NBA Old Age Star System

Chapter 173 The first round of the playoffs

In the third quarter, Irving acted as the main attacker and breakthrough player, and James turned into a passer to organize and connect the teams.

The Pistons came up with a full lineup, trying to get the score back in the third quarter.

In the first few rounds, the Pistons were able to play back and forth with the Cavaliers, but after a timeout from Tyronn Lue, the Cavaliers' defensive strength suddenly increased, and the Pistons' offense began to reduce their efficiency.

Soon the third quarter ended, the score came to 81-64, and the Cavaliers led by 17 points.

Faced with such a point difference and the obvious gap in the lineup, the Pistons actually had no need to resist, but Van Gundy didn't dare to give up without playing in the fourth quarter.

So the fourth quarter began, the Cavaliers, Dellavedova, Su Tian, ​​Richard Jefferson, Love, Thompson.

The Pistons chose a semi-main lineup, with Pope, Harris and Drummond playing in the starting lineup.

The first ball was given to the Pistons, Steve Blake advanced with the ball, and after coming to the frontcourt, he passed the ball directly to Drummond inside.

Drummond wanted to play Thompson in the low post, but Thompson resisted firmly, Love also came to help defend, Drummond had to pass the ball to Harris.

Harris caught the ball and shot directly, but was interfered by Su Tian, ​​who came to assist in the defense in time, and the basketball missed.

Thompson grabbed the rebound and passed the ball directly to Su Tian.

Su Tian slowly crossed the half court with the ball, met Pope's defense, and began to call Love for a pick-and-roll.

After relying on the pick-and-roll, Su Tian didn't care about Pope's defensive intentions at all. After breaking through two steps in, he pulled up and shot directly.

Swah——

Su Tian made a direct hit with a mid-range emergency stop jumper.

83-64
The Pistons got off to a bad start in the first round, and the ball was given to the Pistons again to organize the offense again.

This time the ball was given to Harris. Facing Love's defense, Harris had scored a few goals before, but limited by the overall defense of the Cavaliers and James' defense, the effect was not good. Now James In the end, Harris wanted to try again.

I saw Harris holding the ball with his back against Love, turning around quickly and passing Love's defense, and holding the ball to kill inside.

Love followed Harris closely, which could only cause some disturbance.

The two kept fighting and came to the basket. Harris encountered Thompson's defense and passed the ball to Drummond. Drummond caught the ball and shot from close range.

boom--

Swah——

The basketball hits the backboard and bounces into the net.

83-66
The Pistons finally scored, but Van Gundy's brow was still wrinkled.

The ball is switched, and it's the Cavaliers' turn to attack.

Dellavedova came to the frontcourt with the ball and passed the ball directly to Su Tian.

Seeing Su Tian holding the ball, Van Gundy frowned and kept jumping.

I saw that Su Tian was still calling Love for the pick-and-roll while moving with the ball.

After the pick-and-roll was formed, Su Tian broke through and easily dismantled Pope's defense, and then ended the battle with an easy stop and jumper.

85-66
Seeing Su Tian's easy goal, Van Gundy finally knew that this game was unnecessary.

The next few rounds also verified what Van Gundy thought, so he called a timeout, replaced all the main players, and voluntarily surrendered.

In the end, the Cavaliers easily defeated the Pistons 110-88 and successfully won the first game of the playoffs.

In this game, Su Tian scored 21 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 1 steal, ranking second in the Cavaliers in scoring.

与骑士同一天进行的比赛还有三场，分别是热火123-91战胜黄蜂，马刺106-74战胜灰熊，快船115-95战胜开拓者。

Neither side had any big upsets this day. Facts have proved that the polarization of the NBA is getting worse. Superstar basketball is becoming more and more prominent. It is basically impossible for civilian lineups to win the championship.

On the second day after the game ended, April 4, there were three games to watch, one in the East and two in the West.

Tyronn Lue also sent a text message to the Cavaliers players, suggesting to watch the Pacers vs. Raptors game in the East, but Su Tian refused to listen. Su Tian went to watch the Warriors-Rockets game.

Although the Rockets at this time are not the Anti-Yongjun Army a few years later, the offensive firepower on both sides is very fierce, and it is a very interesting offensive battle.

The only fly in the ointment is that Curry was affected by injuries and failed to play in this game.

On the evening of the 18th, the two teams started playing on time. As expected, the two teams scored 33-30 in the first quarter, and the Warriors temporarily led by 3 points.

In the second quarter, the Rockets started to lose momentum and couldn't keep up with the Warriors' rhythm. They were shot 33-28 in a single quarter, falling behind by 5 points again, and trailing by 8 points in total.

In the third quarter, the Rockets were gearing up to catch up, but both sides deployed their defenses, so that the shooting percentages of both sides were not high, and they took turns to start fighting.

The two teams scored only 21-20 in a single quarter
In the fourth quarter, the Rockets are still 7 points behind the Warriors at this time. 7 points are actually not a big difference between the two sides. It depends on who can persist until the end.

Harden exerted his strength first, and the continuous breakthrough caused Barnes to foul, and it began to rain.

But before the Rockets caught up with the point difference, Klay Thompson also started to perform, but unlike the previous crazy three-pointers, Klay also started to make fouls and started to stand on the free throw line.

According to this rhythm, the Rockets must be the ones who can't hold on in the end, so the Rockets had to take the initiative to seek changes, and Harden began to increase his three-pointers.

But unfortunately, Harden didn't feel good in this field, and missed three consecutive three-point shots.

In the end, the game was still won by the Warriors, 115-106, but the Warriors did not win easily, and the main players were exhausted physically.

也得益于最后的罚球大战，哈登一共罚球15次，命中13个，全场拿下28分11助攻2篮板1盖帽。

克莱罚球了16次，命中15个，克莱全场拿下了34分5助攻3篮板1抢断。

But the three-pointers on both sides are not very good. The Rockets' overall three-point shooting rate is just 34%, and the Warriors are even worse, only [-]%.

Su Tian was also a little speechless when he saw it. He had agreed to attack and fight, but it turned into a fight with iron.

So the next day, Su Tian stopped paying attention to other teams' games and focused on his own training.

The game on the 19th did not have any surprises, and the upper-ranked teams successfully won the lower-ranked teams.

On April 4, the second game between the Cavaliers and the Pistons started.

Both sides did not adjust the starting lineup, and the game became fierce as soon as it came up. The Cavaliers seized some loopholes in the Pistons and chased after them.

The Pistons also brought out their tough defense to cause a lot of trouble for the Cavaliers. At the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers rarely fell behind, 23-28, 5 points behind the Pistons.

In the second quarter, Irving came down to rest, the team was handed over to Su Tianlai to organize, and James was responsible for the main offensive duties, like a tank that was running wildly, and the Pistons couldn't hold it back at all.

Thanks to James' rampage in the second quarter, the score became 55-53 at the end of the second quarter, and the Cavaliers successfully overtook by 2 points.

In the third quarter, James temporarily took a break to recover his strength, Irving and Su Tian were on the court at the same time, and JR Smith moved to the third position.

It is still Su Tian who organizes the teams, and Irving is responsible for the offense.

With Su Tian around, Irving's offense has also become easier, and he only needs to focus on scoring.

Speaking of which, although Irving is the No. [-] position, he plays more like a No. [-] position, while Su Tian plays the No. [-] position more like a No. [-] position.

On the Pistons side, it was affected by physical factors and the overall defense of the Cavaliers, and the shooting rate was low and the efficiency was not high.

Su Tian was replaced after playing for half a quarter, and James continued to play.

Soon, at the end of the third quarter, the score came to 82-68, and the Cavaliers had already led the Pistons by 14 points.

So in the fourth quarter, Tyronn Lue began to rotate boldly, fearing that the main players would be hurt unnecessarily.

Dellavedova, Su Tian, ​​Shumpert, Frye, Mozgov.

Su Tian was the only starting player in the five-man lineup.

The Pistons did not dare to play like this, and still ensured the presence of the three main players.

But with a point difference, Su Tian can let it go. Using the confidence given by the king of the last quarter, he constantly uses the pick-and-roll to play threats. After encountering double-teams, he uses his own pass to penetrate the Pistons' defense, making the Pistons hard to defend.

Seeing that Su Tian was so top-notch, Tyronn Lue was not in a hurry to replace the main players, thinking to take a look first, but he saw the end of the game.

Su Tian led the team to the end of the game.

At the end of the game, the Cavaliers defeated the Pistons 107-90 and easily won the second game of the series.

Su Tian scored 26 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, the most assists in the game, and the second in scoring. Well, the first is James' 27 points.

Although he didn't get the highest score, he was still selected as the best player in the game and got the chance to be interviewed on the sidelines.

The day after the game against the Pistons, the Cavaliers flew to Detroit.

Although it is not the first time to come to Detroit, Tyronn Lue still emphasized team discipline. After all, this is Detroit, and if you go out accidentally, you will not be able to come back.

Of course, Detroit has nothing to attract the Cavaliers, and everyone has observed discipline.

In fact, I have to say that there is still James' credit for this. After all, as the boss of the team, he should lead by example. James is famous for his self-discipline, and the players naturally dare not go too far.

Unlike Morant, who is a moth every day, he was still a "disciple of Arenas" two days ago, and today he "re-took the way of Howard".

On April 4, the second day when I came to the Pistons, it was time for the game.

Both sides have already had a wealth of experience in fighting, so the trial link was omitted, and the intensity was directly increased at the beginning. Irving and James took turns to start the breakthrough.

The scenes in the first quarter were basically taken by James and Irving. There was no chance for Su Tian to perform, so Su Tian also did a good job as a tool man, running positions, passing the ball, catching and shooting.

But I didn't expect the Pistons to be quite resilient, and they were not discouraged by the losses in the first two games. They played extremely tenaciously in the first quarter and did a good job on the defensive end.

Soon the first quarter ended, the score came to 24-27, and the Cavaliers were temporarily behind by 3 points.

In the second quarter, Tyronnlue is ready to strengthen his strength and strive to regain the advantage by overtaking the score.

So in the second quarter, James began to strengthen his personal offense, and Su Tian also actively participated in the defense.

Soon, at the end of the second quarter, the Cavaliers lived up to expectations and regained the initiative and the score advantage.

The score came to 54-53, with the Cavaliers leading by 1 point.

During the halftime break, Tyronn Lue did not dare to relax his vigilance. Although the first two games against the Pistons were easily won, the Cavaliers are the defending team and they must be cautious all the way.

The halftime break ends and the third quarter begins.

James played a bit aggressively in the second quarter and rested in the third quarter.

But different from the previous game, Su Tian devoted a lot of energy to defense in this game, and his physical strength was also greater than the previous game. He also needed to rest and couldn't play at the same time as Owen.

So the lineup in the third quarter became, Irving, jr Smith, Richard Jefferson, Thompson, Mozgov.

Fortunately, the Pistons also fought fiercely in the second quarter, and it was impossible to maintain the main lineup in the third quarter, which is good news for the Cavaliers.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Irving started to attack with the ball. Facing the Pistons' backup guard line, Irving was not polite at all, frequently breaking through and causing damage.

The Pistons can only rely on the team's defense to increase their confidence, and they can barely keep up with the rhythm on offense.

After half a quarter, James was replaced, the morale of the Pistons began to decline, and the score began to gradually widen.

At the end of the third quarter, the two sides played 25-20 in a single quarter. The Cavaliers led by 5 points in a single quarter and led by 6 points in total.

This time, there was not as many points difference as in the previous game, and Tyronn Lu didn't dare to bet all his treasures on Su Tian alone.

So Tyronn Lue arranged for Su Tian and Love to play together, and let Owen and James rest temporarily.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, in order to be on the safe side, Su Tian still started the pick-and-roll with Love in the first few rounds. After two consecutive easy shots, the Pistons began to double-team.

However, letting the Pistons double-team is also Su Tian's strategy. Only when the Pistons double-team or help defend, can Su Tian's pass work.

So, in two consecutive rounds, Su Tian successfully assisted his teammates to complete the shot, and the Pistons had nothing to do.

After two more rounds, the point difference had reached double digits, and Van Gundy called a timeout.

Tyronn Lue also took advantage of the timeout to bring both Irving and James on the court, preparing to start a decisive battle with the Pistons.

Sure enough, the Pistons also replaced the main lineup, looking like they were going to fight the Cavaliers until dawn.

Van Gundy also knew that there was a clear gap between the Pistons and the Cavaliers, and they could not be opponents, but he couldn't pass this emotion on to the players.

Moreover, what's wrong with the gap, can't they win a game?uncertain.The Warriors are so fierce this season, didn't they also lose 9 of them.

Van Gundy looked at Drummond who was preparing to defend, thinking to himself, this should be the Pistons' last chance.

After the two sides switched to the main lineup, the intensity suddenly increased, and the shooting began to hit the iron continuously.

If there is one aspect in which the Cavaliers are inferior to the Pistons, it is rebounding.

Taking advantage of the increase in intensity and the timing of continuous shooting, Drummond continued to grab rebounds, which really allowed the Pistons to recover a few points.

But fortunately, or rather, the points recovered by the Pistons were not enough to change the outcome.

With James' impact again and again, and Su Tian's two consecutive three-pointers, the Pistons lost to the Cavaliers.

In the end, the Cavaliers defeated the Pistons 101-91.

Su Tian focused on defense in the first half and didn't get much data. He didn't play in the third quarter, and started to explode in the fourth quarter. He scored 19 points, 7 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal. He made 6 of 3 three-pointers, and his efficiency was not low.

After the game, the Cavaliers also led the Pistons 3-0, and the Pistons were only one game away from being out.

(End of this chapter)