The Lakers will face the Jazz in the semifinals, and in other games, the Spurs will face the Trail Blazers in the semifinals.

Qiao Hai's underestimated Trailblazers gave him a surprise, the Trail Blazers actually defeated the King 3:1 and advanced to the semifinals, judging from the score, the Trail Blazers played relatively easily, I have to say, it was Qiao Hai who underestimated Mike Dunleavy.

In the East, the Knicks completed the Black Eight, and in the last game, Jeff Van Gundy defeated his teacher to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, where he will face the Hawks, who also played Game 5 and defeated their opponents to advance.

The 76ers and Pacers are the other set up in the East.

In the semifinals, the series format became a best-of-seven system, and on May 20, the second round of the playoffs began, and the Spurs started with the Trail Blazers first, at the Alamo Dome Stadium in San Antonio, league president David Stern was on the court, and in the resentment of Greg Popovich's face, he announced that Mike Dunleavy was the best coach of the 1998-1999 regular season, and Mike Dunleavy lifted the best coach trophy on the road.

However, in the following game, the Spurs and Popovich proved themselves, they lost 88 points in three quarters, 88-66, 22 points ahead of the Trail Blazers, and 112-86 at the end, the Spurs won a 26-point victory at home.

Gregg Popovich proved with a victory that he is the real best coach.

On the same day, the Knicks defeated the Hawks for their first win of the second round.

The next day the game between the Pacers and the 76ers began, and the game became a big battle between Reggie Miller and Allen Iverson, and the fans watched it happily, and the head coaches of the two teams were a little unhappy, especially the 76ers coach Larry Brown, they lost, and the 76ers played without defense at all, which is unacceptable for Larry Brown, who has always emphasized defense.

In the locker room, Larry Brown went into a rage and announced that he would put those "disobedient" players on the bench if his tactics were not strictly followed in the next game.

Allen Iverson, who was sitting in his seat, frowned, and Larry Brown noticed this, he didn't care at all, as one of the most prestigious head coaches in the league, Larry Brown didn't feel like he could have a player above him.

The Lakers and Jazz game also started on this day, but it was held a little later, and Qiao Hai brought Shaquille O'Neal to the pre-game press conference.

There are a lot of reporters at the press conference, but there is still a lack of ESPN, the largest sports media in North America, and they are still not allowed to interview the Lakers, this is a Lakers away game, if it is a home game of the Lakers, ESPN reporters will not even enter the Great Western Forum arena except for buying tickets.

If the Lakers continue to soar like this, maybe ESPN will have to think about whether they should bow their heads, after all, all the Lakers and Qiao Hai want is an apology.

O'Neill was sitting on the side, and Qiao Hai was sitting a little casually, slightly Ge You lying on the chair.

The Lakers press officer announced the start of the pregame press conference, which began with a question session.

The Los Angeles Times' Kevin Ding was given the first question, and his question was simple: "Make a prediction about what's going to happen, Coach Joe." ”

Qiao Hai leaned towards the table and pointed at the microphone: "The winner will be the Los Angeles Lakers." ”

Kevin Ding paused for a moment, and the local media in Utah reacted quickly, and asked directly: "But this game the Lakers will face last season's overall runner-up and the Devil's home court in the Utah Plateau, Mr. Qiao Hai, don't you think your prediction is arrogant?" ”

Qiao Hai shook his head: "If it's not for victory, why are we here?" ”

In a word, the local Utah reporter was speechless.

"Last year, the Lakers lost to the Jazz in the Western Conference Finals, Mr. Qiao Hai, do you think this year's Lakers will repeat the same mistakes?" Now it's USA Today's reporters who are asking questions.

Qiao Hai continued to shake his head: "Of course not, after a year, the Los Angeles Lakers are no longer last year's Los Angeles Lakers, and the Utah Jazz are no longer last year's Utah Jazz, believe me, we will win, the Jazz are no longer our opponents." ”

"Can you break it down in more detail?"

"Yes." Qiao Hai nodded. "It's actually very simple, we have advantages inside and outside, Shaq will blow up the inside line of Karl Malone and Greg Ostertag, he has the ability." When Qiao Hai said this, he also glanced at O'Neill, who was sitting on the side.

O'Neill smiled and nodded at Qiao Hai, as if to show that he could do what Qiao Hai said.

But the local Utah reporters in the audience were already very dissatisfied, and Qiao Hai continued: "We also have a huge advantage on the outside, Scott has beaten the Jazz twice in a row, he knows how to beat the Jazz, and Kobe Bryant, now he is much better than John Stockton." ”

The local reporters in Utah were dissatisfied, but Qiao Hai didn't care about their opinions at all, facing the Jazz, the Lakers' momentum could not be weak, as long as the players were given enough confidence, the game could be easily won.

Then, it was the local Utah reporter who kept asking questions.

Joe replied one by one, and he also said, "In my coaching years, the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz three times, and Jerry Sloan didn't take a single win from me. ”

This sentence forced local Utah reporters to say, "The regular season is not the same as the playoffs." Such a sentence.

Subsequently, Qiao Hai announced that today's interview with him was over, and reporters could ask Shaquille O'Neal questions, and he himself would not accept any more questions.

……

In the afternoon, the Lakers stepped on the court to warm up, and surprisingly, the energy plan arena was already full, it was less than five o'clock at this time, and there were two hours before the game started at 7 o'clock, Qiao Hai looked at the Jazz fans full of Wuwu, and he couldn't help but sigh: "The fans in the Utah Plateau are really crazy, but the fans help the team, less than 5%. ”

Stan Lefu also nodded, when he played, the Jazz had just entered the league, although the Jazz was not strong at that time, but the fans of the Utah Plateau had already made a deep impression on Stan Lefour from that time.

"Rest assured, the Jazz have been in a serious decline this season, and we have made serious progress, so we will win this series."

Qiao Hai patted Stan Lefu on the shoulder, as the playoffs progressed, Stan Lefu became more and more worried, who knew that Qiao Hai was so confident, and made a little joke, the word "serious progress" was obviously wrong, Stan Lefu smiled, and Byron Scott, who was following them, also smiled.

"Okay, fight hard, this one must win!"

Although it is an away game, Qiao Hai is confident that he will snatch a victory from the road, the Lakers have won so many Jazz games in the regular season, it is impossible not to have such confidence.