Chapter 260: The Target
On Thursday, the first round of the 96-97 playoffs officially kicked off, and there will be four sets of tears to begin on this day, and the Lakers' game is scheduled for the next day.
First Round Matchups:
Western Conference - Lakers (0) VS (0) Suns; Jazz (0) VS (0) Timberwolves; Clippers (0) VS (0) Trail Blazers; Rocket (0) VS (0) Supersonic.
Eastern Conference - Bulls (0) VS (0) Bullets; Heat (0) VS (0) Magic; Knicks (0) VS (0) Hawks; Piston (0) VS (0) Wasp.
"I'm hoping to make 300 three-pointers next season and get into the 180 club."
In an interview with "Dragonborn Sports", Zhang Fu responded that this is his goal for the regular season next season.
This year, instead of being interviewed by Sports Illustrated and ESPN, he asked his own media to take full-body photos and interviews with him.
In this playoffs, only "Official Website", "Los Angeles Times", "CCTV", and "Dragonborn Sports" can interview him, and even the interview requests of "ESPN" and "Sports Illustrated" were politely rejected by him, and it is impossible for him to accept so many media interviews and photos, and the above four have elements that he can't refuse, so he can only say no to other media.
He made 221 three-pointers last season and improved his three-point tally to 259 this season, second only to Dennis Scott's record of 267 three-pointers in a single season set in '95-96.
Zhang Qi really wanted to break this record, but in the end, he was only less than ten.
But there is no way, there are too many things he has to worry about this season, so things like three-point records and triple-double records, these can only be left for later to break.
The "180 Club" is also his goal, and this season he is only short of missing the free throw line, and the shooting percentage and three-point shooting percentage have met the requirements, but the free throw shooting rate is less than 90%.
His fans feel that with a 52.6% shooting percentage + 42.8% three-point shooting rate + 88% free throw shooting percentage, the three items add up to more than 180, and it stands to reason that Koala Baby should enter the 180 club.
Of course, things are not so simple, there are two hard indicators to enter the 180 club, that is, the three hit rates must exceed 50% + 40% + 90%, even if two are far beyond the standard, but one is not up to standard, it is not considered to have entered the 180 club. The second requirement, of course, is the minimum standard for the number of shots, you have to make a certain number of two-pointers, three-pointers, and free throws for the stats to work, otherwise the guys who have only played a few games will be able to mix in.
These two rigid standards are even felt by Zhang Qiu, because if an interior player can shoot three-pointers, wouldn't he be able to rush into the 180 club with his super high shooting percentage? Or is there a player who is good at taking free throws to fish in troubled waters?
Why are there only a handful of players who can make it to the 180 club? It is because the requirements for selection are extremely demanding. But it is precisely because of this that its gold content is highlighted. If a player enters the 180 club every season, I believe that this name will not be valuable, and the honor is also scarce and expensive.
In the afternoon, the NBA's official website first announced the winners of the "Best Rookie".
It's the same non-suspenseful award as the regular season MVP, and Allen Iverson has stood out from the crowd this year, outperforming rivals Sharif Abdul Rahim, Anthony Walker and Stephen Marbury.
In addition, although it has not been officially announced, many news channels such as "ESPN", "Los Angeles Times", and "Associated Press" have released the news that Lakers coach Del Harris has won the title of Coach of the Year.
It's a well-known fact that the Lakers have had unprecedented success this season, with a world-leading 74 wins, and Harris is unlikely to miss this award as head coach, and his best coach is probably more stable than Zhang Mao's regular season MVP.
On the same day, the league also announced the "Best Defensive Player" and "Most Improved Player" awards, which were also the first awards ever announced.
The first is the "Best Defensive Player", an award that has been won many times by Mutombo the year before last, but was robbed of the DPOY trophy by Gary Payton last year due to the team's poor record. This year, the Lakers won 74 wins, coupled with his performance as the "block king" for a second time, and regained the DPOY trophy.
Mutombo won 51 percent of the vote, more than double the second-place Gary Payton, and won the award for the second time in his career.
Major media have lamented that the Lakers really took advantage of last summer, and the two DPOY+ four consecutive block kings are not worth more than $8 million. This "African Mountain" is really easy to fool, and when he gets such a contract, he is willing to serve the Lakers, and I don't know how many teams will be jealous of it.
Only Pippen smiled secretly, Mutombo obviously made the same mistake as him, and he didn't expect that the player's salary would skyrocket in a few years.
Mutombo's contract seemed very high two years ago, when the big four centers only paid how much money, so Mutombo was eager to sign the contract. As a result, of course, I heard that Howard and Mourning had signed a contract of 100 million yuan within a few days, but it was too late to regret it at that time.
Lakers fans don't think Mutombo has lost a lot, if he doesn't come to the Lakers, can he get 74 wins? Can he continue to be the "King of Blocks"? Will he get a second DPOY?
This kind of thing can only be said to have gains and losses, if you don't believe it, ask Barkley, see if he is willing to take only 10 million to the Lakers now?
Another award announced today was the NBA's Most Improved Player Award last year, which recognizes players who have made the most outstanding improvements from last season, with the Heat's Isaac Austin receiving 31 percent of the vote. Although his average of 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game is far from his competitors, it is important to know that he averaged 22 minutes per game to get these stats, and such efficiency has earned him enough support.
On the first day of the playoffs, that's all the news that the league announced and leaked, and most of the awards won't be released until a few days later.
Despite this, the Lakers are also destined to be the biggest winners, and they will have the majority of the awards announced today, and the rest of the awards are estimated to be no more than a few......
Zhang Zhu's MVP and "Best Team" couldn't be more stable, Mutombo will inevitably enter the "defensive front" after getting the DPOY, and Starks' "Best Sixth Man Award" will basically not be unexpected, this year the Lakers are likely to win the "MVP", "DPOY", "Best Sixth Man", "Best Coach" These four heavyweight honors.
This kind of big bag is rare in NBA history, and the result is that the playoffs have already begun, but many media are still full of praise for the Lakers who will appear tomorrow, as if they won the championship is also a certainty.
In the evening, the Chicago Bulls played the Washington Bullets first......
The Bullets now have a strong interior combination of Chris Webber + Juwan Howard, as well as street ball king Rod Strickland in the backcourt, plus last year's most improved player George Muressan, and it is not weak on paper.
The problem is that Webb and Howard overlap dramatically in terms of position, both can only play the number four position, and even have similar statures and styles of play, which would hell if they could get along.
The Wizards know it's embarrassing, of course, but they can't put one of the two teams with the No. 1 and No. 2 salary rankings on the bench, but the fact that both of them are starters means that one of them has to play the No. 3 position, or center, which is not a good match for the team.
Chris Webber was more athletic, but not tall, so the head coach put him on small forward.
The result was tragic, Webber couldn't even find a chance to shoot in front of Pippen, and his slow pace also cost him a lot of fouls on the defensive end, and he was ejected from the game after only playing more than 20 minutes, which means that he didn't even play a half-point.
This is an example where 1+1 is much less than 2, and the Wizards now don't regret snatching Howard back from the Heat, but they regret not trading Howard or Webb out of one sooner.
At this point, looking back at the Lakers' original offer, they should have traded Webb for Van Exel + Finley.
The Lakers didn't fancy Wallace at the beginning, they valued Webb or Howard, Jerry West gave the Bullets several options, Finlay + Sebaros, Van Exel + Finley, Van Exel + Cebaros, there are three flavors to choose from.
But the Bullets felt that the deal was a robbery at the time, and now it seems that it may not be bad if it is a real deal, especially the backcourt combination of Van Exel + Finlay is very suitable for Webb and Howard, and at that time they can still keep the potential stock Rasheed Wallace, no matter how you look at it.
It's a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world, Zhang Fu and his teammates watched this game together, he could see that the Bulls had not yet shown their full strength, but the Bullets were still eaten away by the Bulls step by step, and it seemed that as long as they played at their own pace step by step, the Chicagoans could easily defeat this opponent.
"It's similar to our tactics against the Suns!"
Zhang Yu thought about his team's preparation again, in fact, it was similar to the Bulls, there was a position conflict for the Bullets, and the Lakers were ready to target the Suns' interior line, in fact, they were all obvious weaknesses of the opponent, whoever met these two teams would play like this, the difference is that different teams will achieve different results, this weakness is put in the hands of the Lakers and the Bulls, then there is basically no possibility of running out of the palm of the hand.
For the remaining three games, the Lakers only focused on the Jazz, and the rest of the teams didn't care.
The Jazz won easily, the Timberwolves were still a little too tender, Marbury's performance was eye-catching, and Garnett was also playing at star level, but apart from the twin stars, the Timberwolves didn't even have a player who scored more than double figures.
It's clear that the Timberwolves are just a developing team, and the task this year is to create some playoff experience for the two core players inside and outside, and to become a top team, in addition to these two rookies having to continue to improve, they also need to find a way to get a few experienced role players to assist.
The Jazz didn't seem to have to make much effort to win the game, and the two elders just played normally, but with the addition of a group of experienced veteran ruffians, the immature Timberwolves couldn't parry it at all.
Zhang believes that this is a game that is less suspenseful than the Bulls and the Bullets, and the Timberwolves have never seen hope from the beginning to the end, and it seems that they are better than stability or the Jazz.
In the remaining two games, the Knicks easily beat the Hawks at home, and the Clippers also beat the Trail Blazers by 20 points.
Zhang Wei didn't learn about the neighbor's game from the newspaper until the next day, he thought that the Clippers should be very anxious to play the Trail Blazers, Sabonis's low-post single defense ability is very good, and it seems to be suitable for defending O'Neal, this former Soviet man is playing in the playoffs, and the dead fat man is likely not to please.
But he forgot that Sabonis is old and injured, and even if he plays with his life, he can't explode the small universe.
The most important thing is that O'Neal has played his life in the playoffs, but his combat effectiveness has improved a lot.
As a result, a statistic of 48 points and 12 rebounds made the big shark take the overlord step into the headlines of various sports media, and even Dragonborn Sports gave O'Neal a headline position.
"Some people think I don't have a chance to win the championship, and now I tell them that I'm not who I am anymore in the second form, and I'm going to make people aware of what dominance is!"
This is O'Neill's big words after the game, Zhang Wei is very unhappy, isn't it just to blow up a sick seedling who is almost forty years old, what is there to show off?
Tonight against the Suns, he has to get a more explosive statistic!
Cebaros suddenly shivered several kilometers away, and his heart panicked!
This feeling has been there since the playoff opponents came out, and he feels that he should stay with the Knicks, and now he is facing the old owner, especially against that monster, I really don't know how to end.
However, it is not his turn to call the shots in this matter, who has injured him for three months, of course the Knicks will not wait for him to recover, and they will definitely trade this guy who is not in the plan, and it is already good for solar to take over.
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In the first round of the playoffs in '96-97, after the first day of play, the results were invariably the team with the home court advantage to win.
Western Conference - Jazz (1) VS (0) Timberwolves; Clippers (1) VS (0) Trail Blazers.
Eastern Conference – Bulls (1) VS (0) Bullets; Magic; Knicks (1) vs (0) Hawks.
Lakers fans are starting to look forward to their team finally playing.
Clippers fans may not be very happy, the whole of Los Angeles during this time is the Lakers' TV commercials and street ads, to find outdoor advertisements for Clippers players, it is only possible to go to the Clippers' home arena, and you have to walk within 500 meters of the arena to find that beyond this range is still a huge portrait of the big handsome and a station stop sign.
Zhang Qi slept more soundly than usual in the past two days, and the Lakers players did not have the tense atmosphere before the big game, and in addition to serious preparations, they could always hear intermittent laughter in the training ground, and everyone's mentality was very peaceful.
"End the series in three games!"
This is the unanimous goal of the whole team, and they can't sweep the Suns, so why are they embarrassed to talk about winning the championship?
Zhang Wei thought more, O'Neal's side scored 48 points in the first game, so he had to use a 50+, or a large triple-double to return the color, anyway, it couldn't be worse than him.
That night, the Lakers will make 20,000 cultural shirts printed with the word "MVP" and put them on each seat for free for fans to use in the game, so as to create a warm enough home atmosphere.
In the afternoon warm-up training, Zhang Yi wore his "Dragonborn II" playoff special edition sneakers, which are purple and gold, supplemented by scale ripples, and red accents on the details, and Zhang Zhu's number is added to the tongue for the first time.
It's not just a number, it's a symbol of a unique demographic, and the new colorway gives the playoff-exclusive sneakers a different look.
The Lakers vs Suns game was scheduled for Game 3 today, and the four teams that won yesterday all chose to sit in front of the TV and watch the game today.
Lakers players may not know that they have become the target of public criticism, and every team that wants to compete for a championship has listed them as the number one enemy in their hearts, and the Lakers have accidentally become the team that is watched the most by other teams in the playoffs.