NBA: James wants to team up with me

The Cavaliers defeated the Wizards 4:0 and advanced to the second round first, followed by the results of several other matchups in the league.

东部这边，公牛4:1击败尼克斯，凯尔特人4:2猛龙，热火同样也是4:2击败了老鹰。

The matchups between the four advancing teams in the second round were also announced: Cavaliers vs. Heat, Bulls vs. Celtics.

Cleveland Cavaliers fans are happy about this.

The Cavaliers can actually meet the Heat in the second round. Isn't this a great opportunity for them to take revenge on James?

The Heat have clearly struggled in both the regular season and the playoffs. James' individual performance was impeccable, but Howard and Wade's performances had obvious ups and downs, which was completely incomparable to the Cavaliers, who were in high spirits and making great progress.

Not to mention the fans of the Cavaliers, even the outside world generally believes that the Cavaliers should be able to beat the Heat by a large margin, and James will probably fall to Wang Chong again.

The game between the Bulls and the Celtics is much more difficult to predict. Although the Bulls have an absolute advantage in the regular season record, their opponent is the Celtics led by Durant and Rondo. In addition, the Celtics also have the twin tower combination of Millsap and Jefferson, and the lineup is not weak. The two teams will definitely engage in a fierce battle.

In the West, the Clippers and Spurs both defeated their first-round opponents and advanced to the second round, but the other two teams in the upper half of the conference suffered a setback. The Thunder lost to the Pelicans 3:4 and were eliminated in the first round.

The competition between the top picks ended with Davis defeating Blake Griffin.

In terms of athletic ability, Griffin is indeed stronger than Davis. His explosive bounce and explosive power are both top-notch in the league.

Unfortunately, Griffin's playing style is too dependent on his body. As his injuries accumulate and his former peak jumping and explosiveness are no longer there, Griffin's dominance will decline significantly. Even though he is a very skilled forward who can even attack facing the basket with the ball, he ultimately only has a variety of moves rather than mastery of them.

As a player, even in his prime, Griffin was only an All-Star level player who was selected to the second team with an average of around 20+8 per game.

But it's different for Anthony Davis. Although he has a fragile physique which seriously affects his development, he is still a player who can be selected into the double first team for many years in a row. In his peak period, he can average 28 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists per game, as well as 1.5 steals and 2.6 blocks, making him a super player.

To be honest, given Davis' defensive ability, it is a bit of a waste of his talent that he has never been elected the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY). The pity is almost comparable to that of Duncan who never won the DPOY in his career.

There is no need to compare anything else. Just the difference in physical static talent is like the gap between thick eyebrows and white beast.

To put it bluntly, although both of them are No. 1 picks, if the two of them participated in the same draft, then the No. 1 pick would undoubtedly be Anthony Davis.

The Thunder and Pelicans played seven games, with Anthony Davis averaging 32 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of 54%, completely dominating the game on both offense and defense.

Griffin's statistics of 18 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists are actually quite good if you look at them individually. Although his scores are a bit low, he still contributes 5.4 assists, making him a capable player for the team.

But since the two were directly facing each other on the court, the gap was extremely obvious.

However, the Thunder were defeated by the Pelicans and eliminated in the first round. Griffin, who was suppressed by Davis, did not get much criticism because there are still experts in the Thunder team.

Russell Westbrook, the core player of the Thunder, has been in the spotlight in this series. In 7 games, Westbrook averaged 23 shots, made 9 shots, with a hit rate of only 39%, and scored 21 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists.

This data is in stark contrast to the luxurious data of nearly 28+8+8 during the regular season.

But this is no one's fault. In this round of the series, Westbrook's opponent is the Pelicans' starting point guard Jrue Holiday. This guy's reputation is not very loud at this time, but in the future he will be a top defender who has been selected to the All-Defensive Team six times, the All-Defensive First Team three times, and the All-Defensive Second Team three times. In addition, he can achieve All-Star-level data of around 20+5+7 per game at his peak, which shows how strong he is.

At this time, Jrue Holiday's strength may not have reached the level of a few years later, but his defensive ability is actually not much worse than being selected as the best defensive player a few years later. He is definitely not a player that Westbrook can easily control.

What's more, the Pelicans' inside line is guarded by the great Davis. Even if Westbrook can use his size advantage to force his way past Jrue Holiday and rush into the penalty area, he still can't get past Davis.

Normally, if other defenders find that the opponent's defense is so solid, they will immediately change their strategy and use other tactics to attack and score.

But Westbrook was stubborn, thinking that Jrue Holiday could be easily defeated? On the other hand, his technical characteristics were indeed relatively simple. During this period, his occasional mid-range shot was no longer very effective, and his main way of scoring was to dribble through the restricted area and score.

The result was that Westbrook was controlled and targeted throughout the seven games, and the Thunder lost to the Pelicans in a very frustrating way.

There is actually nothing much to say about the last matchup between the Trail Blazers and the Mavericks.

The Trail Blazers of Lillard + Aldridge are indeed strong, but their performance is not stable enough, especially Aldridge, who was suppressed by the 36-year-old Nowitzki in the game. It is hard to complain.

Nowitzki in this time and space has not been able to get rid of the title of wimp because the only championship and MVP in his career were snatched away by Wang Chong. It is actually a bit miserable.

But Aldridge played softer than a wimp, what else can I say?

The second round matchups in the Western Conference are Clippers vs. Mavericks and Spurs vs. Pelicans.

The second round of Eastern and Western Conference matches will begin in early May.

Before the start of the second round, as in previous years, the league announced the results of the selection of this season's best team and defensive team.

There is basically no change in the All-NBA First Team compared to last season. The guard position is still dominated by Curry and Harden, two rookies from the same class, while the forward positions are dominated by Wang Chong and James. The only change is that Durant, one of the Big Three who has been in the first team with Wang Chong and James for several consecutive years, has fallen out of the first team list. The one who was selected is Anthony Davis, the thick eyebrow brother who averaged 28+11+2 per game.

In fact, Durant's average statistics are not bad, averaging 30+8+4, and the Celtics' record is also higher than that of the Pelicans.

But the problem is that Durant has missed a little too many games this season, and in fact, whether it is Wang Chong, James or Durant, they are all outside forwards. Although the league has eliminated the center position, it still hopes that there will be an inside player on the first-team roster.

The rise of Davis just filled this gap. Although Davis plays as a power forward and not a center in the traditional sense, his playing style is that of a proper inside player after all, which is completely different from the small forward style of outside players such as Wang Chong, James, and Durant.

Based on this alone, it will be difficult for Durant to beat Davis in the All-NBA selection.

But to be honest, whether in terms of personal data or team record, the difference between James and Durant is not that big. It is reasonable for either of them to drop to the second team, but basically, if the gap is not particularly large, it is not so easy for Durant to grab a first team from James. After all, he still has mysterious off-court assistance.

Selected to the second team with Durant were Westbrook, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol.

It is extremely rare that both Gasol brothers were selected for the second team, but Wang Chong was not surprised because originally this season, Gasol Sr. should have been selected for the second team and Gasol Jr. should have been selected for the first team.

But here, since Curry of the Bulls, to which Gasol belongs, has already been selected for the first team, and Gasol's stats are only 18+8, which are not very outstanding, he was selected for the second team together with his brother Pau Gasol.

It is worth mentioning that Pau Gasol's average stats during the regular season this season were 18.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3 assists, which is almost the same as Marc Gasol. They are indeed brothers.

The five players on the best third team are Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Blake Griffin and DeMarcus Cousins.

As a result, the Bulls and Cavaliers each had three players selected for the All-NBA Team, which is extremely rare.

For the Cavaliers, Wang Chong was in the first team, Gasol was in the second team, and Irving was in the third team.

For the Bulls, Curry was in the first team, Gasol was in the second team, and Butler was in the third team.

They are worthy of being the only two teams in the league to achieve 60+ wins in the regular season, and their dominance is indeed at its peak.

The selections for the All-Defensive Team are as follows.

First defense: Chris Paul, Tony Allen, Kawhi Leonard, Wang Chong, and DeAndre Jordan.

Second defense: John Wall, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis, Tim Duncan, Rudy Gobert.

The San Antonio Spurs, ranked second in the Western Conference record, suffered a crushing defeat in the selection of the best team, without even a single player selected for the best team. Fortunately, they finally found their place in the defensive lineup.

Three players on the team were selected to the All-NBA Team, with Leonard in the first team and Duncan and Gobert in the second team on defense, fully demonstrating the Spurs' defensive strength.

Whether it is the selection results of the best team or the defensive team, some people are satisfied and some are unhappy.

For example, Howard was unhappy again.

In his last season with the Lakers, he got angry because he had no points and was not selected for the All-NBA Team.

In his first season with the Heat, Howard returned to the All-NBA Team as he wished.

Unexpectedly, in just his second season with the Heat, he would repeat the same mistake again.

But this time Howard can't blame anyone, because he missed a lot of games due to injuries, and his performance in the game was also very average. In terms of statistics, he was even worse than the Gasols.

Among the inside players selected for the best team, Gasol and Gasol have the worst statistical performance. The two inside players in the third team, center Cousins ​​averaged 24 points and 12.7 rebounds in the regular season, and power forward Griffin averaged 22 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. The reason why these two are ranked lower than Gasol and Gasol is entirely because they were dragged down by the team's record.

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After the results of the best team and defensive team selection are announced, the second round of the competition will begin. During the second round of the competition, the league will also announce other season awards, such as the best rookie, the best sixth man, the most improved player, the best coach, and the most watched best defensive player DPOY and most valuable player MVP.

But that's all in the past. Fans immediately focused their attention on the second round that was about to begin. After all, there would be a big drama in the second round of the playoffs.

Cavaliers vs. Heat, Cleveland's revenge battle, Wang Chong and James' nth duel, all kinds of gimmicks have raised the expectations for the game. Although as to the final outcome of this series, most fans generally stand on the side of the Cavaliers, believing that the Cavaliers should lead by a large margin and defeat the Heat to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Basketball commentators from ESPN, TNT and other TV stations gave the two teams an 8:2 chance of winning, meaning the Heat only have a % chance of winning the series. And that % chance is based on the assumption that the Cavaliers may have injuries.

Please give me an idea of ​​the shadow area in the hearts of Heat fans.

In any case, the opening game of the second round of the playoffs will go on as scheduled on May 5.

At the Cavaliers' home court, Quicken Loans Arena, the first round of the playoffs between the Cavaliers and the Heat officially began amid the crazy boos from the team's home fans.

The Cavaliers starting lineup: Irving, Wiggins, Wang Chong, Gasol, Whiteside.

Heat starting lineup: Chalmers, Wade, James, Boozer, Howard.

During the jump ball, the young and energetic Whiteside defeated Howard and won the ball.

After dribbling across half court, Irving passed the ball to Wang Chong. Wang Chong received the ball without stopping and took a jump shot directly from outside the three-point line.

James stepped forward to block the shot immediately, but failed to stop Wang Chong's shot.

"Shh-!"

The basketball hit the net and went into the basket. Less than 10 seconds into the game, Wang Chong gave the Heat a warning with a three-pointer.

The game went about as most fans expected.

The current Heat simply does not have the strength to compete with the Cavaliers. Their situation is really too bad. Although Wade and Howard are able to play, their injuries have not fully healed. In addition, the players defending them on the Cavaliers side are not easy to deal with.

Wade was guarded by Wiggins the entire time. If it was Wade in his prime during his youth, a mere freshman Wiggins would not be enough to defeat him.

But now Wade, facing Wiggins, who is 2 meters tall, taller, faster, healthier and full of talent, can't help but feel a strong sense of powerlessness in his heart.