On May 3, the first game of the second round of the playoffs between the Hornets and the Bulls started, facing the powerful Bulls, the Hornets seemed to be in a bad state, and the team's shooting rate for the whole game was only 35.6%, of which Glen Les shot only 9 of 25 and shot one of six three-pointers, although he still scored 25 points, but the efficiency was really not high.

Jordan scored 35 points again on the Bulls' side, and he also had 11 rebounds in his account, playing 44 minutes, which is a 35-year-old player, and he can only admit that he is really in good shape.

In the end, the Hornets lost to the Bulls 70-83.

In the final game of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Knicks, who were old enemies, finally avenged last year's victory, beating the Heat 98-81 on the road to advance to the second round.

The Heat, who lacked an interior pillar in the game, were suppressed by the Knicks all over the court. In the previous game, Mourning was suspended for fighting Knicks player Larry Johnson. In fact, in the eyes of many people, the reason for Mourning's suspension was not because he beat Larry Johnson, but because he dragged Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy, who ran up to persuade him, ran out for more than ten meters, Jeff Van Gundy hugged Mourning's lap like a koala, but Mourning kept trying to chase Larry Johnson, and Van Gundy was dragged out by Mourning for more than ten meters.

Mourning's absence left the Heat without a defensive gate on the inside, and Larry Johnson was less important to the Knicks, and in the end the Knicks successfully got revenge, which was avenged last year's elimination.

In the fifth matchup between the Rockets and the Jazz, the Jazz played their previous form, while the Rockets fell into a slump, not only Olajuwon played abnormally, but even Drexler, who was the core of the outside, also played abnormally, Drexler shot only 1 of 13 in a normal game, and scored 7 points, such a performance could not help the Rockets advance anyway, and they were finally eliminated, and this is a strange road for Charles Barkley, who has been chasing the championship, he is 35 years old, The back injury made it impossible for him to continue the game anymore, and Barkley felt sad in his heart, also 35 years old, Michael Jordan that guy can still score more than 30 points in one game, which made Barkley have the idea of retiring.

After the May 3 game, the first round of this season's playoffs is over, and the Bulls, Hornets, Knicks and Pacers have advanced in the East, with the Bulls and Hornets already playing.

On the Western side, the Lakers, SuperSonics, Spurs and Jazz advanced to the second round.

The Lakers' second-round game against the SuperSonics will begin on May 4, marking the second consecutive season the two teams have met in the second round of the playoffs. In the second round of the playoffs last season, the Lakers relied on the excellent performance of Liu Han and O'Neal to eliminate the SuperSonics team with Sean Kemp and Gary Payton with a score of 4-0.

Before the start of this series, SuperSonics star Gary Payton said in an interview with the media that he would not be afraid of the Lakers, and in his opinion, the Lakers are still too young to deal with Liu Han.

Such a statement was ridiculed by the Los Angeles media as being self-sufficient, considering that the Lakers team now equals the Bulls' 72-win record.

However, the Lakers did not despise the enemy as much as they did in the previous round, the Lakers' young people did not have much playoff experience before, but after the first round of games, these young talents of the Lakers have some knowledge of the playoffs, and they know that any team that can make the playoffs should not be underestimated.

On May 4, the first game of the second round of the Lakers' playoffs kicked off in Los Angeles.

The Lakers made some changes to the starting lineup, Nash was put on the bench, Liu Han was put on point guard, Robert Horry was also put on the bottom bench, Michael Finley started as power forward, Ray Allen played as small forward, and veteran Dell Curry played as starting point guard.

The Lakers' lineup arrangement is completely a change made for the SuperSonics, Gary Payton is a guard who has won the best defensive player, so that Nash is likely to be completely suppressed by the opponent when he plays, but Liu Han is not afraid of Payton, whether it is height, strength or even technique, Liu Han is stronger than Payton, and the most important thing is that Liu Han is not afraid of Payton's physical confrontation.

Nash could join Robert Horry on the bench to bolster the Lakers' firepower in the second quarter, and the SuperSonics didn't have a very good defensive interior on the bench, and Horry could even try to attack inside.

The Lakers' change of formation made the SuperSonics a little flustered, because their head coach George Karl's tactics in this game were to force Nash, but now Nash's position has been replaced by Liu Han, which makes all the arrangements of the SuperSonics before the game useless.

George Krent has always used the same starting lineup during the regular season, which also confuses SuperSonics head coach George Karl, in fact, George Krent has always been a coach who uses players based on form, and whoever is in good form will be put on the court.

After the game started, the Lakers first started to attack from Liu Han, O'Neal frequently mentioned that the outside line covered Liu Han, and Liu Han used O'Neal's effective cover to start shooting on the outside. Liu Han's goal is to suppress the supersonic outside play in the opening game, and then pass the ball to his teammates after attracting enough defensive firepower.

Liu Han's opening shot gave the SuperSonics a headache, originally they arranged a double point guard in this game, Gary Payton went to deal with Nash, and asked Jose Hawkins to properly mark Liu Han, but now Nash is not on the court, and Hawkins has no role in defending Liu Han, not to mention O'Neal's cover, even if there is no cover, Liu Han plays Hawkins to get what he wants.

In desperation, SuperSonics head coach George Karl could only let Gary Payton defend Liu Han and Jose Hawkins defend Ray Allen.

Offense, the SuperSonics opened today with an outside-based offense, since they have a double point guard, the purpose is to open a gap from the Lakers' outside, but now Nash's defensive hole is not on the court, and the Lakers also have a more mobile Michael Finley as a power forward, which makes the superSonics' arrangement completely messed up.

In less than 5 minutes of the first quarter of the game, the SuperSonics team fell behind by 6 points, and Liu Han scored 9 points in five minutes, and the entire SuperSonics team felt puzzled.

At the beginning of last season, Payton's defense left a deep impression on Liu Han, when Liu Han had just entered the league, and many things did not have a specific understanding, but after a season of training, the Lakers swept the SuperSonics in the playoffs, which faced Payton's defense, Liu Han was not so hard.

Since Liu Han was already able to suppress Payton last season, now after another season of training, coupled with Liu Han's physical fitness has increased significantly, facing Payton's defense again, Liu Han played with great ease. (To be continued.) )