I’m Really Playing Basketball

On May 7, 2013, the Western Conference semifinals between the Warriors and Clippers officially began.

After Howard came to the Clippers, the changes in this Clippers team can be said to be all-round.

Both offense and defense have improved almost across the board.

There was no way, after all, Jordan was directly replaced by Howard, and Ryan Anderson, a sharpshooter, was added next to him.

Although Jordan is now highly regarded in the NBA, most people's evaluation of Jordan is about the future. As for the present, Howard is definitely stronger.

Especially since this is not the Howard who suffered a serious back injury in history.

Therefore, many people say that in this Western Conference semifinals, Howard, who scored 27+16 against the Mavericks in the first round, is likely to have a super dominant performance against the Warriors' group of young insiders.

In this training game, the Clippers will easily defeat the Warriors and advance to the next round.

Regarding such public opinion, the Warriors are very low-key.

As the real second place in the Western Conference in the regular season, the Warriors were very underestimated after entering the playoffs. This is of course understandable.

But understanding is understanding. Faced with such doubts, who wouldn’t want to fight back?

Especially for this group of young players on the Warriors.

Therefore, Big Eyebrow, Bill, Clay, Ibaka and others all held their breath before the start of this series.

However, it is obvious that holding a breath is not a certain condition for success. At least, in the first game, Clippers center Howard was indeed unstoppable.

It was expected that the thick eyebrows and Ibaka could not stop Howard, and Lopez, as a young Yao Ming, could not stop Howard. This actually surprised the Warriors.

Because although Lopez and Howard suffered losses in the past matchups, the losses were not huge.

Let's put it this way, with Lopez's shooting range, it is not easy for Howard to guard Lopez.

Therefore, the past battles between the two were basically the same.

Of course, all the games of the Clippers and Warriors this season were played before Howard arrived, and Lopez has always been a rotation substitute in the Bobcats, and there are not many opportunities to face Howard.

So, this gave Cole some illusions.

The actual situation is that although Lopez's strength is very good, his height is much worse than Yao Ming. Howard is not so afraid of powerful and short opponents like Lopez.

Howard can work crazy on Lopez's head.

In this game, Howard had 16 rebounds, 8 of which were offensive rebounds.

It can be said that Lopez was defeated by Howard.

The defensive end was overwhelmed and suppressed, and then the offensive end affected efficiency. He missed the shot and challenged Howard to the basket. He did not have Yao Ming's height. Yao Ming could use his height, strength and skills to suppress Howard crazily.

But the disadvantage of Lopez having strength and skills but not height is once again reflected. When he attacks at the basket, Howard can block shots and defend him. In this regard, although he is little Yao Ming, he is fundamentally different from Yao Ming.

This game finally proved that little Yao Ming is still little Yao Ming after all, not the real Yao Ming.

Howard's performance in this game was top-notch. He made 9 of 13 shots and 12 of 16 free throws. He scored 30 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks.

It can be said that he has a strong presence on both offense and defense.

By the way, Howard's always unstable free throw shooting has been very stable this season.

Howard's free throw shooting has always been perfect every season, which is quite miraculous. He has a free throw shooting rate of 65% this season, and his free throw shooting rate will be reduced to about 50% next season.

This season, Howard's free throw shooting rate is at its highest point. Whether it is against the Mavericks in the first round or the Warriors in this game, he has shown a very good free throw shooting rate.

Howard performed so well in this game. I think the Clippers should have won this game, right?

However, it is not.

Although Howard destroyed the Warriors' interior in this game, the final result was that the Warriors defeated the Clippers 124-116.

Because, in this game, the Warriors' perimeter exploded.

In this game, the three splashy brothers Bill, Clay and Chen Xiao were completely thrown away.

In this game, Klay swept away his poor three-point shooting touch of less than 35% in the first round. In this game, he made 8 of 9 three-pointers and scored 30 points!

At this time in history, Clay faced the Spurs and made 8 of 9 three-pointers in the second round of the playoffs, scoring 34 points.

Time and space have changed. Facing the Clippers, whose forward defense is not as good as the Spurs, Clay still played the first playoff masterpiece of his career.

In addition to Clay, Chen Xiao's three-point shooting percentage in this game was 5 of 9, and he scored 29 points, 8 rebounds and 17 assists in the game.

What is even more shocking than Clay is Bill. Facing Chris Paul, one of the three strongest point guards in the league, Bill, who was taught a lesson by DeAndre Jordan in the last round, actually faced Paul in this game. exploded!

Bill made 9 of 17 in this game, 4 of 7 three-pointers, and 7 of 8 free throws. He also scored 29 points in the game. Not only that, he also had 3 steals in this game. Under his defense, the little cannon There were 6 turnovers in this game!

Why does such an incredible situation occur?

Is this a miracle?

In fact, this is not a miracle.

The biggest difference between Jordan and Paul is that Paul is a 1.83-meter guard, while Jordan is over 1.9 meters in shoes. In fact, Paul may not even be 1.83 meters.

And how tall is Bill?

1.94 meters in shoes!

Although Bill's wingspan is not very high, and it is certainly not as powerful as Jordan's son DeAndre Jordan, his wingspan of 2.03 meters is much higher than Cannon's wingspan of 1.94 meters.

More importantly, Bill's shooting is indeed strong, you have to admit this.

He has a strong shooting ability, an overall advantage in height and wingspan, and also has strong skills. Facing a cannon who is at least 10 centimeters shorter than himself, do you think it is a miracle that Bill broke out?

In fact, historically, against small guns, Bill's three-point shooting rate was close to 50%, and he averaged 3.5 three-pointers per game.

This C gun is worth...

Although it is worse than Delong, but...

Don't you think that Bill is actually very similar to Deron?

Of course, Deron is stronger, while Bill is slightly weaker, but has better shooting ability.

In fact, Xiaopao has never been very good at dealing with opponents with height, strength, skills and shooting like Deron and Bill.

This time against the rookie Bill, Xiaopao was pecked by Yan because he underestimated the opponent.

As the head player of the Clippers, he is also one of the three strongest point guards in the entire league. Although he was blown away by Bill this time, it was mainly because he underestimated the enemy.

But obviously, such a failure is definitely a huge blow to Xiaopao, and of course, it is also a huge blow to the Clippers.

After all, Beal is just a rookie.

With Howard performing so well, the team leader's little cannon was actually exposed by a rookie. Do you think, with Howard's violent temper, can he bear it?

Of course it's unbearable.

Therefore, after the game, Howard couldn't help but glare at Xiaopao.

Of course, everyone knows that Howard is a bit timid, so he just glared. After the little cannon's face darkened, Howard didn't dare anymore.

But no matter what, the Clippers' internal problems were revealed.

Let's put it this way, even if there is no trigger for this game, there is still an undercurrent under the Clippers.

First of all, is the boss of the Clippers Paul or Howard?

Of course Paul is bigger than the big names, but Howard is not a person who is inferior to others.

And for Howard, his first choice has always been the Lakers. He only came to the Clippers because the Lakers couldn't go.

Howard has never thought highly of a team like the Clippers.

As for Paul, he took the Clippers from a weak team to one of the top four teams in the Western Conference.

Although Xiao Pao has never led the Clippers to the Western Conference Finals, he has steadily led the Clippers to the playoffs as the top four players and steadily broken through the first round of the playoffs. This is very important to the Clippers. It was enough to satisfy them.

Therefore, from top to bottom, the Clippers never felt that Howard could replace Paul as the team leader.

Therefore, Howard, a clever young man, knows this and is usually honest, but this time, he dared to suddenly attack because of his poor performance and his outstanding performance.

As the two leading players of the Clippers, the two stared at each other in the first game, which of course became one of the biggest topics in the entire playoffs.

Amid rumors that the Clippers were about to fall into internal strife, Chen Xiao and the Warriors players won three games in a row, eventually eliminating the Clippers 4-0 and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.

It can be regarded as a victory in all 4 games in the regular season. This season, the Warriors have defeated the Clippers in 8 consecutive games.

Clippers killer, well-deserved reputation.

Therefore, without the internal strife between Howard and Paul, the Warriors should be able to advance easily in this series.

After Howard came to the Clippers, many people saw Howard's improvement to the Clippers' inside line, but they did not predict what a huge dimensionality reduction blow the Warriors' outside line would have to the Clippers.

Let's put it this way, against the Clippers, Bill averaged 22 points per game in these four games and shot 47% from three-point range!

As for Klay, he averaged 24 points per game in this series and his three-point shooting percentage was 54% per game!

The Clippers' outside players, whether they are Cannon, Ryan Anderson, Bledsoe or others, cannot stop the Warriors' outside splash brothers.

Led by the Splash Brothers, the Warriors became the first team to reach the conference finals.

The second fastest team to reach the conference finals was the Bucks from the Eastern Conference. The Bucks, ranked first in the Eastern Conference, faced the Bobcats, fifth in the Eastern Conference, and easily defeated the Bobcats 4-1.

Although the Bobcats' Rose performed well and once again had a wonderful training match with Curry, Durant is the stabilizer of victory and defeat in this series. No one in the Bobcats can match him. Every game At the critical moment, it was Durant's time to harvest.

Even though the Bobcats lost a lot 1-4, in fact, every game was only a little worse.

And this is the most painful thing.

The third team to reach the conference finals was the Heat, the second-placed team in the Eastern Conference. The Heat finally defeated the Cavaliers 4-2 and reached the finals.

In this series, Yao Ming once again proved that although he is indeed a bit older than his peak, even though he is now 33 years old, he is still the league's number one center.

Apart from the showdown between Oden and Yao Ming, the most shocking showdown in this series is actually the showdown between James and Paul George.

Before the start of this series, many people said that no Heat player could control James in this series.

James will be a breaking point in this series.

It's impossible for Anthony to withstand James' impact.

But once the series started, Rick Carlisle showed everyone his solution.

Use Paul George to guard James alone, and then with Yao Ming inside, you can let James go to the basket.

With the cooperation of Paul George and Yao Ming, James averaged only 30 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game in this series, shooting 51% from the field, 44% from three-point range, and 2.5 three-pointers per game. point.

James' data seems explosive at first glance.

At first glance, it looks like Paul George was blown away by James.

However, in fact, James did not score 40 points in any game in this series, and the highest score in one game was only 36!

With Oden being choked by Yao Ming, James needs to hit the breaking point. Otherwise, he can only rely on third-in-command Conley to beat Wade, or the team's two role players Danny Green and Matthews can break out.

It's just obvious that this isn't going to work.

Maybe if Oden can equal Yao Ming, James's data is enough.

However, with Oden being pinched by Yao Ming, James's data is definitely not enough.

What's more, in addition to limiting James, Paul George also averaged 19.5 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game in this series, shooting 44% from three-point range and 48% from the field. In two games, he could even compete with James does not fall behind the benchmark. You must know that he is only the fourth leader of the Heat.

There are Anthony, Wade and Yao Ming on top!

When your team's top four players can compete with the other team's top players in two games without falling behind, the blow to the Cavaliers' morale is also quite huge.

It can only be said that the Heat are really invincible in positional warfare. The Cavaliers, which is known as the strongest positional warfare team in the interior, felt very desperate when fighting the Heat in positional warfare.

In the conference semifinals, the last team to reach the finals was the Spurs.

This training match between the Spurs and the Lakers is the only series that has reached a tiebreaker.

The Lakers and Spurs have been the biggest rivals in the Western Conference over the past decade.

The Lakers have the Gasol brothers and have inside advantages, while the Spurs have wheat, Luo Ge and Kawhi Leonard and have outside advantages.

Let's put it this way, Maizi, Leonard and Luo Ge, the three of them spread out their long arms, even the elder brother trembled.

Of course, the Lakers' outside line is not weak, just like the Spurs' inside line is not weak either.

So the two teams fought to the end, and the Lakers finally collapsed in the tiebreaker due to lack of physical strength.

At this point, the Warriors' expectation of playing the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals has completely come to nothing.

The Warriors' opponent in the Western Conference Finals will be the Spurs, who have not been able to win a game in the regular season.

There is no doubt that the Spurs are the Warriors' biggest nemesis in the Western Conference this season.