Chapter 1563 1562. Incredible Event!
Compared to the Lakers who were suppressed by the five-star Jazz in the regular time, and had to rely on the inside line to let Kobe play mid-range singles in the last quarter, and won the game with the super firepower that Kobe burst out of his resentment against the Jazz; the Suns played against the Spurs, which was too stable!
Josh Smith averaged 31 points and 9 rebounds, Nash averaged 15 points and 10.7 assists, O'Neal averaged 15 points and 7 rebounds, Calderon 8 points and 5.3 assists, and the cores of both lineups played amazing performances!
The Spurs had a big problem!
The most critical point was the excessive teamwork. Duncan averaged 16 points and 14 rebounds, Ginobili averaged 18 points and 4 assists, and Parker averaged 15 points and 9 assists... The three strongest players of the Spurs scored too little, and when they needed to score at the critical moment, it was not as clear as the Suns.
The key moments of the Suns are Josh Smith and Nash pick-and-roll, or O'Neal's high-profile inside play, and they are determined to score. The Spurs have been working hard to develop towards "team and selflessness" in the regular season, and they are a little too persistent in this regard, just like the extreme Mavericks who once developed in the opposite direction to another extreme.
Of course, the strength of the Suns is the key!
In the regular season, the Suns have repeatedly defeated strong teams. If you really want to count, the Suns have defeated the top five in the East and the top nine in the West more times than the Spurs, almost the same as the Lakers!
The Spurs system, which has taken shape, is still just a prototype after all. There are always many problems with the new system, and the Suns have two lineups, one running and gunning, and the other traditional positional warfare, which are already very mature tactical play. When the Suns wanted to fight while O'Neal still had All-Star strength, the Spurs couldn't stop it.
The Raptors were very tenacious. After losing the home advantage in the first game, they relied on Joe Johnson's key three-pointer in the second game to defend the second home court with a score of 104 to 100. Then in the third game in Orlando, they fought for two overtimes. Milicic played a luxurious triple-double of 45 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists in 52 minutes, helping the Raptors regain the home advantage with a score of 131 to 129.
Except for the first game where the Magic suppressed the Raptors, the two teams played evenly in the next two games. Fans thought that the Magic had a sure win after grabbing the home advantage in the first game, but now it seems that everything is unknown.
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"Carlos is so useless! He gave them so many suggestions, but they were beaten 3 to 0." Liu Mang complained while looking at the white clouds outside the window.
"In fact, they did a good job. They almost won in two games. Without Kobe's two buzzer-beaters, they would have won 2 to 1." McGrady has a different opinion.
"If we lose, we lose, no matter what the reason is." Liu Mang responded.
McGrady understood Liu Mang's pun and smiled, "I understand, we are fine, and my teammates are worried that you will be angry."
"Well..." Liu Mang continued to look at the white clouds outside the window...
On May 14, Liu Mang and his teammates flew back to Atlanta.
Yesterday, the Hawks were dragged to the fifth game by the tenacious Bulls, 82 to 75. The Bulls won a game in their second home court with rough defense.
The scale of the whistle in this game was very large, which was extremely favorable to the Bulls. It is hard to say that the league did not want the Hawks to sell more home tickets. After all, nearly half of the playoff tickets have to be handed over to the league.
However, the Bulls did defend well. They were better at using that kind of penalty scale. This scale was not only for the Hawks. The Hawks did not get fouled even though they made big defensive moves. It was just that the group without Garnett was better at playing this way.
Since it was the same scale, the Hawks were convinced. Anyway, it was 3 to 1. If they returned to their home court and tried hard again, they would probably win.
The Hawks were quite open-minded.
For Liu Mang, it was a little annoying that the "War Cry" feature returned to level 1, which meant that he had to defeat Garnett again to upgrade.
However, this feature was specifically for Garnett and would not have much impact on the next playoffs. Liu Mang felt much more comfortable.
What Liu Mang cared about was the Suns and the Lakers!
Last night when the Hawks and the Bulls tied 3 to 1, the Spurs were swept by the Suns.
121 to 114, with Jason Richardson's two three-pointers at the critical moment and Ginobili's three-point layup, the Suns held the 1-point difference and pulled it to 7 points, locking in the victory.
The Spurs, who once almost tied the winning rate of the Hawks in the first 41 games of the 2005-06 season, fell in the second round, exposing many problems in the Spurs system.
Missing a spearhead who can contribute on both offense and defense!
Originally, Popovich wanted Artest to play this role. Artest's performance in the Rockets this year was fully capable of this task, but it was also fate. They were eliminated in the first round last year, and they offended Artest in the offensive role. The boss was reluctant to pay more money...
No one expected that the Suns would be the first to enter the divisional finals. People began to pay attention to this team again.
...
Tomorrow, the fifth game will be played against the Bulls. The coaching staff arranged a simple task for the players, rest!
In fact, in yesterday's game, the Hawks felt that the Bulls were already at the end of their strength. They were just trailing 0-3, and the Bulls, unwilling to be swept, burst into life and won the game by taking advantage of the loose whistle.
The Hawks need to avoid any psychological fluctuations and keep their home court.
This is not a problem for the Hawks, after all, they are leading 3-1.
However... on the day when the Hawks returned to Atlanta, several things that were almost forgotten were announced!
When Adam Silva began to turn from business to management and operation, the first thing he did was not to think about how to make the NBA better. It was as if he wanted to announce that his time was coming to an end, and he liked to make changes in some forms.
The best defensive player, the best rookie team, the best team, the best defensive team, these awards have not been announced until now... This is Adam Silva's formalism.
In the past, the awards were announced one by one, but this year Adam Silva divided them into three parts. The first two parts were fine, both in the first round. The third part took so long that there were more highlights in the second round, such as Kobe's super explosion of revenge on the Jazz, Nash leading the team to defeat the Spurs, the duel between the modern flying man and the modern Jordan, the duel between Howard and Milicic, and Liu Mang's various nonsense shouts...
At 10 o'clock in the morning on May 14, when the NBA officially announced the four major awards, people remembered that there were still these awards that had not been announced!
In terms of the best rookie team, Luis Scola, who played 65 games and averaged 19 minutes per game and scored 7.1 points and 3.4 rebounds, was selected to the second team of the rookie team. Compared with the hot discussion during last year's draft, this year's best rookie team made those "experts" and "famous scouts" look swollen.
But at least there were five players who averaged double-digit points per game: Juan Navarro, Al Thornton, Jeff Green, Kevin Durant, and Al Horford.
If Scola had more playing time, it would be no problem for him to average double digits.
In terms of the best lineup, Liu Mang, Kobe, Paul, Duncan, James, and Milicic were selected for the first team, of which Kobe and Paul received the same number of votes.
Nash, Iverson, Deron, Josh Smith, McGrady, Garnett, Nowitzki, and Yao Ming were selected for the second team.
Ginobili is also a strange man. He got the first best lineup of his career as a substitute, and was selected for the third team with Parker, Roy, Reed, Iguodala, Boozer, Gasol, Bynum, and Kwame Brown.
There were too many ties this year. In addition to Liu Mang's first vote exceeding 100, only James' first vote exceeded 60, and he got 65 first votes. Even Kobe and Paul only had the same 35 first votes, Duncan had 59 first votes, Garnett and McGrady both had 40 first votes. In addition to Liu Mang and James, whose votes were very concentrated, every reporter and commentator had their own opinions on the first votes of other positions.
Milicic was selected as the first-team center, with only 3 more first-team votes than Yao Ming, who was selected as the second-team center. However, Milicic received a much higher total vote rate than Yao Ming.
Bynum and Kwame Brown both received 15 first-team votes, and O'Neal, who was tragically excluded from the best center, received 10 first-team votes...
The center position, where only one person can be selected, is so chaotic, let alone other positions.
In short, the NBA will have to spend a lot more money to create the best team trophy this time...
Except for the Spurs, who dominated the regular season, the top nine teams in the Western Conference this year performed equally well in the regular season. Those who had the right to vote cast their votes for those they admired more. Nowitzki was pushed to the second team... Although his personal performance was worthy, the team as a whole was still a little worse, which to a large extent shows how fierce the competition for the best team this year was.
The best defensive team... was very simple...
Liu Mang, Kobe, Garnett, Duncan, and Milicic were selected for the first defense together.
In terms of the second defense, Chris Paul, Prince, Artest, Josh Smith, and Dwight Howard were selected together.
Raja Bell, Iguodala, Kwame Brown, Hinrich, James, and others also received high votes, but there was no tie among the ten, so they were unfortunately eliminated.
Kwame Brown, who just got home and learned that he was not selected for the best defensive team, felt tears flying...
Who told Kwame Brown to play only 31 minutes per game this season, averaging 15.3 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, it was a miracle to squeeze Howard out of the best team, and to squeeze Howard out of the best defensive team again... that would be too lawless.
Liu Mang and the three girls and two kids just got home and saw the live broadcast of the press conference.
This award ceremony was very sudden, and just like the MVP, it came suddenly, without prior notice, and directly held an official press conference.
Liu Mang guessed with his toes that it was the ghost idea of the bald vice president. There will be more and more such things in the future, and Liu Mang chose to get used to it.
The rookie lineup and double lineup were announced. Liu Mang was very satisfied to see that he was selected to the double first team for two consecutive years. He played 37 minutes per game this season and had 3 blocks per game. He fought so hard. If he didn't get the first defense, Liu Mang should cry...
Due to various reasons, Liu Mang played very hard in the regular season defense this season. In addition, McGrady also played very hard. With the help of Wade, Liu Mang's defensive data was very good, which impressed the head coaches of various teams and was selected to the first defense for two consecutive years.
"Dina, I'm going to take a nap. After lunch, come with me to get the two first-team trophies!"
"Trophy!" The little Lolita, a trophy lover, had her eyes brightened: "Hmm... Uncle, Dina will gently call you up for lunch... Ah... Uncle, come quickly!"
Liu Mang just went upstairs and heard screams downstairs. He thought something happened to the little Lolita and ran down quickly.
"What's wrong, Dina? Did you cut your hand with a fruit knife or something?" Liu Mang ran to the little Lolita and saw that the little Lolita looked panicked but not terrified. Instead, she felt like she had won the lottery after her house caught fire...
And she was pointing at the TV! Her mouth was so wide open that she couldn't speak.
Liu Mang followed the little Lolita's finger and looked at the TV...
A small statue with its hands spread out in a defensive posture stood on a platform. The most obvious words on the platform were "DPOY", and that face, Liu Mang felt like he had seen it somewhere...
"Damn! Isn't this my face?"