In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls failed to sweep the Pistons and lost Game 3 on the road.
Ben Wallace, Prince and Billups broke out in the third game. Not only did the defense look like Tietong, but even Ben Wallace scored 20 points.
When Big Ben can score 20 points, it will be difficult for the Pistons not to win.
After winning this game, the Pistons seemed to be stuck. They were defeated by the Bulls twice in a row and were eliminated with a total score of 1 to 4.
In Lu Yu's previous life, the Pistons were the championship this season. Although their strength has declined without Hamilton, their tactical system still exists. The grinding style of play still gives headaches and nausea to all teams in the league.
tactics.
In my memory, the Pistons faced the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Pacers, with Artest at the core, didn't even make the playoffs this season.
But the Pacers in the Eastern Conference faced off against the Pistons. The two teams played a total of six games.
The highest score scored by a single team was 85 points.
Scores over sixty are commonplace.
It shows how disgusting the Pistons' defense is.
If they had not faced the Bulls, but any other Eastern Conference team, the Pistons would have had a chance to win, but they had faced the 78-win Bulls. If they could win a game, they would already be smiling.
After winning against the Bulls, many experts said that the Pistons' style of play was the Bulls' nemesis.
As long as you can limit the Bulls' scoring and let your team score higher than the Bulls, isn't this nonsense? Even fools know this is the case.
As the Bulls made two consecutive moves, these basketball experts shut up.
Although the Pistons can limit the Bulls' scoring, it is too difficult to score more than the Bulls.
It's not that the Pistons' defense isn't good enough, it's all because Lu Yu is too perverted. His offense in the paint actually makes it difficult for even Ben Wallace to defend.
This is not Lu Yu, this is obviously Ola Zhulu!
The playoffs in the Western Conference are relatively close, with only one sweep in the first round.
The Grizzlies were swept by the Spurs. Pau Gasol has improved rapidly and is currently a pretty good power forward in the league. He averaged 17.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in the regular season. He has the ability to finish in the mid-range and is organized.
Passing ability.
However, compared to Duncan's basic skills, he is still far behind, not to mention the gap between role players and the Spurs' role players. It is understandable that he was swept down.
The first-round game that caught the most attention of fans was the Lakers versus the Warriors, in which the showdown between Yao Ming and O'Neal and the scoring battle between Kobe and Arenas were even more exciting.
Just like the comparison between Gasol and Duncan, Yao Ming also struggled when he met O'Neal.
In the end, the Warriors lost the game 4-1.
Many basketball experts criticized Yao Ming for being too thin and unable to stop O'Neal's impact. If Yao Ming gained weight, the Warriors might still have a chance to win the game.
Arenas was unconvinced and stood up to defend Yao Ming: "Can we meet the Lakers in the playoffs every year? O'Neal is over 30 this year, and he still has a few years to reach his peak. Apart from O'Neal, I don't believe that any center can compete with him.
Yao Ming is better, so changing his style of play for O'Neal is stupid in my opinion."
After protecting Yao Ming, Arenas secretly sent a text message to Lu Yu: "I did everything you said. Remember to take me with you to training this summer."
In fact, Yao Ming is not entirely to blame for the loss. You must know that the Lakers have four kings, and it is difficult to guard against any of them.
In the second round, the old enemies of the Spurs and Lakers met.
This time it was the Spurs' turn to lose.
The Spurs can no longer continue their performance in defeating the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals last season. It can only be said that the Lakers' performance was too strong and changed from the mediocrity of the regular season.
Of course, this mediocrity is relative to the Bulls.
Even a team as powerful as the Spurs only won two games and was eventually kicked out by the Lakers 4-2.
The worst team in the first round of the Western Conference was the Mavericks.
They originally thought they could get through all the way, but they died before they started, losing to the Kings in the first round.
The five starters on the field are all main players who can only attack but not defend.
Want to win?
It is worth mentioning that this year’s league salary cap is US$43.84 million, and the Mavericks’ total salary this season is as high as more than 79 million.
In terms of reinforcement level, the Mavericks are obviously stronger than the Lakers and Timberwolves. Although the Lakers form F4, Payton and Malone have almost reached the age of retirement. The Timberwolves are not much different, "Madman" and "Alien"
” are all over 33 years old.
Walker and Jamison are in their prime, and both of them performed brilliantly last season. Walker averaged 20.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and Jamison scored 51 points in two consecutive games.
Like many teams undergoing major changes, the Mavericks have gone through a painful adjustment this season, with a record of only 15 wins and 12 losses in the first 27 games.
Nelson's strategy of letting Nowitzki play center helped the team perform well on the offensive end, but at that time, most teams had black and hard hard-line insiders at the center position, which made Driver very difficult on the defensive end.
, the team's overall defense ranks at the bottom of the league.
The Mavericks ended the regular season with a record of 52 wins and 30 losses, which was a lot lower than the 60 wins of the previous season, and finally ranked fifth in the Western Conference. This caused them to lose the home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs and laid the foundation for a first round exit.
A foreshadowing.
In terms of lineup, the team's internal and external imbalances and offensive and defensive imbalances have become more obvious than before. Their scoring average is second in the league, only lower than the Bulls, but their defense ranks 26th in the league.
The only bright spot is Wang Zhizhi.
The Mavericks met the Kings in the first round. The seven-game battle between the two teams in the Western Conference semifinals the season before seemed like yesterday. They met again. The Mavericks were already a completely different team.
The Kings are also strong in offense and weak in defense, ranking third in the league in offensive efficiency and 21st in defense. However, in the playoffs, the Kings' performance on the defensive end is impressive.
Except for Nowitzki, the Kings' other positions have the upper hand on both offense and defense.
Especially at the No. 1 position, Bibby almost beat Nash. He averaged 23.6 points per game, a full ten points more than Nash. Among the five-stars, apart from the driver, the highest scorer was Nash with 13.6 points, and Walker even more so.
Both scores were only 9.8 points.
By the way, Wang Zhizhi ranks third on the team in scoring, averaging 13.2 points per game. You must know that his playing time is not even half of Walker's.
Old rivals met, but the duel turned out to be one-sided. In the end, the Kings eliminated the Mavericks 4-1.
The Kings and Timberwolves then played 7 games.
At this time, KG, who was playing reasonable basketball, was led by a cunning bald point guard and a cunning veteran shooting guard.
Cassell, the only reason Sanders signed him was because he made sense.
And he has playoff experience.
The reason for signing Madman Spireville is not only that he is cheap... but also that he has key goals.
And he continues to prove that being in the All-Stars depends on his ability.
The Timberwolves met the Nuggets in the first round. The rookie Melo was beaten for the first time in the playoffs when he met the veteran. Coupled with Cassell's organization and the intermittent superstar singles performance of LG, the first round went smoothly.
Go with the flow.
We met the Kings in the second round. At that time, the Kings had Webber. Webber was the only one who could control the ball in the paint with kg. In the first game, he double-teamed kg with the cunning Divac and achieved obvious results.
Of course it aroused the anger of others, such as Sprewell.
When Cassel was sent off, he made consecutive mid-range shots and grabbed rebounds to win the game.
After that, there was still the superstar performance of kg, constantly grabbing rebounds, breaking through Webber's classic shot of dunking, three-pointers between two people, omnipotent, and directly taking away the king.
Well...it wasn't actually that easy. They played a total of seven games, and the winner was not decided until the end.
Anyway, in the end, the Timberwolves and Lakers met in the Western Conference Finals.
Lakers!
After being invisible for a season, it finally showed its fangs in the playoffs. By the time other teams reacted, it was too late.
The OK combination once led the Lakers to complete three consecutive championships, and now they have two experienced veterans in the playoffs, Karl Malone and Gary Payton. The Timberwolves' lineup is far less luxurious than the Lakers, and they eventually lost 2-4.
Come on, miss the finals.
Although he lost the game, Garnett performed very well. He averaged 23.7 points, 13.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game, and his shooting percentage was 46.3%.
Sprewell, the second-in-command of the Timberwolves, averaged 20.8 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, and shot 40.7% from the field. Although his scoring efficiency was lower, his performance as the second-in-command was also good.
I can only say that my skills are inferior to others.
The Lakers seem to have a very luxurious lineup. In fact, Malone and Payton have long been out of the discussion of giants. Their performance in the Western Conference Finals was very average.
Malone is 40 years old, averaging 12 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game, while shooting 44.8% from the field.
Payton is 35 years old, averaging 9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game, and his shooting percentage is 41.5%.
Malone and Payton no longer have the ability to change the game, but Kobe and O'Neal are both at their peak. Although there is a rift between them and the power of the OK combination is not as good as before, the Timberwolves are still helpless.
In fact, it's not just the bloody story between Kobe and O'Neal, but also the bloody story between Kobe and Malone.
The young and energetic Kobe had actually already formed a quarrel with the postman. In 1998, the 19-year-old Kobe was selected for the NBA All-Star Game lineup for the first time. On the highly anticipated NBA stage, Kobe and Michael
-The direct conversation between Jordan, which made the young Kobe extremely excited,
When Karl Malone, who was 15 years older than him, took the initiative to set up a pick-and-roll for him, the young and frivolous Kobe said this: "Put away your damn pick-and-roll, I want to go one-on-one with Jordan."
pick."
At that time, Kobe was just a young man who had not been able to become a starter for the team, while Postman Malone at that time had already been selected to the All-Star team 11 times.
The result of this sentence was that Malone was annoyed on the spot and he stopped playing. At that time, Malone only played 17 minutes and got 4 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Obviously, Malone was really angry this time, and he held a grudge.
Got this little boy.
But who would have thought that Malone would join the Lakers in the last season of his career.
Feng shui takes turns, ten years are east of Hedong and ten years are west of Hexi.
He wants to hold on to the OK team and win a championship trophy to end his NBA career.
As a result, who would have thought that this year Kobe would already have the idea of competing for the top spot.
This is not the most terrible thing. The most terrible thing is that Malone, an old pervert, actually covets Kobe's wife Vanessa.
Malone's style off the court is completely different from his on-court style, and his private life is also quite chaotic.
18-year-old Ma Long once asked his 13-year-old girlfriend to give birth to his child.
Kobe's wife Vanessa and Malone's wife Kaye have a very good relationship.
One time, Vanessa took her daughter to watch a Lakers game. When she found out that Kaye and her son were not at the Staples Center, Vanessa called Kaye. And Kaye
He told Vanessa that he was not feeling well, and Malone took the child to watch the game in the front row.
And Kay also gave Malone's phone number to Vanessa and asked her to ask Malone to take the child and sit with them so that Vanessa could help take care of the child.
Ma Long was also very excited at that time. After all, Vanessa was also very good-looking. At that time, Ma Long couldn't help teasing Vanessa.
Malone said: "You want to come to me so much, are you interested in me? Come on, give me a hug."
Vanessa really couldn't stand it anymore. She said, "You are old enough to be my father. I am Kay's friend. Please respect me."
After she said this, Ma Long still did not give up his intention to tease her.
Then Vanessa wanted to change the subject and said, "Why are you wearing jeans and a hat?"
And Malone said: "I'm pursuing a Mexican girl right now."
Because Vanessa is from Mexico.
During midfield, Malone sent the child over, forcefully hugged Vanessa and left.
Afterwards, Ma Long admitted that he had made a bit of a mistake.
He saw some displeasure on Vanessa's face at that time, so he hugged Vanessa, asked her to help take care of his children, and then left on his own.
And Malone also insisted that Vanessa took the initiative to hug him.
And apart from what she said about cowboys chasing Mexican girls, she never said anything else that was too frivolous.
After this incident, Kobe's wife Vanessa told Kobe and Kaye about the incident. Kobe was so angry that he immediately called Malone. The content of the call probably said: Damn pervert, leave my wife.
Further.
It is precisely because of this incident that the relationship between the two people is like water and fire.
But even so, the Timberwolves still lost. They lost to their carelessness and underestimated their opponents. They didn't expect that they had gathered the three giants, but they still couldn't withstand the strong attack of the OK combination.
The Lakers and Bulls finally met in the Finals.
As for the Lakers, who have been keeping a low profile for a season, their mysterious veil has been unveiled bit by bit as the playoffs progress. Even the Zen master Phil Jackson doesn't know.
Can the Lakers win?
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Thanks to book friend 20211226184830728 for the tip! The chapters are in the wrong order, this is chapter 323... Sorry...
