Legend of Tomorrow

Since the Lakers won the best record in the regular season, their schedule was different from Guo Xu's previous life and became easier, avoiding the Trail Blazers and Kings. Of course, even if they meet those two teams, it's not a big deal. Even if the Lakers lost to them in the regular season, they will be defeated in the playoffs.

O'Neal in the playoffs is different from the regular season. He will no longer be lazy on both offense and defense.

For Guo Xu, this is the best opportunity to perform. His opponent is Trier Brandon, who is famous but has poor defense.

On April 21, the first game between the two sides started at Staples Arena. The Lakers' triangle offense began to show off in the first quarter. Guo Xu, Kobe, and O'Neal scored consecutively.

Phil Jackson gave Guo Xu the role, and he was able to play a role on both offense and defense. Fisher couldn't attack with the ball against Brandon, so it was quite difficult to defend.

When Guo Xu singled out Brandon, he could shoot when he was far away, and he could break through when he was close to him. He could play whatever he wanted. The Timberwolves were forced to double-team him from the outside.

It was an opportunity for Guo Xu to attract help from the defense and pass to Kobe. Kobe passed O'Neal in the low post to Dean Garnett, who was 208cm tall and weighed 102kg. It was even easier. As long as they stand in a triangle position, the Timberwolves can't guard them at all.

Timberwolves center Nesterovich was so poor at guarding the pick-and-roll in his two previous games against the Lakers that coach Flip Saunders didn't dare to let him play. Billups was also beaten badly when he played the No. 2 position against Kobe Bryant, and he was on the bench today.

Kobe had an obvious advantage against Anthony Pillar, but it was not as big as the advantages at positions 1 and 5, so he took fewer shots.

Having just gotten married, it was impossible for Kobe to leave his wife and practice more. The Zen Master used the excuse of taking care of the newlyweds to arrange tactics for him to hold back in the first round. Kobe could not find a reason to refute.

In the first game, the Lakers beat the Timberwolves by 47 points 116-69, defeating the Huskies. The core of both teams only played about 30 minutes, and the final quarter was pure garbage time.

Not only did the Timberwolves have poor defense, but they also had a terrible offense. Only the King of Huskies Garnett and Laphonso Ellis scored in double figures in this game.

Garnett made 7 of 18 shots, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists. After being abused from beginning to end, he didn't beat his chest and roar when he scored.

Three players on the Lakers side had 20+ points, not including Kobe. Fisher made 7 of 10 shots, 2 of 5 three-pointers, and 5 of 6 free throws, scoring 21 points and 3 assists. O'Neal scored 24 points and 13 rebounds, and Guo Xu scored 26 points and 7 assists. Kobe Bryant scored 15 points, Grant scored 14 points, and the whole team blossomed.

The situation in the second battle between the two sides was similar to that in the first battle.

The Lakers had been leading from the beginning, and entered garbage time in the third quarter. They sent all substitutes to play. Many Lakers fans felt bored and left the game early.

Although Garnett couldn't enter the penalty area at all, his jump shot was slightly better than in the game. He scored 22 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. His statistics were almost the same as in the regular season.

Unfortunately, except for Garnett, no one from the Timberwolves has scored 15 points, and the five players who scored in double figures combined are not much. The Timberwolves' bench was completely suppressed, scoring only 7 points in total.

For the Lakers, Fisher and Kobe took the bench in the second quarter. The two teams were in a battle between bench gangsters and bench losers.

Guo Xu performed even better than he did on the field, with 27 points, 3 rebounds, 11 assists and 3 steals, outlasting Trier with 13 points and 8 assists.

O'Neal was an unsolvable bug in the paint, with 33 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks, and he made 7 of 10 free throws. When O'Neal wasn't that bad at free throws, the Timberwolves had nothing to do with him.

Dean Garnett is probably the worst center on the playoff team. He only played 11.9 minutes per game in the regular season, with data of 2.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 0.7 blocks. The same surname is Garnett, so the difference in strength is too big.

On April 28, the third game between the two sides was played at the home court of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The scene was still one-sided, and the strength gap could not be made up by the home whistle.

Coach Sanders asked Nesterovich to return to the main defense of O'Neal this time. As a result, O'Neal pulled out and played a pick-and-roll with Guo Xu, leaving space for Guo Xu to break through, or Kobe to attack with an air cut from the side.

Guo Xu made a three-point jumper from the outside, and it was easy for Nesterovich to misplace the position. Kobe also played the 193cm-tall Pillar with a back attack very efficiently. In only 4 minutes of play, Strovic made two fouls and went to rest.

The Timberwolves once asked Ellis, a stocky forward who is 203cm tall and weighs 109kg, to defend O'Neal. As a result, he became the king of dunks.

Garnett can only foul when defending O'Neal, otherwise it will be a dunk if he is pushed away. Garnett has always been weak in the penalty area. For this reason, he falsely reported his height when he first entered the league. His official height is 211cm, but his actual height is 215cm. Others reported high, but he reported himself low just to avoid playing center.

Garnett, who claims to be able to guard five positions, doesn't want to guard O'Neal, as that would make him appear not tough enough. It's a pity that he was dunked in the second quarter. The shark came so fast like a tornado that it couldn't leave the storm circle and had no time to escape.

In the second half, Kobe felt hot and could not break through. He dominated the court with 20 points in a single quarter. Pillar couldn't guard him, and substitute forward Slater couldn't guard him. Kobe attracted double teams and sent the ball out, and Guo Xu and Fisher were also on the outside. Throw a three pointer.

The Lakers scored 41 points in this quarter. The difference between the two sides widened to 36 points and entered garbage time. The main players were all off work.

It's always good to save some face at someone else's home court, and Jackson was afraid of flagrant fouls by Timberwolves players. In fact, he was overthinking it. The Timberwolves were beaten miserably in the first round of the playoffs every time, and they were used to it. Their mission was to enter the playoffs, and they successfully completed it.

The Lakers stars casually won the game with a score of 117-83, sweeping the Timberwolves out 3-0.

In this era, the first round of the NBA is a 3-win elimination system. The Timberwolves players are very grateful for this. They don't want to play the fourth game at all.

After the game, Garnett received a far lower evaluation than O'Neal. He has been scoring jumpers outside the penalty area, shooting 44.3% from the field, scoring 21+10+4, and averaging 40 minutes per game.

Fans want to say Garnett is tough, but they really can’t find a reason. He often faces the fringe Ryan Bowen...

O'Neal has absolute dominance in the interior. The two have similar annual salaries, and O'Neal is more worthy of a huge salary.

After five days of rest, the Lakers waited until their opponents in the second round to break out. The Mavericks defeated the aging Jazz 3-2.

Just based on the way the Mavericks advance, everyone knows that there is no suspense in the second round.

The 76ers in the Eastern Conference eliminated the Pacers 3-1 in the first round. Kenny Anderson, who was acquired by the Pacers in a mid-term trade, missed the playoffs due to injury, and the reinforcement plan failed.

Iverson's performance was not very brave, and his performance in the first game was not as good as the Pacers' Travis Best. He made 7 of 19 shots, 0 of 4 three-pointers, and 2 of 3 free throws. He only had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. Best made 7 shots and 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 16 points, 10 assists and 2 steals.

In the fourth game of the 76ers' promotion, Iverson played the entire game, making 10 of 31 shots, 3 of 10 three-pointers, 10 free throws, and scored 33 points and 4 assists. This efficiency was simply too low to watch. The 76ers only scored 88 points, but they relied on their excellent defense to limit the opponent's offense. The Pacers only scored 85 points and could not attack the penalty area guarded by Mutombo.

It is also difficult for the 76ers to advance. They win by a small margin of less than 10 points, which is too different from the Lakers' crushing advancement. No one is optimistic about their upset victory. It would be good to break through in the Eastern Conference. Reading Network