Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chapter 264: Advance to the finals, battle for first shooting guard!

Time has come to May 5 in the blink of an eye, and NBA officials are about to announce the answer to the selection of the 16-06 regular season MVP.

A few days ago, officials listed three candidates, namely Dunn, Nowitzki and Nash.

Duan was already the MVP twice in a row last year. This year's regular season record has not made breakthrough progress, so it is naturally impossible to win the regular season MVP again.

As for the stars in the Eastern Conference, although many newcomers have emerged in the past few seasons, they have not been able to defeat the Chicago Bulls. Naturally, they cannot directly surpass Duan and win the regular season MVP.

Therefore, this season's regular season MVP winner will only be among the candidates in the Western Conference.

It is worth mentioning that both Nowitzki's Mavericks and Nash's Suns are now stuck in a tough battle in the Western Conference semifinals.

In the past few days, the Mavericks have come back to win a game at home.

The Suns lost another game to the Spurs because of an away game.

At this juncture, the announcement of the regular season MVP award is likely to stimulate Nowitzki or Nash, prompting them to unleash more potential and lead their team to victory.

As a result, this year's Western Conference playoff trend will also be greatly affected.

"Dunn, who do you think is more likely to win the regular season MVP?"

After Scott Skiles asked a question, Duane replied without hesitation: “It should be Dirk.

They are the No. [-] team in the league, and their team record last year was very good.

Dirk is a very strong player, and he is good enough to win the regular season MVP.

And with the experience last year, I think he has grown even further. "

"In addition, I also hope that Dirk can take advantage of winning the regular season MVP, work hard, and lead the team to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers!
We already beat them once last year!

If we meet again in the finals, we will have a big psychological advantage.

If the Dallas Mavericks are defeated by the Los Angeles Lakers, we will not be able to deal with new opponents very well.

The two games we played against the Los Angeles Lakers this season were not their complete package.

In other words, we know very little about the current Los Angeles Lakers.

And they've probably been studying us for a season. "

Duan doesn't entirely hope that Nowitzki can lead the team to eliminate the Lakers.

Taking a step back, for the Bulls, it is a good thing for the Mavericks to play one more game with the Lakers, whether they win or lose.

The more intense the playoffs in the Western Conference are, the greater the physical exertion of the Western Conference stars will be, and the greater the advantage the Bulls will have in the finals.

"Dunn, you guessed it right!"

Not long after Dunn predicted that Nowitzki would be the regular season MVP this season, the league officially announced the result.

With Nowitzki becoming the new regular season MVP, the G6 game between the Mavericks and the Lakers became more intense.

Nowitzki lived up to his regular season MVP status, scoring 6 points in Game 41 to lead the Mavericks to victory.

The Mavericks are originally the first team in the Western Conference and the league. Once Nowitzki becomes brave, there are really not many teams that are qualified to be the Mavericks' opponents.

With the Lakers leading 3-1 from the beginning, they were chased by the Mavericks for two consecutive games. The two teams will then play tiebreaker in Dallas, and the situation immediately turned against the Lakers.

For now, the Mavericks seem to be the team more likely to advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Time turned to the next night, and the results of another round of the Western Conference semifinals finally came to light.

The Suns lost to the Spurs and lost again, being taken away by the Spurs 4-2.

On the second night after the Spurs advanced to the Western Conference Finals, Lakers insiders Gasol and Odom both broke out, scoring 47 points, 23 rebounds and 10 assists, leading Kobe, who shot 12 points on 14 shots, to successfully advance to the Western Conference Finals.

In the tiebreaker, it is normal for a team to win despite scoring less.

After all, the team leader is usually the team's first scoring point. In the tiebreaker, if the opponent focuses on defense, the score will naturally be less.

At this time, the team's configuration is particularly tested, and it depends on whether other players can stand up and score.

If the team's second leader can only score seven or eight points, single-digit points in a single game, then there is no point in playing.

The Lakers can win the game by relying on other players to score high points, which shows that the Lakers have a good configuration this season and have the possibility of winning the championship.

And this is exactly what fans often call a champion!

The Lakers advanced to the Western Conference Finals, which is undoubtedly bad news for the Bulls.

There is something to be said for Kobe Bryant playing the Spurs!

Moreover, Gasol also relied on the just-concluded tiebreaker to prove that he is very suitable for the triangle offense and suitable for playing next to Kobe.

No matter how strong the defensive team is, they can only send five people to play at the same time. Once the team's defensive resources are placed on the outside, some loopholes will inevitably be exposed on the inside.

Duen once played under Jackson, so he naturally knows how the triangle offense can support star players in isolation.

Originally, Du En thought that Gasol would not be able to integrate into the team so quickly in just half a season.

But now I still underestimate Gasol's golf intelligence and the Lakers' belief in winning and championship.

There is no doubt that the Lakers' rise in the Western Conference has given the Bulls, as the defending champions, more challenges in the next games.

But at this stage, Doon needs to return its attention to the east.

If you want to compete with the Lakers in the Finals, you still need to pass the Pistons first.

In fact, it didn't take long, just two days after the Lakers advanced to the Western Conference Finals, on May 5, G20 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Bulls and the Pistons started at the United Center in Chicago.

The Pistons' defensive strategy is more targeted, which is to restrict Duen from getting the ball and limit Duen from attacking with the ball.

Once Duan got the ball in the frontcourt, he had not yet started a high pick-and-roll with the inside team. The Pistons inside team delayed the attack in advance and cooperated with Prince to attack from the inside.

Because he launched a double attack from outside the three-point line early, even if Duan passed the ball to Tyson Chandler or Josh Smith, the latter would have to dribble to the basket and then launch the attack.

The time of dribbling is the reaction time of the Pistons, and it is also the time to force the Bulls to make dribbling errors.

The Pistons seemed to want to take advantage of the Bulls' mistakes in transition and rely on defensive counterattacks to establish a scoring advantage.

However, the Bulls are not the Mavericks, and their offensive tactics are not about star players playing in isolation. Instead, they focus more on sudden points and passes.

Whether it's Tyson Chandler or Josh Smith, daily training requires practicing passing.

The Pistons' defense cannot be said to be ineffective, but after the Bulls noticed the initial problems in the first quarter, they quickly used the Pistons' defensive strategy to counterattack.

The Bulls moved the ball in a wide range, allowing the Pistons players to run frequently and consume a lot of energy.

By moving the ball to get open shots, the Bulls' scoring efficiency on outside shots and inside cuts is higher than in the first two rounds of G1.

As for the Bulls' defense against the Pistons, they still focus on man-to-man.

The Pistons are a civilian team, and the strength of the starting five is relatively balanced.

Even if Ben leaves, at most the defensive quality will drop a bit. To be honest, Antonio McDyess has taken Ben's place and his offensive ability is slightly stronger.

Therefore, when defending a team like the Pistons where the starting five score in double figures per player, you certainly cannot defend Hamilton or Billups alone.

However, the problem for civilian teams is insufficient ceiling.

Billups and Hamilton can take turns to have a blast, but they can't have a blast every time.

The attitude of the Bulls is to fight them!
G1 Doon plays on the outside. As long as the Pistons don't attack, he will take the initiative to fight Billups or Hamilton.

It was also because the Pistons were delayed early and were outsmarted by the Bulls' passes. In the second half, the number of Pistons' double attacks on Doon was much less.

No matter how good Hamilton's physical strength is, his shooting percentage will still decline if he is constantly exposed to physical confrontation.

Not to mention, Hamilton's mid-range shooting percentage is only more than 4%. Once the shooting percentage drops below [-]%, it will become a cancer and an undercover.

The same goes for Billups.

Baron Davis and Ben Gordon took the ball and caused trouble for Billups. Billups could not rely on his teammates to share the defensive pressure. As the game progressed and physical confrontation increased, the offensive efficiency naturally became more and more efficient. Low.

74 to 93, the Pistons limited the Bulls' scoring through excellent defense, but they also defended themselves to death.

Although Duan only scored 20 points for the Bulls, in addition to Duan, the Bulls also had Baron Davis, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon who scored in double figures.

As for post players such as Tyson Chandler, although they lack Duan to feed them, their scoring ability has declined slightly.

But for the Bulls, it's not a bad thing.After all, he has more energy now and can devote himself to the defensive end, which can better limit the scoring of Pistons players in the paint.

For most players, playoff data is not as important as regular season data.

As long as the Bulls can keep winning in the playoffs and bring honors like championships to other players, it obviously doesn't matter if they have less personal data.

After winning G1, the Bulls continued their efforts and soon ushered in their second victory in the Eastern Conference Finals.

On May 5, 22 to 81, the Bulls continued to take advantage of their home court and relied on team basketball to defeat the Pistons and achieve a hearty victory.

This time, although the Pistons adjusted their defensive strategy, their offensive problems still failed to be solved.

And when Duan was far ahead in scoring, he didn't play too hard.

In G2, Duan clocked in for three and a half quarters, taking only 13 shots and scoring 22 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.Duan can win the game with just a small try, which is enough to illustrate the gap between the Pistons and the Bulls.

However, Du En still knows very well that the team's overall strength has an advantage, but it does not mean that the next game will be easy to play.

As far as this series is concerned, the next two away games are the real test and the games that are truly worthy of Doon going all out.

The league will not let the Bulls win too easily, and the Pistons' group of veterans are definitely not like the Cavaliers in their desire for victory and championships - they give up the game early if they can't beat it, and decide to put their hope in coming back next year. .

Sure enough, in G3, the fun really started.

The Pistons' defensive intensity is already extraordinary, and now G3 has received the blessing of the home whistle.

After the game started, the shooting interference and physical confrontation the Bulls suffered were directly improved by several levels compared to the previous two games.

On the offensive end, the main attackers of the Pistons tonight became Billups, Prince and Roaring God.

The Pistons try more to break through and attack the basket, establishing a scoring advantage by causing damage and scoring at the basket.

Because of the whistle problem, the Bulls trailed the Pistons in scoring in the first half.

However, Duen took the initiative to adjust his playing time and specially selected the Pistons' second lineup to play.

In the end, due to Du En's unremitting efforts, Du En finally seized the opportunity at the end of the second quarter and hit a 6-0 spurt.

Not only did they completely close the point difference, they also caught up and overtook the score.

There is nothing the Pistons can do about this.

The breakthrough-creating style of play will inevitably involve a lot of physical confrontation, which will accelerate the consumption of players' physical strength.

In the previous two Eastern Conference finals games, the Bulls' main players had some room to spare, but the Pistons' starting five all went all out, which naturally consumed a lot of physical energy.

Because of this, no matter how hard the Pistons control their main force, they will inevitably send in substitute players for three to four minutes in a game.

In fact, the old Sanders has tried his best to use substitute players to play together with the main players.

But Du En’s competition experience is so rich!
Anyone else would not have been able to achieve the effect of such a staggered trip, but Duen was able to seize this opportunity and beat the Pistons' lineup in the connecting section.

It was also because Du En exerted his strength that it became more difficult to win G3.

The Pistons continued to have people who could stand up and score, but the Bulls accelerated in the second half and used running and gunning to affect the Pistons' offensive rhythm.

The main players of the Pistons were already very tired. The game was so fast-paced in the third quarter, and the energy saved during the half-time break was squandered in less than half the game.

“We need to stay motivated and not let them lead us all the time.”

"They are running too fast and we can't catch up just by chasing them. We are no longer young and we have to slow down the pace of the game."

"The key is to score, we have to be steady, and we have to at least make the free throws."

As the point difference gradually widened in the third quarter, even with the help of the referee's whistle, it could not prevent the Bulls from expanding their advantage.

There are also different opinions among the five Pistons.

In the end, still under the control of Billups, the Pistons took the initiative to slow down the pace of the game, hoping to play steadily and score as soon as possible to reduce their disadvantage.

However, the Bulls relied on their youth, vitality, and fast breaks to beat the Pistons to exhaustion.

Normally speaking, running and gunning against a relatively disciplined team like the Pistons is thankless.

But why is it that the Pistons' inside players are older and can't run much anymore?

The Bulls rely on the large number of young players in the team, especially the many forward players who can be used, to compete with the Pistons and compete with the Pistons for speed.

Relying on the running and gunning in the third quarter and the hard solution in the Duen position battle, the score on the court has reached 75 to 64 at the end of the third quarter, and the Bulls have established an 11-point lead.

Judging from the entire series, the Pistons are in a poor offensive situation.

In the following fourth quarter, it is naturally impossible for the Pistons to suddenly change their appearance and create some unexpected shock to the Bulls.

100 to 87, the Eastern Conference finals reached G3, and the Bulls scored three digits in a single game for the first time.

Compared with the previous two games, although the Pistons had more free throws, the final result did not change much.

It can only be said that this is the gap in hard power, and this is the problem that a team without a superstar will inevitably face in the playoffs.

There are superstars, and relying on the explosion of superstars, they may be able to win a game and see the hope of winning the series.

Without superstars and relying solely on team basketball, the lower limit is good, but the upper limit can be seen at a glance.

In a game like the Pistons, which scores [-] to [-] points every game, as long as the Bulls can't limit their scoring, they can't win the game even if they break their head.

But the Bulls have Du En, and they can't be restricted no matter how hard they are.

After all, Du En is not only strong personally, he also likes to use his brain when playing games.

No matter how many defensive resources the Pistons have, they can't restrict Duan for 48 minutes in a game.

And Duan can take advantage of the seven-eight-minute window period to show the strength of the league's ruler and beat the NBA players who defend him into CBA.

In other words, after winning G3, the Bulls don't have much pressure on them.

The next G4 will also follow the process and cooperate with the Pistons players to perform normally.

However, when G5 returned to Chicago to play, the Pistons' performance shocked the Bulls players.

With the victory in G4, the Pistons, who had regained their confidence in winning, showed a momentum that was willing to kill the emperor and bring him down.

The Bulls were suppressed by the Pistons for the first quarter and a half of G5.

Of course, it's not entirely because the Pistons players played well, but because the Bulls themselves were too relaxed.

But it doesn't matter, Du En will take action.

It was again thanks to Duen's strength in the second half of the second quarter. Even though the Pistons had a certain response strategy, they still could not prevent Duen from scoring.

After all, in basketball, the team that scores more wins the game. In the last few seconds of the second quarter, Duan made another key three-pointer, finally reversing the score.

Billups tried to respond with a three-pointer at the midfield buzzer, but the shot was a bit wide. In the end, the Bulls led by 1 point and entered the second half.

And Duen also took advantage of the key three-pointer he made not long ago. After returning to the locker room, he knocked on his teammates and reshaped the atmosphere in the locker room.

The vast majority of NBA players don't think they have too many honors.

Win tonight's game and the Bulls will win another Eastern Conference championship.

Before the game started, some Bulls players had also noticed that NBA officials had shipped the Eastern Conference Championship trophy, and the Bulls team had also prepared championship T-shirts and baseball caps for everyone.

To put it bluntly, the celebration banquet has already been arranged, how can we wait for it to cool down?
In the second half, the Bulls players who returned to the field once again performed at the level expected of championship members.

Originally, the Pistons wanted to limit Duane's scoring and avoid a situation like this in the first half to win tonight's victory.

Who would have thought that before Du En even put in much effort, the Pistons would already be unable to resist.

It was also due to improper deployment of defensive resources that the Pistons almost lost the possibility of turning defeat into victory in the third quarter.

The Bulls entered the fourth quarter with a 9-point lead, and ultimately maintained a 9-point lead and won the game.

Not long after, Du En and others once again stood on the temporarily arranged Eastern Conference championship podium.

"Second crown! Second crown! Second crown!"

As Duan held the trophy high, the fans in the audience cheered in unison.

This also made Du En a little confused, mistakenly thinking that he had won the finals tonight and won the second boss championship in his career.

"Where's the champagne? Where's my champagne?"

"I won't go home tonight if I don't get drunk!"

"Play the music and dance!"

"Eat what you should eat, drink what you should drink, everyone is a hero, we are the champions!"

After reaching the finals again, the Bulls rarely relaxed for a while.

Before the finals start, let's have fun in advance and release the pressure of being locked up in a hotel, training and playing at high pressure.

However, the Bulls players were quickly called together again and actively participated in the process of preparing for the finals.

Because, on the second night after the defending champion Bulls advanced to the finals, the Western Conference finals also came to an end - the Lakers defeated the Spurs 4-1.

No one expected that the Lakers, who were once reduced to a fringe team in the playoffs in the middle of the regular season, would become the biggest dark horse this season. They would go dark again and again, defeating all the opponents along the way, until they reached the finals.

If the Lakers can win the championship, then the legendary nature of this championship will rival that of the 95 Rockets.

Because the Lakers' opponent had 73 wins last season and is still first in the Eastern Conference this season. In the playoffs, there is no Bulls who can play the sixth game of the series in the Eastern Conference!
This is equivalent to the 95 Rockets facing off against the 96 Bulls!

To a certain extent, it is a unique and incredible battle between Guan Gong and Qin Qiong.

It is worth mentioning that although Duan is a striker, he has played shooting guard in the last two seasons.

This also means that the next finals will not only be the dark horse Lakers challenging the defending champion Bulls, but it will also be the first time that Durn faces his old club Lakers in the finals, and it will also be the first scoring battle between Durn and Kobe!

(End of this chapter)