Chapter 1195: Chapter 488: The First Round Is Lively This Year (Part 2)
Zhang Yang flipped through it and, as he expected, their round two hypothetical opponent is the Hawks team.
As for the other seven series, he didn’t pay much attention, but he did have so understanding.
Currently, the Hawks team is leading the Celtics 3 to 1, entering the set point. There is a strength gap between a 50-win team and a 40-win team, but the Hawks team isn’t having an easy ti. If it weren’t for Pierce hitting four three-pointers in a single quarter in the final part of Ga 2, scoring 22 points, the Celtics would have taken the ho court advantage… Note: Even though the Celtics are fourth in the East, they have a worse record than the Hawks team. The Hawks are fifth but have ho court advantage.
With Al Jefferson and Gooden forming a difficult-to-match dual-tower defense, Tony Allen on the periter defense at an elite level, and Josh Smith connecting the defense at a second level… the playoffs are a real grind.
The Bobcats team is the only team this year to sweep through the first round. The Bulls and Cavaliers both have significant advantages, but both lost Ga 4 the night before last, failing to complete the sweep. They are currently leading 3 to 1.
In the West, the Trail Blazers and Grizzlies are battling it out fiercely, tied at 2 to 2, and there hasn’t been a ga with a double-digit point difference yet.
The Lakers and Mavericks are playing with great passion, also tied at 2 to 2, but the two teams play quite differently.
In the opening ga, the Lakers won by 19 points, 120 to 101; but in Ga 2, the Mavericks countered with a 118 to 110, hitting 14 three-pointers in a single ga and took the ho court advantage; then in Ga 3, the ho court advantage grabbed by the Mavericks hadn’t even ward up before being seized back by the Lakers, although the point difference was small this ti, with the Lakers narrowly beating the Mavericks at 106 to 100, and Kobe fiercely hit several mid-range shots in the critical monts, practically shooting the Mavericks down; in Ga 4, the Mavericks erupted with long-range shots, hitting 15 three-pointers as a team, maintaining their second ho court at 120 to 111 and leveling the score.
After looking at the reports of the first four gas between the Lakers and Mavericks, Zhang Yang felt the Mavericks didn’t play very well, as Billups’ ga control was completely shut down by Kidd, it’s a natural counter.
The two gas they won were due to an explosion of three-pointers, aning Billups and Terry started hitting shots. When these two couldn’t get going, the Mavericks struggled to barely break 100 points.
And Although Nowitzki’s skill level improved this season, it’s only been a season, and he still couldn’t compete with Kobe in critical monts, strongly limited by the three towers of Garnett, Kwa Brown, and Gasol.
The Lakers, on the other hand, had a well-balanced attack overall, scoring both inside and outside, with each ga’s points exceeding 105, showing stronger overall performance than the Mavericks, mainly reflected in Kobe, who averaged 34 points with a 48.5% shooting rate, a beast that the Mavericks had no match for.
The other two Western series are both at 3 to 1.
The Nuggets team leads the Hornets 3 to 1; Paul experienced the feeling of eting another big star in the East after struggling to drag his team into the playoffs…
The Spurs are down 1 to 3 facing the Jazz Team!
Their style has changed, but one of the Spurs’ main characteristics hasn’t—stability.
They remain a ‘slow push’ team, playing the ‘King’s Way’ style. If they can’t win, it truly shows… The only win in Ga 2 was Ginobili scoring 16 points in the last quarter and 31 points in total, teaming up with Duncan, who hit 8 mid-range shots and scored 27 points, to shoot down the Jazz Team.
The dia and fans’ focus, through the first four gas of each series, gradually shifted from the ‘Four Big Stars’ and ‘Super Center Showdown’ to the Spurs and Jazz Team…
In the evening, Zhang Yang returned to his parents’ house with eight tickets for the first ga of the second round, for his parents, his younger brother, Xiao Biao Biao, Da Luo Er Ha, and the Tatum brothers. The latter four seats are in the front row, while his parents, younger brother, and Xiao Biao Biao’s seats are in the second row behind them.
Thinking about when Qiao Tu almost bent his pen when signing the tickets, Zhang San couldn’t help but laugh.
You can’t bla him; he initially wanted to buy the tickets, but Boss Qiao insisted on giving however many were needed…
After Round 1 Ga 2, the four brothers each went ho. They didn’t follow Zhang Yang to Miami for the last two gas, mainly because Ga 2 left no suspense in the series. They planned to co back when the second round began.
After having a al cooked by his dad, the family sat in front of the TV to watch Ga 5 between the Spurs and Jazz Team.
2 hours and 18 minutes later, the ga ended.
Duncan scored 19 points and 10 rebounds, Ginobili 16 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists, Guy 14 points, Conley 10 points and 6 assists, Finley 10 points, Diaw 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists… Six Spurs players scored in double figures, but none of them really heated up, and Duncan, Ginobili, and Guy’s points were below their average of the first four gas.
On the other side, Boozer scored 31 points with 21 shots, adding 11 rebounds and 3 assists, Deron had 26 points and 13 assists, Kirilenko had 14 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks, Raja Bell had 16 points; although only four players scored in double figures, their scores topped the six from the Spurs!
107 to 96, the Jazz Team defeated the Spurs on the road, advancing to the second round with a 4 to 1 final score!
…
Just a year after the Mavericks were taken out by the eighth seed, another team did it, and it’s against the NBA’s most consistent team over the past 11 seasons—the Spurs. The topic heat after the Spurs and Jazz Team series ended is even higher than the eighth seed upset in 2007!
Silver Horned King: Hahaha, the Stone Buddha got beaten too!
Seeing so many people shocked by the Spurs being taken out by the eighth seed, Zhang Yang was quite puzzled. Wasn’t it clear after Ga 1 that the Jazz Team was heading for an eighth seed upset? Yet, the topic only gained traction after Ga 3.
Instead, on their side, after losing Ga 1, the Miami Heat sparked discussions of an eighth seed upset…
While saying the attention to the Spurs and Jazz Team ga was low might make sense, the Spurs were already becoming one of the highest-rated teams since February, and the discussion level of Popovich VS Sloan before the playoffs was very high… Wait, did soone just compare the playoff duel of ‘Iron Blood’ Popovich and ‘Iron Blood’ Sloan? Wow!
When he thought of the two being nicknad ‘Iron Blood,’ he naturally felt disinterested in watching their gas, yet also wanted to analyze which team’s defense was the best during their peak… Maybe that’s why the ga had topic heat but didn’t draw in many viewers, with low ratings during the first few gas?
This ti, Zhang Yang didn’t feel the need to study very much, compared to the ti the Crazy Scientist knocked out his forr team, this strategy was not very aningful to analyze.
The Jazz Team’s defense restrains wing passing and top-of-the-arc playmaking and has strong rim protection. Kirilenko’s defensive connection ability is also among the league’s best… The system initially wasn’t perfect; the defense could only be described as not collapsing entirely. Conley and Guy are still growing, and the mid-range powerhouse Duncan’s Spurs team was countered severely.
With such a disadvantage, Popovich didn’t make effective adjustnts, and the Jazz Team made no targeted adjustnts throughout the series either, leading to the upset being astonishingly smooth.
The Cavaliers and the Bulls also advanced tonight, but with a more lively event like Duncan being upset heavily, not even the top center in the league being knocked off in the first round can steal the ‘spotlight’.
On the next day, the 4th, the Bobcats team began their preparations for the second round.
In the evening, just as Zhang Yang arrived ho, he received a ssage from the assistant coach: Their hypothetical opponent couldn’t win the series in one go. Ga 5 was overturned at ho, as the Celtics defeated the Hawks 92 to 88 away, dragging the series into the sixth ga.
That wasn’t surprising either, Tony’s team was notoriously resilient.
The Celtics had Big Al, which even Okafor couldn’t handle, let alone the second-year Horford.
After dinner, Zhang Yang went to the ho theater and had to choose between the Lakers and Mavericks’ crucial Ga 5 and the Nuggets and Hornets’ set point ga, choosing the latter.
With limited free ti, of course, he chose to watch the decisive gas.
After watching half a ga, Zhang Yang went to take a bath and soak, there was no suspense left; the Nuggets were 28 points ahead at halfti, with Paul scoring 6 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 turnovers on 2 out of 7 shooting, being defensively overwheld by The Answer.
More than an hour later, he returned to the ho theater in pajamas, just in ti to see the scoreboard on the big screen…
Zhang San: Oh my! The Third Superstar is never alone, following the 55 Wade and now 58 shells are also here!
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