The game between the Thunder and the Spurs went straight for seven games, with both sides not giving in and winning their respective home games.

On the Thunder's side, the battle revolves around the duo of Durant and Westbrook, while the Spurs' side is still a classic traditional combination of GDP.

Although Duncan is the same age as Garnett, he is now 37 years old, but he still has a good dominance under the basket, and the first six games have also had a single game of 27+11 and 22+15 data.

However, in this key tie-break that directly determines the outcome of the game, the Spurs still lost to the Thunder by a slight margin.

Without Leonard, the impact on the Spurs' defense is still too great, don't look at the 12-13 season Spurs version of Leonard can only contribute 11.9 points and 6 rebounds in the regular season, but in the playoffs, his average data will rise to 13.9 points and 9 rebounds per game, not only the team's main scoring point after Duncan and Parker, but also an important outside defensive core and rebounder.

Without Leonard, the Spurs lacked a big weapon against Durant, which led to Durant making a big splash in Game 7, slashing 37 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists to lead the Thunder to defeat the Spurs 113-107 in the tiebreaker and enter the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive year.

In the game with the Spurs, the Thunder also had a lot of problems, first of all, the vacancy of interior strength without Carman, and then the starting point guard Westbrook was prone to brain convulsions at critical moments, and he would always do something that made Durant speechless when he was impulsive.

After a hard-fought win over the Spurs, the Thunder advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they faced last season's old rivals, the Houston Rockets.

The feud between the two teams began after Da Yao was maliciously stepped by Perkins last season, and fans on both sides have been abusing each other in various ways over the past year.

In the eyes of Rockets fans, if it weren't for Perkins maliciously stepping his foot and injuring Da Yao, they would have won the championship last season, and now they are already attacking for two consecutive championships.

And for Thunder fans, the Rockets, who eliminated them in the Western Conference finals, were the enemy who shattered the dream of winning the championship in the small city of Oklahoma.

But in the eyes of other melon-eating people outside the two teams, the Western finals match of the Rockets vs Thunder will most likely be a matchup with a large gap in strength.

Even if the Thunder knock out the old powerhouse Spurs, not many people are optimistic that they will win in the Western Conference Finals.

The difference in the current strength of the two teams is too great.

Durant's scoring ability is strong, but Wang Chao's score on the Rockets' side is only stronger than Durant's.

Moreover, the Thunder team is no longer last season's version of the Thunder three less, the new guard OJ Mayo is not much different from the original Harden in terms of offensive ability, but he does not have Harden's ability to organize tandem with one hand, plus Carman's injury, the Thunder team is actually a little worse than last season.

And what about rockets? The lineup has not decreased from last season, and there is one more Kevin. Garnett, plus Da Yao, who has always been healthy throughout the season, how to play this game? What do the Thunder win?

Looking at the entire league at the moment, the only chance to compete with the Rockets is the Miami Heat in the East, and if both sides play at a normal level, the Heat cannot be the opponent of the Rockets.

The East and West finals will begin on May 19 and May 22 respectively.

Before the division finals begin, the league announced the results of the season's final awards.

The Rookie of the Year is not the 12-year-old champion Anthony Brown. Davis, who averaged 19 points and 6 rebounds per game, was beaten by Damien. Lillard won.

The Sixth Man of the Year goes to J.R. Smith of the New York Knicks.

The most improved player will be Paul. George.

For the second year in a row, the Coach of the Year award went to Rockets head coach Kevin Brown. McHale.

The Defensive Player of the Year award was hilarious, and the winner was Grizzlies center Mark Brown. Gasol, while Mark. Gasol was only named to the All-Defensive Second Team this season, and he also had two centers in the All-Defensive First Team. Noah and Tyson. In Chandler's case, it was more dramatic than last season's second-defense Chandler was voted Defensive Player of the Year.

You chose the two best centers in the first defense, and the best defensive player was awarded to the center in the best defense, what kind of plane is this?

It is worth mentioning that Wang Chao received the second highest number of votes in the selection of the best defensive player, second only to Mark. Gasol, while in third place is the Heat's LaBlanc. James.

In fact, whether in terms of data performance or the overall defensive ability of the team, Wang Chao is not inferior to Mark. Gasol is even better, after all, Gasol Jr.'s defense is mainly limited to the ability to protect the frame under the basket, unlike Wang Chao, who can defend from the No. 1 position to the No. 5 position, and the defensive area is so wide.

But it's a pity that there are still many people who have a little stereotype about Wang Chao, after all, Wang Chao's defense in the first few years of his career is not very good, and even he was a defensive black hole for two years at the beginning, but he also started his career in the Suns team, which mainly focused on running and bombing tactics, and did not pay so much attention to the defensive ability of players.

Fortunately, the stereotype in defense has not affected people's perception of Wang Chao's overall strength.

Therefore, in the final award, the regular season MVP selection and voting results, Wang Chao won the first place with an absolute advantage, and won the regular season Most Valuable Player Award for the fourth consecutive year.

In this vote, Wang Chao was still unanimously elected, exactly like last season, and all the media reporters who participated in the voting voted for Wang Chao with their first vote.

After all, although the average points per game has dropped "significantly" compared to last season, the decline in points has brought more shocking triple-doubles per game and the team's proud record of 72 wins and 10 losses in the regular season.

Wang Chao's toughness and ability to lead the team no longer need to be proved to anyone, and winning the regular season MVP for the fourth consecutive year is a matter of course in people's eyes.

Not to mention the MVP of the regular season, even if it is the championship, it seems that as long as the Rockets can keep all their health at the moment, it is a sure thing, the Western Conference opponent Thunder is not a concern, and the Miami Heat in the East can only create a little difficulty for the Rockets.

Therefore, the question that many people are really concerned about now is what height can Wang Chao's career reach in the end?

Wang Chao, who has 4 championships and 4 MVPs in hand, will be 30 years old before the start of next season, and Wang Chao should still be in the state of playing for four to five years in the general peak of the career of outsiders.

In the past four or five years, will Wang Chao be able to win six championships or more?

If it is only just six championships, I am afraid it will still be difficult to catch up with the basketball god Jordan, after all, Wang Chao's championship in the Suns is not high, strictly speaking, he can only be counted as a three-leader when he is in the Suns, Nash and Stoudemire are the main core of the Suns.

Therefore, Wang Chao will have to win at least three championships to compare with Jordan next, and considering the age of Da Yao and Garnett, it is still a little difficult.

As for the possibility of five consecutive regular season MVP, it is not big in the eyes of many people, after all, this season, Wang Chao averaged 30+10+10 triple-doubles per game, plus the team's 72-10 record has reached its peak, unless the team's record can go further and break the historical record next season, even if the Rockets get more than 60+ wins, I am afraid they will not consider letting Wang Chao continue to win the regular season MVP, after all, no one wants to create a new era of NBA league "God" appeared, That would only show that the other stars of the same period were very incompetent.

Including the president of the league, Stern, they all hope for a blossoming NBA league era, not a monopoly, now is not the NBA league of the 90s, and urgently needs a superhero like Jordan who can save the world.

——

In any case, it is an indisputable fact that Wang Chao won the regular season MVP for the fourth consecutive year, which also allows him to surpass Larry, who is a three-time MVP. Bird, who became the first player in history to win four consecutive regular season MVPs.

A day later, the regular season MVP award ceremony was held at the Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets.

The handsome Wang Chao, who was dressed in a straight suit, took the stage to accept NBA commissioner David. Stern's in-person presentation of the award was followed by an acceptance speech.

This is the fourth time Wang Chao has delivered an acceptance speech, and what he can say has been said in the first three times, so he can only thank the team, teammates and family for their support and dedication.

Some things, once you have too many times, you will become accustomed to them.

That's true for winning the regular season MVP, and it's the same for the Western Conference finals against the Thunder.

On May 19, also at the Toyota Center, the home of the Rockets, the first game of the Western Conference finals began.

The Rockets changed back to their original starting lineup, point guard Wang Chao, point guard Butler, small forward Leonard, power forward Garnett and center Da Yao.

The Thunder's starting lineup is the same as last year, with point guard Westbrook and point guard Sabo. Sefrosa, small forward Durant, power forward Ibaka, center Kendrick. Perkins.

When the enemies met, they were very red-eyed, especially Da Yao, who once again maliciously cushioned his feet in the Western Conference finals last season and caused him to lose the championship with an injury, and he couldn't wait to give the opponent a brain.

Da Yao did not choose to retreat in the game because the opponent had maliciously stepped on the foul, but frequently asked for the ball on the inside to play Perkins alone, and squeezed into the inside violently dunk with all kinds of backs, playing as if O'Neal was possessed.

Perkins, who is only 2.08 meters tall, can't withstand Da Yao's attack at all, even with Ibaka's assistance.

The existing lineup of the Rockets also allows Da Yao to attack with all his strength at all costs, anyway, he can just go down to rest when he gets tired, and the offensive rhythm of the Rockets can become faster without him.

After 6 minutes in the first quarter, Da Yao made 4 of 6 shots and 3 of 4 free throws, scored 11 points and 4 rebounds, and then went to rest satisfied.

In the remaining 6 minutes, Wang Chao led Butler, Leonard, Parsons and other young players to play fast attack directly with the Thunder.

The Thunder team was originally overwhelmed by Da Yao's frequent basket offense as soon as they came up, and they just barely adapted to stabilize the situation, the Rockets changed formations, and the offensive rhythm was completely different in an instant, even if the Thunder team had Westbrook and Durant, they were not afraid of any fast offensive chaos at all, but they were also in a hurry for a while, and the slight difference was directly expanded to more than double digits.

In the first quarter of the game, the score of the two teams was 34:22, and the Rockets easily established a 12-point advantage.

"Damn......" During the break, Durant sat on the bench with a look of unwillingness.

He didn't even understand what was going on, and the inexplicable team was already 12 points behind, which was a huge gap in the overall strength of the team.

They had planned a variety of targeted defensive tactics before the Western Conference finals, but they didn't make any sense against the Rockets.

It's like the front defense and double bag clamp against Da Yao, which didn't work at all.

Perkins' pace is too slow, much better than Da Yao, how good can the effect of defending around the front be better?

The arrangement of Ibaka and Perkins to clamp Da Yao is not good, both of them are only 2.08 meters tall, compared with 2.26 meters of Da Yao, the gap is huge, whenever he encounters a bag, Da Yao only needs to hold the basketball high above his head, and the height difference allows Da Yao to easily find the position of his teammates and pass the ball out.

When Da Yao has played enough for the rest of the game, it will be even more difficult for the Rockets to target after switching to a small-ball lineup.

The speed of the Rockets is not inferior to that of the Thunder, especially Wang Chao, who serves as a point guard, whose speed is comparable to Westbrook, his offensive shooting is more stable than Durant's, and his passing assist and vision ability are unmatched in the whole game.

"If you continue like this, you really won't have any chance of winning!"

Durant was already a little anxious, and as soon as the game came on in the second quarter, he was impatient to take over the ball.

But when he stood outside the three-point line with the ball, he couldn't help but pause slightly.

Because what is standing in front of him at this time is no longer the previous Leonard, but Wang Chao.

Wang Chao actually chose to defend him at this time!

The second place in the best defensive player vote is definitely not for nothing.

Wang Chao is not sure whether his current self is stronger or weaker than Leonard when he won the best defensive player in his peak in the future, but at least at this stage, his defense is definitely stronger than Leonard, who has not yet fully grown.

This self-confidence comes from the fact that after years of training, he has reached 90 outside defense and 87 defensive awareness, and Wang Chao's rich experience in using simulation potions many times before the Western Conference finals and simulating confrontation with Durant in the dream space.

(End of chapter)