Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 324 324. The honors of the regular season are announced, another bumper year for the Grizzlies!
As the Grizzlies easily swept the Thunder 4:0 in the first round, they advanced to the semifinals.

At present, the Grizzlies fans have shifted their attention to another round of the Suns game against the Jazz.

The winner of this round of the series will meet the Grizzlies in the Western Conference semifinals.

Even in the eyes of most fans, whether it is the promotion of the Suns or the promotion of the Jazz, it is difficult to resist the offensive of this Grizzlies.

Frankly speaking, not being swept by the Grizzlies in the Western Conference semifinals is considered a success.

According to the forecast list released by ESPN, the probability of an upset victory over the Grizzlies is only a slim 0.029%.

Compared with which team the Grizzlies will meet in the semifinals, what fans are looking forward to now is the honors of the regular season that will be announced in the near future.

Fans want to know whether it is Chris Paul or Tim Duncan who won the regular season MVP this year, and how many players from the Grizzlies can be selected for the best team and the best defensive team.

There is no doubt that this year is another bumper year for the Grizzlies.

But before the announcement of various honors, fans are still full of curiosity about this matter.

The attention comes to the series between the Suns and the Jazz. As the fourth place in the Western Conference in the regular season, the Suns have a record of 54 wins and 28 losses this season.

Although it cannot be compared with the Lakers and Cavaliers, the Suns this season are still considered a strong team.

Unfortunately, the strength of the Grizzlies makes other teams in the league dare not describe themselves as a strong team. Even the Cleveland Cavaliers, who sit on the Big Three in the East, do not have the qualifications.

The Suns' opponent in the first round of the playoffs is the fifth-ranked Jazz in the West.

The Jazz has a record of 53 wins and 29 losses, only one game less than the Suns. From the record point of view, the two teams are basically evenly matched, and it is difficult to play a game with too much difference.

However, after the start of the playoffs, the reality is not what the fans expected.

As a being ranked one lower than the Phoenix Suns, the Jazz not only had the overall upper hand in this round of the series, they even beat the Suns by more than 2 points in a row in G3 and G20.

At present, the two sides have played four games, and the Utah Jazz has led the Suns 3:1 and won the match point of this round of the series ahead of schedule.

This situation is definitely something that fans of both sides did not expect before the series started.

No one thought that the Jazz, ranked fifth in the West, would have the upper hand in the duel with the fourth Suns in the West, and even played a dominant performance.

If you don't look at the records of the two teams in the regular season, I am afraid that most fans will think that this will be a game between No. [-] in the Western Conference and No. [-] in the Western Conference.

After all, the strength shown by the Suns in this round of the series is like a team that barely reached the threshold of the playoffs.
Faced with the new Utah Shuangsha composed of Deron Williams and Boozer, the Suns have almost nothing to do with the Jazz's pick-and-roll.

While I could only watch the Jazz duo use the pick-and-roll again and again to complete the cooperation, the offensive performance of Mehmet Okur and Wesley Matthews also caused a lot of trouble for the Suns.

This season is the sixth year that All-Star center Okur has played for the Utah Jazz. Okur knows how to play his greatest offensive threat in the pick-and-roll system of Mr. Sloan.

Standing outside the arc to open up pick-and-rolls for Deron Williams and Boozer is just a part of Okur's contributions on the floor.

In addition, Okur's low-post defense is also very good. Except for facing a center of the level of "Shark" O'Neal, Okur will not fall into a too obvious disadvantage even if he is facing Yao Ming.

Otherwise, Okur in the playoffs would not be called "Dayao Sufferer" by Chinese fans later.

The stunning performance on both offense and defense undoubtedly created a lot of trouble for the Suns inside.

Due to the butterfly effect instigated by Luke, the Suns have lacked several important lineup reinforcements this season. Currently, they can only use players of Kurt Thomas' level at the center position.
The tactical thinking of taking the outside and abandoning the inside undoubtedly made it more difficult for the Suns to go in the playoffs.

Being behind 1:3 in the series really shocked many outsiders, but only by truly analyzing the offensive and defensive styles of the two teams from the lineup can they find out that the Suns' loss in this round of the series is not wronged at all.

After all, even Matthews, an undrafted pick, can score nearly 20 consecutive points against the Suns.

Not to mention that there is "AK47" Kirilenko, the defensive champion on the Jazz's front line. Everything makes the Suns look powerless on the court.

In the end, the sun failed to create a miracle in the fifth game of the series, and was defeated by the jazz with a score of 4:1, ending his journey this season.

The promotion of the Jazz also determined the opponent of the Grizzlies in the Western Conference semifinals.

Jazz, who has just experienced the joy of heaven, is about to look directly at hell.

There is no doubt that this sense of despair can only be experienced by the Jazz players themselves!

...............

On May 5, local time in the United States, the first game of the Western Conference semifinals between the Grizzlies and the Jazz officially started.

Even though this round of the series seems to have no suspense in the outside world, the Grizzlies are still full at home.

Fans want to witness the process of the Grizzlies' three consecutive dynasties with their own eyes. No one wants to miss this shocking moment for the ticket price of a few hundred dollars.

This season, the Utah Jazz have not changed much in terms of lineup.

The players who can really be sent by Mr. Sloan except for Matthews, who was undrafted in this year's draft, are basically the old faces of last season.

The entire Jazz's offensive system still revolves around Deron Williams and Boozer. Jerry Sloan, as a coach with thousands of wins, does have some meaning of relying on his laurels.

Mr. Sloan's pick-and-roll tactics are indeed very subtle, but it's a pity that Sloan has used this style of play in the NBA for more than 20 years.

Although a single pick-and-roll tactic can evolve into hundreds of offensive methods in the future, Jerry Sloan's favorite offensive area has already been thoroughly explored by other coaches in the league.

In the case that the strength of the two teams' lineups is almost the same, the current Jerry Sloan is probably the most broken one among the league's thousand-win coaches.

Although the constant offensive method can guarantee the lower limit of this Jazz team, it also blocks the upper limit of this Jazz team.

The Jazz can only become a playoff team at most, but they will never touch the top championship trophy.

Among other things, Nelson Sr., a 30-year NBA head coach, is well aware of Jerry Sloan's offensive game.

Long before the start of this round of the series, Old Nelson said to the players with a relaxed face in the training hall: "Because of the head coach, the Jazz's style of play on the court is relatively fixed, and generally they rarely make too many mistakes." Big tactical change."

"I have played against Jerry for so many years in the NBA, and I know his routines very well. As long as everyone plays steadily in this round of the series, it may be easier than playing against the Thunder in the first round."

In fact, after the two sides played against each other in this round of the series, as Nelson said, the Grizzlies played more easily than the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.

Even though the depth of the Jazz's lineup is much stronger than that of the Thunder in the first round, due to the fixed tactical system, it is easy for the Grizzlies to make targeted defenses.

In addition, there are four players in the Grizzlies' starting lineup that can 100% be selected for the best defensive team this year, which undoubtedly greatly increases the difficulty for the Jazz to insist on playing pick-and-roll tactics on the court.

After the first game of the Western Conference semifinals, the Grizzlies beat the Utah Jazz by 42 points at home. The whole process was as easy as playing a game, which made fans seriously doubt how the Jazz reached the fifth position in the Western Conference!
Throughout the game, veteran Tim Duncan had the upper hand in the matchup with Boozer.

28分13篮板4助攻2抢断3封盖的数据几乎将布泽尔打到怀疑人生。

He was also selected as a power forward player in the Western Conference All-Star this season. As a result, when they played against each other in the playoffs, the gap between the two sides was instantly reflected.

Compared with Tim Duncan's personal comprehensiveness in shooting from inside and outside, Boozer can only make some shots from the mid-range position.

Don't dare to enter the restricted area jointly guarded by Duncan and Marc Gasol.

After all, these two are the masters who have booked the best defensive team this year in advance. Among them, Marc Gasol has a very good chance to win the best defensive player again and become the first player in the history of the Grizzlies to win the DPOY consecutively.

After the game, Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan looked at young Luke with a complex look on his face.

Since Luke entered the NBA, Jerry Sloan has never defeated a team led by Luke.

It seems that this guy is born to be the nemesis of pick-and-roll tactics, so that Jerry Sloan can't find a place to fight back.

The entire league knows that Luke is definitely a master figure in breaking the zone defense, and all teams that challenge the Grizzlies dare not defend the zone defense on the court.

But Jerry Sloan knows better than anyone that Luke is not only good at breaking the zone defense, but also good at blocking pick-and-rolls!
…………

In the next two games, the Grizzlies still showed their unstoppable demeanor, beating the Jazz by more than 30 points in each game.

With the end of three games in the series, the Grizzlies currently hold the match point 3:0 and are only one step away from the Western Conference Finals.

With the completion of the first three games of the Western Conference semifinals, the league also announced the winners of various regular season honors for the [-]-[-] season.

There is no doubt that the Grizzlies have basically swept the league's awards this year like last season.

Collect all the awards with gold content, and only leave it to other teams to drink.

In terms of the best lineup, the Grizzlies' starting five players were all selected for the best lineup this season.
Four of them were selected to the best team, and one was selected to the best third team, becoming the first team in NBA history whose starting lineup was all selected to the best team.

In addition to Chris Paul, Kevin Martin, Tim Duncan, and Marc Gasol, the best team this year is LeBron James at the small forward position.

James should be most grateful that Sean Marion is the most ordinary of the Grizzlies' starting five players.

Otherwise, James is likely to miss the best team when his personal data and team record are both excellent this year.

In terms of the best second team, the five players selected this season are: Wade, Kobe, Durant, Anthony and Howard.

The best three teams are: Nash, Joe Johnson, Marion, Nowitzki and "Small Overlord" Stoudemire.

It is worth mentioning that this season is the first time in Sean Marion's career that he was selected to the NBA All-NBA Team.

Marion was very excited when he heard the news. He called Luke that night and thanked Luke from the bottom of his heart.

Hearing Sean Marion's choked up voice on the other end of the phone, Luke just smiled slightly at the phone.

"Don't worry, it's far from over."

As Luke told Marion on the phone, Marion's honor this season is far from over.

After announcing the best team, the league announced the best defensive team of the season.

There is no doubt that, except for Kevin Martin, the Grizzlies' starting five were all selected to the best defensive team.

Like the best team, it almost occupies all the positions of the best defensive team.

The other two players who were lucky enough to be selected for the best defensive team were Kobe and Howard.

That's right, because Howard's defensive efficiency this season is still very impressive, in desperation, the league can only make a decision to allow Howard and Marc Gasol to be selected for the best defensive team together again.

This is also the first time in NBA history that two players have shared the best defensive team for two consecutive years.

If nothing else, Marc Gasol and Howard will definitely become a good story in NBA history.

It's just that Marc Gasol must be the luckier one. With the overall bonus brought by the defending champion Grizzlies, he has beaten Howard to the top of the defensive efficiency list for two consecutive years.

The sad Howard obviously did nothing wrong, but he still bears the title of "the second child of ten thousand years".

It may not be until the day he retires from the NBA that Howard can understand that a successful choice is far greater than unremitting efforts.

Without any suspense, Marc Gasol won the best defensive player of the season.

Even though the personal data is not as strong as "Warcraft" Howard, who averaged 18 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks per game, Marc Gasol's defensive efficiency ranks first in the league, even higher than Howard, who ranks second in the league out a lot!
Just like the wise words said by an unknown celebrity after winning the regular season MVP.

"Basketball is a sport for five people. As long as you are on a good enough team, honor will always follow you."

As for the high-profile regular season MVP, it was finally picked up by Chris Paul again.

And this election also allowed Paul to win the regular season MVP for two consecutive years, becoming another player who has reached a historical milestone since Kevin Garnett.

The reason why Paul was able to overwhelm Tim Duncan in the MVP votes this season was elected as the regular season MVP. In addition to Paul's personal data being better, a large number of possessions also allowed Paul to play a higher field efficiency value than Duncan.

Averaged 19.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 12.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game, even if you look at the entire history, it is the top existence.

As another player in the "whirlwind combination", Tim Duncan's performance is actually not inferior to Paul.

If it weren't for the troubles caused by age, Duncan had less playing time than Paul, and Luke arranged a few rounds of rest in the middle, maybe the 34-year-old Tim Duncan could really be in the first season after joining the Grizzlies. Get the regular season MVP.

It's a pity that facing the more energetic Chris Paul, Duncan can only regretfully pass by the regular season MVP, and turn his head to look at the finals MVP not far away!

　We are about to enter the last chapter of this book, the New Jersey Nets chapter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)