On April 26, Game 3 of the series between the Hawks and Raptors began at the Toronto Aviation Center.

Compared with the despair felt by players, fans are often more naive. Regardless of the playoff ranking, they watch the game with hope and always expect the team to win.

When the Grizzlies moved from Canada, Canadian fans who had just fallen in love with basketball because of the Raptors and Grizzlies began to panic, so their support for the Raptors this season reached the highest level since Canada had an NBA team in 1995.

peak.

Especially in the playoffs, there is no situation where the tickets cannot be sold out. If your home fans don’t buy it, the visiting team fans who come with the team will also buy it.

The Air Canada Center has done something, and the whole place is full. I hope the Raptors can cheer up, because in the first round of the best-of-5 game, they will be eliminated if they lose one more game.

The NBA has a record, that is, when it is 3-0, there is no chance of comeback in the first round...

But obviously they are going to be disappointed. Although the current core of the Raptors, Antonio Davis, told the media that they will definitely be able to reverse the situation and advance, everyone with a discerning eye knows that this is just a reluctance to admit defeat, and it is out of the professionalism of a professional player.

, just mentally unwilling to admit defeat.

Just like when Monta Ellis and James, who could score 55 points in a single game as a rookie, led the Bucks to the playoffs in the 2012-2013 season and faced the Heat led by James, they lost 0-0.

At that time, Ellis was interviewed and said that he would sweep the Heat with eight games, and even said that he would create a miracle to reverse the Heat's 0-3 deficit.

It was not until after he was abandoned by the Bucks that Ellis said in an interview: Am I saying that we are destined to lose?

The same goes for Kobe Bryant in the second round of the 11-12 season. Even though the Mavericks were leading 3-0, he was still stubborn and expressed his belief in a comeback during an interview.

Antonio Davis has this mentality, the mentality of a competitor.

But the reality is cruel. The Eagles did not relax at all because of their 2-0 lead. The huge gap in strength between the two teams was obvious when they played the game seriously.

The Eagles started a defensive battle with the Raptors on the road just like in the first game.

When the Raptors focused on Liu Mang, Raheem and Jason Terry told the Raptors why Liu Mang had so many one-on-one scoring opportunities in the regular season.

Two people holding down the defense are strong enough!

89 to 77, the Eagles did not give the Raptors a chance to counterattack. Rahim scored 11 consecutive points in the middle of the third quarter to widen the point difference to 20 points. He scored 33 points in the game and easily killed the game.

When Liu Mang scored 37 points in the first game and 25 points in the second game, he drew the Raptors' defensive attention away and forced the opponent to help defend the attack from outside the three-point line. Raheem and the center inside

Jason Terry, who was firing everywhere, scored quite easily.

Although they are still far away from being called the Big Three, the Hawks are still far behind, mainly Jason Terry and Liu Mang, one of whom has a not particularly high ceiling, and the other is a young rookie.

But their role is very similar to that of the Big Three. When the opponent does not have a strong defensive system, as long as one of them can attract the opponent's defensive attention, the other two can penetrate the opponent.

3-0, the Eagles easily swept the Raptors in the first round and advanced to the second round!

…

…

The Hawks defeated the Raptors to advance to the second round of the playoffs, and they were not the first team to advance.

In the West, the Lakers and Kings both swept their opponents 3-0 the day before. The Mavericks also defeated the Timberwolves 3-0 after the Hawks series ended. The Wolves continued their miserable first-round tour.

On the other hand, the series between Duncan and Malone turned out to be unexpectedly tense. Utah's two teams were indeed Utah's two evils. After losing the first two away games, they returned to Salt Lake City, which is known as the devil's home court. The Jazz defeated them at home.

The Spurs responded with a 91-75 victory over the Spurs, with the score tied at 1-2.

In the East, except for the Eagles who swept their opponents 3-0, the other three series were all 2-1.

After a happy night in a Toronto nightclub, the Hawks players returned to Atlanta and had to rest for a few days to wait for their opponents in the next round.

It’s hard to say who the opponent will be in the second round now. The 76ers led by Iverson and Mutombo still have the strength to fight. The Pistons are not easy to deal with, but they are too young and have not yet reached their peak. Five

The Tiger lineup is not complete either.

…

…

On April 28, the Hawks returned to Atlanta. On this day, the league's best sixth man and most improved award were announced. The best sixth man did not exceed expectations. Liu Mang averaged 20 points per game.

Won the first Sixth Man of the Year award in Hawks history.

In addition to Liu Mang, the first team of the best rookie team is composed of Jason Richardson of the Warriors, Andrei Kirilenko of the Jazz, Shane Battier and Gasol of the Grizzlies.

.

Because of Liu Mang, the first team of this season's All-Rookie Team looks a little better. One averages 20 points per game, one averages 17 points per game, one averages 14 points per game, and the remaining two also exceed 10 points.

The only five players averaging double figures this season are all rookies.

The second team... doesn't have anyone averaging double figures per game, consisting of Tony Parker, Richard Jefferson, Selke Rebrasha, Jamal Tinsley, Eddie Griffin,

Composed by Joe Johnson.

When Liu Mang saw this lineup, he felt that the 2001 class was actually not bad in the future! The main reason was that the performance in the rookie year was so unsatisfactory. This is actually not the fault of the players. Most of this year's rookies are rookies who sell their talents.

, in addition to Pau Gasol, the other top five picks, Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, Eddie Curry, and Jason Richardson, are actually all rookies with All-Star talent.

, it’s just that he doesn’t have the outstanding immediate combat ability of Gasol.

If we put it in more than ten years, such top-five talent would definitely drive teams crazy, but here we still have expectations for rookies like Duncan, Iverson, and Brand to enter the NBA.

Only in the era of at least top-notch stars can people always have the impression that this year's draft is really rubbish.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The Most Improved Award was won by Jermaine O'Neal of the Pacers. O'Neal averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds per game this season. Last season, he averaged 12.9 points and 9.8 rebounds.

It’s not as scary as the last Most Improved Award winner, Tracy McGrady, who went from being the second-best scorer in the league averaging 15 points per game to becoming the league’s top scorer with an average of 27 points per game. But an improvement of 6 points is not bad, because there is no other improvement.

He is a big player, but if there was an award for the fastest regression, there would be many people who would be strong contenders.

Liu Mang and Coach Kruger received the trophy from the future bald Adam Silva, who has an extremely keen sense of business development, at the regular season awards press conference held in Atlanta. Liu Mang held it.

Three trophies, a Rookie of the Year, a Sixth Man of the Year, and a first-team All-Rookie Team!

…

…

Liu Mang's apartment.

Little Lolita Dinah is playing with Liu Mang's three new trophies.

Liu Mang looked at the several trophies that little Loli Dinah had brought out, such as the three-point contest champion, All-Star MVP, Rookie Game MVP, etc. plus these three, he felt as if he had won the award and was soft-handed.

As expected, the 76ers and Pistons tied 2-2 and will have a tiebreaker on the 29th.

The Eagles haven't decided who their opponents will be in the next round, and the styles of the two teams are completely different, so after the press conference at noon, Coach Kruger only arranged regular training for the players for the past two days, waiting.

After the results of tomorrow night's series between the Pistons and the 76ers come out, targeted tactical training will begin.

Liu Mang looked at Dinah who was arranging the trophies on the coffee table and drawing the trophies in a small notebook. Then he went to the bathroom, opened the system panel, looked at the awards, and started to giggle again.

That's why I don't look outside, because...it's so silly!

A gangster is worth 630,000 and a superstar is worth more than 116,700.

After eliminating the Raptors, there will be a 5,000 superstar point reward for reaching the second round, 1,000 superstar points for sweeping the opponent, and 600 superstar points for data.

In terms of rogue value, the increase in rogue value has not been much in the past two days. The increase in rogue value for winning Sixth Man of the Year is far less than that of Best Rookie, because the Best Sixth Man is really worthless these days, and the Rookie of the Year award would be worth nothing if it were not for being on the list.

The Rookie of the Season award has greatly lowered the average expectations for this award, but this award is still quite valuable.

The previous best rookies, except for Mike Miller last season, and putting aside the basketball desert era before 1960, from 1960 to 2000, the best rookies during the period were either super players who averaged 20.10 per game.

Insiders are either super blue-collar players who average 15-15 per game, or they are ancient behemoths who average around 30-20 per game, or they are players who can score 14 points and 11 assists in their rookie year but cannot win the assists title.

He is so unlucky, but he can still have Carter's performance of 18 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. He is a perfect embryo of a future superstar, so the Rookie of the Year award is more attractive to fans than the Sixth Man of the Year award these days.

.

Unlike future Rookies of the Year who may not be able to play for two years, the Rookie of the Year before Mike Miller basically started as a guaranteed All-Star.

However, fans nowadays do not value this award. The reward for the best sixth man task determined by the system still makes Liu Mang overjoyed.

"Best Sixth Man Random Star Card Elite Edition."

Since Liu Mang averages 20.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, he is like a hooligan among the substitutes of each team this season. No team these days will put a player who averages more than 15 points per game on the bench.

In nine seasons, the Best Sixth Man's score has not exceeded 15 points, so Liu Mang's Best Sixth Man votes were as crushed as those of the Best Rookie, so the Best Sixth Man award was upgraded to the elite version.

"Best Sixth Man Random Star Card Elite Edition: Randomly select a star card of a player who has won the Best Sixth Man award and is at least a first-class star."

Liu Mang thought for a moment. Ginobili, Wang, Odom, Jamison...it seems that there are not many best sixth men who can reach the level of first-class stars. The main reason is that this award was not taken seriously until 2007.

Well, Jamison, who had previously scored 50 points as a substitute, was surprised.

Looking at a random star card from Pengci Master and a random star card for the best sixth man, Liu Mang was going to draw the best sixth man first.

"System boss, use the elite version of the best sixth man random star card."

"The host uses the elite version of the best sixth man random star card, and will draw a star with at least 85 ability points who has won the best sixth man."

"Wait a minute, system boss. In other words, it's not the attributes of the season in which they won the Best Sixth Man, but their own peak attributes?"

"That's right."

Liu Mang's eyes widened! Could it be that this card will also draw the "King"! When the "King" won the best sixth man, he should not have reached the first-class level, maybe with an ability value of 823.

However, young people make rapid progress. After one summer, or maybe because they worked hard after being traded, they were selected to the All-NBA third team the next year, and may be one of the six best guards in the league.

"System boss, keep going!"
To be continued...