Chapter 834 The Playoffs Begin

The next day, Li Shengli and Kobe set off for Washington.

The All-Star Game is scheduled later, so Li Shengli and Kobe Bryant got in touch with Jordan first. Jordan, who suffered an inexplicable disaster some time ago, is in good spirits these days. Even if the Wizards are the hosts and no one plays in the All-Star Game, it doesn't matter because of the Wizards' reorganization. The daily routine has been improved, and even the preliminary work went very smoothly.

The trade deadline of each season is roughly around the All-Star break.

Prior to this, the Wizards had completed a transaction with the Mavericks. As expected, Laettner and several teammates were packed up and moved to a new club with Juwan Howard. Under Jordan's operation... the Wizards entered a period of lineup reconstruction. Waiting for a core to be reorganized, the goal is directly towards next season.

However, the trade plan between the Lakers and Wizards has not yet been carried out.

Because Li Shengli had communicated with West, West felt that there was no need to go too early, so the original lineup continued to play this season. However, several small transactions were sought on the original basis, and several veterans who were about to retire were invited. , including former Bulls defensive back Ron Harper.

The operation in the past few years can't be said to be that of a nursing home in Los Angeles.

But the problem is that the career lifespan of the selection is really not small, and what West considers is... Compared with newcomers, veterans perform more stably. When the Lakers' core is all determined, there is no need to bet on newcomers whose performance fluctuates. , just choose a slightly healthier veteran.

As for the trade case with the Wizards.

West wanted to delay it. After all, Grant's integration effect was quite good. He planned to 'squeeze' Grant's residual value before selling it. This matter was decided for the time being, and then it was the All-Star Game.

…

The center in the Eastern Conference is in labor.

But to be honest, it would be better to play Mutombo and Big Ben, because Garnett, Iverson, Carter, Marbury, Ray Allen, and Tracy McGrady are all attackers, and the All-Stars take a huge number of shots. The ball rights given up by Mutombo and Ben were considerable.

What is more embarrassing is that the increased shots did not give the Eastern Conference the lead.

Ray Allen made 1 of 7 three-pointers. Tracy McGrady, who played in his first All-Star game, made 1 of 4 in 21 minutes, with 2 points and 1 rebound. Carter made 7 of 18 and was completely unable to hit the paint, especially the combination of Li Shengli and Duncan. Peak insider.

Compared to the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference simply tore through the Eastern Conference in the first three quarters.

Malone played as a substitute this time, and he told Li Shengli that he came to help Stockton, who did not come this time, to show up. He only played 4 points, so Duncan had plenty of time, and Robinson was almost the same. He only played 2 minutes in the third quarter, and most of the time was in the final quarter.

Li Shengli and Duncan team up? !

They played for a full 30 minutes, and the Eastern Conference was disgusted for a full 30 minutes. Duncan played so well that he peeked at Robinson from time to time, which made Robinson very embarrassed... What do you mean? Ma wants to pack up and run away with Li Shengli?

In fact, Li Shengli didn't really pass a few balls to Duncan, but Duncan was just happy.

Because both Mutombo and Big Ben are running towards Li Shengli. This is something that Robinson, who has a twilight love with him, cannot do when encountering these two defensive centers outside. He can score and grab rebounds comfortably.

Li Shengli took care of Kobe more.

Compared to the sluggish attackers on the opposite side, Kobe was in a much better situation. After three quarters, he failed to score a free throw. In the All-Star Game, which had so many performances, no one wanted to touch Kobe when watching Li Shengli. After all, Jaylen Rose, who stepped on Kobe Bryant's black foot some time ago, didn't end well.

Until the end of the third quarter.

The Western Conference led by 20 points, and this time the Western Conference head coach was Rick Adelman of the Kings. He started to make substitutions, replacing Li Shengli with Robinson. Webber, who is currently playing for the Kings, also replaced Duncan to stabilize the situation.

The problem lies in the last quarter.

After the inside defense downgraded, Iverson and Marbury went crazy.

Marbury's touch was not bad before, but not many people gave him the ball; Iverson can't say that his touch was bad, but he was made uncomfortable by Li Shengli + Duncan's internal defense and his breakthrough was blocked, but he was obviously much more comfortable in the final quarter, and Marbury's crazy attack, coupled with Mutombo and Big Ben's defensive shifts, the point difference immediately shrunk.

Judging from the data in the West.

As long as the Western Conference can win, Kobe with 20 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists will definitely be the MVP. But now the Eastern Conference is chasing points too fiercely, so Li Shengli can only ask Rick Adelman for some time, and also give Duncan some time. After all, he O'Neal and Garnett may not be able to withstand the power of the combination with Duncan.

Adelman agreed, but he couldn't allocate more time, so Li Shengli and Duncan only appeared in the middle of the last quarter, played for 3 minutes and stabilized the situation, and in the last 3 minutes... the West still led by 8 points. , Adelman once again replaced players who didn't play much at other times to balance the game.

Just within these 3 minutes, Iverson and Marbury made a comeback again.

They fought until the last ball and the score was 110:111. The West was temporarily leading by 1 point. The bad news was that the ball was in the hands of the East, and Li Shengli could only sit back and watch the East arrange the final victory. Iverson out hand.

According to the data of Iverson and Kobe being the best on both sides...

Iverson scored for Iverson, but Iverson couldn't score for Kobe.

However, it was a pity for Iverson who had taken the initiative. He knocked Finley down and missed his shot. The Eastern Conference lost by 1 point. Kobe just took away the All-Star MVP. And after the All-Star Game... the regular season There was not much left. After everyone returned to the team, they immediately focused all their energy on the remaining games, including the upcoming playoffs.

…

Unlike usual, the second half of the regular season this year lasted until the final stage.

The two teams of Hu and Kaili that originally dominated the East and West had some minor problems in the second half of the game...

The Celtics' Big Three suffered minor injuries one after another, and they never got together in the final game. Although they were still very strong, the first place in the Eastern Conference was taken by the 76ers, who suddenly emerged, which made the whole league look at them. The Philadelphia 76ers It has been 18 years since the last summit in the East in 1983.

Li Shengli's problem with the Lakers is not too big, and Kobe Bryant's recovery is no problem. Really speaking, the injury problem is not as big as that of the Celtics, but in serious games, the winning rate is not as high as that of the Spurs, and I don't know that the Spurs What happened? In the second half of the season, they had several winning streaks, rose up together with the 76ers, separated the east and west, and actually squeezed out Hukai.

Of course, the gap between first and second in the East and West is not that big.

It's just that the rise of the 76ers and Spurs has allowed the entire league to see a third color besides yellow and green, and as soon as the last game day of the regular season is played... the entire playoff pattern is different from the previous seasons.

Just in the west...

The Spurs were first, the Lakers were second, the originally strong Jazz fell to fifth, and third place was taken by the Kings led by Webber.

From eighth last season to third this season.

The Kings have improved greatly, and in addition to Webber, Peja Stojakovic, an atypical big man from the outside, plays the most important role. He is 206 meters tall and has excellent three-point accuracy. He averaged 11.9 points per game last season. It reached 20.4 points in the season. In addition, there were increases in other statistics. Therefore, the leaping king from eighth to third, Peja Stojakovic, made a great contribution.

Also making a leap this year is the Mavericks, who jumped from ninth last season to fourth this season.

Cuban brought new changes to the team. After that... Nowitzki improved a lot, and Nash even more so. He became a first-line point guard in one fell swoop. Not to mention the Mavericks and Wizards traded for Juwan Howard. Although His performance in leading the Wizards was not good, but when he came to the Mavericks, he was also a strong inside line with 18+7 points. Even Da Zhi's time and statistics have been greatly improved. He averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds per game, which is not much, but it is enough for a role player.

The strong teams in the Western Conference are starting to change their teams, and the same is true in the Eastern Conference.

The 76ers reached the top, the Celtics retreated to the second tier, the Bucks, who were eighth last season, rushed to third, and the Heat, which was previously second, slipped to fourth, so the same top four changed two seats, and Hu Kai's dominance They have all been challenged, no matter what the outside world says... After such a long time, the Lakers are ready for the playoffs and will play the seventh-place Trail Blazers in the Western Conference in the first round.