On May 8, the playoffs kicked off.

There were four games going on that day, and the Lakers weren't among them.

In the West, the Spurs vs. the Suns, the Trail Blazers vs. the Kings, the two matchups started first, and the East was the Heat vs. the Knicks, and the Hawks vs. the Pistons.

The Spurs who started first and ended with the Suns first, Jason Kidd was unable to support himself, and the Spurs relied on Duncan's 26 points and 12 rebounds, and Avery Johnson's 21 points and 10 assists to easily win the game and get the series off to a good start.

Jason Kidd couldn't juggle the defense and straight to Avery Johnson's best performance of the season.

And the Trail Blazers' game against the Kings really surprised Qiao Hai, before that, Qiao Hai was very optimistic about the Kings with Chris Webber and Vlad Divac, for the Trail Blazers who have no star players, Qiao Hai does not think that the Trail Blazers can disrupt the playoffs.

As a result, in the first game of the playoffs, the Trail Blazers showed the strength of their team basketball, the interior line composed of Rashid Wallace and Sabonis Sr. with fighting spirit and experience, completely abused the interior line of Vlad Divac and Chris Webber, and the performance of the outside flying squirrel Damon Stadamire was also very good, and finally, in the first game at home, the Trail Blazers defeated the King with a score of 119:98, and also made a good start, not giving the King a chance to get on the ground.

In the East, the Heat and the Knicks fought fiercely, and until the last moment, relying on Tim Hardaway's 2-point kill, the Heat barely won the game.

The Hawks had their first playoff win over the Pistons, and thanks to Grant Hill's 28 points, the Pistons won the Hawks and led the series 1-0.

After four games on the first day, the Lakers will also be on the court on the second day of the playoffs.

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On May 9, the Great Western Forum Arena, before the game began, the sidelines were already full.

There were also many familiar faces in the front row of seats in the arena, such as Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Diane Gannon, etc., and almost all Hollywood stars who often appear on the Lakers' home court came this time.

The atmosphere at the scene was good, and all the fans were dressed uniformly, wearing the gold T-shirts distributed by the Lakers.

Although the Lakers are accustomed to the playoffs every year, this year, everything is a little different, the performance of the Big Three at the end of the regular season is in the eyes of all Lakers fans, and Lakers fans are also divided into two factions for Phil Jackson's ownership.

One faction believes that Qiao Hai's performance in leading the team is not bad, and in this case, the Lakers should not change the coach, even if the new head coach is Phil Jackson, Lakers fans in this faction are very resistant to Phil Jackson's ownership.

The other group of fans welcomed Phil Jackson's arrival next season, Phil Jackson has proven himself in the Bulls, and Qiao Hai is too young, and replacing the young Qiao Hai with the experienced Phil Jackson is obviously the right choice.

However, the vast majority of Lakers fans who really came to watch the game still support Qiao Hai, after all, Qiao Hai is the current head coach of the Lakers.

There was also a constant discussion among the fans at the scene, with fans supporting Joe Hay and fans supporting Phil Jackson mixed in, as well as some neutrals for the Lakers' playoff trip

"We lost to the Jazz last year, and we're just one step away from the Finals, so I don't know what we can do this year."

"I don't think it's going to be a good year because we're going to face the Houstonians in the first round, compared to last year, our first-round opponent was the Trail Blazers, the Rockets weren't comparable to the Trail Blazers, they had Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, and our Eddie Jones."

"Don't think too much about it, the Rockets have Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, we have Shaq and Kobe, they have our Eddie Jones, we have their Scott Pippen."

"But their manager is Rudy Tomjanovic, and our head coach is a rookie, only 23 years old."

The last fan obviously doesn't look down on Qiao Hai, who belongs to the faction that supports Phil Jackson's arrival.

The discussion on the sidelines suddenly came up with such a sentence, and a rough-looking fan frowned: "Joe did a good job, don't judge a person's ability by age." ”

The fans who didn't look down on Qiao Hai spread their hands and stopped talking.

In the home team's locker room, the Lakers' players are preparing, and the locker room looks a little noisy.

Qiao Hai walked back and forth twice, and gradually, the locker room was quiet, because the players found that the time was almost up, and until now, Qiao Hai still did not arrange the tactical play of this game.

Therefore, they sensed that something was wrong, and they all quieted down, looking at Qiao Hai who was walking back and forth.

Qiao Hai was not in a hurry, Stan Lefu was in a hurry first, and he pulled Qiao Hai: "Joe, it's time to arrange tactics." ”

"Oh yes, set up tactics." Qiao Hai patted his head, as if he had just reacted, in fact, this was what he had thought about a long time ago, in this game, the Lakers did not need to arrange anything, and the tactics of the last game against the Spurs should be followed.

Therefore, since there was nothing to arrange, Qiao Hai shortened the time to the shortest.

"Alright, guys, be quiet." In fact, it was already quiet in the locker room.

Qiao Hai continued: "We set up tactics, in fact, there is nothing to arrange, playing Houston, and playing San Antonio is basically similar, Shaq, we need you to contain Hakim Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, Scott, control the tempo, our opponent in this game is your old club, you must want to beat them, right?" ”

O'Neill nodded, his mission was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, Scott Pippen frowned, Qiao Hai's words made him always feel that he was back more than a month ago, Qiao Hai chatted with him, and as a result, he got on the thief ship and fought for more than a month with all his heart.

Now, Qiao Hai is hinting at him again.

It's true that Scott Pippen wants to beat the Rockets, but he thinks of the meeting with Phil Jackson, and although Phil Jackson doesn't say what he wants Scott Pippen to do, Scott Pippen knows very well what Phil Jackson wants Scott Pippen to do.

Scott Pippen was still hesitating, and Qiao Hai's words made him even more hesitant.

After Qiao Hai finished speaking, he directly skipped Pippen.

"Kobe, your task is very heavy this time, hold the ball more and shoot more, pay attention to your shooting percentage, don't force your shots, find an opportunity to shoot again, and in addition, prevent Eddie Jones, this is your battle for the right name."

Kobe nodded, the focus of this game is whether the outside can prevent Eddie Jones, Qiao Hai's words are still full of hints.

Indeed, Bryant needs to beat Eddie Jones to prove that he is the real answer to the Lakers' No. 2 position.

"Alright, guys, go on, take this victory."

The Lakers rushed out, Qiao Hai walked to the door, patted his shoulders one by one, and saw Scott Pippen, Qiao Hai also patted Pippen and pulled Pippen: "Scott, how old are you this year?" ”

Pippen was pulled by Qiao Hai, so he could only stop, not thinking much about it: "33 years old." ”

"33 years old, maybe this year will be your last peak, seize this opportunity......"

Pippen paused for a moment, and he fell into deep thought.