Chapter 1191 1190. The Second Round Begins
The Suns and Clippers played a seven-game series, but Nash was still the better team. In the tiebreaker, Nash scored 45 points, helping the Suns beat the Clippers 113-109 and advance to the second round.
The Suns played seven games in this series, rested for one day, and the second round of the series will start on May 7. The Zen Master was laughing behind his back, saying that brothers in the same city are good, and the Clippers gave them a big assist.
On May 6, the tiebreaker between the Cavaliers and the 76ers, which the Hawks had been waiting for for a long time, finally came.
In the end, the Cavaliers, who had the home advantage, took the initiative after returning to their home court. Larry Hughes finally successfully defended Iverson in one game in the series, limiting Iverson to only 10 of 33 shots, scoring only 29 points and 5 assists, while James scored 33 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists steadily, helping the Cavaliers beat the 76ers 92-80 in the tiebreaker and advance to the second round.
Finally, all the games in the first round have been played, and the matchups for the second round have been announced.
The Suns and Lakers, Heat and Nets, these two rounds of series will start on May 7; the Spurs and Mavericks, Hawks and Cavaliers will start on May 8.
The Hawks coaching staff called their players and informed them to report at 9 a.m. on May 7 to start training against the Cavaliers.
For the Hawks, waiting for five days is not a waste. The players' technical training and regular tactical training have been maintained. Moreover, the Cavaliers have to rush from Cleveland on the 7th, so they don't have as much preparation time as the Hawks.
Although the Cavaliers knew that their opponent in the second round was the Hawks before they advanced, they had more time to prepare tactics, but they couldn't have much time to prepare for the second round. They didn't know they would definitely advance until the seventh game was over. Although the Cavaliers and the 76ers were definitely confident of advancing, they definitely didn't prepare much.
Overall, the Hawks had more time to prepare. After all, in five days, the coaching staff could change teams every day to prepare tactics.
In addition, the team had an advantage in strength, so the coaching staff was not panicked at all.
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Seeing Iverson eliminated in the first round, Liu Mang felt a little regretful.
James and Iverson, two stars, Liu Mang wanted to play against them.
Unfortunately, he could only choose one of them...
After Liu Mang received Stockton's call, he watched Iverson and James hugging and chatting for a long time on TV, and felt weird. Did the two of them have feelings for each other?
Iverson averaged 31 points, 3 rebounds, 10 assists and 3.3 steals per game in the series, while James averaged 30.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game. They were evenly matched. Iverson had a slight advantage overall, but James had relatively better helpers, Larry Hughes and Big Z. Compared with these two, Iverson's teammates were a little worse. Webber was blown up by Big Z.
Iverson has a strange personality, but James has a good temper. It's not like the 2001 finals, when Kobe and Iverson didn't say a word. After the game, they still felt a sense of mutual appreciation.
Liu Mang felt a little regretful for not being able to play against Iverson again, but he was still very excited to play against James in the playoffs.
"Mangzi, don't be careless in the second round. James's skills are not good. You should be able to beat him easily." Liu Mang's father looked like he knew a lot about basketball.
"Yes, yes, yes." Liu Mang knew, of course, that he couldn't be careless.
You can be careless against anyone, but Liu Mang will never be careless against James and Wade.
The only thing missing is these two leaders of the 2003 generation. If you beat them, the second talent skill can be opened!
The second round of the series is finally here, and it's the series with James who has been looking forward to it for three years!
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On May 7, the Hawks began intensive preparations at home. With the warning bell of the first game of the first round, the Hawks players were no longer so relaxed this time.
Moreover, the opponent is James...
After two training sessions against the Cavaliers in the morning and a team meeting after the training to discuss additional tactics, a group of Hawks gathered together during the break after lunch.
"Ace, LeBron played very well in the first round. His statistics are much better than yours. How can we play with him?" Jason Terry asked.
"Play, play, you only know how to play. We were abused on the 21st and you don't know to be more vigilant?" Liu Mang refuted.
"Then Ace, what is drawn on your tactical board?" Jason Terry pointed at the tactical board in Liu Mang's hand and asked.
"The tactics that Mike and I discussed against LeBron, our defensive training tomorrow morning is to practice this, Mike and I have discussed it for several days."
"Let me see, what kind of tactics is this! You still say you don't want to play?"
"No, no, no, I really don't want to play, I just want to kill him..."
...
James arrived at the parking lot of the Phillips Arena, blowing the mountain breeze of the Appalachian Mountains, and sneezed.
"Atlanta is a good place, but the climate is too humid." James said to his substitute Newbell.
"It's easy to catch a cold here, but the humid weather is good for the skin." Newbell cares a lot about his appearance.
"Ira, you're right. In the summer, I like to go to the West Coast or the South Coast, where the climate is humid, to maintain my appearance." James responded, then spread his arms and enjoyed the humid mountain breeze of the Appalachian Mountains.
"Ira, do you want to meet up with Ace and the others?"
"No, I'm going to practice."
"Me too, I won't meet up this time, because I'm going to play against Ace in the knockout match..."
James and Newbell walked into the Phillips Arena, walked through the normal passage for visiting players and fans, and entered the visiting locker room.
James and Newbell were able to get together because they are both "proficient" in maintenance, but it's hard to say how effective it is for their appearance.
Anyway, Newbell's hairline is getting higher and higher in the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers played the 76ers at home last night, and rushed from Cleveland to Atlanta at noon today. It was already lunch time when they arrived.
James and his teammates went to the hotel to have a meal together, and then came to the Phillips Arena for training.
Not everyone came. Some people needed to rest, and James couldn't control it. The team didn't arrange training this afternoon. They just played a tiebreaker and only had one day to rest before they had to play the second round of the series.
After 13 years, the Cavaliers once again made it to the second round of the playoffs. It was undoubtedly an exciting thing for the Cavaliers players, but for the 31-year-old veteran Big Z, he played 36 minutes per game in the first round, a full 10 minutes more than the regular season, and needed to rest.
And the Cavaliers don't have many young players. Newbell, who left the Hawks for a few years, is 31 years old and has started to lose his hair.
However, Newbell saw James secretly raising his headband by one centimeter, and he immediately felt balanced. They are all headband men, and Newbell knows what this kind of thing means.
When James arrived at this stadium, the championship had a bit of a cold atmosphere around him, but he was used to it. It was like this every time he came here...
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On the evening of May 7, the series between the Lakers and the Suns, and the series between the Heat and the Nets kicked off the second round of the playoffs.
Both games were broadcast live nationwide. In the second round of the playoffs, five of the remaining seven teams, except the Hawks, are the opponents that the Hawks may encounter next.
So the entire Hawks team stayed at the Philips Arena to watch these two national live broadcasts together. The Lakers and the Heat are both opponents that the Hawks are very likely to encounter next. It is even possible that the Lakers and the Heat are the opponents of the Hawks in the remaining two rounds of the series.
Compared with the offensive and defensive confrontation between the Suns and the Spurs last year, the Lakers and the Suns played much uglier this year. Nash only sent out 7 assists, and the score was not as explosive as last year, only 20 points.
And Dio, who replaced Stoudemire as the center, was really miserable in the playoffs. In the first round, Brand averaged more than 30 points per game, and in the second round, he met Yao Ming...
37 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks, 4 assists, Yao Ming went crazy in the first game of the second round, he could dunk after receiving the ball, and he had one on one, and there was no double-teaming in the interior, Yao Ming played like a joke.
Stoudemire was out, and the Suns seemed to have no problems in the regular season, but in the playoffs, they were blown up by the opponent's super inside line for two consecutive series.
The Zen Master took advantage of the difference in the lineups of both sides and played D'Antoni.
D'Antoni, although he had an advantage on the outside, insisted on running and gunning. D'Antoni just didn't know how to use it. Moreover, Eddie House and James Jones, who played well in the regular season, suddenly didn't need them in the playoffs. He had to use Nash, Raja Bell, Barbosa, Tim Thomas, Jim Jackson, Marion, and Dio's seven-man rotation to death. No one more was allowed, and he insisted on playing a seven-man rotation.
95 to 88, the Lakers limited the Suns to only 88 points and defeated the Suns at home.
The Suns had seven players on the court, and six scored in double digits. If it was just based on the six players scoring in double digits, it would look really good.
But only seven people scored, the highest was only 20 points, and the second highest Dio only made 6 of 23 shots and scored 14 points, and was beaten by the Lakers.
When Liu Mang and Mike Woodson studied the Lakers' defense together, they felt that the weirdest thing was that the Lakers' defense against the Suns was too effective. D'Antoni seemed to be directing the Suns to actively move forward and let the Lakers defend.
The same "chef" who has won the best coach, Zen Master, if you give him Jordan and Pippen, he can make a big dish; if you give him Kobe and O'Neal, he can make another big dish; if you give him Kobe and Yao Ming, he can make another big dish.
But D'Antoni, no matter what ingredients he gives him, he can only make sour and spicy potato shreds... Everyone likes it, but it is not good enough in the playoffs.
However, the next game between the Nets and the Heat will be more interesting in terms of skills and tactics.