Pick Westbrook

Chapter 171 Before the East Finals
Yao Ming turned off the TV, and Yu Jia and Su Qun's commentary still echoed in his ears.

"The Bucks are really strong, especially the offense!"

This team reminded Yao Ming of the time when Yao and Mai were combined, and the Rockets' offense was also very strong at that time.

Now, things are different, McGrady has been abandoned by the management in New York, and the Rockets are still looking forward to this summer's draft.

Yao Ming doesn't know if the management can select a rookie with outstanding strength, just like the Bucks, they have won potential rookies one after another in the free market, and then successfully become the top team in the league.

Yao Ming hopes that he can also help the Rockets become a strong team. Even if the management's ruthless trade of McGrady makes him feel chilled, he still has such thoughts.

Just like he wants to lead the Chinese men's basketball team to make progress in the international arena no matter what.

He is gentle but persistent.

"Coach Li Qiuping has always praised you as Confucian general Zhou Gongjin, a natural leader on the court. I believe that both the Rockets and the national team can achieve greater success under your leadership."

Men's basketball assistant coach Li Nan came over and patted Yao Ming on the shoulder and said.

Yao Ming smiled helplessly. Naturally, he knew that his mentor Li Qiuping was familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and he liked to give players nicknames the most. Isn't that kid Du Feng called Xing Daorong, the king of mouth.

Along with Li Nan is their head coach Deng Huade.

He also just finished watching the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Bucks and the Celtics, and of course his watching was very purposeful.

"Yi Jianlian is a very good player. You can see his position and defense in every game are very good!"

"The way he plays will definitely help us a lot."

Speaking of this, Yao Ming and Li Nan sighed at the same time.

Even if the Bucks lose 0:4 to their opponents in the Eastern Conference Finals, it will take at least two weeks for Yi Jianlian to return to China, not to mention that he will have to rest for some time after the playoff battle. The run-in with the national team will be far away.

Therefore, it is one thing that Yi Jianlian's style of play can help the national team, and another when he will come back.

The NBA playoffs, the Eastern and Western semifinals have come to an end one after another.

Lakers vs Jazz.

In this round of the series, Kobe finally untied all the shackles on himself and launched an attack with all his strength. He proved his No.1 strength in the league. Williams is human.

The Lakers also directly swept the Jazz 4:0.

The Jazz are a strong team. The combination of Deron Williams, Paul Millsap and Carlos Boozer is very competitive even in the West.

But it was such a strong team that was swept away by the Lakers. This is the strength of the defending champion.

Another Western Conference semifinal matchup, Suns vs. Spurs.

The old Spurs once again met the Suns with a 7-second offense, but the result was the same. After encountering the Suns' extreme offense, the Spurs, who had already cooperated extremely poorly, surrendered 0:4.

The Suns' extreme offense really restrained the Spurs. The most feared thing about the Spurs' disciplined style of play is this kind of unreasonable punching tactics.

So far, there are only three championship teams left.

And the Suns, who failed to make the playoffs last season, can return to the Western Conference Finals this season, which really exceeded everyone's expectations.

Therefore, in the Western Conference finals, most commentators and fans have surprisingly the same vision. Everyone believes that the Suns, who have been lucky enough to reach the Western Conference finals, will hardly be the opponents of the Lakers.

With the Lakers' hopes of advancing to the Finals, there is a voice that has sounded again all over the world.

23vs24.

"The Jazz, like us, is also a flexible offensive team. They averaged 105 points per game throughout the Western Conference semifinals, which is already considered a very remarkable achievement."

"But the Lakers are even more amazing than them. Zen master Phil Jackson has always been arrogant, so you think the Jazz have a good offense, so the Lakers will fight with you."

"As a result, the Lakers averaged 109 points per game in this series."

"And it's clear that the Lakers seem to be perfectly able to crack the offense of a flexible team. Their two-tower lineup and Odom can be flexibly matched to limit opponents."

Tyronn Lue's words are quite jealous of the Lakers. After all, it is the defending champion, and with the Lakers, it is difficult for this team not to attract the attention of others.

Marshall felt that the result of the series between the Suns and the Spurs was the most surprising. Why did GDP lose to the 7-second Suns?

In the end, the Spurs' big management deal during the offseason damaged the team's original lineup, causing new players to fail to integrate into the team system.

Moreover, the Spurs' lineup is indeed too old. They urgently need some young players to inject vitality into the team, especially the players on the front line.

So the next two years of draft conferences are extremely important to this team.

However, the promotion of the Suns also allowed the Lakers to pick up a bargain. Their Western Conference matchup may be the easiest series in the Eastern and Western Conference finals.

Looking back at the Bucks, the next Eastern Conference Finals will be a bit difficult.

They finally eliminated the Celtics, who were the favorites for the championship, and now they will meet another team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are the favorites for the championship in the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the series between the Cavaliers and the Magic, James finally avenged his elimination last season.

被抢走了常规赛MVP的他将自己的一肚子火气憋到了次轮对决，以场均33分8篮板7助攻的数据4：2淘汰了魔术队。

Facing Warcraft Howard, who was able to dominate the game on both offensive and defensive ends of the Cavaliers last season, this round of the series can only dominate the game on the defensive end.

Howard averaged 20 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks per game.

Howard without Turkoglu has never been able to dominate the game on the offensive end, and his low-post offensive skills are still too rough at the superstar level.

"This is the second time we've met the Cavaliers in the playoffs."

Li Lai said suddenly.

Both Tyronn Lu and Marshall knew the reason why Li Lai said this suddenly.

Last season, the Bucks were eliminated by the Cavaliers in the playoffs.

"In the first round of the game between the Cavaliers and the Bulls, James averaged 32 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists per game."

"In the second round against the Magic, James averaged 33 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists per game."

"The son of Cleveland is really too fierce. How to limit him will become a big problem for us."

Both Tyronn Lue and Marshall were worried about this, but after seeing Li Lai suddenly laughing, both of them were very surprised by this scene.

Li Lai smiled and said, "Do you know why I traded for Artest last season?"

"Why do I have to win Rasheed Wallace this season?"

"In my eyes, James will be the opponent of the Bucks in the Eastern Conference for many years, so all my trades are preparing for James."

"He deserves this from me."

At this time, Tyronn Lue still doesn't know the weight of Li Lai's last words. In his opinion, James is indeed a super giant in the league, but how good can a super giant who has not won the championship prove himself?
"Does James still think he can rule the East for many years?"

"Are you kidding? Even if he is as strong as Kobe, he wouldn't dare to say that he has ruled the Western Conference for many years. The Spurs, Mavericks, and Suns are all contenders on the list. The top spot in the Western Conference Finals has been changing for many years."

"Only a god-level figure like Jordan can reach the finals for many years in a row, which can be regarded as ruling the East, James?"

Marshall, who was born in the 94 draft, has personally experienced the great reputation of the Bulls in the Eastern Conference at that time.

All the teams in the Eastern Conference looked unloved at the time, because as long as Jordan was in the Eastern Conference, then the Eastern Conference Championship must be his. Let alone the possibility of winning the championship, why do other teams think about avoiding the Bulls in the playoffs? The team is their primary goal.

When those Eastern teams set their goals at the beginning of the season, they only set a few rounds in the Eastern Conference. No one thought that they could go further. This is Jordan's dominance.

Even in that era, everyone couldn't help but feel terrified when they heard the unique BGM of the Bulls.

Neither Tyronn Lue nor Marshall believed that James could have such dominance, even though he was wearing the No. 23 jersey.

However, Li Lai is so confident, and they are extremely confident in Artest's defensive striker, so they are not too pessimistic about the next Eastern Conference Finals.

Before the start of the East and West finals.

Because Yi Jianlian helped the Bucks reach the Eastern Conference finals as a main player, the entire Chinese fan community was in a state of turmoil, which was even as crazy as the 08 Olympics.

Under such a national wave, CCTV had to temporarily launch a column, with Su Qun, Yu Jia, Zhang Weiping, and Ma Jian discussing this round of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Yu Jia first said: "This year's playoffs are probably the happiest round of playoffs for fans since the NBA entered China."

"Because there is finally a Chinese player who can reach the Eastern Conference finals as a core player, what does Director Su think the UAE will do in the next match against the Cavaliers?"

Su Qun raised his glasses at this moment and said, "I will play well."

"In the last round against the Celtics, because Garnett was so strong, his defense, his footwork and his agility were so good, so Yi Jianlian was terribly defended, and he was still defending. Garnett used up too much energy in the process."

"So in that round of the playoffs, the Bucks' scoring was basically concentrated on small players and outside players. The Bucks knew very well that it would be difficult to rely on inside players to score because of Garnett's existence."

"But this round of the playoffs is different. Where is the Cavaliers strong? Just a superstar James, the league's top card like Kobe, the Cavaliers can't compare with the Celtics, the league's No. [-] defensive team in terms of interior defense. "

"So, the UAE will definitely show the strength of its All-Star players."

Zhang Weiping nodded at the side and said, "That's right, Kobe is now the number one player in the NBA. To be more precise, he should be the number one player in the world of basketball."

"Kobe is amazing"

Yu Jia quickly reminded: "Director Zhang, we are now discussing the Cavaliers and Bucks, and we are discussing the UAE."

Zhang Weiping laughed and said: "Yes, yes, right now, talking about the United Arab Emirates, it is a bit unreasonable to say that Kobe."

"I think the containment and firepower of the UAE on the outside is something the Bucks rely on very much, especially when playing a big center player, his role on the court is extremely important."

"If the Celtics hadn't pushed Garnett to the center position, the role of the UAE in the last round of playoffs would not have been so weakened."

"And the Cavaliers' centers are Big Z and Varejao, and the two will even appear on the court at the same time to play a twin-tower lineup. In this way, the Bucks will definitely use Yi Jianlian to punish their opponents on the offensive end."

"Of course, let's not ignore James' impact ability. The UAE does not have Howard's ability to protect the frame to limit James in the penalty area, so the Bucks will also face a great defensive test in the playoffs."

"Especially James in this year's playoffs. His condition is so good that he exploded. He averaged 30 points per game in the series. If the Bucks can't limit James, it will not be easy for them to win."

Ma Jian agreed with Zhang Weiping's evaluation, but he was somewhat refuting when the other party commented on James.

"Kobe is the number one player in the world? Who recognizes it?"

"Kobe is a very good player, yes, the boy is great, but he hasn't reached the point where Jordan is the world's number one."

"Even Jordan had the top players in history like Magic Johnson and King Bird at the same level, so it's not appropriate to say what the top card is."

Yu Jia reminded again: "Director Ma, we are talking about the United Arab Emirates."

Ma Jian came back to his senses and said: "James is doing well, he played a dominant performance in the playoffs this season."

"It's just that the Cavaliers don't have a good player except James. They are not like the Lakers who have Gasol, Bynum, and Odom in addition to Kobe."

"It's not like the Suns. In addition to Nash, there are bullies Stoudemire and Jason Richardson."

"Not to mention the depth of the Bucks' lineup that scares the entire league. Players like Westbrook, Curry, Yi Jianlian, Artest, Rasheed Wallace, O'Neal, and Iverson are on the court. His role and ability are completely unmatched by other Cavaliers players."

"So don't look at the fact that there are more fans supporting 23vs24 on the Internet, James is more individual heroism, but at the team level, the Bucks have more ball-holding points and more scoring methods. Unlike the Cavaliers, the whole world Only James."

"So I support the Bucks to win the Eastern Conference Finals."

After expressing his opinion, Ma Jian did not forget to repeat, "Kobe is the number one player in the world? Who recognizes it? At least James can be compared with him."

Zhang Weiping was unhappy when he heard the last sentence.

What James can be compared with Kobe.

"How can a player who doesn't have a championship compare with Kobe?"

"Yes, he is very capable, and his performance in leading the team can even be regarded as the only one in the league, but Kobe, 1.2.3.4, 4 championship rings, all of which were won one by one."

"What does James have?"

Su Qun frowned slightly. Even though he was extremely reluctant to join such an argument, he couldn't help but want to refute at this moment.

"Let's think about it, everyone, whether you like James or not, what you see is the player with the highest IQ and the best play in the history of basketball in the last 20 years."

"Yes, he hasn't won a championship yet, but he has almost won all other honors, and the single-core team led the tattered Cavaliers to the playoffs, the Eastern Conference finals, and even the finals."

"When he enters his twilight years like Kobe in the future, and even announces his retirement suddenly one day, don't say that you took away my youth, or that I didn't like him back then."

"You have to be with him in this moment, to grow with him, and you have to be honored to see him throughout his career, so please give him some respect, he's an amazing player."

The debate about who is the top player in the league between Kobe and James was also sparked by Zhang Weiping and Ma Jian at this time. A good program talking about Yi Jianlian, the Bucks and the Cavaliers gradually evolved into talking about Kobe and James program.

Sure enough, even these commentators are not exempt. Like fans all over the world, they are very keen on the 23vs24 scene.

It even got to the point where the two had to play against each other in the finals to see who was stronger and who was weaker.

This kind of picture is also the same in the United States. The latest statistics were given on the Barkley Show show that, except for Milwaukee, there is no state or region in the United States that supports the Bucks to reach the finals.

Everyone wants to see the transfer of power between Kobe and James, great individual performances.

　Thanks for the rewards from Altec Spark Prism, the Rule of Law Royal, and the Shadow of Zhannan Louke.

　　Thank you guys for your votes.

　　mwah

　　
　
(End of this chapter)