am i proud?

Chapter 178 Who Should Be the MVP?

On the evening of April 4th, the first round of the NBA playoffs was in full swing. Among them, the game between the Nets and the Raptors was particularly eye-catching, because the Nets also won the first two games. As long as they win another game, they can become the second team after the Pistons to advance to the second round this year.

In the first game, the Nets defeated the Raptors with a score of 93:68.

Vince Carter was injured again at the end of March, so the Raptors can only rely on Antonio Davis, the All-Star power forward of last season. In addition, although Jerome Williams and Alvin Williams have certain strengths, they are only role players.

It is obviously unrealistic for any team to overthrow an Eastern powerhouse like the Nets with the performance of role players.

G1战中基德砍下26分8篮板9助攻2抢断1盖帽，尽管他三分线外4次出手无一命中，但是他的两分球却有19投11中，进攻效率相当高。

Kenyon Martin also scored 15 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. With Kidd, he finally played some "No. [-] pick" demeanor.

Some people say that Martin is the benchmark for measuring the "No. [-] scholar", and those who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him cannot be called "No. [-] parallel importers".
In fact, Martin's explosive style of play is quite a bit of the shadow of "Gilifen" in the rookie season of later generations. They are about the same height and weight... But Griffin is obviously much stronger than him. Before Paul came to the Clippers, he had already averaged 20+10 per game!

And Martin averaged only 16.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in his peak season. He has always been surrounded by passing masters like Kidd to feed him!
In G2, the Nets defeated the Raptors 95:91.

In this game, the Raptors' backup point guard Chris Childs scored 22 points, 5 rebounds, 14 assists and 1 steal, and even formed a mutual explosion with Kidd.

Kidd contributed 20 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists in this game, and once again hit a quasi-triple double... It can be seen that this guy is really not a data brush. If he wants to, can't he do it with one more assist?

Antonio Davis scored 21 points and 14 rebounds and suppressed Martin who scored 19 points and 6 rebounds in the paint. However, under the leadership of Kidd, the Nets scored in double figures with 4 players.

The two sides of the G3 game moved to Toronto. Amidst the cheers and cheers of 19800 home fans at the "Canada Airline Center Stadium", the Raptors players were in full swing and completely suppressed the Nets, a powerful Eastern team.

安东尼奥.戴维斯全场19投14中，外加罚球2投2中，爆砍30分8篮板，一个人就打爆了篮网队整条内线。

猛龙队其他球员也表现非常出色，其中基翁.克拉克得到18分3篮板3助攻，阿尔文.威廉姆斯17分5篮板5助攻2抢断，克里斯.柴尔斯12分7篮板10助攻，莫里斯皮特森12分2篮板3助攻……

In this game, 5 players from the Raptors scored in double figures, but only 3 players from the Nets scored in double figures. The result of the game is naturally self-evident. In the end, the Nets lost 85:94.

It is indeed a pity for the Nets not to be able to sweep the Raptors, but they are not discouraged. After all, they are now leading 2:1, and their strength is clearly superior... It is impossible for the Raptors to play chicken blood like tonight in every game, right?
In the playoffs, after all, we still have to fight for our overall strength!
4月27日，除了篮网对猛龙的比赛之外还有3场激烈的比拼，其中马刺队102：75轻松战胜了超音速队，目前大比分2:1领先。

The Hornets defeated the Magic 110:100, and they also led by a big score of 2:1.

这场比赛中“大胡子初代目”砍下33分14篮板10助攻的大号三双，而且黄蜂队整整6人得分上双……即便魔术队这边也有5人得分上双，而且麦迪砍下了37分7篮板3助攻，他们也只能黯然吞下失败的苦果。

The Kings narrowly beat the Jazz 90:87... Since entering the playoffs, the Kings have not been able to play the invincible offensive firepower of the regular season at all. Under the suffocating defense of the Jazz, they simply cannot play the smooth offense that everyone is used to.

On the morning of April 4th, the league announced the last award of the season, which is also the most valuable award - regular season MVP!

This award was awarded to Tim Duncan, the head star of the Spurs. Once the news was announced, it immediately caused an uproar.

本赛季邓肯场均可以贡献出25.5分12.7篮板3.7助攻2.5盖帽0.7抢断，投篮命中率50.8%，罚球命中率79.9%。

The Spurs also had a record of 58 wins and 24 losses in the regular season this season, second only to the Kings' 61 wins and 21 losses... Regardless of personal data or team record, Duncan's regular season MVP this season can be called a well-deserved name!
But... isn't Wang Dalin not qualified enough?

从个人数据上来看，王大林场均28.4分8.6篮板6.1助攻1.2盖帽0.9抢断，投篮命中率51.8%，三分命中率48.7%，罚球命中率81.6%……他的表现并不比邓肯差吧？

And the Pistons' record is also 58 wins and 24 losses...that is, they lost to the Spurs twice this season, which made them rank below the Spurs.

But considering the records of the two teams last season, the improvement of the Pistons is obviously greater... well, this kind of improvement is completely earth-shaking, how can the Spurs compare?
Duncan received 29.12% of the votes in the MVP selection, including 40.09% of the first votes, while Wang Dalin received 28.38% of the votes and 36.81% of the first votes.

The gap between the two is indeed very small, which shows that there is indeed a huge controversy for Duncan to win the regular season MVP this season.

Major media across the United States have published a large number of articles on this matter, and many NBA celebrities who have retired have also expressed their views.

"Magician" Elvin Johnson said in an interview with reporters: "Obviously, I am on Darling-Wang's side! I am not saying that Tim is not worthy of the MVP, I just think Darling-Wang is more qualified than him to receive this honor!"

"Philadelphia Inquirer" columnist Stephen Smith published an article in which he carefully analyzed the two candidates for this season's MVP selection and expressed his views:

"The two candidates of this year are the best in their respective positions in the long history of the NBA, and now is the golden period of their careers! Of course, for Darling Wang, a young man, I just want to say that he is far from reaching his true peak!"

"If Jason Kidd can win a few more games for the New Jersey Nets, he may join this chaotic battle, but there is no objection to either Darling or Tim winning the MVP!"

"Darling-Wang is the Pistons' newly recruited unparalleled talent. He has cast magic on Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton to form an Eastern powerhouse with terrifying strength!"

"And Tim has officially taken over the burden of the Spurs from the shoulders of David Robinson, who has declined in form and suffered from injuries, and has become the mainstay of this young team!"

"It is true that Darling-Wang has stronger offensive firepower and better organizational support capabilities, which can be seen from his average points and assists per game!"

“可是不要忘了蒂姆在联盟里的五项数据都能位居前六位——场均25.5分排在第五、场均12.7个篮板排在第二、场均2.5个盖帽排在第四、场均上场40.7分钟排在第六、65次两双排在第一！”

"And there are more people around Darling Wang who can put the basketball into the hoop than Tim, who is the strongest finisher in San Antonio!"

"David Robinson struggled to get back to form, Bruce Bowen and Danny Ferry missed a lot of games due to injuries, and it was Tim who carried the team forward for most of the season!"

"What's more... Tim wants to complete these missions, but the point guard with him is Tony Parker, a new French rookie. This young man hasn't even made the rookie lineup for a long time!"

"So, I can tell everyone responsibly that Tim deserves this MVP, and he is well-deserved!"

ESPN columnist Bill Simmons has a different opinion. He wrote an article to refute Stephen Smith:
"Obviously, everyone has overlooked Darling Wang's contribution to the Pistons this season. He should be more worthy of this season's regular season MVP than Tim Duncan!"

"First of all, I want to tell everyone that Darling Wang is the best scorer in the 21st century, there is no doubt about it!"

"Many people only see that Darling Wang averaged 28.4 points per game this season and only ranked second in the scoring list. In fact, we should see that his average number of shots per game is only 17.8, while this season's scoring leader Allen Iverson has 27.8 times!"

"Allen averaged 10 more shots per game than Darling, but his scoring average was only 3 points higher than Darling-Wang. We can easily see who is a more efficient scorer!"

"And I don't know if everyone didn't notice it or chose to forget it on purpose. Darling-Wang's three-point shooting percentage this season is as high as 48.7%. Among all players who average more than two three-pointers per game, he is the one with the highest shooting percentage!"

"Some people will say that the best scorer is not necessarily the most valuable player. This statement is true. I think the MVP is more about whether the player is the best performer this season and whether he has led the team to achieve better results!"

"We all know what the Pistons were like last season, and what about the Spurs last season? They were No. 58 in the Western Conference last season, with a record of 24 wins and [-] losses!"

"From this point of view, who should win the MVP, Darling Wang or Tim?"

"Stephen said that Tim's Spurs team has had a lot of difficulties this season, and none of his teammates can provide him with strong support, but what about Darling-Wang?"

"Look at the roles of Darling Wang's teammates?"

"A blue-collar center who can only defend and rebound, a "parallel importer" last season, a third-year catch-and-shoot player, and a nearly 36-year-old veteran power forward..."

"It's such a group of people. Darling-Wang led them to the strongest record in the East with 58 wins and 24 losses. Can you say that Darling-Wang's performance is not as good as Tim Duncan?"

"Chauncey Billups has been shortlisted for the Most Improved Player selection this season, and his performance has made great progress compared to last season!"

“理查德.汉密尔顿上赛季场均18.1分3.1篮板2.9助攻1抢断0.4盖帽，本赛季场均19.8分4.4篮板3.2助攻1.2抢断0.7盖帽，投篮命中率和三分命中率都比上赛季有了不小的提升！”

"Ben Wallace won the rebounding and blocked shot champions this season, and won the honor of 'Best Defensive Player'... all this without Darling Wang's contribution?"

"The most valuable player is not only to lead the team to a good record, he should also make his teammates better. In this regard, Tim can't compare to Darling-Wang!"

"So I would like to ask the journalists who voted for Tim Duncan, why didn't you vote for Darling Wang? Is it just because... he is Chinese?"

The question at the end of Simmons' article is really sharp enough. He almost uncovered the fig leaf that the American basketball world cannot touch.

Since the birth of the NBA, no international player has won the MVP of the regular season. Of course... none of the previous foreign players has played convincingly.

However, if international players cannot get fair treatment in the selection of various NBA awards, this will undoubtedly violate David Stern's global strategy.

For the results of this MVP selection, Mark Tatum and Adam Joke had a very fierce dispute.

Of course, Adam Joke hopes that the MVP will be awarded to local American players every year, but Tatum believes that they should be treated equally, especially when international players perform well, everyone should even consider favoring them as appropriate.

It is conceivable that the CEO at this time is of course very headache, but he did not publicly express any views on this issue.

Naturally, the reporter would not let the two parties go. On the afternoon of April 4, Jack McCallum of "Sports Illustrated" finally interviewed Duncan.

Due to back discomfort, Duncan will miss the G4 battle between the Spurs and the SuperSonics, which is undoubtedly bad news for the Spurs and Duncan himself.

Despite being in a bad mood, Duncan showed no impatience when interviewed by reporters...

"This season has been very difficult for me, and it has been very difficult for our team. I am very happy that we can play the same record as last season, and we also have a big lead over Seattle in the playoffs."

"Of course I am very happy to be able to win the MVP. This award does not belong to me alone, it should belong to everyone in our Spurs team!"

"Darling-Wang's performance this season is very good. I am also very impressed with this young man. He can always score points on the field in various ways, and he can always lead the team to win the game. I regret that this award was not awarded to him...but I think I deserve the honor of MVP!"

Detroit local media reporters of course also wanted to interview Wang Dalin, so they ran to the Pistons' training arena early in the morning on April 4, and finally blocked him after the afternoon training.

"It's a pity that I didn't win the honor of MVP, but it's nothing. I'm still young...I think everyone also considered my age, so they voted for Tim more? After all, he is 26 years old, and I'm only 20 years old!"

"We have an idiom in China called 'the future is long'. I think as long as I can continue to play in the league, I will be able to win the MVP sooner or later, maybe next season?"

"Now I won't think about other things, we only have one goal, and that is the championship!"

……

就在刚刚过去的4月28日，湖人队以92:91艰难战胜了开拓者队，大比分3:0横扫对手晋级到了西部半决赛。

The game was really intense. The Trail Blazers still led by 2 points in the last few seconds of the game. At the last moment, Kobe stepped forward and hit a three-pointer.

When it comes to this kind of key ball that is either win or lose, "Black Mamba" has always been better than me. This time he proved himself again!

At the same time, the Mavericks also defeated the Timberwolves 115:102, and also swept their opponents with a big score of 3:0.

In these three series, Nowitzki averaged 33.3 points, 15.7 rebounds, 3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, shooting 52.6% from the field, 72.7% from the three-point range, and 88.9% from the free throw line. This performance is really terrifying!

The 76ers finally regained a victory. They lost the first two games to the Celtics.

阿伦.艾弗森没有能够复制上赛季的神奇，尽管他前两场分别砍下20分2篮板2助攻2抢断和29分4篮板7助攻1抢断，无奈76人队还是无法抵挡对方“波士顿双子星”的轮番轰炸。

双方G3战里艾弗森狂砍42分5篮板4助攻5抢断，终于率队击败了这个强敌，任凭皮尔斯和沃克表现依旧出色也只能黯然告负。

On April 4, the Kings finally defeated the Jazz and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with a score of 29:3. Their opponent was the Mavericks who swept the Timberwolves to advance.

The Nets were hit hard again, and they lost again in the G4 game.

这场比赛基德的发挥严重失常，他全场15投仅4中，只得到10分1篮板6助攻。

猛龙队这边莫里斯.皮特森拿下20分4篮板1助攻，基翁克拉克砍下19分16篮板，阿尔文.威廉姆斯也有15分4篮板9助攻进账……

How much the Nets depended on Kidd, how badly they lost this game... 74:89, they lost a total of 15 points, you must know that this is the playoffs!

There is only one game on April 4, and that is the G30 game between the Hornets and the Magic.

这场比赛麦迪全场22投12中，其中三分球6投3中，罚球11投8中，狂砍35分4篮板6助攻2盖帽……不愧是白马银枪的麦迪，不愧是那个让上帝都感动哭了的男人！

It stands to reason that McGrady's performance is so explosive, the Magic should win easily.

However, except for McGrady's efficient performance, the Magic only made 58 of 19 shots, and the shooting percentage was only 32.8%. It would be a ghost if they could win!

In the end, the Hornets defeated the Magic 102:85 and successfully advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals. They will compete with the Pistons led by Wang Dalin for a place in the Eastern Conference Finals.

It's a pity that McGrady, the white horse and silver gun, was missing in the playoffs, but basketball is like this. It doesn't care how popular you are, only the eternal winners and losers!

5月1日，艾弗森率领76人队再扳一城战胜凯尔特人队，此役他全场疯狂出手26次仅命中9球，不过他在罚球线上却有10投9中的出色表现，最终还是砍下了28分5篮板4助攻4抢断。

“穆大叔”和德里克.科尔曼这对内线组合也发挥不错，其中“穆大叔”全场得到10分14篮板3盖帽，科尔曼砍下14分9篮板2盖帽。

Both Pierce and Walker played well, but unfortunately their team only made 78 of 31 shots, and their shooting percentage was less than 40%. It can be seen that the 76ers' defense is indeed airtight, but they are only commendable for their defense.

Because of Tim Duncan's back discomfort, the Spurs lost a big score in the G4 game, and the two sides drew 2:2... A discerning eye knows that if Duncan can't return in the G5 game, the Spurs will very likely be eliminated in the first round.

In this game, Gary Payton scored a large triple-double with 28 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, and the team's first-year rookie Vladimir Radmanovic and second-year player Drummond Mason both played well, both scoring 20+ points.

……

Since they had already swept the Pacers to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Pistons players had a very easy time during this period. Except for one or two hours of intensive training every morning, they basically paid attention to the performance of each team in the playoffs.

Until the Hornets advanced, the Pistons finally waited for their opponents in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

For this Hornets team, I believe that no one in the Pistons will be unfamiliar. They have faced each other 4 times in the regular season, and the Pistons won all of them.

As mentioned earlier, the Pistons should be the team that beats the Hornets most in the league, because they have Wang Dalin, and the opponent's strongest scoring point is Jamal Mashburn.

Marsh is a small forward with a very strong impact, and his style of play is quite explosive, but Wang Dalin has as much speed and explosive power as him, and his height and wingspan are better than him.

But things are different now, because Mashburn was injured in Game 1 against the Magic, and he limped off the court after only 10 minutes in that game.

He didn't play in the following games. According to the official news released by the Hornets, Mashburn's left knee injury is quite serious, and there is a high probability that he will not appear in this year's playoffs.

This is of course good news for the Pistons. The opposing team lacks a big player who can average 21.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game. In any case, the strength will be greatly damaged.

The Pistons players and coaching staff probably never imagined that they would encounter unprecedented difficulties in this round of the series...

　Thanks to "S35", "A Boring Life Doing Boring Things", "Book Friends 2021030110272486", "Book Friends 20170812110821038" for their monthly encouragement!
　　The next chapter will be an extremely critical turning point, and it is also the biggest difficulty Wang Dalin has encountered this season. Lao Wang hopes to write this chapter as wonderfully as possible, so please look forward to it!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)