! All of you better get 'hard'!"

During the timeout, the old man directly lost his temper.

After saying these words, he waved his hand and directly arranged a lineup that he thought was hard enough.

Ginobili, Tang Tian, Green, Leonard, and Diaw.

This was the lineup that had once collapsed the Clippers in the regular season.

When Del Negro on the opposite side saw this lineup, he felt a headache. Was this damn old man going to play this trick with him again?

His choice was... to make no adjustments.

Paul was a little bit wanting to curse in his heart.

This Del Negro was really the worst coach he had ever met!

Other teams' head coaches compressed their rotation lineups in the playoffs. Generally, teams had an 8-man rotation, and even the Spurs had a 9-man rotation.

But Del Negro was good, still playing his regular season 10-man rotation!

This was really, if the enemy doesn't move, I don't move, if the enemy moves, I still don't move!