The first round continued and did not end until May 5.

The Pacers, who are the first in the East, performed mediocre in the first round, and were forced into a tie-break by the Bucks, which was also very thrilling in the tie-break, and finally played 95:96, with the help of the home court, won by one point, and almost became the second team to be blacked out.

Reggie Miller exploded in this game, shooting 60% from the field on 15-of-25 shooting, including 3-of-7 three-pointers, plus 8-of-10 free throws, to score 41 points.

"Reggie, you were almost blackened in the first round, you're too difficult, right?" After the game, Zhou Quan called Reggie Miller and teased him.

"Iron Fist, you kid is so lucky, Ben Wallace, who no one wants, actually played a first-class defensive center performance, and a bunch of base salaries actually hit the first in the league."

Reggie Miller's mood over there was not very good, although he barely passed the first round, and played Philadelphia in the second round, Iverson was not easy to match.

Zhou Quan said with a smile: "Big Ben's kid, because he is too short, arranged for him to play small forward, he used to let him play small forward in the Wizards, and his performance was very poor, he really could only play center, and he really picked up a treasure." ”

"Iron Fist, give some advice, how to fight Philadelphia?" After a few words, Reggie Miller asked.

"Ha, Philadelphia that's your Eastern team, you beat me, ask me what I'm doing?" Zhou Quan said with a smile.

"They have a strong interior defense, Ratrive and Teylonhill are better than our inside, and besides, isn't that the Philadelphia kid on good terms with you?" Reggie Miller said.

"Iverson has a lot of destructive power, but he lacks consistency in his shooting, he doesn't have enough offensive efficiency, he suffers on the defensive end, and he can't pose a lethal threat to you. On the contrary, when you talk about interior defense, you really have to pay attention to your own offense to play efficiently. Zhou Quan said.

After chatting with Reggie Miller for a long time before ending the call, he felt that although the Pacers were good and played the first record in the East, the Heat and the Knicks were quite strong, and it was quite difficult for the Pacers to get out of the East, according to their performance in the first round.

Especially the Heat, although the inner and outer cores of Mourning and Payton are not as glamorous as the OK combination, this is a pair of interior and exterior combinations with particularly strong defense, both of which have entered their peak, and the offensive end is 20+.

If the Pacers and the Heat meet in the Eastern Conference showdown, I'm afraid the end will not be too good.

With the end of the first round, the second round is out.

East, Pacers vs. Philadelphia, Heat vs. Knicks.

West, SuperSonics vs. Jazz, Lakers vs. Trail Blazers.

Before the first round ended, the MVP voting had already begun, and it ended on the 5th.

At 9 a.m. on May 6, the league announced the results of this season's regular season MVP voting through NBC television.

Since the supersonic surpassed the Lakers to the top of the league, there is actually no suspense about the MVP, even if those reporters who voted did not vote for Zhou Quan, David Stern would arrange everything.

So, Zhou Quan won the third MVP of his career.

That night, the second round began, with the Heat beating the Knicks at home and the Lakers beating the Trail Blazers at home.

No. 7, the SuperSonics beat the Jazz at home, and the Pacers also beat Philadelphia at home.

Zhou Quan inquired about the Pacers after the game, and good guys, Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose scored 40 points respectively, shooting 61.1% and 69.6% respectively, and shooting 7-of-10 and 3-of-5 from three-point range, respectively.

"Let the two outside lines play such an effect, just Philadelphia's defense, it's no wonder if you don't lose." He couldn't help but complain.

"Judging from the data, the outside line of Philadelphia is all a colander, and the inside line is not kept." Thorpe said.

"Latrive and Teylonhill combined for 4 blocks and 2 steals, but do you know their team-wide blocks and steals?" McMillan asked with a grin.

"How much?" Zhou Quan asked.

"2 steals, 5 blocks. The cap is still for backup power forward Tony Kukoc. McMillan said.

"God, so many other people combined, only 1 hat and 0 steals?"

"I didn't have a steal or a block on the outside, I deserved to lose!"

"How bad is this outside defense? No wonder Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose both scored 40 points and shot so high. ”

The crowd laughed at each other.

On the 8th, Zhou Quan's house set up ten tables of wine for Xiao Zhouyuan, held a party, and it was lively.

That night, both the Heat and the Lakers lost at home, being tied by the Knicks and Trail Blazers.

The Heat lost by only 1 point, while the Lakers lost by 29 points, with a score of 106-77.

The Trail Blazers bandits played excellent form at the Staples Center, with Rashid Wallace, Steve Smith, and Pippen all scoring 20+ points and 74 points, 27 rebounds and 6 steals.

The Lakers, on the other hand, had 16 fewer rebounds than the Trail Blazers, shot only 39.1%, and only made 4 steals, compared to 11 for the opponent, and 14 for the opponent, with only 7.

Kobe Bryant, the core of the perimeter, shot 2-of-9 from the field, only 22.2% of the shots, and was prevented from scoring only 12 points. O'Neal, the core of the interior, also only had 23 points, no steals and no blocks.

"The Lakers' performance won't be killed by the Trail Blazers, right?" Zhou Quan shook his head and said.

The Trail Blazers' style of play against the Lakers is still focused on containing O'Neal, first using Sabonis to die, consuming the physical energy of the big sharks, and then wrapping layer by layer, Rasheed Wallace to assist in the weak side defense, and O'Neal only had 16 shots in the whole game.

The SuperSonics play the Lakers in the same way, and basically the teams in the league play the Lakers like this now, because O'Neal is too destructive in the low post.

After watching this game, he only has one opinion, if Kobe Bryant, the core of the perimeter, can't step up, can't attract the defense, can't use his breakthrough to open up the connection between the inside and outside, then the Lakers are in trouble, and the Trail Blazers can win this series as long as they concentrate on defense against O'Neal.

On the 9th, the SuperSonics defeated the Jazz again at home, and the Pacers did the same, both winning two in a row.

On the 10th, Zhou Quan went to Salt Lake City with the team.

In the evening, he tuned in with his teammates to watch the Lakers and Trail Blazers game.

As a result, the Lakers defeated the Trail Blazers on the road, winning by two points.

Bryant stepped up and shot 11-of-18 from the field, shooting 61.1 percent, including 1-of-1 three-pointers, scoring 25 points.

O'Neal scored 28 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 39 minutes, and although he was super efficient, he was obviously defended and had too few shots, and if it wasn't for Kobe Bryant's step up, the Lakers would definitely lose.

Except for the OK combination, Ron Harper scored 12 points, three scored double-doubles, and the others shot three-pointers on the outside, and the team shot 3 of 13 three-pointers, and the performance was average.

The Trail Blazers' five starters all scored double-doubles, but none of them got 20+, did not play the performance of the last game, mainly lost in rebounds and interior defense, lost 7 rebounds, including 6 offensive rebounds, and 4 fewer blocks.

In the other game, the Heat defeated the Knicks on the road and led 2-1.

After that, the second round continued, and the SuperSonics lost the G3 battle.

Zhou Quan scored 35 points in the G3 game, but only handed out 8 assists, and a group of young people did not come out, playing a little tired, distracted, and lost a lot of empty positions.

In the other game, the Pacers defeated Philadelphia again to make it three straight wins and become the first team to get a match point in the second round.

In the G4 game, the Lakers won two consecutive away games, 3-1, and became the second team to get a match point in the second round.

The Heat, on the other hand, lost to the Knicks, missed the match point, and tied 2-2.

The next day, the SuperSonics recovered a little in the G4 game, Zhou Quan scored 41 points, 13 assists, and sent 6 steals and 3 blocks, a total of 4 people scored double-doubles, and got the match point with a big score of 3 to 1.

The Pacers, on the other hand, lost and were pulled back by Philadelphia with a match point.

On the 14th, the supersonic returned to Seattle.

That night, the Lakers, who returned to play at home, lost to the Trail Blazers, losing by 8 points, with a big score of 3-2 and a match point in their hands.

Bryant made just 4 of 13 shots and scored just 17 points from the free-throw line.

The Lakers shot just 38 percent from the field as a team, shooting 6-of-27 from three-point range, and just 22.2 percent from the field.

In the other game, the Heat, who returned to their home court, defeated the Knicks, 3-2, and won the match point.

On the 15th, the SuperSonics defeated the Jazz at home in the G5 game and took the lead in completing the promotion with a score of 4 to 1.

This is also the seventh time in Zhou Quan's career that he has reached the East and West finals, continuing his record of never missing the East and West finals.

In the other game, because Reggie Miller was injured in training and missed the G5 game, the Pacers suffered a losing streak, losing at home, 3-2, but still holding a match point.

On the 16th, G6, the Trail Blazers defeated the Lakers at home and tied 3-3.

The Heat, on the other hand, defeated the Knicks on the road, winning 4-2 and becoming the second team to advance in the second round.

In this game, the ratings were low because the two teams played a very dull game, and the score was 78:72.

"Shark, how many points did you just get?" After the game, Zhou Quan made a phone call to O'Neill and asked knowingly.

"How many points do you care about me?"

O'Neal, who only scored 17 points, said angrily.

"How many points is Kobe Bryant? I think it's 33 points, shark, which of you is the eldest and who is the youngest? Zhou Quan continued to tease.

"Iron Fist, when I enter the West to kill you, I will make you cry when the time comes." O'Neill dropped a word viciously and hung up the phone.

On the 17th, the Pacers defeated Philadelphia on the road and advanced with a score of 4-2.

On the 18th, the Lakers and the Trail Blazers had a tie-break battle, the home of the Lakers.

As a result, O'Neal was frantically encircled by the Trail Blazers, only 5 of 9 shots, but fortunately, the free throws at the critical moment were quite powerful, and he only scored 18 points on 8 of 12 free throws. But the performance was still too poor, only 9 rebounds were grabbed, and 4 turnovers were only given out a big hat.

Bryant played well, scoring 25 points, shooting 47.4% from the field, grabbing more rebounds than O'Neal, 11, but all backcourt rebounds and 7 assists. What made O'Neal feel shameless the most was that Kobe Bryant also gave away 4 big hats.

Glen Les was also mediocre, scoring just 11 points and shooting just 40 percent from the field.

But the Lakers' bench came up with two men, with Brian Shaw and Robert Horry scoring 12 and 11 points, respectively, shooting 57.1 percent and 66.7 percent, respectively.

Relying on the performance of Kobe Bryant, Brian Shaw and Robert Horry, the Lakers won in the end.

Eastern Conference Showdown: Pacers vs. Heat, starting on the 22nd.

Western Conference Showdown: Supersonic vs. Lakers, starts on the 23rd.

On the 19th, at 9 a.m., the league announced the All-NBA and All-Defensive Team.

Zhou Quan was selected for the sixth time in the double team.

Bryant was named to the defensive team with him, along with Mourning, Garnett, and Duncan.

In addition to him, the best team also includes Gary Payton, Duncan, Garnett, O'Neal.

"Kill the Pacers first, reach the Finals and then kill the Iron Fist."

Gary Payton was depressed again because he had a good chance of being selected for the Double First Team this year, but the defensive first was snatched away by the Iron Fist King.

"Kill the Iron Fist King first, reach the finals and then kill the gloves."

Kobe Bryant is not convinced, is my offense not as good as a glove? Why did he go in one and I only went in the second?

From this day on, some media and basketball commentators, as well as stars, began to make various analyses and predictions for the matchup.

ESPN's prediction for the Eastern Conference finals is that the Pacers have a 48% chance of reaching the Finals, and the Heat have a 52% chance of reaching the Finals; The prediction for the Western Conference finals is that the chances of the SuperSonics advancing are 52%, and the Lakers are 48%.

Jim, editor-in-chief of ESPN Sports, gave his reasons when he said on his NBA show:

"The Pacers, who are first in the East, and the Heat, who are second in the East, both advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with a score of 4-2, the Pacers have a stronger offensive ability, and the Heat have better defense, and they each have their own advantages.

But I'm more bullish on the Heat, because the Heat's interior and exterior defense is more balanced, and in the playoffs, it's more defensive, and defense wins championships.

For the Western Conference finals, the SuperSonics, the first in the West, defeated the Jazz, who were fourth in the West, with a score of 4 to 1 to complete the second round promotion, but the Lakers in second and the Trail Blazers in third broke into a tiebreaker, and it was difficult to advance, and O'Neal's performance in the second round was not stable, so I am more optimistic about playing a super stable Iron Fist King.

Of course, the Lakers also have a great chance, because there are too many young people in the SuperSonics, and several of them are undrafted, and once their performance fails, it will be difficult for the Iron Fist King to support the situation alone. ”

NBC TV also analyzed and predicted the East and West finals, the East finals, the Pacers have a 45% chance of advancing, the Heat 55%, the Western Finals, the SuperSonics 56%, and the Lakers 44%, and the prediction results are more daring than ESPN.

Michael, the editor-in-chief of the station's NBA channel, said in an interview: "We are more bullish on the Heat and SuperSonics to advance to the Finals because these two teams have stronger defenses.

Gloves can limit the Pacers' outside offense, and the Pacers are a team that focuses on outside offense, and once the outside offense is stifled, the Heat will have the advantage.

And Tekken can limit Kobe's offense and cut off the connection between the OK combinations, thus helping the team win the opponent.

Of course, the Pacers have the same chance as the Lakers, and they have a good chance, after all, they and their opponents have a two-two record in the regular season.

For example, the Lakers, it is safe to say that the SuperSonics will do whatever it takes to trap him in the low post, but if he can break the opponent's bag and play a dominant attack in the low post, it is very normal to beat the SuperSonics, and even the Iron Fist King will not be able to recover the defeat. ”

(End of chapter)