On April 16, 2003, the SuperSonics defeated the Suns at home, ending the regular season.

68-14, and if it weren't for Ben Wallace's injury in the final stretch, the SuperSonics would have had a good chance of playing 70 for the fourth time.

The Lakers with 62 wins are second in the West, the Kings with 60 wins are third, and the Spurs with 59 wins are fourth, followed by the Mavericks, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, and Suns.

At first place in the East is the Nets, with only 50 games, the same win percentage as the Trail Blazers.

After that came the Pacers, Team Numbers, Pistons, Hornets, Celtics, Bucks, Magic.

Western Conference First Round: SuperSonics vs. Suns, Spurs vs. Mavericks, Lakers vs. Trail Blazers, Kings vs. Timberwolves.

Eastern Conference First Round: Nets vs. Magic, Pistons vs. Hornets, Pacers vs. Bucks, Numbers vs. Celtics.

The first round of the series will begin on the 19th and 20th, with the SuperSonics being the 19th.

In the locker room, Zhou Quan got the first-round matchup table after taking a shower, looked at it, and said happily: "Yes, I can finally see how powerful Tim Duncan is in the series." ”

"Congratulations, Iron Fist King, you're the scoring champion, the assist champion, and the steal champion again. Jordan is the 8-point scoring champion, and you have 6 now. Head coach McMillan laughed.

"Thank you!" Zhou Quan nodded with a smile.

"Ben, congratulations to you, got the rebounding king." McMillan said to Ben Wallace again.

Ben Wallace said with some disappointment: "I lost the king of blocks." ”

"It's a shame that you and he both averaged 3.2 blocks per game, but you were off for at least nine games and he played in 81," McMillan said. ”

"Ben, your performance this season has been very good, 8.2 points, 15.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 3.2 blocks, and the defensive efficiency is only a little worse than mine, I guess DPOY will have to give it to you." Zhou Quan encouraged.

Big Ben grinned when he heard this.

Zhou Quan looked at his season data again, and it was okay, about the same as last season.

Played 79 games, started 79 games, averaged 38.5 minutes per game, 33.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 14.1 assists, 3.8 steals, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 1.9 fouls, shooting 54.5% from the field, 40.8% from three-point range, and 7.05 assist-to-turnover ratios.

This season's regular season and career points and total points are 2,623/24,200, rebounds 355/3,738, assists 1,114/10,898, steals 300/3,370, and blocks 158/1,252.

In terms of scoring, he is only 1.1 points more than Maddy, who is second in the league, and Maddy, one of the four quarterbacks, is beginning to show his talent on the offensive end and is not inefficient, shooting 45.7% from the field.

In terms of assists, the second in the league is Kidd, with only 8.9 assists, which is a bit big behind him.

In terms of steals, the second in the league is Iverson with 2.7, which is also some distance behind him.

In addition to him, the SuperSonics also had Cote Thomas and Mike Miller, Cory Magetti, and Mason scoring double-doubles.

On the 17th, the league announced some of the honors of the regular season. Ben Wallace won the DPOY for the second time.

……

On the 18th, the Suns arrived in Seattle.

The Suns' current top scorer is Marbury, who averages 22.3 points per game, and then Marion, who averages 21.2 points, with four players in double figures on the team, the other two being Amarestad Meyer with 13.5 points and Anfernee Hardaway with 10.6 points.

The outside offense was okay, but the center was too bad, and the defense was not good, with only 44 wins in the regular season, and almost all the media concluded that the SuperSonics would sweep the Suns.

As a result, the media expected that the superSonics easily swept the Suns and advanced to the second round first.

The Spurs led the Mavericks 3-1 in the first four series, but lost the fifth game at home, eventually beating the Mavericks on the road to advance 4-2 and meet the SuperSonics in the second round.

As a second-round opponent, Zhou Quan paid special attention to the series between the Spurs and the Mavericks.

In the series, Duncan was better than the regular season in terms of playing time, offensive efficiency, defensive status, and rebounding.

In the regular season, Duncan averaged 39.3 minutes, 23.3 points and 12.9 rebounds per game, shooting 51.3% from the field, but in the first-round series, he averaged 43.3 minutes, 28 points and 16.7 rebounds per game, shooting 56.9% from the field.

Nowitzki, the leader of the Mavericks, also performed well, shooting 25.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in the series, shooting 43.1% from the field, but he was a big cut behind Duncan, so the winner was the Spurs, and the Mavericks, who were considered by the media to be the favorites in the Western Conference finals in the early part of the regular season, were eliminated in the first round.

In other groups, the Lakers eliminated the Trail Blazers 4-1, the Kings eliminated the Timberwolves 4-2, the Nets eliminated the Magic 4-3, the Pistons eliminated the Hornets 4-3, the Pacers eliminated the Bucks 4-2, and the Numbers eliminated the Celtics 4-3.

Second-round matchups, SuperSonics vs. Spurs, Lakers vs. Kings, Nets vs. Pistons, Pacers vs. Numbers.

On May 5, the SuperSonics and Spurs, the Nets vs. the Pistons, and the other two groups of No. 6 plays.

On May 4, the league announced the MVP winner, Zhou Quan won the regular season Most Valuable Player honor for the fourth consecutive season, which is also his sixth MVP.

Jordan has a total of five MVPs, and he surpassed Jordan in this honor.

In the afternoon, Da Yao's family of three arrived in Seattle, the Bulls did not enter the playoffs, and Da Yao came to watch the game after checking his body in Chicago.

Dazhi and Daba returned home after the regular season, and neither of their teams made it to the playoffs.

At tea time, Zhou Quan took Da Yao to the dock and chatted while drinking coffee.

"Da Yao, do the Bulls management have any thoughts on you? You've been playing for two seasons, and Brand has been traded for two seasons. He asked casually.

Da Yao thought for a while, shook his head and said, "I feel that the management has not expressed the idea of trading me, and it seems that they are quite satisfied with my performance." Brother, do you think they want to trade me? ”

"That's not it, it's just that from the fact that they traded Brand, it feels like the management is impatient and the rebuilding is impatient." Zhou Quan shook his head and said.

Then after taking a sip of coffee, he said: "You can stay in the East with peace of mind, even if the Bulls want to trade you, try to choose a team in the East, don't come to the West to join in the fun." ”

Da Yao smiled: "I know, I know, the West is now the Longtan Tiger's Den, the SuperSonics, the Lakers, the Spurs, the Kings, and the Mavericks are also starting to rise now." ”

Zhou Quan nodded and said: "Don't think about the championship or anything now, honestly improve your strength, enter the 20+10 club one day earlier, and reach the strength of the real all-star level." ”

"Got it, brother." Da Yao nodded.

At one o'clock in the afternoon on the 5th, the Spurs arrived in Seattle and held a press conference at the hotel at three o'clock in the afternoon.

"Coach Popovich, did you like this series? What are you looking forward to in this series? The first person to ask the question was an Associated Press reporter.

"Damn, I'm crazy to like this series."

Popovich cursed in his heart, and then said with a blank face: "Of course I like it, playing a series with the strongest team in the league, which can allow our young people to be the best in terms of technique and will."

That's a good question to expect from the series, of course we have expectations, the SuperSonics are not an impossible team to beat, Tekken is not an undefeated god, our team has an advantage on the inside, why can't we have expectations? On the contrary, we have a lot to look forward to. ”

The reporter recalled and said with a smile: "Since the Iron Fist King entered the league, this is his tenth season, the first nine seasons, seven championships, his rookie season was eliminated by the Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals, and the third season was eliminated by the Bulls in the Finals, and he has not missed the Eastern Conference or Western finals in a season." I mean, he's never been eliminated in the second round......"

When Popovich heard this, his face was not very good.

The journalist continued: "Coach Popovich, are you really looking forward to knocking out the Iron Fist King in the second round? ”

"Why not? The Bulls can beat him twice in the series, and so can we. Popovich asked in a cold voice with a hint of anger flashing in his eyes.

The reporter shrugged his shoulders and handed the microphone to the staff member who held out his hand.

"Tim, do you have the confidence to blow up the supersonic inside?" The next reporter asked.

Duncan wanted to show his smile and kindness, but after thinking about it, he said with a blank face: "I'll try, I hope everything goes well." ”

"Do you think Tony Parker is going to be locked up by Tekken? I think it's a high probability, so if Parker is locked up, who will be responsible for the Spurs' organization and offense? The reporter asked.

"Sorry, this is a tactical secret." Duncan shook his head.

"Coach Popovich, since the return of the Iron Fist King, in three years, the Spurs have not played the SuperSonics in the playoffs, this is the first time, I heard that the Iron Fist King is also very much looking forward to this series, if he averages 50+ per game or a triple-double per game in this series, how are you going to deal with it?" The next reporter asked.

Hearing the last sentence, a trace of helplessness flashed in Popovich's eyes, but in a flash, he immediately said: "We have done all the preparations we can do, and the result will be decided by God." ”

After the press conference, the Spurs held a tactical meeting.

This tactical meeting is the third since the end of the first-round series.

'Every player has to speak today and say what you want to say. David, you come first. After the meeting began, Popovich said.

David Robinson sat at the front, nodded and said: "Inside we have an advantage on the offensive end, a height advantage, an offensive advantage, and we are not weaker than the supersonic in rebounding."

But we have to pay attention to their interior defense is also very strong, Ben Wallace and Coat-Thomas are very tough defensive styles, so we have to pay attention to our interior offense as well, and play a consistent low post attack. ”

"David, do you have any thoughts on the outside line?" Popovich asked.

"We must not lose the ball, how to avoid the defense of the Iron Fist King, is the focus of the outside line." David Robinson said.

"Tim, it's your turn."

Popovich nodded and said to Duncan.

Duncan thought as he said, "I suggest having Tony pin down Tekken on the flank, and then we'll attack from the other wing. ”

"So we need another ball-handler." Popovich spoke, then motioned for Duncan to continue.

Duncan continued: "This method has been played by the Lakers before, and Kobe Bryant pinned down the Iron Fist King's defense, but it was still swept by the supersonics, and there were two main reasons for losing.

First, Kobe Bryant can contain most of the Iron Fist's defensive strength, but the Iron Fist can still make a helping defense, mainly to the help defense of the restricted area.

Second, Kobe Bryant didn't perform on the offensive end, and he couldn't prevent the Iron Fist King on the defensive end, so that the Iron Fist King played an average of 50+ performances per game.

Third, the supersonic implemented a no-ball package on O'Neal, O'Neal couldn't play offensive efficiency, couldn't catch the ball, and his physical energy was greatly consumed in the bag, and he was unable to play in the last quarter. ”

Popovich nodded approvingly at Duncan and smiled, "Yes, Tim, you did a very good analysis. So is there anything else you have to say? ”

Duncan smiled and said: "First point, for the Iron Fist King's help defense of the restricted area, I can play nearly two points more, my nearly two-point shooting rate is higher than O'Neal's, and the shooting rhythm is faster than O'Neal, and it is difficult for the Iron Fist King to contain me." At the same time, David and I teamed up in the low post, and it was not easy for the Iron Fist King to come in and help defend us. ”

"Not bad."

Popovich couldn't help but nod, Duncan's nearly two-point shot was really difficult to be packed, and the shot was fast and accurate.

Duncan continued: "For the second point, we really have to sacrifice Tony's offense, and we have to be prepared for the Iron Fist King to play an average of 50+ per game, and we don't have much to do about that. ”

Tony Parker, who was sitting in the back, heard this, his face darkened, and he was numb at the thought of being like Kobe, locked by the Iron Fist King at the same time, and being hit by him on the head with an average of 50+ per game.

Duncan added: "The third point is how to deal with the no-ball trapping tactics that they are likely to implement. We haven't played in the playoffs in years, and they've never played me in the regular season. Greg, do you think the SuperSonics will wrap me up without the ball? ”

(End of chapter)