I’m Really Playing Basketball

On May 5, 2014, the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Warriors and Clippers began.

This is the second consecutive year the Warriors have faced the Clippers led by Cannon in the Western Conference Finals.

The Clippers this season are much better than last season.

Howard was exchanged for Tyson Chandler and Stoudemire, plus Ryan Anderson and Danny Granger traded from the Bobcats, as well as Jamal Crawford, Glen Davis and other players, the Clippers The team is indeed a very good team.

In the West, they are also second only to the Spurs and Warriors.

Just like there is a cliff-edge gap in strength between the Warriors and Spurs.

The gap between the Clippers and the Warriors is actually that cliff-like.

By the way, Granger of the Clippers needs to be highlighted.

After the former Bobcats player had a short leg, he lost his position in the Bobcats with the rise of Jimmy Butler and DeRozan.

Granger has made contributions to the team and received a salary reduction. Although he has lost his position, Boss Joe is willing to support him until he retires.

After all, Granger is still Boss Joe's great apprentice.

It's just obvious that Granger himself doesn't want to retire like this.

He feels that he is only 31 years old and his body still has fuel to continue fighting and even continue to become an All-Star.

Under this situation, Boss Qiao was helpless and could only let his disciple choose the team by himself, and he sent it there for free.

Then, Granger chose the Clippers.

Granger and Xiaopao are former teammates and good friends. Xiaopao's style suits him very well, and the Clippers also promised that he will become the team's star player when he comes here.

Then Granger came to the Clippers.

After Granger's legs were shortened, it really had a great impact on his athletic ability.

But compared with history, Granger in this time and space is a student trained by Jordan and Chen Xiao. His shooting ability is much more stable, and his confrontation, defense, and ball control abilities are also much stronger.

Just like other people's evaluation of Durant after a ruptured Achilles tendon in history, even if Durant can only stand on the court, he can still become a player who is at least as good as a driver.

And Granger actually has such a taste.

He is an extremely good shot, can control and fight, and is a great offensive threat even if he is just standing on the court.

Therefore, after Granger came to the Clippers this season, he averaged 16 points per game, and his shooting percentage also set a career high.

It can also be seen from this that there is indeed a talent gap between Granger and Durant.

Granger is at least a quasi-All-Star now, which is already good.

But Durant, after many serious injuries, even though he is no longer able to score at the basket and has lost a lot of deadly weapons, he is still the league's super giant...

However, although it may be difficult for Granger to return to superstar level in the future, Granger's performance with the Clippers this season still makes Chen Xiao and Qiao very happy.

Therefore, this season Chen Xiao and Boss Qiao both canvassed votes for Granger's All-Star selection.

However, in the starting lineup, it was indeed difficult for him. Chen Xiao and Alian were both too strong.

As for the substitute lineup, Granger's data is not enough, and the Clippers' record is not enough, so they failed to enter the Western Conference All-Star this season.

Although he failed to make the All-Stars again this season, this season was the first time he started a season after a serious injury.

As long as he proves that he can still be a star in the NBA, he will definitely have a chance in the future. After all, even now, Granger is only 31 years old, which is still young.

Therefore, Chen Xiao only has blessings for Granger.

But although blessings are blessings, when it's time to strike hard, he will never hold back.

After acquiring Tyson Chandler and Stoudemire, Paolo and the Clippers have a very strong offense this season.

Xiaopao feels a bit invincible in the regular season pick-and-roll this season.

The Warriors are the team with the most offensive points in the regular season, and the Clippers are second.

But in the playoffs, it's impossible for the offense to attack the problem.

The Clippers' biggest problem is their defense.

Tyson Chandler's pick-and-roll coverage is indeed very strong.

But Tyson Chandler is 32 years old after all. Although he can still jump and help defend, it is difficult for one person to control a large area like he did with the Cavaliers and Mavericks.

Except Tyson Chandler.

Several starters for the Clippers.

Stoudemire basically doesn't defend now. In the Bobcats, next to Chen Xiao, Stoudemire will still defend seriously, but in the Clippers...

Offensive data is still the most important.

As for Ryan Anderson, not to mention this, he is not very good at assisting and defending alone.

Granger can defend, and his in-situ defense is still top-notch. After all, his athletic ability has dropped greatly, and being unable to keep up with the defender is a big problem.

As for the small cannon, the defense of the small cannon is also very strong, but with only one small cannon on the outside, it is difficult to fire alone.

Xiaopao is not a defender like Chen Xiao, and his defensive influence is not that great.

Therefore, the Clippers' defense is top-heavy, foot-heavy, and empty in the middle.

Basically, as long as you are patient, the Clippers' defense is a sieve.

It's okay if you're not targeted by your opponents in the regular season, but in the playoffs, after being targeted by your opponents, there are indeed gaps everywhere.

This is why Chen Xiao feels that the Clippers are not a playoff team.

In the first round, facing the Timberwolves, perhaps the league's worst offensive team, the Clippers were beaten twice and advanced 4-2.

And it also allowed Rondo to average 28 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds per game. In G4, Rondo even had a 40+ triple-double of 40 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Rondo played like Rose in this series.

In the end, the whole team got anxious and had a big conflict with Rondo in the first round.

This problem is huge.

It can be said that although the Clippers did advance in the first round, winning was not so convincing.

At the very least, many people don't think the Clippers can pose a threat to the Warriors.

However, in the G1 game, the Clippers gave the Warriors a heads-up. The Clippers defeated the Warriors 126-115 in an away game.

And there is really nothing to say about the Warriors' loss in this game.

In the first quarter of this game, the Clippers defeated the Warriors.

As soon as the cannon came up, with the help of the pick and roll, he scored 7 of 7 in a single quarter and 5 of 5 three-pointers. He scored 19 points in a single quarter, leading the Clippers to 41 to 25 in a single quarter, directly defeating the Warriors.

If Chen Xiao hadn't made 15 of 23 in this game and scored 41 points in the third quarter very accurately, the Warriors would have lost this game very ugly.

Even if Chen Xiao scored 41 points in three quarters, the fourth quarter was garbage time.

However, the Warriors caught up with many points in the fourth quarter.

The Clippers' blow to the Warriors made the Warriors sober up a little.

The Clippers really don't look like a playoff team.

But this team can indeed beat any team in a certain game, as long as their offense is turned on.

Just for this game, the Clippers made 15 three-pointers in three quarters, which shattered the mentality of the Warriors' young players.

It can only be said that although the mentality of the current Warriors players has improved compared to last season, and the progress is not small, it is still not up to the level of a championship team.

On May 7th, the Warriors and Clippers played again in G2 of the playoffs. In this game, the Clippers' offensive status was not so hot.

On the contrary, it was the Warriors who knew their shame but then bravely scored 70 points in the first half. Bill made 6 of 6 in the first quarter and scored 17 points. In the second quarter, Clay scored 14 points in 5 of 5.

In the end, the Warriors regained a victory 130-100.

What is very interesting about this game is that Chen Xiao, Clay and Bill all scored 30+ in three quarters.

Chen Xiao 32, Bill 32, Clay 30.

Bill stood up, the cannon was indeed too short to defend against.

Clay started running, but Granger couldn't keep up.

As for Chen Xiao versus Anderson... this actually depends on Chen Xiao's mood and feel.

Therefore, if all factors of luck and feel are taken away, and the Clippers face the Warriors, it would be a shame if someone would be optimistic about the Clippers.

Therefore, when the game comes to the Clippers, the two consecutive games should be the Clippers' home advantage, which should be beneficial.

However, the Clippers' touch was mediocre in the two consecutive games. In the end, in front of the Los Angeles fans, the Clippers lost two games in a row and tied the score to 1-3.

Returning to the home court of the Warriors, facing the desperate Clippers, the Warriors did not give the Clippers a chance. In the end, they defeated the Clippers 118-110 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

The Spurs are already waiting for the Clippers in the Western Conference Finals.

Facing the Jazz, and with Jerry Sloan about to retire, many people felt that the Spurs would have to shed their skin even if they advanced.

But the final result was shocking.

The Spurs easily swept the Jazz 4-0. The Jazz didn't even have a game where the point difference was less than 10 points.

Stockton Jr., who performed well in the regular season, was unable to move under the shadow of Luo Ge.

Gordon Hayward, who performed well in the regular season, had a difficult time taking turns taking care of him from Maizi and Leonard.

Two of the four cores are sluggish every game.

And neither did Allen and Millsap meet Duncan and Al Jefferson.

The Jazz do get a morale bonus.

However, the Spurs are the team in the league that likes to grind down their opponents the most, and they are also the team least afraid of high morale.

This is simply Tianke.

It is impossible for the Jazz to have such a difficult time meeting any team in the Western Conference.

For Sloan, though, he was already a head coach who was beyond winning and losing.

For him, as long as this group of young people on the Jazz team go all out for him, this is enough to satisfy him.

To be honest, with the talent of the Jazz, Sloan is proud enough to be able to bring them to this point.

Similarly, with the talent of the Jazz players, they were able to finally escort Sloan to his honorable retirement and be recognized as leaving the NBA, which is also something to be proud of.

Players like the Jazz were little turtles when they came to the Jazz, and it was Sloan who brought them up.

But now, they have the ability. Not to mention turning into turtles, they can also be regarded as turtle warriors. They also used their abilities to escort Sloan.

Therefore, Chen Xiao was very moved when he saw on TV the scene of the United Arab Emirates holding Coach Sloan crying in front of the Utah Jazz at home amid the applause and cheers of the fans.

The Arab League really wants to bring a victory to Coach Sloan.

For the Arab League, Mr. Sloan is his loving father in the NBA. It can be said that the Arab League was promoted step by step by Mr. Sloan.

Without Mr. Sloan, the UAE does not think he can grow up smoothly in the NBA.

There is no shortage of talent coming out of the NBA, but what is lacking is the soil for talent to grow and the gardeners to cultivate it.

For Arab League, Coach Sloan is definitely the best gardener who gave him the best soil for growth.

However, this is the NBA, and not everything can go as expected.

Regret is originally a kind of beauty in competitive sports.

Slam Dunk is so enduring because of its regrets.

Regret is youth.

Regret is also life.

Both teams in the Western Conference finals advanced at the speed of light in the semifinals.

When the Warriors and Spurs advanced, the two conference semifinals in the Eastern Conference were still going on in G4.

When the Western Conference Finals between the Warriors and the Spurs began, the four teams in the Eastern Conference were still playing in the tiebreaker.

Bucks and bobcats.

Heat and Cavaliers.

These are two identical matchups in last year's Eastern Conference semifinals.

Compared with last year, the duel between these two groups was even more brutal this year.

Last year, neither of these two duels reached a tiebreaker.

It can only be said that this season, the Bobcats and Cavaliers have improved again.

Especially the Bobcats.

This season, Bobcats center Cousins ​​produced amazing performance and statistics in the regular season.

He averaged 23 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of 50%.

Let's put it this way, Cousins ​​​​this season is definitely one of the best centers in the league in the top five.

Therefore, facing the Bobcats led by Rose, Roy, Jimmy Butler, Cousins, David West, Roy Hibbert, Kemba Walker, DeRozan, Curry Jr. and others, the Bucks The team played really hard.

However, the Bucks won the final tiebreaker.

In G7, the Bucks' substitute big man Draymond Green, who was put into the starting lineup by Terry Porter, scored 24 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals in the most critical game. He made 9 of 12 shots.

Moreover, he actually blocked Cousins!

Moreover, he hit the last crucial three-pointer.

When the Bucks advanced, Durant, Curry, Ray Allen, Iguodala, Giannis and other Bucks players all rushed to the team's substitute interior like crazy.

Obviously, this battle may be the time for Draymond Green to replace Braxon.

Green's defense is too tough and has too much heart.

"The Bucks may have found their best big man."

Cole in front of the TV looked envious.

Unexpectedly, the Bucks found another treasure at a low ranking.

This is the importance of connections.

Another Eastern Conference semifinals game between the Heat and the Cavaliers.

In this series, the key player is Yao Ming.

Yao Ming's height is too restrictive for centers like Oden and Howard.

However, although the Heat finally advanced, Yao Ming's consumption was also huge.

Oden is indeed one of the best centers in the league now.

By the way, in G1 of the Western Conference Finals, which started first, the Warriors lost to the Spurs on the road 115-125.

In this game, Tim Duncan made 11 of 19 shots in 28 minutes and scored 27 points.

Now when meeting the Warriors, Duncan will use Wushuang.

Lopez, thick eyebrows, Ibaka, Gobert and a group of young people were actually taken turns being trained by a 38-year-old old man...

Duncan, he really becomes more and more demonic as he gets older!