I’m Really Playing Basketball

The results of the first round of the playoffs are out, and during the second round, various NBA awards will be announced one after another.

Before the second round started, Chen Xiao received a call from James.

The call wasn't about this year's NBA awards and whether he can make the first team.

The main thing is that James reported the good news to him and killed Westbrook, the person who caused trouble for him in this year's All-Star Game, in the playoffs.

I have to say that Xiao Zhan in this time and space is much smaller-minded.

Historically, James likes to pretend to be generous and refuses to say anything about his hatred. He rarely expresses negative emotions in interpersonal relationships in the media or outside.

But in fact, James is not that generous. Otherwise, his winning and losing looks are completely different in history.

But in this time and space, James would never express his generosity like a saint to the outside world. He would repay favors when there were grievances, and he would be quite free and unrestrained, without any shackles of historical time and space.

This is actually understandable. It is difficult for James not to wear shackles in historical time and space. Before he entered the NBA, Hook gave him an endorsement contract worth hundreds of millions. What kind of pressure is this? Can he express his emotions randomly?

Even Durant, in the first ten years, wasn't he also a schoolbag?

After joining the Warriors, I completely ruined my image and let go.

The same is true for James. Due to pressure from all aspects, he has to maintain his image outside, but he suppresses the discomfort and sometimes reveals his true nature from time to time, so NBA fans in history will see James. Tear him apart and call him Yue Buqun, a hypocrite.

In this time and space, James and Chen Xiao invested in FB and No. 1 Sports. Chen Xiao was the richest man in the world, and he was the second richest man in the world.

He is so rich, but there is no team in the NBA. One person, one city, two championships, all personal honors, a god-level player, this is famous.

Such a person naturally doesn't need to flatter anyone or hold anything back.

Therefore, after James met Westbrook in the playoffs and defeated him in Westbrook's way, after the G6 game, he took revenge on the spot, ran in front of Westbrook, and celebrated arrogantly with Westbrook pouting. way, and after he hit a three-pointer against Westbrook in G6, he also pointed to the position of the watch on his hand, as if saying in front of Westbrook, boy, the time is up, I will personally execute you. , send you to see God.

I have to say that James's move is indeed quite depressing.

Westbrook was immediately shattered by James.

At the post-game press conference, when reporters asked questions about him and James about the game, Westbrook frantically said: "Next!"

In the end, Westbrook left the post-game press conference with a livid face.

After all, James has issues with Westbrook, and Westbrook also has issues with James.

James wants to play B in front of Westbrook this playoffs, and Westbrook naturally wants to do the same.

Let's put it this way, Westbrook's shooting percentage in this series is only 39%, and his performance in other aspects is really good.

Four one-on-one duels with James, 2 to 2, and even forced James to a final game in the last game. Although the Knicks are stronger than the Cavaliers without Oden, they can do this. To be able to play like this with James is already very outstanding.

If James fails to kill in this game, the Cavaliers will definitely bring Oden back in Game 7. By then, even if Westbrook loses, he can still mock James.

It can only be said that there is really only one step left, and the final winner is Westbrook.

On May 2, 2022, the second round of the playoffs between the Warriors and Jazz began in Golden State.

The Jazz and Warriors are actually old rivals in recent years.

Although the Jazz's team's strength has indeed declined compared to previous years after Yi Jianlian and others left. This season they did not even hold the first place in the Northwest Division, but it is obvious that with Gobert and Mitchell as the core The team we have built is still good in terms of hard power.

One inside and one outside, one defense and one offense, so no team is that easy to play against the Jazz, especially the Lakers, who have been disgusted by the Jazz for several years.

Of course, every time the Jazz met the Warriors, they were in a very awkward situation.

Because of Morant's speed, Mitchell couldn't stop him. Because Gobert pulled him out when facing Chen Xiao, the Jazz were driven crazy by Morant. If they didn't pull him out and let others fill in, it would be the rest of the Warriors. ’s three-pointers were shot wildly from outside.

After all, if you don’t pull out, everyone on the Warriors can pull out to shoot. When there are people in front of Chen Xiao, one of them will always be empty. And Chen Xiao has a very strong passing ability and can always find the open space as soon as possible. The Warriors' players are so accurate in shooting that they can't really defend against this or that.

As a result, Gobert and the Jazz face a very dilemma.

Even if Chen Xiao's athletic ability has declined and Gobert's ability to single-point on the outside is no longer that strong, as a space-based center with full passing and organizational points, Chen Xiao's tactics can still control the Jazz. Deadly.

If the Jazz had the ability of the Lakers Siakam, Leonard, Lowe and Paul George to rotate wildly on the defensive end, they could defend four and five on the outside to prevent Jokic from pulling out, but obviously, the Jazz The other four players on the team do not have such ability.

Therefore, every time the Jazz meets the Warriors, it is very miserable.

Some experts say that the Warriors have a hundred ways to defeat the Jazz. This is definitely not an exaggeration.

The Jazz are only a tough team in front of other teams, but in the Warriors, they are really miserable in front of Chen Xiao.

On the evening of May 2nd, in the God of Basketball Stadium in Golden State, Warriors fans had already filled the entire stadium to capacity.

At the same time, all the starting players of the two teams on the court are already in place.

For the Jazz, the five starting players tonight are center Gobert, power forward Bogdanovic, small forward Gordon Hayward, shooting guard Mitchell, and point guard Conley.

Compared with the previous Jazz team led by Arab League, this Jazz team has some changes.

After Alian left, the Jazz acquired former Cavaliers championship point guard Mike Conley.

This is an obvious distrust of the two team leaders, Mitchell and Gobert, in their ability to organize the team's offense.

In fact, Gobert and Mitchell do not obey anyone.

Gobert even publicly complained in the media that in the Jazz, his idol Yi Jianlian is the sky, he is the best in the world, and no one else is worthy of being compared with him.

As an international player and someone who beat the U.S. team in FIBA ​​games, Gobert looked down upon the American star players on the Jazz, especially Mitchell, who had been an undercover agent for the U.S. team.

He even satirized Mitchell and said that if he was given so many shots, he could score so many points.

In this case, the reason why the Jazz did not explode after the UAE retired was really thanks to the Jazz's management being decisive enough. After the UAE retired, they still let the UAE manage Chen Xiao Basketball. In his spare time in college, he was almost the president of the team.

Yes, the chairman of the Jazz has always had the habit of taking care of him part-time.

For example, Dennis Haslem, who served as chairman of the Jazz in 1997, ran away to pursue other interests after ten years as chairman of the Jazz.

In the NBA, the rights and responsibilities of the president, general manager, or owner are not so clear.

For example, if Pat Riley is the general manager, then the Heat's general manager is the boss. If Pat Riley is the chairman, then the chairman is the Heat's boss.

Well, just like Li Dakang in a certain TV series, who is the boss of a place depends on what Li Dakang is responsible for.

But generally speaking, in the NBA, the chairman is the mascot, the general manager is the executor, and the boss is the one who makes the decision.

Therefore, Arab League continues to serve as the mascot-like chairman of the Jazz and is just able to balance the contradictions in all aspects.

As long as Gobert sees that UAE is still on the team, he will not dare to mess around.

Of course, this contradiction must be suppressed for the time being. In fact, historically, after Mitchell's season, the Jazz should want to trade him.

In this time and space, as someone who has defeated the United States team and was the former younger brother of the God of Basketball, Gobert's current status is much stronger than it was in history.

Generally speaking, it's hard to compare to Mitchell.

Back to this game, the Warriors' starter in this game, after going through crazy adjustments in the game against the Clippers, once again returned to the Warriors' former regular starter.

Center Chen Xiao, power forward Marvin Bagley, small forward Wiggins, shooting guard Herbert Jones, and point guard Morant.

By the way, Herbert Jones, a rookie, can boast about his playoff statistics with the Clippers.

In the four games against the Clippers, Herbert Jones, who has been specially trained, started three games, averaged 36 minutes per game, and averaged 11 points per game, including 48% shooting from the field and 42% from the three-point field. Let’s not look at the total number of points scored. After all, he is a role player and has no main offensive tactics.

But the total points are still higher than in the regular season. At the same time, the more critical thing is the shooting rate. The shooting rate is even better than the regular season, especially the three-point shooting rate, which is 5 percentage points higher than the regular season.

Generally speaking, as a rookie, you need to adapt in the playoffs, and you may perform very poorly.

But Herbert Jones's model of getting stronger as soon as he entered the playoffs reminded Chen Xiao of Granger when he was with the Bobcats.

Granger was trained as a role player after his performance in the playoffs. In the end, he grew into a superstar.

Of course, so does Leonard.

Therefore, Herbert Jones, who was known as the strongest defensive rookie perimeter in NBA history during the regular season, was actually competing against Granger and Leonard.

And in the playoffs, his performance did not disgrace the titles he earned in the regular season.

It is precisely because of this that the Warriors chose to continue to give Herbert Jones an important task.

If Herbert Jones doesn't perform well against the Clippers in the first round, the Warriors will consider starting Alexander or Michael Porter Jr.

After all, this year's Warriors may really be the last window to win the championship.

Because after the end of this season, Wiggins, Michael Porter Jr., and Alexander will all face contract extension periods.

Wiggins and Alexander will definitely be poached by teams with maximum salary.

Even Michael Porter Jr. might be poached with a max salary.

By then, can the Warriors maintain this lineup?

By the way, Morant enters the contract extension period every year.

Of course, this year, the Warriors' three core players are facing contract renewal issues. This is a bad thing, but it is also a good thing, because Wiggins, Alexander and Michael Porter Jr. are all playing very well.

For example, Michael Porter Jr. shot 54% from the field and 45% from three-point range in the regular season this year. In the playoffs, he still shot 50% and 40% from the field. Not only is the efficiency high, but the output is also high.

Maybe after receiving big contracts, some of these players will fall off a cliff (Wiggins has this record, he just took care of his health after receiving big contracts, and waited for the next round of contract years to work hard again).

But at least in the last year of the Warriors, these three people really worked hard.

And this is also the reason why the Warriors can be so strong this season even though they have such big lineup flaws and their interior defense has collapsed due to Chen Xiao's presence.

Let's put it this way, if these people hadn't been able to shoot such a terrifying shooting percentage, how would Chen Xiao have the space he has now.

Let's put it this way, Chen Xiao is indeed very strong now, but as long as Siakam, Leonard, Rowe or Paul George are placed in front of Chen Xiao, it will be difficult for Chen Xiao to win in the game without the help of his teammates. Get the offense out there.

Chen Xiao, who now has no ability to escape, said he was easy to defend, but in fact he was also easy to defend.

Chen Xiao's ability to defeat James Harden and win the scoring title this season is really thanks to his teammates who are so accurate this season.

And this round of the second round playoffs with the Jazz was particularly obvious.

Because Gobert was pulled out in the first game, after pulling out, the Jazz team, which was empty inside, was broken by Morant. In this game, Morant scored 42 points.

In the second game, the Jazz did not dare to release Gobert to stop Chen Xiao.

Then, the four-on-five Jazz perimeter players outside were vomited by the cooperation of Chen Xiao and his teammates. In this game, the Warriors made 21 three-pointers, of which Chen Xiao made one. 7, a super triple-double with 40 points plus 12 rebounds and 14 assists.

After two games, the Jazz lost the first game by 18 points and the second game by 15 points. This appearance already showed the Jazz's defeat.

In the end, the Jazz, who were in a dilemma, were swept out by the Warriors.

At the same time, the Warriors also became the first team in the second round and the only team to advance with a 4-0 sweep.

The Lakers beat the Mavericks.

The Heat beat the Cavaliers.

The Bucks beat the Wizards.

There was no sweep.

At the same time, on the day the Warriors swept the Jazz to advance, the NBA officially announced last season's regular season MVP. Chen Xiao was crowned the sixth regular season MVP in his career!

The number of regular season MVPs is not that important. Chen Xiao also surpassed Jordan and tied for first in NBA history!