I'm really good at shooting.

Chapter 696 Sun Hao also sometimes hugs his thighs!
Ranked fourth is the Mavericks, who finally achieved 57 wins.

Deron was notorious for the "trustworthy incident" in the summer, but he performed very well in the Mavericks, averaging 17.6 points and 7.9 assists per game this season.

And the Lone Ranger team has a reasonable configuration, and they have more possibilities in the playoffs.

The Clippers are in fifth place with 55 wins.

Kobe did not suffer from devastating injuries like in history, and his performance is still outstanding.

However, Howard was deeply affected by his back injury and his performance was not as good as before. In addition, Gasol has not been able to get out of his ex-girlfriend's derailment. In the end, the position of the Clippers has become a bit embarrassing.

Because this ranking means that they will fight against the Lone Ranger in the first round.

Moreover, the strength of the teams in the Western Conference this year is no longer a question of whether there is a competition system or not. There are only four places in the upper half.

The Grizzlies are sixth with 54 wins.

In the end, like the Bulls in history, Rose's health has become a key factor restricting the team's upper limit.

Fortunately, in the absence of Rose, Gasol has grown rapidly.

And Rose recovered from his injury before the end of the season, which makes them actually stronger than the rankings reflect.

The Thunder rank seventh with 54 wins.

Another game with the same record and different wins and losses, the Thunder can only rank seventh.

But you said that you won 54 wins and took seventh place. No one would believe it in any season before this!
But this season's West is so cruel.

However, like the Grizzlies, the Thunder have shown a further run-in this season, and their combat power should not be underestimated.

The Hornets rank eighth in the West with 44 wins.

It is easy to see that there is a record gap between seventh and eighth.

In fact, after the Hornets, the remaining Western Conference teams have no record of more than 40 games, and the last-to-last Timberwolves have a single-digit win!
Poor performance is one factor, and the bigger factor is still unbeatable!

The teams in the same district played the most times in the season, and most of the 50+60+ wins of those teams were played against them!

So if it wasn't for such a record, it would seem abnormal.

The rankings of the East and West are released, and the final matchup is also released.

In the East, Knicks VS Celtics, Bulls VS Wizards, Pacers VS Bucks, Eagles VS Pistons.

There are many suspenseful matches in these four groups, but if the fans pay the most attention, it must be the game between the Bulls and the Wizards.

In the past ten years, when the Wizards were still in the Yao Ming era, the two teams played against each other a lot in the playoffs, and they also won and lost each other.

And Harden averaged 26.1 points per game in his first season with the Wizards.

Fans will wait and see how he will perform in the playoffs.

One thing that is easily overlooked is that the league hasn't had a dominant shooting guard in a while since Wade.

In the west, Warriors VS Hornets, Lakers VS Thunder, Spurs VS Grizzlies, Mavericks VS Clippers.

Compared with the east, every group in the west is a highlight.

The most suspenseful game will definitely be the game between the Warriors and the Hornets.

For the Warriors, this is another warm-up game.

Why do you say "again"?
Because the Warriors also played the Hornets in the first round last year!

Most people may have forgotten the process of that round of the series, but what will not be forgotten is that the Warriors beat the Hornets by 58 points in one game!
Deron: This time it finally has nothing to do with me!
Get rid of this group without suspense, and the remaining three groups are full of suspense.

The Lone Ranger and the Clippers, the Spurs and the Grizzlies, these four teams are all championship-level teams if they stay healthy.

Now that they meet in the first round, the fans are happy, but no one knows which two teams will win in the end.

Because they all have too many reasons to win the series.

Then the last Lakers and Thunder.

This is not the first time the two teams have played against each other, but compared to the last time, the suspense this time is obviously greater.

Although the two core players of the Lakers, Sun Hao and Yao Ming, have more experience in the playoffs, the Thunder team has also established a good tacit understanding after running in. Coupled with their constant impact, the Thunder team's chances of winning Not small.

Or in other words, it is by no means as easy for the Lakers to win the Thunder as expected.

Before the start of the playoffs, the league handed out the first awards of the season as in the past.

The best sixth man belongs to JR Smith of the Eagles. He averaged 18.1 points per game, making the Eagles fourth in the Eastern Conference;

The Most Improved Award was given to Harden without any suspense. Harden's blowout statistics allowed him to get more than 90% of the first votes and 47% of the total votes.

The best coach was given to Spoelstra of the Knicks. This is also the first time in his career that he won the honor of the best head coach.

"Silver Fox" Harris also got 19% of the votes in the selection, second only to Spoelster and Bulls coach Steve Kerr.

After this wave of award selection, the playoffs began one after another.

The game between the Lakers and the Thunder was scheduled on the first day.

Of course, the Western Conference teams are all late.

Before them, the games between the Pacers and the Bucks, the Bulls and the Wizards in the East started first.

The game between the Bulls and the Wizards that the fans paid attention to finally gave the fans enough shock.

That's right, it's frightening.

In the first game of the playoffs, Harden made 19 of 6 shots and 20 points. He only hit one goal in 6 shots from beyond the three-point line.

This data is not good for an ordinary star, and it can only be considered bad for Harden.

Because the fans' expectations for his playoff performance are much more than that!

However, the facts have proved that Harden in this period is indeed not a player born for big scenes like Sun Hao, Jordan, Kobe Bryant and other shooting guards who once or now have "dominant power".

With Harden's performance, there is naturally no suspense about the result of the game.

The Wizards lost 91 to 120 to the Bulls and suffered a black start to the playoffs.

Well, the feeling of the fans is like going to eat chocolate with full of joy, but in the end they are forced to eat a mouthful of Xiang.

But that's not all bad.

Because after being fed Xiang, the fans naturally look forward to eating something delicious to forget that experience.

Then the two playoff games in the West are their new expectations.

In the west, the game between the Spurs and the Grizzlies is the first to start.

Then, in the first game, the fans had a mouthful of delicious food.

罗斯砍下29分，小加索尔贡献17分18板6助攻4盖帽，两人携手率领球队103比99击败马刺，完成了新赛季季后赛的第一个以下克上！
It was said before that if the Spurs meet the Lakers, Sun Hao will meet Popovich again after many years.

But now, that's not necessarily true!
Then, after a sufficient "warming up" in the previous games, the last game of the first day and the most watched game between the Lakers and the Thunder began.

During the warm-up before the game, the faces of the Thunder players were full of vigor and confidence.

The last time the two teams met, Griffin and Westbrook showed fans how well they fit together.

This time, the two showed that kind of vigorous vitality.

The atmosphere of the team is related to the temperament of the core. The temperament of the Thunder, whether it is before or now, has a lot to do with the two core personalities.

And this scent is very powder-absorbing.

This is the home court of the Lakers, but when Westbrook and Griffin were projected onto the live LED screen, they still attracted a lot of attention.

The opponent does not hinder the fans' love for them and the Thunder team.

After the warm-up, the scene entered the opening ceremony, and the starting lineups of both sides were released one after another.

On the Thunder side, Westbrook, Sefolosha, Jeff Green, Griffin, Jordan Jr.

For the Lakers, Knight, Sun Hao, Carter, Millsap, Yao Ming.

After finishing the final tactical deployment before the game, the starting players on both sides are ready to play.

Just when they were playing, Sun Hao and Yao Ming were walking and chatting.

"Dayao, I'll see you tonight."

Sun Hao patted Yao Ming on the shoulder and said.

These words are not polite, nor are they trying to make Yao Ming intentionally stat like they did in the previous All-Star Game, but they really rely on Yao Ming to beat the Thunder.

The Thunder's roster isn't strictly a small-ball lineup.

But anyone who has watched the Thunder play will know how much this team's offense relies on defensive counterattacks.

This has nothing to do with who the head coach of the Thunder is, but the composition of the team.

The technical characteristics of these people selected by the team determine how they will play.

There are actually two ways of thinking about building a team here.

One is to establish a system first, and then find the right people.

The most typical example is after several major systems have been formed, such as the triangle system and the Spurs system during the OK period.

However, this is still a minority in the league in general, because the success of the "system" is very difficult.

The other is to find a coach that suits them based on the team's personnel framework, and then create a tactical system that suits them.

This is the vast majority of the league, including the current Thunder team.

If it is difficult to understand, it can be likened to cooking.

One is to decide what you want to eat, and then go out to buy ingredients.

The other kind of words is to make dishes with what ingredients.

So after determining the Thunder's style of play, the Lakers' response is actually simple.

You are good at playing defensive counterattacks, so if I reduce the number of times you play defensive counterattacks, half of the success will be achieved.

As for how to reduce defensive counterattacks?Increase the success rate of positional warfare attack!
This is the same as playing small ball.

So in fact, you will find how useful it is to have a dominant center forward!

In fact, this is also the reason why Jordan is liked by so many fans in history, because before the advent of the small ball era, except for the Bulls, those dynastic teams, and even two consecutive championship teams, there will be super centers in the team.

Yao Ming and Jordan Jr.'s jump ball in the middle circle.

Jordan usually staged alley-oop dunks, coupled with his excellent rebounding and defensive ability, he gave the impression that he belonged to the beast hardliner.

But to fight in front of Yao Ming, it will look a bit small and exquisite.

In fact, Jordan's height is only 2 meters, which is obviously short for a center forward in the NBA.

This is one of the reasons why his draft pick is not too high.

"beep!"

With a whistle from the sidelines, Yao Ming returned the ball to the Lakers' half court, and the curtain of the Lakers' playoffs this season officially kicked off.

Pushing forward to the frontcourt, after Sun Hao's tactical signal, a low-post offensive tactic in the triangle offense, the ball was directly fed in.

The Thunder are neither the Warriors nor the Bulls, and Griffin's defense ability is not as good as Yi Jianlian and Ibaka, so they dare not help defense at the beginning.

The result of not daring to help defend is that Yao Ming got the ball and got the chance to single Jordan comfortably.

Hit back, feel the center of gravity of the defense, turn around and make a small hook.

Little Jordan jumped up directly, and then covered the air!
The centers in this league are now basically divided into two categories, one is Yao Ming, and the other is other centers.

There are many types of other centers, such as low-post defensive masters, such as Chandler; there are bouncing sluggers with superb physical fitness, such as Howard, and Jordan in front of him.

Knowing that he could not stand up to Yao Ming, Jordan's only choice was to take the initiative.

It's just a pity that he was right, but his judgment was a bit inaccurate.

This time, the "Tigger" background board gets.

"Shh!"

Yao Ming easily hooked the ball into the basket.

The Lakers came out on top.

There was a burst of whistles from the Lakers fans at the scene.

In the opening game, Yao Ming played the ball casually, but also called it easy!

But as I said at the beginning, this Thunder team is full of vigor. Although Jordan has a tendency to be ravaged at the beginning, the morale of the Thunder team has not been affected.

Looking back, Westbrook and Griffin made a pick-and-roll, stepped on the Hot Wheels and rushed inside.

Although Yao Ming has almost lost weight, the speed of age relationship cannot keep up with Westbrook.

Westbrook directly passed Yao Ming to the inside and flew to the basket to score.

This style of play is easily reminiscent of the man named Francis back then.

Westbrook's score boosted the morale of the Thunder, but it obviously had no effect on the Lakers.

Attacking the frontcourt, Sun Hao continued to play low tactics.

The Thunder still have no defense!

Yao Ming saw that the corner of his mouth was drooling, and then forced Jordan to turn around and press the ball into the basket!

Little Jordan got scolded after jumping in front of him. He didn't dare to jump and had to fight hard. Yao Ming seized the defensive center of gravity and beat him with a Tai Chi style of play, which made him lose his temper at all!
But this is not to blame for Jordan, Yao Ming played the peak Ben Wallace in this way.

Westbrook repeated his old trick and rushed up the court again, but this time Yao Ming was on guard and went to the basket early to close.

It looked like Westbrook still passed Yao Ming and went inside, but in fact Yao Ming was already following behind.

At the moment of Westbrook's layup, Yao Ming seized the opportunity to make a shot.

"boom!"

A big top hat!
Yao Ming taught the young Westbrook a lesson!

And after the block, Yao Ming immediately took off the defensive rebound, turned around and threw it to Sun Hao who was outside.

The Lakers played a wave of defensive counterattacks that the Thunder are best at.

The Thunder retreated quickly, and the first wave of fast breaks did not start, but no one noticed that Yao Ming quickly followed up with the second wave!

Sun Hao made a pass back, and Yao Ming caught the ball and flew to the basket.

The Thunder's Jordan and Griffin have not returned yet, and now only Sefolosha and Jeff Green are under the basket.

Seeing Yao Ming fly to the basket, they really felt like seeing a giant lying on the wall in "Attack on Titan".

Instinctively, they avoided it directly.

Yao Ming took a step forward and turned his layup into a dunk.

"Oh!"

The ball was easily smashed into the basket.

The Staples Center was instantly filled with cheers and whistles.

In the first few rounds, Yao Ming has scored 6 points, and all 6 points of the Lakers!
Sun Hao also smiled and high-fived Yao Ming after the dunk.

Tonight, I have a thigh hug!

(End of this chapter)