Season Rewards: 43 wins, 39 losses, 4,300 Superstar Points.

Averaged 5+ assists per game for the first season in his career, and rewarded 10,000 superstar values.

Mission: Reach the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, the probability of reaching the playoffs every year in your career is temporarily 100%, eighth in the East this season, and the reward superstar value is 1000.

……

On April 19th, Liu Mang, as a student representative of Georgia Tech, returned to the school to attend the graduation ceremony.

Liu Mang didn't expect that almost all of his written test results during college were in the top few of his majors, which was quite coquettish, no wonder Alexia would say in a tone of envy and jealousy that she didn't have Liu Mang's learning ability.

As a student representative, I have a sense of honor, although I didn't get my degree certificate, because I didn't participate in the thesis defense, but I have a graduation certificate, which is not bad.

At the awards ceremony in the morning, Liu Mang's female companion was Alexia, who used to be the school's man of the year, but now Liu Mang has become a man of the hour, of course, he has to bring a big beauty to support the scene.

However, Liu Mang did not participate in the dinner party in the afternoon and the dance party in the evening, on April 22nd, that is, the day after tomorrow, the Hawks' playoffs will start, and the Eagles will leave for Detroit in the afternoon.

After playing the Pacers, the Hawks first went to Miami and played one game with the Heat, and then returned to Atlanta to play another game with the Heat, and won both games with almost no effort.

Especially back at home, the combination of Dean Grove, Jason Terry, Prince, Boozer, and Metola actually led the Heat by 15 points at halftime, and the Heat team was already frantic in order to "surpass" the Clippers.

This makes the Celtics and Bucks, who fought to the death for sixth place in the East, not too envious, and the Hawks won two games so easily, and the final record became 43-39.

The Heat also got their wish, beating the Clippers with a 26-56 record and ranking third from the bottom in the league.

The regular season ended on April 18, after the regular season curtain call between the Hawks and the Heat, and the playoffs will start on April 21.

In the West, the Spurs eventually won the regular season championship again with a 62-20 record over the 61-21 Kings.

The third-place Mavericks are 59-23 and unfortunately did not get the first 60-win in team history.

The Timberwolves are in fourth place in the West for the second year in a row, with a 51-31 record.

The Lakers are 52-30 and embarrassed because they are not the first in the division and fifth in the West.

The Trail Blazers are sixth in the West at 50-32 and the Jazz are seventh in the West at 47-35.

In the end, even if the Rockets' whistle is like an away stadium and an away stadium, by the end of the season, it is a 45-37 record to beat the Suns 43-39 to advance to the playoffs!

So far, the attribution of the best rookie has gradually favored Yao Ming, who walked out of the rookie wall first.

In the first half of the regular season, Yao Ming and Stoudemire played averagely, and they both played very well in the middle of the season, and when they were approaching the All-Star Weekend, they almost all entered the rookie wall.

But the Suns don't have any famous inside, there is Barkley, the relationship is average, and it is not the same as Stoudemire's style at all, there is no possibility of pointing at all, Stoudemire once averaged 15+7 per game, and by the end of the season, the score dropped to an average of 13 points per game, but the rebounds increased to 8.9.

Yao Ming walked out of the rookie wall earlier, didn't think about how to choose his career for the time being, and didn't have time to make changes for him, so he tried to use the advantage of height and footsteps, combined shooting and high play, and the score was stable at about 15 points, only 8 rebounds, and a little more blocks than Stoudemire, Yao Ming's defense Stoudemire couldn't catch up.

Therefore, when the Rockets finished the penultimate game and confirmed the playoff spot, the media's latest predictions for the best rookie were collectively biased in favor of Yao Ming.

Since the best rookie is originally voted for by the media and professionals, Yao Ming's best rookie has a great chance.

In the East, the Pistons are at 51-31 and in first place in the East.

The Nets are second in the East at 50-32, and the Pacers are also 50-32, but were swept by the Nets in the regular season and can only finish third.

Fourth is the Hornets with 47 wins and 35 losses.

The fifth is the 76ers, 49-33, almost catching up with the Nets' record, but just a little bit, a millimeter of missing a thousand miles.

The Hornets relied on the top spot in the Southeast Division, beating the 76ers to finish fourth.

Sixth is the Bucks with 46 wins and 36 losses.

The Celtics are in seventh place, also 46-36, but in the end they still couldn't hold on, falling to seventh and facing the Kings of the East.

The Hawks are in eighth place with 43 wins and 39 losses.

The playoff bracket is out!

The first round of matchups was on April 21, and the Spurs, who were first in the West, played the Rockets, who were eighth in the West, and there was no suspense in the series.

On the same day, there are third and sixth Mavericks and Trail Blazers series in the West, and the Mavericks are more optimistic about entering the second round, the Trail Blazers are indeed old, and the roof of the world can still maintain their dignity and win 50 wins to enter the playoffs, but everyone can see that the roof of the world is only left to play the role of spiritual leader for the Trail Blazers.

On the eastern side, on April 21, the Nets, who are second in the East, and the Celtics, who are seventh in the East, will be the first to play, although there is only 5 wins behind, but the media's predictions are almost one-sided in favor of the Nets, and it is true that the difference in strength between the two teams is not reflected in the record.

The other Eastern Conference playoff opener is the fourth-place Hornets and the fifth-place 76ers, although the Hornets are fourth, but they have no home-court advantage, the 76ers are fifth-place but have home-court advantage, compared to the controversial top four before the first collective bargaining in 1985, the first four must have first-round home-court advantage, the top four have home-court advantage regardless of any series as long as they face the bottom four, now it is much more reasonable, now regardless of the ranking, the good record has home-court advantage.

Otherwise, the Lakers and 76ers will have to point to the sky and say.

On April 22nd, the day of the opening game of the remaining four series, the West is the Kings playing the Jazz, the same recipe and the same taste, exactly the same as last season. The other Western Conference series is the fifth-place Lakers hosting the fourth-place Timberwolves, as is the case with the 76ers and the Hornets.

The Hawks' playoff opener was also on April 22, when they challenged the Detroit Pistons on the road.

The other series is the Bucks' away game against the Pacers.

Both the Hawks and the Bucks are calling for a layup.

……

After the graduation ceremony in the morning, Liu Mang returned home in the afternoon, Alexia and Levia had already prepared his luggage, Liu Mang drove to the airport to meet the team, and the Eagles took a charter flight to Detroit to get used to the atmosphere there in advance.

After entering the stratosphere, Coach Kruger gave Liu Mang the season summary booklet and the Pistons' scouting report sent out during the team meeting in the morning, and the team meeting in the morning was mainly to encourage and use bonuses to stimulate the fighting spirit of the players, such as playoff bonuses, and the Hawks doubled again, although it was not much, but it also boosted the morale of the Hawks players.

"Ace, how do you feel about graduating from college?" Coach Kruger sat down and chatted with Liu Mang as if he had returned to college.

"I miss it, but unfortunately I don't have a choice, otherwise I want to feel more about college life." Liu Mang also seems to have returned to the feeling of his college days, although he does not have the legendary IQ of 1+1 in the two lives, but the feeling of nostalgia has become deeper.

"Haha, when Ace retires, you can go back to college to continue studying, you don't seem to have gotten your degree certificate, then it's not really a college graduate." Coach Kruger smiled, and as he spoke, Coach Kruger sighed: "Ace, in the summer of 01, I asked you to participate in the NBA draft because this is an opportunity, our team just doesn't have a good point guard, this is a rare opportunity, you can use the second-round draft pick to bring you into the NBA, otherwise wait until this year, I don't know what the situation will be, but I didn't expect you to have today's achievements, I have coached the jacket team for 9 years, Ace you are the most headache for me, but also the most satisfying for me." ”

“…… Am I that a headache? Liu Mang said indignantly.

"yes, that's that a headache." Coach Krueger nodded earnestly.

“……”

After chatting with Liu Mang about family life, Coach Kruger returned to the front row and put down the chair and strapped his seat belt to sleep, the playoffs are about to start, and the Eagles coaching staff does not have enough sleep time at all.

Liu Mang scolded a few words, opened the season summary manual, and turned directly to the pages of the data, and the second page was him.

Liu Mang averaged 19 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.3 blocks per game, shooting 48 percent from the field, 41 percent from three-point range, and 86 percent from the free throw line.

He averaged 6.3 of 13 attempts per game, including 2.4 of his 5.9 three-point attempts.

In the first season, 82 games were fully attended, and although the average points per game were less than last season, the total points were a few points more than last season.

The average of 2.4 three-pointers per game is also a bit lower than last season, the total has dropped below two hundred, and 197 three-pointers have been made, ranking fourth in the league, and the average shooting average is lower than Ray Allen and Antoine Walker, Peja, and the total is lower than that of Peja and Attoten Walker, Ray Allen has only played 66 games, and although he averages 2.9 league-first shots per game, he has only hit 191 three-pointers.

The main reason is that the first two months of the season have lowered the average and total, otherwise it will be difficult to surpass Ray Allen, and it will not be a big problem to surpass Antoine Walker and Peja.

In terms of free throws, Liu Mang has declined a lot this season, one is that the team has more scorers and can play blocking and dismantling, and the other is that the opponent is more prepared for him to make fouls, and he is not happy to be a whistle this year, with an average of only 4.7 free throws per game, hitting 4, which is very accurate, more accurate than last season, after all, after practicing for so long in the middle of the shot, free throws are naturally the fastest improved, but the number is a lot less.

The biggest improvement is the assists, which averaged two per game last season and improved to 5.5 assists this season, which is quite a big improvement, at least as a qualified ball-handling core.

Overall, Liu Mang is still very satisfied with this year's overall data.

Jason Terry averaged 22 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, the team's leading scorer, 50.1 percent shooting, 37.1 percent three-point shooting and 88 percent free throw shooting, which made Liu Mang want to cry, and he felt that it was possible that Jason Terry was closer to the 180 club than him......

Raheem averaged 17 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, plus 1.6 steals, and fewer blocks, only 0.6, mainly because Ratliff was too horizontal.

After having more good teammates, Raheem sacrificed his shots, averaging only 14 shots per game, and his 49 percent shooting rate was not as good as that of Jason Terry, which was about the same as Liu Mang, but his rebounding game improved significantly, and he almost averaged 13 rebounds per game.

As a believer, although Raheem's personality is a little cold, he is full of responsibility, and in the face of the growth of the team's strength and the getting better and better of the lineup, he chose to sacrifice some of his roles, and strive to develop in the direction of not possessing the ball, and took on the responsibility of a boss.

. T said to the Hawks' regular season summary that in order to make room for Liu Mang to grow, Rahim did not hesitate to sacrifice his data and had the courage to make sacrifices like the boss, which is completely different from Liu Mang's practice of dominating the ball for his own selfish interests.

In addition to the three eagles, the outstanding performance was also the even Zhuang block king Ratliffe, who averaged 7 points, 8 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game, beating Ben Wallace's average of 3.3 blocks per game to win the block king again.

Muhammad averaged 8 points and 8 boards per game, but unfortunately his fate was not good, he was born too early, otherwise he would not have anything on the offensive end except for the second offense, he could top a center, the blocking ability is average but the enthusiasm is good, and there is no 8+8 player of Kardashian's scourge, a proper top salary.

Boozer averaged 9 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists per game, Prince had 8 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Kevin Willis averaged 5+3 per game after returning to the Hawks, Newbell's data declined more, averaging 7+2 per game, and the others did not exceed the average of 5 points per game.

The overall situation is not bad, the Hawks are averaging 101 points per game this season, conceding 95 points per game, the offense is ninth, the defense is thirteenth, and the overall performance of the season looks average, and it can't be helped, that's the game.

After looking at the data, Liu Mang flipped through the others, nothing special, except for the individual salary payment of each player, the last salary of the season will be issued on the 28th, and the previous payment and everyone's social security information are listed in their respective player manuals.

This is also the reason why Coach Kruger deliberately brought the season summary book to Liu Mang from the stadium to the plane, instead of letting Liu Mang borrow someone else's view, and Americans attach great importance to privacy.

There's nothing to see, this season's summary manual, Liu Mang put this in his bag, and waited for the opportunity to give it to Schwartz, this kind of thing Schwartz likes to study the most, to see if the team has any cats, although almost 100% of them are not greasy, but the problem of finding the team is not what the agent likes to do.

After the excitement of attending the graduation ceremony in the morning, Liu Mang took out the Pistons' scouting report and began to study the characteristics of the opponent.

Tactics are arranged by the coach, but how to execute tactics and how to change tactics is up to the players themselves.

Dive into the playoffs! Liu Mang sank his heart, put on earplugs, and carefully studied the Pistons team, which has changed a lot this year and last season.

Billups and Hamilton, these two difficult opponents joined the Pistons last summer, and they gave the Hawks a lot of trouble during the regular season, but at that time, the Hawks had a tight schedule, and they didn't have much time to study the Pistons.

Didn't you see that even Jason Terry, a living treasure, didn't make a fuss about playing cards today, the Eagles players are studying or teaming up to discuss how to deal with their opponents and opponents who may be misplaced.

Black-eight, Black-eight, two very simple words.

But how difficult is it?

In the entire history of the NBA so far, there have only been two Black Eight!

Although it is all something that has happened in the last ten years, it does not mean that the Eagles can be black eight if they want to.

And this year's format is also very unfavorable to the Hawks, from the original best-of-five system to a best-of-seven system, just like the Magic, who originally led the Pistons 3-1, was finally overturned 4-3, and the team with a good record has a lower chance of being defeated.

It's understandable for the league to make such a change, like the Heat in '99, if they make it to the Finals, with their healthier and more complete roster, they won't be pressed by the Spurs like the Knicks.

Of course, it's just a possibility, after all, the Heat were eliminated in the first round.

The league is just trying to reduce the number of more intense series that are unfortunately not visible because of the unexpected, and no team is against the new system, because it will play at least one more playoff game, even if the underdog is swept 4-0, and sell one more playoff ticket.

There is no comparison between regular season ticket revenue and playoffs, and the minimum ticket price for a playoff season is at least three times that of the regular season! For example, the Hawks, the regular season grandstand tickets are 7 US dollars, the playoffs are 25 US dollars, and more than 20 first-row tickets have risen from 2500 US dollars to 8600 US dollars, this is still the first round, if you can reach the finals, just like last year's Nets and Lakers, the courtside tickets start at 20,000 US dollars, and you can make a lot of money, so the vote for the restructuring, the 29 teams in the league voted unanimously, and no team will be unable to get along with money.

It was a lot of pressure, but the Eagles players were all working hard to prepare!

……

……

Detroit was welcoming, and the Eagles felt it again.

And it was even more enthusiastic than in the second round of last season, and there was a traffic jam outside the airport......

Since the Pistons' Auburn Hills Palace Arena is in the suburbs, not far from the airport, the hotel where the Hawks stayed is also on the edge of the city in the same direction, a short 40-minute drive, and it took three hours for the Hawks to arrive at the hotel.

Fortunately, this year, the owner of the Eagles took a liking and directly chartered the hotel, and also rented an indoor basketball hall only 15 minutes away from the hotel.

Otherwise, if it was like last season, there was a party in the hotel garden, and the university didn't lend the stadium to them, it would be uncomfortable.

The Pistons fans are so enthusiastic, mainly because the Pistons are feeling the pressure.

Although it is first in the East, the Pistons only have 51 wins, and the Hawks have 43 wins, which is not that big.

In particular, the Pistons went from 17-7 at the beginning of the season to a 5-18 Hawks with only 8 wins left, so Pistons fans are not worried.

Money is king, and the Eagles were able to rent hotels and private basketball stadiums at a high price this year because of the high income in the regular season, and Liu Mang's financial advantages to the Eagles have begun to show.

The next day, April 19, the Hawks' targeted practice against the Pistons, unaffected by the enthusiasm of the Detroit fans, went on steadily, and it was a good start!

……

……

When the Hawks were actively preparing for the first round, since the regular season was over and the playoffs were still two days away, the media had nothing to break the news, so they could only make predictions, all kinds of predictions.

The first is the prediction of the team that advanced to the first round, and the Hawks, Nets, Bucks, and 76ers are predicted to advance to the second round.

In the west, the four teams of the Lake, Malaysia and Bulls are also undoubtedly regarded as the teams that advance to the second round, and they are the kind without pressure.

The regular season record of the three teams is too crushing, and the Lakers are the defending champions of three consecutive championships, and they are still ranked first in the championship odds list.

In terms of championship odds, the Lakers are in first place because they are the defending champions, the Kings are in second place because they were the strongest team last year, the Spurs are in third place, and the Mavericks are in fourth place.

The top four teams in the East did not have any teams, and the top five Nets barely saved a little dignity for the East, ranking fifth in the championship odds.

And then...... The Eagles are ranked sixth in the odds to win the championship.

After this prediction ranking came out, Liu Mang saw the news and felt that he had been poured a mouthful of pure milk produced by a milk giant, how poisonous it was, Liu Mang wrote an anonymous report letter that night, bought a 6.5 US dollar ocean stamp, and sent it back to China to report a wave of a certain milk giant.

The privacy protection of the US imperialists is very good, and it is anonymous, Liu Mang is not afraid of being discovered, because the monitoring is not so developed in these years, and the United States is full of mailboxes, when he ran to the rented training hall in the morning, he found a mailbox on the side of the road, carefully observed that there was no monitoring, and then took it out of his purse and threw it in, and the content was also written in English, and it was deliberately written very computerized, written one by one.

Since the U.S. imperialist media poured poisoned milk into the Eagles, Liu Mang thought of this matter, so he fought for the health of domestic children, so Liu Mang sent Hong-Kong's newspaper, not the mainland, a certain giant began to do evil in 2000, and it was not until 08 that it was exposed by the Hong-Kong area.

There are some things that can't be done, but Liu Mang is still willing to give it a try, as for the effect, I don't know, but don't do sorry for my conscience, at least give it a try, in order to have peace of mind.

Aside from being poured poisoned milk, the media partially predicted that Liu Mang was quite happy.

MVP prediction, Duncan first no suspense.

The Most Improved Award, Reed and Arenas compete, Arenas has better and more comprehensive data, and has a greater advantage.

Best rookie, Yao Ming has a little more advantages, a good record, and better data.

Best Defensive Player, Ben Wallace is finally invincible.

Best coaches, Popovich, Adelman, Carlisle, Byron Scott, four are considered the favorites for the best coach.

There is also the All-Defensive Team, and the Hawks are not considered to have a chance to be in the All-Defensive Team except Raheem, and only Ratliff is considered a candidate for the All-Defensive Team.

However, in terms of the best sixth man, Liu Mang has a big advantage, and the sixth people in the league this year have not performed well, only Bobby Jackson of the Kings averages 15+3+3 per game, and he is also the only player who averages 15+ per game among all the substitutes in the league, except for Liu Mang.

Liu Mang is seen as having an 80 percent chance of winning the Sixth Man of the Year again.

The 20% chance is not because Bobby Jackson's performance can threaten Liu Mang, but because the best sixth man is even Zhuang, which is more difficult than MVP Lianzhuang!

In the past 20 years, the MVP has been in a row, and if you count Duncan, who is about to win the MVP, there are five consecutive regular season MVP players, including Larry Bird's three consecutive titles.

And the best sixth man, who can get it for two consecutive years, Celtics legend Kevin McHale, with two years of data of 18.4 + 7.4 and 19.8 + 8, and the other is Germany's strongest player before Nowitzki, Detreve Schramf, with two years of data per game of 16.1 + 8 and 17.3 + 9.

This is put in many teams, which are the core inside, and such data can get the best sixth man in Lianzhuang.

Liu Mang has an eighty percent chance, relying on his average of 19 + 3.4 + 5.5 per game this year, if the rebounds and assists are not so obvious improvement, even if he averages 19 points per game this year, the chances of being able to even the best sixth man in Zhuang are at most five or five with Bobby Jackson.

Liu Mang seemed to see another talent skill fragment beckoning to him!

……

The two days of training went by quickly.

On April 21, the playoffs opener came.

After the tactical training in the morning, the Eagles gave the players a holiday in the afternoon, of course, either to play in the hotel, or to go to the training hall to train, there is no other choice, the Eagles coaching staff is more inclined to let the players rest, all the preparations that can be done are done, and the next thing is to use the game to speak.

Most of the Eagles chose to go back to the hotel to rest, only Liu Mang was still practicing for turning over and jumping shots.

Playoff to play starters!

It is no longer possible to pretend to be a substitute, although he has not been affected in terms of organizing the attack, but the individual attack has declined to a certain extent.

Although because of Liu Mang's previous performance, his threat is still there, but Liu Mang can't expect the opponent to make a mistake in judgment, after the three-point ability value finished the regular season, it was difficult to increase to 84, and it was basically impossible to reach 85 in a few days, mainly because this year's record is too miserable, and the rewards are pitiful, except for an average of 5+ assists per game to get 10,000 superstar points, the others add up to more than 5,000, and in this year's playoffs, you can only rely on yourself!

Fortunately, there are still some props that can be used, and Liu Mang also has a skill upgrade card that can be upgraded to a full skill, what he wants to upgrade is to turn over and jump shots, cooperate with low-post singles, and give himself a little more offensive threat.

At the same time, if you can rely on skill upgrades to increase your ability value to more than 80, the bench bandit will be invalid and get a chance to win a mid-level superstar value lottery.

Now Liu Mang has 28,328 superstar points, 2 intermediate superstar value lotterys, and he dare not use them lightly until he has to, at least against the Pistons, Liu Mang feels that the team has the strength to beat them, so whether it is a star card or a superstar value lottery, they must save money.

After practicing until four o'clock in the afternoon, Liu Mang felt that it was almost time to rest, and his body could recover his strength with physical energy medicine, but his spirit also had to rest well and prepare for tomorrow's opening game!

You can't think of one win and one loss to grab the home advantage just because it's an away game, Liu Mang's goal is to win both games!

At the same time, this is also the goal of the Eagles, there is no pressure where the motivation comes from, the Eagles have nothing to scruple about now, and the Pistons are just in the end!

And, first of all, we have to get enough, we swept the Pistons last season, how about doing it again this year?

After returning to the hotel, Liu Mang took a bath, and then went to the teammates who were idle and had nothing to do to relax and gamble to press two, but there was no gambling luck, both lost, Liu Mang gave up decisively, and watched them gamble on the side.

At half past five, Liu Mang returned to his room, ready to watch the playoffs opener of the Spurs, the No. 1 team in the league! Before the game, Liu Mang called Yao Ming to cheer up, although it was impossible to win the Spurs, but he also cheered up Da Yao.

The time in the United States is different from that in China, the domestic unified Beijing time, the east and west of the United States have their own time, Detroit uses New York time, San Antonio uses Los Angeles time, a difference of three hours, Los Angeles time at half past two in the afternoon, the Texas Civil War between the Spurs and the Rockets is about to start!

Just when Liu Mang was looking forward to what kind of performance Yao Ming would have in the playoffs against Duncan, suddenly, the system prompt came.

"Ding...... System Release Series Mission: I'm already thinking about my opponents for the next round......"