NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 277
In recent years, the Rockets have maintained super dominance both in the regular season and the playoffs, especially in the first round, almost sweeping their opponents.

After the first game with the Blazers, no one doubted whether the Rockets could eliminate the Blazers by a big score or even sweep the possibility.

During the game, the two sides were not on the same level at all.

The Rockets playing the Trail Blazers is exactly the feeling of an adult beating a child, completely crushing.

On April 4th, in the second game of the series, the Rockets continued to win by a big score and lost to the Trail Blazers 20:107.

The Trail Blazers, who averaged 103 points per game in the regular season, faced the Rockets with less than 90 points in two consecutive games. The two core players on the offensive end, Aldridge and Lillard, were all restricted, and their offensive efficiency was greatly reduced. Return to the state of the regular season.

On April 4, in Game 22 of the first-round series, the Trail Blazers, who returned to their home court in Portland, finally felt better. Aldridge scored 21 points and 7 rebounds, and Lillard scored 22 points and 9 assists. The shooting percentage has reached more than 45%. At the same time, there are substitutes in the team. The audience made 18 of 9 shots and 12 of 6 three-pointers. Counting free throws, CJ McCollum scored 27 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

As the 13th pick in the first round of [-], McCollum did not have a good time in the past two seasons with the Trail Blazers, because he was not trained by the team as a future main player at all.

In the 13-14 season, McCollum only played 38 games, averaging 5 points and 1 rebound per game. This season, his number of appearances has increased to 62 games, and he has started 3 games, but his average playing time is still only 15.7 minutes , The regular season data is only 6.8 points and 1.5 rebounds.

In the original historical process, McCollum played an amazing performance in the first round of the playoffs in the 14-15 season. He averaged 5 points and 17 rebounds in 4 games, shot 47.8% from the field and 47% from the three-point range. In terms of efficiency, it is better than the two core players of Aldridge and Lillard, so it will be reused by the team next season, and the average data will be directly increased from 6.8 points this season to 20.8 points. The combination of the backcourt and double guns is famous in the league.

Wang Chao didn't expect that McCollum could break out against the Rockets, and even Leonard and Butler couldn't restrain McCollum, who was feeling hot.

It's just that McCollum scored 27 points and scored 70 points with Lillard and Aldridge. Even though the team scored 117 points, the Blazers still failed to win the game.

The reason is simple, the Rockets scored more exaggeratedly than the Trail Blazers.

Wang Chao scored 11 points, 9 points, 12 points, and 10 points in the four quarters. To put it mildly, he scored 42 points. The fans at home for the Blazers looked desperate, because Wang Chao's scores were really too easy. Yes, it looks like a stroll in the garden, and I got such a high score inadvertently.

The Blazers' defense against Wang Chao is quite in place, Batum and Matthews, plus Wang Chao's old teammate on the bench, the 3D player Aaron Afflalo at the guard position.

The defense of the three against Wang Chao can be said to be all kinds of chasing and interception, but in this way, Wang Chao scored 42 points in a single game.

It's not just Wang Chao who can score for the Rockets.

伦纳德全场24分5篮板3助攻，巴特勒22分4篮板。

The same three, Lillard, Aldridge and McCollum scored 70 points, while Wang Chao, Leonard and Butler scored 88 points!
The result was the Rockets: a score of 124:117, another victory at the Blazers' home court, and the total score came to 3:0.

Good to hear, the Rockets are about to sweep again.

Since winning the regular season with 72 wins and 10 losses in the regular season two years ago, the Rockets have been used to sweeping their opponents in the playoffs.

Although the Rockets did not continue to complete the great cause of winning the championship last season, they still swept the Heat 4:0 on the stage of the finals.

And this season, the Rockets will sweep their opponents in the first round to start the playoffs.

The Trail Blazers really did their best in the third game. Lillard and Aldridge played normally. At the same time, the rotation players in the team also performed brilliantly. The 117 points scored in a single game without overtime were not fully transformed in 2015. The league in the fast-paced small ball era is already considered a very high score.

The Blazers played so well that it was hard to win, and the next G4 was naturally even more ominous.

There were no surprises.

On April 4th, the fourth game of the first-round series was still at the home court of the Portland Trail Blazers. The Rockets defeated the Trail Blazers 25:109, defeated the Blazers with a total score of 98:4, and successfully advanced to the second round.

The Rockets were the first team to enter the second round in the first round of the entire series and the only team to sweep their opponents.

When the Rockets entered the second round ahead of schedule, other matchups were still in full swing, and some of them were quite brutal.

The Clippers vs. Grizzlies and Thunder vs. Mavericks all played seven games.

The Clippers and the Grizzlies are old rivals. In the past few years, the two teams have met in the playoffs many times and had fierce contests. Both teams have relatively high-quality insiders. Saul + Randolph's black and white double evil combination, while the Clippers are white monster Griffin and Jordan.

The duel between these two groups of insider twin towers must be slightly better for the Grizzlies.

Don't look at Griffin and Jordan Jr. who often fly to the sky and escape from the ground on the field, and their style of play is quite fierce and hot, but in many cases, the game is more powerful than good-looking games.

The flashy floor player Randolph is not inferior to Griffin in terms of offensive ability, and the advantage in tonnage makes him far better than Griffin in the interior card position and rebounding.

The matchup between Gasol and Jordan is similar.

Although they are all juniors, Gasol, who is more athletic than Jordan, can be thrown out of the street by Jordan. This season, Jordan averaged 15 rebounds per game and became the rebounding king. 7.8.

But when the two met, Jordan was unable to blow up Gasol in rebounding. Gasol Jr. and Randolph, who were solid in tonnage, joined forces to block Jordan completely out of the penalty area. , Protecting the rebounds very well, on the other hand, Gasol's various offensive skills on the offensive end are completely lacking in the pure blue-collar player Jordan.

It's just that the real advantage of the Clippers is not on the inside, but on the outside. To be precise, it should be at the point guard position.

Chris Paul can be regarded as an iconic figure of the league's point guards in recent years.

Of course, the premise is that Wang Chao cannot be completely counted as a point guard.

With the aging and retirement of Nash, Kidd and other top point guards of the older generation, Paul naturally shouldered the banner and responsibility of the new generation of point guards.

For now, he is still doing very well. He has contributed 20+10 data per game for several consecutive seasons, and has been selected to the best team and best defensive team. The Clippers he leads have always been a powerful team in the West. .

Paul's only criticism is that his team's performance in the playoffs has been poor. He has never reached the conference finals in his entire career, and his best result is only the second round.

But considering that Paul has always been in the strong west, such a record is not unacceptable.

Although Mike Conley, the main point guard of the Grizzlies, is also a relatively good guard, the gap between him and Paul is obviously quite obvious.

Throughout his career, counting Conley's superiority over Paul, I am afraid that Conley signed a five-year $5 million contract two years later, briefly becoming the league's highest salary.

This achievement is still unparalleled in the league. As a point guard with a career average of 14.7 points and 5.7 assists per game, he can win a five-year contract of 5 million US dollars. Conley is definitely No. 1.53 in the ancient and modern leagues. The choice of the Grizzlies to give Chandler Parsons a maximum salary contract in the future is not a moment of confusion, but they often do it.

The inside disadvantage, the outside advantage, and when the two teams have mutual advantages, the competition is naturally extremely fierce.

The two teams first won two home victories each, and the score came to a 2:2 tie. Then the Clippers won the fifth Tianwangshan battle by virtue of their home court advantage, and took the lead in winning the match point with a big score of 3:2.

Not to be outdone, the Grizzlies, who were behind, fought back tenaciously at their home court. The two teams played the final tiebreaker at the Clippers' home stadium, the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Before the tie-break, most people were more supportive of the Clippers, which had home court advantage and more stars, to win.

However, it turned out that the Grizzlies had the last laugh.

This is a game with a very low shooting rate. Both teams have greatly reduced their shooting rates under high-intensity defense.

In this case, the Grizzlies' inside twin towers, Gasol Jr. and Randolph's ability to independently handle the ball played a vital role.

The Clippers have always been a strong team in the league all these years, but they have never had a breakthrough in the playoffs. In fact, the reason is that whenever the team falls into a stalemate, no one can stand up and carry the team at critical moments. on the shoulders.

Chris Paul is very strong, but as a point guard with a height of only 1 meters, his offensive ability is limited, and he cannot be like Wang Chao, Kobe, James, Durant and other top stars. Play offense with the ball.

Griffin was originally regarded as a player who could take on this important task, but after a few seasons, White Warcraft's skills are still the same as when he first entered the league. The main offensive method is to play pick-and-roll with Paul and cut to the basket. dunk.

Over the years, the Clippers have been trying to reinforce a strong perimeter player with the ability to score at critical moments at the forward position, but how can such a player be so easy to get?Even if it is available on the free market, it is very expensive.

The Clippers currently have Paul and Griffin both holding maximum salary contracts, plus Jordan’s contract in the early tens of millions, the salary space is also taken up, but Jordan is also in the contract period this summer, which can free up part of the salary space. If you don't plan to renew your contract and keep Jordan, you can still compete in the free market in theory.

After all, being eliminated in the first round many times may have made the Clippers management no longer satisfied with the existing lineup.

Another tie-break matchup in the West is the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Dallas Mavericks.

The Thunder's three young masters have now turned against each other. No one thought that James Harden, the best sixth man with the lowest status among the Thunder's three young masters, would grow to this level in just three seasons after leaving the team. degree.

At the moment when Nowitzki's competitive state further declined due to age, Harden supported the Mavericks' offense with his own strength, and cooperated with Chandler Parsons, who was hired by the Mavericks with a high salary, to build a lineup The strength is not very bad.

The two teams fought fiercely for seven games, and it was only with difficulty that the Thunder defeated the Mavericks with home court advantage and got a ticket to the second round.

整个系列赛，哈登成为两队得分王，7场比赛场均能砍下29.2分5篮板7.6助攻，就连杜兰特在得分方面也略逊半筹，7场比赛得分仅27.4分6篮板4助攻。

Now the Thunder may be regretful. They chose to let Harden go for a mere 500 million. As a result, the strength and potential of the latter are not inferior to Durant and Westbrook.

It is entirely conceivable that if the Thunder had gritted their teeth and completed the contract extension with Harden, the Thunder would have a chance to compete with the Rockets and compete for the championship.

It's a pity they missed this opportunity.

After beating the Mavericks hard to enter the second round, the Thunder's opponent is the Rockets, which swept their opponents 4:0 earlier.

Although the semi-finals of the division have not yet started, the Rockets have completely crushed the Thunder in terms of pre-match support. Some media have made predictions about the series between the two teams, and believe that the Rockets will be able to beat the Thunder by a large margin and enter the Western Conference Finals. Accounted for more than 98%.

Another set of matchups in the West is the Warriors who defeated the Spurs 4:2 and the Grizzlies who defeated the Clippers 4:3. This is also a set of games with great disparity in strength.

If it is the original Warriors, against the Grizzlies, the inside line will be at an absolute disadvantage.

But the current Warriors team has Cousins, Bogut and other centers in the team. Even compared with the Grizzlies' black and white insiders, they are not much inferior. configuration, beating the Grizzlies is not much of a problem.

The two groups of duels in the East are the Eagles vs. Hornets, Cavaliers vs. Raptors.

Before the start of the second round of the conference semifinals, the selection results of the league's best team of the season and best defensive team will be announced first.

The two best first-team candidates without any suspense are Wang Chao and James.

The other three players selected to the best team at the same time as the two are Stephen Curry of the Warriors, Kevin Durant of the Thunder and Anthony Davis of the Hornets.

The above five players are the absolute core of their respective teams. While their personal statistics are outstanding, the team's record is also remarkable.

Anthony Davis may be the one with the worst team record among the five. The Hornets have a record of only 41 wins and 41 losses this season, and the winning percentage is just over half.

But the Hornets were able to become regulars in the playoffs from the bottom of the league before. This season, they broke through the first round and entered the second round. The thick eyebrow brother contributed a lot, not to mention that he averaged 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.9 blocks per game. 1.5 steals, the luxurious data that dominates both ends of the offense and defense is also enough to make him eligible for the best team.

(End of this chapter)