After the confession failed, I went to the NBA to play and lose weight

Chapter 401 The playoffs start

On April 4, Beijing time, the regular season of the 16-2008 NBA season was over, the rankings of the East and West were confirmed, and the playoff list was officially released.

The Magic ranks first in the Eastern Conference with 73 wins and 9 losses, and is also the first in the league. They will gain home court advantage against all teams in the playoffs.

And their opponent in the first round was the old rival Pistons who swept them last season, and this time they can finally complete their revenge.

After the Pistons exchanged for Iverson, the team did not advance but retreated, and only entered the playoffs in the eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Facing the powerful Magic, they had little resistance.

In the end, the Magic succeeded in sweeping 4:0 and easily passed the first round.

The Pistons' defense has weakened, and Iverson is not the same Iverson who was able to win a game in the hands of the peak OK. His defensive end is weak, and the offensive end is inefficient, which is no longer enough to be the core of the team's tactics.

No one else can...

Therefore, the Magic played very easily as a whole, and the Pistons basically did not resist, and the process was uneventful.

In the Eastern Conference semifinals, they faced the Hawks, who eliminated the Heat, and it was also a repeat of the first round of last season.

The Magic continued to be strong, and they could even say to the Eagles: "You guys are better than the Pistons!"

Because the inside gap between the two teams is too great, according to Barkley, "I'm coming back with the Eagles, maybe I can play a little better than them."

It was another 4:0. As expected, the Magic completed two consecutive rounds of sweeps before entering the Eastern Conference Finals.

Their opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals was the Cavaliers, which had been quite strong this season. Relying on their home court advantage, they successfully eliminated the Green Kai in the tiebreaker.

Needless to say, there are some controversial penalties among them. Of course, the first round of the Green Kai was a tiebreaker and a dangerous pass. Because of Garnett's injury, he was not favored. In this case, the Cavaliers could be dragged into the tiebreaker. , has been surprising.

This also made the outside world very pessimistic about the prospects of the Cavaliers. Even the old, weak and sick Green Kai played so hard. Facing the energetic and powerful Magic team, the gap between them is by no means the few wins in the record. The field difference can be completely measured.

This is indeed the case. On May 5th, the Magic sat at the Amway Center at home and ushered in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavaliers came up to make a head start, and played the ultimate offensive at 20:33 in the first quarter.

The Magic seemed to have rested too much after the sweep and lost their feel. Lewis and Nelson hit the iron frequently, Howard was troubled by foul tactics, Li Chengming was caught in double-teams, and Turkoglu also made frequent mistakes.

In the second quarter, the Magic were like a lion waking up from a nap, and began to catch up.

But the Cavaliers are still playing steadily. James felt amazing today, scoring 30 points in two quarters, leading the team to a 63:48 halftime lead over the Magic by 15 points.

Compared with last season's playoffs and several games in this season's regular season, James' breakthrough in this game is much more decisive. The Magic originally planned to use Li Chengming to defend against each other, but James frequently used pick-and-rolls to get rid of it.

Mike Brown still has a good tactical design for creating breakthrough opportunities for James. Big Z attracts Howard, and Varejao then pushes Li Chengming away—yes, it is pushing away, and James breaks into the basket. The road is basically unimpeded.

Whether it is Lewis or Pietrus, it is impossible to count on them to stop it, let alone Nelson, it is purely a gift.

In addition to breakthroughs, James also has the so-called "rolling tactics", which is to use his size and strength to bully the guards on the Magic side.

If you want to flank, then there is a chance to pass outside.

The Magic were not firm in their flanking. Today's strategy was to let him play, but they didn't expect him to play like this, let alone play badly in the halftime.

The halftime locker room became everyone's review meeting again. Van Gundy felt that the good thing about the team now is that everyone didn't hide it.

Of course, they are all people who want to save face, and they must not be overdone. He must be watching and controlling the situation. Otherwise, if it gets out of control and it really becomes a criticism meeting, then there may be cracks inside.

"It's okay, everyone will continue to work hard in the second half. Also, Dwight, pay attention to your fouls..."

Howard had already fouled 3 times in the first half and left the court 2 minutes early to rest. In fact, the two teams did not have many free throws. Li Chengming had a 2+1 free throw, Howard had 0 free throws, and James only had 4 free throws.

The strange thing is that the Cavaliers fouled more and got more free throws.

On the Magic side, there are not many fouls by other people, and they are basically concentrated on Howard.

It can be said that the Cavaliers' strategy for his defensive core has worked, and it can also be said that Howard has been targeted by more than just Cavaliers.

As a result, in the second half, the Cavaliers still wanted to repeat the same trick.

But this time Howard learned to be smart, and Li Chengming also began to consciously help him carry it a little bit.

If under the nose, the referee insists on remembering it as Howard's foul, then he has nothing to do with it.

Fortunately, I'm not so shameless...

And the Magic team finally got their momentum in the third quarter, and it can even be said that the two poles reversed. Under the organization of Li Chengming and Turkoglu, the Magic team's ball movement was very graceful. Beat the Cavaliers 20:33, almost tying the score.

In the last minute of the third quarter, it could be seen that the Cavaliers players were flustered by the Magic's point-chasing offensive.

What's more deadly is that they have just experienced the tiebreaker against Lukay. Although they may have maintained their condition very well, they led the Magic by more than ten points in the first half, but in the third quarter, the impact of this lack of energy was overwhelming. began to appear gradually.

Finally, in the fourth quarter, even when Howard was sent off, the Magic still overtook the score and the point difference widened, which also caused the Cavaliers to collapse.

At the end of the whole game, the Magic defeated the Cavaliers 109:103 without any risk, got a good start in the Eastern Conference Finals, and kept their home court advantage.

Mo Williams was not in good form in the first three quarters, but he stood up in the fourth quarter. When he was about to catch up with the score, it was Li Chengming who stepped up to get a 2+1 first, and then assisted Lewis to hit a three-pointer. Stabilized Shengju.

James scored 49 points in the air, but his fatal mistake in the fourth quarter was also "bright", and most of these points were obtained in the first three quarters, and he was almost "invisible" in the fourth quarter.

Of course, from another point of view, the advantage in the first half can also be regarded as his play, and this time he said that he tried his best, but it is not a big problem.

The problem is that he is not Lu Bu after all, even the real Lu Bu is no match for Sanying, and his two fists are no match for four hands.

霍华德2罚全中拿到30分13篮板，刘易斯、李成名也都拿到了20+，李成名和特科格鲁还同时得到10次助攻。

It is worth mentioning that Mbah a Moute performed well in his playoff debut. He scored 7 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assist in 1 minutes of playing without making any mistakes.

This game has lowered the expectations of the outside world for the Cavaliers. From everyone's point of view, the Cavaliers, especially James, have performed exceptionally today, and even had a perfect start with a 15-point lead in the first half. It absolutely shouldn't be like this.

They may have missed the best opportunity in the series. Just imagine if they can win the first away game, try to fight for the second away game, no matter what the result is, they will return to the home court and try to defend the two home games, even A 3:1 start is possible.

But in the current situation, this can only become a delusion.

Although the Magic have overturned weak teams in the regular season this season, the games they lost were basically due to reasons such as poor lineups and back-to-back battles.

Howard missed the MVP again this season, and it also has a lot to do with Li Chengming's ability to lead the team to victory in the games he was absent, but he lost some games in the absence of Li Chengming.

Of course, this is more of a mutual pull between the two people, because no one can say for sure which person is more important in this team. Howard decides the lower limit, and Li Chengming decides the upper limit. Many fans The comments on the lips, so although the two are in the top five in the MVP rankings, it is James of the Cavaliers who finally won the MVP.

However, Howard finally won the DPOY again, and won the honor of first defense. He is also the leader of rebounds and blocks this season.

Li Chengming overwhelmed Dirk Nowitzki, Duncan, Garnett and other seniors, and was honored as a forward. Unfortunately, his assists shrank in the second half of the season. Although his scoring rose to 25 points, his assists fell behind the average of 11 times per game. Paul, failed to win the honor of assist king, and had no other gains.

Turkoglu won the honor of the best sixth man as he wished. Last season's most improved player, this season passed the sixth, which is also a strange and special experience.

It is also worth mentioning that Nelson actually occupies a place in the guard list of the third team of the best team. His stats of 15+8 are relatively average, and the bonus of record should be more important.

After all, with a record-breaking record, it is only natural for the players to reap honors in large numbers.

Just like Van Gundy also won the best coach this season, it seems that the record has not improved much, but it is of great significance.

On Friday the 22nd, still at the home court of the Magic, the second game of the Eastern Conference Finals began.

The Magic didn't give too many chances this time, and opened the point difference to 20 points at halftime, entering garbage time early in the third quarter.

Although James scored 35 points again, he had 6 turnovers. The Magic's defense of cutting him from his teammates obviously had an effect. He did not have more than 5 assists in these two games.

And this time there was another player who came out to trade with him. Li Chengming scored 25 points in the first half and 37 points in three quarters. He beat Varejao to 6 fouls and left the game, becoming the MVP of the game.

However, the next game will return to the Cavaliers' home court. With the Cavaliers' home winning percentage this season, no matter what the reason is, the Magic will have to give it a try.

The outside world is also inexplicably optimistic about their two home performances. They think that the Magic may need to win an away game as much as possible. If the Cavaliers hold both home games, the series will be tied 2:2. But it was not predictable.

Because there is still a home game behind, the Cavaliers may be able to drag into the tiebreaker.

And tiebreaker, then anything is possible.

So the third game is particularly critical. If the Magic can win, in the case of 3:0, there is basically no possibility of a comeback in this series.

During the regular season, the Magic swept the Cavaliers. Even at the Cavaliers' home court, they won by relying on their strong strength, so Li Chengming didn't feel deeply about this place.

However, he did remember that Yao seemed to have a game against the Cavaliers in Cleveland in December last year. Because he was stuck at the home whistle, Yao even yelled "See you in Houston" and then he beat him up. They have a meal.

Being able to push Dayao into a hurry, it can be seen that Cleveland's home whistle is indeed capable.

But then again, in the first game at home in Orlando, Howard was sent off. Could going to an away game be worse than this?
"It's really true!"

On May 5th, Cleveland, the Cavaliers played at the Quicken Loans Arena. In the middle of the third quarter, Li Chengming was replaced early because of 24 fouls, and then he watched Howard, who was also replaced, sitting next to him. , the two looked at each other, and cursed together.

How dare they? !
(End of this chapter)