Allen Iverson was pointed out after the third game.

Critics were puzzled by his overreaction.

From the point of view of the penalty scale, Iverson has benefited most of the time, why did the referee suddenly relax the scale a little, and he couldn't stand it?

The 76ers are down 3-0, and no team believes they can go after three games like the Trail Blazers in the West.

After all, given the depth of the Trail Blazers' roster, their fall to eighth place was entirely due to the coaching staff's inability to coordinate the needs of the players.

The potential of this kind of team, where the depth of the squad is amazing but the internal discord is the most terrifying.

The Mavericks inadvertently sparked the potential of the Trail Blazers, while the 76ers had no potential to tap.

A few years later, they are still the runner-up season overall, counting on Iverson to kill their opponents alone.

The powerhouses of the same period as the original 76ers either fell or strengthened, and no one remained as they were.

Two days later, the Bucks and 76ers had their fourth game in the semifinals.

The defeat in Game 3 was a demoralisation blow to the Phillies of Philadelphia.

No one believed they could win at the hands of the Bucks anymore.

The doubts surrounding Philadelphia and the prospects of the season are no longer being cared for.

What people want to know more is what holds for Iverson's future, just as Larry Brown will return to Philadelphia when his contract expires.

The 76ers, who had lost their fighting spirit, gave up resistance amid Brown's screams.

Iverson's 30-point finish in the final game of the season looks good, but shooting 12-of-32 from the field is unsatisfactory in any way.

Yu Fei across from Iverson looked like a product of another era.

In less than 20 shots in the game, he scored a game-high 33 points through a lot of defensive counterattacks and outside shots, leading the team to a 4-0 sweep of the 76ers.

After the game, no one asked Yu Fei what it was like to sweep Iverson.

The media focused on the final big show before the Eastern Conference Finals: "Fry, what do you think about the last MVP simulation from all sides, half of the media think you're going to be the MVP of the season?" ”

Yu Fei knows that the media's analog choice is like the major union awards before the Oscars, and it is an important bellwether for the final MVP vote.

In seasons with overwhelming candidates, the media's choice of simulation may not matter, but in a highly competitive season, media preferences will determine who wins the MVP.

The most typical is the 1989-90 season, when the top three MVP favorites received 26% (Magic), 25% (Barkley) and 23% (Jordan).

Whether it's from a star-making perspective or from the perspective of how much the 84 duo has improved their respective teams, they are more worthy of MVP than the Magic.

But in the end, the more popular magician still won that year's MVP by a narrow margin.

This year can also be considered a highly competitive year, with the main contenders being Duncan, Kidd and Yu Fei.

Duncan's single-core attributes, Kidd's 360% turnaround for two seasons and Yu Fei's amazing improvement (leading the Bucks to the league's No. 1 record).

Judging from popularity, Kidd is destined to be a runner, and Duncan, as recognized as the best in the game, seems to deserve to win the MVP.

However, in the east, another Yu Fei was killed.

The stats are impeccable, allowing the Bucks to win one-third more games than last season and still be the league's much-loved supernova — which shows Duncan's biggest shortcomings. Everyone likes him and everyone recognizes his strength, but when it comes to awards, everyone will give priority to others.

After the Bucks swept the 76ers in the semifinals, in order for the company to have a second MVP player, Reebok's media power was full of firepower and carried out all-round marketing for Fly.

During the same period, Duncan's Spurs were locked in a tough battle with the Lakers, who were aiming for a four-game winning streak.

The Spurs really don't have time to publicize how worthy Duncan is the MVP, and for these people who believe in the spirit of the stonemasons, isn't it natural to award the MVP to Duncan?

Popovich believes that by swapping Yu Fei and Duncan's teams, the Bucks will be stronger, and the Spurs will never compete for a championship.

In his opinion, this is the standard of "MVP".

If someone in the league can do better than you by replacing you, then why should you win the MVP?

But this impossible assumption is still YY in the final analysis, and Yu Fei doesn't put his mind on it, because he has already been pitted once by the "seniority problem".

He could have unlocked the "All-Star" achievement in his rookie season, but was squeezed out by the veteran due to his poor reputation and lack of qualifications.

If the league really thinks it's more important to get Duncan a second MVP than to create the youngest MVP ever, then what else is there to say.

This is not a question of "who is more worthy", Yu Fei thinks that his qualifications and gimmicks are above Duncan, if the result is not as expected, it must be a problem with the alliance.

So, he doesn't care about MVP anymore.

It doesn't matter if Yu Fei doesn't care, the important thing is that the people behind him don't care.

Reebok vigorously mobilized the media power, and the agent Trem also used all his connections to ensure that Yu Fei could get enough MVP votes.

Then, the Bucks began to prepare for the Eastern Conference Finals.

Because their opponent has been revealed.

That's exactly what Yu Fei and Carl are thinking about the New Jersey Nets.

If the Bucks are the kings of the East, the Nets are undoubtedly the kings.

The Celtics were eliminated 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs, and then in the semifinals, they faced the second-place Pistons in the East and swept them out 4-0.

The Pistons, who were ambitious and wanted to make a difference, were poured cold water, and the impatient Pistons fired Rick Carlisle.

And, almost the same day Carlisle got out of class, the Pistons announced a new coach: Larry Brown.

This can be considered a seismic message.

The outside world generally does not understand Carlisle's dismissal, although he was completely blown up by the Nets, but if there is a problem, it is also Chauncey Billups's biggest problem.

Not to mention the conflict with Carlisle during the playoffs, as the best player in the first round of the Pistons playoffs, he was crushed by Jason Kidd in the semifinals.

As the leader of the team, he averaged 9.8 points and 6 assists per game in the series, shooting 27% from the field, while Kidd dominated with 23.8 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 42% shooting per game.

Obviously, Billups has a problem, but after all, he had a falling out with his coach in his first year in Detroit. Pistons general manager Joe Dumas knows very well that they can't trade Billups for a better No. 1 spot, and if Carlisle can't solve his conflict with the players, the team will have to optimize the coaching staff.

So, Carlisle, who had one year left on his contract, was out of class, and Larry Brown was lightning-fast from Philadelphia and then hired.

If this is not deliberate, I'm afraid no one will believe it.

Although the Pistons were eliminated, it also became a big joy in the NBA, a team that was stormy and impatient, and ushered in an extremely tough and impatient control freak.

Unlike sweeps, sweeps, and sweeps in the East, the playoff process in the West is as brutal as the Colosseum.

In the first round, there was one group of tie-breaks and two sets of six ties, and the semifinals were even more striking, with the defending champions Lakers and Spurs fighting six games before the dynasty inevitably ended.

The 2002-03 season for the Lakers was special, with Bryant officially stealing power, and his crazy shots during the regular season aside, he averaged nearly 10 more shots per game than O'Neal during the playoffs. If the Lakers can win four consecutive championships under his leadership, then there is no doubt about the change of power and throne.

However, Duncan's Silver and Black thwarted Kobe's ambitions.

That's why Bryant was in tears at the end of Game 6.

The night of the fall of the OK dynasty was unbelievable to many.

The league's No. 1 center and the league's top 10 superstars should reign for five or six years, as long as there are no major injuries.

As a result, Duncan, who didn't seem to have many helpers, actually eliminated them in the playoffs?

The MVP buzz about Duncan also reached its peak at this point.

After the game, ESPN's David Aldridge asked Duncan, "Despite Frye's MVP vocals, your performance in the playoffs was unanimously recognized by everyone, do you think that will help you get more votes?" ”

"I hope so, but it shouldn't happen." Duncan said confidently, "The MVP depends on the performance of the regular season, and I think I played enough, and of course, Frye was enough, so it wasn't a problem for me." ”

Aldridge couldn't help but ask, "So what's the problem?" ”

"If I can't win a real ring, there will be people who keep saying that the 1999 championship was just a child's play in a carnival." Duncan said seriously, "That's the real problem. ”

Aldridge called Duncan an "ascetic giant" in a 1999 column because Duncan never seemed to openly advertise his preferences or desires, even if he led the team to a championship in his second season, as Abdul-Jabbar did.

For the first time, Aldridge saw a clear appeal in Duncan's face.

He is hungry to win again.

Because his first championship was wantonly desecrated by those led by Phil Jackson, who said that the championship had no gold and needed to be marked with an asterisk.

When OK won three consecutive championships in the new century, this view became mainstream with the Lakers' strong rise.

"Lucky Spurs" is a jarring comment for Duncan.

Compared to that, who wins MVP doesn't really seem to matter to Duncan.

No one cares that the invincible duo won only one MVP trophy during the OK Triple Championship, but everyone who cares about basketball will remember their three consecutive championships.

Aldridge realizes that Duncan's attitude is almost identical to that of the Spurs.

Everyone on the Spurs thinks Duncan is the MVP, but there aren't a few media outlets to promote it. This is completely different from Yu Fei and the forces behind it.

Although the divisional finals have not yet begun, Aldridge is already expecting the two teams to meet in the finals.

Not since 1999 has the NBA Finals seen such an intriguing matchup.

(End of chapter)