After the Warriors grabbed a victory on the road, the other three series in the second round also began one after another.
In the first game of the series between the Cavaliers and Celtics, the result was exactly what fans expected.
James tried his best, scoring 35 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals, leading the Cavaliers to their first victory in this series.
Although the Cavaliers won, big problems were exposed.
James's all-encompassing style of play was too hard, and other teammates gave him minimal help. He basically led the team to victory on his own.
If the Cavaliers don't solve this problem, they basically won't be able to go far.
In the series between the Lakers and the Jazz, the strength of the two teams is very different.
Kobe easily scored 31 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, leading the Lakers to defeat the Jazz.
After the first game, it could be seen that the Jazz could not guard Kobe at all and could not find a way to limit the Lakers' triangle offense.
Not surprisingly, the Lakers are already halfway into the Western Conference Finals.
The series between the Magic and the Hawks is the least interesting matchup.
The entire Magic team broke out and beat the Hawks with a score of 114 to 71, a total of 43 points.
After this game, the fans firmly believed that the Magic would 100% advance to the next round.
After the first game of the second round series, the situation became polarized.
The results of some series are determined, while the results of other series are confusing.
After a day's rest, the second game of the series between the Warriors and the Suns was held again at America West Arena.
Not long after the game started, the Suns gave the Warriors a blow.
Under Nash's organization and connection, the Suns played a smooth offense and scored consecutively to widen the point difference.
In fact, the Suns didn't make any adjustments, they just made all the shots they should have made before. This is the Suns' real strength.
The Warriors are in a major crisis, with problems on both offense and defense.
On the offensive end, Sun Yi, Curry and Ellis failed to open up the situation for the team.
Sun Yi was targeted by the Suns. When he attacked with the ball, he would be double-teamed and had to give the ball away.
After the ball was passed, the Warriors still didn't get an open shot from the outside.
The Suns rotated defense very quickly, strictly guarding the Warriors' perimeter, and occasionally letting go of Maggette and Randolph to focus on guarding Sun Yi, Curry and others.
Under such a strong defense, Sun Yi's role has been greatly reduced, and he can only act as a defensive hero and contribute on the defensive end.
Curry and Ellis couldn't get out of the open space on the outside and could only shoot against the defender. However, their touch was average and their shooting percentage was obviously very poor.
They can only rely on Maggette and Randolph, two "fish that slipped through the net," to score inside.
On the defensive end, except for Sun Yi's defensive line, the defensive abilities of others are appalling.
Although Curry and Ellis are very active in defense, they are limited by their physical conditions and their defensive ability is dispensable.
Maggette's individual defense is good, but his assist defense awareness is poor, and he cannot provide defense for Curry, Ellis and others.
Randolph couldn't defend against a strong center. He had too little game experience and was prone to being caught in a foul crisis.
Therefore, the Warriors cannot limit the Suns' offense.
When the third quarter ended, the score on the big screen was 80 to 96, with the Suns leading by 16 points.
After the Suns fully opened up, their offensive firepower was quite terrifying, and it was not difficult to score hundreds in three quarters.
The inter-section break is over and the fourth quarter begins.
As soon as they came up, the Warriors fought back hard, trying to win a victory, turning their bicycles into motorcycles.
The Suns are a long-established and strong team with a deep foundation. How could they be overwhelmed so easily?
Under the leadership of Nash, he played steadily, stabilized the situation on the court, and further expanded the point difference.
When the game lasted about 6 minutes in the fourth quarter, Randolph committed six fouls and left the game. The Warriors could only use Tolliver to strengthen their outside attack in a desperate attempt.
This substitution adjustment did not have an effect. Instead, it made the Warriors' interior defense even weaker.
The Suns took the opportunity to let Stoudemire play inside and once again widened the point difference.
Seeing that the situation was over, Nelson replaced the main players and announced his surrender in advance.
The Suns did not push the envelope further and replaced the main players immediately.
As the harsh buzzer sounded, the Western Conference semifinals came to an end.
In the end, the Warriors lost to the Suns 102-124.
In terms of statistics, 4 players from the Warriors scored in double figures.
The most outstanding player was Randolph, who scored a double-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Randolph's data can show how poorly the rest of the Warriors performed, and it also reflects how shameless the Suns' release tactics are.
Sun Yi's performance was quite satisfactory, with comprehensive statistics of 16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks.
Curry scored 15 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal; Ellis scored 19 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
For the Suns, the most outstanding player is Nash.
In the 36 minutes he played, he scored 18 points, 3 rebounds, 14 assists and 2 steals.
After the game, Nash smiled and patted Sun Yi and Curry on the shoulders, comforting them that they were still young and would have plenty of opportunities in the future.
Sun Yi saw Nash gloating about his misfortune and really wanted to beat him up.
At the same time, he understood that there was indeed a certain gap between the strength of the Warriors and the Suns, and it was simply impossible to win the series.
The next game can only be fought for dignity!
…
After the game between the Warriors and the Suns, the winners and losers of other group series were decided one after another.
The experience of the Cavaliers and the Warriors are not exactly the same, they are exactly the same.
Zhan Zhan was targeted by the Celtics and only performed at a normal level, scoring 24 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
Other players on the Cavaliers were playing tricks again and were unable to provide help to James.
The Celtics broke out collectively, and Rondo even sent out 19 assists. As you can imagine, the Celtics' offense was as smooth as Dove chocolate.
In the end, the Celtics defeated the Cavaliers 104-86 and tied the total score at 1-1.
After this game, professionals all understood that the Cavaliers had little hope of advancing to the next round.
In the series between the Lakers and the Jazz, Kobe Bryant once again scored 30, leading the Lakers to a huge victory over the Jazz, leading the total score 2-0.
In the series between the Magic and the Hawks, Howard scored a double-double of 29 points and 17 rebounds, leading the Magic to a 15-point victory over the Hawks.
It can be said that the Hawks had no power to fight back against the Magic, and were on the verge of being swept away.
…
May 7, Oakland, Oracle Arena.
Tonight, Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Warriors and the Suns officially begins.
The cheers from the home fans did not add buff to the Warriors players, and they failed to defeat the Suns.
The Warriors still lost on defense in this game.
Although a run-and-gun team shouldn't care about defense, a team that can only attack will definitely not get far. After all, defense can win the championship.
At this stage, the Warriors have problems with both internal and external defense, which is a problem they must solve in the offseason.
In the end, the Warriors lost to the Suns 101-115, trailing 1-2 with a total score.
In terms of statistics, Stoudemire won the honor of the best player of the game.
In 42 minutes on the court, he scored a double-double of 32 points, 12 rebounds and 1 block.
For the Warriors, the most outstanding player is Sun Yi.
In the 40 minutes he played, he scored 24 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks.
The Suns blocked Sun Yi's passing path, preventing him from connecting the team's offense, which was equivalent to containing the Warriors' "engine."
This defensive strategy worked very well and was the key to the Suns' victory in this game.
After losing to the Suns, the Warriors took a day's rest to adjust, and the players were once again high-spirited to face the upcoming fourth game of the series.
On May 9, the fourth game of the series between the Warriors and the Suns was again held at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors made some slight adjustments in this game, but not much.
After all, the Warriors only have a few players at their disposal, and both sides know the tactics thoroughly, so their trump cards have long been played.
The Suns did not make any adjustments and felt that they could still defeat the Warriors with their previous defensive strategy.
After the game started, the situation on the court was the same as the previous two games. The Suns had a huge advantage and firmly suppressed the Warriors.
Just when everyone thought the Suns had won the game again, the Warriors suddenly broke out and reversed the situation on the court.
Curry thought that he was destined to lose if he continued to play like this. He thought that he might as well shoot wildly to see if he could get back the point difference, and then he boldly tried.
He dribbled the ball to a position half a meter away from the three-point line and directly took off to shoot.
Elementary school students believe that the Suns players can't defend in this position and their shooting percentage will be higher than if they stand against the defender outside the three-point line.
In fact, the final result was exactly what Curry expected, with his super-long three-pointer hitting the frame accurately.
This ultra-long three-pointer did not attract the attention of the Suns players, and they still implemented the offensive and defensive tactics they had formulated before.
Unexpectedly, the baby-face hit a super long three-pointer again, which immediately attracted the attention of the Suns.
But Curry has awakened, and the Suns can't find a way to stop Curry from scoring.
The next game time is Curry's performance time.
The primary school student bypassed Sun Yi's off-ball screen half a meter outside the three-point line, immediately jumped up and shot, and hit another long three-pointer.
Immediately after the Suns failed to attack, the Warriors launched a defensive counterattack. Curry came outside the three-point line and faced Nash's defense and rushed in to chase a three-pointer.
Seeing that the situation was not going well, Suns head coach Gentry immediately requested a timeout, hoping to interrupt Curry's fiery touch.
It's a pity that his wishful thinking failed, and Curry still killed everyone.
Under the leadership of Curry, the Warriors instantly completed a 20-point reversal and took the lead.
Afterwards, the Warriors linked up internally and externally, with Curry containing the Suns' offense from the outside, while Sun Yi and others frantically attacked the Suns' basket.
In this way, the Warriors maintained their slim lead until the end.
In the end, the Warriors defeated the Suns 128-124 and tied the total score at 2-2.
In this game, Curry scored a career high and won the honor of the best player of the game.
In the 42 minutes he played, he made 9 of 15 three-pointers and scored 37 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.
Sun Yi acted as a support and scored a triple-double of 17 points, 13 rebounds, 15 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
For the Suns, the most outstanding player is Nash.
In the 40 minutes he played, he scored a double-double of 20 points, 2 rebounds, 11 assists and 1 steal.
After defeating the Suns at home, all the Warriors players flew to Phoenix with high spirits to prepare for the upcoming battle at Tianwang Mountain.
…
On May 11, Game 5 of the series between the Warriors and Suns was held at America West Arena.
In this game, no Warriors player stepped forward to continue to act as the savior, and the outcome is predictable.
The Suns avoided long nights and tried their best to not give the Warriors any chance. They were indeed frightened by the previous game.
In the end, the Warriors lost to the Suns 101-110, trailing 2-3 with a total score.
Stoudemire won the Player of the Game honor in this game.
In 38 minutes on the court, he scored a double-double of 22 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block.
For the Warriors, the best player is Ellis.
In the 40 minutes he played, he scored 29 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Immediately afterwards, Game 6 of the series between the Warriors and the Suns was held at Oracle Arena.
Originally, most fans predicted before the game that the Warriors would counterattack with all their strength and drag the series into a tiebreaker.
But the Suns didn't give the Warriors any chance. They suppressed the Warriors throughout the whole process and guarded Sun Yi, Curry and others to prevent them from breaking out again and causing accidents.
Under the absolute strength of the Suns, the Warriors players could not make any splash and could only accept the fate of being eliminated.
In fact, it is unexpected that the Warriors can reach the second round of the playoffs. For them, this season is a successful ending.
In the end, the Suns defeated the Warriors 114-106, eliminated the Warriors with a total score of 4-2, and successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals.
At this point, the Warriors have ended their journey this season and officially entered the offseason.
…
After the Warriors were eliminated, several other series were decided one after another.
During the series between the Lakers and Jazz.
Under the leadership of Kobe Bryant, the Lakers won consecutive games and swept the Jazz with a total score of 4-0, becoming the first to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
The outcome of the series between the Magic and the Hawks has already been determined.
The Magic swept the Hawks 4-0 and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time.
Although the Magic easily swept their opponents to advance in both rounds of the series, there were conflicts within the team.
Howard felt that he was not reused in the previous two rounds of the series, so that he failed to produce good data, and had a conflict with head coach Van Gundy.
Van Gundy put the team's interests first and the core of the team had to make certain sacrifices as an excuse to prevaricate Howard.
But Howard became smarter and refused to follow this trick, and the conflict could not be resolved.
As the conflict deepens, it may break out in the next Eastern Conference finals.
The Cavaliers-Celtics series is much different than the Warriors-Suns series.
The Cavaliers won the third game of the series, taking a 2-1 lead with a total score and seeing hope of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.
But in the next series, the Cavaliers lost three games in a row and were eliminated by the Celtics with a total score of 4 to 2.
After this series, James understood something.
If you want to win the championship, you can't do it alone, you must have strong helpers around you.
After understanding this truth, his decision became firmer.
At this point, all the Eastern and Western semifinals are over, and only four teams are left to compete for the championship trophy.
This chapter has been completed!