The Bulls faced the Orlando Magic in the first round.
This season the Bulls had a complete record against the Magic in the regular season, because this year's Magic team is full of injuries. If it weren't for McGrady's strong performance, they might not have any hope of the playoffs.
Grant Hill's ankle only played four regular season games last season, and he was injured after barely playing a few games this season.
Ewing signed a two-year, $4.73 million contract with the Magic this year, but the season was not over yet. A serious knee injury caused Ewing to terminate his contract with the Magic early.
Two generals were lost at once, and they were beaten.
The current Magic team is solely supported by Tracy McGrady and Armstrong.
Tracy McGrady has blossomed into a true superstar this season.
He scored 25.6 points, fourth in the league, had 7.8 rebounds, and led the team in playing time of 38.3 minutes.
5.3 assists and 1.57 steals ranked second only after Armstrong.
In the end, he successfully entered the NBA All-NBA First Team, and also received fourth points in the regular season Most Valuable Player competition.
As one of the team captains, Darrell Armstrong is still the representative of the Magic's fighting spirit. He is the team's assist leader with 5.5 times, 19th in the league, and steals leader with 1.91 times, sixth in the league, and still maintains a very high record. Free throw shooting percentage, 88.8%, third in the league.
Under head coach Doc Rivers, the Magic made the playoffs for the seventh time in nine seasons and their second consecutive time.
The team's record of 44 wins and 38 losses also allowed the team's winning rate to be no less than 50% for ten consecutive years.
However, they met the Bulls, and no one was optimistic that they could defeat the Bulls.
Especially in the best-of-five-game format, they don’t have enough time to figure out the Bulls’ style of play, and it’s even more difficult to make timely and effective adjustments. Even if they are ahead by two games, they may be overturned——
After all, their head coach is Rivers!
The legendary reversed king.
Since 1984, the first round of the playoffs has adopted a best-of-five-game system, and the second and third rounds, as well as the NBA Eastern and Western Conference championship finals, have adopted a best-of-seven game system.
It was not until 2003 that all NBA playoff games were changed from the original 5-game best-of-3 system to the 7-game 4-win system. In the first and second rounds of the playoffs, the home and away games were 2-2-1- The competition system is 1-1, and the finals is still a 2-3-2 system.
Who is the first victim after the change of competition format?
It’s Lu Yu’s next opponent Tracy McGrady.
In the 2002-03 season, McGrady had his best performance, averaging 32.2 points per game. The team barely made the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
However, McGrady has played very bravely since entering the playoffs, once helping the team lead the Pistons 3-1.
You know, this is the first year that the NBA has just changed from the best-of-five game system to the best-of-seven game system in the first round. If the Magic had completed the black eight miracle last year, McGrady even said in an interview at that time, "I have begun to consider it." It’s my opponent in the next round.”
However, in such a good situation, the Pistons tenaciously pulled out three games in a row and defeated the Magic 4-3. Rivers, who was the coach of the Magic at the time, also began his own road to being overturned.
Lu Yu could only lament that his fate was bad.
In the other three groups of games in the Eastern Conference, except for the Nets, no team seems to be as sure as the Bulls against the Magic.
The Nets were almost completely crushed against the Pacers in all aspects.
Reggie Miller is old, and the Pacers have no one else who can carry their offensive banner.
No matter how powerful O'Neal is, he can't beat four players if he has both.
What's more, the Nets still have Kidd, a cunning point guard.
The other two groups are not so lucky. The Detroit Pistons played against the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Boston Celtics played against the Charlotte Hornets. Although the 76ers and Hornets had average records, no team dared to underestimate them.
.
Needless to say, the 76ers were the Eastern Conference champions last season. Although they are struggling this season, who dares to underestimate a team with Iverson?
The Celtics are fourth in the Eastern Conference and the Hornets are fifth in the Eastern Conference. Their two teams have similar records and are almost the same in terms of strength and play style.
The Celtics have not made the playoffs for six consecutive years. They only entered the playoffs again this season under the leadership of Pierce and Anthony Walker. It is the style of play of their two heavy forwards that makes other teams
The team is miserable.
As for the Hornets, after Jamal Mashburn was injured, Baron Davis became the core of the team.
In fact, this season, the conflict between the Hornets' management and Charlotte fans began to intensify, resulting in a very poor home record for the Hornets, but an exceptionally good away record.
So even though they don't have home field advantage, now it seems that the away game has become their home field advantage.
It's a bit like Lu Yu's previous life as the Leo Immortal who couldn't play at home because he didn't have injections, so he could only play in away games. He turned his away disadvantage into an advantage.
As for the west.
There was basically no objection in the first round. All basketball commentators believed that the first round must be a one-sided massacre.
After all, the four teams of Kings, Spurs, Lakers and Mavericks are indeed too strong.
Even the Mavericks, who are the worst team, are unanimously favored by everyone because their first-round opponent is the Timberwolves. Even though the Timberwolves played very well at the beginning of the season, after all teams have done enough research on zone defense, what little they have
It's not enough to watch.
Especially in Nelson's eyes, they have more than a dozen ways to defeat the Timberwolves.
Garnett?
He can't fuck the driver hard enough!
The two days after the playoff roster is released are days for the teams that have not entered the playoffs to rest, but the teams that have entered the playoffs do not have time to relax. They are still making final adjustments before the big game.
All the Bulls players voluntarily gave up their two-day vacation and all spent time in the training hall. Although the training intensity was not high and it was more about maintaining condition, for every player, the playoffs are the real battlefield.
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A lot of people are dissing the Bulls online right now.
I believe that the Bulls' ability to get third place in the Eastern Conference is all due to "playing". When other teams encounter the Bulls in the regular season, they are unwilling to "play" with them, because others are just playing, and they are playing...
Beat everyone together.
Although every team will have one or two particularly tough thugs, such as the aunt of the New York Knicks and Karl Malone of the Jazz, they may have exciting fights, free wrestling, or fighting each other on the court.
There are also scenes where they play each other, like the scene where Karl Malone and Rodman fell down for half the game.
But there has never been a team with so many thugs like the Bulls!
"You mean the Bulls? Are they playing basketball?"
"Isn't it normal to carry the ball during a fight? Is it possible to make a bull become as docile as a cow? Do you think there is still a bit of a man in the league now?"
"Brad Miller, Ron Artest, Tyson Chandler, Charles Oakley, and Lu Yu... My God, their hitters can put together a starting lineup."
Lu Yu was speechless when he saw this kind of comment. Isn't it just that he played a little "tougher"? What's more, the Bulls don't even have a decent inside man. How can they defend without fighting?
The Lakers have O'Neal, the Kings have Webber, the Spurs have Duncan and Admiral, and the Mavericks have veteran players.
These are the four strong teams in the Western Conference. The Nets in the Eastern Conference have Kenyon Martin, the 76ers have Mutombo, the Celtics have Anthony Walker, and even the Pistons have Ben Wallace.
How to compare?
This kind of fans only know how rough the Bulls play, but never care about the comparison of the lineups on the field. If Chandler doesn't use his elbows, how can his small body withstand O'Neal's crushing?
There are also some fans who say that the current games are not as good as before. They miss the days of the black and white duo and Jordan's Bulls dynasty.
But they don't look at it. The rules of the league have changed a lot now, and the tactics of each team are so complicated. In order to adapt to the rules and to defeat the opponent, each team basically uses all the tricks they can use.
Just to win the game.
As for whether the game is good-looking or not, what’s the point of looking good?
Winning is the key.
Fans who support the Bulls think it is normal for them to finish third in the Eastern Conference because this Bulls team has a core player like Lu Yu and a group of outstanding role players.
If we were in the West, our results might be much worse, but in the East, among a bunch of garbage, teams like the Bulls are already good enough.
Lu Yu has already proven his strength in the All-Star Game.
Rookie Challenge mvp, three-point champion, all-star game mvp, and in the near future, Lu Yu will even win the title of best rookie. Even in the ranking of regular season mvp, Lu Yu is only behind Tracy McGrady.
The Magic team led by McGrady is only ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference.
To put it bluntly, the NBA is a business league. If Lu Yu plays like this, the league will naturally support him, and David Stern will naturally be very happy.
Except for "Sports Illustrated", most of the major media catered to the tone of "Sport" magazine and praised Lu Yu. In addition to discussing whether Lu Yu would win the Rookie of the Year, the Internet was also discussing whether Lu Yu would win the regular season award.
Possibility of mvp.
Of course, it is almost impossible for Lu Yu to win the regular season MVP this season.
David Stern is willing to give Lu Yu the Rookie of the Year award. After all, it is a natural thing, but if the regular season MVP is given to Lu Yu, he will definitely be the first to object.
At least not this season.
Lu Yu has already won enough honors this season. If even such an important honor as the regular season MVP is taken away by Lu Yu, then a large number of fans will definitely come out to criticize the NBA for flattering the Chinese market.
Stern held a meeting with officials to discuss the issue of regular season MVP ownership for half a day.
He really wants to give this trophy to Iverson. Even though Iverson has many problems now, he is still the most popular among American players. The problem is that Iverson already won the MVP trophy once last season.
Coupled with the poor record of the 76ers this season, it is really difficult for him to convince the public.
Among the remaining teams, O'Neal of the Lakers also won it.
As for Kobe, he is still the second-in-command of the team, and it is even more impossible to give it to him.
The Kings have the best record in the league, but their star players Webber and Stern don't like him, and they don't like that the Kings have hoarded so many All-Star players.
This approach makes it difficult for him to create superstars for the league.
In the NBA, Stern is the boss, and he can praise whomever he wants, because the league needs superstars to make money, and the Kings have beaten all other superstar teams, so naturally they don't like Stern.
Everyone discussed it for half an hour, and finally it was Stern who made the decision - or Duncan.
As for Lu Yu, who is ranked fifth in the MVP standings, he is not considering it at all...
