Each team has a period of preparation before the playoffs begin, and before that comes the season's awards are awarded.

Because Lamar was suspended for 20 games and missed nearly a quarter of the regular season, although his performance after his comeback was quite strong, the league still awarded the regular season MVP trophy to Kevin Garnett, who led the team to the first place in the league in the regular season, which is also the first time Garnett has won this award after joining the NBA for 9 years.

The Most Improved Player award went to the Knicks' Nee Hilario. He has been an incredible full-time player this season, not missing a single game with the team, and his average per game has risen from 10.2 points and 6.2 rebounds last season to 16.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in the half season.

The Best Sixth Man award was won by the Los Angeles Lakers' small fish Fisher, because of the Lakers' star strategy this season, his main position was deprived, but there were gains and losses, as an excellent point guard, he still got an honor of his own.

The Defensive Player of the Year went to the Pistons' interior barrier, Ben Wallace, who has averaged a terrifying 15.8 rebounds per game this season. I believe that with Ben's height, there is no one else in history who can achieve such a feat except Rodman!

Lamar's name was finally seen in the regular season first team's lineup: center: Shaq O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers), power forward: Lamar Odom (New York Knicks), small forward: Tracy McGrady (Orlando Magic), point guard: Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers), point guard: Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets).

With Lamar's suspension, the scoring champion was undoubtedly taken into the arms of McGrady of the Magic team.

The Rookie of the Year was awarded to LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the final selection, he defeated Carmelo Anthony of the Toronto Raptors by 5 percentage points, holding the once-in-a-lifetime honor in his hands.

Failing to win the Rookie of the Year honor, Carmelo Anthony felt extremely unfair. In terms of statistics, he did not lose a single cent to James, and in terms of record, the Toronto Raptors even threw off the Cleveland Cavaliers three streets, even if he was finally selected to the Rookie All-Rookie Team, Anthony felt insulted by himself.

After the spoils are over, the playoffs will begin.

The New York Knicks' first opponent is also their old enemy, the Indiana Pacers.

Time has passed, four seasons have passed, the Pacers have changed a lot, and the Knicks certainly have too.

When he first played the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs, Lamar was still a rookie who had just joined the Lakers. Now Lamar has long since left the Los Angeles Lakers to join the New York Knicks' dynasty plans.

Lamar has now gathered a large number of strong players around him, and after two seasons of accumulation, it is finally time for them to reap the glory.

The Indiana Pacers were a different story entirely, with Reggie Miller disheartened and retiring because he couldn't taste a championship for a long time.

Artest of the Beast was forced to leave the Pacers, who made him famous, before the end of the trade deadline this season, because of a conflict with O'Neal Jr., to play for the Bucks.

O'Neal Jr. has been growing in temper since he secured his position as the leader of the team, but his form has shown signs of declining.

Steve Smith, the marksman, chose to return after leaving, but his form is not as good as before.

In the face of such an opponent, even before the game has even started, people have already made a conclusion that the Indiana Pacers have no chance to break through the Knicks' blockade at all.

The Indiana Pacers can only be a dream to make it to the next round, and they should think about winning at least one game so that they can have some face when they go on vacation.

Of course, these are just outside statements. Lamar, who already has plenty of playoff experience, doesn't dare to despise his opponents like this, anything can happen in the playoffs, and a team with a lot of faces may suddenly explode and become a fierce beast in the playoffs.

However, after looking through the Pacers' lineup information and watching a few footage of the Pacers' regular season games this season, Lamar finally came to the conclusion that there is no reason why the Knicks should not win!

"Lamar, I'm really lucky to see the results, the Raptors and the Wizards are much more difficult to deal with than the Pacers. Van Gundy said with a wicked grin, and the words "schadenfreude" were clearly written on the door of his head.

The final minute of the regular season was full of drama, as the Pacers' final four-game losing streak saw them overtaken by the Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards and dropped back to eighth place in the East.

Lamar smiled and nodded, agreeing with Van Gundy. Compared with the aging and lifeless Pacers, the young Washington Wizards are indeed inferior in strength, but the energy and ability to create miracles in the Young Guards are much better than those of the Indians.

"Who are we going to meet after we take out the Pacers?" Van Gundy said to himself, looking at the playoff table, "Philadelphia 76ers! Lamar you're going to love this opponent, we were eliminated last time and we just came back this time." ”

"Alright, Jeff. It's not a matter of thinking about our semifinals opponents, the Pacers aren't a team to be bullied, at least they're good defensively. And no one knows if Jermaine O'Neal, who has been plagued by injuries this season, will suddenly become a big shark O'Neal in the playoffs. We better be careful, I don't want the gutter to capsize again!"

Van Gundy laughed when he heard this: "Don't worry! Lamar, what you are worried about will never happen! Just look at the newspaper in my hand and you'll know." ”

Lamar didn't know where Van Gundy got so much self-confidence, and took the report suspiciously. At first glance, I understood, and I couldn't help but lament in my heart, God may have been annoyed by the Pacers' troublemaker like David Stern, and never gave Larry Bird face again.

"O'Neal Jr. Seriously Injured, Pacers Playoff Prospects Worrying"

It turned out that O'Neal Jr. had a sudden recurrence of his leg injury during the Pacers' routine training yesterday and had been sent to the hospital.

"Could it be a smoke bomb deliberately released by the Pacers?" Lamar was still a little skeptical, he couldn't believe that the Pacers would really be so unlucky, and at the most critical time, the core players were finished.

Van Gundy shook his head and said, "Probably not." O'Neal Jr.'s injury has been officially certified by the Pacers. They're probably not joking about that, and do you think even smoke bombs have an effect on us?"

Lamar thought for a moment and smiled: "That's right! Whatever they want, but the Pacers are really lucky." ”

The Pacers really didn't spread the news indiscriminately, let alone put any smoke bombs. If they really want to do this kind of plane, it can only show that the management of the Pacers is some complete fools. Because in the face of sufficient strength, any conspiracy is a paper tiger.

O'Neal Jr. did get injured just before the playoffs were about to start, and it was very badly injured. Seriously until the beginning of next season, it is a big question whether he will be able to come back or not. So worried that Pacers head coach Larry Bird is about to lose his hair.

Of course, the worst thing is not the Indiana Pacers themselves, nor Jermaine O'Neal himself, but Larry Bird, who has always supported O'Neal Jr.

You must know that in order to straighten O'Neal Jr. this year, Larry Bird traded Ron Artest, who had conflicts with O'Neal Jr., under pressure. Originally, Larry Bird also expected O'Neal Jr. to make a good comeback in the playoffs and attach a layer of discerning hero to his road to promotion. Who knew that little O'Neill was so unlucky and unlucky, and he was actually injured at such a critical moment.

Of course, the Pacers did a great job, and as soon as he was injured, news came from the management that the negotiations for an early contract extension that were about to start were terminated. In other words, the Pacers were originally ready to let O'Neal Jr. give up next year's player option and sign a big contract with the team in advance, but with O'Neal Jr.'s injury, this negotiation ended.

You must know that O'Neal Jr. is not yet 30 years old, and such an age happens to be the peak of professional players, and the Pacers' behavior is simply insulting O'Neal Jr.

However, the Pacers can't be blamed for being ruthless, because according to some media gossip, O'Neal Jr.'s injury could jeopardize his career.

Although O'Neill Jr. himself scoffed at this gossip, he always felt that he was invincible in the universe, but now before O'Neill Jr. has fully recovered, no one dares to open a huge contract for him, and no one is interested in such a risk.

Jermaine O'Neal's unexpected injury has made matters worse for the already unpromising Pacers. I believe that if it weren't for the NBA guidelines of everyone's participation and fair play, the league would have the intention of directly ruling the Pacers out.

"It's the most difficult time for our team and I know people aren't looking forward to our playoff prospects, but we're still going to do our best for the Indiana fans. We don't want the season to end like this, at least our players don't. We're going to try to play every game as well as we can, it's too early to say before the game even starts!"

Stephen Jackson, who has now been forcibly driven to the position of the Pacers boss, was interviewed by reporters, although his mouth was very hard, but anyone could hear the color in his words.