On April 18, 2009, the first game of the first round of the NBA playoffs began.

The Magic sit at home in Orlando and take on the Detroit Pistons, who are eighth in the West.

The starting lineup on the Magic's side is Nelson, Petrus, Turkoglou, Wang Chao and Howard.

The Pistons' starting five were Rodney. Starkey, Hamilton, Prince, Antonio. McDyce and Rashid. Wallace.

The Pistons traded Allen from the Nuggets for Allen early in the season with All-Star point guard Prince. Iverson, however, has a rebellious personality and is incompatible with the Pistons, and has serious conflicts with the team's head coach and management, and said classic quotes in an interview with reporters.

"I've never heard of a superstar as a substitute, I've never heard of an Olympic member as a substitute, I've never heard of an All-Star as a substitute, I've never heard of a regular season MVP as a substitute, and I haven't heard of a scoring champion as a substitute."

When Iverson and the Pistons reached a completely irreconcilable level, the Pistons finally made a decision to exclude Iverson from the rotation under the pretext of injury.

The Pistons, who are a standard civilian team in their own right, have neither the team's brain Billups nor the offensive knife Iverson, and with their already broken lineup, they are no match for the Magic at all.

In the first game of the series, the Magic won the opening game with a 108-84 victory.

Wang Chao underscored 28 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists in the face of Prince's defense, which was also the best forward player in defense of Wang Chao, and now in the face of Wang Chao, he has fallen into a comprehensive disadvantage, and in the case of similar static talent, Wang Chao's dynamic talent comparable to that of a guard has exploded Prince, speed, agility, strength, explosiveness, and Prince has been completely unable to compete with him in these aspects.

And Howard faced Rashid, who was supposed to be the main power forward position, but had to be in the center position because the Pistons no longer had a traditional center. Wallace was also very relaxed.

26 points and 15 rebounds, and the opponent had 13 points and 9 rebounds.

The Magic, who won their first win, followed three days later, on April 21, at 99:82.

In both games, the Pistons did not score more than 85 points, scoring has become the biggest problem facing this team, except for the mid-range shooting king Hamilton, who can rely on his off-ball running to provide a more stable scoring output, everyone else does not have the ability to score independently, and the Magic team is also known for its defense, and has Howard, an interior giant, which makes it extremely difficult for them to score.

At the end of the two games, the score has come to 2:0, although the next game will be played on the home court of the Pistons, but even Detroit fans, not many people think that their team has any hope of winning, the difference in strength between the two teams is too huge, so that the Pistons even win even one game is a luxury.

On April 24, at the Pistons' home court, the third game of the series also became the most miserable game of the entire series.

The Pistons scored just 68 points in the game, shooting 27-of-71 from the field, shooting only 38%, and only two people scored in double figures, Hamilton with 13 points and 35 percent shooting, and Rodney with 12 points and 40 percent shooting. Starkey.

The Magic played normally, scoring 104 points and winning by 36 points.

After the game was halftime, Wang Chao and Howard had already clocked out in advance, and the Magic team, which had a 30-point score advantage, established a score advantage early, and in the second half, it was completely "playing" with the Pistons with a full bench lineup.

This is also the first time in several playoff games that Wang Chao has scored less than 20 points in a single game, and Wang Chao only scored 14 points in 18 minutes of play.

However, Howard played a good game in the first half of the game, and also played only about 20 minutes, Howard scored a quasi-triple-double of 11 points, 10 rebounds and 8 blocks, and the Pistons with a big hat fan couldn't find North at all.

"Bloody slaughter, the Magic beat the Pistons by 36 points, the overall score is 3:0, and the Pistons are about to be swept away."

"Time has passed, the former rivals have become vulnerable, and the Magic team has become the strongest duo in the league today!"

"Nostalgic for the past, now that they are about to be swept out of the game, will the Pistons reminisce about the glorious past, will they miss the fierce Ben who has a super interior defense ability that is not inferior to Howard. Wallace? ”

It is worth mentioning that the present present. Wallace is also a boom in the Cavaliers, although the defensive titan is completely uncompetitive, averaging only 2.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in the regular season this season, playing less than 24 minutes, and the contribution is not as good as the two interior players of Big Z and Vallejo, but the Cavaliers' record is second in the East, and the current game with the 76ers has won the match point 3:0.

No matter how far the Cavaliers can go in the playoffs, they are at least a lot better than the Pistons.

As for the Pistons' loss to the Magic by 36 points, it seems like a lot, but it is not the biggest point difference in this playoffs, because a few days later, in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the Denver Nuggets vs the New Orleans Hornets G4 game, the away Nuggets unilaterally grabbed the hair of the Hornets and beat the opponent violently, and the halftime was already 61:39 leading by 22 points, and the situation was even more exaggerated in the second half, the Hornets only scored a total of 24 points in the two quarters of the second half, and the result was that the Nuggets scored 121 points on the Hornets' home court, And limit the Hornets' score to 63 points.

The Hornets tied the record for the largest point difference in NBA playoff history, while Paul, who had only 4 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 turnovers in the whole game, was completely crucified to the shame pillar of history.

Even at the time when Wang Chao crossed, many people would still use 58 to mock him when they mentioned Paul, and it was also thanks to Paul that Paul finally reached the Western Conference finals in the Rockets and the finals in the Suns, otherwise there would be an additional nickname of the Western Conference Finalists on this basis.

The day before the 58 tragedy that shocked the whole league, the Magic team had defeated the Pistons again 99-78, giving the opponent a crisp 4-0, sweeping the opponent out, and becoming the first team to advance to the second round, and the only team in the eight sets of matchups in the first round to complete the sweep 4-0.

The Cavaliers, who were 3:0 before, were stubbornly pulled back by the 76ers in the fourth game, and are about to play the G5 game, and the Cavaliers have the same experience as the Los Angeles Lakers, who are the first in the West.

Although the Utah Jazz have a big gap with the Lakers in terms of overall strength, after all, they are the fierce rivals of the previous Rockets, and the new Utah duo of Deron and Boozer can also be regarded as a strong one, so it still created some small troubles for the Lakers, but it was limited to small troubles.

A few days later, the results of the first round were all in.

In the East, the Cavaliers eliminated the 76ers 4-1, the Celtics eliminated the Bulls 4-3, and the Hawks eliminated the Heat 4-3.

Here, the Bulls were able to play seven bloody games against the Celtics, which really exceeded everyone's expectations, but it also made many people question the Celtics' fighting power in the playoffs.

It stands to reason that the Celtics, who have a triumvirate combination, are far ahead of other teams in terms of overall strength and game experience, but whether it was last season or this season, the Celtics played extremely difficult in the playoffs.

Why did you do this again this year? Facing a win rate of only 50% in the regular season, the first-year rookie champion Derrick. The Chicago Bulls led by Rose still need seven battles to decide the winner? Is this triumvirate combination fake?

The desire of the Green Army Big Three to win the championship is undoubted, and the failure to win the championship in the 07-08 season made the three old guys more and more eager for the championship, and the desire to win is also very strong, but now the actual situation is clearly here.

The Celtics, who are only ranked third in the East in the regular season, can be described as bumpy in the playoffs, although the second round has not yet begun, but the Celtics' opponent in the second round is the Cavaliers, which are the favorites to win the championship, and this will be another battle for the dragon, even if the Celtics defeat the Cavaliers, there is still a Magic team that is not inferior to the Cavaliers or even more difficult to fight in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Magic's second-round opponent was the Hawks, who beat the Heat 4-3.

The Atlanta Hawks are the fourth-strongest team in the East this season, but the East is a world that belongs to the Royal Three, and except for the Magic, Cavaliers and Celtics, no other team is considered a strong team.

The Hawks, who are fourth in the East, have only 45 wins in the regular season, which is not as good as the Suns, who are ninth in the West.

If you just look at the lineup, the current lineup of the Eagles is already very good. Johnson is the leader, and the power forward Josh. Smith, center Al. Horford is all All-Star caliber players, and point guard Mike Bush is all All-Star caliber players. Bibby was the main point guard in the Kings' Princeton system that year, and small forward Marvin Brown. Williams is also a role player with great physical qualities and defensive prowess.

On the Hawks' bench, there was also Ronald. Murray and Morris, the starting point guard for the Magic last season. A player of the calibre Evans is here.

In terms of the integrity and comprehensive ability of the lineup, the Hawks can be regarded as one of the best in the league.

It's just that the strength of a team is not entirely reflected in the rationality of the squad structure.

The Eagles have a good lineup, but they also have a lot of problems.

First of all Josh. Smith and Al. Horford, especially the latter, as a rookie in '07, is currently only in his second season of career, and is not at all-Star caliber and needs more time to grow.

And although Horford and Howard are only one word apart, the difference is very different.

If NBA players have opponents who are not good-looking, such as Howard being beaten by Da Yao Tianke, and Da Yao always suffers when he is on a mobile interior like Boozer, then Horford was also unilaterally hammered when facing Howard.

Horford's template for the draft was Carlos. Boozer and "Cobra" Grant are nimble, physically strong, and have one of the best strength on the inside, with outstanding confrontation ability.

It's a pity that in these respects, Howard at his peak recognized second, and absolutely no one dared to admit first.

Speed, power, bounce, explosiveness, these are all things Howard did best in his prime.

Therefore, when Horford faced Howard inside, the speed could not be compared, the top could not be moved, and the rebounds were all the opponent's, which can be described as all-round comprehensive coverage without dead ends.

The first match of the second round on May 5 is the most intuitive manifestation of this.

At 102:72, the Magic's first game was a 30-point victory.

In the course of the game, Howard turned over the sea on the Hawks' inside, cutting a super double-double of 27 points and 21 rebounds, and grabbed 8 offensive rebounds alone. Smith is also the Hawks backup center Zaza. Pachulia had nothing to do with Howard.

In this case, Wang Chao just scored a symbolic 21 points casually, clocked out in the third quarter, and won the game by a big score.

The Magic's 67 wins during the regular season is definitely not mixed, especially in the face of this kind of team that is not a first-line team, the existence of internal and external dual-core makes the Magic team have absolute suppressive power.

Before the division semifinals began, the league announced the All-NBA selection for the 08-09 season.

There is no suspense, Wang Chao and Howard were both selected for the best team, becoming the only partner group selected for the first team at the same time this season.

This is the third time Wang Chao has been selected for the best team, and it is also the first time to be selected for the best team, although Wang Chao's average of 26.9 points per game last season was also very good, but it was still slightly worse than James and Garnett, but this season is different.

Wang Chao, who averages 32.6 points per game, is not only the scoring champion, but also the second highest MVP in the regular season, and is fully qualified to be selected for the first team.

In this way, Wang Chao unknowingly created another record for Chinese players in the NBA, that is, the first Chinese player to be selected for the best team.

Da Yao has been selected to the best team a total of 5 times in his career, but all of them are two or three teams, and he has not been selected for the best team, including this season, Da Yao, who averaged 20.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, is still only selected for the best second team.

Howard was not only selected to the best team, but also selected to the best defensive team, and the best defensive player DPOY after that was basically nine out of ten.

As I said before, Howard's strength during the 08-11 period is really undoubted, and it is not groundless to change the name of James alone, which is the main reason why Wang Chao chose the Magic team.

The remaining four players in the second team are Paul, Roy, Duncan and Nowitzki, several players are the core players of their respective teams, and the team record is also about 50+, and there is no dispute about being selected.

In contrast, the best three team is more controversial, whether it is O'Neal at the center position or Billups at point guard, there can be good replacement players.

And the five players in the original history should be Parker, Billups, Anthony, Gasol and O'Neal.

However, due to the addition of a group of Wang Chao, Nowitzki, who should have been selected for the first team, was squeezed into the second team, and Pierce was squeezed into the second team. Gasol.

Paul. Although Gasol's positioning is a power forward, he often plays a cameo role as a center in the game, and it is completely reasonable for him to replace O'Neal and be selected as a three-line center, but the league did not do so, making O'Neal, who has 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds, a three-team center.

It's just that in this way, O'Neal became the only player on the All-NBA 15 who didn't play in the playoffs, which is somewhat unworthy of his name.

After the announcement of the best team, it caused a lot of repercussions, and the Lakers fans were very dissatisfied, the first in the West and the second in the league, only Kobe Bryant was selected for the best team, and they won 66 wins in the regular season!

Celtics fans are also dissatisfied, although the Green Army ranks third in the East, it is also the team with 60 wins, and the Big Three actually only have Pierce in the best team, and it is also the best three, Garnett and Ray Allen were not selected.

Garnett is just that, this season's personal data has indeed declined significantly, only 16.8 points and 8.5 rebounds, and the attendance rate of 67 games in the regular season is not high.

Ke Lei. Allen averaged 18.2 points per game, shooting 48% from the field and 41% from three-point range.

The league's preference to give the best three-team guard spot to two point guards rather than shooting guard Ray Allen naturally angered Green fans.

But whether you want it or not, once the list is announced, it has become an established fact, no matter how much fans complain and complain, they can only admit this result, and expect their own stars to play better in the playoffs, and slap these rating experts who don't know how to play in the face.

(End of chapter)