Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 772
In the first round of the entire series, most of the games were like the Warriors and Nuggets. They either won 3:0 or 3:1. It seems that there is a big difference in strength. The only game that reached the fifth game was Jazz vs. Rockets. field.

Whether it is the Jazz or the Rockets, they are well-known powerhouses in the West. Needless to say, the Jazz, the reputation of the Iron Triangle is now resounding all over the world. As for the Rockets, their reputation has almost reached its peak this season, especially in the middle of the season.

Under the leadership of Olajuwon last season, the Rockets won the third place in the Western Conference and the third place in the league. In addition, Olajuwon averaged 27.3 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game. In the end, he defeated Li Weisi and David Robinson with a slight advantage and was elected the MVP.

It was originally the MVP, and before the trade deadline, the good brother Clyde Drexler was traded, which made the Rockets once the biggest favorite to win the championship.

After the whole season, the Rockets only achieved 47 wins, and they did not show the strength they should have at all.

Therefore, before the start of this round of the series, most people were optimistic about the Jazz, especially after the Jazz defeated the Rockets 102:100 in the first game of the series.

However, starting from the second game, the Rockets showed amazing resilience and tied the big score with 140:126 in the second game.

In Game [-], the Jazz won again, and the Rockets tied in Game [-]. In Game [-] of the life-and-death battle, the two sides played extremely anxiously, from the first quarter to the fourth.

In the end, relying on both Olajuwon and Drexler's 30+ points, the Rockets successfully beat the Jazz with 95:91 and 4 points, winning the tiebreaker.

In addition, the Spurs beat the Blazers 3:0.

Since Drexler was traded, the Blazers no longer had anyone to take the lead, facing the strong Spurs, they had no power to fight back.

In another game in the West, the Supersonics played against the Suns, which should have been the closest group, but Barkley's crazy performance overshadowed the Payton + Kemp combination.

Especially in the fourth game, facing a 1:2 deficit, Payton played 45 minutes and scored 75 points on 27% shooting. Kemp played 46 minutes and scored 26 points and 18 rebounds. Said that both of them worked hard to win.

However, Barkley showed his former MVP demeanor. He played 46 minutes, made 26 of 16 shots, 8 of 4 three-pointers, and scored a large double-double with 47 points and 12 rebounds. , No one in the Suns scored more than [-] points.

It can be said that Barkley helped the Suns successfully defeat the Supersonics with 114:110 on his own, and eliminated the Supersonics with a big score of 3:1 in the series.

The poor Sonics, in the top half for two consecutive years, still stopped in the first round.

Compared with the slightly intense first round in the West, the four-game series in the East is easier.

The first is the Eastern Conference's No. [-] Magic against the No. [-] Celtics.

Although the Celtics traded superstar Dominique Wilkins, it is obviously unrealistic to expect the 35-year-old veteran to resist the talented young army of the Magic. Winning a game is already the limit.

In this way, the Magic finally eliminated the Celtics 3:1.

And the Eagles who lost Wilkins will naturally not be the opponent of the second Knicks in the East. The series is 0:3, and the loser is called a clean one.

Next is the game between the Pacers and the Cavaliers. This round of the series between these two teams can be said to be the most intense round of the series in the Eastern Conference.

The once strong Cavaliers have long disappeared, and only Kevin Johnson is left to support independently. Unfortunately, Kevin Johnson has suffered injuries this season. Even if he returns from injury, his condition has not been very good. The 15.5 points and 7.7 assists also broke the lowest since the rookie season.

Therefore, when they faced the strong Pacers, no matter how hard Kevin Johnson tried, he still couldn't change the team's fate of losing.

In the end, the Pacers successfully eliminated the Cavaliers with a big score of 3:1 and won the entire series.

As for the Hornets vs. Bulls in the last game, the result of the series also did not exceed most people's expectations.

In terms of hard power, the Hornets are not as good as the Bulls, even if facing a strong enemy, Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning in the team decided to put aside the dispute and deal with the Bulls first to reach a friendly agreement.

It's a pity, not to mention their internal strife, even if they fight side by side intimately, it is difficult to get a little chance of defeating the Bulls.

In this way, 3:1, the Bulls easily defeated the Hornets and easily advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

So far, the list of the second round of the East and West has been released, West: Warriors vs. Suns, Spurs vs. Rockets; East: Magic vs. Bulls, Knicks vs. Pacers.

The end of the first round of the playoffs also means the full announcement of individual awards.

First of all, the most eye-catching one is naturally the MVP.

Since the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, after experiencing the duo of Joe and Lee, Barkley successfully broke the monopoly of Li Weisi and Jordan in the 92-93 season, and became another star in the Mesozoic generation who won the MVP trophy.

And last year, the 31-year-old Olajuwon took advantage of the fans' consideration of Li Weisi's aesthetic fatigue and the Warriors' decline in the record, and finally won the cup as he wished and became another new MVP.

However, it all came to an abrupt end this year.

This year, in the face of Mullin's injury for most of the season, Li Weisi led the Warriors to return to the No. [-] throne in the Western Conference, and finally allowed him to win the third MVP in his life again.

Prior to this, Li Weisi was behind Jordan in terms of personal honor, but with the announcement of the MVP, Li Weisi had a 3:3 tie with Jordan in terms of personal honor.

In addition, the best defensive player was given to Mutomubo. Although Mutomubo was very embarrassed in the first round of the playoffs against the Warriors, this did not affect the media's recognition of his defense.

In the best team, Jordan could not be selected for the best team due to insufficient number of games, which made the league a team of: Li Weisi, Anfernee Hardaway, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone and David Robinson.

Second team: Stockton, Gary Payton, Sean Kemp, Charles Barkley and Shaq O'Neal.

The three teams are: Richmond, Reggie Miller, Detlef Schramf, Dennis Rodman and Olajuwon.

It can be seen from this how aggrieved the Jazz are. They obviously have a good player in the first team and a second team in the league. A team with only one third team.

Best Defensive Team: Gary Payton, Mookie Blaylock, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and David Robinson.

Defensive second team: John Stockton, Nate McMillan, Horace Grant, Derek McKay and Mutombo.

This makes people feel very ironic. Mutomubo, who won Dpoy, only got one defensive second team.

The remaining Rookie of the Year went to Grant Hill and Jason Kidd, the Sixth Man of the Year to Sprewell, and the Most Improved Player to Dana Burrows.

(End of this chapter)