First in scoring

Chapter 545 544. The playoffs begin!
Yesterday, on the 20th, the Magic and the Cavaliers played their final regular season match, and the two teams tied at 100 in regular time.

In overtime, James made 5 of 3 shots and 4 of 4 free throws, scored 10 points, and also made two assists, leading the team to 15 points in overtime on his own.

He made 33 of 18 shots, including 5 of 2 three-pointers, and 18 of 14 free throws, scoring a season-high 52 points and 9 assists. His performance was outstanding.

但霍华德那边4投4中拿到8分、卡特也拿到了8分并投进了压哨三分绝杀，魔术队最终以116比115险胜骑士队，在老鹰队和热火队的比赛开始之前，就以56胜26负的战绩提前锁定了东部前五。

Since the Magic have lost all four matches against the Bulls, even if the Bulls lose the last game and end up with the same record as the Magic, the Bulls will still rank ahead of the Magic, and the Magic are already certain to be fifth.

At the latest, in the last game, the Hawks defeated the Heat in the regular season finale, with a record of 55 wins and 27 losses, but ultimately they could only finish sixth in the Eastern Conference.

The 16 teams in the regular season have all been determined after the Celtics defeated the Pacers to get 50 wins and blocked the Pacers from the playoffs.

西部，马刺队65胜17负第一、小牛队63胜19负第二、太阳队59胜23负第三、爵士队52胜30负第四、湖人队56胜25负第五、灰熊队53胜29负第六、开拓者队51胜30负第七、雷霆队51胜31负第八。

The Nuggets with 49 wins and 33 losses and the Hornets with 42 wins and 40 losses were unfortunately eliminated.

东部，骑士队64胜18负第一、山猫队57胜24负第二、公牛队56胜25负第三、凯尔特人队50胜32负第四、魔术队56胜26负第五、老鹰队55胜27负第六、雄鹿队42胜40负第七、热火队41胜41负第八。

The Pacers with 40 wins and 42 losses and the Knicks with 39 wins and 43 losses were unfortunately eliminated.

The Cavaliers were on their way again in the first nine games of April, winning eight and losing one, but unfortunately they lost to the Magic in the last game, failing to catch up with the Spurs and finishing second in the league.

Currently, only the Bobcats, Bulls, Jazz and Trail Blazers are likely to change in the rankings.

The Trail Blazers have a 3-1 advantage over the Jazz in the regular season. If they can win the last game, they will be able to surpass the Jazz in direct confrontations, take the top spot in the Northwest Division, rank among the top four in the Western Conference, and pull the Jazz down.

But the Trail Blazers' farewell opponent is the Lakers.

而湖人队到了4月份后打得非常认真，完全是当季后赛打，从4月1号开始，直接一波8连胜，将战绩从48胜25负打到56胜25负！
只可惜竞争对手太阳队表现稳健，4月份10场比赛7胜3负，将52胜20负的战绩提升到59胜23负，提前锁定赛区头名、西部第三，湖人队季末狂飙没像对面山猫队那样冲上去。

But the Lakers' performance in April was undoubtedly the best in the Western Conference, and Kobe is expected to become the only player in the Western Conference to win the Player of the Month award twice this season.

The Blazers’ hopes of grabbing the top spot in the division and advancing to the top four aren’t very high.

In the words of the Portland media, Kobe can't stand seeing others do better in this regard. If he can't make the top four, he definitely doesn't want to see his opponents make the top four...

...

There are actually 5 games today, but people's focus is on the two games: Bobcats vs. Bulls and Lakers vs. Trail Blazers.

As the night came, the Bobcats faced the Bulls in their final regular season match at home.

After the starting players of both teams came onto the court, the director gave a very interesting shot.

First, he slowly scanned the starting lineups of both teams——

Bobcats: Felton, Zhang Yang, Marion, Millsap, Okafor; Bulls: Hinrich, Sefolosha, Ronald Murray, Luol Deng, Yao Ming.

Next is the substitute——

Bobcats: Collison, Afflalo, Cunningham, Hill, Perkins, Ibaka, O'Neal.

From mid-March to early April, for about three weeks, Carlisle moved Afflalo to the starting lineup, let Zhang Yang play small forward, put Hill back to the second lineup, and let Hill and Marion play as substitutes at power forward and small forward according to game needs. The main purpose was to strengthen Marion's training so that he could swing in more positions. He also tried to defend shooting guards.

On the offensive end, it is difficult for Marion to return to his former self. His long-range shots are not as accurate, and his cuts into the basket are no longer sharp, but his attitude is completely different from last season with the Raptors. He is very active in wing screens and does not shoot randomly. And the most important point - his sense of position. His excellent sense of position that he had next to Kidd and Nash is back.

On the defensive end, although Marion is no longer the comprehensive defensive expert who can defend the edge of the defense and has comprehensive skills and can defend 1-4, after the Bobcats patiently trained him for a whole season, Marion's defensive performance at the three position is almost the same as Hill, and he is better than Hill at the power forward position and is almost catching up with Millsap. Maybe after a wave of intensity in the playoffs, he can become the best comprehensive defensive player on the Bobcats' front line.

Jordan and Carlisle both have high hopes for Marion, expecting him to replace the aging Hill and become the next old baby of the team.

It was this point about Matthews that made the Charlotte media feel it was a pity. During the time when Afflalo started, Matthews became a member of the main rotation of the backcourt, averaging 7 points and 2 rebounds per game. His offensive and defensive performances were good. It can be seen that he has transformed over the season, but as the playoffs approached, he was still excluded from the roster.

This may have a certain impact on Matthews' contract renewal during the offseason, but if Matthews makes the roster, Ibaka will not. Both the local media and fans prefer Ibaka, after all, he came first and is an inside player.

Bulls: Lynch Hunter, C.J. Watson, Nocioni, Kareem Rush, Tyrus Thomas, Rasheed Wallace, Brad Miller.

The Bulls made a lot of moves last summer and during the regular season trading window this season. Except for Nocioni and Tyrus Thomas, all other substitutes were replaced, and most of them were short-term contracts or expiring contracts. The quality of outside players was relatively poor, but the addition of Tianzun and Big White Bear in the inside line gave Yao Ming the inside depth he had never had in his life.

Moreover, the "quality" of the outside line is a little worse, referring to the individual ability compared with the outside line of the opposing Bobcats. Matthews, who performed quite well at the end of the season, cannot play in the playoffs unless there are special circumstances. The Bulls are really no match for them. The level of the Bobcats' draft picks last year was too high.

The Bulls have a clear focus in recruiting players with short contracts, rich experience, and suitable for cooperation with the three cores.

Under the coaching of Big White Bear and Tianzun, Yao Ming has successfully transformed this season. As of tonight, he has played in 72 games, averaging 30 minutes per game, scoring 17.5 points, 8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2 blocks.

Due to the increase in mid-range shots and long two-pointers, and more mid-range passes from the high post and on the wing, Yao Ming's shooting percentage dropped from around 54% in the previous two seasons to 50%, but it freed up the inside line and created an opportunity for Luol Deng to impact the first line.

It's a pity that Luol Deng's offensive talent ceiling is indeed not enough, and he was eliminated in the mid-term. He played 80 games this season and averaged 19.7 points per game. Like Iguodala, once he fell in the mid-term, he could never get back to the ranks of top scorers averaging 20+ points in the later period.

This means that you are destined to be the second in command.

After watching this sweeping shot, commentators from many TV stations expressed it directly or implicitly - these are the two strongest teams in the Eastern Conference.

The commentators of Guangdong Sports in China are much more direct - king versus king!

The game started on time at 8 o'clock.

The two teams played very tensely at the beginning. In the words of Zhang Weiping, their playing style was that each team played their own game and neither team wanted to follow the other team's rhythm.

On the offensive end, Yao Ming is always in the high post or on the wing when he doesn't have to be steady. When he blocks sideways, he is like a wall. He is also very good at assisting and passing the ball. The best thing about him is that he makes few mistakes, which is the essence of Brad Miller. One of the best things about the Big White Bear is that he averages 3 assists per game in his career and only 1.6 turnovers per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio is comparable to many point guards.

On the defensive end, Luol Deng played power forward and was at a disadvantage defending Millsap, but he made up for Yao Ming's lack of mobility to a great extent. The Bulls' ability to shrink and expand defense increased a lot. Although it is not as good as the last year of Big Ben's peak, it is much better than last season.

Moreover, the lineup of one big and four small players greatly avoided a disadvantage they had when playing against the Bobcats before - they were easily misplaced by Zhang Yang.

It can be said that Skiles' adjustment was aimed at dealing with the Bobcats.

However, facing the adjusted Bulls, the Bobcats have already played against them three times. The opponent that Carlisle cares most about in the Eastern Conference is the Bulls. As early as the beginning of the regular season, when he saw the performance of the Bulls after adjusting their playing style, he began to think about how to deal with this opponent. With many experiences of playing against them and a long period of research, he now has a complete response plan.

It’s just what Zhang Weiping joked about - fight each other.

Since it is difficult to target the Bulls' starting lineup of one big and four small players, just drag the game out and wait until the opposing big inside player comes on the court.

The Bobcats executed the new strategy well in their first try. Although they fell behind 19-23 in the first quarter, they responded with a 26-22 score in the second quarter and tied the Bulls at 45!
After the halftime break, the Bulls tried to regain the advantage, but were hit hard by Zhang Yang at the very beginning.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Zhang Yang first made a steal and then a three-pointer;
After the Bobcats defended Luol Deng's cut-in jumper, Zhang Yang received the ball on the right side of the arc and jumped directly against Sefrosa's defense, hitting a fadeaway three-pointer;
Yao Ming turned around and went to the low post to single out O'Neal and made a hook shot, but when the Bobcats started to attack, Zhang Yang received the ball and jumped on the right side of the top arc. This time, Hinrich directly double-teamed him. Zhang Yang jumped in the confrontation and swung the ball to the left. Felton received the ball on the left side of the top arc and made a three-pointer that went straight into the basket.

With both guns working together, the third quarter started with a 9-2 lead!

54 to 47, the Bobcats took a 7-point lead, but the Bulls called a timeout after only two minutes!
This is not the first time the Bulls have seen this scene. They have seen it many times when watching videos, and they themselves experienced it in last year's playoffs.

But there was no way to block it. Zhang Yang threw the ball into the defense. If Hinrich didn't go up to block his lower body, he would definitely continue to throw...

After the timeout, the Bulls fought hard and scored 3 points in more than 10 minutes with good efficiency, but the Bobcats also scored 7 points. Then Luol Deng cut in and passed the ball in a hurry. Hinrich, who came out of the pile, had not yet gotten around Yao Ming, and the ball was cut away by Okafor who was retreating and switching defense. Zhang Yang received the ball and counterattacked, passing it to Felton who cut in. Felton forced his way into the inside and caused Sefrosa who was retreating to foul, and the ball was thrown in, 2+1!

Felton also made the free throw, and halfway through the third quarter, the score was 64 to 57, and the difference was still 7 points! The Bobcats scored 17 to 12 in the first half!
For a long time afterwards, the two teams were fighting around a difference of just over 5 points, and the game was very tense. When the official timeout came in the final quarter, the score was 84 to 79, with the Bobcats leading by 5 points. In the last 12 minutes of game time, the Bulls beat the Bobcats by two points with a score of 22 to 20.

After the timeout, the Bobcats sent out a combination of Felton, Afflalo, Zhang Yang, Okafor, and O'Neal; the Bulls sent out a combination of Hinrich, Sefolosha, Nocioni, Rasheed Wallace, and Yao Ming.

Both sides put on their strongest lineups, ready for the final fight.

This time, the Bobcats won!
O'Neal scored twice against Yao Ming in the low post and assisted Okafor with a mid-range shot, helping Zhang Yang withstand the pressure brought by Yao Ming's main attack!
From 31 kg on Kobe's 162st birthday, to 160 kg at the end of training camp, to 156 kg during the All-Star Weekend, and now to 148 kg, O'Neal's weight loss has made the Bobcats coaching staff, training staff, and even the team medical staff collapse, but the effect is finally showing!

O'Neal, who had played for 14 minutes in the first half of the second quarter and the first half of the third quarter, rested for more than ten minutes and then went back in the final quarter after the official timeout. He was able to fight with Yao Ming for a few more rounds!
The Bulls wanted to close the gap with Yao Ming's attack and defense, but O'Neal ruined it! 90 to 85, Yao Ming scored 3 goals in a row, but the Bobcats still led by 5 points!
Then Zhang Yang began to exert his strength, challenging two All-Star players, Hinrich and Luol Deng. In the last 4 minutes or so, he scored 6 points and 2 assists. O'Neal scored two points by catching a pass under the basket, and Afflalo, who was left open on the wing, made a three-pointer, and the Bulls beat the score 11 to 7!

The final whistle sounded amid the cheers of the fans.

张杨31分6助攻、费尔顿15分4助攻、奥尼尔14分6板2助攻、奥卡福12分13板，山猫队四人得分上双，力压25分7板4助攻的姚明、16分的罗尔-邓、23分的辛里奇，山猫队以101比92力克公牛队！
With 58 wins and 24 losses, the Bobcats finished the 09-10 regular season with a record of second in the Eastern Conference and tied with the Suns for fourth in the league!
Yao Ming played for 38 minutes tonight, breathing heavily and his embarrassed face became an emoticon.

Although he was very regretful last summer for not being able to form the strongest center line with O'Neal, he was not so regretful after the regular season started. The O'Neal in his mind at that time was the big shark who performed second only to Bynum in the Western Conference last season, was stronger than Bynum in his best physical period, and was selected as an All-Star. But O'Neal in the first and middle stages of this season was just a fat guy who needed his teammates to clean up his mess.

Unexpectedly, in the final positioning battle, they lost because they failed to defend O'Neal!

Yao Ming feels annoyed when thinking about playing against the Hawks in the first round. That "fifth youngest team in the league" who doesn't know how to respect the elderly is really too much. With so much experience in dealing with the Hawks' outside players, can't they be a little more considerate of these old guys?

In terms of age, the champions of the past two seasons have been at two extremes. The Bobcats are one of the youngest teams, while the Bulls are one of the oldest teams.

Without long-term contracts, without bargaining chips, and yet requiring experience, the Bulls recruited veterans during the offseason and mid-term trading window. Yao Ming from the 02 class, Hinrich from the 03 class, and Luol Deng from the 04 class were all considered young players on the Bulls...Luol Deng is really young, having just turned 25 in the middle of the month, otherwise the Bulls would not have thought of having him succeed Yao Ming as the team's star player.

But it seems that this idea has been shattered. As long as Yao Ming's playing time and number of shots increase, he can easily return to the ranks of top inside scorers averaging 20+ points per game. However, Luol Deng is 25 years old and it is difficult for him to become a first-class outside scorer averaging 20+ points per game.

Yao Ming calmed down and went to face the camera with Zhang Yang. Since they had already lost, they might as well try their best to defeat the Hawks in the first round!
...

As soon as the game between the Bobcats and the Bulls ended, the Lakers' home game against the Trail Blazers began.

The Portland media really understands Kobe. Kobe played very hard tonight. If he didn't make the top four, how could he watch the Trail Blazers make the top four by being the first in the division? They must be killed!
Of course, there is more than one reason. In the eyes of other teams, the Jazz are more difficult to deal with than the Trail Blazers. Sloan's double-kill system is too perfect, and Sloan's on-the-spot response is also excellent. The playoffs are extremely difficult, and Yao Ming has a deep understanding of this. They were leading 2-0, but were reversed by the opponent 4-3.

But in Kobe's opinion, playing against the Jazz in the playoffs is much easier than playing against the Trail Blazers.

最终，25投12中拿到36分的科比，力压22投10中拿到28分的罗伊，湖人队以99比90击败开拓者队，将战绩提升到57胜25负，把开拓者队摁在西部第七。

With the end of this game, the playoff bracket was released.

On the 25th, four series will begin: Cavaliers vs. Heat, Magic vs. Celtics, Mavericks vs. Trail Blazers, and Suns vs. Grizzlies.

On the 26th, the Bobcats vs. Bucks, Bulls vs. Hawks, Lakers vs. Jazz, and Spurs vs. Thunder will be held in succession.

They will play against the Jazz again in the first round. Los Angeles fans are very happy, and Dallas fans are also very happy that they don’t have to play against the Jazz in the first round!

The Lakers' victory over the Trail Blazers is good for both the Lakers and the Mavericks.

As the regular season came to an end, all the major rankings, award predictions, and first-round matchup predictions came out. Starting from the middle of the season, Zhang Yang's 20-miss attempts per game soared, and his scoring also soared. By the end of the regular season, his career 20-miss attempts per game in the regular season had temporarily stopped at 19 times, an increase of 7 times in a season, more than the previous season and the season before... His final average score was 31.5 points, surpassing Durant's 30.8 points per game and Anthony's 30.7 points per game, winning the scoring title for three consecutive years!
Howard averaged 13.5 rebounds per game to win the rebounding title, Nash averaged 11.5 assists per game to win the assist title, Zhang Yang averaged 2.9 steals per game to win the steal title, and Howard averaged 2.7 blocks per game to win the block title.

In the three-point list, Zhang Yang is far ahead, averaging 8.5 shots per game and 41.2 three-pointers per game with a hit rate of 3.5%. No other team has an average of more than 3 three-pointers per game this season.

Second place...Curry, averaging 8 three-point shots per game and making 36.25 three-pointers per game with a hit rate of 2.9%!
By the end of 2009, Curry's three-point shooting percentage had dropped below 35%. Normally, the shooting percentage of rookies will gradually decline, even for players with strong immediate combat effectiveness like Evans and Mayo. Curry's overall shooting percentage has indeed declined. In the middle and late stages of the season, his mid-range and under-the-basket shooting percentages have fluctuated greatly, but his three-point shooting has bucked the trend, increasing from 35% to 36%+!

An average of 8 three-pointers per game seems to be Curry's current limit, and he is not able to throw more. However, the nearly two percentage point increase in his shooting percentage has allowed him to surpass Ray Allen, who averaged 2.8 three-pointers per game, and rank second on the three-point list!

However, Ray Allen, who averaged 2.8 three-pointers per game, only took 6.2 three-pointers per game with a hit rate of 45.1%, second only to Kings small forward Korver's 46.9%.

Looking at the entire NBA, the only ones who can maintain a high hit rate with three-pointers are Zhang Yang and Ray Allen.

But this is enough to make people look at Curry differently. Zhang Yang's success paved a broader road for Curry in the early stage of his career, allowing the Knicks to tolerate his three-point shooting percentage of less than 35% at one time.

At the same time, Curry was also targeted by many opponents - if I can't beat Zhang San, how can I beat you, a primary school student?

Of course, the reason why Curry has been targeted so much this season is also because he is in New York. High exposure and easy to win awards are the advantages of being in New York, but it is also easy to become a thorn in the eyes of other stars.

In terms of award predictions, the next day, on the morning of the 22nd, after the league announced the new monthly best awards, the three major awards lost their suspense.

James defeated Zhang Yang and Howard to win the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award for April, while Durant defeated Kobe and Nash to win the Western Conference Player of the Month award.

With 4 Player of the Month awards, an average of 27+8+8 per game, and a record that is first in the Eastern Conference and second in the NBA, James has secured the MVP award.

Howard is far ahead in the competition for the best defensive player. At the beginning of this season, Duncan had a very high voice for the best defensive player, but after his playing time decreased, he had no chance.

Evans, dominating the rookie list, averaged 80 points, 20.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 6 steals in 1.5 games. Although his shooting percentage has dropped from 47% at the beginning of the season, it is still an outstanding performance of 45.3%.

However, although April's Player of the Month award brought James one step closer to the MVP, it was also very controversial. Durant was also controversial.

The praise was a bit too obvious this time. In fact, Durant's performance in April showed that he was still young and lacked strength. In 4 games, he "only" averaged 10 points. His original average was 28+, but it dropped to 31. In fact, Rose has more stamina in the later part of the season.

But the main reason is that the Lakers won all 4 games in April and Kobe averaged 9 points per game.

James' performance in April was not as good as Zhang Yang's, and he was defeated head-on by Howard in his final match.

Look, while some media are hyping up James's MVP status, other media are discussing whether James can make it through the second round.

There are fans of the Cavaliers who have transformed themselves into "fans of the 60s Celtics" without changing their IPs, saying they expect the Celtics to beat the Magic in the first round.

The No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference made people worry whether they could make it through the second round, and no one discussed whether they had a chance of winning the championship. The public opinion on the No. 1 team in the Western Conference was even more tragic.

The calls for the Thunder to win the eighth place are growing!

Last season, the Spurs were also ranked first in the Western Conference, but were eliminated by the Jazz in the first round. Even Nowitzki was easily eliminated by a few points.

This season, Rose + Durant, coupled with the inside group of Jordan Jr., Kostic, Muhammad, and the sixth man Shaun Livingston picked up from the Clippers for free... Yes, the Clippers did it again, the turtle took the top spot, and the bearded man's big contract could not be thrown away. In order to save money, Sterling gave Livingston, who was in the second year of the 08-year, 4 million contract renewed in 2800, to the Thunder for free.

This deal surprised many teams during the All-Star Weekend, especially those rebuilding teams that needed a core point guard in the backcourt. Livingston is not even 25 years old yet! He played as a substitute for the Clippers in the first half of the season, averaging 50 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 4.2 games. I don't know how many teams were jealous of him, but who would have thought that the Clippers would sell him at such a price.

If the Clippers want to reduce salaries for expiring small contracts, they can do so. Not only can they offer small contracts, but they can also give two more draft picks.

Sources revealed that the Thunder only made a tentative offer because they lacked good guards and wanted Durant to return to the small forward position. They were prepared to give 1-2 first-round picks. The Thunder's first-round picks are not that valuable now, but the Clippers didn't want anything and just wanted to reduce salaries.

The Clippers' move is comparable to the one in 03 when they didn't even make an offer to free agent Odom, allowing the Heat to sign him without a formality. In the end, the Heat traded Odom and Butler for O'Neal.

The main reason is that the Clippers' salary this season is a little high. In the summer of 05, Baylor made an excellent operation to help the Clippers build a strong lineup. The team made it to the playoffs for the first time in history and reached the second round, suppressing his old club next door. He also won the Best Manager Award, but then the Clippers were full of injuries and left with a lot of long-term contracts.

After Baylor was fired, the Clippers have thrown away a lot of contracts, giving Brand away for free, using Camby's long-term contract to exchange for the expiring contract of LaFrentz who was unable to play due to injury...all to save money. After using Livingston to exchange for the Thunder's 35-year-old veteran Ryan Bowen, who had one year and $1 million left on his contract, the Clippers' total salary successfully dropped below the luxury tax threshold.

Although the Thunder may not be as strong as the Jazz, they are younger and more energetic, and they performed very well in March and April. Durant's Player of the Month award was only controversial, not unworthy, because the Thunder played really well in April. After pulling the Nuggets out of the playoffs in March, they held the Nuggets back and did not let them overtake again.

The Thunder's first playoff trip in team history is therefore highly anticipated.

'The first playoff trip in the history of the Thunder' became a hot topic after the regular season ended. The official information of the Thunder reads 'Team was established in 2008, and the number of championships in team history: 1'.

In addition to whether the Cavaliers can get through the second round and whether the Spurs will be eliminated in the eighth round, there are still many things to watch in the first round.

James vs. Wade, the Bulls' three-man defense vs. the Hawks' perimeter stars, Kobe vs. the new double team, Nowitzki vs. the black power forward who is said to be the most like him...

As for Zhang Yang, the first round is also interesting. Jennings, like Wade of the Bobcats in the first round, called out the slogan of "sweeping the underdogs and defeating the strong".

Zhang Yang originally thought that their series was the least interesting and received the least attention. Judging from their regular season matches, the strength gap between their group was the biggest, even bigger than that between the Lakers and the Utah Jazz.

Unexpectedly, the little blacksmith from the East actually helped him earn some publicity!
...

It was April 4th, and after three days of preparation, the playoffs began.

As the first round begins, the league is also announcing regular season awards.

Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown defeated the Spurs' Popovich, the Thunder's Scott Brooks, the Mavericks' Philip Saunders and the Suns' Alvin Gentry to win the Best Coach Award.

Of the five head coaches who received votes, four were from the Western Conference. The news headline was: Mike Brown defeated the Western Conference alone.

Bucks general manager John Hammond won the Executive of the Year Award.

Bucks: I want to improve so much!

After John Hammond won the award, some media reviewed his operations since he became the general manager of the Bucks. Even the "breakup of the team and gifting away" were all operations of excellent standard. He nursed a bunch of teams that might have competed with them for high draft picks half to death. The draft was generally acceptable, and now they are back in the playoffs again.

But the Bucks have a really bad fate. Every time they seem to be on their way up, they collapse due to internal strife, injuries and other reasons.

If the Bucks owner wasn't a person who truly loves basketball and gave his full support, John Hammond would have resigned several times.

For the best sixth man, Ginobili of the Spurs won the award for the second time, defeating strong opponents such as Marcus Thornton, Eric Gordon, Jason Terry, Jamal Crawford, and Livingston.

最快进步奖，尼克斯队的哈登拿奖，从场均13+3+3，到场均18+4+6。

Erha: After I won the award, Zhang San called and said he had a bad feeling and he didn’t know why.

The most interesting thing is that the second place player of the Most Improved Award is Kevin Durant, who improved from 25 points per game to 30.8 points per game. The third place is also a player from the Thunder, Rose, who improved from 14+6 per game in his rookie year to 19+7.

If it was the one-person-one-vote voting system of the early years, the three people who had made "similar progress" might have won the award together. The difference in score between the first, second, and third place would have been only about 3%.

For the best rookie, Evans had an incredible advantage, with a 95.2% first choice rate, 105 of the 100 first-place votes, and 54% of the points, beating Curry who received 4 first-place votes and Jennings who received 1 first-place vote.

For the best defensive player, Howard received 95 first-place votes, with a first-choice rate of over 9%, and won the award with a 52.4% share of the total points.

In terms of MVP, James' first choice rate is also extremely high, and his performance in many aspects this season has been greatly recognized.

He received 105 of the 90 first-place votes, with a first-choice rate of 85.7%. With a scoring share of 41%, he defeated Zhang Yang, Howard, Nash, Durant, and Rose, and was elected the regular season MVP for the first time in his career.

As the awards are announced day by day, the first round of competitions is gradually coming to an end.

The harder Jennings yelled, the harder he was beaten.

首战以86比110告负，输了24分；G2以86比108告负，输了22分；G3以91比111告负，输了20分；G4以95比108告负，输了13分。

Zhang Yang scored 46 points in the first game and averaged 4 points in the four games. Together with Afflalo and Collison, he defended Jennings to an average of 35.5 misses per game and 14 of 21 shots per game... They are professionals in bullying weak players, especially such a stubborn weak player.

After the series, Bucks fans were joking: "Look at it from a positive perspective. We are improving, right? The points difference is getting smaller and smaller. If we play 10 games in the series, we will definitely win one day."

The series between the Bobcats and the Bucks is the least suspenseful round in the Eastern Conference. There are also two series without suspense in the Western Conference.

One of the groups is the Lakers vs. the Jazz.

Although the Lakers are fifth, they have a better record. They started at home, and although they didn't win as many games as the Bobcats, they still won by 31 points in total, winning 101-86 and 94-78 respectively. In G3, the Jazz, playing at home, seemed to have given up resistance, their defense collapsed, and the Lakers scored 122 points, but the Jazz themselves did not have a strong offense, and still only scored 81 points, suffering a tragic 41-point loss.

In Game 4, the Lakers started to play casually, easily defeating the Jazz 105-96 and sweeping 4-0 to advance to the second round.

Another series in the Western Conference that did not produce any suspense surprised many people and also allowed many angry fans to vent their anger - the Spurs vs. Thunder.

Throughout the series, the Spurs shot 51%, 3 percentage points higher than the regular season, averaging 111 points per game, higher than the Bobcats' 109 points per game and the Lakers' 105.5 points per game. They swept the Thunder with absolute advantage and advanced to the second round.

This result may seem surprising, but if you look at the 14-win gap between the two teams, the Spurs' winning rate of about 8% from the beginning to the end of the regular season, and the Thunder's bleeding Durant and Rose C at the end of the season, they had to rely on picking up a bargain and getting a top sixth man, Livingston, from the Clippers to lock in a playoff spot in the last few days. It's actually not surprising.

The gap in strength between the Thunder and the Spurs is not much smaller than the gap in strength between the Heat and the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers then defeated the Heat 4-1. Wade's individual performance was not inferior to James, and he even had the upper hand in the few stalemate stages, but the overall strength gap was too big, and the Heat were eliminated without much suspense.

The fifth team to advance was the Magic. Howard, who was at his peak, let the Celtics' ordinary first- and second-tier stars see what a "superstar" is. In five games, he averaged 5 points, 5 rebounds and 18.2 blocks, leading the Magic to a 16.2-5.2 victory over the Celtics and meeting James in the second round.

The remaining three series were extremely tense.

The Trail Blazers were tougher than Dallas fans expected. The Mavericks actually had a big advantage at the beginning, leading 3-0. Roy was injured and left the game in Game 2, and was said to be reimbursed, but he came back in Game 4 and led the team to win two games in a row, narrowing the gap to 2-3. Fortunately, in Game 6, Nowitzki went wild in the second half, scoring 9 points in the third quarter and 12 points in the fourth quarter, leading the team to beat the Trail Blazers 109-104 and finally advancing to the second round with a score of 4-2.

The Bulls and the Hawks played in a relatively "traditional" way, defending each other's home court. In G5, the Bulls won the decisive battle at home with a score of 87 to 83. In G6, Yao Ming and Hinrich scored a total of 50 points to defeat the Hawks in one fell swoop, advancing to the second round with a score of 4 to 2, and meeting Zhang Yang again.

The process looks simple, but the game is very intense. The Hawks players are too strong in the playoffs, and they have a lot of outside stars who can perform well. The Bulls, like the Bobcats in the past two years, won by relying on their inside advantage. Horford was beaten again.

The Grizzlies are worthy of the title of the league's biggest troublemaker, and the Suns became the unlucky ones. After the Suns won two home games, they took the absolute initiative in the second away game, leading 3-1. However, they were dragged into a game seven by Gerald Wallace!

On May 5, the first games of the second round between the Cavaliers and Magic, Lakers and Spurs all came, and the Suns defeated the Grizzlies 7-4 in a tiebreaker to advance to the second round, and the score was 3-111. The Grizzlies were just a little short of three points, otherwise the Suns would have been reversed and defeated.

On May 5th, at the Charlotte Turkish Airlines Arena, Zhang Yang and Yao Ming stepped onto the same court again, and the second season of the China Derby playoffs began!

(End of this chapter)