Chapter 1438 1437. The Four Unpredictable Favorites to Win (Ask for Monthly Votes)

The second round of the playoffs is in full swing.

After the first two games of each series, the tone of the second round has been basically set. Today, two completely unpredictable second rounds appeared.

It's really hard to say about the game.

The Bulls won the first home game very steadily. Before the second home game, everyone thought that the Bulls would take a steady 2-0 lead. The Hawks could only find a way to drag the game into a decisive battle when they returned to their home court.

But unexpectedly, the Bulls were scored 65 points by Liu Mang, which set a new record for the Bulls' playoff loss this season.

After the dance, amid the fans' unstoppable shouts, the referee silently urged the players of the two teams to play quickly.

McGrady, who was still reluctant, took off his outer dance costume in the dark expression of Coach Kruger and went on the court to shoot to warm up his hands.

At 7:30, the Bulls players, who were already extremely angry, and the Hawks players who tried to adjust their emotions back to the game state, started the third game of the series.

When people thought that the Hawks, who had already tied 1-1, would pursue the victory at home, the Hawks lost the home advantage with 82-91.

The Hawks played badly at home, scoring only 9 points in the first quarter. The Hawks tried to start the game with Liu Mang's singles inside, but they made a wrong choice and did not strengthen the key to winning the previous game as expected.

Another key point is that Liu Mang's pre-match dance made McGrady bear the title of "Latin Dance King", becoming the fourth NBA Dance King after Liu Mang, Prince and James, but made the Bulls play the craziest defense in this year's playoffs.

The Hawks were 11 points behind 9-20 in the first quarter, which put the Hawks in a passive state throughout the game. Although Liu Mang scored 11 points in the third quarter and Jason Terry and McGrady scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, they could not save the defeat.

Liu Mang only made 6 of 24 shots in the whole game with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists. The key reason for losing this game was Liu Mang.

Of course, Liu Mang also took the initiative to take responsibility after the game.

"If only I could shoot a few more shots..."

Liu Mang's words should have made the headlines. Even if it wasn't Liu Mang who made the headlines, it should have been the Bulls' win on the road.

But this time, it was the "Latin Dance King" incident that made the headlines...

...

The Nuggets easily defeated the Warriors 121-111 away from home with a score of 3-0.

The Hawks lost at home and gave away their home advantage. On May 9, Liu Mang began to practice low post.

In the last game, he wanted to play in the low post, but his reaction and movements were different from the previous game. Although he had practiced hard the day before, he was still far behind Kobe. He was too confident and only made 1 of 6 shots in the low post. He drifted to the outside and fell into the opponent's defensive strategy.

At least he had to maintain a certain low post hit rate, and he had to find a better solution to the defensive strategy shown by the Bulls in the third game. Liu Mang studied these things on the rest day on the 9th.

On the evening of the 9th, the third game of the series between the Cavaliers and the Magic, and the Lakers and the Suns started.

The Magic, who returned to their home court, did not give the Cavaliers a chance. This time, even James only made 7 of 25 shots, less than 30% of the hit rate, and only got 19 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Only two people on the Cavaliers scored in double digits, James' 19 points and Larry Hughes' 22 points, Peja only got 9 points. In the playoffs, Peja was as soft as ever when his teammates did not perform well.

76 to 95, the Cavaliers lost to the Magic with a 19-point disadvantage away from home.

On the Lakers side, they played more fiercely on the road. Gasol was not soft today. He was not afraid of the physical confrontation between O'Neal and Josh Smith as before and only floated on the outside to shoot and pass. This time he tried his best to dig into the inside, and Yao Ming and Kobe also kept going to the inside. At the beginning, O'Neal committed two fouls, which caused huge problems for the rotation of the Suns.

Gasol scored 18 points, a new series high, Yao Ming scored 33 points, and Kobe caused 6 fouls in the interior of the Suns and got 14 free throws in the whole game, plus Odom, who averaged 15 rebounds per game in this series, cooperated with Wang Zhizhi, Radmanovic, Fisher and other shooters to grasp the open shots from the outside, and with a score difference of 128 to 115, 13 points, they regained the home advantage.

The Hawks' loss was unexpected, and the Cavaliers fell behind 1 to 2 after three games. Not many people thought before the start of the second round. It was also unexpected that the Lakers played better away after losing at home.

The Nuggets have already stepped into the conference finals with a 3-0 lead, and no one could have imagined that...

Iverson had just joined the Nuggets and helped them reach this point. It is basically certain that they will tie the team record of reaching the conference finals created by Alex English and Kelvin Knight in the 1984-85 season. This has greatly improved the evaluation of Iverson after the transformation.

…

"The most suspenseful second round in the new century"

After the third game of the second round was played, the NBA official gave this evaluation.

No one could predict what would happen next. The Hawks and the Suns both grabbed a home advantage in the first two away games, but the Bulls and the Lakers both took back the home advantage in the first game of the next away trip.

That is to say, at least the fifth game is needed, and the Hawks and the Suns both perform better away from home than at home, so it is really hard to say which two teams will advance in these two rounds of the series.

Judging from the first three games of the second round, the Hawks, Bulls, Suns, and Lakers are undoubtedly the biggest favorites for the championship this season.

Even if the Nuggets make it to the Western Conference Finals, they are unlikely to be the opponents of the Suns or the Lakers.

If the Magic beat the Cavaliers and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, they are unlikely to be the opponents of the Hawks or the Bulls.

The Magic had a record of 1 win and 3 losses against the two teams in the regular season. Even if they promoted Turkoglu in the second half of the season, they lost badly when they met the Raiders or the Bulls.

It is possible that the four favorites for the championship will be eliminated in the second round. This is the first time in the playoffs in the past twelve years, especially this year, the Mavericks were eliminated in the first round, and the Cavaliers, the first in another division, will be eliminated by the Magic, who are nearly 20 wins behind. This year's playoffs are becoming more and more attractive.

…

On May 10, the Hawks faced the Bulls in the fourth game of the series at home.

Liu Mang really started to shoot wildly this time, as he had promised to shoot more!

Not only Liu Mang, but also McGrady and Jason Terry started to shoot wildly with Liu Mang when they were on the court.

The double-wave combination became the three-wave Hawks!

Moreover, in the fourth game, the Hawks' tactical strategy was greatly adjusted.

In the second regular season match, Liu Mang realized that he had to stick to his own style of play when playing against the Bulls. If the opponent wanted to drag the game into a defensive battle, he could not be dragged into it and had to stick to the principle of offensive play.

The first three games of the playoffs were played like this.

However, the whistle scale in the playoffs was much looser than that in the regular season. It is true that the Hawks have two popular superstars, but Garnett is also a popular superstar, so except for the home whistle, the whistle scale did not change much in the two home courts, and they were very loose, which was very conducive to defense.

The Hawks lost the third game, which had a lot to do with the tactical mistakes made by not grasping the scale of the whistle, which was why they only scored 9 points in the first quarter.

But this time, the Hawks did not play tactics, but started the Mavericks-style offensive tactics, and the ball was absolutely concentrated on the three Hawks.

On the other hand, this time the Hawks played a defensive lineup of one pit and four strong players and a lineup of five defensive strong players, that is, when Jason Terry was on the court, the best defensive players were sent to the other four positions. When Liu Mang and McGrady were on the court and Jason Terry was not, the other three positions tried to send the best defensive players.

Physical fitness... I don't care!

Marion and Kwame Brown almost did not rest throughout the game, and they were always roaming on the outside!

Liu Mang played very recklessly today, desperately rushing for offensive rebounds, not afraid of injury or death, and was fiercely slapped to the floor several times by Ben Wallace, Big Z, Garnett and others.

He was really injured, but Liu Mang now has injury potions and superstar value. He was immediately healed after being attacked and injured, and got up to fight again.

His hit rate... was still average, but Liu Mang learned the desperate play of another No. 24 and got 15 free throws in a single game!

He made 12 of 15 free throws, 9 of 27 shots, 3 of 9 three-pointers, and scored 33 points and 14 rebounds in the game, including 6 offensive rebounds. With McGrady's 21 points and Jason Terry's 18 points, the Hawks won the second home court with a score of 102 to 89!

...

After four games, the Hawks and the Bulls tied 2-2, and did not get the "battle cry" feature they originally wanted to counter Garnett's annoying "roar".

Liu Mang doesn't like Garnett at all, but he has to say that if the team had gotten Garnett last summer, this season's championship would have been a foregone conclusion. With Garnett, there would be no lack of "morale". Although it's not pleasing, if there is really such a villain-like teammate, it will be a huge improvement for any championship-contending team.

Moreover, this is the fourth superstar among active players, second only to Kobe, Liu Mang himself, and Duncan.

Liu Mang believes that if Garnett is replaced by any super power forward other than Duncan, the original Celtics Big Three will have no chance of winning the championship. Garnett, who won the best defensive player at the age of 32, is the key to winning the championship.

After all, Pierce and Ray Allen are only second-team players at best, and they are more than a level lower than Garnett, who has been in the double first team for many years and won the MVP.

After four games, Liu Mang had expected that this series would be difficult, but... he didn't expect it to be even more difficult than he imagined!