Chapter 612 The Stubborn Kobe and the Western Conference Finals

Seattle became the first team to advance to the conference semifinals after defeating the Suns 4-0 at home.

The Boston Celtics, No. 1 in the East, and the Magic, No. 4 in the East, were the first matchups in the second round, but now the two teams have tied 3-2, and the Boston Celtics won the fifth key game. The Battle of Tianwang Mountain.

In the crucial game of Game 5, Boston Celtics substitute forward Glen Davis made a last-minute buzzer beater to help the Celtics complete their reversal.

Although the Celtics won the most important battle at Tianwangshan, the suspense of this series is still very high.

Game 5 is the home court of the Boston Celtics. Being forced to this point at their own home court, it is difficult to say that the Celtics can end the series in Game 6 or Game 7.

In last year's playoffs, the Boston Celtics and Magic met in the first round.

In last year's playoffs, when the Boston Celtics met the Magic, it could be said that they defeated the Magic without a fight.

At that time, the immature little monster Howard was really like a little baby in front of Garnett and the Celtics, and he could play whatever he wanted.

But this season, they met again in the playoffs, and Howard, the little monster who showed confidence in the Raptors, now seems to have been reborn.

In the game against the Raptors, Howard averaged 25+20 per game.

When it comes to the game against the Celtics, Howard's statistics are not as amazing, but his average data per game is still 20+20!

In the fifth game between the Boston Celtics and the Magic, the Boston Celtics, as the Big Three, actually used tactics other than slashing the shark against Howard.

Before Celtics head coach Doc Rivers used the shark-cutting tactic against Howard, he really had no way to deal with this monster with incredible athletic ability.

Last year, Doc Reaves and Garnett took advantage of Howard's youth to slay Howard in the playoffs.

But this season, in fact, during the regular season, the Boston Celtics were somewhat unable to withstand Howard.

Howard has made great progress this season. His strength has increased so much, and his athletic ability has not declined.

This is scary!

Such a center forward,

Really, unless his strength and height are all above him and his speed can keep up with him, it will be really uncomfortable to play such a center.

The Celtics are now being made quite uncomfortable by Howard.

Perkins is a little slow and a little short, while Garnett is not short anymore, but his strength is a little bit worse, and he often needs to be transferred out by Odom.

It can be said that the Celtics were somewhat embarrassed in this series by the revengeful Howard.

A beast like a battering ram on the offensive end, and a monster like a ubiquitous net on the defensive end, these two guys combined into one made Celtics head coach Doc Reeves say Such a sentiment.

"In today's NBA, if there is a player who can be replaced by Yes, then it can only be Howard. I have never seen such an incredible center. He can do everything."

The all-powerful little monster Howard made this series between the Magic, which is fourth in the Eastern Conference, and the Celtics, which is first in the Eastern Conference, anxious.

On the other side, the Wizards, who are second in the Eastern Conference, and the Pistons, who are third in the Eastern Conference, are also quite anxious in this series.

The Wizards led by Arenas and the Pistons led by Iverson are similar in a sense.

Arenas and Iverson are the kind of players that even I can kill.

The Wizards and Pistons are both teams this season that as long as they play well, it doesn't matter whether you are the Celtics, Rockets or Suns.

The iron flowers produced by the collision of these two teams are quite magical.

However, although the Wizards and Pistons are the same type of team, the entire team plays with a certain player.

But obviously, in terms of breakdown, the two teams are somewhat different.

In terms of the overall style of the team, the Wizards are an offensive team, but Arenas, the boss who needs the Wizards to accompany him, is a player who is both offensive and defensive.

And what about the Pistons?

The Pistons are of course a defensive team as a whole, but the boss Iverson, who needs the Pistons to play with, is a thoroughly offensive player.

And that's what's interesting about this series.

The Wizards and Pistons were also opponents in the playoffs last season. They can be said to be old rivals. Arenas was even considered to be the direct culprit in breaking up the Pistons last season.

The two teams are also quite familiar.

Last season, the Wizards and Pistons were two teams with obvious offense and defense. The two teams competed for the rhythm of the game.

Whoever can seize the rhythm of the game will win.

The Wizards can win if the game is fast-paced and offensive.

If the game is slow and defensive, the Pistons will win.

But this year after the Pistons got Iverson, something was different.

The theme of this year's playoffs between the Wizards and Pistons is still to grab the rhythm of the game.

But the result of the game after grabbing the rhythm is different.

Even if the Wizards seize the offensive rhythm, because they have Sun Yue and their opponent has Iverson, they may not be able to win.

And if the Pistons seize the defensive rhythm, but because the Pistons no longer have Billups, and Arenas and Sun Yue have strengthened the Wizards' perimeter defense, it will not be easy for the Pistons to defeat the Wizards in the defensive rhythm.

In the end, it was only after the two teams played five games that they found out that who of the two teams could win the game not only needed to compete for rhythm, but also for luck.

If the rhythm can be controlled manually, then things like luck or feel are really invisible and intangible things.

How powerful would Arenas and Iverson be if they knew how they felt every moment?

Unfortunately, neither of them knew.

Therefore, in this series between the Wizards and the Pistons, under the guidance of God, the Wizards temporarily lead the Pistons 3-2.

The two sets of semifinals in the Eastern Conference were very fierce, and the four teams were very tight.

In the West, in addition to Ye Si leading the SuperSonics to easily sweep the Suns, the other group of matches, the Lakers and Rockets, was also quite fierce.

The Lakers are fifth in the Western Conference this year. During the regular season, the Lakers are actually the least significant of the top six teams in the Western Conference.

This year's top six in the Western Conference, the Suns have the most presence in the early stage, the SuperSonics and Rockets in the mid-term, and the Nuggets and Spurs in the later stage.

The Lakers, who have strong players such as Kobe and Kidd, really gave people the feeling of finishing fifth in the Western Conference in a muddle during this year's regular season.

This is the feeling the Lakers gave everyone in the regular season, but in the playoffs, the Lakers changed their previous sense of absence, and their sense of presence suddenly became overwhelming.

In the first round, they defeated the Spurs led by Bowen, the strongest defensive player in history.

Tim Duncan, the Spurs' top big man, was nearly ruined by the Lakers' starting power forward Randolph.

In the sprint stage, with Bowen's perfect integration, the Spurs, whose strength was recognized to have risen to the level of the Rockets and Suns, were eliminated by the Lakers.

4 to 2 is not a fierce score like 4 to 3.

Even judging from the series between the Lakers and the Spurs, if Bowen hadn't suppressed and destroyed the Lakers' triangle offense too much, the Lakers might have defeated the Spurs 4-1 or even 4-0.

No kidding, the Lakers showed this kind of strength in this series with the Spurs.

The Spurs' strongest player is Duncan, but Duncan is suppressed by the Lakers' third-in-command Randolph. What else can the Spurs do to compete with the Lakers?

After this series, Spurs head coach Popovich admitted.

"Thank you Bruce for winning the final dignity for us. We should have been swept by the Lakers. Bruce snatched two games for us. It is a pity that we were eliminated in the first round this season. We are sorry to the fans of San Antonio and Bruce."

In this series between the Lakers and the Spurs, the Lakers performed very strongly and incredibly.

If the series between the Sonics and the Nuggets hadn't been too incredible, the Lakers would have been the absolute protagonists in the first round of this year's playoffs.

Who would have thought that the NBA's No. 1 brusher, Bad Tofu, could brush Duncan in the playoffs?

Who would have thought that Kidd, the NBA's number one cancer, could find his right position with the Lakers?

After brutally sending the Spurs away, the Lakers also showed strong combat effectiveness when facing the Rockets, now recognized as the strongest team in the league.

In the first game, the Rockets were defeated at their home court.

In the third game, they returned to home and defeated the Rockets again.

The previous four games were tied 2-2, but the Lakers won the first game.

Moreover, in the two games where the Lakers defeated the Rockets, anyone who actually watched the games will feel that it was definitely not luck for the Lakers to defeat the Rockets.

There is really a big reason for the Lakers to defeat the Rockets.

As for what is this big reason?

Or Randolph!

,

When the Lakers were playing against the Spurs, the Spurs had the strongest perimeter defender in the history of the league, and they were defending Bowen, the best player in the world. Kobe was playing in a panic, and couldn't even use the triangle offense.

Standing still and beating Bowen?

After playing against the Spurs, Kobe became frightened whenever he thought about the singles battle with Bowen on the same spot.

And what about the Rockets?

The Rockets don't have a defensive player as strong as Bowen on the outside, but the Rockets have a bunch of slightly worse outside defenders, Artest, McGrady, Bowen, and Ariza on the bench.

Therefore, although Kobe can once again play the triangle offense when playing against the Rockets, Kobe's efficiency and performance are actually not too magical. The Rockets have too many points that match him.

But for Randolph, another Lakers player, the Rockets are really not up to par.

The Rockets have been former Elvis Presley Gerald Wallace at power forward this season.

Gerald Wallace is 2.01 meters tall and weighs 98 kilograms.

Randolph is 2.06 meters tall and weighs 118 kilograms.

Is this a magnitude?

What's more, what gives the Rockets a headache is that even Yao Ming couldn't stop Randolph.

Yao Ming has lost weight this season and has improved his speed and movement.

But even so, Yao Ming can't suppress Bynum and help defend Randolph at the same time, because Randolph can not only shoot hard, but also pass the ball inside and outside!

Unless Yao Ming is swapped to face Randolph, and Gerald Wallace is swapped to Bynum.

Gerald Wallace is 2.01 meters tall and weighs 98 kilograms.

Bynum is 2.13 meters tall and weighs 128 kilograms.

Gerald Wallace might be even worse in front of Bynum.

If Bynum is not used at No. 4, who should be used?

Scola?

Hayes?

Or Landry or Mutombo?

The Rockets are the team with the strongest lineup this season.

But they never thought that one day they would feel that their No. 4 position was so inadequate.

However, the Rockets don't need to feel too sorry for themselves. Think about it, the Spurs have the number one power forward in history, Duncan. Wasn't he also beaten by the big black bear of the Lakers?

In this year's playoffs, being hammered by this big black bear is really nothing.

Of course, the Rockets' No. 4 position was knocked to pieces by Randolph, the big black bear, but they were still able to tenaciously hold on to the big score. I have to say that the Rockets' hard power is really strong.

This series between the Rockets and the Lakers is a defensive battle.

The Lakers' strongest point is Randolph, who the Rockets can't resist.

And what about the Rockets?

There are three players, Yao Ming and McGrady Roy, who can play unlimited singles.

On the Lakers side, Kobe Bryant alone can play against Artest, Ariza and Roy McGrady in unlimited singles, while on the Rockets side, McGrady, Roy Artest, and Kobe can play unlimited singles games.

Because the Lakers' starting lineup has the defensive vulnerability of Turkoglu, it gives the Rockets the opportunity to constantly substitute players in the offense and take turns to beat Kobe.

If Kobe faced Bowen in the last round, he was embarrassed.

This round of Kobe facing the Rockets was really miserable, so miserable, and so tiring!

Kobe is considered to be the strongest iron man in the NBA besides Yes, but he is such an iron man that after every game he feels like he is going to lie down from exhaustion.

Randolph knocked down the Rockets' No. 4 position.

Yao Ming can also beat the Lakers' Bynum.

Is it the Rockets' fourth position or the Lakers' Bynum who is worse?

The answer is of course that the Rockets are miserable at the fourth position.

But Randolph's poor performance at the Rockets' fourth position was just a chance to win. The basis for the Lakers' victory was that Kobe resisted the Rockets' tactics on both offense and defense, which were obviously deliberately messing with him.

To put it simply, Randolph is the bright upper limit of the Lakers, while Kobe is the team's foundation and lower limit that is not noticed in this round.

As for the Rockets, the Rockets' foundation is Yao Ming, and the Rockets' upper limit is...

"So strong!"

"The Rockets' bench is too strong!"

In Ye Si's villa in Seattle, Wang Han was very excited.

Because of the most critical battle between the Rockets and the Lakers at Tianwangshan, the Rockets once again defeated the Lakers with their bench advantage.

3 to 2!

The Rockets got the match point.

"Yes, do you really want to play the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals?"

"I wanted to be the strongest. The Lakers were the strongest team at that time."

Ye Si said calmly.

Kobe could withstand the Rockets' wolves, and Randolph could wreak havoc on the Rockets' fourth position. The Lakers indeed looked stronger at that time.

but now……

In this game, the Lakers not only lost to the bench, Kobe faced the exhaustion of Artest, Tracy McGrady, Roy Ariza and others. In the fifth game, he finally couldn't stand it...

Looking at the snake-like eyes on the TV, Ye Si felt a little sympathetic.

That look in his eyes was still so stubborn.

Two days later, the Houston Rockets defeated the Lakers again in Los Angeles, eventually eliminating the Lakers with a score of 4-2.

On the other side of the Eastern Conference, the Celtics and Wizards seemed to be getting better, also defeating the Magic and Pistons respectively with a score of 4-2.

At this point, all the Eastern and Western finals teams have been created.

Boston Celtics vs. Wizards.

Houston Rockets vs. Seattle SuperSonics.