Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 79. It's time for us to settle some accounts

In the next three games, the Timberwolves lived up to expectations. They easily swept the Supersonics 4:0 in the semifinals and advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Fans were not surprised that the Timberwolves were able to sweep the Sonics to advance.

After the first game between the two sides, the fans knew that the Supersonics had a high probability of being swept out by the Timberwolves.

As Timberwolves coach Luke said, the Timberwolves' defense is very restrained against the Sonics, making it difficult for the Sonics to play their sharpest weapons on the offensive end.

As a shooting-based playoff team, the Sonics' overall defensive ability is mediocre, ranking only 30th among the 24 teams in the league.

When such a purely offensive team can't open up the offensive end, the result of this round of the series has long been doomed, and it was swept out 0:4, which is enough to make head coach McMillan think deeply.

Fortunately, the goal of the Sonics this season is not to win the championship. At present, only Ray Allen has an annual salary of tens of millions in the entire team. Even Lewis, who ranks second highest, can only get an annual salary of 779 million.

In this case, the Western Conference semifinals are enough to satisfy the team owner, so McMillan will not usher in the crisis of getting out of class, but if McMillan wants to go further on the road of coaching, then this year's loss is worth it. to aftertaste.

…………

With the Timberwolves sweeping the Sonics 4:0 in the semifinals to advance, the Timberwolves will have a period of rest and wait for the end of the semifinal match between the Suns and the Spurs.

At that time, the winners of the two teams will join the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, which will have an impact on this year's finals.

Currently, the Spurs are temporarily leading the Suns 2:1 in this matchup, and their chances of advancing are far greater than the Suns.

Although the Suns had the league's second record of 62 wins and 20 losses in the regular season, they and the Timberwolves became the only two teams in the league with more than 60 wins.

But D'Antoni's coaching philosophy is too extreme. This kind of play that completely abandons defense has hit a wall in the playoffs. In this round of the series with the Spurs, the Sun's best bombardment has been unable to be used, and it is painful to be defended by the Spurs.

As the team with the highest defensive efficiency in the league this season, the Spurs' defensive ability is definitely the top in the league. While the Detroit Pistons have a disorganized lineup, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Spurs are the only one.

In terms of defensive efficiency alone, even the Timberwolves can't compare with the Spurs. In this situation, the Suns' offense naturally had problems.

The key is that D'Antoni doesn't know how to adapt to this situation. On the offensive end, he still insists on his own bombardment theory.

D'Antoni's persistence is the foundation of his success in the future, but it is also because of D'Antoni's persistence that D'Antoni has been unable to lead the team to win the championship ring. "Typical case.

From the point of view of the situation, the Spurs are far more likely to advance than the Suns, especially through three consecutive games, the Spurs have basically figured out the Suns' offensive rhythm, which makes the Suns more and more passive in the situation.

Unless the spear of the Suns can directly penetrate the Spurs' defense in the future, the Suns are destined to stop in the semifinals this year and become the victim of winning the championship for the entire season.

In the East, the two series of matchups currently in fierce battle are the Heat against the Pistons, and the Pacers against the Wizards.

Among them, although the Pistons lacked the double Wallace to sit inside, they easily defeated the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs and advanced to the semifinals.

The only players that the 76ers can rely on to enter the playoffs are Iverson and Chris Webber, but the offensive efficiency of both of them is appallingly low.

Especially Chris Webber, who shot 41% of the field and basically stepped down from the altar. After being traded to 76, not only failed to become Iverson's right-hand man, but also became a big burden for Iverson.

Of course, this situation is not the fault of Chris Webber alone. In fact, Webber's playing style is not compatible with Iverson at all.

Iverson is a typical solo player, which belongs to personal heroism. Others only need to pull out to help Iverson on the defensive end.

And Chris Webber is one of the most gorgeous inside players in NBA history. Webber is best at team basketball, creating offensive opportunities through a lot of off-ball pick-and-rolls and screens.

When these two players met, Chris Webber was used by 76ers coach O'Brien as a spot-up shooter. It can only be said that the 76ers and Chris Webber were torturing each other.

In the first round of the series against the Pistons, Chris Webber averaged only 2.8 assists per game, which is quite different from his career average.

From this point, it can be seen how bad Webber's running-in state with this 76ers is, so it is not an unjust thing for the 76ers to be eliminated in the first round by the Pistons who missed the double Wallace.

Although Iverson's average of 31.2 points, 2 rebounds and 10 assists in the series is impeccable, center Dalembert is not the best defensive player of the year, Uncle Mu.

The 76ers, who can't find a balance on both ends of the offense and defense, are doomed to fail this season.

After defeating the 76ers and advancing to the promotion, the Pistons have been beaten to death by the Heat led by "Shark" O'Neal.

At present, this Pistons is a team with a collapsed defensive system. Not to mention the absence of double Wallace, even if the Pistons in their heyday play against this Heat, it will be difficult to tell the winner.

So now the Pistons have no chance of winning in the absence of double Wallace, and the Heat have already held the match point 3:0. I believe that when the next game starts, the Pistons will go home to fish!

Another group of matchups is also not very suspenseful. Although the Wizards have excellent offensive firepower this season, it is very rare for the Wizards to not be swept when they encounter this Pacers with a balanced offense and defense.

At present, the Pacers have a big score of 3:1 and hold the plug point. Even if the Wizards cannot be eliminated in the next game, the Pacers will definitely advance to the Eastern Conference Finals in a maximum of six games.

In this way, the pattern of the East and West is very clear. The Eastern Conference Finals will definitely be the Heat against the Pacers, and the Western Conference Finals will most likely be the Timberwolves against the Spurs.

These four teams are on the first step of winning the championship this season. No matter which team can win the championship trophy in the 04-05 season, the fans will not be surprised, at most it is only a pity.

…………

With the Spurs narrowly beating the Suns by 6:93 in the Western Conference Semifinals G91, the Spurs rewritten the total score of the series to 4:2 and eliminated the Suns to advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Next, the Spurs will compete with the Timberwolves, who rank first in the league in the Western Conference Finals, but the Timberwolves rested for a long time and took the lead in taking the lead in terms of physical strength.

The first matchup of the series between the two sides will officially start on May 5 local time in the United States. This game will definitely attract a large number of fans to watch, and even become the most anticipated series of this season.

Everyone knows the reason, and it is naturally a personal grievance between the Timberwolves and the Spurs.

Especially after Popovich eliminated the Suns, he responded to the media: "The Spurs are not afraid of any team. I am ready for the Western Conference Finals. I believe this year's championship will definitely belong to the Spurs. "

Popovich's response directly pushed this round of the series to a climax. Everyone knew that Luke had tapped Popovich in the air during the series against the Supersonics. The irony was that Popovich shrank his head The tortoise did not dare to confront the Timberwolves head-on.

But at this time, Popovich responded publicly for the first time, saying that the Spurs are not afraid of any team. The Western Conference Finals series has not yet started, but the sparks from the two sides are already visible to the naked eye, which makes fans really look forward to it. .

Even if Popovich's words sound more like he lacks confidence and is cheering for himself and the Spurs, but the series has reached this stage, the two teams will definitely go all out, and it is impossible to hide the slightest bit.

Even if Popovich is afraid of what the Timberwolves have done, as the coach of the team, what Popovich can do at this time is to stand up and meet the challenge head-on.

…………

"This year's championship will definitely belong to the Spurs?"

"I don't know where Greg's confidence comes from. I just know that it's time for us to settle some accounts." During the team's training, facing the reporter's closed interview, Luke said angrily.

　Ask for a monthly ticket, ask for a recommendation ticket, ask for support, thank you, third child!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)