(62) The first round of the battle
Contrary to most people's expectations, the Lakers won three games in a row from 0-2 down, especially Fisher's miraculous stunner to take away the victory from the Holy City. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć Info: Next, the Lakers can advance to the second round as long as they keep their home court.
And some teams have already advanced first. On the 25th, the Pacers defeated the Celtics by 15 points away and swept the opponent with a score of 4-0; On the same day, the Nets overthrew the Knicks 100-94 away and also advanced to the second round 4-0; On the 28th, the Kings narrowly won at home by relying on a key steal by Bibby and eliminated the Grizzlies with a score of 4-1; On the same day, Nowitzki used all his strength to play an excellent performance of 31+14, but Kassel contributed 36 points to lead the Timberwolves to a narrow victory over the Mavericks by 1 point at home, and the Oita 1-4 Cowboys lost this season; On the 29th, the Pistons defeated the Raptors by 14 points at home, and also eliminated the opponent 4-1 (this opponent in history is the Bucks, and the Bucks failed to make the playoffs due to the lack of Reed in their previous life);
On the 30th, the goddess of victory finally favored Team Rocket. CTM combined to score 73 points to help the Rockets take off, winning by 11 points and eliminating the Nuggets 4-1. The Toyota Center became a sea of joy for the fans on this day.
In this way, the only teams in the league that have no winner or loser are the Lake-Horse rivals and the Hornets Heat, two mediocre teams, and not many people pay attention to the latter.
On May 1, the Lakers sat in Staples and were on the verge of killing the Spurs. The defending champion Spurs, on the other hand, are fighting with their backs and will go home in the first round if they lose.
The series was played before five games, and only the third one was the Lakers scoring more than 100 points, and the strong defense of both sides left a deep impression on the fans. This game was no exception, and although the Lakers have four superstar scorers, it was also extremely difficult to score against the Spurs' iron wall. The two sides scored low in the first half, tied at 39. The Spurs' offense was particularly dumb in the third quarter, with Duncan, Arenas and Bowen shooting 0-of-10 from the field in this quarter, and only Duncan scored 2 points from the free throw line. If it weren't for Ginobili's hard support, I'm afraid the Lakers would have opened up the difference. The two sides went into a crucial fourth quarter with an ultra-low score of 52-56.
Malone, who was suppressed by Duncan, a junior who had suppressed the whole game, was already full of anger, and it was the Lakers veteran Hawley who was defending in front of him at the moment. Malone took the opportunity to force Hawley's foul and made one of two free throws to take the lead.
Compared with the Lakers' superstars, the Spurs' tactical literacy is superior. Duncan assists Devin after holding the ball high to attract the defense. Brown hit a three-pointer to make the Spurs trail by just two points at 55:57.
Hawley suddenly stepped forward to cover Kobe, who was holding the ball, and the latter was caught off guard and was tackled. Spurs have a chance to overtake but unfortunately Manu. Ginobili missed a three-pointer, but fortunately, the rebound was pulled out of bounds by the Lakers players. Duncan touched Manu's head to comfort his teammates (it is said that Duncan touched Manu's top later). Popovich saw that Ginobili was playing too impatiently, and immediately replaced him with Arenas, and at the same time replaced Nesterovic with him.
This time it's German again. Brown made a difference, and his strong basket shot also caused Fisher to foul and add free throws. 58:57Spurs overtake by 1 point!
As soon as the score fell behind, Lakers big brother O'Neal couldn't help it, and he wanted to get the ball to single Duncan ferociously. Rao is Duncan, who is already one of the strongest interior defensive barriers in the league, and he can't withstand the fierce shark attack, so he has to foul him. Unfortunately, O'Neal missed two free throws and missed a good opportunity.
The Spurs' offense, Duncan's mid-range shot also missed. Malone grabbed the rebound and handed it directly to Kobe, who broke through Bowen's defense and caused a foul on Nesterovich, making two free throws and two free throws to give the Lakers the lead again.
German. Brown thought he was in the right hand, and he was going to get the ball into the Lakers' hinterland. This time he really overestimated himself, and the big shark slapped the racket crooked with a big hat that covered the sky and the sun. Nesterovic managed to grab the rebound, but as soon as he made a shot, the shark jumped right and rewarded him with another big hat. The home fans applauded. With O'Neal here, there is our Lakers' position!
Payton assisted on Fisher's three-pointer to return to four points at 58:62.
The Lakers' superstar is finally going to step up and take over the game. This time it was Kobe Bryant, who first received a pass from Payton and hit a jumper, then singled Brown to score two more points, and then made Brown's defensive foul and hit two free throws. Defensively, the Lakers were also united, and O'Neal sent a big hat again, this time the victim was Ginobili.
The Spurs were forced to call a timeout, and Popovich had to make one last move - the shark slashing tactic (shark slashing is a tactic that takes advantage of O'Neal's inaccurate free throw weakness and fouls O'Neal to make him make free throws). Unfortunately, the Spurs' offense was also unstable, and the Sharks made 3 of 6 free throws in the next 3 rounds, but the Spurs only scored 2 points from Ginobili, and the Lakers still held the lead firmly at 70:77, with less than 3 minutes left in the game.
Arenas made one of two free throws after a foul, and Payton hit a jumper. The Spurs got the ball back and were six points away, which was not a huge gap in the two-minute space. But Malone made a crucial steal and Arenas was forced to find O'Neal for a foul. O'Neal hit two free throws to widen the gap to eight points.
Hawley once again missed a desperate three-point shot, and Bryant received a pass from Payton and made a jumper, 71-81, which basically sentenced the Spurs to death.
In the end, 76:88, the Lakers relied on the stable fourth-quarter play of several superstars to defeat the old rival Spurs. The big score was 4-2 to eliminate the arch-rival.
The shark and the stone Buddha hugged each other after the game. The two great giants don't have much contact with each other and have different personalities, but they understand each other's greatness through the confrontation on the court.
Hawley walked up to his old teammates with mixed expressions and mixed feelings.
"Win it, go win the championship for me." He looked at Kobe Bryant.
Bryant smiled at him and turned to walk towards the players' tunnel. This cold black mamba snake doesn't say too many sensational words.
"We're going to win." Fox said he hugged Hawley, and old teammates won't forget the feeling they once fought together because they were in charge for a while. It is precisely because of such a comradeship that there is a saying in later generations - "No brothers, no basketball!" ā
On May 4, the final battle of the first round was finally decided. The Heat defeated the Hornets at home and advanced to the second round 4-3. So far, the top four in the east and west have all been produced.
East: Pacers vs. Heat, Pistons vs. Nets (Nets are at the top, but the Pistons have a better record, and the Pistons get home-court advantage).
West: Timberwolves vs. Kings (similarly, Wolves gain home-court advantage), Rockets vs. Lakers.
According to NBA practice, some seasons of awards have also been awarded gradually in the first round of games:
LeBron of the Cavaliers. James received 78 first-round votes, beating out the Nuggets' Anthony for the Rookie of the Year award. The two also won all the first votes.
Ron of the Walkers. Artest narrowly overwhelmed the Pistons' Ben. Wallace was named the Defensive Player of the Year. Big Ben was very unconvinced. In the regular season, the Pistons lost second in the league in 100 possessions, behind the Spurs and slightly ahead of the third-place Pacers.
Antoine of the Mavericks. Jamison was voted Sixth Man of the Year, and it was the only consolation the Mavericks received for a year of failure.
Zach of the Trail Blazers. Randolph was undoubtedly voted the Most Improved Player. Randolph averaged only 8+4 in 17 minutes per game last season, and this season it has soared to 20+10, which is an astonishing statistic.
The best team is naturally indispensable to the Rockets, Maddy and Kidd are tied for the first line of guards, and Yao Ming is the best player. Wallace was named as the second-team center, while Billups was also selected as a three-team defender.
And the heaviest prize is about to be revealed.