After advancing, Zhang Yang was exhausted from the post-ga activities of the ’China Derby Eastern Conference Finals.’ He truly felt more tired than playing in the ga itself!
Of course, the G4 ga itself wasn’t that taxing.
After sorting out miscellaneous tasks and returning to the hotel, Emma Roberts was already sleeping sprawled out in a ’big’ shape.
Zhang San sighed in his heart. When they first got together, even if Emma was very sleepy, she’d stay awake waiting for him to co back.
Has love really cooled off? No more staying up late together?
The main issue was that Zhang San had his nap in the car on the way back to the hotel, so now he couldn’t sleep.
He opened his laptop, plugged in his headphones, and prepared to listen to so crosstalk by Gangzi. But before that, he habitually opened a basketball website to browse the forum for post-ga comnts.
He first noticed the news about the finals schedule published by the league’s official account on major basketball portal sites, with the first ga scheduled for the 6th.
This ans the Bobcats have 4 rest days, and the Lakers have 5 rest days.
That’s more rest ti than in previous years—last year, only two days separated the last division finals ga and the first finals ga.
He guessed it might be because this year’s division finals ended too early?
If they were only given two days of rest and launched into the finals against the Lakers, in extre situations, the finals could end by the 11th. In that case, there’d be over half a month of downti before the draft starts, potentially affecting the draft’s attention and the league’s promotion of rookies for the next year.
He rembered that before the Eastern Conference Finals began, the general consensus was that the finals would start around June 10th.
At that ti, the Jazz Team had consecutive 4-1 upsets in two rounds; the Chicago Bulls eliminated the second and third in the MVP rankings, with a highly mature defensive system. The Magic and Cavaliers had no effective solutions.
The Lakers and Nuggets battled over six gas, with Kobe facing off against Iverson, Ray Allen, and Anthony. Although the offensive firepower wasn’t on the Lakers’ side, thanks to Kidd organizing the offense with his three-point support, and Garnett’s assistance in facilitation, they could match the Nuggets in overall offensive firepower. The outco was decided on defense: with Garnett, a bulky center, and Kidd on the wing organizing the team’s defense. With Kobe and Ariza taking turns guarding Anthony, the Lakers barely passed this test;
The Bobcats and Hawks had just fought through seven gas, revealing so obvious flaws, such as having too few players with top-notch one-on-one defensive abilities, with only Zhang Yang being comprehensive in single defense. Hill, Okafor, Perkins, and Pietrus all had evident weaknesses—Hill was old, Okafor was insufficient in one-on-one power after losing weight, Perkins was slow, and Pietrus’s ability relied too much on his athletic and defensive awareness, which was too basic...
Back then, people believed that no matter who advanced to the finals, the Eastern and Western Conference Finals would take at least six gas to decide the outco, so the division finals wouldn’t end before the 6th at the earliest.
Even Zhang Yang himself thought the Eastern Conference Finals would definitely be harder than the second round; he anticipated the Chicago Bulls’ defense on the periter would be better than the Hawks...
But by the first day of June, all division finals had concluded. If not for the NBA rules committee adjusting the schedule in line with the labor agreent, by slightly starting the season earlier and extending the regular season, the finals might have had to start on Children’s Day.
Zhang Yang reflected on the recently concluded Eastern Conference Finals, realizing even more how vital Okafor’s hard work was!
Without Little Duncan silently doing the dirty work behind his periter teammates, at least Zhang San thought he wouldn’t make it to the all-defense first team for another two years, at most challenging for the second team.
Recalling the difference in the actual defensive effect of the Hawks’ and Bulls’ periter against him, he deeply appreciated how much a good power forward aids periter defense!
In East Finals G1, the Bulls’ guards defended him poorly; they didn’t do anything well.
But in G2 and G3, Luol Deng, Sefolosha, and Nocioni’s rotation defense was already better than Pierce, Joe Johnson, and Morris Evans, but the effect wasn’t as good as the latter.
Because the aging Big Ben and the low-basketball-IQ Tyrus Thomas provided much less defensive support for periter teammates than Horford.
Zhang Yang also thought about the beast, feeling even more the prowess of the newly crowned DPOY in the playoffs.
Doing the work of two players, guarding the last line of defense and withstanding impact at close range—it’s no wonder that experts called Howard the ’best defensive player in basketball history’ after the regular season.
While browsing the forum, Zhang Yang saw that the one-sided nature of both division finals didn’t disappoint fans but rather surprised them by the wide gap, igniting even more intense discussions!
Usually, after a playoff series ended, fans would talk about what the losing side didn’t do well and regret certain performances, etc., but not this ti. The discussion was only about the advancing Bobcats and Lakers.
Both teams swept their opponents to advance to the finals, raising fan expectations even higher. However, it also led to more heated argunts between the two sides’ fans.
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