I’m Really Playing Basketball

In the second round of this year's Western Conference playoffs, the matchup between the Lakers and Jazz can definitely be called exciting.

Before this matchup started, most fans and experts were actually optimistic about the Lakers.

After all, the Lakers have three very successful stars, Jokic, Leonard and Paul George. These three were the younger brothers and apprentices of Chen Xiao, Ron Howard and Wade respectively.

Just putting the names of Chen Xiao, Ron Howard and Wade together is enough to attract attention.

And these three are not only superstars in the regular season, but have also proven themselves in the playoffs.

Leonard averaged 30+ points per game in the playoffs with the Warriors last season.

Paul George and Jokic once performed very well in the playoffs alongside Wade and Chen Xiao.

Therefore, these three are not regular season stars, they can really be expected.

Therefore, many people say that this series between the Lakers and Jazz is likely to be a series in which Leonard, Jokic or Paul George become gods.

But in the end, after the first five games of this series, it was completely different. So far in this series, Gobert should be the one who has been crowned the god...

Well, in addition to Gobert, or adding Jazz rookie Mitchell.

Gobert averaged 5 offensive rebounds per game in this series, and at the same time guarded the Jazz inside. As long as the Lakers players appeared in the inside, he would basically block him.

As for Mitchell, as a rookie, he has averaged 28.5 points per game in the five games he has played with the Lakers so far, and his shooting percentage exceeds 46%!

The last rookie guard to be so impressive was probably Jordan.

Even Jordan's shooting percentage is much worse than Mitchell.

If many people have not watched this series between the Lakers and Jazz, they think that the Jazz can lead the Lakers 3 to 2. This is because the Jazz are lucky.

But in fact, the Lakers can beat the Jazz 2-3, which is really good luck for the Lakers.

If it weren't for Paul George in G1, he would have made 8 of 11 three-pointers and 13 of 20 overall, scoring 36 points efficiently.

If it weren't for Leonard's very controversial 16-for-22 and 16-for-20 free throws in G5, he scored 48 points, including 18 free throws in the second half.

To be honest, this series should be over.

Let's put it this way, in G5, the Lakers, who were trailing 3-1, finished the first half on the road and trailed the Jazz by 10 points.

But at the beginning of the second half, Ingles, who was mainly guarding Leonard, committed two fouls in succession, and then Gordon Hayward, who switched to guard Leonard, was also called for two fouls as soon as he came up, causing the Jazz to Both the two best defensive players on the wings were in foul trouble. In this game, the Lakers really explained it like this.

Of course, the second half of this game was only controversial, not a black whistle.

The referee did not favor anyone, and the whistle was very balanced. It was just that in this game, the whistle was stricter, which was detrimental to the fierce defensive Jazz team.

It can only be said that this very controversial game is a typical away whistle game.

Well, in the NBA, most people have heard the home whistle and rarely the away whistle, but in fact there are.

Some referees feel that the home team is too aggressive and brutal at home, so they use whistles to suppress them and protect the physical safety of away players.

To be honest, the Jazz in G5 really wanted to swallow up the Lakers in one breath, so the referee felt that there was a risk of chaos and group fights if the game continued like this, so he cooled down the excitement, excitement and crazy Jazz.

But obviously, although G5 got a lucky win in the away game, there are not many fans and experts who are optimistic about the Lakers' promotion so far in the series.

The gap between these two teams is too big.

Let's put it this way, the new Lakers team's current system is a singles system, but the Lakers who only rely on singles cannot break the Jazz's defense at all.

Leonard played against Ingles, Paul George played against Gordon Hayward, and Jokic played against Gobert. They were all very difficult to play.

The Jazz seem to be the Lakers' nemesis.

Historically, when Ingles beat Leonard, the offense was basically gone. Leonard restrained Ingles, but at the same time, it was not easy for Leonard to beat Ingles because Ingles was a A defensive player with a high IQ, his talent is not that high, but he has a high IQ and is very smart on defense, and Leonard's offense is also an offense with a high IQ, so when an offense with a high IQ meets a defense with a high IQ, this It's very uncomfortable.

Even if you deceive Ingles, there is still Gobert inside.

Even though Leonard scored 48 points in the series, he also shot less than 30% in two games.

The thief is uncomfortable.

As for the grouping of Paul George and Gordon Hayward, Paul George is even worse, because no matter in history or in this time and space, the two are basically 50-50, and Paul George has a slight advantage. After that, there is basically no difference in grade.

Needless to say, Jokic and Gobert.

Let's put it this way, the Lakers have three strong points against the Jazz, but the strong points are not that strong.

But if the Jazz's strong point is against the Lakers, it will be stronger. For example, if Yi Jianlian and Millsap match up with Kuzma, tsk tsk, it will be a blast.

And when Mitchell faced Lowry, Lowry's height was too weak in front of Mitchell. Mitchell's unreasonable pull-ups really made Lowry uncomfortable.

Mitchell has strength, height, shooting, speed and breakthrough. This is really difficult for Lowry.

Historically, Mitchell, who was with the Jazz, beat Lowry with the Raptors during his rookie season.

This is still when the Jazz and the Lakers are playing singles. Let's put it this way, the Jazz is a team that has become a system.

This team is not only the singles game played by Mitchell as a substitute, but also the black and white offensive system of DeAndre Jordan and Yi Jianlian.

Let's put it this way, when a bench player on the Jazz can average 28.5 points per game, it's really hard to expect the Lakers to do anything more.

Therefore, in the G6 game, many experts predicted that if the Lakers cannot open a three-pointer, the Lakers will kneel down.

The Lakers won the previous two games, except for the controversial away buzzer game, because Paul George made 8 of 11 three-pointers to open up the Lakers' space, allowing Gobert to lose ground inside and outside, and giving the Lakers more opportunities. Attack space.

If they can't open up space and just fall into position and hammer hard, the Lakers will definitely not be able to beat the Jazz.

On May 10th, in G6 between the Lakers and Jazz, the Lakers, playing at home, were just as experts predicted. They attacked three-pointers from the outside in an attempt to open up space.

Throughout the game, the Lakers shot 44 three-pointers. You must know that the Lakers took only 95 shots in total during the game. In other words, nearly half of the Lakers' shots were three-pointers.

But the final result was not that good. Leonard made 1 of 7 three-pointers in this game, while Paul George made 4 of 10, Nick Young made 1 of 6, and Lowry made 1 of 5. On the contrary, It's Kuzma. He shot very well from three-pointers in this game. He made 4 of 5 three-pointers in the game. After being beaten by Yi Jianlian and Millsap for so many games, this young rookie always performed well on the offensive end. They did not lose confidence. In this game, Yi Jianlian and Millsap were very clever in taking advantage of the fact that Yi Jianlian and Millsap did not move so fast, running wildly, and shooting out of pocket.

It's just obvious that Kuzma's offensive explosion will definitely not save the Lakers.

In the end, the Lakers lost to the Jazz 105-120 at home in a life-and-death battle in G6.

It was a huge defeat.

You know, the Lakers made 27 free throws in this game, while the Jazz only made 17. This was a home whistle game.

In this case, we still lost by 15 points. This is really unbeatable.

Therefore, the head coach of the Lakers did not blame his players after the game. Now the Lakers, who do not have such a tacit understanding, really cannot beat the Jazz.

The Jazz are indeed one of the strongest and most systematic teams in the Western Conference in the past few seasons. After Sloan left, Quin Snyder has indeed turned the Jazz into a very scary team.

Especially after acquiring Gobert, the entire Jazz team has risen to a new level.

Therefore, after advancing to the Western Conference Finals, Mr. Jerry Sloan on the sidelines of Staples could not hide his tears.

This was the first time in his lifetime that he saw the Jazz advance to the Western Conference Finals.

The last time the Jazz reached the Western Conference Finals was the 1997-98 season, which has been 20 years!

The last time the Jazz reached the Western Conference Finals, at that time, Jordan was still with the Bulls, and the league was still an era where the Bulls and Jazz were competing for hegemony.

Twenty years have passed, and the entire league has undergone earth-shaking changes, but what remains unchanged is that the soul of the Jazz is still Jerry Sloan. The Jazz also has a pair of black and white evils, and the Utah double evil.

Therefore, after defeating the Lakers and advancing to the Western Conference finals, the two veterans in their thirties, Arab League and DeAndre Jordan, also shed tears.

Especially Ah Lian, who is 34 years old this year. He has incredible endurance for a yellow race. Even at 34 years old, his condition seems to be still at its peak.

At this point, Yao Ming is not as good as A Lian. The reason why Yao chose to retire at the age of 33 is because Yao felt that his endurance could no longer keep up. This is the racial disadvantage of yellow people. This is really There is no way.

And people like Chen Xiao and Ah Lian are really rare among yellow people, especially Ah Lian.

After all, Chen Xiao's body was modified by a plug-in, and he has locked in 100 endurance.

Therefore, it is said that Ah Lian's endurance is rare among yellow people, and he is a genius who has no problem and is unparalleled.

Why can a mere Western Conference Finals make the UAE so excited?

Because in the NBA, as a superstar, every round of the playoffs, the evaluation is completely different.

Some superstars will never be able to advance to the second round, and some superstars will never be able to touch the floor of the Western Conference Finals. These will be laughed at by fans.

As a superstar, if you want to avoid being ridiculed by the fans and gain their respect, the minimum standard is the conference finals.

As long as you can lead the team to the conference finals, no fans will say, 'I haven't even played in the conference finals, so I have the nerve to call myself a superstar.'

This is an achievement of achieving career minimum living security.

As for reaching the finals or winning the championship, this is really not something that any superstar is qualified to pursue.

At the very least, no fan thinks that in this era dominated by Marquette and the Three Eagles, being in the same division as the Marquette Three Eagles is a necessary condition for a superstar.

In short, reaching the Western Conference Finals is a success for UAE and DeAndre Jordan in their careers.

At the same time, the Warriors and Jazz met in the conference finals for the first time.

It was also the first time that Chen Xiao and Arab League met in the conference finals.

After Yao Ming retired, this was the first time that China's two leading players met in the conference finals.

Therefore, after the Jazz entered the conference finals and met the Warriors, domestic fans were really excited.

As the Western Conference Finals matchups were announced, soon, the Eastern Conference Finals matchups were also announced.

The Bucks, number one in the Eastern Conference, took the lead in reaching the conference finals after successively eliminating the Nets and Wizards.

The Cavaliers, who were second in the Eastern Conference, and the Bobcats, who were third in the Eastern Conference, were inextricably matched in the conference semifinals. In the end, the Cavaliers eliminated the Bobcats with a score of 4 to 3.

Logically speaking, in last year's playoffs, if Jimmy Butler wasn't so awesome, the Bucks would have played the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.

This season, without the very tough Butler, although Rose beat Conley, the inside combination of Oden and James also beat the Bobcats inside group of Cousins, Gasol, and Horford.

In the end, the Cavaliers, who had a more stable offense and a more solid defense, finally defeated the Bobcats and reached the conference finals.

This is also the sixth consecutive season that the Bobcats have missed the finals after Chen Xiao left.

To be honest, this is really sad. Last season, Butler suddenly broke out because of such a sad thing, angrily spitting on Cousins ​​and other teammates.

Now without Butler's encouragement, Rose is even more uncomfortable now.

In fact, although Rose stood by Cousins ​​​​and the others last season, to be honest, deep down, he admired Butler's courage.

As the leader of the Bobcats, he is helpless in the face of the Bobcats' current hard-earned fighting spirit.

Even though Roy, the spiritual leader of the team, supports him, to be honest, the achievements of the Bobcats players are really great...

They really have no pursuit in this area.

Butler saw it last season. If he wanted to compete for the championship, he couldn't stay in this muddled Bobcat.

Even for the Bobcats themselves, they will not sacrifice everything for the championship. They have four championships and a dynasty. That is enough. As long as they can maintain good results and maintain good popularity, everyone can make money together. Happy, doesn’t it smell good?

It’s great for Cousins, it’s great for many successful players, and it’s great for the team.

But for Rose, it didn't taste good at all.

What he wants is a championship!

He knew very well that when he came to the Bobcats, his goal was to be the number one player in the league!

Curry, who was his arrogant partner back then, is now the MVP!

And he is even farther away from the number one position than Curry!

Especially Chen Xiao is already old and is about to give up his position as the number one player.

There are so many princes in the alliance waiting to ascend to the throne, and he already belongs to the backward echelon.

Rose felt he needed to talk to the team.