Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 230 Another hunter is born!

The Pacers, with 65 wins and 17 losses, rank second in the league.

The first is the Lakers, whose final record was 67 wins and 15 losses.

The Celtics were originally ranked second in the Eastern Conference, but this time they lost three consecutive games to the Pacers in the regular season, and they lost by more than 20 points in each game. This caused their defense to break continuously and their form to fluctuate, so they lost 5 to 6 games more than originally expected, with only 55 wins and 27 losses.

Dropped to fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers, second in the Eastern Conference, have 60 wins this year.

This is a height that LeBron has never reached when working with any "superstar" in the past. However, this year he achieved this by working with a group of "ordinary players".

ESPN said: "Obviously, LeBron James has the ability to lead the team alone, but it is also a fact that he cannot cooperate with other superstars. This was not a problem, but now it is a big problem!"

In today's league, which championship team doesn't have two or three "giants"?

How far LeBron can go in the playoffs as the only core of the team is actually an unknown.

After all, he has not yet proven his ability on the playoff stage.

It is generally recognized that the team's only trip to the Eastern Conference Finals was due to Shaquille O'Neal.

The New York Times took a different approach, saying, "LeBron should be thankful that he was born in Akron. If he was born in New York, where there are more talented high school students, he might not have become the 'chosen one'!"

This also points out the problem that LeBron James cannot coexist peacefully with "super giant" players.

At the same time, he cursed...

LeBron is just a local dog from a small place!

Facing these doubts, LeBron's answer was: "Before the start of this season, no media believed that we could get 60 wins, but we did it!"

The Cleveland media was hyping him up, believing that he should win this year's regular season MVP.

But only the Cleveland media thinks so.

The last meeting between the Cavaliers and the Pacers this season was seen by many media as the battle for this year's regular season MVP. As a result, the Pacers won the only game with more than 10 points in the three games against the Cavaliers this season, while limiting LeBron to only 18 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 turnovers.

This is far from his average data this season.

It’s just that the Cleveland media pretends to have amnesia and deliberately avoids talking about this game.

But in fact, many media said after that game: "This year's regular season MVP competition is over!"

It is certainly amazing that LeBron led a "commoner team" to 60 wins in the regular season, but at the same time, Suwan had a "time bomb" wrapped around him, but still led the Pacers back to the top of the Eastern Conference, which is not something that can be done easily.

What's more, Suwan has definitely brought surprises to the media this season.

He is the absolute core of the Pacers' defense this season and a hot favorite for the "Best Defensive Player Award".

This is another proof that he won the regular season MVP.

In this situation where both players had enough reasons to win the regular season MVP, the battle between the two sides became particularly important, and Su Wan eventually won.

But the Cleveland media disagreed.

Because in their opinion, Suwan also lost to the Mavericks that year, but didn’t he still win the regular season MVP?
So a regular season game doesn't mean anything.

Ok……

They once again overlooked the fact that although Suwan lost the game that year, his "superb show" in the last quarter directly convinced everyone on the Mavericks.

LeBron's performance was completely the opposite. Instead of being "super god", he was "super ghost"!

The Hawks were able to reach the 5th place in the Eastern Conference mainly because Wade was injured in the last 7 games. Although this did not affect his average score of 30.5 points per game and won this year's "scoring champion", in the days without him, the Heat only won 7 games in 2 games. If nothing unexpected happens, they will be eliminated in the first round of this year.

There's not much to say about Detroit, which is seventh, and Chicago, which is eighth.

People going up the mountain and people going down the mountain.

The first team in the Western Conference is the Lakers, the second is the Nuggets, the third is the Spurs, the fourth is the Trail Blazers, the fifth is the Mavericks, the sixth is the Jazz, the seventh is the Hornets, and the eighth is the Phoenix Suns.

The Nuggets didn't get Chauncey Billups this time, but they got Baron Davis in a trade with the Warriors. Coupled with a more dynamic front line and the "championship experience" that Foster brought to the team, they still finished second in the Western Conference.

Carmelo Anthony also has the title of "the ripe fruit falls on the table".

There is not much to say about the other teams, they basically maintained their original rankings.

The Rockets, who were originally ranked fifth in the Western Conference this season, did not make the playoffs...

The Houston media should miss Yao Ming especially now!

But unfortunately, the more they miss Yao Ming, the more comfortable Yao Ming's life in Los Angeles becomes.

Not to mention anything else, just this advertisement, I have received so many offers.

There are still too many wealthy advertisers in Los Angeles.

On the second day after the regular season came to an end, the league announced the "Rookie of the Year" of this season, and Derrick Rose won the award with almost no controversy with 53.13% of the votes.

The "08 generation" still has a lot of combat power, and there are as many as 2 newcomers with an average score of more than double digits.

Among them, Derrick Rose's average points per game was not the highest, but he still won the award.

This also made the Memphis media very unhappy.

The Chicago media directly used Su Wan's words to ridicule them: "How can the future overseas league star be compared with the future regular season MVP?"

Pay attention to emotional intelligence!

The Chicago media cleverly replaced the Chinese CBA league with overseas leagues.

They have not forgotten that Su Wan comes from the CBA league.

As soon as these words were spoken, the Memphis media became even more unhappy, and a verbal battle ensued between the two sides.

The league announced this season's "Best Sixth Man":
小奥尼尔以场均16.5分7.5篮板2.5助攻1.5盖帽，投篮命中率50%的数据战胜了原本的“最佳第六人”得主贾森-特里。

Terry's average statistics are good, averaging 19.6 points per game, and his firepower is comparable to that of the starters.

But the team's record and the energy he provides as the sixth man have no advantage over O'Neal Jr.

Moreover, O'Neal's transformation into a sixth man was even more difficult. The league loves such stories!

Therefore, he finally defeated Jason Terry with 38.4% of the votes to 32.1% and was elected "Best Sixth Man" for the first time in his career.

After this award was announced, the playoffs officially began.

The Pacers' first playoff game, facing:
Derrick Rose and his Chicago Bulls.

The Chicago media directly used "future regular season MVP and current regular season MVP" to describe this series, which is clearer:
Guide chess!
They all knew that Derrick Rose was definitely no match for Suwan right now, let alone the others, so they didn't think they could win even a single game in this series.

But as long as Derrick Rose can play with style and at his best level, it will be enough for them!
The Chicago Bulls starting lineup for this season is:
Derrick Rose at center, Ben Gordon at two, Luol Deng at three, Tyrus Thomas at four, and Joakim Noah at five.

Rose's arrival activated Joakim Noah.

This gave this "jack of all trades" No. 5 position a stage to perform, and he gradually moved from a substitute to a starter.

Therefore, a player's success in the NBA is not only closely related to his own ability, but also has a certain relationship with luck.

Many people say that if the Hornets had insisted on keeping Kobe, he might not have achieved such great success.

There is no way to verify this statement, so no one knows whether it is right or wrong.

But one thing is clear, Noah became the starting center after Derrick Rose joined the Bulls, and then grew into a top center in the league!
However, that will be at least 2 years later.

Derrick Rose is still very young now, and so is Noah. His skills are as rough as his bun.

As for everyone else…

Ben Gordon has no defensive ability.

Tyus Thomas is just a "rough guy" who has simply maximized his physical explosiveness and is about to fall out of the Bulls' starting lineup.

In fact, if the Bulls had not made that trade in 06 and had drafted Aldridge instead...

Then their ranking this season is more than just eighth!

Of course, if they really keep Aldridge, they will most likely not get Derrick Rose.

Therefore, many choices seem regrettable, but in fact they are all linked together.

Take the Cavaliers for example, if it weren't for James and Elon Musk locking up all the salary space and leaving a lot of "junk contracts" that prevented the team from making trades, would they be able to get so many "No. 1 picks" in the future?

Without these "No. 1 picks", where can they bring back James?

From this perspective, the Cavaliers should thank "Manager James"!
The first game of this series was played at the Pacers' home court. The Pacers won a big victory with a score of 109 to 90, by 19 points, with almost no effort.

The only impression Indiana people have of the Bulls is that the point guard is so fast that Billups can't stop him at all.

Apart from this, they had no impression of the Bulls in this game.

This shows how one-sided the game was.

This process lasted for four games, from Indiana to Chicago, from the Pacers' home court to the Bulls' home court. The fans on the sidelines changed, but the game process was like a copy and paste. The Pacers took the lead from the start, gradually gaining a larger point advantage, until they won the game with a big score in the end.

Derrick Rose performed well in the first game, scoring 34 points, second only to Suwan's 36 points that year.

Such a wonderful debut gave the Chicago media the confidence to compare him with Suwan.

It's a bit regrettable that:

Derrick Rose only played this one amazing game, and his performance in the next three games was getting worse and worse, and his on-court statistics gradually lost their "star quality". In the last game, he only got 14 points and 6 assists.

However, all in all, he still averaged 21.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6 assists in four games.

After the game, Su Wan hugged the "budding" rose and gave his blessing: "The future is yours!"

In fact, this is really a blessing, but Tim Duncan originally gave this sentence to LeBron, and then added "but now it's mine", which made this sentence popular and turned it into a classic "NBA quote".

The Chicago media at the scene quickly used their cameras to record the scene.

During this period, the league successively announced the season's "Best General Manager" and "Best Head Coach".

Both awards went to the Pacers.

There is no need to say more about "best general manager".

If Larry Bird, who completed a rebuilding deal, fails to win this year's award, the Indiana media will suggest that the league cancel the award.

This is the second time Rick Carlisle has won this award in his career.

The last time was when the Pacers had a season of 72 wins and 10 losses, tying the "best record in history."

He narrowly beat Mike Brown this season.

The reason is:
The stability of the Pacers locker room is inseparable from Rick Carlisle.

If it was Mike Brown on this Pacers team, I'm afraid the locker room would have exploded long ago!

Look...

Not only the players, but also the type of players the head coach encounters actually determines his own career.

This head coach who is not good at dealing with stars has become the "ancient Greek god of a stable locker room" because of Suwan in the locker room!
He also relied on this ability to defeat Mike Brown and won this year's "Best Head Coach Award"!
If the original Rick Carlisle knew this...

I will definitely say to myself now: Why don’t you kowtow to Su Wan?
After the Pacers entered the second round, the Cavaliers quickly eliminated the Pistons 4-1 and successfully entered the second round of the playoffs. Take a look at the Magic next door:

Huh~
Do we have to fight one more game to advance?
What else is there to say?

"Strongly advanced to the semifinals, LeBron James has entered his peak period!"

"By eliminating the Pistons once again, LeBron proved that even without Shaquille O'Neal, the Pistons can't stop him!"

"The Cavaliers have only one goal for the playoffs this season, and that is to defeat the Pacers and get revenge!"

"Pacers, don't think you are safe, LeBron and the Cavaliers are already targeting you!"

……

The Magic are completely invisible to LeBron's team and the Cleveland media.

Various reports either boast that LeBron has entered the true peak of his career; or they imagine the Cavaliers advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, then defeating the Pacers, completing their revenge, and playing the most exciting season.

The Magic then eliminated the Heat 4-2 and successfully joined them.

After defeating the Heat, Stan Van Gundy was very angry.

The Orlando media was naturally furious at the Cleveland people's contempt.

Like the Cleveland media, Orlando fans believe this is their most promising season.

As for the outside world, there is also a lot of discussion about this series.

The "03 No. 04 pick" and the " No. pick" met for the first time on the playoff stage... From the exposure of Howard and LeBron James after they entered the league, we can see how much the "Chosen One" and Nike have added to LeBron.

He is also the top pick in high school and was selected from a small city.

But Howard didn't attract much attention in the first two years after his debut. Even though he averaged a double-double at the age of 18, the exposure he received off the court was far different from LeBron's.

LeBron was identified as the future face of the league as soon as he entered it.

And Howard...

However, many media questioned the Magic when they made their original selection.

It wasn't until a photo of him "kissing the rim" came out that Howard's talent was fully recognized.

To be honest, if Howard had Nike's team behind him, this photo of "kissing the rim" would have gone viral long ago.

Perhaps he feels that the opponent's traffic has only just increased in the past two years and cannot possibly hurt him, so LeBron James is also very confident about this series.

Like the Cleveland media, he is already studying the Eastern Conference finals against the Pacers.

I was even "worried" about the Pacers. What would happen if they lost to the Celtics again and couldn't meet them in the Eastern Conference Finals?

It wasn't until the fourth game of the series between the Hawks and the Celtics that Kevin Garnett suddenly suffered an injury and was out for the season, making things worse for the Celtics. Only then did he confirm that the Pacers would definitely advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Because no matter whether the Celtics or the Hawks advanced, the team that finally made it through did not have the strength to make it to the second round of the playoffs.

LeBron admits that Suwan is very lucky.

Unlike him who has been fighting against fate all the time!

However, he also believes that Suwan's bad luck will end this season. The more intense playoff schedule will definitely put Shaquille O'Neal into a physical crisis. By the time they reach the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers will find a breakthrough by targeting his movement speed, defeat the Pacers, complete their revenge, and advance to the finals!
By the way, even Kobe was taken care of!
That would be his perfect season as LeBron!
Of course, he also knew that the first thing he needed to do was to deal with the Magic team in front of him!

What a level! He became the top scorer in high school just like me!
He will use this game today to tell everyone, including Howard:
There is a difference between the top scorer in the high school exam and the top scorer in the high school exam.

It was just the first game in Cleveland, but the result was somewhat beyond the expectations of LeBron and the Cleveland media.

The Magic controlled the tempo on both offense and defense from the beginning. LeBron was constantly double-teamed and couldn't start his personal offense at all. He could only pass the ball and let his teammates take on the responsibility of scoring.

Can……

The Cavaliers are a typical "one star and four stars" team.

And it is a style of play that uses outside players as the "one star".

LeBron's breakthrough cannot cause damage, which allows the Magic to expand their lineup unscrupulously when defending, without having to worry about other Cavaliers players breaking through and posing a threat to the basket.

To be honest, Marion actually has the ability to run to the basket.

But he mostly did all this with his excellent athleticism during the transition between offense and defense. In positional warfare, he was still better at using the "Type 99 light machine gun" to make the shot.

the most important……

The Magic have Howard!
He can help with outside defense in various ways!

The terrifying maneuverability is so amazing that it makes people gasp in amazement.

This is the Magic's biggest advantage on the defensive end.

As for the offensive end, not to mention that "one star shooting four times" is also the rhythm that the Magic likes, they even have the damage under the basket that the Cavaliers desperately need in this game.

It's still Dwight Howard!
His outstanding physical explosiveness allowed him to easily receive the ball and attack the basket when facing the Cavaliers' inside line. Just looking at his expression, this was not the playoffs at all!
This is just an "exhibition match"!
Just like that, in the first game of the semifinals, still at the Cavaliers' home court, the Magic gave the confident LeBron and the Cleveland media a "wake-up call" and knocked them out!

霍华德砍下了21分16篮板的“大号两双”，力压26分5篮板5助攻7失误的勒布朗-詹姆斯。想来，这场比赛后，“魔兽”之名将传遍整个克利夫兰。

Now the Cleveland media and Cavaliers fans no longer have the confidence they had before the series began.

The Indiana media delivered a timely "heavy blow": "Obviously, the Cleveland people finally realized that they have not advanced from the semifinals, and even this season will end in the semifinals. Good luck to you, Cavaliers!"

Under normal circumstances, the Cleveland media would have responded with sarcasm in the face of such ridicule.

They are particularly inflated this season.

But think about it, they have already lost a home court. If they lose another game, they will go to Orlando with a score of 0-2. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a life-and-death situation.

With their lives hanging by a thread, how could they have the time to care what others say?

Let’s focus on the second game of the series first!
They gave Mike Brown all kinds of advice, although none of them were used in the end, but...

The Cavaliers at least won the second game of the series.

Sometimes, you have to believe that there is metaphysics in this world.

Especially in the sports industry, those who open champagne at halftime often suffer a big blow.

Only by always keeping an apprentice's heart can you continue to climb up.

From this perspective...

It’s all because of arrogance!

Cleveland and LeBron did have this problem before the series began.

The media's arrogance will, to a certain extent, affect the mentality of the entire team's players, causing them to no longer take their opponents so seriously.

Such an outcome is often a miserable death.

Just like the first game of the series.

In this game, the Cavaliers' attitude was obviously no longer so impetuous.

However, the main reason they were able to win tonight was that everyone had a great touch and a group of people made 19 three-pointers. LeBron, who had the "data cake" in his hands, therefore got 13 assists in this game.

He got a triple-double of 21 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.

The gloom of being beaten by Howard in the previous game was swept away.

Although Howard still scored 20 points and 12 rebounds in this game, it was indeed not as good as LeBron's "triple-double".

The score was 1 to 1.
Cleveland media this time...

No champagne was opened.

They were also scared by the "wake-up call" in the first game.

And the next game is the Magic's home game, so they really can't help but worry.

In the third game of the series, the Cavaliers' shooting from beyond the three-point line was obviously not as good as in the previous game. This had a lot to do with their own shooting condition and also with the Magic's defensive targeting.

In the last game, the Cavaliers made 19 three-pointers. After the game, Stan Van Gundy was furious and thought their defense tonight was a piece of shit.

It can be seen that his prestige in the Magic team is much higher than that in the Heat team. In addition, after returning to their home court, the Magic team was very motivated on the defensive end, especially Howard, who ran a long distance.

Energy is conserved!

In the last game, the Cavaliers had explosive shooting, and in this game, the Magic had explosive shooting from beyond the three-point line.

Plus Howard's 7 blocks in a single game.

The Magic once again took a big lead.

Howard's stats in this game were exaggerated: 16 points, 20 rebounds and 7 blocks.

Compared to him, LeBron James' 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists were obviously outdone again.

The outside media now had to pay attention to Howard.

No one expected that in this "No. 1 pick competition", the more eye-catching "No. 1 pick" would actually be Dwight Howard.

The New York Times popped up again: "Seriously, who said LeBron James was the Chosen One? Why does it seem that every super genius now looks more like the Chosen One than him?"

Needless to say, Suwan almost beat LeBron into the mud. Only this season, the Pacers' lineup was restrained, which allowed LeBron James to regain some face. But in fact, in the third game of the regular season, the Pacers beat the Cavaliers again, but they did not beat the Cavaliers directly into collapse like before.

just now……

Another Howard has emerged, and in comparison with LeBron, he has become the more eye-catching one!
Barkley joked: "Now look at the comments made by the Cleveland media before the series started. It can be included in the joke collection. This should be the funniest joke in the global sports industry this year!"

These voices reached their climax after the fourth game of the series.

100 is better than 88!

The fourth game of the series between the Cavaliers and the Magic.

The Magic won again by 12 points.

这场比赛霍华德又一次拿到了“20加15”的数据，而勒布朗虽然拿到了数据更好的36分8篮板5助攻。

but……

To be honest, he only scored 5 points when the team was trailing by 15 points in the last 24 minutes of the game. The remaining 12 points were all scored in these 5 minutes. He made various attacks and layups and played very resolutely, but the Magic team didn't care at all that he got 2 points. He could give him two points if he wanted, because the Magic team could quickly respond with two points anyway.

Especially in the continuous attacks on the basket, LeBron was already a little exhausted in the last few rounds.

After getting into the basket and scoring, he didn't retreat quickly, but walked slowly. When he saw his teammates "4 defending 5" being scored, he would spread his hands towards them in an extremely excited manner, as if to say:
I just caught up to 2 points, how come you guys couldn't hold on?
What a ball!

His teammates were speechless.

In the last 7 seconds, the Magic would rather make mistakes than attack. LeBron got the ball in the backcourt, but pretended not to attack. He ran to the frontcourt and threw another 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

The ball went in with the sound of the whistle, and everyone on the Magic team looked like an old man looking at his phone.

no……

Is this person sick?

We stopped attacking, but he was still shooting.

Everyone on the Magic team showed disgusted expressions, but LeBron seemed not to notice their gazes. He walked off the court calmly and took a look at his own data.

Ok!

Have a clear conscience!

After the game, he said: "I tried very hard to lead the team, but my teammates had no energy on both offense and defense. Basketball is a sport for five people. I can't beat the Magic team alone!"

It’s almost like saying directly that my statistics are better than Howard’s, but I just don’t have teammates as good as him!
Unfortunately, the score was 3-1. His two excuses were not enough to offset the ridicule from the outside world towards him and the team.

The Cleveland media was as excited before this series started as it was after this game.

Now they can no longer shout the slogan of seeking revenge on the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Orlando media began to mock the Cleveland native's self-confidence.
Game 5 of the series arrived amid this mockery.

LeBron James knew that this game, which was already a game of no return, was extremely important. Not only would the Cavaliers' season be over if they lost this game, but there was also one more thing...

If he is really eliminated 4-1, then Howard will step over him and officially join the ranks of "superstars".

No, I absolutely cannot lose this game!

LeBron James showed his attitude from the beginning, revealing a pair of "death eyes", which is a look that the media rarely sees. Including the people of Cleveland, they were a little scared when they saw LeBron like this.

Of course there is more...

Expectation!

They expect LeBron to rebound strongly, win tonight's game, and then...

Don’t think about it later, let’s just win the game tonight first!

But LeBron's expression was indeed very attitude-filled. When the game really started, the Magic team was still the one with the stronger momentum. And as the game went on, after they established the advantage, this momentum suppression became more obvious!

Howard went completely crazy in this game!
On the offensive end, his various catching the ball and attacking the basket, as well as the "second dunk" were extremely eye-catching.

一贯笑嘻嘻的他，最终投篮21中14，罚球16中12，爆砍40分14篮板4助攻1盖帽！

而赛前露出了“死亡之瞳”的勒布朗，最终的数据却只是20中8，三分8中2，罚球11中7，仅仅25分7篮板7助攻1盖帽。

Ok……

Ok!

Attitude is attitude, performance is performance, but for LeBron James, they are separate.

In the end, they defeated the Cavaliers 103-90 and won the fourth game of the series.

The overall score is now 4-1!

Howard eliminated LeBron and entered the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in his career; the Magic eliminated the Cavaliers and entered the Eastern Conference Finals again after 14 years.

Another hunter is born!

First update today, please give me a monthly ticket, brothers


(End of this chapter)