Even at this mont, so discordant voices are erging, but no one cares...
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In the East Finals, the Bobcats collapsed the Magic Team before their scores soared.
As for the Western Conference Finals, like the previous two rounds, the offense was fierce.
In Ga 1, the Lakers won at the Mavericks’ ho court 118 to 109, stealing the ho-court advantage. In Ga 2, the Mavericks defended their second ho ga 112 to 106; returning to their ho court, the Lakers won 104 to 97, not giving the Mavericks a chance to gain montum; in Ga 4, the Lakers forcefully defeated the Mavericks 110 to 106 in overti, making the score 3 to 1!
Though the Mavericks slaughtered the Lakers 122 to 99 when they returned to their ho court in Ga 5, the Lakers eliminated the Mavericks 111 to 108 when they returned to their ho court in Ga 6!
In Ga 6, Nowitzki shot 8 out of 5 in the fourth quarter, including 2 out of 1 in three-pointers, along with 6 out of 6 free throws, scoring 17 points, leading the Mavericks who were trailing 69 to 80 in the first three quarters to a 39 to 28 score within 11 minutes and 55 seconds, erasing the 11-point deficit. His three-quarter 24 points increased to 41 points in a single ga.
But in the last 5 seconds, Kobe, who had played for 41 minutes, shot 25 out of 12, including 5 out of 2 in three-pointers, plus 11 out of 10 in free throws, scoring 37 points. He received a long pass from Kidd while running, caught the ball at a 45-degree angle on the right side, turned around, and shot a three-pointer facing Artest’s defense, boosting his personal score to 40 points, achieving a near-buzzer-beater, refusing another overti, and ended this Western Conference Finals!
The nickna ’King of Western Conference Finals’, frequently ntioned since the 2008 Western Conference Finals, resounded through the NBA!
When a popular team wins, soone always finds reasons for the losing side’s defeat, and it was no exception after the Lakers eliminated the Mavericks.
However, this ti these people found the right reason — the Mavericks’ center position lacked mobility significantly.
Currently, at 125 kilograms, Little Gasol surely can’t be said to have quick mobility, just not as much a hindrance as last season.
But facing Dampier, even Little Gasol seed agile!
In the second round, the Mavericks almost stumbled over the center position, Philip Saunders had to use Nowitzki to support the center, Artest played forward, trying to minimize speed disadvantages when facing Frye, exhausting Nowitzki, who had to handle pressure in solo plays and protect the rim, but couldn’t protect it effectively!
The backup center, Brandon Haywood, also severely hindered the Mavericks.
Last sumr, the Mavericks signed Drew Gooden, who didn’t want to stay in Boston, at a relatively low price, and this 2002 class inside player actually played quite well for the Mavericks.
But then the Wizards continued dismantling, from stars to role players, as if determined to bottom out.
Once the regular season started, Cuban made more moves, trading Gooden after his ’free agent transaction clarification period’ ended, no longer having the ability to refuse a trade, swapping him in a three-party trade with the Bucks and Wizards for Brandon Haywood.
Several conditions facilitated the trade, one being Gooden’s lack of tonnage, which wasn’t obvious when paired with the 130-kilogram Al Jefferson or the 221 cm ’Big Z’, but inadequate with Nowitzki and Artest.
Additionally, Haywood had a standard big center physique at 213 cm and 122 kilograms.
Haywood often partnered with Jamison and could be compatible with Nowitzki, who is an outside-shooting-oriented power forward.
Moreover, during the 10 gas within Gooden’s ’free agent transaction clarification period’, Haywood averaged 33 minutes with 10.8 points and 10.8 rebounds.
However, the Mavericks had just brought Haywood back and shockingly discovered in the first ga that this 2001 class physical fitness type blue-collar center was unexpectedly slow? Apart from Dampier, he was the slowest; even Nowitzki, who wasn’t known for speed and was 31, was faster!
Looking back, during Haywood’s initial season’s average double-double gas with a 42.2% shooting rate, this aspect was noticed before the trade, but it was thought to be a normal decline for a blue-collar center without stars in the Wizards.
It was later found out the average 10.8 points were accumulated by 9 shot attempts on average per ga scouting in the bottoming-out Wizards!
The Mavericks tried to take advantage but ended up losing the lon and picking up sesa seeds! Haywood’s athletic ability fell off a cliff at 30, transitioning from an athletic blue-collar to a re standstill center.
Nonetheless, Haywood isn’t unusable; Philip Saunders realized he was duped and thought positively, enabling pure basket-protecting centers, Dampier, and Haywood, to rotate, at least ensuring consistent tactics throughout the ga.
Cooking with available ’ingredients’, Philip Saunders demonstrated his compatibility ability to deliver top-notch performances with multiple different lineups on multiple teams.
During the regular season and the first round of the playoffs, Dampier and Haywood didn’t hold the team back; their combined salary was about 20 million, admittedly sowhat trashy contracts, but their standing basket protection was excellent, comparable to the Bobcats’ Perkins and O’Neal combo, and even a few million cheaper than those two combined 24 million.
However, problems erged during the second round against the Suns; Gentry focused on Dampier and Haywood, forcing Nowitzki to play center, the Lakers mimicked in the Western Conference Finals, using Garnett and Little Gasol’s endurance and Kwa Brown’s athletic ability to tackle Dampier and Haywood.
It can be predicted that facing the Spurs, the center position will likely be targeted as well.
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