As the playoffs get closer and closer, teams in the league are actively carrying out targeted preparations, and various glories of the regular season are about to be released, the most eye-catching of which is naturally the MVP attribution.

But ESPN's team of experts believes that the suspense of this season's MVP is basically small.

When the Miami Heat and LeBron James were on fire after the All-Star break, the three-time MVP winner left rivals Kevin Durant, Tall Strong, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and others behind, and LeBron James took almost all the good things in the MVP selection.

Unlike Kevin Durant, who was the target of the crowd in 2011 and fought back before winning the championship in 2012, LeBron James in 2013 had the following advantages:

First, the advantage of public opinion.

LeBron James is the defending champion, Olympic champion, and is praised by the league as the undisputed first, which is different from two years ago, in 2011 LeBron James offended the public, and the league then praised a miracle Rose, and in 2012, put "School Bag Du" on the opposite side of "villain" James.

But in 2013, the environment was very different, the proud son of heaven who was born with a golden key is now justifiably ascended to the throne, who does the NBA league praise him?

Second, strength advantage.

LeBron James separated him from the rest of the players a long time ago, and he was better than anyone else, topping the player PER list for six years in a row.

At the beginning of the season, the Miami Heat's record was still suppressed by the New York Knicks, and LeBron James was also tepid. But in the crucial second half of the season, James returned to the fans' attention with a strong wave of 60% shooting and 30+ shooting in February, as well as the Heat's 27-game winning streak, which immediately reflected James' MVP advantage.

LeBron James's career-high 56.5% shooting rate and 40.6% three-point shooting rate are very impressive to fans, especially the former, although Durant even won by 0.7 percentage points in true shooting percentage, but there is no doubt that the shooting percentage that fans are familiar with is more impressive, with a shooting rate of 56.5%. For an outside player. It's incredible.

The third advantage is the record.

The Miami Heat won the league's best 66-16, firmly occupying the first place in the league, and double-defeated the Thunder led by Durant and the Brooklyn Nets, the strongest opponent of MVP, which basically locked the MVP trophy for James in advance.

And LeBron James is the MVP candidate below. With Kevin Durant and Tall Stout being the strongest.

Durant has been the best of his career this season. Although lost the scoring title. But Kevin Durant has become more well-rounded, which makes up for Westbrook's penny of scoring.

Kevin Durant is averaging 29.71 points, 7.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists per game while shooting 51 percent from the field. He shot 41.6 percent from three-point range, averaging 9.3 free throws per game at a 90.5 percent shooting percentage, and the three-point shooting percentage combined was 183.1 percent.

Kevin Durant not only strengthened his passing ability, but also received unanimous recognition on the defensive end, and for the second year in a row, the second MVP vote is likely to fall to him again.

Of course, Kevin Durant has another strong contender, and that is the tall and strong from the Brooklyn Nets.

It's hard to imagine a rookie competing for MVP glory in the first year of his NBA career, but it's just the way it is, and the guard from China did.

Although in some aspects, there is still a gap between Tall and Strong and LeBron James, the "No. 1 Man in the League", but compared to Kevin Durant, Tall and Strong is not lagging behind at all.

The "scoring champion" title is the best proof of this, and no rookie has won this title in the last four decades, Kevin Durant's dream of four consecutive championships was shattered by Tall Strong.

This season, he averaged 36 minutes per game, contributing 30 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists, shooting 47.9% from the field, 42.1% from three-point range, and 8.9 free throws per game with an 88.7% shooting rate.

The Brooklyn Nets led by Tall and Strong also have an excellent record, they are in second place in the East with 56 wins and 26 losses, and in the long-term absence of Deron Williams, Tall and Strong's ability to lead the team has also been well tested, and the current Brooklyn Nets team is completely centered on Tall and Strong.

Tall and strong is undoubtedly the league's top attacker, his offensive range covers the entire half, and his offensive methods are varied, his only flaw now is defense, but he has now become the Miami Heat's biggest opponent in the East.

After LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the top candidates for MVP will be Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, James Harden, Kobe Bryant and Russell Westbrook.

Carmelo Anthony played the best player PER value, in fact, "Melon" has not been consistent in scoring this season, but his average of 36.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in April, as well as the Knicks' 13-game winning streak, can get "Melon" a good MVP ranking.

Chris Paul missed his best year winning the MVP, is no longer at his peak level, and his playing time this season is limited, but even so, his efficiency is second only to James and Durant, and far above the rest.

Tim Duncan is also an astonishing performer, with efficiency values comparable to his peak, ranking sixth in the league, and like Paul, he has a great record and individual performances, but he is limited in the number of games and time he plays, which will detract from the MVP selection.

Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Kobe Bryant will all be on the ballot, but the vote share will not be too high, Russell Westbrook is the second leader of the team, James Harden's Houston Rockets and Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers have not had good records, especially the Los Angeles Lakers, who were expected to win the championship at the beginning of the season.

But in the end, the MVP will be selected by reporters, commentators and fans, and the MVP voting rules are: 122 NBA media reporters and commentators participate in the voting. Each candidate will be selected in order.

The first candidate will receive 10 points, the second candidate will receive 7 points, the third candidate will receive 5 points, the fourth candidate will receive 3 points, and the fifth candidate will receive 1 point.

The results of the votes cast by fans through the NBA's official website will be converted into one vote and counted towards the MVP voting results.

……

The day before Game 1 of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics at home, the Brooklyn Nets players and coaches arrived on the top floor of 432 Park Avenue, a top mansion directly across from Central Park in Manhattan, New York.

432 Park Avenue is a slender skyscraper at 426 meters tall, which surpasses the Empire State Building and the new World Trade Center, and is also the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

Standing at this height, you can not only see the green of Central Park, which spreads dozens of streets, but also see the giant screen version of Manhattan's invincible night view.

The decoration design of the apartment is full of luxury, and the building also has facilities such as a sky garden, a heated wine cellar, and more. There are many large bay windows on the four walls. You can always look out the window through the glass.

The penthouse where the Brooklyn Nets are located is nearly 500 square meters and is priced at $95 million, equivalent to 580 million yuan.

"Wow, it's so close to luxury. I can't find this expensive real estate in Beijing," it was Sina NBA's popular female anchor Zhou Ling'an who spoke.

In addition to the players and coaches of the Brooklyn Nets who are here today. There are also two groups of journalists. One group is Howard Baker from the New York Times, a reporter for the Brooklyn Nets, and the other is Yang Yi and Zhou Ling'an of the Sina NBA who were invited by Gao Dazhuang.

"Hehe, don't believe that things in China are more expensive than in the United States, housing prices in China's first-tier cities have surpassed New York, and if you sell a house within Shanghai's Third Ring Road, you can settle down in New York and buy a house," Gao Dazhuang said with a wry smile. After coming to New York, Gao Dazhuang was deeply touched by this, Rao is now rich in wealth, but he still cannot be counted as a rich man in New York.

"There are indeed places in New York where housing prices are relatively cheap, but they are all in places like Tongzhou and Daxing in Beijing, and in Manhattan, where every inch of land is expensive, housing prices are still much more expensive than those in Beijing and Shanghai," Yang Yi also added at this time.

In fact, in Manhattan, you might be able to rent a one-bedroom apartment for $2,000 a month, but it's basically an old house with no elevator and far from the subway station.

If you want to find a newer apartment building with better facilities and properties, the monthly rent is basically between $3,500 and $5,000, while in Shanghai, the rent for a one-bedroom apartment of the same quality is about $1,500-2,000.

In New York, there are 49 ultra-luxury residential towers like 432 Park Avenue, and the price of 580 million units is not alone.

The area around Central Park has long been a favorite area for the world's richest people, with 432 Park Avenue at the intersection of 57th Street and Park Avenue, with two penthouses in the newly built 90-story residential building "1 57th Street" selling for between $90 million and $100 million.

Not far away, at 225 57th Street, a 100-storey ultra-luxury residential tower is about to begin, and when it is completed in 2018, it will set a new record for New York skyscrapers.

On 60th Street, three streets away, construction of 520 Park Avenue will begin in February next year, and the most expensive apartment here is priced at $130 million, which is currently the most expensive luxury property in New York.

740 Park Avenue, built in 1929, is much more low-key, but over the past few decades, the 19-story residential tower has housed the nation's largest concentration of billionaires.

Built in 2008, 15 Central Park West is another place where the rich are gathered, and it is said that an average service worker grabs an average of $22,500 during the Christmas and New Year holiday season alone.

Buyers of these top luxury properties come from all over the world – Russian magnates, Latin American tycoons, Middle Eastern princes and Asia's newly wealthy magnates.

Of course, there are also Chinese, and some media reports say that up to 15% of the buyers at No. 1 57th Street are from China, so the official websites of these luxury projects are basically in Chinese.

Around the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, many Americans pessimistically predicted that Beijing would soon replace New York as the new center of the world, but it now seems that this will not happen for at least many years to come.

When billionaires from all over the world make enough money, the most attractive thing for them is New York, and what they see when they open the window of their skyscraper mansion in the clouds is not only the green space of Central Park, not only the rich island of Manhattan, which is piled up with money and desire, but also the power and pleasure of sitting on the top of the world and overlooking all beings.

"It's a great place, isn't it? Your boss Mikhail. Prokhorov bought his daughter an $88 million apartment at 15 Central Park West," said a casual man who walked up to him.

He is the owner of this luxury apartment and a tall and strong friend, David Newhouse, CEO of Condé Nast.

"Hi David, thank you for providing us with such a perfect place to have dinner," said Gao Dazhuang with a smile and greeted the famous rich man in New York.

The Brooklyn Nets' playoff journey will begin tomorrow, and Gao Dazhuang is undoubtedly the undisputed core of this team, in order to better prepare for the playoffs and further increase the team's cohesion, so Gao Dazhuang organized a dinner tonight.

As for coming to this top-of-the-line luxury apartment, it was David Newhouse who offered it, and according to him, "as a New Yorker, you have to contribute to the New York team".

So David Newhouse invited several chefs from famous restaurants in New York to arrange a "family" dinner in this top-notch apartment.

Seeing the appearance of his teammates "eating and drinking", I think the players are very satisfied with this, and standing on the highest point overlooking the whole city can give people a different feeling.

"Da Zhuang, why did you think of organizing this dinner?" The beautiful anchor Zhou Lingan is always digging for valuable news.

"I just think it's necessary, and it's a way for me to thank my teammates," he replied with a smile, "and when it comes to the playoffs, we've got to stick together more than ever, and we have a big goal."

In Gao Dazhuang's view, the Brooklyn Nets' victory after the All-Star is not unrelated to the team's cohesion, and it is everyone who is united together that finally brings the team to the playoffs.

"Our dressing room is very harmonious, we don't criticize this or that through the media, we just play together, we just want to win," Gao continued.

In fact, Gao Dazhuang's state in today's training is also very positive, when the five-on-five half-court attack and defense, he loudly commands his teammates to defend, when his teammates are not in place or there is a problem, he will catch the other party and communicate seriously, as if he has become the core leader of the team on the field.

In addition to the court, Gao Dazhuang is still the leader off the court, and before the start of today's dinner, Gao Dazhuang spoke on behalf of the team: "We can't be lazy in the playoffs, every ball, every rebound is critical, we must adjust our mentality."

Finally, the tall and strong raised his glass, glanced at the entire New York night view, and said slowly: "Cheers to New York"

"For New York!" The players chanted and said together. (To be continued......)