Although the Mavericks won't start the playoffs until April 20, the playoff battle will start spreading on April 19.

On the first day of the fierce battle, the teams fought quite fiercely. Eight teams competed in four games. It is worth mentioning that there are three results of the game, all of which have one thing in common.

In the first game, the Nets, who ranked sixth in the East, defeated the Raptors, who were third in the East, with a score of 94-87. Immediately afterwards, the Grizzlies, who ranked seventh in the West, actually dragged the Spurs, who have 62 wins this season and ranked second in the league!

After the match, Popovich shook his head repeatedly. "I should trade those useless guys in the middle of the season!" The old man faced the camera, extremely angry.

But that's not all, in another game in the East, the eighth-placed Hawks will beat the Pacers, who are overpowering the Heat. So far, three of the four games on the first day of the playoffs have been won by a lower-ranked team in the regular season.

The emergence of this phenomenon is also a wake-up call for the teams that are about to play on the 20th. Whether you win 69 or 49 in the regular season, in the playoffs, everyone is equal. Who wins or loses has nothing to do with the regular season record. There is only one thing to pursue in the playoffs, and that is strength! Only the stronger side can kill the enemy to protect themselves.

And this special phenomenon has undoubtedly made the media point their guns on the Dallas Mavericks.

"Last night's game illustrated that teams that are higher in the regular season don't necessarily win in the end. I think the Dallas Mavericks must be pretty nervous right now. Because seven years ago, they were defeated by the Eighth in the West! ”

"69 wins in the regular season, which is a great result. But this greatness is limited to the regular season. When it comes to the playoffs, everyone is a blank slate. Want to win? Then you have to take action, and the results of the regular season will not make any difference! ”

"Three of the four games were won by lower-ranked teams, which shows that this is no accident. I believe that the Warriors will have a lot of energy in the playoffs. If the Dallas Mavericks want to keep their home court, it may be quite difficult. ”

Looking at this piece of news that was unfavorable to the Mavericks, Yiyang simply turned off the phone screen. He didn't quite understand what the Spurs' loss to the Grizzlies had to do with the Mavericks. Could it be that if the Spurs lose to the Grizzlies, we will definitely lose to the Warriors?

"Don't care about the media nonsense, we just play our game. The warriors of seven years ago have little to do with the warriors of today. And we, like the calves of seven years ago, are completely different. So, don't have any baggage, play hard, and the victory will definitely belong to Dallas! Carlisle looked at the players who were changing their equipment and took advantage of the moment to adjust the mentality of the team.

As soon as he finished speaking, Nowitzki jerked to his feet. Dirk didn't talk much today, and his expression was quite serious. He was the first to change his equipment before Yiyang and prepared to warm up.

Carlisle didn't shout at Nowitzki, he knew exactly what the big guy was thinking. Seven years ago, Nowitzki was named the regular season MVP, leading the team to an excellent record of 67 wins. Everyone thought the Mavericks would eventually take home the O'Brien Cup.

However, they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The Mavericks became the laughing stock of the whole league, and Nowitzki also carried the infamy of "soft eggs". Wade even claimed at the time that Dirk was an "incompetent leader."

Because of this incident, the league postponed the regular season MVP award time to avoid the embarrassment of being eliminated in the first round of the regular season MVP. And Dirk's infamy as a "soft egg" did not finally dissipate until he won the championship in 2011.

This incident, perhaps the darkest of Dirk's career, was the last thing he wanted to mention. Other stars have changed the rules of the league because they are too powerful. Dirk changed the timing of the league's awards, but it was because he lost too much.

Therefore, it would not be surprising for Carlisle that Dirk would become so serious today. What this guy is about to face is the darkest time of his career!

Just a minute after Dirk walked out of the locker room, Yiyang also changed his equipment and followed. On the empty basketball court, Yiyang finds Dirk, who has already started shooting.

"Why is it so early today?" Yiyang casually walked onto the court and picked up a basketball lying quietly on the ground.

"Come on, an old man like me doesn't need encouragement." Nowitzki smiled, he knew what Yiyang wanted to do. But the verbal encouragement is still reserved for young people like Gobert. As an old fritter, Nowitzki would not have become energetic because of a few enthusiastic words.

Yiyang scratched his head embarrassedly, he was really playing a big knife in front of Guan Gong, and he was immediately recognized. He did want to motivate Dirk, but who made his mouth so stupid?

"You know, seven years ago, I became an idiot in the eyes of almost everyone!" Dirk was talking, and the shooting action in his hand was still going on. And, it doesn't seem to affect his shooting accuracy. "The most incompetent, tragic, and inscrutable MVP in NBA history, God, I don't even know how they came up with those words."

Dirk shook his head with a wry smile, the painful memories of seven years ago vivid. At that time, as soon as he opened his eyes, Dirk could see countless news of "crusades" against him. He really wanted to give up the MVP title to someone else, and he would rather throw the trophy that symbolized honor to the bottom of White Rock Lake.

The MVP is like a curse that keeps Dirk under stress and depression all day.

However, after thinking back on those past events and looking at Yiyang again, Dirk's expression regained his composure.

"But do you think what happened seven years ago will affect me? Let's see how we've struggled over the past few years. We won the championship, we set another winning streak and we had 69 wins! We've changed so much that I believe that tragedy won't happen again. Dirk smiled instead. On his face, you don't see anxiety, nervousness, and panic, only a kind of indifference and confidence after seeing everything clearly.

"So, you don't have to worry about me, too. When I get to the field, I won't be relentless! I've experienced the worst, and there's nothing that holds me back! ”

Yiyang nodded silently, yes, when did Dirk worry about himself? In the regular season last season, Nowitzki's form plummeted due to injury, and his points per game average hit a new low since his rookie season. But as soon as it came to the playoffs, Dirk seemed to be resurrected with full blood, and followed the team all the way to the Western Conference Finals before finally falling.

As Dirk said, the Mavericks have struggled over the years. A mere Golden State warrior is not to be feared at all!

※※※

As the warm-up time got longer, more and more fans gathered in the arena at the American Route Center. Fans rushed into the stadium shouting Dirk's name to cheer the Germans on. He's the only player on the Mavericks team who has experienced the Black Eight incident seven years ago, so he should also be under the most pressure.

Whenever a fan does this, Dirk smiles and waves kindly at the stands. He thanked these people for their continued support, and he thanked them for maintaining him after being nicknamed "soft eggs".

In today's game, Dirk can't let himself down, he can't let the team down. Likewise, he didn't want to disappoint the fans.

Golden State Warriors? If you think you can bring me down like you did seven years ago, you're very wrong!

Now we are extremely powerful!

At half past eight in the evening of April 20, this most high-profile duel finally began at the referee's whistle.

Until the first second of the game, there was a consensus that the Mavericks were doomed. But as soon as the game started, the Mavericks were in awe!

Due to the reimbursement of the season by Australian Bogut, the Warriors had to use Jermaine. O'Neill came as the starting center. Jermaine. O'Neal used to be one of the most powerful interior players in the league, but after years of injury, the guy who was once affectionately known as "Little O'Neal" has also lost his edge.

Daimporter easily snatched the basketball over O'Neal Jr., and a loud shout erupted from the arena at the American Airline Center. In the 2013-2014 season, the Mavericks officially started on the road to the championship!

Curry, as always, is adamant about Yiyang, although the most talked about before the game starts is Dirk. But Curry knows very well that Yiyang is the real soul of this Mavericks team now.

Since the failure of the stunner on James's head, Yiyang has become extremely bloodthirsty, and his desire to score is much higher than before.

Today is no exception, Yiyang saw that Curry was so dead, so he reached out and called the Haitians to set up cover for himself.

Curry's skinny frame naturally couldn't allow himself to get around the pick-and-roll in time, and Jermaine. O'Neill's speed couldn't be compared to Yiyang's, and when he moved sideways to make up for it, Yiyang had already passed him with ease.

In this way, Yiyang made a quick stop jump shot at a step inside the free throw line. This shot will definitely make a good start to the Mavericks' playoffs!

However, perhaps because he was too excited, Yiyang's shot was a little hasty. Instead of crashing into the net as one might expect, the basketball slammed into the right side of the basket and bounced outside!

"My favorite pull-up jump shot didn't hit, it seems that the Warriors really have an invisible restraining force on the Mavericks!" O'Neal shook his head, seven years ago, Nowitzki, who had played almost perfectly in the regular season, had his form slip because he had met the Warriors.

Could it be that today, seven years later, Yiyang will repeat Dirk's old path?

Just when everyone thought that the Mavericks' offense was over, Nowitzki jumped high and stretched out his long arms. Behind Lee, he took off the offensive rebound!

"It's Dirk, he actually grabbed the offensive rebound when he didn't have a good position!"

David. Li turned around in surprise, and as soon as he turned around, Dirk had already passed the ball back to Yiyang.

Yiyang made a fake shot after receiving the ball, slightly tricking Curry's center of gravity forward.

Seeing Curry move his footsteps, Yiyang immediately withdrew the basketball and quickly broke through from him with a hunched waist like a cheetah!

Fight inside and face the flustered David. Li, Yiyang jumped directly at him, and put on a violent posture!

David. Before Li could jump up to stop it, Yiyang's body had already slammed into him.

This huge impact made David. Li was unstoppable, and he raised his arms high, and he was dunked by Yiyang in this way!

"Flying buckles! Hahaha, as soon as it opened, it also used a dunk performance to kick off the wonderful playoffs! Shaq, didn't you say that the Warriors had an invisible restraining force over the Mavericks? Fortunately, there is a containment force, otherwise it may have flown directly out of the dome of the center arena of the American route just now! Barkley waved his arm excitedly, and Yiyang's slash seemed to break the so-called Black Eight curse.

Yiyang stretched out his hand and high-fived Dirk, who scrambled to grab the offensive rebound. The two partners, one inside and one outside, were frowning and looked fierce.

Want to create the Black Eight Miracle again? Okay, step over our corpses! If, you can.