In addition to being selected for the best team, Wang Chao was also selected for the best defensive team.

This is also the first time that Wang Chao has been selected to the All-Defensive Team in his career, and his average of 2.3 steals and 1.1 blocks per game has played a big role.

The Defensive Team of the Year in 12-13 is a little bit interesting, because there are a total of six players who have been selected for the Best Team, and at the center position, Bulls center Joaquin. Noah and Knicks center Tyson. Chandler received exactly the same number of votes, and as a result, both were selected for the best team, and the remaining four except Wang Chao also had Chris Brown. Paul, Tony. Aaron and Ibaka.

James, who should have been selected for the best first defense, was squeezed into the second defense lineup by Wang Chao, and the best second defense also had Mike. Conley, Kawai. Leonard, Tim. Duncan and Mark. Gasol.

Leonard, who was supposed to be named to the All-Defensive Team for the first time in his career in the 13-14 season, was already able to be selected early this season, albeit as a shooting guard rather than as a small forward.

Leonard averaged 13.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game this season, and the offensive end can only be regarded as ordinary, mainly focusing on fixed-point shooting outside the three-point line and cutting inside.

On the defensive end, Leonard can average 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks per game, and the simple defensive data does not reflect Leonard's contribution on the defensive end.

In fact, Butler's gap between him and Leonard in terms of defensive ability is not particularly large, but after all, due to the limitation of static talent in terms of arm span, his defensive performance is still slightly inferior, and unfortunately he was not selected with Leonard.

It can't be helped, the players with outstanding defensive ability of the swingman this season have just sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, not to mention Butler, even the Pacers' Paul. George was also squeezed out of the All-Defensive Team.

In fact, at least four of the Rockets' five starters are eligible to be named to the All-Star team, and in addition to Wang Chao, Leonard and Butler, Garnett has contributed a lot of defensive contributions in the game.

This season, Garnett, after coming to the Rockets, has transformed from an all-round All-Star power forward on offense and defense to a functional player who focuses on defense.

Garnett sees it very clearly, the 37-year-old has only one goal for coming to the Rockets, that is, the championship, in order to win the championship, even if it is acceptable to do some work as a blue-collar player.

On the court, Garnett devoted almost all of his energy to the defensive end, averaging only 12.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks per game during the regular season.

Without Garnett's defensive intensity at the expense of his stats, it wouldn't have been easy for the Rockets to finish the regular season with a 72-10 record.

Unfortunately, even so, Garnett was not selected to the All-Defensive Team, because in the interior position, Garnett's direct competitors are James and Duncan, both of whom are the main cores of their respective teams' defensive systems.

In contrast, although Garnett's defensive efficiency is not worse than the two, the Rockets' defensive system is not supported by Garnett alone, in other words, even if Garnett is missing, the Rockets' defense will decline even if it will decline, but it is still the top level in the league.

Garnett's role is more like a binder or lubricant, as an interior player, Garnett can defend inside and outside, which can make up for Da Yao's lack of mobility to a certain extent and make up for the last shortcoming of the Rockets.

——

The Rockets' opponent in the second round of the playoffs is the Denver Nuggets track and field team sitting on the Devil's home court, and this season's Nuggets have a higher home win rate than the 72-10 Rockets, completely giving full play to the Devils' home court advantage.

Although the Nuggets are difficult to deal with, Houston fans generally maintain a more optimistic attitude.

Not to mention that the Rockets, who are the first in the West, have the advantage of home first, even if they are on the Nuggets' road, the Rockets are not necessarily much worse than the Nuggets.

Although Da Yao and Garnett are too old to play against the fast-paced games of the Nuggets, the Rockets players led by Wang Chao, including Leonard, Butler, Thomas Jr., and Chandler. Parsons and other young up-and-coming players are all energetic and athletic players, and they don't run like the Nuggets at all.

On May 5, the second round of the playoffs opener begins at the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets start, Wang Chao, Butler, Leonard, Garnett, Da Yao.

The Nuggets start, Thai. Lawson, Andre. Iguodala, Daniro. Gallinari, Kenneth. Farid, Costa. Kufus.

As soon as the game began, the Nuggets wanted to speed up the offensive tempo as much as possible to prevent the Rockets from playing the advantage of the inside.

But is the pace of the offense something they can do if they want to?

Wang Chao, Leonard and Butler teamed up to block the outside line, especially Wang Chao, with the addition of the interceptor's talent, frequently completed interceptions and steals on the Nuggets in the fast break and counterattacked.

The Nuggets' fast attack was completely unable to fight under the interception of Wang Chao and the three of them, but was frequently counterattacked, not to mention, the interior line was completely blown up by Da Yao.

Both started as a center forward Costa. Kufus is also a backup center Javier. McGee doesn't have any power to fight back against Da Yao, as long as Da Yao can catch the ball under the basket, he can often score the ball.

At the end of the half, the Rockets' score advantage had expanded to more than 20 points, and in the second half, although the Nuggets were unwilling to fail, they took advantage of Da Yao's declining physical strength to launch a wave of counterattacks, but they were still unable to return to the sky and were defeated by the Rockets 113:104.

The Nuggets, who lost the opening game, lost again in Game 2 and returned to their home court with a score of 0:2.

Although they are already 0:2 behind at this time, the Nuggets and Denver fans are not really desperate, they all know very well that the real winner or loser must be decided on their home court, and the Nuggets are the strongest at home.

On the plateau of Denver, the Nuggets' physical and physical strengths will be maximized, while the Rockets' two aging interior linemen will be limited as they would be at home for the Rockets.

The Nuggets thought it was good, but when Game 3 of the series officially kicked off on May 11 at the Denver Nuggets' home court, they were dumbfounded.

Because the Rockets, who continued the starting lineup of the regular season in the previous two games, actually changed the lineup.

The starting lineup of the Rockets for this game is Thomas Jr., Butler, Leonard, Wang Chao and Garnett.

Da Yao, as the top interior center selected for the best second team this season, was actually put on the bench.

The Nuggets were directly dumbfounded.

Garnett's height of 2.13 meters is naturally more than enough to play center, after all, the Nuggets do not have the heavy center that Garnett hates more.

And Garnett's appearance in the center position has also changed the structure of the Rockets' roster, he is an interior player known for his excellent mobility, although he is now old, but before the physical exhaustion, there is no problem at all to keep up with the pace of the Nuggets' offense.

The other four starters of the Rockets, except for Garnett, are all extremely athletic players.

Wang Chao, who has the talent of a long-distance runner and is very good at running back and forth, Butler, who is less than 24 years old, and Leonard, who is 22 years old, are in the prime of life and full of physical energy, and Thomas Jr., who was once again promoted from the bench to the starting position in the playoffs, is among the best in the league.

After the change of formation, the Rockets were directly on the territory of the Nuggets and played a battle with the other party.

Players from both sides walked vigorously on the field, turning the game into a very exciting offensive battle.

Then, the Nuggets were inexplicably defeated in such a matchup.

At 127:121, the two sides scored a total of 248 points without overtime, which is quite exaggerated in the case of four quarters of the game.

Nuggets fans are dumbfounded.

Rockets, this TM is too buggy, right?

You can run, I can run better than you!

You are ruthless, I am more ruthless than you!

Throughout the game, the Rockets never coerced, except for the fact that the pace of the game slowed down a little when Da Yao came on the court, and the rest of the game was played in endless running and fast breaking.

The speed that the Nuggets are proud of has no advantage in front of the Rockets after the change of formation, and there is even a faint feeling that they can't run the opposite side in the middle and late stages of the game.

This feeling mainly comes from Wang Chao.

In the middle and late third quarter of the game, the players of both teams consumed a lot of physical energy in a large number of switchback runs, and the speed of running slowed down, but as long as the basketball was handed over to Wang Chao, the two sides had to continue to run and sprint at full speed, because if they didn't run like this, they could only watch Wang Chao rush to the basket with a perfect ride.

Wang Chao doesn't care so much about you.

Athletics brigade? I haven't been afraid of anyone when it comes to running

has already exercised to 99 physical fitness, coupled with the upgraded natural skills of long-distance runners, Wang Chao has long been one of the best physical players in this league.

Last season, he was able to easily average 40+ points per game, and this season he easily averaged a triple-double and two offensive and defensive points this season, relying on his abundant physical fitness.

When he started, his signature was running without the ball, and he could compete with Hamilton for physical strength, and the Nuggets wanted to play track and field with him, and he was very tender!

Da Yao didn't play too well in this game, and even played less than 20 minutes, but the Rockets won no more difficult than the first two games, and the Nuggets didn't expect them to be inferior to the Suns in terms of running and bombing, and they were helpless in front of the Rockets version of the track and field team led by Wang Chao, and the final result was a bloody 0:3 score.

Such a result was actually expected by many people, and the Rockets' combat effectiveness was so strong that it had been well confirmed in the regular season, and no one would question it.

It's just that this process is still beyond everyone's expectations.

The Rockets' victory was so easy, and what could be more desperate for the Nuggets than beating them head-on on the Nuggets' devil's home court, with the style of play the Nuggets do best?

On May 13, the fourth game of the series, the Nuggets, who continued to sit at home, were sleepwalking all over the court, playing badly, falling behind by more than 20 points in less than halftime, and there was no suspense at the end of the third quarter.

Wang Chao and other main players did not play for a minute in the fourth quarter of the game, and the fans of the Nuggets at home also left the court one after another before the end of the final quarter of the game.

By the time the whistle blew for the end of the game, the Nuggets' home stands had become sparse, and not many fans wanted to stay for a doomed game.

At 110:83, the Rockets won by 27 points at the home court of the Nuggets, swept the Nuggets with a total score of 4:0, and officially entered the Western Conference finals.

Two rounds, two crisp 4:0, the reign of terror was on full display.

Except for the game between the Rockets and the Nuggets, the biggest gap in the remaining three groups of games was the Heat, who eliminated the Bulls 4:1.

The Heat are also quite strong this season, with a 65-win record and 24 consecutive wins in the regular season, which can be seen in the team's state, sweeping the Celtics 4-0 in the first round, beating the Bulls 4-1 in the second round, and only losing one game in the playoffs so far.

In contrast, the other two sets of matchups are more stalemate.

The Eastern Knicks vs Pacers game is slightly better, the Knicks' strength this season is really good, but after all, they are not the opponent of the Pacers, and after a fierce battle, they were eliminated by the Pacers 4:2.

Cameron. Anthony averaged 28.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in six games, showing his offensive ability undoubtedly, but it was a pity that he was unable to support himself in the Knicks, except for him, the Knicks' highest scoring was JR. Smith, who averaged 13.5 points per game, and JR. Smith averaged only 28.9% shooting per game in six games, and the efficiency was outrageous.

This is also the most desperate point, obviously JR. Smith has pulled his crotch to this point, and the Knicks still have to hand over a lot of shots to him, because apart from him, the Knicks can't find a player who can help Anthony.

On the other hand, on the Pacers' side, five players scored in double figures, Paul George, who averaged 19.5 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists per game, George Hill who averaged 16 points and 4 assists, David West who had 14.7 points and 8 rebounds, and Roy Hibbert who had 13.3 points and 10 rebounds.

Although the Pacers this season are not inconspicuous, their real combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

Compared with the series between the Pacers and the Knicks, the final set of series matchups can be called a battle in the true sense.

Spurs vs Thunder.

These two teams are significantly weaker than the original 12-13 season.

The Spurs are missing Leonard, a promising star who has been the main defensive player on the front line this season.

On the Thunder side, Harden was sent to the Mavericks and got two players, OJ Mayo and Carman, who should have theoretically been a little stronger than in the original history, but the problem was that Carman was injured before the end of the regular season, resulting in the lack of a big man on the Thunder inside, and the strength plummeted.

This is also something that can't be helped, Kaman has the attribute of a glass man, and he has never played a season in full attendance in his entire career, especially in the following years, he can only play about forty or fifty games per season on average.

Being traded to the Thunder also didn't avoid the fate of Karman's injury.

As a result, the two western giants who lacked major generals launched a very fierce battle in the semifinals of the division.

(End of chapter)