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Chapter 220 Wild East, Back-to-Back MVP! (Only one update today because of A-Qiao's birthday)
The Warriors easily advanced to the second round.

This gave Qin Yue and his teammates more time to rest, and while waiting for their next opponent, the Warriors players also studied the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs with great interest.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Hawks, having lost Tyson Chandler, will be the first team eliminated from the Eastern Conference.

Although Josh Smith of the Hawks has always called himself "Atlanta's Qin Yue," in terms of Smith's playing style, he actually gives people the feeling of "a beggar version of LeBron James."

In the first round of the playoffs, when the "budget version" met the "official version," Smith was unsurprisingly completely dominated by James.

The Knicks also won their first three games against the Hawks, taking a 3-0 lead with almost no effort.

However, this series, which should have been a foregone conclusion, took an unexpected turn in Game 4.

The reason is...
Durant, who was trying to emulate Qin Yue in every way, suggested to the coach and teammates before the fourth game, in order to take care of James's feelings after playing like a dog for three consecutive games: "Brown has a clear advantage in his matchup against Josh. We should give him more ball possession. He needs a more perfect performance to prove himself."

Give him more possession of the ball.

He needs to prove himself.

On the night of the game, although James was happy that Durant was thinking of him, he disliked Durant's condescending tone.

just
With Durant as the "New York Messiah," how could James still have the right to be picky?

"Brown, keep it up and do a great job!"

“I will, thank you, ‘KD’.”

Even if James harbors some resentment towards Durant, he still has to greet him with a smile.

why?
Because of James's personality, in order to maintain that so-called dignity, he would never break ties with Durant at this time.

Just like what James said to Qin Yue when Qin Yue first entered the league.

LeBron James has always been adept at gracefully seizing power through locker room politics.

In Cleveland, James gracefully parted ways with the arrogant Ricky Davis.

Historically, James dignifiedly relieved Wade, who only possessed the bravery of Zhao Yun, of his military command.

In later years, James, upon returning to Cleveland, didn't even need to make a move. He successfully positioned himself as Kyrie Irving's mentor through off-court marketing, portraying himself as the chosen one returning to the city of defeat with a championship.

In the more distant future, facing the innocent and naive Davis, whose eyebrows alone exude wisdom, James developed an entirely new style of play.

Under the pretext of helping Davis quickly grow into the Lakers' main player, James claimed all the credit when they won, but James was the real leader when they lost. Until Qin Yue's time travel, James still firmly held onto his power in the Lakers.

In short, you can smear everything about LeBron James, but you absolutely cannot question his dominance in locker room politics.

In Game 4, James, who had finally gotten the chance to play the role of the ball-handling core for this Knicks team, almost delivered a perfect individual performance for Knicks fans.

全场比赛，詹姆斯总计砍下38分12篮板14助攻3抢断2封盖。

However, the reason this performance was only near perfect was...
The main reason is that Joe Johnson and Deron Williams, unwilling to be swept out, put on their career highlights together.

The former, despite Iguodala's relentless defense, scored a whopping 38 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

The latter hit a total of nine three-pointers that night, scoring 35 points, 4 rebounds, and 11 assists.

When the Hawks' backcourt duo performed exceptionally well and led the team to a comeback victory after trailing 0-3, the notoriously critical New York media immediately questioned the Knicks' tactical changes made in this game.

New York media outlets don't understand why D'Antoni wants to change the Knicks' previous tactical setup, which revolved around Iguodala as the starting point guard and Harden during transition periods.

Even though James' individual performance in this Game 4 was commendable, according to the New York media, if the Knicks can stick to their previous tactics, they should be discussing their next opponent right now.

"Mike D'Antoni, give the ball back to Iguodala and Harden! Stop with your outlandish tactical experiments!"

In Game 5, back at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks heeded the pre-game advice from the New York media and secured a resounding victory that night, advancing smoothly to the next round.

However.
Throughout this series, James' mood was far from happy.

Because that game, in which the Knicks played with him as their core and completely revolved around him, was the only game the Knicks lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Although the Knicks lost that game mainly because Joe Johnson and Deron Williams were in top form.

But compared to the other four big wins, even James began to doubt himself.

"Brown, you won't allow yourself to question yourself!"

On the night they advanced to the second round, Durant noticed that James was in low spirits and took the initiative to comfort him, saying, "I have always recognized your individual ability. Without your help, we are destined not to go far."

To assist, again to assist.

James couldn't understand Durant's words of comfort. Why was the young man's way of speaking so repulsive, and why did it remind him of Qin Yue more than once?

The Knicks advanced smoothly to the next round.

In contrast, the other three teams in the top half of the Eastern Conference had a much harder road to the playoffs this year.

The Heat and Magic battled for seven games before the Heat narrowly won thanks to the outstanding performances of the Melo-Wade brothers in Game 7.

To be fair, Dwight Howard's performance in this series was outstanding. On the defensive end, it was his presence that greatly reduced the effectiveness of Dwyane Wade's drives to the basket.

However, due to the impression left by the various childish behaviors of last season.
After the Magic were eliminated in the first round, the Orlando media not only failed to praise Howard, but in the eyes of Magic fans and Orlando media, Howard was still the "number one culprit" who caused the Magic's elimination.

Undoubtedly, this is a biased assessment.

Because if "Martial Saint" Jackson and "General" Arenas could capitalize on the double teams Howard draws on the court and make more open shots, instead of missing so many...
The Magic have a great chance to upset the Heat, who just finished another round of grueling training before the start of the first round of the playoffs.

Unfortunately, prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain.

And because of his childish behavior last season, Howard happens to be the tallest figure in the hearts of Magic fans.

"I don't know what I can do to make them happy."

After losing Game 7, Howard said, "If they think that only my departure can make this team better, then I think I will seriously consider whether I need to leave Orlando."

Generally speaking, after a team's star player makes such remarks, both the team management and the fans should cooperate with the local media to appease him.

but
Regarding Howard's defiant remarks, the Orlando Sentinel said: "Dwight wants to leave? Great, now we can finally trade him for a real superstar."

With the combined efforts of fans, management, and local media, it's foreseeable that Howard's departure from the Magic is only a matter of time. Meanwhile, the Bulls, who also went through a Game 7, were eliminated by the Bobcats.

The Bobcats, who pulled off a Cinderella story in last year's playoffs, clearly outperformed the young Bulls in crucial rounds of this series.

Of course, Tom Thibodeau is definitely partly to blame for the Bulls' loss to the Bobcats in this playoff series.

Because they overexerted their key players' physical strength during the regular season, the Bulls, led by Thibodeau, performed so poorly in the last two games that it was hard to describe.

As for the other team in the Eastern Conference that was upset this year...
In the first round of the playoffs, the Celtics, who had made it to the Finals for the past three years, were eliminated by the Pacers, who had swept the Warriors in the regular season, with a score of 2-4.

In this series, the Pacers' two young forwards, Granger and George, displayed the fearlessness of newborn calves and completely dominated "Jet Warrior" Pierce on the court.

Meanwhile, Hibbert and Boozer, nicknamed "Gao Yuanyuan," joined forces to anchor the Pacers' interior defense.

Last summer, Jermaine O'Neal, who chose to return to his roots, became the X-factor for the team.

With Lowry shining brightly this season, he is gradually showing the qualities of a star guard.

After years of rebuilding, Larry Bird, who had rebuilt a highly competitive roster for the Pacers, led his hometown team to victory against the Celtics, a team built by his old rival Danny Ainge.
According to Qin Yue's old friend Chris Mullin, Bird invited him to a party on the night the Pacers advanced.

"Larry has prepared the finest wine for me," Mullin laughed. "The Pacers' victory over the Celtics is probably one of the happiest things for him in recent years."

In the NBA, where people's joys and sorrows are rarely shared, for every person who rejoices, there is someone who grieves.

Although Danny Ainge stated in an interview after the Celtics were eliminated by the Pacers that the Celtics' exit was just an accident.

But no matter how stubborn Angie was.
The Celtics' morale had already been irreversibly affected when he ruthlessly traded Carter midway through the season.

Moreover, no matter how regrettable the Celtics' elimination was.
In Qin Yue's eyes as an observer, he had to take his hat off to the group of potential Warriors rivals for their wonderful performance in the first round of the playoffs.

The Wild East truly lives up to its name!
In contrast, consider the west.
Apart from the Lakers being dragged into a tough battle by the Grizzlies, the Mavericks and SuperSonics both easily defeated their opponents in the first round of the playoffs without any suspense.

On May 1, the day before the start of the Eastern and Western Conference semifinals, the NBA officially announced the major awards for the 2010/11 regular season.

Qin Yue was named the regular season MVP for the second consecutive year, and for the fourth time in his career.

Despite the Warriors' significant decline in regular season performance this season, Qin Yue, who scored a legendary 101 points in the Christmas Day game, still won the favor of the vast majority of judges during the selection process.

"A great season, a great MVP, no more words needed!" — ESPN headline
On the day the award results were announced, the Warriors held a grand award ceremony for Qin Yue.

"Being selected as MVP again is enough to prove how excellent I am," Qin Yue said with a smile at the award ceremony. "But at this moment, I still want to dedicate this trophy to my teammates, because they are the MVPs in my heart."

The only slight regret this season is that the incompetent league awarded the Defensive Player of the Year award to Dwight Howard, who is being bullied by Orlando fans, media, and team management.

Qin Yue was not surprised by this.

After all, with three Defensive Player of the Year awards already under his belt, David Stern, who has always been adept at balancing things out, must share the spoils with other stars of the current era.

On the day of the awards ceremony, Warriors' Curry was also named Sixth Man of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Curry's improvement this season has mainly been reflected in controlling turnovers.

While Curry's reduced turnovers on the court are indeed related to Qin Yue's tendency to take the ball away from him and, like Green in later generations, whip him into playing off-ball.
However, compared to his rookie season, Curry's passing and ball-handling abilities have improved significantly this season.

Especially when Qin Yue helped him create opportunities for smaller opponents to defeat larger ones.

This deadly baby-faced assassin has become a major headache for all his opponents.

In addition, this year's Rookie of the Year award is shared by Kentucky's twin stars, DeMarcus Cousins ​​and John Wall.

The Most Improved Player award went to Kyle Lowry, who joined the Pacers.

Thibodeau and Qin Yue both remember being selected as Coach of the Year.

The results for the All-NBA Team and All-Defensive Team selections are as follows:
All-NBA First Team: Howard, Qin Yue, Durant, Kobe, Rose.

Second Team All-NBA: Yao Ming, Nowitzki, James, Wade, Paul.

All-NBA Third Team: Stoudemire, Duncan, Anthony, Roy, Westbrook.

All-Defensive First Team: Howard, Qin Yue, Iguodala, Kobe, Paul.

All-Defensive Second Team: Chandler, Garnett, Wallace, Tony Allen, Rondo.

Every year there are controversial All-NBA Team selections, and this year's controversy mainly focuses on whether Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James deserves a spot on the Second Team.

Since the Knicks and Heat had similar regular season records, based solely on individual statistics, Carmelo Anthony, who played with his brothers in Miami, clearly outperformed LeBron James, who had to endure much in Miami.

However, Anthony, who had never been favored by Stern, ultimately lost the selection process because of his "gangster image" that Stern loathed.

As for Kwame Brown, who made great progress in personal statistics this year but failed to win any awards?

"It's a rigged affair! This is absolutely a rigged affair!" Brown exclaimed. "Why is it that in the judges' eyes, I'm not as good as that son of a bitch Tyson Chandler?"

Actually, Brown probably wouldn't believe it if I told him.

In Qin Yue's view, this was actually the fairest episode in NBA history.

In terms of their defensive impact on the court, no matter how impressive Brown's stats are, they are not as important as Chandler's to the Mavericks.

According to the schedule, the Warriors will next face the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.

Before the game, only one of the seventeen experts invited by ESPN predicted that the Lakers could defeat the Warriors in a Game 7.

Despite losing Lowry, this Lakers team is only one step behind last season.

However, as the performances of players like Odom and Battier declined year by year...
Faced with this strong and well-equipped Warriors team, even the most devout Kobe fans could only pray that Kobe would have a series of divine interventions.

"I know many people don't have high hopes for us."

Before leading his team to Oakland, Kobe said in an interview, "But since the game hasn't started yet, we can't be afraid of losing, because being afraid of losing means you've already lost the right to win."

……

PS: Today is A-Qiao's birthday, and I have to have dinner with my family tonight, so there will only be a short and weak update. I hope all my readers will forgive me.

(End of this chapter)