CIATB Chapter 375 Advance to the Semifinals
Chapter 375 Advance to the Semifinals
Chapter 375 Advance to the Semifinals
The number one in the West is the Warriors with the best record in the league, with 71 wins and 11 losses.
The Warriors also became the first team in NBA history to score 70 points for three consecutive years.
It is also the first team in the history of the NBA that has achieved a record of 70 points for three consecutive years, but has not won a championship during this period. If it does not win this year...
I really can only say "the king of the regular season"!
This may also be the reason. They did not try to break the best record in regular season history again. They lost 4 of the 7 games in April.Steve Kerr took a massive rest in preparation for the playoffs.
It was also during these three years that they finally realized what it meant to be "the better the record, the greater the pressure!"
In fact, when the Bulls played the best record of 72 wins and 10 losses with the entire team, Steve Kerr did not have much pressure.
Thinking about it now, there was some pressure, but at that time the pressure was on Michael Jordan and the others, and they resisted the pressure on his behalf.
Right now, after winning 70-plus games for three consecutive years, the voices that the Warriors may cause if they don’t win the championship really put them in a very dangerous situation at this moment.
But the more uncomfortable thing is that...
"The Warriors can't help but play such dominance, because the strength of this team's lineup is here..."
If you don't perform well in the regular season, you will be ridiculed by the crowd; if you perform well in the regular season, but you don't win the playoffs, you will still be ridiculed by the crowd...
That's the "superteam" risk!
The second place in the West is the New Orleans Hornets. Because of James Harden's injury, their final record was 65 wins and 17 losses, ranking second in the league;
The third place in the West is the Portland Trail Blazers. The arrival of George Hill has given the Trail Blazers a rotation at the No. [-] position, and his arrival has also made Deron Williams less degraded. urgent.
They also scored 60-plus wins this season.
61 wins and 21 losses!
The fourth place in the West is a bit unexpected. Sacramento relied on Tyreke Evans and Cousins, who was among the ranks of "super centers", successfully returned to the playoffs after n years, and successfully entered the West. upstream circle.
The fifth place in the West is the Memphis Grizzlies. With the departure of Tony Allen, the old "Grizzlies" are now only left with Mike Conley and Gasol Jr., but as far as this season's record is concerned, they are very good They kept the last glory belonging to the old "Grizzlies" and still ranked fifth in the Western Conference.
The sixth place in the West is the Spurs who almost overturned the Warriors in the playoffs last season.
Their record this season is not satisfactory. As for the reason, it is similar to the original. After Leonard and Popovich have a gap, once they encounter an injury problem, the first reaction is to rest and refuse Communicating with the Spurs' team doctor, let alone Popovich, did not know the latest situation at all.
Now that the two sides have reached a sensitive freezing point, Popovich has a headache. He doesn't know where the problem lies. Injury to play.
Jie is also a matter?
Tim Duncan let him use plantar fasciitis back then, didn't he still obediently follow what he said?
It can only be said that Popovich has not realized at this time that he has to "eat poop"!
He is also a person who wants to save face, and these things have not been spoken out. Therefore, on the surface, the entire Spurs are still doing well, and the San Antonio media will continue to follow up on the progress of Leonard's comeback, looking forward to the day when he will play again.
It doesn't matter if this season is wasted, the Spurs can afford to wait!
The seventh place in the West is the Clippers.
Griffin and Jordan have no problem leading the team. They once climbed to the fourth position in the West, but after the All-Star Weekend, Griffin was injured, which made the Clippers lose their competitiveness. Thanks to the All-Star Weekend The advantage is big enough, otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to make it to the playoffs!
However, even if it is only the 7th in the Western Conference playoffs, the Clippers are still happy, because their "big brother" has already gone back to fishing.
Lakers, Lakers, you have today too!
"Shuang" is just one word, and the Clippers only say it once...
The eighth place in the West is the Thunder led by Westbrook alone.
There is nothing to say about this. It is not easy to lead a team to the playoffs in the West alone!
The Oklahomans will not ask for more, just yell "Westbrook is awesome" and it's over!
Judging from the rankings of these teams in the West, they have not changed that much compared to the changes in the East. Although the rankings of these teams have changed due to their own reasons, they still reached the final playoffs. Judging from the results, only the Kings, as a "dark horse", had a relatively rapid increase.
Compared with the speed of the rise of the "upstarts" in the east, it is really much slower.
It is also understandable that the league itself is in the stage of alternation between the old and the new, and the "giants" have joined together to make the final struggle for their dying youth. The remaining groups of teams are either constantly rebuilding or sinking. Or it is all kinds of "youth army", these all need time cost...
All I can say is, keep going!
Survive this era, the next era will be better!
No player is always nineteen, but the team always has a "new core" of nineteen.
No matter how awesome Li Wan is, he is almost 30 years old!
snort!
On April 4, the second day after the end of the 16-17 season, the league announced the "Best Rookie" of the season.
Just like the original, it still belongs to Ben Simmons. His average of 15 plus 8 plus 8 per game is really a bit annoying.
But the difference from the original is that he originally became the final "Best Rookie" with more than 50% of the votes, but this time his votes were only 43.5%, which is only higher than the second-ranked Mitchell. I got 1.5% of the votes.
If he hadn't been "injured" in the last game of the regular season for the 76ers...
Thinking of this, Ben Simmons' agent team broke out in cold sweat, fortunately!Fortunately, I chose not to play this game at the time!
Mitchell, who averaged 20 points plus 4 plus 4 per game, missed the "Best Rookie" so regrettably.
On April 4, the league continued to announce the season awards: the Most Improved Player Award.
This award is the same as the original, and it belongs to "Bitter Mamba" Victor Oladipo. Started to suffer from injuries.
Speaking of which, many players in this era suffered frequent injuries just after they came out, such as him, and Dinwiddie later.
It is said that the confrontation in this era is not so fierce, coupled with more scientific training, injuries should not be so frequent.
And if you really want to say that you are not self-disciplined, in the 90s, after playing in a nightclub for a night, you can continue to "do" on the court at full capacity...
I don't know if the physical fitness of these NBA animals was too good in the past, or the physical fitness of these NBA players is too poor...
Then came the "Best Sixth Man" award.
The competition for this award this year is quite fierce.
For the Columbus Explorers, Brogdon averaged 14.8 points per game, which is not too low.
But the "sixth man" of other teams this year is also extraordinarily fierce...
The Nuggets have Will Barton averaging 15.7 points per game, and the Hornets have Eric Gordon averaging 16.8 points per game.
In the end, this award belongs to the Clippers Louis Williams, averaging 22.4 points per game!
They are already the data that can only be played by the core of the first outside line.
Although his average playing time of 33.2 minutes per game is indeed already the playing time of the starting core level.
But because he was the player who came off the bench, this award was finally taken by Louis Williams!
As a result, Brogdon missed his first "Best Sixth Man Award". He is not very disappointed. He probably knows that there are too many monsters competing for this award this season, and he has no chance for a long time.
His mentality was actually quite good. Li Wan originally planned to comfort him, but when he saw him the next day, he took the initiative to greet Li Wan with a smile.
With just this one action, Li Wan knew in his heart that he didn't need to worry about it at all.
To say that he entered the finals and won the championship in the first season of his career, the rookies who have experienced big scenes are indeed very different from ordinary rookies.
The vision has already gone up.
It is a good thing for him to have the award of "Best Sixth Man", and it is a pity not to have it.
This is the second season of his career, and it is not that he has no chance to pursue this award.
and……
It really doesn't smell like a championship trophy!
The Columbus Explorers' opponent in the first round of the playoffs is the Boston Celtics. As far as the Celtics' state and current combat effectiveness are concerned, the overall state of the Explorers is not too tight, and of course it is impossible to be too tense. too slack.
Although they only came to Columbus last season and won the first championship in team history, they are actually a team with a "two consecutive championships" heritage.
It is naturally impossible for such a team to feel arrogant because the opponent is not strong enough.
A lion fights a rabbit, and it takes all the effort.
On April 4, the first day of the playoffs officially arrived.
The Columbusians were no longer inexperienced youngsters, they started parading early in the morning.
Compared with last year when a group of people gathered together with great interest but didn't know what to do, the whole street seemed chaotic and noisy, but the people of Columbus are celebrating in an orderly manner.
And it is done in batches.
From early in the morning to the start of the game, the streets and alleys of Columbus were unusually lively.
And when the group of Explorers fans who had been making trouble all afternoon entered the scene, they still felt that they were not having enough fun, and they directly used huge boos, which made the Celtics newcomers somewhat uncomfortable.
At this time, it was supposed to be the time for Kyrie Irving to show his role, but he didn't care about his teammates, but started training on his own. Some people are born to be "lone rangers", and Irving is such a player.
His inability to become the "boss" of the team has a little to do with his strength, and more importantly, his personality.
Fortunately, this team has the veteran Horford.
Although he had never been the absolute core of the team when he was in the Eagles, he knew how to let his group of childish players relax and devote themselves to the game.
Tyronn Lue noticed this keenly. Before the game officially started, he asked the team to increase the defensive pressure from the very beginning, so that the rookies on the other side could feel the intensity of the playoffs. As long as they did not adapt to this intensity, they would naturally It can also take the lead from the beginning.
When the Columbus Explorers had a lead, they knew how to continue to expand the point difference.
It has to be said that after winning two championship trophies, Tyronn Lue's mind has become more and more flexible.
The Columbus Explorers were not in very good shape at the beginning of the game, but relying on their defense full of urgency, they took a 4-point lead at 23 minutes and 6 seconds of the first quarter.
Then, as Li Wan and Carmelo Anthony made three-pointers successively, the point difference suddenly reached double digits, and the Boston Celtics had to call a timeout.
Stevens didn't make too many adjustments in tactics, but asked for simpler tactics.
There is no way, the psychological pressure on these players is too great. At this time, it is really not suitable to play any difficult tactics. Even if such tactics are played, they will not be effective. This is for sure thing!
Therefore, he chose to reduce the burden at the offensive level. It would be even better if the rookies in the starting lineup could reduce the burden at the ideological level.
Not to mention his move, it still played a certain role. Jaylen Brown and Tatum returned to the court and hit shots one after another.Help the team stabilize the situation.
In fact, they originally had a good record this season, ranking second in the Eastern Conference, but suffered Irving's injury after the All-Star break, causing the team to play in the playoffs without Irving.
At that time, everyone was not optimistic that they could achieve good results.
It is also for this reason that the Celtics are infinitely optimistic just now, because they finally reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
Oh, by the way, the so-called "Thanos Zhan" appeared in this season's playoffs.
The reason why the gold content is questioned is also here:
Their opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals was the Celtics without Irving.
Their top cards are first-year Tatum and second-year Jaylen Brown.
In the face of such an opponent, the so-called "Thanos Zhan" reached the seventh game of the Eastern Conference Finals, and still led the team to victory when Tatum left the field with six fouls.
If he doesn't leave the field with six fouls, it's really hard to say who will win this game.
Most of the media and fans also felt that the Celtics had a bright future after the "tie-break" in the Eastern Conference Finals.
After all, what they were facing was "Thanos Zhan"!
In other words, they played too well this season. In the second season with Irving, they fell in the Eastern Conference semifinals and finally decided to trade Irving to support Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
It's just that Columbus once again showed their experience as defending champions.
Seeing Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the opposite side trying to stand up to save the team, and Li Wan and Wiggins each leading the defense, the Celtics' "double exploration" immediately became uncomfortable.
During this period of time, Kevin Irving also showed his "killer" qualities. In a situation where the defensive pressure was relatively small, he hit shots for two consecutive rounds.
Tyronn Lue was not in a hurry to change his formation, and continued to maintain the formation in front of him.
Although the three Celtics played hard one after another and played very well, they did not have players who could limit Columbus's perimeter on the defensive end, which allowed the Columbus Explorers to maintain a point difference.
Tyronn Lue is naturally not in a hurry to change the lineup. With this time, it is better to continue to maintain the current lineup and let Tatum and Jaylen Brown struggle. After all, they are rookies. Once the state of rookies fluctuates, it is not easy to adjust of.
As experienced defensive veterans, Li Wan and Wiggins found a way to limit Tatum and Jaylen Brown when they faced Tatum and Jaylen Brown. After using a set of "defensive combos", they successfully put these two rookies into a trap. was struggling.
But by this time, Tyronn Lue still did not decompress, but maintained it for a period of time. After consolidating the "curative effect", he began to change his formation and launched a series of blockades against Owen.
Owen still had room to maneuver when facing Wiggins, but when Li Wan was still standing behind Wiggins, this offense really couldn't be played.
If the east side is not bright, the west side must be bright!
It's time to test the two rookies, but after being targeted by Li Wan and Wiggins, the two rookies failed to adjust in this game.
From the third quarter, the Celtics gradually began to lose their stability, and the point difference gradually reached double digits...
At the end of the game, the Columbus Explorers gradually took the initiative through defense in a slightly anxious first half, and after the Celtics completely collapsed in the second half, they scored 121 to 101 with a 20-point difference. Beat the Boston Celtics.
李万上半场跟维金斯主要的精力都在防守端，不过下半场发力的他，还是拿到了39分12篮板6助攻3抢断1盖帽；
Wiggins didn't feel very good tonight. He made 4 of 0 shots from outside the three-point line, but relying on occasional air cuts and sudden ball-handling singles, he scored 17 points. In addition, he also scored 5 points. 3 assists in rebounds, in addition to 2 steals.
It is not good to focus on the defensive end, and the data cannot intuitively reflect his role.
It's no wonder that who doesn't want to work hard on the defensive end, finally resists for a quarter, makes a fool of himself, and never dares to lead the defense again.Instead, he chose to use all his physical energy on the offensive end, and, from the very beginning, he ran to exert all his physical energy immediately, and then even if he had no energy in the second half, he still insisted on the court. Just to look at the data, he played for 47 minutes and 57 seconds and only rested for 3 seconds...
He is so great!
Carmelo Anthony didn't take many shots tonight, only 14 times, but he was very efficient. He hit 14 of the 10 shots, including 5 of 3 shots from outside the three-point line. Tonight's second half, As soon as he gets the ball, he will inevitably see the entire Boston Celtics team flying towards him.
But tonight's Anthony feels hot, no matter how he throws, as long as he is in the rhythm of his shots, he will definitely be able to throw the ball into the basket.
23 points, no free throws...
Carmelo Anthony just used projection to make Stevens look helpless.
For the Celtics, Tatum scored 18 points. For him who averaged only 13.4 points per game in the regular season, this is not an easy aspect.
Ok……
Originally, he also performed better in the playoffs, which convinced many fans that his future is bright.
It's just that he couldn't win the championship for a long time, and some problems were infinitely magnified at critical moments, which led to more and more fans who looked down on him.
His title of "Mamba Man" has also become a point of attack for many fans...
Of course, anyone who knows who is holding on to this point knows who it is!
But still the same sentence, the playoff results of a certain goat in the first 7 years of his career are really not as good as him.
As for who is better after the eighth year, it depends on which coast Tatum is willing to take his talent to!
Otherwise, in terms of temperament, Tatum won again!
Can you leave without winning the championship?
You can go, but you shouldn't have been putting pressure on this matter in the first two years, causing the team's future assets to be exhausted because of you, and then you said that I have to leave for the championship.
I can go to yours!
Jaylen Brown also scored 18 points, and Irving scored the Celtics' highest single score of 23 points.
It's just that the efficiency of the three people is very low, and the best one is in the early 40%.
The worst Kyrie Irving is also the one with the worst double-teaming, shooting only 30% from the field!
"Our offense was limited, and of course we couldn't limit their offense. Under such circumstances, losing seems to be a very normal thing. (Columbus) They played very well, congratulations to them for winning the series The first game of the tournament!"
In the press conference after the game, Stevens also emphasized the gap between the two teams on the offensive and defensive ends.In fact, what he originally wanted to say was that learning is the main thing, but considering that this is the end of the first game of the series, there is no need to hit the players' self-confidence so quickly, even though he has already seen that there is a huge gap between the two teams. However, on the second day after the game ended, he still said:
"Although we lost by 20 points, we held on for halftime. Between halftime, we didn't fall behind too much. As long as we can continue, we can even make this game come back in the fourth quarter. Decide the winner!"
This "chicken soup" is very effective.
The Celtics also showed their toughness in Game [-] of the series, a team that had reached the final Eastern Conference finals this season with a good team defense for the Columbus Explorers. The team presented difficulties.
The Columbus Explorers were actually in good shape tonight. They played 10-3 at the beginning, but in the following time, the Celtics did not collapse, but stalemate the situation on the field and let the point difference Continue to shake around 7 minutes.
However, Tyronn Lue did not give the Celtics more respite. The perseverance of the Bostonians exceeded his expectations. He thought that after the first game, the Celtics would be more or less emotional. The fluctuations revealed greater flaws in the second game of the series, but now it seems that they still have the spirit.
Then there is nothing to say, Tyronn Lu pressed the "Lee Wan Nuclear Weapon" start button.
In the following time, Li Wan named Irving, Tatum, and Jaylen Brown one by one, and "clicked" all of them.
Tatum looked at Li Wan, who was able to score easily in front of him, and suddenly had such an idea in his heart... No wonder my idol was pressed to the ground by him and beat!
Kobe:? ? ?Polite, are you Tatum?
Jaylen Brown thought of this season's regular season. The media agreed that his defensive ability has become much stronger, but now it seems...he has become stronger!
If the degree to which Li Wan pinned and beat him on the ground is also called becoming stronger, then how trash he must have been before!
As for Kyrie Irving...
For the first time, he felt that it was not unreasonable for Li Wan to call him "the third child".Not to mention that Li Wan wanted to call him "the third child", he wanted to call himself "the third child".
After all, the three "champions" back then: Derrick Rose, John Wall and him...
The first two people have proved that they can at least lead a team to the playoffs as the "absolute core of the team", but he has never proved himself until now, from the Cavaliers to the Heat!
This is not "old three", what is this?
At the end of the game, Li Wan's score was fixed at 45 points.
If Carmelo Anthony used his shooting ability to make the entire Celtics despair in the last game, then now Li Wan used his singles ability to make the Celtics collapse.
Oh, yes, it is worth mentioning that Carmelo Anthony's super high shooting efficiency in the last game.
The Celtics really didn't dare to leave any gaps for him in this game. It was also for this reason that Li Wan got a lot of singles opportunities tonight.
When Carmelo Anthony arrived, the effect that Tyronn Lue most hoped to see appeared in the second game of this round of the Celtics series!
With Li Wan's singles ability, he is the most suitable "second leader", and he doesn't need too many requirements, such as scoring 30 points in each game, and hitting the "snap ball" he received at a critical moment, let alone He has a very strong ability to change tactics, the only thing he needs is:
It can open up the space on one side and act as a restraint, and then watch Li Wan's one-man show and it's over!
The team's strongest tactic has always been "give the ball to Li Wan"...
Barkley looked at Li Wan, who kept playing singles in this game, and suddenly thought of Michael Jordan. Back then, the Bulls used the pitchers on both sides to help Michael Jordan open enough space for singles. To limit the Bulls' move, the league introduced the famous "anti-isolation law", and then the so-called "Jordan law".
If you want to limit Li Wan's singles, in his opinion, unless you reintroduce this style of play, otherwise, you really can't limit it...
However, he thought about it carefully, if such a rule were to be introduced, it probably wouldn't be able to stop Li Wan.
There is no way, Li Wan's shooting range is too far, he can completely avoid rushing towards the basket...
The league's rule changes in 04 gave too obvious preferential treatment to outside players. The later "cylindrical" rules gave outside players a layer of "golden bell" protection.
"Body hair whistle" also started from this time, and gradually increased.
At such a time, for a player like Li Wan, it is difficult for you to really limit this guy from a tactical point of view.
I can only pray that on a certain night, his performance won't be so good... You can't expect him to perform badly, because in this league, or even in the history of this league, there is no player as stable as Li Wan guy!
Jordan scored only 7 points and 8 points in two games, but since Li Wan became the starter, his scoring has never dropped below double digits...
With such a player, you really can't expect him to be in a bad state, you can only hope that his state is not so good!
However, after these two losses, the Celtics’ overall mentality has problems. This can be seen from their frustrated expressions when interviewing reporters after the game. Although they only lost 18 points in the second game , but knocked out their mentality.
When faced with problems related to Li Wan, the outside "Three Heroes" shook their heads most of the time. They didn't know how to restrict such a guy...
Everyone believed that the Celtics had reached their critical point. In the next two games, even if they had to return to their home court, in terms of the scene, they might lose faster. It could turn into two one-sided games.
But the result...
They showed tenacity once again, and even played the best game of the entire series.
At the end of the half, they were only 4 points behind.
Stevens said in an interview with the midfield reporter: "Because we are the Celtics, tenacity flows in the blood of this team, and we will not fall so quickly, at least not. It's the kind of fall without any resistance at all!"
Of course, after the game was over, his rhetoric changed again: "You can't limit a guy like this, it's a very helpless thing, the whole game is completely under his control, he knows very well when It should kick in and give you a sense of desperation!"
Ok……
Only in the second half, the changes before and after are so big, and the reason is very simple. Li Wan made another effort, scoring 30 points in a single quarter in the third quarter, making the Celtics desperately gritted their teeth in the first half to maintain a 4-point gap. It became a 14-point difference...
After persisting for such a long time, the result was a defeat. It is no wonder that even Stevens' mentality collapsed.
Li Wan's single-game score in this round of the series reached a new high of 54 points!
This is also the first 50-plus in this year's playoffs.
But this is very normal. As this year's "scoring champion", is it a big deal to win the first 50-plus game in this year's playoffs?
And after Li Wan's efforts in two consecutive games, the Celtics were completely defeated. In the fourth game of the series, they fell behind by 16 points from the first quarter, and they lost 30 points until the end. point.
The Bostonians, who couldn't stand the anger, left the field early, and the "Double Tanhua" ended their first playoffs together...
The Columbus Explorers swept 4-0 and advanced to the semifinals!
Malone's remarks after the game are too good. Since the finals, the entire Nuggets have really connoted James so badly that they are almost catching up with a certain "little black boy" who wrote a book, but it is understandable. Retirement diverted me from being swept away, which caused the protagonist and things that should be paid attention to to change. It would be strange if the Nuggets were disgusted!
Congratulations to the Nuggets, the gold content of this year's championship is definitely not low.
Especially in the Western Conference finals, it is really too rare to win 5 out of 8, let alone a 4-0 sweep!
(End of this chapter)