NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

The Spurs, ranked third in the Western Conference, met the Denver Nuggets, also led by Milicic, a representative of the 03 generation, in the first round!

This year, Milicic continues to improve. He averages 19 points and 11 rebounds per game and is the absolute core and main force of the team.

In addition, with the addition of strong players such as Andre Miller, Nene Hilario, Greg Buckner, Marcus Camby, Earl Boykins and others, the Nuggets, who have been dormant for a long time, have finally waited for their moment of awakening.

The 03 civil war between James and Milicic and the matchup between the Spurs and the Nuggets were also quite exciting!

First, the Spurs had an absolute advantage. They had a 3:1 advantage in the first four games, but when they returned to their home court, they failed to win the game! Milicic got a big double-double of 35 points and 15 rebounds on the road. Under his leadership, the Nuggets retreated from the away game unscathed!

They won Game 5, and although they were still behind, they had the opportunity to continue the series at home.

But unfortunately, in the sixth game of the series, both James and McGrady burst out with amazing firepower at the same time, James scored 35 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, and McGrady scored 37 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists!

Even though the two of them scored 72 points together, the Nuggets were unable to resist their firepower, regrettably lost at home, and bid farewell to the playoffs!

The Spurs, who have entered the second round, will face the Suns, who are second in the Western Conference!

What kind of sparks will these two teams with completely different styles create in the playoffs?

The last remaining series in the Western Conference is definitely the most eye-catching and exciting one among the eight matchups in the first round of the entire playoffs.

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves!
The two teams have met in the Western Conference Finals and Western Conference Semifinals in the past two years, and the two teams are temporarily tied at 1:1.

This year's third consecutive showdown is naturally eye-catching and makes everyone look forward to it!

But when the game started, the content of the game made everyone extremely disappointed.

In the first game of the series, Garnett, who had just returned at the end of the regular season, sprained his knee again. Although it was not serious, he had to rest for at least 2 weeks, which meant he said goodbye to this series early!

The game went straight from two stars vs. two stars to the Lakers besieging Iverson!

And with the Lakers' current lineup of four tall players and their defensive system of Kobe, Kirilenko, Prince and O'Neal, they are almost the natural enemies of short guys like Iverson!
If Iverson had Garnett by his side at this time, or even if Cassell hadn't left, the Timberwolves would definitely have a chance to fight.

But the problem is that when all the pressure is focused on Iverson and when he is the only one on the team who can perform, it is really too difficult for the Timberwolves to defeat the Lakers team in front of them!
The series only lasted for five games. Except for the third game when Iverson broke out and scored 5 points from inside and outside shots, his shooting percentage in the remaining four games did not exceed 45%. He had to keep shooting in every game surrounded by strong opponents.

Although he was not very efficient, he had no choice.

If he doesn't make crazy shots against the Timberwolves now, the team can really surrender!

With Iverson unable to carry the team alone, this most eye-catching focus matchup in the Western Conference ended with the Lakers easily advancing with a score of 4:1!
At the same time, the Timberwolves, who lost in the first round of the playoffs, have been in a dilemma of getting worse year by year in the past three years. From entering the finals to losing in the Western Conference semifinals to being eliminated in the first round this year, the team's situation has been getting worse year by year.

From common sense, every time this happens, it is time for the team management to consider changes and consider using trades to change the team.

Many people think that with such a crushing defeat in the first round this year, Iverson has most likely played his last game for the Timberwolves, and he is likely to be traded by the team this summer.

Iverson's Minnesota career is likely to be over.

Of course, this is not something that will happen in the near future, nor is it the most urgent topic to discuss right now.

The second round of the playoffs is about to begin!

The Lakers' opponent will be the Mavericks, who are ranked first in the Western Conference!
But of course, the Lakers are not afraid of the Mavericks, not at all!
Because O'Neal is ready to be resurrected!
They have proved through the first round of games: they got 53 wins not because they can only win so many, but because 53 wins are enough!

At this point, the first round of this year's NBA showdowns has come to an end. All teams have decided the winners and losers. The remaining eight teams will be divided into four groups to fight against each other!

The Knicks' opponent is the Washington Wizards, who emerged as a dark horse this year and are led by Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison!

After the farce with Jordan at the beginning of the century, the Wizards have experienced ups and downs for many years. Now this Wizards team has been completely replaced several times. Now in the team, the only person who has experienced the bloodbath between Lin Tian and Jordan is the team's owner Pollin.

In other words, everyone who had a grudge against Lin Tian and Jordan left.

Arenas, now the boss of the Wizards, was even Lin Tian’s younger brother when he was on the Pacers. To this day, the two still have a very good relationship and they get together every time they meet.

This year, Arenas has reached the peak of his career. Not only did he lead his team into the second round of the playoffs, he was also selected to the All-Star team and made the All-NBA Team of the Year.

In addition, this year is the same year as his 2014 NBA Draft. Rumor has it that the Wizards have prepared a big contract worth over 100 million yuan for him, and now they are just waiting for him to sign the contract.

Arenas has definitely reached the peak of his life.

In addition to him, the team's second-in-command is Antawn Jamison, one of the two young players in North Carolina at that time. After spending a few pretty bad years with the Warriors and Mavericks, he averaged 20 points and 9 rebounds per game this season, making him a first-class offensive power forward.

Unlike Stoudemire's purely physical style of play, Jamison's face-to-face skills are quite delicate and excellent. Whether it's a floater, a shot, a pull-up jump shot or a layup after a breakthrough, his face-to-face skills are simply at the small forward level!
He is good at doing everything on the offensive end to get the ball into the basket. Of course, like Stoudemire, this guy's defense is negligible. In fact, when compared with Stoudemire, it is hard to say whose defense is worse!
Then there is Butler, who averaged 17 points per game this year!

This year, Caron Butler was directly poached from the Heat by the Wizards with a big contract. Butler's performance this season also proved that the Wizards have a very good vision. His defense is the best among the three musketeers of the Wizards. His jack-of-all-trades and non-ball-dominant style of play can also perfectly match the two big guys.

If Arenas is the general of this team, responsible for leading the team forward, and Jamison is the pioneer of this team, responsible for charging into battle, then Butler is the glue of this team. With him, the team has a chemical reaction and can play reasonably and beautifully!

Apart from these three, no one else on the Wizards averaged double-digit points per game.

Apart from them, the highest scoring average is Antonio Daniels, who averages 9 points per game off the bench.

球队的另外两名首发分别是身高213公分，场均7分6篮板的蓝领中锋布兰登·海伍德，以及场均6分5篮板，身高211公分的大前锋贾莱德·杰弗里斯。

这两个超过210公分的大个子再加上203公分的贾米森和201公分的巴特勒，这支球队的首发阵容之中有4个人的身高都超过了2米！
Looking at the entire league, their level is definitely one of the best.

It's really hard to find a team that's better than them.

At the same time, it cannot be ignored that although this team is big, their defense is very bad, or it can be said that this team does not defend much, and their main focus is offense!

And it's a quick attack between offense and defense!
Yes, this team is tall and big, but they play on the run.

If you ask how to run and play with two inside players who are over 210 cm tall.

The answer is actually quite simple: just ignore them!
The Wizards' offense often consists of the Three Musketeers running with the ball and throwing it when they find an opportunity. As for the two blue-collar inside players, no one really cares about them.

If he gets into position, he gets into position. If he doesn't, Arenas and the others won't wait for the center to get into position.

Why are we waiting for you to take your seats?
Wouldn't that slow down your offensive tempo and give your opponent a chance to set up defense?

This kind of thing cannot be done! It cannot be done at all!
It can be said that the Wizards are a very strange and deceptive team!

A team with a very tall starting lineup but no defense at all, a team with an absolute height advantage but almost no positional warfare or back-to-the-basket play, and just running and throwing the ball all over the court.

But apparently, the Knicks are not afraid of them.

In other words, the team that the Knicks are afraid of now really no longer exists!
They have absolute confidence!

Don't say that the Wizards had three people running and two people watching. Even if they really had five people running together, the Knicks would not be afraid of them.

In this alliance, no one can run or attack better than us!
This is the confidence of the Knicks now!

"Long time no see, Lin." As soon as Arenas saw Lin Tian at Madison Square Garden, he happily ran over and gave Lin Tian a hug: "It's great to see you! After the game tonight, I'll treat you to a game?"

"You decide the venue, no matter how much you spend, I'll pay the bill!"

Just looking at Arenas' expression, you can tell that this guy must have heard about it. At the very least, the management gave him some hints, telling him how much money he can make this summer.

Otherwise, how could this boy be so excited and generous?
Lin Tian still remembers this guy's rookie year. He was so poor that he couldn't even afford a car. When they went out to play together, he secretly stepped on a few banknotes when Webber was throwing money all over the place, and then he put the money into his pocket while swaying happily with the dancers!
It's only been a few years, and this guy is about to sign a contract worth hundreds of millions. Times have changed!

"Gilbert, have you signed your new contract?" Lin Tian said with a smile, "Your old buddy Larry's contract was reduced last season because of his poor performance in the playoffs. What about you? Are you ready?"

"Maybe we can't beat you." Arenas' eyes lit up when he heard this: "But when we play against you, it won't be easy to get better statistics! Boss, you don't know what kind of defense you are!"

"I know our defense is not good." Lin Tian said with a sly smile, "But I am good at defense! Do you believe that I can directly raise your billion-yuan contract to the 8000 million level?"

After Lin Tian finished speaking, he patted Arenas on the shoulder, whistled and left.

He is happy, he feels good when bullying others!

Without paying any attention to the distraught Arenas, Lin Tian walked straight back to the bench. Old Nelson had already gathered all the players and was giving them a final talk about the key points of this series.

"Just play like before. Their defense is worse than ours. We still have a few elite defenders. They have nothing. Okay, go ahead."

Old Nelson waved his hand and sat down on the bench. Facing a team of the level of the Wizards, he was too lazy to say much.

When the team really falls behind, we will find another way.

Lin Tian and others had long been accustomed to old Nelson's style. The five starters walked together consciously, formed a circle, stretched out their hands and put them together, and then shouted.

"champion!"

"Must win!"

The players worked together as one and walked onto the field, ready for the game!
The Knicks certainly did not change any of their starting lineups. Old Nelson was too lazy to bother with this kind of game. The Wizards did the same and brought out their strongest five-man lineup.

Arenas, Butler, Jamison, Jeffries, Haywood.

Haywood walked straight to the center of the court and stood with O'Neal. With the referee's whistle, the game began!
"Snapped!"

The basketball was caught by Okur and he immediately gave it to Lin Tian. The first moment Lin Tian got the ball, he was stunned.

There are too many empty seats!
The Wizards' defense is even better than the Knicks'!

Stoudemire had already run to the three-point line, and no one paid any attention to him.

Anthony was at the 3-point line on the other side, and Jamison was 2 meters away from him.

Houston was running towards the baseline secretly, and Butler, who was supposed to defend him, didn't know where he went.

There were so many opportunities that Lin Tian didn’t know how to choose for a moment!

Hesitated!
Lin Tian rarely showed hesitation on the court!
This hesitation resulted in the disappearance of all three opportunities.

After all, we are all NBA players. Even if the defense is bad or perfunctory, there should be a bottom line. It is not to the point where we don't run any tactics at the beginning and let the Knicks get so many open spaces for a long time for no reason.

"FUXX!"

Lin Tian couldn't help but curse. This time he finally understood what it meant to be dazzled by the sight of so many flowers.

There are too many of them, and it really makes me confused.

"Come on, Lin! Come on!" Arenas also took up his stance, waiting for Lin Tian to attack him.

This guy is 191 cm tall and has a wingspan of over 2 meters. His crazy hard work has given him upper limbs that are so sturdy that they seem a little unreal. No matter how you look at it, this guy is a defensive stalwart.

But unfortunately, Lin Tian knew too well what kind of guy this was. His defense was typical, looking good but not practical.

Lin Tian slowly came to the front court, then took an attacking step forward, and then the basketball changed direction from left to right. He stepped forward with his left foot to block Arenas' position, and then Lin Tian suddenly accelerated again!
"Shh!"

Arenas is gone, left behind by Lin Tian!

Regardless of his positioning, sense of distance, lateral speed, prediction and positioning, Arenas is bad enough!

Lin Tian passed Arenas in one step, went straight into the inside, and then threw the ball suddenly into the air.

Stoudemire, who was following up in the middle, rushed over, jumped high and caught the ball with both hands, and then, as if he had come to Chenxiang on Mount Huashan, he used all his strength with both hands to slam the ball into the basket!

"boom!"

After a loud bang, Stoudemire used both hands to break the mountain and score the first goal for the Knicks!

The whole of Madison was immediately filled with cheers! They came to watch the game just to see this!

Stimulate!

The Wizards were not intimidated by the Knicks' fierce start. Arenas easily asked for the ball and started to advance.

"Boss, you're not really going to beat me to death, are you?" Arenas dribbled the ball while trying to get close to Lin Tian. He just looked stupid, but he was a guy who had practiced so hard and knew his position clearly. What's more important was that he had worked with Lin Tian for two years!

He knew very well who Lin Tian was.

You shouted that you wanted to compete with him, and today Lin Tian will let you know who is the father.

But if you call me dad as soon as you open your mouth, Lin Tianxia will be gentler.

At the very least, they won't press the entire court with all their might!
Arenas saw clearly what happened to Hughes last year!

Before the series against the Pistons, the Wizards management and 6-7 teams in the league all said they would give Hughes a five-year contract worth around $5 million.

But after that round of series, the average salary dropped directly to around 800 million. If the Cavaliers had not been eager for talent and willing to offer a premium contract, Hughes might have had to sign a short-term contract during the offseason to prove himself.

Arenas would never make such a mistake! (End of this chapter)