Wang Chao really guessed right.

In the sixth game of the first-round series between the Spurs and the Nuggets, Butler's small universe broke out in a desperate situation, scoring 37 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in the whole game, leading the Spurs to win the sixth game, and the score was tenaciously equalized to 3:3.

With Mitchell and Murray both scoring 25+ points, the Nuggets finally defeated the Spurs 104-99 in the tie-break and advanced to the second round.

In seven games, Butler can be said to have given everything he had, averaging 28+6+4 per game, and shooting 48% from the field, but after all, he was unable to support himself.

On the Spurs' side, he is the only player who averages 20 points per game, but the Nuggets have two, with Mitchell averaging 24 points per game and Murray scoring 21 points.

While the offensive end is at a disadvantage, the Spurs' best defensive area has not taken much advantage.

Howard, who averaged 12 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks per game in the series, was tied with Gobert, who had 14 points, 12.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks, but the roles they really played on the defensive end were very different.

Gobert has never been a player known for blocking, and he is better at using that pair of long arms to interfere with and reduce the opponent's shooting percentage.

Besides, even if the two contribute the same on the defensive end, the Spurs are also a loss, because Howard is one of the Spurs' duo, how can he earn a pair with Gobert?

Even if they are slightly lacking in game experience, but relying on a deeper and more reasonable lineup, the Nuggets still have the last laugh.

At the post-game press conference, Spurs head coach Popovich sighed from the bottom of his heart.

"Wang Chao has really built a terrible team, and I can vaguely see now that with the growth of young players like the Nuggets, this team has the potential to grow into a championship powerhouse, with Mitchell, Murray, Kuzma on offense, Gobert and Tucker on defense, and they even have plenty of salary space to bring in a superstar with a maximum salary, which is really perfect."

Popovich is not envious.

Since the retirement of GDP, the Spurs are like Wang Xiaoer's New Year, year after year, although they have put together the dual-core combination of Butler + Howard, but they can only barely maintain the face of the Spurs' Western powerhouse.

Howard is not Duncan after all, even under Popovich's tactical system, it is difficult to pick the lead, especially now that he is getting older, the 34-year-old Howard has no mobility and explosiveness to survive, and at the same time, the interior technology has always been at the level of half-ass, in this fast-paced small-ball era, Howard has undoubtedly been abandoned by the times.

Fortunately, after the end of this year, Howard's big contract of more than 20 million yuan will officially expire, and Popovich has no intention of continuing to sign with Howard, if the other party is willing to accept the veteran's base salary, he can consider keeping it, after all, Howard is also a center with an average of two doubles per game, and the base salary of 2 million is still very fragrant.

The Nuggets were able to enter the second round, and the management's mouth almost smiled.

As Popovich said, the future of the Nuggets is too bright, with plenty of salary space and a lot of quality players, and it only takes a small number of strong All-Stars to qualify for a championship this summer.

And this year they can reach the second round is enough to be satisfied, as the defending champions they do not bear the burden of having to win the championship or break into the finals, after all, compared to last season, they have less of the strongest star Wang Chao, did not fall into the lottery area and wait for death, and even eliminated the traditional strong team Spurs is already a success.

——

The last group of matchups in the West, Lakers vs Rockets, although the battle is not as good as that of the Nuggets and Spurs, but it is also quite grinding.

Everyone originally thought that the Lakers, who had the upper hand in the lineup, would defeat the Rockets like a devastating one, but they didn't expect the Rockets' resistance to be very strong.

To be precise, it was Leonard who played quite strongly in this series, and he even had a bit of Durant's style on the offensive end, which was completely unguardable, and on the defensive end, he also helped his teammates check and fill in the gaps, and even rushed to the interior to actively fight for rebounds.

Leonard averaged 34.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 4 assists per game throughout the series, and went head-to-head against James, who averaged 29.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game, hitting a quasi-triple-double.

Everyone knows that Leonard is very good, but no one thought that Leonard was so strong that he could fight with James, and even intuitively felt that he was stronger during the game.

At least when James faced Leonard's defense, he called for blocking and covering support many times, but when facing Leonard's offense, he was eaten by the opponent's frequent mid-range shots.

But it's not surprising.

Leonard in the 18-19 season, itself is recognized as Leonard's strongest period, he was supposed to join the Raptors at this time, although the regular season is more paddling, just like an uncle, he doesn't play away in a row, and many times he doesn't even want to play if he doesn't want to play.

But in the playoffs, Leonard is also really strong.

Averaging 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game, the Bucks led by Antetokounmpo in the East, defeated Embiid, and the 76ers led by Butler Although they faced the remnants of the Warriors in the Finals, it looked a little unreasonable, but the Warriors' five-star lineup itself was not reasonable at all.

Coincidentally, the 18-19 season of James is also recognized as a year when his form began to decline, of course, James's decline is not due to the weakening of his personal strength, but to the trouble of injury.

Before James' absence, the Lakers' record was once at the top of the West, but with his injury and absence, the Lakers' record plummeted, and during this period, the Lakers management also broke out all kinds of contradictions, and all kinds of transaction information flew all over the sky, making the players panic and unwilling to play, and as a result, they couldn't even enter the playoffs.

After that, it was the Lakers who sent most of their teams from the Pelicans to the thick eyebrows, and then won the championship the following season.

The current Lakers may be only stronger than the Lakers in the original 19-20 season in terms of combat effectiveness, after all, a thick brother with good offense and defense can't compare to two healthy Cousins + Towns.

But Leonard's Rockets are really not easy to mess with, and in the end, the Lakers defeated the Rockets 4-2 to advance to the second round.

Despite the successful promotion, Lakers fans are worried.

It can be seen from the first round of the Lakers and the Rockets that although the Lakers have been emphasizing that the team is constantly running in, there are still many problems in the process of the game.

Their opponent in the second round is the Clippers, with the current state of the team, can they really get past the mountain of Wang Chao?

At least during the regular season, the Lakers and Clippers had an absolute underdog.

At this time, Lakers fans even faintly hope that the Clippers can win the championship this season, not as a team in the same city, the Clippers win the championship Lakers have a light on their faces, but if the Clippers win the championship, Wang Chao will most likely leave the Clippers and join a new championship-free team, even if the mud-legged Clippers win a championship, at least the Lakers are so afraid that Wang Chao will leave, and there will be no loss in blood!

——

The four teams in the West that will enter the second round are all determined, the Clippers vs Lakers, and the Warriors vs Nuggets.

The East side also decided the four teams in the second round, namely the Bucks vs. Celtics and the Nets vs. Hornets.

The second round of matches will begin on April 28, and the league will announce the All-Season and All-Defensive Team rosters before the start of the second round.

This season's Team of the Year has changed significantly from previous years.

The five people in the best team are Wang Chao, Antetokounmpo, and Anthony. Davis, Curry and Harden.

James and Durant both fell from the first team to the second team, and they were joined by the Thunder's Paul. George, Rocket Leonard, and Irving of the Celtics.

The five players in the best three formations are Kemba. Walker, Jamal. DeRozan, Jimmy. Butler, Joel. Embiid and the Nuggets' Gobert.

This lineup is both unexpected and reasonable.

First of all, James and Durant lost the second team for a very good reason, James is because of the team's record, this season the Lakers' lineup is extremely luxurious, but the team's record is unsatisfactory, only ranked fourth in the West, James averages 25+8+8 data per game, although it is as efficient and excellent as ever, but the three forward players in a group are better.

Wang Chao averaged 29+13+12 per game, Brother Alphabet 28+12+5, and Brother Thick Mei 28+11, all three of them were good in offense and defense.

If James is forced to compare, he will be slightly better than Curry, who averages 27+5+5 per game.

But the problem is that Curry is a guard, and James, as a forward player, can only be compared with three forward players such as Wang Chao in the selection of the best team, so it is reasonable to fall to the second team.

Durant is the same way, this season's Durant actually has average statistical performance, averaging only 26+6+4 per game, because the Nuggets need too many players with the ball, Paul, Booker and even Jokic have to have the ball to play their power, which makes Durant feel like he is back to the Thunder team back then, and many times even plays off-ball offense.

Although the Nets' record is not bad, the decline in personal data has become the reason why Durant fell out of the first round.

But in fact, it was Jokic who was most affected by the Nets.

In the 18-19 season, Jokic should have been selected for the best team by averaging 20+11+7 all-around data per game.

But in the Nets, which have many stars, Jokic has very little ball possession, and it is difficult to play his skills when he has empty skills.

As a result, it didn't even mix up a three-formation.

After the All-Defensive Team, there is the All-Defensive Team.

The five players selected for the best defensive team this year are Wang Chao, Gobert, Antetokounmpo, Eric Brown. Bledsoe and Marcus. Smart.

The five players in the second defensive team are Davis, Cowai. Leonard, Paul. George, Jimmy. Butler and Zhu. Holiday

The All-Defensive Team is also constrained by position, leaving two spots for the guard line, resulting in the more defensive forwards not being selected, such as the Warriors' Drummond. Green.

Overall, though, the results of the defensive one-two-team selection are within the range of most fans, and the ten players on the list are indeed quite eye-catching players on the defensive end, and many people are now starting to wonder who this year's best defensive player will ultimately be awarded.

From the perspective of contribution to the team's defense, Wang Chao, Gobert, Brother Alphabet and Brother Thick Eyebrows are almost evenly divided, Wang Chao averaged 2.8 steals and 1.8 blocks per game, Gobert 0.8 steals and 2.3 blocks, Brother Alphabet 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks, and Brother Thick Eyebrows 1.6 steals and 2.4 blocks.

From the perspective of data, Wang Chao and Brother Thick Mei are obviously more outstanding, but the defense is definitely not only reflected by the data, but also depends on the role of the comprehensive for the team's overall defensive system.

At this point, Gobert actually accounts for more of it, and since Brother Thick Mei has fallen to the second defense, it basically has nothing to do with the selection of DPOY.

Although there is a precedent in the league for second-defense players to be elected DPOY, it is only an exception after all, and in most cases, it is the first-defense player who has been elected DPOY more times.

On the one hand, the Nuggets still played third in the West this season without Wang Chao, and successfully advanced to the second round, which made many people's eyes shine, Gobert's super defensive ability under the basket is one of the keys to the team's victory.

On the other hand, it is already a habitual operation for the media to suppress Wang Chao, as long as Wang Chao does not suppress all the players in some way, in the case of comparable, media reporters will be more inclined to the player who can be on par with Wang Chao.

Of course, due to changes in the league's selection system, the season awards will not be announced until after the finals, so there is no point in dwelling on this issue now.

After the All-NBA and All-Defensive Team were announced, it attracted two days of heat, and soon fans' eyes returned to the second round of the playoffs, especially the Lakers vs Clippers, which was definitely the focus of fans.

There is no need to mention the grievances between Wang Chao and James, and the new and old grievances are added together, and this playoffs must be counted together.

Due to the market and popularity, the Clippers and the Lakers play the playoffs, and there is basically no home-court advantage, and Lakers fans can always grab the Clippers' home court tickets through various means.

In the second-round opener on April 28, the Clippers saw more scenes of Lakers fans on their home court.

The Clippers players and even the home fans have long been accustomed to this situation, and instead of being resentful, they are motivated.

What about a lot of fans? Can I help out on the field? The outcome of the game is not about who is strong and who is weak?

Now the Lakers are not as good as the Clippers, the more fans you go to the scene to support the better, watching your own team being beaten, is it cool?

The Clippers started this game: Wang Chao, Brogdon, Harris, Gallinari, Lopez.

Lakers starters: Rondo, Tatum, James, Towns, Cousins.

Lopez and Towns jump the ball in the middle circle, the Clippers have the ball, and the game officially begins! (End of chapter)