I’m Really Playing Basketball

After the Warriors advanced to the finals, the Warriors were waiting for the grudge showdown between the other group in the Western Conference semifinals.

This matchup between the Clippers and the Spurs, many people thought at the beginning that this would be a very close matchup.

However, when the series started, these people's predictions became ridiculous.

The current Spurs team is really completely different from the Spurs team that was eliminated by the Clippers last season.

The biggest difference is Leonard's evolution.

Facing Granger's defense last season, Leonard's performance was almost catastrophic.

In this playoffs, he also faced the Clippers and Granger. At the home court of the Clippers, in G1, Leonard led Granger across the court, using his youth and ability to run without the ball. The position advantage and constant running on both offense and defense held Granger in check.

In just the first half, Leonard scored 18 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, of which 4 were offensive rebounds.

On the offensive end, don't play stand-up singles with Granger. Look for mismatch advantages while running, and look for opportunities to compete for offensive rebounds. After all, the Spurs' insiders are Howard and Gasol, and it is necessary to block the rebounds. Better than the Clippers inside combination of Chandler and Stoudemire.

This made Granger very uncomfortable.

Granger is a player who has returned from a serious injury. Facing Leonard like this, he is really difficult to deal with.

And even if he keeps up, Leonard's one-on-one jammed Joe's fadeaway is now more accurate and efficient.

Therefore, in G1 of this series, the home court of the Clippers, the Spurs gave the Clippers a 20-point half-time victory of 62-42.

In the end, the Spurs also successfully defeated the Clippers at home with a 10-point advantage.

After taking away the Clippers' home court, the Spurs never gave the Clippers another chance.

After winning all of their home games in the first four games, the series lead was 3-1.

In the most critical G5 game, it is the home court of the Clippers.

In this defensive battle, the Clippers and Spurs finally staged a crucial moment of superstar quality battle.

The two teams were anxious from the first quarter to the fourth quarter in this G5 game, and finally the two teams reached overtime.

And in overtime, when both teams were running out of ammunition and food, when everyone's expectations were placed on the two teams' leaders Leonard and Paul.

In the end, Paul scored 1 of 4 and 3 points in overtime.

On the opposite side, Leonard made 2 of 3, 1 of 2 three-pointers, 2 of 4 free throws, and scored 7 points in overtime.

Leonard scored 4 more points than Paul in overtime.

In the end, the Spurs defeated the Clippers by 4 points, 110-106.

In the end, the Spurs unexpectedly defeated the powerful second-place Clippers in the Western Conference with a score of 4-1 in this Western Conference semifinals.

Of course, although the big score is 4 to 1, except for G1, basically every game is played very anxiously, so the strength gap between the two teams is definitely not as big as 4 to 1.

But no matter what, in this matchup, the big score between the two teams was 4 to 1.

So after the Spurs were disbanded by the Clippers last year, they successfully got their revenge on the Clippers in this year's playoffs.

Leonard, who played in last year's playoffs, also completed his revenge against the Clippers in this year's playoffs.

Leonard averaged 28 points per game in this series, the highest score in a career playoff series. Not only did he set a new high in scoring, but he also shot 56% from the field and 54% from three-point range. The efficiency is equally terrifying.

So after the Spurs successfully defeated the Clippers, media experts throughout the NBA were full of praise for Leonard.

After Oden successfully found himself in front of Milicic in the first round of the playoffs, Leonard also successfully completed his revenge in front of the Clippers and Granger.

Oden and Leonard, the two leading players on the U.S. team in the 2016 Olympics, finally completed their redemption in the playoffs.

After last year's playoffs, many people said that Leonard was a pseudo-superstar, and even Granger, an old superstar who had broken his leg, couldn't handle it.

And now, after playing the Clippers this time, although not everyone thinks Leonard is a superstar, it is obvious that Leonard's reputation has indeed improved by no means.

As for why not everyone thinks Leonard is a superstar.

It can only be said that it is not that easy for stars who are not so outstanding in athletic ability to be recognized by others.

Leonard is not the first, and Leonard is not the last.

Of course, just when Leonard was glorying in leading the team to the conference finals, the cannon who led the team to a 1-4 defeat must be very, very depressed at this time.

I thought I could join Chen Xiao in the conference finals this year, but unexpectedly, I was eliminated by the Spurs.

And the way the Clippers were eliminated caused him great criticism.

After all, four of the five games in this series went to the last minute, but the Clippers only won one game in the end.

In the last-minute battles between him and Leonard in these four games, Leonard won three games and he only won one.

To be honest, as an old-school superstar who became famous in the league early, it is hard not to feel uncomfortable and not to be criticized when being defeated by young people like this.

It can only be said that for basketball, although speed and explosive skills are important, height and arm length are still more important.

In these four duels, except for the G5 overtime game where they really lacked physical strength and performed poorly, the other three games performed very well, with good shooting percentage and scoring.

But Leonard performed better than him.

Leonard's height allows him to get offensive opportunities more easily than Paul at the last moment.

On the same day that the Clippers and Spurs decided, the Bucks and Celtics in the East also decided. In the end, the Bucks defeated the Celtics with a score of 4 to 1.

The Celtics basically didn't show much resistance in front of the Bucks.

The Celtics center is Noah. Is Noah strong?

It's definitely strong.

However, the Bucks are not afraid of an all-around center like Noah who is not that tall and not that capable of attacking.

When you play against the Bucks, if you don't have an advantage on the inside, you can't have an advantage on the outside. Then you can only be exploited by the Bucks.

The same is true for the Celtics. If they hadn't won a game at home with a magical three-pointer, this series would have been more suitable for a sweep.

It is precisely for this reason that after the end of this series, news and news about trading Noah came out from the Celtics.

If the Celtics want to go further, Noah is indeed not suitable for them.

In the news, the person the Celtics hope to trade for Noah is Jokic of the Warriors.

This caught the Warriors a little off guard.

Jokic's rookie contract expires this year and will be renewed this summer.

Now the Warriors have four maximum-salary contracts in Chen Xiao, Wade, Klay and Nong Mei, plus the contracts of Luo Ge and Curry are also not small.

Let's put it this way, it will be difficult for the Warriors to offer Jokic a maximum salary contract.

Many other NBA teams will offer Jokic a maximum salary contract.

In this case, all the Warriors can do is to sign and trade Jokic.

Therefore, Jokic will not stay with the team next season. Everyone in the Warriors team knows it, and Jokic himself knows it too.

What I didn't expect was that the trade news that Jokic was leaving the Warriors would come out so early.

In this regard, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge immediately found Warriors consultant Jerry West to apologize and said that the news was not released by them as soon as the news came out.

Jerry West wants to believe that.

After all, there are not many first-class center candidates in the entire league that can be obtained by the Celtics, and Jokic may be the only one.

As long as you know some common sense about the NBA, you can connect Noah and Jokic.

So, there really is no need for Danny Ainge to reveal anything.

Of course, judging from Danny Ainge's kneeling attitude, he really really wants Jokic.

It's just that the Warriors are still competing in the playoffs and are still preparing for a three-peat dynasty, so Danny Ainge can only let go of his desires.

Let’s continue to return to the NBA playoffs.

After the three teams of the Warriors, Spurs and Bucks advanced to the final conference finals.

The only remaining group of four clashes in the conference semifinals is the Cavaliers and Bobcats.

The series between the Cavaliers and Bobcats was really interesting.

On the Cavaliers side, because Oden was rescued by James, the morale of the entire team was at its peak, and everyone in the Cavaliers team seemed to be pumped.

As for the Bobcats, the team is extremely strong. From the starters to the substitutes, and even to the end of the bench, they are all players with star-level abilities.

It has been so many years since Chen Xiao left, but the Bobcats' lineup is still strong, and the foundation left by Chen Xiao has not been exhausted.

So, both sides have their own advantages.

However, if this is just the case, the Bobcats, who have a thicker lineup and a stronger team, will still have the upper hand.

However, this year's playoffs are a little special.

That is that the Bobcats have some internal issues.

It is rumored that the Bobcats’ current second-in-command, Jimmy Butler, Chen Xiao’s junior, is extremely dissatisfied with Cousins.

As the second-in-command, you always regard yourself as a leader and criticize teammates who don't work hard enough during training or games. This is actually problematic. What do you think of Ross, the real boss and leader of the team?

So many people are saying that there is a split within the Bobcats and a rift in the relationship between Jimmy Butler and Rose.

And this is not just a rumor, a close friend of Jimmy Butler even revealed this to the media.

"The Bobcats' locker room has been having problems since God left. I certainly won't say that the conflicts between Jimmy, Rose and Cousins ​​only appeared this season. In fact, Jimmy was very dissatisfied with the team's attitude towards winning after God left. After God left, the Bobcats have not even entered the finals. For a team like the Bobcats, this is extremely inappropriate.

Jimmy hated it all, that was the truth. "

"Jimmy told me that he doesn't like the reports from you media reporters. You all say that he is like an 'attention-hungry female star', doing things to attract attention. Jimmy told me that he is not like that. Man, he doesn't care whether he gets attention or not. His desire for victory does offend some people, and he knows it, but it's not to attract attention or to be the leader of the team. He just wants to win. If for Victory is also a mistake, so there is nothing he can do about it, and he will not apologize to his teammates who were offended by him."

"And Jimmy has repeatedly confirmed to me that he will continue to work hard, whether others like it or not. Others can say whatever they want, and Jimmy doesn't think there is anything wrong with him. I believe you understand Jimmy's intention. Jimmy hopes that everyone can It’s good, the team is good, but the team needs to win.”

Jimmy Butler is so tough, so there are reports that the reason why Cousins ​​and Rose are fed up with Butler is that they feel that Butler's self-proclaimed leader is too much.

Butler's close friend did not deny this. From these words of Butler's close friend, it is obvious that Butler feels that his approach is okay, and he is not only dissatisfied with Cousins, but also has some lies in the team. The Bobcats veteran who is on the merit list is very dissatisfied with his slow-down attitude. After all, the Bobcats have not reached the finals even once in the years since Chen Xiao left. It is definitely not Cousins' fault alone.

Of course, after Butler's close friend came out to speak, Rose quickly stood up and refuted these rumors and said that he and Butler had no problems. Not only did he not argue with Butler, he even bought a A watch worth only $15,000 was given to Butler as a gift, which is enough to prove their friendship.

"No matter what they say in the media, I like Butler very much. I never had any problems with Jimmy. There was no confrontation, no division or any arguments between us."

Interestingly, after Rose came out to refute the rumors, Jimmy Butler's close friend also came out to refute the rumors: "I never said that Jimmy hated Rose, nor did I say that Rose hated Jimmy. In fact, Rose is also Jimmy's favorite Bobcat teammate. But Rose needs to not only be tough on the court, but also tougher off the court."

This is very interesting.

What's even more interesting is that Rose came out, his close friends came out, but Butler never came out.

It wasn't until the Bobcats relied on Jimmy Butler's final three-pointer in the seventh game to beat the Cavaliers to advance. Butler came out for an interview and said calmly: "I am not a coward, and I am not a schemer. I know the team. When does it take just one voice, Rose's voice represents the voice of all of us. I know very well that my teammates are not going to hurt my feelings. I don't have that much emotion in basketball. I think everyone wants to Success, wanting to be the best, I want my teammates to have those goals as well.”

What Butler said next quickly aroused strong resonance and uproar throughout the NBA.

"Am I too harsh on them? Yes, that's who I am.

I'm not the most talented guy on the team, who is the most talented player? It's Cousins.

Who is God's favorite player? It's Ross.

Who is playing the hardest? it's me!

I play hard and put my body on the court every day, either in training or in games.

This is my passion for basketball.

I just want everyone to feel my presence! "

This man is so tough!

Tough on the field, tough off the field too!