NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 253 Dayao's return to the first battle, how many days have you seen?
The Rockets, who eliminated the Grizzlies 4:1, are the fastest team to decide the winner among the four Western Conference duels.

The remaining three groups in the Western Conference are still in full swing, and there are many extremely brutal fights among them. For example, the Clippers and the Warriors, who are fourth and fifth in the Western Conference, are quite close in strength, and the battle can be described as extremely fierce. After the battle of Tianwangshan, after Huo Zhan had two overtimes, the Warriors won the battle of Tianwangshan with a winning three-pointer from Curry, and won the match point 3:2.

In addition, the game between the Spurs and the Mavericks was also quite intense.

The Spurs with the twin towers of Howard and Duncan, against the Harden Nowitzki combination of internal and external core, this is a contest between offense and defense.

Relatively speaking, it is relatively easy to play against the Thunder against the Trail Blazers.

Westbrook successfully returned to the team before the start of the playoffs. It is also a dual-core team. The Thunder of Durant + Westbrook is obviously stronger than the Blazers of Lillard + Aldridge.

Besides, the Thunder also has a defensive power forward Ibaka.

At present, the Thunder already hold three match points 3:1, and it is only a matter of time before they win.

In the East, the Heat defeated their opponents 4:0 early and advanced to the second round. However, the Pacers, the top record in the East, were entangled by the Eagles. After winning the battle of Tianwangshan, the situation of the Pacers is in jeopardy.

As the situation of the first round of the playoffs gradually became clear, the league also began to announce the selection of the best team of the season as usual.

There is no suspense that Wang Chao, Durant, and James were selected for the best team, and the remaining two seats were given to Chris Paul and James Harden.

The problems that plagued the league during the All-Star Weekend were finally made by the media reporters who selected the best team. They still put Wang Chao in the center position, even though Wang Chao returned to the point guard position from the second half of the regular season.

Such a result is also easy to understand. The three strikers, whether it is Wang Chao, Durant or James, performed very well, far surpassing other players in the league.

If you want to describe it, Wang Chao is far ahead alone.

Durant and James were running neck and neck, a relatively long distance behind Wang Chao, and they persevered in catching up. As for the other players in the league, they could only watch the race of these three people from a distance behind as spectators.

This season itself does not have a particularly outstanding center, so it is obviously a better choice for Wang Chao to be selected as the center, so that Durant and James can both be selected for the best team, at least than in the original history. , the Bulls center Joakim Noah, who was selected to the best team with an average of 12.6 points, 11.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, is much better.

As for Paul and Harden, one averaged 19 points and 10.7 assists per game, and the other averaged 25 points and 6 assists.

The five players selected for the best second team are Tony Parker, Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and the Rockets in the Spurs are slightly higher than in the original history. Howard, who barely reached a 20+10 double-double.

The best three team is Damian Lillard, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, LaMarcus Aldridge and Joakim Noah, who should have been selected for the first team.

This year's All-NBA team looks quite reasonable, and there is much less controversy. It's just that Kobe, Dayao, Duncan, Garnett and other players that people are familiar with are missing from the list. It always feels like something is missing.

An era for the league is drawing to a close.

As the number one team in the league, only two Rockets were selected to the best team, and Leonard was barely selected to the third team. Array.

But in fact, it is also understandable that the existence of Wang Chao is doomed to cover up the light of his teammates around him, and his personal data will also be suppressed.

Just like Leonard, who was selected to the third team, he averaged less than 18 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists per game. Although the data is much better than that of the Spurs version of Leonard in the same period, in fact, with his current ability, he can give enough. In the case of the right to shoot the ball, it is not a problem to average 20+6+4 data per game.

Not only Leonard, but also Butler, Chandler Parsons, Thomas Jr. and other high-quality potential players have also been slightly affected.

Of course, this is the result of watching Wang Chao from the perspective of the future as a time traveler. In the eyes of the outside world, the Rockets' players who are not high in the draft are simply not too good and cheap. Holding a 200 The contracts that are less than [-], all the work that is done is nearly [-] million contracts, and the envy of other teams is about to drool.

After the end of this season, the rookie contracts of Chandler Parsons and Isaiah Thomas will expire. It is entirely conceivable that the two will inevitably cause a lot of looting in the league, and the Rockets want to renew their contracts. Any one of them may be very difficult, after all, the Rockets' salary space will be reserved for Leonard and Butler, who are more powerful to renew their contracts next year.

This season Leonard averaged 17.8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists per game, and Butler averaged 15.2 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game. Their talents are all visible to the naked eye. As long as they are cultivated a little and given enough shot rights, they can definitely become an All-Star player.

And with the announcement of the best defensive team, the worth of the two has also risen further.

The best defensive team announced by the league includes Chris Paul, Andre Iguodala, Kawhi Leonard, Wang Chao and Joakim Noah.

The five players selected to the All-Defensive Second Team are Beverly, Butler, James, Ibaka and Roy Hibbert.

Both Leonard and Butler were selected to the All-Defensive Team. This is the best compliment for their defensive contribution this season, but it almost indicates that the Rockets must give Only pay the maximum salary.

The Rockets are still paying Wang Chao and Dayao two super contracts with an annual salary of more than 2000 million US dollars, so the pressure can be imagined.

But I will think about it in the future. At least at this stage, the Rockets can still prostitute these young players with good combat effectiveness with low salaries.
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A few days later, the first round of the Eastern and Western Conferences was all over.

The two groups of battles in the west finally decided the outcome.

The Spurs narrowly beat the Dallas Mavericks 4:3, not because Howard's version of the Spurs is so strong, but because the Mavericks' shortcomings are too obvious.

Both Harden and Nowitzki are obviously middle- and long-range scorers who rely more on touch. When the defensive strength reaches a level, the shooting percentage drops, and players need to go to the basket to create lethal hard work. can not do this.

Harden does have the title of JDZ Porcelain King. The number of free throws in the regular season can be said to be unique in the league, but the playoffs are still different from the regular season. Unrealistic.

This is one of the reasons why Harden tends to stretch his hips as soon as he arrives in the playoffs.

The classic game of bulls and horses still ended with the victory of the Spurs, and the Clippers and Warriors, the fourth and fifth in the West, also reached the seventh game. No one expected that the Warriors would have the last laugh.

Wang Chao was somewhat prepared for this, because in his memory, the Warriors, who were supposed to be third in the Western Conference and seventh in the Western Conference, met in the first round of the playoffs just like this time, and the two sides also played a tiebreaker. The Clippers narrowly beat the Warriors 126:121 in Game [-].

This is enough to prove that the strength of the two teams is very close.

But the problem is that the current Warriors have an extra Cousins ​​in the lineup. This is no joke!

Although Cousins ​​has never proved himself in his career, and he didn't even play in the playoffs before running to the Warriors, he is after all an All-Star center who averaged 27.8 points and 10 rebounds per game in his peak period. , Even if the Warriors' tactical status is not high, they can still cause a lot of trouble for the Clippers in the penalty area.

Cousins ​​is like an extra weight on the scale, allowing the Warriors to beat the Clippers and reach the second round.

Paul is also unlucky enough. Since joining the Clippers, the team has been a strong team in the league every year. The record can be ranked in the upper half of the Western Conference, but it has never been able to break through the second round. The floor of the Western Conference Finals is really hard to touch , and now they were eliminated in the first round, and couldn't even make it to the semifinals of the division.

The results of the four matchups in the first round of the Western Conference have all been released, and the corresponding divisional semifinal matchups have also been determined.

Houston Rockets vs Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs vs Oklahoma City Thunder.

The two sets of matchups in the East are the Heat vs. the Nets and the Pacers vs. the Wizards.

Rockets vs Warriors.

The judgment of most fans in the league for this series is that the Rockets will win by a big score.

The Warriors themselves are not a strong team in the eyes of many people. The starting point for building a team lineup around Curry as the core of the team is not a good choice for some basketball media commentators.

This is already the fifth season of Curry's career. Can a point guard who is always affected by injuries and mainly focuses on three-point shooting be able to be the leader of a team?
Not to mention others, the Warriors also hold the same skepticism, which is one of the reasons why Curry's contract extension with the Warriors after the end of his rookie contract is only 4 years and 4400 million US dollars.

Curry is unreliable, and the Warriors' lineup doesn't look so reliable. It is already a big upset to beat the Clippers 4:3 in the first round to advance to the second round. How can they win if the opponent is replaced by the Rockets?

And as the second round approaches, the Rockets also ushered in a great piece of good news.

Dayao returned from injury.

In fact, at the end of March, Dayao's injury had reached the point where he could play, but the actual recovery effect was still not satisfactory. After all, Dayao was a bit old, and his body's recovery ability was far worse than when he was young.

Therefore, Wang Chao asked Dayao to recuperate for an extra month, and officially returned in early May.

To be honest, Wang Chao is not sure whether Dayao's physical condition can withstand the high-intensity game of the NBA without a protective knee pad.

After all, referring to the original Dayao, even if he recovers from his injuries, he will soon withdraw from the game due to new injuries after his debut.

Therefore, in the first round of the divisional semifinals on May 5, which is the first game of Dayao's return from injury, Dayao did not appear in the starting list, but sat on the sidelines waiting to play as a substitute player.

Then there is no more.

Dayao came back from injury, staged the return of the king, and saved the Rockets from danger.

The script itself does not exist.

Facing the Warriors, the Rockets' starting lineup is not the one they faced the Grizzlies in the first round, but the strongest lineup that has been verified in dozens of games in the regular season, the super five.

Wang Chao, the starting center, is not afraid of Cousins ​​of the Warriors at all. He will not be at a disadvantage in the confrontation with Cousins. Moreover, Wang Chao has no plans to control Cousins ​​in this game.

The strategy against the Warriors is very simple. Lock down their outside firepower, that is, Curry and Thompson are done, and the rest let them shoot casually. Anyway, no matter whether it is Barnes or Iguodala Shooting kills people.

As for Cousins, the same is true.

The Warriors concentrated all the ball in the hands of Cousins ​​if they had the ability, and compared him with Wang Chao, who scored more efficiently and scored more explosively.

Then the Warriors played GG amidst laughter.

There is no way.

Leonard + Butler teamed up to block Curry and Thompson with one defense and the other two defenses, or they still defend against the shot but not against the burst. What kind of card is this?
Curry, who was not at his peak, couldn't get outside shots at all. In desperation, he could only call his teammates for pick-and-rolls to cover, trying to use the trick of shooting after the pick-and-roll to get a shot from outside the three-point line.

But the current lineup of the Rockets is a super five forwards, all of which are outside players with top mobility, especially when Cousins ​​ran out to pick and roll Curry, he directly brought Wang Chao, who was guarding the basket, out to defend Curry , It's better to single out Leonard directly.

火箭队对水花兄弟密不透风的防守结果就是库里全场比赛22投8中，三分球11中3，汤普森15投5中，三分球8中3。

In the end, the only thing the Warriors could rely on was Cousins, who scored 26 points and 11 rebounds.

By the end of halftime, the point difference was already close to 20 points.

Dayao sat on the bench and was already eager to try. After finally waiting to play, after playing for a few minutes, he returned to the bench to sit on the bench without interest.

There is only garbage time left in this game. Although Dayao came off the bench, there is no point in catching the Warriors and bullying him during garbage time, right?

116: 103.

The Rockets won by 13 points at home and won the conference semifinal series.

Dayao played 12 minutes in his first show after returning from injury, and only scored 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Many fans who were unable to watch the live broadcast of the game due to work or other reasons were stunned when they opened the sports website after the game and saw Dayao's data.

"6 points and 4 rebounds? This is Dayao's stats? How come it's been so long since I haven't seen you for a few days?"

(End of this chapter)