Chapter 1012: The Dust Settles
With the Eastern Conference Hawks beating the Magic in the tiebreaker, the dust has finally settled on the first round of the playoffs this season, and the eight teams that have advanced have surfaced.
The series between the Hawks and the Magic was the most tangled, the two sides continued to fight the winning and losing fields, the first game the Hawks won, the second game the Magic laughed to the end, the third game the Hawks went down again, the fourth game of the Magic exploded, the fifth game of the Hawks won the sixth game of the Magic difficult victory.
With the other seven teams already in progress, the Hawks and the Magic have played the only battle of the season.
In this series, Eagles fans shouted the famous slogan: "We are in control of our own destiny." Today they made a thrilling last-minute ride and so far, are in control of their own destiny.
The Magic's win or loss is now on Howard alone, and he has won all three games, averaging more than 32 points per game.
In the last battle of Tianwang Mountain, Howard only hit one in the whole game, but only scored 8 points and 8 rebounds!
TNT broadcast the game live across the country, and during the game, Barkley kept asking, "Is this the center who can be compared to Z?" This is the No. 1 center in the East? This is the active super center? ”
However, it cannot be said that Howard's sluggish performance affected the Magic team, but it should be said that when the rest of the Magic team was unable to score, Howard was reluctantly chosen, and only by playing the role of other players can the Magic win.
Sadly, the Magic were unreliable with the exception of Howard, and the Hawks went all the way and it took only three games to secure their place in the promotion.
In this way, the Warriors, Lakers, Mavericks, Heat, Celtics and Bulls at the top of the regular season all unsurprisingly advanced to the next round, and surprisingly, the two bottom-ranked teams in the regular season, the Hawks and Grizzlies, beat their respective opponents diagonally to stab.
Undoubtedly, the most commendable is the Grizzlies, which no one ever thought - including their own fans, this team would actually beat the Spurs, who are second in the West, and create an amazing "Black Seven Miracle"!
It stands to reason that the safest team to advance is the Spurs.
The Spurs are notoriously playoff powerhouses, and their playoff slogan is 'Born for a Championship.'" The Grizzlies, while they have been tough in recent seasons, are by no means good enough to beat the Spurs, a veteran powerhouse in the playoffs, and as a result, the Bears have explained the true meaning of the "Where-Amazing-Happens" slogan.
The NBA playoffs are never dull, which is why fans love to watch NBA games, and the Spurs, who once ranked first in the league and second in the regular season in the West, not only failed to continue the odd-numbered myth of the rampaging season, but also failed to pass the first round, which is a big surprise.
The Spurs have a very unusual season this season, in the past two seasons, they were at most third in the regular season, and last season they fell to fourth place, and the Spurs don't really care about this, because they see the regular season as a practice, and before '08, they had eight consecutive seasons in the playoffs.
But now they can't bear it, the Warriors are too fierce, the Spurs finally admit their fate, they try to avoid meeting the Warriors early in the playoffs, so in the regular season this season, after the All-Star end, the Holy City Iron Riders rolled in, pushed back all the way and even killed the Lakers, winning the second record in the West.
I don't know if it was too much to consume in order to win after the All-Star, and they were eliminated by the Grizzlies 4-2 in the playoffs!
In this round of the playoffs, the brightest team is not the Warriors who swept the Hornets, because the Celtics also swept their opponent Knicks, but the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies set two franchise records, with the first playoff win in franchise history and a historic rundown to the second round of the playoffs.
Counting on your fingers, from the first playoff victory, the first playoff away victory, to the 4-2 elimination of the dynasty division that trampled itself under the feet of the year, and 16 years into the league, the Memphis finally ushered in the day when their dreams came true.
The Eagles ranked fifth in the regular season, and the Magic who beat the fourth place did not feel too tense from the standings, but from the comparison of book strength, the Eagles did the Magic is still a little surprising.
In this round of the game, Dwight Howard's strong point was infinitely amplified by the opponent, and then the role of his teammates was infinitely reduced.
As a direct result of the opponent's gambling inside-outside strategy, Howard's numbers are gorgeous, while the Magic's outside shooters are collectively lost.
Excluding these two upset teams, the appearance of the remaining six teams is basically expected.
The Bulls, who are No. 1 in the East, finished the regular season, overtaking the Spurs to win the first Eastern Conference since the Jordan era, and against the Pacers, who had a turbulent roster of mid-season coach changes, the win was reasonable, and if it weren't for Derrick Rose's injury at the end of the first quarter of Game 4, this series would have been swept 4-0 more.
The second Heat in the East played against the 76ers, both teams had bad signs in the regular season, the 76ers even won 3-13 at the beginning of the game and once planned to swing the draft, and the Heat also broke out discordant notes during the losing streak, but fortunately, the two teams adjusted in time, and it was not surprising that the Heat fought for the first place in the regular season, and the 76ers made a late effort to win the seventh to enter the playoffs.
The Heat won 4-1 in the first five series, only to be humiliated in the final moments of Game 4 by the 76ers' bench characters such as Louis Williams and Evan Turner. The Big Three played excellent games, and the Heat won all of them, which also illustrates the characteristics of the Heat.
The Celtics, who are third in the East, swept the Knicks 4-0, not so much as being swept, but rather the Knicks' self-defeating martial arts, the main point guard Filton was injured in the first game, and Stoudemire's back spasm in the second game affected the next play.
Although the Knicks are significantly different from the Celtics in terms of bench, run-in, and defense, it should not be difficult to win one or two games if the personnel are in order.
On the Western side, the No. 1 Warriors sweep of the Hornets should be the most suspenseful round of the series, although Paul is great - four games have also proved this, Paul is worthy of his title of active No. 1 point guard, but the playoffs defensive intensity is too much, making it difficult for individuals to ensure the continuity of super play, and the Hornets are not surprised.
The Lakers, who are third in the West, eliminated the Suns 4-2 in the most unpredictable series, and the most crucial thing was that the Lakers beat the Suns on the road in Game 6 with match point in hand to advance.
In the regular season this season, the Lakers failed to win at the Suns' home court, and the comparison between the two shows that the Lakers are superior.
Oden's strength made the Lakers helpless against him in the regular season, Nash is old and strong this season, but after all, he is old, and the defense can't keep up.
In the regular season, Oden dominated the restricted area, Bynum wanted to cry without tears, and in the playoffs, the Lakers suddenly changed their tactics and let Gasol, who had a very different style, defend Oden. Gasol kept going around, creating a lot of confusion for Oden, and Nash couldn't easily pass the ball into the interior, so the Suns couldn't open the situation.
In the third and fourth games of the Suns' victory, Oden's sudden outburst played a key role, he scored 38 points and 17 rebounds in the third game, and in the fourth game, he scored 45 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 blocks, which once made people exclaim that 'there are two Chamberlains in the West'.
The difference between Auden and Chamberlain is that Chamberlain's playoff count is four games with an average of 40+18 per game, while Auden only has two.
The most exciting battle in the West is the battle between the fourth-place Mavericks and the fifth-place Thunder, although they did not hit the Seven Heavenly Kings Mountain, but in six games, the difference between the two sides added up to only 20 points!
In addition, the two teams played six games and played a total of five overtime games! The first game of the playoffs was three overtimes, which is still being discussed by fans.
The Thunder are now one of the top teams in the West, and the backcourt of Durant and Westbrook is the best backcourt in the league, even in history. In addition, this season they also added Perkins, an inside player with Finals experience, and their defeat can only be described as a 'non-war crime'.
Chandler + Nowitzki + Kidd VS Jordan Jr. + Durant + Westbrook, two teams and two iron triangles, this fight, it is simply Mars hitting the earth, every goal of both sides is a white-knuckle battle to the flesh, and even the NBA has played the slogan that people with heart disease and high blood pressure cannot go to the scene to watch the game.
Kidd and Westbrook, one good defensively, the other good offensive, one experienced, calm and old, the other young and courageous, the confrontation between the two almost stole the limelight from Nowitzki and Durant, so much so that Texas Sports had to cover the game with the title "The battle between point guards is the battle between teams".
In six games, Kidd handed out a total of 84 assists, while Westbrook scored 130 points, 50 assists, and what is even more amazing is that Kidd scored 54 rebounds in six games, and Westbrook also had 52 rebounds!
During the series, Kidd praised Westbrook after almost every game, from 'he's a great guy' to the end of 'he's the best point guard in the league after all', Kidd realized Westbrook's true strength, so much so that even with Rose sweeping the East side, Kidd still bullished Westbrook.
After eliminating the Thunder, Kidd hugged Westbrook directly, and the two hugged each other for five minutes, Kidd kept saying something, and then a reporter asked, the old guard said: "The NBA has a tradition of passing the torch, I handed over the torch in my hand to Westbrook, and I believe he will be able to burn this torch more vigorously!" ”
Later, Westbrook left, and Kidd looked at his back for a long time, and the Oklahoma Basketball Journal wrote: "At that moment, 37-year-old Jason Kidd stood on his familiar battlefield, looking at the No. 0 boy with affectionate eyes, and saw his own 22-year-old shadow. ”
Nowitzki and Durant's confrontation is also wonderful, as the top scorers in the two eras, the two of them also have a handover of scepters, Nowitzki averages 31 per game. The 5 points are on par with Durant's average of 31 points per game, and both are on fire in their positions, so much so that the DJ exclaimed in the game, 'Will the Nets burn up'.
Chandler and Jordan Jr. are almost carved out of the same mold, the latter has stronger offensive ability, but in this round of the playoffs, their task is defense, and they are doing very well on the defensive end.
The Mavericks can win against the Thunder, relying on their experience, Nelson Sr. said when commenting on the game between the two teams: "This is the battle between the young Mavericks and the mature Mavericks, and it is also a battle between the experienced version of the Thunder and the young and vigorous version of the Thunder, there is no win or defeat, because from beginning to end, it is just the same team in different time periods!" ”