vncnus Chapter 476 Hey you two, come at me together!
Chapter 476 Hey you two, come at me together!
As for the All-Defensive Team, Ben Wallace, Kevin Garnett, Ron Artest, Lin Tian, and Kobe Bryant were all selected for the All-Defensive First Team, marking another instance of the Pacers having two players selected for the All-Defensive Team.
The second All-Defensive Team is led by Theo Ratliff, with the other four players being Duncan, Kirilenko, Kidd, and Bowen!
The league then awarded the Coach of the Year award to Larry Brown of the Detroit Pistons, and the Executive of the Year award to Saunders of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
One team had the best record in the league, and the other underwent a massive, disruptive trade in the summer. Both players deserved their awards.
However, the best coach award was only announced after the first round, by which time the Pistons had already been eliminated, which meant that Brown could only accept the trophy at home!
If this award had been given out a few days earlier, Brown could have used it to motivate his players, and the team might have been able to win the decisive Game 7!
Brown originally wanted to motivate Ben Wallace when Lin Tian won the Defensive Player of the Year award, to give him a boost and encourage him to maintain his defensive intensity.
However, Brown did not expect that on the day the Defensive Player of the Year award was announced, he excitedly went to find Ben Wallace. He originally wanted to see an angry, resentful, indignant, and constantly complaining Ben Wallace, but the scene he saw was completely different from what he had imagined.
What he saw was someone jumping and shouting excitedly, "I knew it! I knew the boss could do it! He should have won this award a long time ago!"
"Lin is the best! Those judges were completely blind a few years ago!"
Fuck it.
Brown suspected that there was a traitor among them.
Who congratulates their opponent like that?
As it turns out, celebrating an opponent's award is indeed not a very auspicious thing.
Didn't the Pistons lose?
With that, the regular season awards have been mostly given out, and all that's left are the All-NBA Team and MVP awards.
Based on the league's past practices, Stern was eager to wait until the conference finals to announce these two awards. Lin Tian originally thought that it would take another series to see the result.
Unexpectedly, perhaps because there wasn't enough buzz surrounding the second round of the playoffs, or perhaps because there weren't any truly exciting matchups, the league capitalized on the momentum on the very first day of the second round by announcing the MVP and All-NBA Team awards.
The second round of matches isn't exciting? Not looking forward to it? No head-to-head matchups between superstars?
no problem!
Here's the best lineup and MVP for you guys, go ahead and argue about it!
Yes, that's the principle Stern follows each year in choosing when to reveal the final suspense of the league's regular season.
If the game is intense, let's take a break and not rush things.
If the playoff matchups aren't exciting and lack buzz, then release them early to generate some viewership.
Once the hype surrounding the All-Star team and MVP subsided, the game passed its boring phase and entered its most intense phase.
The main selling point is that it's a guaranteed profit!
However... this year, these two awards, which were usually the most controversial, especially the lineup of the year, didn't really cause much of a stir.
The outcome was too easy to predict!
All-NBA First Team: Lin Tian, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal.
The second-best lineup of the year: Kidd, Iverson, Duncan, Nowitzki, and Ben Wallace.
The third-best team of the year: Reed, Davis, O'Neal, Peja, Yao Ming.
Leaving aside the third lineup, even with the first and second lineups, the main strategy is so predictable that moving or changing any of the players wouldn't be appropriate.
These players have all proven themselves worthy of their positions through a full season of outstanding performances and dominance.
As for the third lineup, well, there is still a lot of controversy surrounding it, but that's about it.
After all, most fans aren't really interested in topics like who deserves a spot on the third unit more, whether Pierce or Peja is better, where Randolph falls short of O'Neal, or who is better between Davis and Cassell.
Who are you guys?
I'm not familiar with them, they're not popular, they're just small fry, and I'm not interested.
It's not worth discussing.
Well, the All-Star lineup didn't cause much of a stir.
Consequently, the subsequent MVP award also failed to generate much discussion.
Lin Tian!
He won the MVP trophy once again!
This is already his fifth MVP award in his career!
To be honest, even Lin Tian himself felt it was getting a bit boring.
Keep taking and taking, guys, give it your all and try to snatch a few from me.
It's not challenging anymore.
Stern originally thought that Lin Tian's MVP award would generate some discussion.
After all, the Pacers only have 43 wins, which is the lowest win rate for an MVP since the MVP selection mechanism was updated to the current version!
Going back even further, to the era when players voted for the MVP, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the MVP award the year his team only had 30-odd wins and didn't even make the playoffs. His team's winning percentage was even lower than this year's Pacers.
Stern thought that fans of players like Garnett, Iverson, Kobe, and O'Neal would jump out and say the selection was unfair!
But in the end, everything went smoothly.
As for why?
This time, Stern was slow to react.
If Stern were to take a closer look at the four players he listed and see which teams they belonged to, he would understand why it failed to generate any discussion.
Teaming up in pairs and splitting votes among themselves, it would be a miracle if anyone could win MVP!
Not to mention, Lin Tian's performance in the regular season this year was truly terrifying!
To say that his achievement was unprecedented and groundbreaking is absolutely no exaggeration!
39+9+9, no one in history has ever been able to achieve this number!
Yes, Oscar Robertson had a season with 30+10+10, but his scoring was several orders of magnitude lower!
Yes, Chamberlain also had seasons averaging 50+ points and 44 points per game, but firstly, that era is too long ago, and secondly, Chamberlain only averaged 2 or 3 assists per game back then.
This kind of top-tier data, which doesn't need any special pre-conditions to be declared the best in history, gets an MVP, so what?
At this point, if fans of Kobe, Shaq, Iverson, and others dare to jump out and say that their favorite stars deserve the MVP award more, they're just asking for trouble.
Your stats are way off, they're a whole level below. How are you going to compete for MVP?
Don't you know why the team has a good record? Are you that important to the team? Would the team have a record of 1 win and 11 losses without you?
No?
Goodbye then!
In short, whether it was the MVP or the All-Star team, the final outcome was surprisingly achieved amidst a harmonious atmosphere.
Everyone was in high spirits and happily received their awards.
Even before the first game of the second round of the playoffs, when Lin Tian received the MVP trophy in Milwaukee, the entire Milwaukee fan community offered him their heartfelt blessings!
They shouted Lin Tian's name and the MVP slogan, and then, as they kept shouting, the slogan turned into a recruitment message.
"Welcome Lin, Milwaukee!"
"Come join the Bucks and create glory together!"
We need you!
"Let's win the championship together!"
Milwaukee has waited 30 years!
This behavior by the fans was extremely inappropriate and showed absolutely no respect for the home team's star players.
What is the reaction of the Bucks' star player, Michael Reed?
"Lin! Congratulations! If it weren't for what you taught me at last year's All-Star Game, I would never be who I am today! I've always considered you my mentor! Come to Milwaukee! This team is definitely for you! I'll be your spot-up shooter."
Yes, Reed, like the fans, expressed his welcome and desire for Lin Tian.
"Don't you know how stingy your team owner is?" Lin Tian rejected Reed without hesitation, then said, "I'm capable of signing that so-called 'God clause,' are you really willing to pay that?"
The current Bucks are notoriously stingy; if they want Lin Tian to join, they'll have to wait until they get a new owner.
What was the new boss's name again? Mallory?
No, Mallory is the new boss's hot and incredibly attractive daughter.
What was the boss's name again?
I can't remember. Oh well, I'll ask Mallory when I get back.
The little girl definitely knows!
"Absolutely not!" Reed thought for a moment and then nodded decisively, indicating that Lin Tian was right!
Hmm, this kid is quite sensible!
I wonder if Yi Jianlian will still be here in two years.
If he joins the Bucks, he probably won't be bullied by Reed.
Hmm, it seems Reed didn't actually bully Yi Jianlian? It was some kind of corpse from Australia who liked to bully people, and Reed just didn't like to get involved or talk?
Forget it, it doesn't matter.
The important thing is that now that Lin Tian is in the alliance, he really doesn't believe that anyone would dare to lay a hand on his little brother.
Hmm... Although Lin Tian himself hasn't even met this little brother yet.
But it should be soon, the Olympics are just around the corner!
If I remember correctly, my little brother is about to make his national team debut!
Lin Tian had not considered Milwaukee at all, and even if the poor business owners there were willing to pay, Lin Tian would not come.
The reason...
Lin Tian is afraid of the cold.
Leaving aside places like Miami or Orlando, which are warm all year round, Milwaukee, with its freezing weather, is just too much.
Can't stand it.
In fact, just by looking at Reed's and Milwaukee fans' attitudes toward Lin Tian, you can roughly see the trajectory of this series.
Or you could use a more direct comparison to describe it.
I've already defeated the 61-win Pistons, so what makes you think you can beat the Bucks with only 40 wins?
Unless your arena doesn't have air conditioning!
Yeah, it's no use not turning on the air conditioner, it's summer now.
But anyway, considering the Bucks' few wins advantage over the Pacers, if Carlisle and Bird hadn't insisted on Lin Tian taking a month off, who knows which team would have had a better record!
A team with around 40 wins is nothing more than a bunch of Kalamidas in the eyes of the Pacers after their hard-fought last round!
The team's leader, Michael Reed, is a pure shooter, at best a weaker version of Ray Allen. Christie is best at dealing with these average-talented shooters.
The team's second-highest scorer is Keith Van Horn, a player who can score but has a soft playing style, making him a classic soft player. Artest is most adept at bullying this type of guy.
It's worth mentioning that the Bucks also have another player of this type: Toni Kukoc.
There's also Joe Smith, the journeyman number one draft pick, a player who isn't particularly tall or fast, but whose shooting and rebounding are decent. Coincidentally, his playing style is also rather soft.
Haslem holding him down is no problem at all! If all else fails, Lin Tian can help him defend!
After all, Lin Tian's opponent was Blevin Knight.
Those with good memories should remember how badly Lin Tian beat this guy who claimed to be 178cm tall, but was at most 175cm. He was so short and couldn't even shoot. Now, so many years later, when the old friend met again, Lin Tian had forgotten his name. He looked familiar, like he had played against him in the playoffs, but it seemed like he hadn't...
It's not important.
Basically, it means that Lin Tian can go around the game to help defend and cover, and help his teammates deal with the guys they are facing.
From matchup advantages and disadvantages to star power, playoff experience, and the team's current form and morale, a conclusion can be easily drawn.
The Pacers will crush the Bucks, no problem!
The two teams will go to a maximum of six games before the Bucks are defeated by the Pacers.
In various polls before the series began, more than 91% of people believed that the Pacers would advance!
The fact that the Bucks still have this level of support and proportion in the second round of the playoffs is enough to show how little the team people take them seriously.
But sometimes, theory is one thing, and actually fighting is another.
For example, theoretically speaking, the Pacers should have been eliminated by the Pistons long ago and would never have been able to turn things around.
For example, theoretically speaking, it's impossible for Lin Tian to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing and dominate the sprinting world while playing basketball, right?
There are far too many unreasonable things!
For example, in this series, when the game started, everyone realized they were wrong!
They originally thought this series would start 6-4, or at most 6.5-3.5, with the Pacers having the upper hand, but not a complete domination.
But the fans clearly underestimated the Pistons' strength!
After those seven hard-fought games against the Pistons, the Pacers are now far superior to the Bucks!
Defensive intensity, the level of physical contact, resilience under pressure, the ability to control the game, the desire to win...
These Pacers players, who practically crawled out of a mountain of corpses, really scared the Bucks players.
The Bucks players, who were initially basking in the glory of having successfully eliminated the Hornets and advanced to the second round, suddenly realized that the intensity of the second round of the playoffs was incomparable to that of the first round!
If we have to compare them, the game against the Hornets was at most a preseason game, while the Pacers gave the Bucks a Finals-level experience!
Bucks fans: Oh my god! We haven't played in the Finals for over 30 years. Who knew we'd experience the intensity of the Finals in the second round of the playoffs this year?
Moreover, this result is vastly different from what it was more than 30 years ago.
Thirty years ago, the Bucks were a force to be reckoned with, making it all the way to the NBA Finals and winning the championship thanks to "Skyhook" (then known as Alcindor) and "Big O" Oscar Robertson.
But 30 years later, they were utterly defeated, routed, and left utterly helpless.
I was so angry I threw up.
The first game ended in a 119-84 defeat, a loss of 35 points.
In the second game, the Bucks seemed to find their rhythm, winning 112-99 by only 13 points.
However, in the third game, after arriving in Indiana, the Bucks once again showed their inability to win tough games, losing by 34 points, 61-95!
In the final fourth game, the Bucks again failed to put up any resistance; in fact, their resistance was even weaker and less significant than in the first three games.
Or to put it more bluntly: the Bucks players will most likely be looking at their vacation tickets after Game 2, wanting to end the season as soon as possible, go on vacation as soon as possible, and forget about this terrible series as soon as possible.
At this moment, the happiest group is undoubtedly the Hornets' players and fans.
Although they lost the first round of the playoffs, they won again!
The team had an extra two weeks of vacation time and hadn't yet been thoroughly humiliated and beaten by the Pacers.
Even a few months from now, if they're shameless enough, Hornets players could easily say things like, "We were the best team," "If we had made it to the second round, we wouldn't have lost so badly," or "We were unfairly treated in that series, that's why we lost."
Looking at it this way, they've won so badly they're completely blown away!
We lost one series, but we won much more!
The Pacers easily swept the Bucks. In the first round, they were the toughest and most difficult team to beat, but in the second round, they transformed into the team that won the easiest game.
Not only did they have the highest average point differential in the second round of the series, but the most telling statistic about the Pacers' ease was Lin Tian's playing time!
Lin Tian played an average of nearly 44 minutes per game in the first round, including four games where he played the full game and one game where he only rested for 50 seconds. He only got some rest time in the sixth and seventh games.
In this four-game series, Lin Tian's average playing time dropped sharply to 32 minutes. This was after the second game, where the outcome was somewhat uncertain. Therefore, Lin Tian played 40 minutes, which significantly increased his average playing time!
而4场比赛，林天没有一场比赛的得分超过30分，但是4场比赛3场轰下三双，场均能够拿到26.5分，12个篮板和13.5次助攻的大号三双！同时命中率也达到了52%，48%和87%！
Regardless of the situation, statistics, playing time, or the state and performance on the court, Lin Tian played a relaxed and easy style in this series!
I haven't even used my full strength yet, and you've already fallen!
Effortlessly, he led his team to a sweeping victory and advanced to the next round!
The Pacers, who were the only team to go to a Game 7 in the previous round, became the only team to sweep their opponent in this round of four series!
In another matchup in the East, the Nets and the Cavaliers have only played five games. Dwyane Wade, whose shooting is still subpar, appears completely lost, struggling and overwhelmed against the twin towers of Yao Ming and Pau Gasol.
Wade couldn't punish Yao Ming and Gasol due to mismatches, but Carter on the other side used his superb shooting skills and abilities to make the Cavaliers' Zydrunas Ilgauskas suffer. If the Cavaliers didn't play Zydrunas Ilgauskas, they would be thoroughly taught a lesson by Yao Ming and Gasol.
When the Cavaliers field Zydrunas Ilgauskas, he gets constantly ganked by Vince Carter.
Faced with this dilemma, the Cavaliers' ability to mount a counterattack was naturally quite limited.
The Cavaliers lost their first three games cleanly and decisively, only slightly better than the Bucks, as they didn't lose by 30 points in a row.
Furthermore, in the fourth game, Wade played the full 48 minutes, earning 18 free throws and successfully drawing six fouls on Yao Ming, resulting in a spectacular performance of 41 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. This allowed them to salvage their pride and win the battle for dignity.
Unfortunately, there's only one Pacers team, and only one monster like Lin Tian.
In Game 5 of the series, Wade, who was clearly exhausted in the previous game, played terribly and failed to score even 20 points. When the team's star player was unable to break through the opponent's defense, the Cavaliers naturally lost again.
4: 1!
The Nets have advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals once again!
In the West, the Lakers faced the SuperSonics, a team with a weak interior and relying on three sharpshooters. The Lakers didn't give the SuperSonics many opportunities. The aging Payton could stop Bibby, but he could no longer guard a top star of Kobe's caliber.
He was brutally beaten by Kobe and had almost no chance to fight back.
While the SuperSonics could barely withstand Kobe's firepower and allow Allen and Lewis to trade blows with him, they were truly powerless against Shaq's impact.
Their interior defense was already very weak; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were among the bottom three of the 16 teams.
If a team like that has to face O'Neal in the paint, he's bound to dominate them!
In the first three games, O'Neal averaged a terrifying 35 points and 16 rebounds, completely overwhelming the SuperSonics' interior defense.
In the fourth game, O'Neal was a bit careless and committed two offensive fouls, which cut his offensive time to a fraction. In addition, Allen and Lewis were in good form tonight, making a flurry of three-pointers. The SuperSonics finally won a game and avoided a sweep.
But like the Cavaliers, that's about all they can do.
In Game 5 of the series, O'Neal scored 41 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, while Kobe Bryant exploded for 40 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. The unstoppable performance of the OK duo left the SuperSonics with no chance to fight back, and this game became their worst loss and the one with the largest margin of defeat in the entire series!
4: 1!
The Lakers have also successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals!
The other matchup in the West was originally a clash of titans, with the Mavericks and Timberwolves having met in the playoffs in recent years.
But in their last encounter, Nowitzki dominated Garnett, who was isolated and unable to carry the team's offense, and led his team to victory in the series.
But this time the result was exactly the opposite.
Garnett no longer needs to focus on offense; the team has plenty of players who can and are good at it. He just needs to focus on defense.
With Iverson, Cassell, Sprewell, and Szczerbiak all driven by an insane hunger for victory, the Timberwolves shattered the Mavericks' defense with their offense!
Originally, the Mavericks weren't a team that relied on defense to win games; they relied on offense, so they were never afraid of teams with fierce firepower.
It's all about offense!
The problem is that the Mavericks' roster this year is truly bizarre.
Those three power forwards, whose playing styles, offensive abilities, attacking areas, and even strengths and weaknesses are exactly the same, are not the kind of players that normal humans can train to create a chemistry with.
It was fine when we were crushing weaker teams in the regular season and the first round of the playoffs. We could easily take down most of our opponents by just taking turns attacking.
However, when they faced a top team like the Timberwolves in the playoffs, the Mavericks' problems were immediately exposed.
Too much one-on-one play, a lack of teamwork, and a chemistry so poor it's negligible—the whole team is basically just a few players taking turns playing one-on-one.
What are teams that rely on individual play the most afraid of?
The worst thing is when the opponent has a great help defender and a top-class defender who can find gaps and cover them up everywhere!
What a coincidence!
The Timberwolves have one!
Kevin Garnett!
This time, Garnett wasn't matched up against Nowitzki or any other scoring threat; his role was to sweep, help defend, and protect the rim!
Timberwolves head coach Saunders' move completely freed up Garnett, while also causing the Mavericks' isolation scorers to suffer, having to be wary of Garnett's omnipresent defense at all times on the court.
The entire Mavericks team played terribly.
In the first two games of the series, the Mavericks, playing away, failed to put up any effective resistance and lost both games cleanly.
In Game 3 of the series, Johnson finally couldn't stand the team's poor performance and put Jamison and Walker on the bench. Walker even played less than 15 minutes!
Jason is once again making good use of the traditional trio of Nash, Finley, and Nowitzki!
The chemistry and teamwork between these three players were phenomenal! Thanks to their outstanding performance tonight, the Mavericks finally turned the tide and won Game 3 of the series!
In Game 3, Jameson seemed to have mastered the game and continued to refine his skills, but the Mavericks couldn't withstand the pressure. The two teams battled fiercely until the very end, and in the end, Iverson unleashed his MVP-caliber scoring ability, driving to the basket three times in a row to score.
With Iverson's late surge, the Mavericks narrowly lost to the Timberwolves by 3 points, bringing the series score to 3-1!
At this point, although the Mavericks were at a significant disadvantage, if Jason continued with the successful tactics and strategies he employed in the third and fourth games, the Mavericks might still be able to escape Minnesota unscathed.
The problem is, both Walker and Jamison are in the final year of their contracts!
Both big names are hoping to put on a great performance in the playoffs so they can land a big contract!
Now that you, Jensen, have abandoned both of us, isn't that cutting off our livelihood and killing our parents?
So, before the start of Game 5, the two of them put pressure on each other, saying that either they should be given enough playing time in Game 5, or they should not play at all, and the two of them would not go to Minnesota.
If Don Nelson were still the Mavericks' head coach, he would definitely exclaim excitedly, "Double happiness! You two can both get out of here!"
Unfortunately, although Johnson has a bad temper, he is still a new head coach. He doesn't have enough influence or prestige in the team. With the two of them making a scene, and with the team's general manager, Don Nelson, and owner, Mark Cuban, offering advice and pressure, Johnson had no choice but to back down.
He could only say through tears: In the next game, these two will continue to play, and their playing time will not be less!
This tactical change by the team has essentially sealed the Mavericks' fate.
In Game 5, the Timberwolves, who had long since gelled and whose chemistry was virtually flawless, gave the Mavericks a good lesson.
What is teamwork? What is the desire for the championship? What is layered defense and targeted defense against one-on-one specialists?
In short, the Timberwolves easily dominated the Mavericks in Game 5 of the series, demonstrating the carnivore's advantage over the herbivore, practically tearing the Mavericks apart and giving them a good lesson!
4: 1!
After the game, Cuban, who had come to the away game with the team, looked constipated. He felt that he had given so much to the team and spent so much money, but the results were not improving, and they could not even make it to the Finals once.
He was furious!
If he were to ask the team's general manager, Nelson, or the head coach, Johnson, both of them would undoubtedly give him the same answer.
"Stop sacrificing for the team! If you just stop your unnecessary efforts, the team will be back on track in no time!"
Unfortunately, Cuban didn't ask the two what he should do; instead, he was silently planning his offseason strategies.
However, with this, the four divisional semifinals have officially come to an end. The score between the Mavericks and the Timberwolves is the third 4-1 in the four matchups!
The semifinals in the East and West were definitely not exciting. Of the four groups, three groups finished with five matches, and one group was swept.
The lack of suspense and the poor watchability of the game made it far inferior to even the first round of the playoffs.
Many fans who follow the games have also lamented that this year's playoffs are quite boring. Apart from the Pacers vs. Pistons series, the other games are either a clash of weak teams or a battle of dinosaurs, which is very dull!
That's why the viewership ratings for the four regional semi-finals this year all plummeted!
The ratings have plummeted so much that Stern doesn't even dare to listen to reports from his subordinates.
Stern couldn't do anything about the fact that the games weren't exciting, with strong teams being too strong and weak teams being too weak.
He has already introduced a luxury tax, a salary cap, and various other rules to curb the emergence of super teams. Stern even introduced the "God Clause" to help Lin Tian escape and allow him to go to a big city to help the league maintain its image for a few more years.
Unfortunately, neither the equalization of team strength, Lin Tian's team change, nor the matchups between this year's rookies and the hype surrounding the concept of lifelong rivals will yield results in the short term.
This year's playoff viewership ratings obviously cannot be salvaged by these measures.
Fortunately, the regional finals are just around the corner!
Whether it's Lakers vs. Timberwolves or Pacers vs. Nets, both matches are packed with talking points, star players, and plenty of exciting moments! (End of Chapter)