After advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, all members of the Heat team had an awareness:

It's going to be a tough battle!

Whether the Pacers or the Pistons make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, both are sure to be tough bones.

Needless to say, the Pistons experienced the baptism of the Finals, and the opponent was still the Los Angeles Lakers superteam with "F4". Winning such a finals has reached the pinnacle of their self-confidence.

Pacers ......

There are also reasons to have to win!

Even for Reggie Miller, they have only one goal this season, and that is to win the championship!

They're really hopeful this year because the addition of Stephen Jackson has really strengthened the flanks of this team. Artest has also completed its transformation this season, from a top blue-collar player to a superstar player who can play both offense and defense.

This season, he finished 10th on the regular season MVP list.

Facts have also proved that they do have the ability to impact the championship, and after falling behind 2-3, they won two games in a row and won at the home court of the Pistons.

When Woody saw the Pacers leading by more than 10 points less than a minute later, he was ready to fully realize that if he wanted to enter the Finals, he had to bleed!

But who would have thought!

In less than 1 minute of this last minute, the situation changed abruptly, and after a big scuffle, the Pistons lost the game, but the Pacers were also dragged down by them, and several main players were banned for many games, and even the punishment was extended to next season.

Everyone knew that David Stern would be angry, but he really didn't expect it to be so harsh.

But it's normal, after all, Artest is playing the audience!

If this is not dealt with seriously, it is really easy to cause trouble.

And the price of doing so is that the Pacers, who have made a difficult comeback and are even likely to have completed their transformation, will meet the "strong Heat" with a half-crippled lineup that has swept two consecutive rounds.

The New York Times called it "the easiest Eastern Conference Finals."

"The Bleachers" also believes that this will be the least suspenseful set of matchups.

The Miami media argues:

The time for the Heat team has probably arrived!

Something similar happened to them back then:

In the 1998 playoffs, the Knicks met the Heat, and the two teams clashed in the game when the two teams had been feuding for a long time. During the match, Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning got into a big fight, and the two staged a boxing ring match. The "world famous painting" was born: Van Gundy ran into the field to pull the rack, in order to protect his players, in a hurry, he hugged Mo Ning's thigh, and was dragged a few meters away from the floor by the tough Mo Ning.

This result led to the next fifth game of life and death, the Heat core Mourning was suspended for the fourth irrational fight, and the situation instantly turned to the Knicks' side, they took the lead in the first half, leading the Heat by 16 points at halftime 47-31, and the Heat home was deadly.

In the end, they defeated the Heat 98-81, Alan Houston scored 30 points to penetrate the Heat defense, Starks scored 22 points, veteran Oakley 18 points and 13 rebounds, Charlie Ward handed out 14 assists, and the Knicks advanced to the "Black Six".

Of course, this is from a Miami perspective.

Back then, the Knicks and the Heat 4-round series were completely "dog eat dog", and no one was a good person.

But the American media always likes to talk about things that go back to the roots.

Anyway, in front of the eyes of the Heat team now, it is almost a "big pie" that fell from the sky.

They had thought about it countless times, but they never imagined that they would meet the remnants of the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

ESPN's focus is on Shaq O'Neal: "Mind you, this man has only played 8 playoff games now! ”

This means that he is extremely fit.

If the Eastern Conference Finals are only 4 games before reaching the Finals, it is hard to imagine how powerful he can be next.

After all, with such a favorable playoff schedule, it's impossible to exhaust Shaq O'Neal in just seven games.

Even if he is 33 years old, almost 34 years old!

And no one is worried at all that such a favorable schedule will affect Shaq O'Neal's form.

His style of play is destined for him to be invincible if he has physical fitness!

The final results of the two spots in the Eastern Conference Finals have already been determined.

In order to prevent the teams on both sides from losing too much time to reach the Finals, the league deliberately arranged a few more days of rest for the Pacers.

Such an arrangement was supposed to be a "timely rain" like a long drought and a rainy day, which would allow the Pacers to adjust their condition well. But because Artest and Stephen Jackson are confirmed to miss the entire series, and Reggie Miller and Tinsley are also missing the first game of the series, Pacers fans are not very happy, but full of pessimism and more hatred for Detroit.

In their opinion, this was the most promising year for the Pacers, and now it was all ruined by the Pistons!

What do you owe me here, and what will you pay?

There are two semifinals in the West, one is for the Spurs to play the SuperSonics, and the other is for the Mavericks to play the Suns.

Before the start of this season, the "Yao Mai" combination, which had high hopes for the media, finally fell in the first round.

However, there is a very controversial point in this game:

In order for the Mavericks to win the game better, Cuban made a video of some of Yao's controversial pick-and-rolls and sent them to the league.

Although this matter is outrageous without averaging 0.2 free throws per game and immediately writing a letter to the league, it is indeed not a glorious thing. And if you really want to say it, Yao Ming can be regarded as being born in the wrong era, if it is n years later, there will be no problem with these moves, in fact, there is no big problem now.

It's just that after Cuban sent the videotape, the referees paid too much attention to Yao Ming's movement when blowing the penalty.

While this can't be the main reason for the Rockets' loss, it can be considered one of the reasons.

Houston now has a lot of money to settle with the Mavericks.

After eliminating the Rockets, the Mavericks faced the Suns.

Cuban hasn't forgiven Steve Nash yet, and the series was very lively, with Game 2 on the Suns' home court, and the Mavericks even stole a win.

Of course, they were also a team with 58 wins, and the gap between them and the Suns was not that big.

The SuperSonics were pulled out again for criticism, this team really had the advantage of the schedule, but now it has also been beaten by the Spurs.

After coming to Dallas, the Suns quickly pulled back a game to lead 2-1, and the Mavericks struggled to hold on to their second home court and rewrite the big score to a 2-2 draw.

The "Battle of Tianwang Mountain" followed, and the game was played to the last minute, and the Suns won the "Battle of Tianwang Mountain" with a score difference of 114 to 108, 6 points.

And at this time, the other round of the series turned around, and the SuperSonics, who had lost the first two games by more than a dozen points, returned to their home court, first winning the first game back to their home court with a narrow 92-91 victory.

Then it was like Ren Du's second pulse was opened, not only limited the Spurs' single-game score to 89 points, but also got a high score of 101 points, chasing two games in a row, and their morale was high They set off to San Antonio, at this critical moment, the long-haired Argentines broke out, scoring 39 points in a single game, plus Tim Duncan, who is always so stable, scored 20 plus 14 data, they easily won the "Battle of Tianwang Mountain".

At this time, the SuperSonics still have some confidence in themselves, because they have not lost at home in this series.

And the SuperSonics team found a way to target Ginobili, who broke out in the last game, and only scored 14 points in the last half minute of this game.

In the final 14 seconds, Horry's foul gave the SuperSonics a chance to take the lead, but in the end it was only 1 of 2 free throws, and the score was tied.

However, at this time, there are only 14 seconds left in the time, as long as the attack is held, there is still a chance for overtime, if it wins, then the SuperSonics, who have just rebuilt last year, may play a "tie-break" with the Spurs in this year's semifinals.

They proved that they didn't rely on the convenience of schedules and rules to get to this position.

They are powerful!

Unfortunately, in the end, the Spurs' offense, the combination of Ginobili and Tim Duncan, helped them successfully complete the board score in the final 0.01 seconds.

"Stone Buddha" scored with his signature basket to give the Spurs a 98-96 lead, leaving the SuperSonics with just 0.01 seconds to spare.

The shot was given to Ginobili.

His individual offensive form on the offensive end of the game was very sluggish, but he still found Tim Duncan in the crunch time.

Duncan doesn't need to say much, because of him, Popovich is Popovich.

If this is to be refuted, it can only be said that Tim Duncan's greatness is overshadowed too much.

With a two-point advantage, the Spurs won the G6, eliminated the SuperSonics 4-2, and entered the Western Conference Finals.

The sixth match between these two teams was a great one.

Game 6 between the Mavericks and the Suns was equally exciting.

As you can see from the data, Steve Nash scored a rare 39 points in this game, with 12 assists without delay, and the Suns also have a player who has scored more than 30 points: "Hacker" Marion.

Although the Mavericks didn't have two 30-plus players on their side, Jason Terry also broke out in this game, scoring 36 points, and the Mavericks also had Nowitzki with 28 points and Josh Howard with 21 points.

They don't have two players with 30 points, but they do have three players who score more than 20 points.

From the scores of the main forces on both sides, it can be seen how ferocious the offensive of the two teams in this game is.

It can be said that the ideas of both sides have gone together, and they both want to defeat the opponent with attack.

Until the last minute of the fourth quarter, relying on Steve Nash's three-pointer, the Suns overtook the score by one point, and then Jim Jackson's foul allowed Nowitzki to complete two free throws, and the score was overtaken again.

After that, the Suns were forced to foul play, and Steve Nash's three-pointer helped the team go to overtime.

As can be seen from the data, Nash, who is known for his passing, actually dominated the three-point shot in the final moments.

He's always been an underrated scorer.

He didn't stop there, as he grabbed a defensive rebound in the final moments of overtime, forcing Finley to foul him and sealing the win with two free throws.

In the end, 130-126, with a 4-point advantage, the Suns won the victory.

The Mavericks, on the other hand, were disqualified from the Western Conference Finals because they didn't want to sign a player with a maximum salary last season.

Steve Nash's smile became a nightmare for Dallasians.

The roster for the Western Conference Finals is out:

Suns vs Spurs.

This result is quite normal, and it happens to be the top two teams in the Western Conference regular season.

Before these two teams play, the Eastern Conference Finals started early.

The first game was played on Miami's home court, and the Pacers entered the arena with a sense of decisiveness.

The people they came here were like Kaisha.

I'm coming back for those who can't.

It is said that "the mourning soldiers will win", and with such a thought, it is possible to improve combat effectiveness, but the problem is that the current strength gap between the two sides is too big.

As big as the opening 3 minutes, there is no suspense in this game.

Because the score is 12-0!

The Pacers, without the main team, had a bit of a hard time scoring even a point against the Heat.

Rick Carlisle had to call a timeout, and he could see the frustration on his face.

It's true that the head coach is quite helpless in this situation, he really wants to do something, but he can't do anything, not only him, but the NBA coaches can't have an impact in this situation.

If you are chic, you may vote directly.

At halftime in this game, the Heat had a 30-point lead, and Stan Van Gundy didn't wait for the opposite side to replace the main team, so he replaced the main team himself.

I'm really embarrassed to win again.

And the Pacers can't change their lineup, so their bench players are going to be used as the main players now!

And just like that, 118-78, the Heat won the first game by 40 points.

This is still the result of the substitution rotation early.

But the fans were so enthusiastic that the Heat players who came off the bench got better and better, and they took an extra 10-point lead.

Woody only played a total of 20 minutes and had 15 points and eight rebounds, missing a "double-double" for the first time in the playoffs this season.

"I'm sorry that happened to the Pacers, but we have to win the game, it's something we can't do, and we only have one goal, which is to win the championship, and that's not going to change because of that!"

A reporter asked him to comment on Ben Wallace: "Don't you think this ruined Artest and the Pacers?" ”

Woody said: "On the court, everyone is fighting on their own, what happens, it's all about winning, at least in my opinion, the referee's blowing is used to control the emotions of both sides to a certain extent, and when some of the blows that should have happened don't happen, it's easy to let this kind of scene get out of hand." Because when a player finds out that there is no cost to him doing it, he will continue to do it, there is no doubt about that......"

(End of chapter)