In recent years, the Rockets have maintained super dominance in both the regular season and the playoffs, especially in the first round, almost sweeping their opponents.

After the first game against the Trail Blazers, no one doubted the possibility of the Rockets eliminating the Trail Blazers or even sweeping them by a big score.

During the game, the two sides were not on the same level at all.

The Rockets beat the Trailblazers, which is completely the feeling of adults beating children, a complete crushing momentum.

On April 20, in the second game of the series, the Rockets continued to win by a large score, losing to the Trail Blazers again 107-87.

The Trail Blazers, who averaged 103 points per game in the regular season, scored less than 90 points in two consecutive games against the Rockets, and the two core players on the offensive end, Aldridge and Lillard, were all restricted, and the offensive efficiency was greatly reduced, and they did not return to the state of the regular season at all.

On April 22, in the third game of the first-round series, the Trail Blazers who returned to their home court in Portland finally felt better, Aldridge had 21 points and 7 rebounds, Lillard had 22 points and 9 assists, and both shot more than 45% from the field, and the team also came off the bench, shooting 9 of 18 from the field, 6 of 12 three-pointers, including CJ McCollum who scored 27 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists from the free throw.

As a 10th pick in the first round in '13, McCollum had a rough two seasons with the Trail Blazers because he wasn't seen by the team as a future mainstay.

In the 13-14 season, McCollum only played 38 games, averaging 5 points and 1 rebound per game, and this season his number of appearances increased to 62 games and 3 starts, but he still averaged only 15.7 minutes per game, and his regular season statistics were only 6.8 points and 1.5 rebounds.

In the original historical process, McCollum played an amazing performance in the first round of the playoffs in the 14-15 season, averaging 17 points and 4 rebounds per game in 5 games, shooting 47.8% from the field, and 47% from three-point range.

Wang Chao didn't expect that in the face of the Rockets, McCollum could actually break out, and even Leonard and Butler couldn't restrain McCollum, who felt hot.

It's just that McCollum scored 27 points in the game, and with Lillard and Aldridge combined for 70 points, and the team scored 117 points, the Trail Blazers still couldn't win the game.

The reason is simple, the Rockets' side scored more than the Trail Blazers.

Wang Chao scored 11 points, 9 points, 12 points, and 10 points in the fourth quarter of the game, and scored 42 points to put it mildly, which directly gave the fans at the home court of the Trailblazers despair, because Wang Chao's scores were really too easy, and it seemed that he was strolling around, and he inadvertently got such a high score.

The Trail Blazers' defense against Wang Chao is already quite in place, Batum and Matthews, plus there is also an old teammate of Wang Chao on the bench, 3-and-D player Aaron at the guard position. Afflaro.

The defense of Wang Chao by the three can be described as doing everything they can to chase and intercept in various polar areas, but just like this, Wang Chao still scored 42 points in a single game.

Wang Chao is not the only one who can score for the Rockets.

Leonard had 24 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and Butler had 22 points and 4 rebounds.

The same three, Lillard, Aldridge and McCollum combined for 70 points, Wang Chao, Leonard and Butler scored 88 points!

The result was the Rockets: 124:117, another game at the home of the Trail Blazers, and the total score came to 3:0.

Happily, Team Rocket is about to sweep again.

Since going 72-10 in the regular season and winning all of the playoffs two years ago, the Rockets have been accustomed to sweeping their opponents in the playoffs.

Although the Rockets did not continue to complete the great feat of winning the championship last season, they still swept the Heat 4-0 on the finals stage.

And this season, the Rockets will start the playoffs with a first-round sweep of their opponents.

The Trail Blazers did their best in Game 3, with Lillard and Aldridge playing normally, and the team's role rotation players also performing well, with 117 points in a single game without overtime being a very high score in 2015 in a league that has not yet fully transformed into a fast-paced small-ball era.

It's hard for the Trailblazers to win if they play so well, and the next G4 is naturally even more auspicious.

There were no surprises.

On April 25, the fourth game of the first-round series, still at the home of the Portland Trail Blazers, the Rockets defeated the Trail Blazers 109-98, defeating the Trail Blazers with a total score of 4-0 and successfully advancing to the second round.

The Rockets were the first team in the first round of the entire series to reach the second round and the only team to sweep their opponents.

When the Rockets entered the second round ahead of schedule, several other sets of duels were still in full swing, and there were some quite tragic battles.

The Clippers vs. Grizzlies and Thunder vs. Mavericks games were all played in seven games.

The Clippers and the Grizzlies are old rivals, in the past few years, the two teams have met many times in the playoffs and had fierce battles, both teams have a relatively high-quality interior, the Grizzlies are Gasol Jr. + Randolph's black and white double brake combination, and the Clippers are the white monster Griffin with Jordan Jr.

The matchup between these two sets of interior twin tower combinations must be a slight advantage for the Grizzlies in black and white.

Don't look at Griffin and Jordan Jr. often fly away on the field, and their playing style is quite fierce and hot, but many times the game is not better than a good game.

Randolph, a flashy floorrunner, is no slouch behind Griffin in terms of offensive ability, and his tonnage advantage allows him to outperform Griffin in rebounding from inside positions.

Gasol Jr.'s matchup with Jordan Jr. is similar.

Although they are all small-character generations, Gasol Jr. can be thrown out of the street by Jordan Jr. this season, Jordan Jr.'s average of 15 rebounds per game tops the league and becomes the rebounding king, Gasol Jr. averages only 7.8 rebounds per game.

But when the two really met, little Jordan couldn't blow up Gasol Jr. in terms of rebounding, Gasol Jr. and Randolph, who had a solid tonnage, teamed up to get into the position, completely blocked Jordan Jr. outside the restricted area, and protected the rebounding ball very well, on the other hand, Gasol Jr.'s various offensive skills on the offensive end are completely lacking by the pure blue-collar player Jordan Jr.

It's just that the real advantage of the Clippers is not on the inside, but on the outside, which should be at the point guard position to be exact.

Chris. Paul can be regarded as the iconic point guard in the league in recent years.

Of course, the premise is that Wang Chao can't be fully counted in the point guard position.

With the aging and retirement of the older generation of top point guards such as Nash and Kidd, Paul naturally shouldered the banner and responsibility of a new generation of point guards.

For now, he is still doing very well, contributing an average of 20+10 data per game for several seasons, being selected for the best team and the best defensive team, and the Clippers he leads have always been a strong team in the West.

The only thing Paul criticizes is that he has led the team to a poor record in the playoffs, never reaching the division finals in his entire career so far, and his best result is only in the second round.

But considering that Paul has always been in the West where there are many strong players, such a record is not unacceptable.

The Grizzlies' main point guard, Mike. Although Conley is also a better defender, the gap with Paul is obviously quite obvious.

Throughout his career, Conley is better than Paul, and I am afraid that two years later, Conley signed a five-year, $153 million sky-high contract, and briefly became the league's highest-paid man.

As a point guard who averaged 14.7 points and 5.7 assists per game in his career, and was able to get a five-year, $153 million contract, Conley is definitely the first person in the league in ancient and modern times, and it also confirms that the choice of the stupid and rich Grizzlies to give Chandler Parsons a maximum salary contract in the future is not a momentary confusion, but they often do it.

With the disadvantage of the inside line and the advantage of the outside line, the two teams have an advantage over each other, and the game is naturally extremely intense.

The two teams first won two home victories, and the score came to a 2:2 draw, and then the Clippers won the fifth game of the battle of Tianwang Mountain with a home court advantage, and the big score was 3:2 to take the lead in the match point.

Not to be outdone, the Grizzlies pulled one back on their home court, and the two teams played a final tiebreaker at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the home of the Clippers.

Ahead of the tiebreaker, most people favored a victory for the Clippers, who have home-court advantage and have more stars.

However, it turned out that the Grizzlies had the last laugh.

It was a game with extremely low shooting percentages, with both teams hitting a much lower percentage under high-intensity defending.

In this case, the Grizzlies' interior twin towers, Gasol Jr. and Randolph's ability to attack the ball on their own played a crucial role.

The Clippers have been a league powerhouse all these years, but they have never had a breakthrough in the playoffs, in fact, the reason is that whenever the team is in a stalemate, no one can step up and carry the team on their shoulders at critical moments.

Chris. Paul is very strong, but as a point guard with a height of only 1.83 meters, his offensive ability is limited, and he can't be like Wang Chao, Kobe, James, Durant and other top stars, who can't hold the ball at critical moments to attack and attack.

Griffin was initially seen as a player who could take on the heavy lift, but as the seasons passed, the White Monster's skills remained the same as when they first entered the league, with the main offensive means being to cut to the basket and dunk with Paul in conjunction with the pick-and-roll.

Over the years, the Clippers have been trying to strengthen a strong perimeter player who has the ability to score in key moments at the forward position, but how can such a player be so easy to obtain? Even if there were one on the free market, it would be very expensive.

The Clippers currently have both Paul and Griffin with maximum salary contracts, plus Jordan Jr.'s contract of more than 10 million, and the salary space is also full, but Jordan Jr. is also under contract this summer, which can free up some salary space, and if he doesn't plan to renew his contract to keep Jordan Jr., he can theoretically compete in the free market.

After all, being eliminated in the first round many times may have made the Clippers management no longer satisfied with the existing roster.

The other tie-break matchup in the West is the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Dallas Mavericks.

The former Thunder Three Less, now turn against each other, no one thought that the best sixth man with the lowest status among the Thunder Three Youngsters, James. Harden has grown to this level in just three seasons after leaving the team.

At a time when Nowitzki's competitive form has further declined due to age, Harden has single-handedly supported the Mavericks' offense, and cooperated with the Mavericks' high-salary Chandler. Parsons, the strength of the squad built up is not very bad.

The two teams battled fiercely for seven games before the Thunder struggled to defeat the Rockets with home-court advantage and get a ticket to the second round.

Throughout the series, Harden became the scoring champion of both teams, averaging 29.2 points, 5 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game in 7 games, and even Durant was slightly inferior in scoring, scoring only 27.4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in 7 games.

Now the Thunder may regret that they chose to let go of Harden for a mere 5 million, but the strength and potential shown by the latter are not inferior to Durant and Westbrook.

It is completely conceivable that if the Thunder had gritted their teeth and completed the contract extension with Harden, the Thunder would have a chance to compete with the Rockets and compete for the championship.

It's a pity they missed this opportunity.

Hard-fought to beat the Mavericks to enter the second round, and the Thunder's opponent was the Rockets, who had already swept the opponent 4-0.

Although the semifinals have not yet begun, the Rockets have completely crushed the Thunder in terms of pre-game support rate, and some media have predicted the series between the two teams, believing that the Rockets can beat the Thunder by a big score to break into the Western Conference finals More than 98% of the fans.

The other matchup in the West is the Warriors who defeated the Spurs 4-2 and the Grizzlies who defeated the Clippers 4-3, which is also a group of games with a huge disparity in strength.

If it is the original Warriors, against the Grizzlies, the interior will be at an absolute disadvantage.

But the current Warriors team has Cousins, Bogut and other centers in the team, even compared with the Grizzlies' interior black and white, it is not much inferior, plus the Warriors look at the league's top outside configuration, defeating the Grizzlies is not too much of a problem.

The two sets of matchups on the eastern side are the Hawks vs Hornets and the Cavaliers vs Raptors.

Before the second round of the divisional semifinals, the league's Team of the Season and Defensive Team of the Year results are announced.

There is no suspense at all about the two best candidates for the team, namely Wang Chao and James.

The other three players who were named to the All-Tournament Team at the same time as the two were Warriors' Stephen Brown. Curry, Thunder's Kevin. Durant and the Hornets' Anthony. Davis.

The above five players are the absolute core of their respective teams, and while their personal data is outstanding, the team's record is also remarkable.

Anthony. Davis may have the worst team record of the five, with the Hornets winning just over half of their season at 41-41.

But the Hornets have been able to become a playoff regular, and this season they have also broken through the first round to enter the second round, not to mention that he averaged 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.9 blocks and 1.5 steals per game, and the luxurious statistics that dominate both offensive and defensive ends are enough to qualify him to be selected for the best team.

(End of chapter)