Chapter 595 Early Western Conference Finals

   On the 24th, the other four games will continue.

  The Mavericks defeated the Jazz, the Lakers defeated the Kings, and the Pistons defeated the Bulls, each leading by a big score of 2 to 1, while the Green team defeated the Pelicans, also scoring 1 to 2.

   On the morning of the 25th, Barkley accepted an interview with the New York Sports News.

"Charles, among all the playoff teams, only the Suns got the match point with a big score of 3 to 0, while the Trail Blazers, Mavericks and Kings who performed better in the regular season failed to get the match point, and the Kings even fell behind. For the Lakers, what do you think is the reason? Is the Timberwolves, the Suns' opponent, weaker?" the reporter asked.

   Barkley shook his head and smiled: "The Timberwolves are not weak, they are fifth in the west, and their strength is in the east, so they should be able to enter the top three.

  The reason why the Suns got the match point is because this team is in Old K. There is no other reason but because of him. "

   "Can you tell me the specific reason?" The reporter asked.

"certainly."

   Barkley nodded and continued: "I don't know if you media have analyzed the performance of the old K in the playoffs. I refer to the performance of the playoffs in those seasons after the old K reached his peak."

  The reporter was taken aback, and quickly asked with great interest, "Oh, Chart, did you find anything?"

   Barkley nodded and said: "Old K is one of the few players in the history of the league who can be better than the regular season in terms of efficiency and performance in the playoffs.

  伱 You can get more points than the regular season by taking more shots, but it is difficult for you to make both scoring and shooting percentage higher than the regular season.

   You should know that this is a very rare ability, because you may not be able to pick a few. Of course, when I say players, I mean the core players of the team, not the general main players or substitutes.

   Let's just talk about scoring. How many people can you find who can score more points in the playoffs than in the regular season and have a higher shooting percentage? "

  The reporter thought for a while and named Michael Jordan, but after thinking about it, he seemed to have encountered a problem and couldn't name the next one.

   "And James Worthy, big dream."

   Barkley added two names to him with a smile, and then said: "Even Shaquille O'Neal, who has super dominance, his shooting percentage in the playoffs is not as good as in the regular season, and his scoring is slightly higher.

   Even Tim Duncan, who is known for his stability, has a slightly lower shooting percentage in the playoffs than the regular season, but slightly higher scoring than the regular season.

   Now you know how hard it is? Very difficult! "

   "Yes, now I know." The reporter nodded.

   Barkley continued: "Because old K can play a more efficient and aggressive performance in the playoffs, he is more dominant than anyone else.

He is a huge cornerstone. He raised the lower limit of his team, which can make his team play more stable than any team in the playoffs, and even play better, even if other players perform poorly. There is also his ballast stone to stabilize everything.

  This is why the Suns can get the match point faster than the Trail Blazers, Mavericks, and Kings with better regular season records, because of the old K. "

   This night, the Suns completed their sweep of the Timberwolves.

   Lao Wang completed a blockade against Garnett in the away game. Garnett made 4 of 15 shots and scored only 10 points with free throws. Garnett didn't want to catch the ball.

At the end of the game, he patted the shoulder of Garnett, who was out of breath and had no fighting spirit, and said earnestly: "Young people, don't be discouraged. I am old. You are the sun at one or two o'clock in the morning. The future is yours." It's ours, but at the end of the day, it's you young people."

   Garnett was so moved that he almost cried. From these words, he seemed to see hope and light, and saw that he was like a brilliant sun rising from the horizon and shining on the entire league.

   This night, the Trail Blazers and the Nets each defeated their opponents and got the match point, while the digital team lost their second home game and tied with the Pacers 2-2.

   On the 26th, the Suns returned to Phoenix.

  That night, the Mavericks were defeated by the Jazz in an away game, and the Kings defeated the Lakers, each of them tied for two. The Pistons beat the Bulls and got the match point. The Green team tied with the Pelicans.

Lao Wang called Kobe, "comforting" and said: "Kobe, if you can't even make it to the second round, just go back to the Suns. The Suns can trade you with Joe Johnson and Anfernee Hardaway. One, it’s more face-saving than when you left the Suns as a leader.”

Kobe almost died of anger, and became so angry that he stuttered: "Old K, old K, old K, you, you, you, you, you wait for me, this time I will not only reach the second round, but also enter the West You should worry about whether the Suns can hold off the Blazers for a few games, and whether they can join me in the Western Conference Finals."

   On the 27th, the Nets and the Trail Blazers defeated their opponents respectively and entered the second round with a big score of 4 to 1. At the same time, the digital team defeated the Pacers and got the match point.

  "The Trail Blazers played against the Suns. I think the Western Conference Finals will be staged in the second round ahead of schedule."

  Glider was interviewed by the media on the morning of the 28th and said: "The performances of the Kings and Lakers in the first round were disappointing. I think the Trail Blazers, Suns, and Mavericks are the real championship-level teams in the West.

  The Trail Blazers and the Suns met in advance, which is both exciting and disappointing, but we can appreciate a very intense and exciting second-round series. "

   On the same day, Jordan accepted a live TV interview with ESPN TV in New York. When talking about the current situation of the playoffs, he focused on the Trail Blazers and Suns who had entered the second round. He said:

  "The Blazers are as stable and strong as the regular season, and Duncan's performance is the same. He will score 20+10 every night. He will make the Blazers unsinkable like the Titanic."

   "Michael, the Titanic has been sunk for 111 years." The reporter reminded.

  Jordan said without changing his face: "I know this, but before it sank, it was the unsinkable Titanic, and everyone thought so."

  The reporter shrugged and thought, well, you are right.

   But thinking of this, he immediately realized the potential meaning of Jordan's words, and quickly asked: "Michael, what do you mean, you are optimistic about the Suns advancing to the Western Conference Finals?"

Jordan nodded and said: "I know old K too well. It's different from before. He used to play hard in the regular season, but in the past regular season, he has been fishing. I can be sure that he is preparing for the playoffs." prepare.

  Yes, he is almost 30 years old now, and he was seriously injured again. Before his comeback, he had no systematic training for a year. His physical fitness should not be as scary as before. This should be the reason why he stopped playing in the regular season.

  I have played with him for so many years, and I know that his real terror lies in his physical fitness. His strong physique makes his performance consistent and terrifyingly stable. He is more stable than Duncan, just like the most ruthless machine.

  Old K's offensive efficiency in the regular season this year is 9 percentage points higher than Duncan's. His stable performance and super high efficiency are what makes him terrible.

  Yes, what I want to say is that old K is still terrible, he is like an icebreaker, which can break through icebergs that are enough to sink the Titanic. "

  This afternoon, Duncan saw Jordan's interview on TV, which woke him up.

In the four regular season games against the Suns, the Trail Blazers won all of them, which made him very happy. Even though he knew that Old K was very strong, the record of all victories made him unconsciously relax his vigilance, and Jordan's words made him recover. He became vigilant against Old K.

   On the 28th, the Pistons were defeated by the Bulls, and the Greens defeated the Pelicans, both leading 3-2 and holding match points. The Western Mavericks defeated the Jazz and got the match point.

   As for the Lakers, after Kobe was comforted by the old king, he exploded. He scored 45 points in a single game and shot 53.5% from the field. He led the team to defeat the king and got the match point.

   On the 29th, the digital team defeated the Pacers and advanced to the second round.

   On the 30th, the Green team defeated the Pelicans, the Mavericks defeated the Jazz, and reached the second round at the same time. The Pistons were defeated by the Bulls, and the two sides drew 3-3, and a tie-break will take place.

   In the G6 game between the Lakers and the Kings, the Kings broke out a strong offensive firepower, scoring 117 points in one game, defeating the Lakers, and the two sides will have a tiebreaker.

   This time Lao Wang is not so kind to comfort Kobe. If Kobe is stimulated and explodes again, leading the Lakers to the second round, it might become an obstacle for the Suns to win the Western Conference championship.

  Time enters May, rest on the 1st, and on the 2nd, two tiebreakers will be held simultaneously.

  In the end, the youth team was not stable enough. The Pistons defeated the Bulls, won the tiebreaker and advanced to the second round.

  The Lakers, O'Neal and Kobe broke out at the same time, jointly scored 68 points, beat the Kings, and reached the second round.

  In this way, the second round of the East and West: the West, the Trail Blazers against the Suns, the Mavericks against the Lakers; the East, the Nets against the digital team, and the Pistons against the Green Team.

  The second round will start on May 4th, with the Suns and Trail Blazers in the West, and the Nets and Numbers in the East. Same as the first round, the seven-game four-win system, 22111 schedule.

  Central TV was in a dilemma, and finally chose to broadcast Lao Wang's game live.

   On the 3rd, the Suns set off for Portland.

  In the evening, Pippen and Rasheed Wallace treated guests to dinner together, and asked Duncan to accompany them. Duncan didn't know what to think, and brought his wife, which surprised both of Pippen.

   "Sorry, old K, my wife Amy is your fan, so she hopes..." Duncan said with a little embarrassment.

   "It's okay, Amy, hello." Lao Wang smiled and shook hands with Amy.

"Old K, it's great to see you, I like your muscles, I also like fitness, it's very exciting, I think you are more powerful than Tim, your muscles are better looking and more explosive than his... "

  Amy looked excited and talked non-stop.

  Old Wang took a look at Duncan. Wouldn't you be like O'Neill in not satisfying your wife and making her so excited to see another man?

  However, he felt that he was guessing randomly. Duncan and Amy are a model couple in the league, a typical example of love. When Duncan renewed his contract with the Trail Blazers, he made a special request. He hoped that Amy could take the team's special plane to the away game.

   After eating a little bit, he left first. It was really Amy who saw the light in his eyes and was a little scared.

  At night, sleeping on the bed, Pharaoh remembered again... the fact that his offensive and defensive technical information in the system was wiped out by the system.

   "System, where did you give me my offensive and defensive technical information?"

He has asked this matter several times, but the system ignored it. He felt that it was probably not sincere enough, so now that he thought about it, he couldn't help asking again. Maybe the system was annoyed by his questions, and maybe he could give him a question. Answer.

"Ha ha!"

  Just after asking, there was a jump on the virtual screen, and a new prompt appeared, which made him happy. What a surprise, indeed, there is nothing wrong with asking more times.

"Host, your body has entered a three-year fixed period, and your physical fitness has lost the possibility of improvement, and the basis for supporting basketball skills is physical fitness, so the host's current basketball skills have lost the basis for improvement, so the system no longer records the host's Technical level information. If the host wants to continue to improve the technology, there is only one way, to improve the realm of technology, to refine it, to simplify it, to return to the basics, and to achieve the realm of doing whatever you want."

Old Wang couldn't help complaining: "System, do you read too many martial arts novels? I've been watching Huang Yi's Ups and Downs recently, why don't we discuss the scene between Han Po and Qin Mengyao on the tree? I'm watching it now, I feel Worse than wrong."

  …

  No. 4, the day of the G1 match.

  In the evening, the rose garden was overcrowded.

  Many NBA retired stars and active stars appeared on the scene, such as Jordan, Dameng and Glider, Lei Gong, Larry Bird and so on.

  This series is broadcast live across the United States by ABC TV, and the commentators are Lango Gomez and Morton Elanton.

  Before seven o’clock, Pharaoh was ready, then put on the earphones, and while listening to the song, he was flipping through Mr. Huang Yi’s ups and downs.

   "Old K, what book are you reading?" Ewing raised his head curiously and looked at it. The characters were all in square characters, and he couldn't understand a single word.

   "Philosophy books, about Yin and Yang dual cultivation, are very profound, you don't understand." Old Wang said casually.

   "Old K, I heard that Lightning is going to run for mayor. Are you studying philosophy now and plan to enter politics in the future?" Nash asked with admiration.

   "Well, I have this idea. I also want to run for the President of the United States. I think I have the ability to sit in that position." Lao Wang said seriously.

   "..."

   Everyone was stunned, who are you fooling, you don’t even have a green card, you still have a work visa, are you eligible to run for president?

  The game starts at 8:30, and at 7:30, the two sides announce the starting list.

  Sun: Wang Tiejun, Amare Stoudemire, Marion, Joe Johnson, Nash

   Blazers: Duncan, Rasheed Wallace, Pippen, Bunch Wells, Derek Anderson

   After getting the list, Zhang Lili immediately analyzed in the commentary seat of CCTV: "There is no change, and the two sides still maintain the starting list for the first round of the series.

  To my surprise, the Suns still let Joe Johnson play the starting second position. There may be some problems with this, and we need to pay attention to it. "

   "I remember Joe Johnson being so so-so in the first round..."

  Su Qun flipped through Joe Johnson’s profile, nodded immediately and said, “In the first round of four games, we averaged 27 minutes per game, averaging 5.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.7 steals, 0.3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2.5 fouls.

  His problem is that his shooting percentage is too low, only 27.5%, he averages only 0.8 free throws per game, his free throw percentage is only 40%, and there are too many turnovers and fouls. "

   Zhang Reasonable said: "He is still too good, a sophomore, the Suns were last in the West last year, and he hasn't played in the playoffs yet.

   I have no experience, and my skills are not mature. Now that I am playing in the playoffs for the first time, I am starting the game, which is a bit counterproductive! "

  Su Qun nodded and said, "It's still better to let Penny play the starter and let Joe Johnson play the substitute, so that his pressure will be less and his performance may be better."

   Zhang Reasonable continued to analyze: "Stoudemire performed well in the first round of the playoffs, averaging 14 points and 7 rebounds per game, and his shooting percentage should be a little higher than the regular season, right?"

  Su Qun, who looked through the data, nodded and said: "He scored 47.2% in the regular season, and 52.3% in the first round of the playoffs, but he couldn't make free throws. The free throw rate in the regular season was 66%, and only 57% in the playoffs."

   Zhang Lili smiled and said: "Rookie, this performance is already very strong. Where is Nash?"

Su Qun said: "Nash's first round was 16+3+7, with two fewer assists than the regular season, and a shooting percentage of 44%, which was also two percentage points lower than the regular season. In addition, 2.3 turnovers per game in the regular season, the first round It was 2.6 times, and the number of turnovers increased."

Zhang Lili smiled and said: "This performance is not bad, but the opponents in the first round are not too strong. Now the second round is the key. The American media say that this is the Western Conference Finals ahead of schedule. Can the Suns get past the Trail Blazers?" , Nash's performance is very important."

Su Qun nodded and said: "Marion's performance in the regular season is the best, but his performance in the first round has declined, 18+11, but his problem is not the decrease in scoring, because his rebounding has increased, which also contributes. The problem is that the efficiency has decreased, the shooting percentage in the regular season was 45%, and it was only 37.4% in the first round."

Zhang Lili took a look at the statistics table, nodded and said: "There are indeed some problems. The three-point shooting rate has dropped. It was 38.7% in the regular season, with an average of 4.5 shots per game. The first-round shooting rate is only 32%. The average shot per game is 38.7%. 4.7 times."

   Speaking of this, he thought for a while before saying: "Of the four main players, only Stoudemire can maintain his performance in the regular season, and the status of the other three has declined. This is a problem that the Suns need to be vigilant about.

   But fortunately, Tie Jun has not exploded yet, averaging only 32 points in the first round, and now playing the Blazers in the second round, let's see how he plays, and use his stronger performance to make up for the decline of his teammates. "

   "Director Zhang, judging from the current atmosphere in the Rose Garden, the Blazers have great confidence in defending the title!" Su Qun said, looking at the screen in front of him.

  Zhang rationally nodded and said: "If the Blazers want to defend their title, or even want to win the dynasty three times in a row, they have to cross the mountain of the Iron Army.

  However, if this year cannot pass, the Trail Blazers lineup will probably fail next year. Pippen is old, and Rasheed Wallace has only one year left on his contract. He may not stay next year. He has no shortage of championships. "

   "Director Zhang, who do you think will win this time?" Su Qun asked.

   After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Lili said: "The Blazers are strong because of their stable lineup, fully mature tactical system, and no obvious weaknesses.

  The Suns are stronger than the Iron Army. They have a strong offensive ability, but their weaknesses are obvious, and their defense is not good.

  But the Blazers also have weaknesses. The back line is a bit nervous, and the performances of Bunch Wells and Derek Anderson are not stable.

  Whoever has the best chance of winning, ideally speaking, is of course the Suns. "

   "Haha..." Su Qun laughed.

Zhang Lili also said cheerfully: "This is not a joke. The Iron Army has won 6 championships in 9 years and 9 Western Conference finals. From the rookie season to before retiring, they have never stopped in the second round. Moreover, the current lineup of the Suns is not bad, it is tender. To be clear, Tie Jun is also in good condition, so the idealism I am talking about is not all idealism, because the analysis from the probability is also the result."

  (end of this chapter)