I am super giant

Chapter 235 The Playoffs Begin

The top eight in the West are:
1. Timberwolves (58 wins and 24 losses)
2. Lakers (56-26)
3. Spurs (57-25)
4. Kings (55-27)
5. Mavericks (52-30)
6. Grizzlies (50-32)
7. Rockets (45-37)
8. Nuggets (43-39)
（按赛区排列，然后1对8，2对7，3对6，4对5）

In other words, in the first round, the Timberwolves played the Nuggets, the Lakers played the Rockets, the Spurs played the Grizzlies, and the Kings played the Mavericks.

The top eight in the East are:

1. Pacers (61-21)
2. Nets (47-35)
3. Pistons (54-28)
4. Heat (42-40)
5. Cavaliers (48-34)
6. Hornets (41-41)
7. Bucks (41-41)
8. Knicks (39 wins and 43 losses)
In other words, in the first round, the Pacers played the Knicks, the Nets played the Bucks, the Pistons played the Hornets, and the Heat played the Cavaliers.

Such a ranking can be said to be very unfair to the Cavaliers. Obviously, the regular season record is the third in the Eastern Conference, but because of the small division, it was squeezed to fifth.

The Heat, with a worse record, came to fourth instead, and also had home court advantage.

(The rules were changed later, and the team with the better record has the advantage, but in 04, the higher-ranked team had the home field advantage.)
However, the Cavaliers can only accept it.

On April 4, the playoffs will start, so there is not much time for everyone to prepare.

In order to prepare for the battle, Ye Feng avoided all other matters and handed them over to Avril, Zhang Mofu, and Wang Zhiqian, while he himself focused on preparing for the battle.

In the Cavaliers, everyone's morale is also very high, and it has not been affected at all by the problem of home court advantage.

A few days ago, Wagner experienced a season of cultivation and was finally able to come back, which made the Cavaliers' guard line deeper.

However, without playing for a season, coupled with the impact of injuries, it is difficult to say Wagner's state.

Coach Paul immediately determined the 12-man roster for the playoffs.

Center: Ilgauskas, Batty

Power forwards: Boozer, Newbell
Small forwards: Williams, Darius, Kapono
Shooting guard: James, Ollie

Point guard: Ye Feng, Bremer, Wagner
After that, there were various tactical lessons against the Heat.

In the playoffs, the competition will be more targeted.

Often discovering a weakness of the other party can lead to the death of the other party.

In addition, Paul has repeatedly emphasized that the playoffs must be played more aggressively and defended harder, and must not be as relaxed as the regular season.

When Paul said this, he was not optimistic.

After all, most of the 12-man roster are young people with almost no experience in the playoffs.

But the good thing is that the Heat's playoff experience is also insufficient.

Not surprisingly, the Heat's 12-man roster will be:

Centers: Brian Grant, Malik Allen, Lauren Woods

Power Forwards: Odom, Haslem, Samaj Walker, Wang Zhizhi
Small Forwards: Caron Butler, Russell Butler

Shooting guard: Wade,

Point guard: Eddie Jones, Alstom

Therefore, this round of duel has also received great attention from Huaxia fans, and the domestic media has even heated up speculation. After all, there may be a Huaxia Derby in the playoffs.

However, the vast majority of fans know that Wang Zhizhi will not play a lot of time.Unless there are extensive injuries on the inside of the Heat, it is almost impossible to get a stable playing time.

……

On April 4, the much-anticipated playoffs finally started.

Today, a total of 4 games were played.

The Rockets played the Lakers, the Grizzlies played the Spurs, the Pacers played the Knicks, and the Nets played the Bucks.

Of course, the most concerned is the matchup between the Rockets and the Lakers and Yao Shark.

Although the strength of the Lakers is far better than that of the Rockets, fans are still looking forward to the matchup between the two remaining traditional big center stars in the league.

But the facts have proved that O'Neal is O'Neal, and Yao Ming, who is still in the second grade, can challenge him.

With 20 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, O'Neal played dominant data.

Yao Ming scored 10 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, and was almost crushed by O'Neal.

Of course, this is true from the data point of view.

If you watch the game, you will find that Yao Ming has done a good job, he almost sealed the Rockets' basket.

O'Neal made 17 of 8 shots from the field, and his shooting percentage was only 47.1%, which is already very poor for O'Neal, who has a shooting percentage of more than 60% at every turn.

There is almost no second person in the league who can push O'Neal to this point.

Karl Malone made 14 of 3 shots, with a shooting percentage of 21.4%. Tonight, Malone hardly dared to take shots under the basket, and all of them pulled down mid-range shots.

Bryant made 19 of 4 shots (21.1 percent), and he was also forced to shoot beyond the three-point line, and his shooting percentage near the rim was extremely low.

Payton made 10 of 4 shots and made 40% of his shots. He is already the best player, but he has never entered the basket.

If a person's shooting percentage is not high, you can say that he is not playing well.

But the Lakers' F4 all played abnormally, and their shooting choices are generally far away from the basket, which is worth pondering.

That's right, this is Yao Ming's deterrent power.

He doesn't need to do anything, as long as he puts his height of 229 centimeters under the basket, it is a deterrent.

Similarly, the Lakers' F4 defense is also very good. The shots of Mobley, Francis, and Jackson are greatly affected, and their shooting percentages are generally low.

Thus, the game became a defensive battle.

In the last 2 minutes, 71:69, the Rockets, which were obviously weak, led by 2 points, which no one expected.

The fans expressed shock at the strength of the Rockets and were disappointed with the performance of the Lakers.

However, the game is not over yet, in 2 minutes, anything is possible.

Sure enough, in the last 2 minutes, the Rockets didn't even score a goal, not even a single point.

The defense of the two teams was too fierce, almost to the point of bayonet hand-to-hand combat.

There are a total of 7 games in the series, and the first game is really important. Both sides want to win a good start and win the first game.

For this victory, the movements on both sides have been done very aggressively, you pull me, I push you, it's all collisions between muscles.

The referee saw it, but turned a blind eye and didn't blow the whistle.

In that era, iron and blood defense was popular, and there was a consensus at that time.

As long as the player's actions are not too exaggerated, the referee can stop blowing at the last moment and leave the court to the players to decide.

Under such defensive strength, the Rockets withered.

Whether it is Francis, Mobley, rookie Yao Ming, or veteran Jackson, they all failed to stand up for the team.

In contrast to the Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal was under tremendous pressure, first hit a shot, then caused a foul, and made 2 of 1 free throws.

O'Neal scored 3 points in a row, making the Lakers overtake by 1 point, 71:72.

And this score was maintained until the end.

Big score, Lakers 1:0 Rockets.

(End of this chapter)