I’m Really Playing Basketball

As the first team to advance to the conference finals, after advancing to the Western Conference Finals on May 11, Chen Xiao and the Warriors players paid attention to Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Spurs and Clippers on May 12. .

The Western Conference semifinals between the Spurs and Clippers continued until Game 6, which is quite surprising.

The Spurs' team's strength has indeed declined after Maizi and Duncan retired, but the Spurs' current strength is still quite strong.

Especially the forward combination of Leonard and Ron Howard. Ron Howard and Leonard were selected to the first and second teams respectively this season.

Even if it weren't for the excellent record of Dream Green and the Bucks, the best defensive player this season would probably be one of Ron Howard or Leonard.

This season, Leonard became the core player of the team for the first time and contributed 22.5 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block per game. His shooting percentage and three-point shooting percentage were 50% and 40% respectively. His performance can be said to be a top-notch offense and defense.

His master, Ron Howard, has almost the same statistics as him. This season, Ron Howard can average 23 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2.5 steals and 1 block per game. His field goal percentage and three-point shooting percentage also exceed 50% and 40%. %.

Such two super wings, coupled with powerful veterans such as Tony Parker, Ginobili and Al Jefferson.

The current Spurs are indeed invincible in the entire Western Conference, except for the Warriors.

But this time in the Western Conference semifinals, the Spurs were greatly blocked by the Clippers.

The reason for being blocked was precisely because Duncan's departure caused the Spurs' inside defense to collapse. In the end, the Spurs' inside line was overwhelmed by the Clippers' inside line headed by Tyson Chandler and Stoudemire.

In this series, the Clippers can average 14 offensive rebounds per game, which is really fatal.

Therefore, before the start of G6, the big score between the Clippers and the Spurs was 3 to 2. The leader was not the Spurs, but the Clippers.

The reason why the Clippers, who have the inside advantage, can lead by a large margin is of course not just the inside advantage.

On the outside, you also need to block the wings led by Leonard and Ron Howard.

And did they block it?

blocked!

In this Western Conference semifinals, the Clippers' No. 2 Lance Stephenson and No. 3 Granger did a very good job defending Ron Howard and Leonard.

Especially Granger, the matchup between Granger and Leonard. Before the game, everyone was not optimistic about Granger, a veteran superstar.

But in the end, Granger won. This was not because Granger was stronger than Leonard.

The main reason is that the Clippers' inside advantage is too great. When defending Leonard, Granger is not afraid of Leonard breaking through at all, and Leonard is not the kind of physically powerful person who can pass people in one step. player, in this case, if Leonard wants to play Granger, he can only use rhythm flow and play rhythm with Granger.

But who is Granger?

He is Jordan's apprentice and Chen Xiao's younger brother. When he was with the Bobcats, he was training with people like Chen Xiao and Jordan who really mastered Joe's back. He would be afraid of Leonard's jammed Joe's back. Lean back?

Granger doesn't take advantage of Leonard's fake moves at all. Leonard can't get in inside, and Granger can't be stunned by his dribbling and fake moves on the outside. And he doesn't have the body to beat Granger when playing from behind. Too strong. In the end, when Leonard played against Granger, he could only play the kind of pull-up superstar ball.

But here comes the question, Granger, is he short?

Of course he's not short. He's taller than Leonard. How do you think he can fix this?

Leonard's three-point shooting percentage in the regular season is as high as 45% this season, but his three-point shooting percentage in this series is only a measly 28%!

It's true that Leonard's current jammed Joe's fadeaway is almost at its peak. Even facing such a defense, he can still hit 38% of his mid-range shots. This kind of hit rate is actually not low. .

But, again, there is no sustainability or harm at the critical moment.

Because the Clippers are not afraid of this kind of mid-range shooting at all. What the Clippers are afraid of is Leonard's combination of three-pointers and super mid-range.

In the regular season, Leonard shot 50% from mid-range and 45% from three-point range.

But Leonard, who shot only 38% from mid-range and 28% from three-point range, is not going to kill anyone.

The Spurs also knew this, so in G5, they frantically let Leonard break through with the ball. Even if they knew that the Clippers had an inside advantage, they still frantically broke through.

Is there any effect?

There must be some. In the last game, Leonard shot 12 of 21 from the field. If you don't count 1 of 4 three-pointers, Leonard's two-point shooting rate was 11 of 17, which is very high.

However, as the Spurs' most accurate three-point player and one of the most stable outside shooting players, if you make a breakthrough like this, it is basically equivalent to the Spurs giving up outside offense.

Then the Clippers' defense is too easy to defend, just shrink.

Therefore, in the last game, the Clippers grabbed 58 rebounds, while the Spurs only had 36 rebounds.

In the end, the Spurs clearly had a higher shooting percentage in G5, but they still lost to the Clippers by 5 points.

Leonard was unable to defeat Granger on the outside, forcing him to make breakthroughs that he was not good at, compressing the Spurs' offensive space.

As for Luo Ge, facing Fensen, although it was not as miserable as Leonard, it was not too good either.

Finsen's defense is very tough, he makes a lot of small moves, and he is very excited and unyielding. Many people who play against Luo Ge will always have mental problems after being deceived by Luo Ge's high football IQ and high IQ. But Finsen has a better mentality. Can't even see the problem.

This allowed Luo Ge to never break through and defeat Finsen's defense.

When the Clippers were beaten inside, the two explosive points on the outside were unable to explode. Do you think it was hard for the Spurs?

In G6, the Spurs, who were forced into a desperate situation, failed to gain momentum and even collapsed at the beginning.

Popovich also knows that playing hard inside like G6 won't work, so in this game, let the Spurs try more on the outside.

But once they came up, facing Granger's defense, Leonard made 0 of 3 three-pointers, and the Spurs made 0 of 8 three-pointers. This was too embarrassing.

After the first half, the Spurs, who were operating from the outside, shot 14 of 44 in the first half, with a shooting percentage of only 32%, while the opposite Clippers shot 46%. At halftime, the Spurs were 32-32 away from home. 55 was 23 points behind.

With this point difference, everyone knew that the Spurs were doomed.

In the end, the Spurs lost the game 100-115 on the road.

This game can be said to be a microcosm of the entire series. Because they were suppressed by the two Clippers insiders, Tyson Chandler and Stoudemire, the Spurs really couldn't open their offense and defense.

If you want to say that Leonard and Luo Ge, the two leaders of the Spurs, did not perform well, that's not much.

Throughout the series, Leonard averaged 23 points per game on 48% shooting, while Ron Howard averaged 26 points on 51% shooting. This performance is actually worthy of their status.

However, everyone who watched the game knows that because they completely lost power inside and their three-pointers were blocked, their scores could not affect the Spurs' situation of collapse again and again.

If it hadn't been for each of them breaking out, the Spurs might not have won a single game in this series.

The Clippers' advantage over the Spurs in this series is much greater than the 4-2 score.

Just like G6, without the performance of Leonard and Luo Ge, the Spurs would collapse.

After the series ended, the 67-win Spurs were eliminated in the semifinals, which made the entire NBA see Duncan's importance to the Spurs.

Even though Duncan is already a 40-year-old man, the Spurs with him and the Spurs without him are completely different.

Without Duncan, the Spurs' offense and defense simply couldn't stand up.

Although Leonard and Ron Howard are also strong, they are actually more of killers. Top killers on both ends of the offense and defense are not the kind of pillars on both ends that can keep the team standing forever and not collapse.

The Spurs were hurt after losing Duncan.

In short, no matter what, after defeating the Spurs 4-2 in the Western Conference semifinals, the Clippers reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in team history. This was also the first time that Chris Xiaopao touched the floor of the Western Conference finals. At the same time, After leaving Chen Xiao, Xiaopao led the team to the Western Conference Finals for the first time.

So the victory in this series is really important to Xiaopao.

In this series, Xiaopao's performance is indeed remarkable, averaging 24 points, 11.3 assists and 2.3 steals per game. He has the most assists and steals on the team, and his scoring is second only to Stoudemire who averaged 28 points per game. Team second.

More importantly, under his defense, Spurs guard Tony Parker didn't have a hit in this series, and after Parker went off the court, he also focused on guarding Ginobili. In this series, the small gun averaged 42 points per game. Minutes, it can be said that it was really hard work.

Thanks to the efforts of Xiao Cannon, Parker averaged 10.5 points per game in this series, while Ginobili averaged 6.8 points per game, both of which were sluggish.

However, for the 34-year-old Parker and the 39-year-old Ginobili, the responsibility and burden of the Spurs team cannot really rest on them.

Let's put it this way, the two of them did not follow their eldest brother Duncan in retiring or leaving last year, and they have done their best.

What's more, this time they faced their mentor and father, Doc Reeves, in the playoffs.

Well, although it can't be said that he can't do it, Rivers is indeed very familiar with and understands his two sons.

In short, I originally thought that the Warriors and Spurs would meet in the Western Conference Finals, but because of the Clippers' interference, the Spurs were eliminated in the Western Conference Semifinals.

In the end, the Western Conference Finals turned into a California Derby between the Warriors and the Clippers.

This really caught many people off guard.

And to the east on the other side.

There was also an upset.

In the two semifinals of the Eastern Conference, the Bucks, who are first in the Eastern Conference, played the Raptors, who are fourth in the Eastern Conference. There was no upset in this group. In the first round, the Bucks were frightened into a cold sweat by the Pacers led by Love and Beasley. The Bucks, in the Eastern Conference semifinals, successfully eliminated the Raptors led by Milicic with a score of 4-1.

Milicic, the de facto number one center in the league, is indeed one of the best centers among the top five players. However, the Bucks' current five players are really not short at all.

After having Antetokounmpo, the Bucks' three-point striker, except for Dream Green, is a bit shorter. Durant is 2.10 meters and Antetokounmpo is 2.11 meters. They are really fast. , but if you want to treat them as small, you must be terribly wrong.

Let's put it this way, the current Bucks have the advantage of five small teams, but because the staffing is too strong, they have made up for the shortcomings of the five small teams very well.

Therefore, even if the Raptors have Milicic, the most powerful center to break through the top five, they still don't seem to have any chance.

In the East, the real upset came between the Cavaliers and Bobcats.

Before the start of this round of games, most experts and media were actually more optimistic about the Cavaliers, which reached the finals last season.

The current Cavaliers have the strongest inside combination of Oden and James, as well as excellent role players such as Danny Green, Matthews and Conley outside.

In addition, the Bobcats did struggle in the playoffs in the previous two seasons. Therefore, many experts feel that the Cavaliers should be able to win this Eastern Conference semifinals. It may be difficult, but they should be able to win.

However, the final result was quite unexpected. The Bobcats defeated the Cavaliers with a score of 4 to 2.

Not only did the Cavaliers suffer from the outside attacks of Jimmy Butler, DeRozan and Rose.

Inside, facing the Bobcats' Cousins, Horford, Roy Hibbert, David West, and Tobias Harris' inside group, they also suffered a lot.

Especially Horford. Horford can pass the ball and coordinate. This season he came to the Bobcats and seemed to have opened up the two lines of the Bobcats' inside and outside offense.

Let's put it this way, in the past, after Chen Xiao left the Bobcats, Cousins ​​on the inside and Rose on the outside were all fighting on their own.

When Rose is at his strongest, he needs to hold the ball.

When Cousins ​​is at his strongest, he also needs to hold the ball.

Although both of them have strong personal abilities, they always feel like there is something missing.

The arrival of Horford changed everything.

Both Cousins ​​and Horford have range, can pass the ball, and can pull out, and on the outside, there is Rose, who may be the player with the strongest breakthrough ability in the NBA.

What about James and Oden then?

For this pair of the strongest insiders in the NBA, it is no exaggeration to say that this series was characterized by internal and external disparity.

This cannot be changed by the personal abilities of Oden and James. In terms of system, the Cavaliers collapsed. Neither James Oden's personal ability nor Carlisle's coaching ability can solve this problem.

It can only be said that for a basketball game, the space is large, coupled with a person who can break out and a group of people who can attack, it is really too strong.

The Bobcats are like this, Cousins, Horford, Butler, DeRozan, Rose, Kemba Walker, Tobias Harris, Roy, Thomas Jr., Roy Hibbert, David West... these , all are attackable.

It can be said that the Cavaliers, the strongest traditional team, were destroyed by the crazy Bobcats.

At this point, all the teams for the Eastern and Western Regional Finals were born.

In the West, the Warriors led by Chen Xiao will face the Clippers led by Xiaopao.

In the East, the Bucks led by Curry Durant will face the Bobcats led by Ross Cousins.

The war is about to break out.