NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

The news that the Spurs swept the Golden State Warriors 4:0 in the Western Conference semifinals and advanced to the divisional finals quickly spread to all major media and TV stations in Mili's home...

While people were once again exclaiming"wolf is coming", ESPN also took the opportunity to launch a podcast program: they invited so-called celebrities and experts to seriously study the Spurs' opponents and promotion in this year's playoffs.

Then they were"surprised" to find that the Spurs were the only team in the NBA in the past ten years that swept the first two rounds of the playoffs twice and advanced to the divisional finals!

And for two consecutive years!

(11-12, 12-13 seasons respectively)

In the past ten years, in addition to this Western powerhouse that has been constantly"sung old", there is another team that has accomplished the same feat - that is the Cleveland Cavaliers led by"Little Emperor" LeBron James in the 08-09 season.

They swept the Pistons 4-0 in the first round, and sent the Hawks away in the same way in the second round...

That was also the season when the little emperor had the most"personal dominance". He averaged 35+9+7 in the first two rounds of the playoffs, which was the ultimate"heroism" that he deserved!

Unfortunately, he ran into the peak Magic with a mature"one star and four shooters" system...

And a"playoff feat" that is enough to be recorded in history, the Spurs, a group of old guys with an average age of 31 or 32, completed this achievement for two consecutive years under the leadership of Popovich!

How can people not exclaim - the Spurs are said to be old, Duncan has"fallen from the altar", and the future of the league belongs to the"emperor" of the South Coast?

Of course, some celebrities also saw that the Spurs made some"shameful" intentions of resting and losing at the end of the regular season.

A. Smith, a famous New York basketball commentator and the"non-famous" Knicks' number one fan, said in a program:

"Gregg Popovich is a filthy asshole with a low moral character.……"

"In the final games against the Hawks, Nuggets, Kings, Lakers and other Western Conference teams, he maliciously rested the team's main players and even all the starters, just to muddy the waters of the Western Conference playoffs so that he and his players could fish in troubled waters!"

"Look, the Spurs are the first to advance to the divisional finals, and they advanced by sweeping two rounds in a row, which undoubtedly proves my guess!"

"The New York commentator did not hide his hostility towards the Spurs:

"Popovich and his group of bastards are undoubtedly the main driving force behind the entire NBA falling into an atmosphere full of calculations and intrigues.……"

"I hope the league will introduce rules to limit Popovich's unscrupulous actions. A head coach who is not content to do his own tactical system research, but repeatedly interferes with the affairs of the team management.……"

We can tell from the excitement of A. Smith"spitting all over" in front of the camera that he really hates the Spurs and Popovich - people usually only see him"out of control" when the New York Knicks lose by a large margin!

However, the outside world's disturbances can no longer interfere with the Spurs players who have returned to the Holy City to prepare for the Western Conference Finals, because the whole team, all the players, have experienced the"fighting" in the first two rounds of the playoffs."……

Even the new players on the team, such as Joey and Baines, have truly experienced what it means to"one point equals one life.""、"Every ball must be fully confident before taking the shot"……

Of course, it may be a bit exaggerated, but the stage of the playoffs is much more challenging for players and requires much more hard power in terms of player skills, team skills and tactics than the regular season!

After a simple meeting, Popovich did not arrange corresponding training sessions for all players as in previous years. Instead, he gave the whole team a day and a half off after telling them to"control healthy diet and pay attention to body shape" - they agreed to return to training tomorrow afternoon, May 14th.

The reason is that this year is different from previous years...

Compared with last year, when the first two rounds were swept and advanced, because there is no tight schedule and the risk of injury, it is estimated that it will take at least five days to start the divisional finals this year.

Because in the other semifinals in the West, the Grizzlies and the Thunder have already fought 3:1. In the series G5 tonight (13th) at the Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Popovich estimates that the Thunder, who are close to elimination, will"fight to the death". The

Grizzlies also want to use the strategy of decisively"pinching off" Durant in the first two games to drag the Thunder into their own defensive rhythm, which is estimated to be difficult!

Even if the Grizzlies successfully beat the Thunder 4:1 tonight, the league will probably delay the Western Conference Finals by two to three days to ensure that the Eastern and Western teams that advance to the Finals have similar rest time...

After all, the Pacers and Knicks are going to play their best in the Eastern Conference now - the decisive battle in Game 5, at Madison Square Garden, the two teams played three overtimes, Anthony and George both scored 40 points...

In the end, the Pacers' five tigers made an effort, scored 15 points in the third overtime, and limited the Knicks to only three goals in the third overtime, winning the decisive game with a score of 145:136.

This round of series is also predicted by experts to be the most likely to go to a seventh game in the divisional semifinals.

Agua, who just won the first scoring title in his career, finally established himself as the"King of New York" this season. The highly qualified fans in the Big Apple finally recognized his status as a star player...

As a result, he encountered a series of tough opponents in the playoffs. After two rounds of series, he averaged 29.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, which was almost the best personal data in the playoffs during the Knicks period!

Facing the Pacers' five tigers, who were obviously more balanced in strength, even if Agua played a super performance of"Lu Bu fighting three heroes" and the team's sixth man JR also got rid of the"struggling state" in the first round and played 17+6+2 personal data, the Knicks could hardly advance...

Maybe after this game, Agua will"deliberately" look for a beautiful girl named"Amare" in the millions of New York clubs where people are living a life of luxury, and spend a long night with her -

I let you find excuses to retire, I let you get the highest salary without working, I let you...

The series between the Heat and the Bulls led by the Big Three is also smooth sailing.

In addition to being upset by the Bulls in the first game, Noah publicly mocked him for"taking shortcuts" at the post-game press conference."……

Now the Bulls are 3:1, and they are beating the Bulls by 17.3 points per game on average - it is only a matter of time before the South Coast Big Three step onto the stage of the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time!

The Spurs, under Popovich's arrangement, have also begun to study the tactics of the Grizzlies, their opponent in the Western Conference Finals - although they"triple-killed" the Grizzlies in the regular season, if it is really the Memphis people who advance, as the Spurs' opponent in the Western Conference Finals, he still thinks it is better to be cautious.

After all, in the first round of the Western Conference that year, the Spurs"took the initiative" to find the Grizzlies in the first round under his arrangement, and then...

Forget it, the old man does not want to recall the embarrassing experience two years ago!

That series may be the darkest and most helpless moment in his more than 20 years of coaching career...