With 75 wins in a single season, Link added another brilliant stroke to his already dazzling career.
The day after the regular season ended, a whole host of experts and fans immediately slapped the label "never to be broken" onto the Grizzlies' 75 wins, just as they had once done with 72 wins.
ESPN promptly announced that it would release a documentary this summer chronicling the Grizzlies' entire 75-win campaign.
Before long, they contacted the Grizzlies again, hoping to follow the team throughout the playoffs. Naturally, the goal was to make a championship documentary at the same time.
In an instant, the Grizzlies' popularity became unmatched. The last team to command this much attention had been the Bulls of the 1990s!
Indeed, since the start of the twenty-first century, teams as beloved as the Bulls had nearly vanished.
Though the Lakers and Spurs dominated the league in the early years of the century, neither reached the Bulls' heights. The Lakers' popularity during Kobe's back-to-back championship run had certainly been frightening, but they still fell a little short of the Bulls.
After that, the Heat, Cavaliers, and Warriors were all highly controversial, while the Spurs, Thunder, and others simply lacked widespread appeal.
Only the Grizzlies, this unyielding small-market team, captured the attention of most of the league.
A few years ago, the Grizzlies and Link had still been villains, and fans had regarded them only as championship thieves.
But now, they were hailed as the true kings of the league.
Their support was at an all-time high. Though the Grizzlies had already won three championships over the previous four years, fans still wanted to see them keep winning.
Their 75 wins naturally became a favorite topic among fans and the media.
Of course, aside from marveling at the Grizzlies' magical regular