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Chapter 245 Schrödinger's Big Boss: When the True Colors Are Revealed

Entering April, the Warriors, who had been on a winning streak, encountered a small problem.

Shawn Livingston will miss the remainder of the Warriors' season due to a recurrence of a previous knee injury during practice.

Livingston, devastated by the unexpected turn of events, lamented after receiving the MRI results, "Why am I always the one who gets hurt?"

Why is Livingston always the one who gets injured?

Regarding this question
Qin Yue could only lament that people's physical constitutions cannot be generalized.

From playing intermittently last season to being sidelined at the end of this season.

Qin Yue knew very well that if Livingston still couldn't escape his bad luck under the protective use of Warriors head coach Malone.

That only proves that Livingston was destined to suffer this calamity.

Brown comforted Livingston by saying, "Shaw, a championship won by doing nothing is still a championship!"

"."

Livingston's season-ending injury has completely sealed the Warriors' 14-man playoff roster for this year.

In mid-April, the Warriors' winning streak was not halted by this minor setback. After winning their second game against the Knicks this season, they achieved a record of 70 wins and 12 losses, creating the second-best regular season record in franchise history.

Furthermore, they successfully tied the Lakers' record of 33 consecutive wins.

Previously, Barkley said that every step the Warriors take now is contributing to the creation of the most dominant dynasty in NBA history.

why?
If the Warriors win the championship this year, they will become the first team in NBA history to achieve 70 wins twice in the regular season during their three-peat.

In addition, during this three-peat, the Warriors also tied the NBA regular season winning streak record held by the Lakers, a record that had stood for nearly forty years.

At that time, in terms of sheer dominance, the Warriors dynasty would undoubtedly surpass the Lakers dynasty and the first and second Bulls dynasties.

of course.

To create the most dominant dynasty in NBA history, the Warriors must ultimately emerge victorious.

The regular season has come to a successful conclusion.

The Warriors' first game of the first round of the playoffs this year will be on April 18, against the Jazz, who are now led by new head coach Tyronn Corbin.

This season, the West's overall lack of competitiveness still cannot compare to the East.

Despite winning only 35 games in the regular season, the Jazz still managed to secure a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

And what about the east?

This year's eighth seed in the Eastern Conference belongs to the Orlando Magic, led by Russell Westbrook, who won a total of 47 games in the regular season.

However, when ESPN previewed the playoffs, the Warriors, the dominant force in the West, were still the undisputed number one favorite to win the championship.

It's true that the competition in the East has been fierce these past two years.

But compared to the West, the teams in the East are still lucky.

With Qin Yue and Yu Zhouyong in the West, the difficulty for other Western Conference teams to get a ticket to the Finals is simply hellish.

In addition, with the regular season over, the top performers in various statistical categories for the 11/12 season have also been determined.

Qin Yue won the regular season scoring title with an average of 36.8 points per game.

During his 11-game streak of scoring 50+ points, Qin Yue's season average score once reached as high as 38.9 points.

Unfortunately, in order to prepare for the playoffs, Qin Yue chose to relinquish control after this record was broken.

But this still doesn't stop Qin Yue from having another great season this year.

During the regular season, Qin Yue played 82 games for the Warriors. In addition to averaging 36.8 points per game and winning the scoring title for the third consecutive year and the fifth time in his career, he also won the NBA rebounding title and shot-blocking title for the sixth time in his career with an outstanding performance of 14.4 rebounds, 9.4 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.6 steals per game.

In the 11/12 season, Chris Paul, who had transferred to the Lakers, won the assists and steals titles with an average of 9.8 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

This season, the Lakers, who abandoned the triangle offense, finally broke the curse that Lakers point guards often become ball-handling guards.

Furthermore, in order to break the Warriors' monopoly on the Western Conference, Kobe's renewed transformation in his personal style allowed Paul to put up impressive numbers of 20.5 points, 9.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game.

That's right, Qin Yue was delegating power, and so was Kobe.

During the regular season, Kobe played 70 games for the Lakers, averaging only 24.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game.

On the court, Kobe, who was always ready to rest, even accepted Mike Brown's suggestion to take a break after the Lakers secured the second seed in the Western Conference.

"Black Bread" Brown's reason for persuading Kobe was simple.

Since he is already thirty-three years old this year.

If he wants to lead the Lakers further in the playoffs, he must play as conservatively as possible during the regular season.

Historically, this was due to their failure to defend their title in the 10/11 season.

In addition, the chemistry between the famous "new F4" group formed in the 12/13 season was terrible.

So Kobe had no choice at that time.

Because if Kobe hadn't given his all in the regular season, the Lakers might have even missed the playoffs.

But it's different now.

Since Chris Paul was known for his ability to maintain the team's minimum standard during his prime, Kobe's pressure was significantly reduced during the regular season with Paul leading the team.

Furthermore, contrary to the assumptions of many that Paul cannot coexist with other dominant perimeter players, Paul's situation is different.

In fact, in Qin Yue's memory, Paul had a key outside player by his side during the two seasons when he went the furthest in the playoffs.

One is James Harden, the ball-handling superstar of later generations.

One of them is Devin Booker, a die-hard Kobe fan in later generations.

Qin Yue, who had to fight the Lakers to the very last moment in every game during the regular season, had already fully experienced the power of the "Snake-Cannon Combination".

Paul will be in charge of steering the Lakers' offense during regular time.

Kobe will take over the game in the crucial rounds and decisive moments.

Without a doubt, this Lakers team, which has its own strengths and weaknesses on the court, is the Warriors' number one rival in the West on their road to a three-peat this year.

The complete first-round playoff matchups for the 11/12 season in the Western Conference were as follows:
Warriors vs. Jazz.

Lakers vs. Nuggets.

Mavericks vs. Clippers.

Grizzlies vs. Supersonics.

As for the Eastern Conference, the top four teams—the Knicks, Pacers, Heat, and Bulls—will face the Magic, Bobcats, Hawks, and Celtics, respectively.

In terms of the first round of the playoffs, the wild Eastern Conference clearly offers more to watch. First and foremost is the partnership between the Knicks and the Magic, who just completed a trade last summer.

Howard and Westbrook will face their former teams in the first round of this year's playoffs.

Secondly, the Pacers must overcome the Bobcats to advance to the next round.

Given the Bobcats' long-standing tradition of upsets in the past two years, both experts and fans believe this is a series that could very well go to seven games to determine a winner.

Finally, the Celtics are led by Tim Duncan, who is rumored to be leaving as a free agent this summer.

It is widely believed that if the Celtics fail to win the championship this year, Duncan, who will soon turn 36, will most likely say goodbye to Ainge before he is fired by the Celtics' general manager.

As one of the basketball stars most affected by Qin Yue's emergence in his life, Duncan had already shed the burden of "loyalty" after leaving the Spurs.

So if the Celtics miss out on the championship again, where Duncan will choose to go in his second decision will undoubtedly become the most talked-about topic.

On the 18th.

The Warriors, playing at home in Oracle Arena, officially began their first game of the first round of the playoffs against the Jazz.

Before the series began, the media generally believed that the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

The process and result of the competition were indeed as described.

In Game 1, the Warriors, who seemed to be playing a practice game, defeated the Jazz team, which had promoted Gordon Hayward and was built around Paul Millsap, with almost no effort.

It's also worth mentioning that Qin Yue met another of his seniors, Josh Howard, during this game.

Dwight Howard, who joined the Jazz as a free agent last summer, is no longer the player he once was.

However, Howard, who had already accepted his fate, still sent his blessings to Qin Yue after Game 1.

“We’re most likely going to be swept by you guys,” Howard said. “But I hope you and your team can go all the way in the playoffs.”

After playing just one game, they no longer had any expectations for this round of playoffs.

Perhaps Howard's conceding defeat came a little too early.

But isn't this also the sentiment of all the Jazz players?
Qin Yue's performance in the first round of this year's playoffs was still mediocre.

场均仅有24分11篮板8助攻3封盖1抢断。

库里以场均25分4篮板4助攻的表现，成为了这轮勇士以4比0的大比分横扫爵士队的系列赛的队内得分王。

After Game 4, a swaying Curry said in an interview, "The Warriors have entered my era!"

Regarding Curry's statement, Qin Yue laughed and said, "Stephen is right."

Curry's growth on the court this season is clearly visible.

Although nominally, he was still Nash's backup.

But in reality, he has become the Warriors' second-in-command after Qin Yue.

As for Curry's statement after the Warriors swept the Jazz, "The Warriors have entered their era"?
As the supreme leader of this Warriors team, how could Qin Yue possibly stoop to the level of a child?
Just like how Jordan would praise Pippen in public to persuade him to willingly assist him.

The reason why Qin Yue has always been able to get the whole team to play according to his wishes is precisely because he never cares about sharing the credit and attention with his teammates.
The Warriors easily advanced to the next round.

According to the schedule, their next opponent in the Western Conference semifinals will be the winner between the Grizzlies and the SuperSonics.

On the night the Warriors advanced, Qin Yue, who noticed that the Grizzlies and the SuperSonics were tied 2-2 after the first four games, was impressed by the SuperSonics' championship pedigree and realized once again that the current SuperSonics team is not what it used to be.

In Qin Yue's view, if the young Grizzlies team hadn't lacked experience, the SuperSonics' veterans wouldn't have been able to withstand the relentless attacks from the young Grizzlies.

Yao Ming, now in his thirties, has become the SuperSonics' only hope to advance to the next round in this series.

However, even so, Rick Carlisle did not risk increasing Yao Ming's playing time.

Because regardless of whether the current SuperSonics team still has the heart of a champion, they will be rebuilding this summer, so Carlisle is naturally more concerned about Yao Ming's health than winning this series.

After all, a healthy Yao Ming is the biggest asset the SuperSonics have in rebuilding.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference, the highly anticipated series between the Knicks and the Magic ended with the Knicks sweeping their opponent 4-0.

This was a series that everyone was happy with.

Facing his former team, the Orlando Magic, and with the help of his senior teammate LeBron James, "Superman" Dwight Howard delivered a perfect revenge against the local media and fans in Orlando with a dominant performance of 21 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks per game.

After the game, James even spoke up for Howard, saying, "I don't know why the Orlando media dislikes Dwight so much, but I think the facts have fully proven that Dwight is not the child who will never grow up as they think."

Howard won the most important series of his career so far.

James also successfully won over Howard with this series.

As for the Magic?

Sorry, but Magic fans didn't seem upset at all about being humiliated by Howard. In fact, Orlando media later commented, "Great trade! Orlando will definitely rise again under Russell Westbrook's leadership!"

Russell Westbrook delivered a stellar performance in this series against the Knicks, averaging 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists per game.

Despite this, the Magic were ultimately swept out of the playoffs by the Knicks due to their overall inferior strength.

But in the eyes of Orlando fans, this was definitely a series in which the Magic lost, but Westbrook didn't.

"If we can find Russell enough help, he's practically a 191cm messiah!"

but
This series can only be described as a win-win situation for everyone.
The main issue is that in the NBA, where someone has to get injured, Kevin Durant, the Knicks' star player, suffered a double injury in this series.

Just because Durant can't outmaneuver James doesn't mean he's not quick-witted. He's gradually realized that James's tone of voice towards him has been getting increasingly strange lately.

Especially before this series began.

When James offered to help Howard pad his stats.

Durant just doesn't understand. As the Knicks' star player, doesn't he need to prove himself to his former teammate Westbrook?
Moreover, Durant has noticed in various public occasions recently that James rarely mentions in interviews that the Knicks are a team he leads.

Now, James usually says things like, "'KD' is still young, and I believe that with my guidance, he will get better every day."

In Durant's view, he now seems to have become Schrödinger's boss.

Only on nights when the Knicks lose do James say without hesitation, "I hope people don't put too much pressure on 'KD.' As the undisputed leader of this Knicks team, he's only 23 years old."

You take the blame for the loss.

All the credit for the victory belongs to me.

Indeed, only now did the overly naive Durant realize that James, whom he had always considered a loyal subject...
They actually used the script of Sima Yi from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Unfortunately, Durant has never read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Otherwise, how could he have gone from being the undisputed leader of the team to becoming the current 1.5-star player?

……

P.S.: I had writer's block today, sorry. It's a late and short chapter. (Tomorrow, I'll definitely try again with a 10,000-word update to prove myself!)
(End of this chapter)