"By the way, Cedric, who won the other two games yesterday?"
After getting on the plane, Lao Wang's seat was in the middle, with Ceballos next to him. He asked.
"The SuperSonics defeated the Jazz and the two teams tied. The Knicks defeated the Pacers and entered the second round." Ceballos said.
"Tonight the Spurs play the Trail Blazers, and we will play the Spurs most of the time," Ceballos said.
"Just touch it, what are you afraid of? I also want to meet that softie David Robin. I heard that he is the softest among the three super centers. I think it is right." He said.
Regarding the Suns' elimination of the Lakers, the media and fans did not have much discussion, because the strength and lineup of the two sides are very different.
Today's sports news mainly focuses on the SuperSonics and Jazz, as well as the Spurs and Trail Blazers, guessing who will advance to the second round.
After returning home to Phoenix in the afternoon, Wang Tiejun took another nap. When he woke up, it was almost dark and Zhang Lili had already prepared dinner.
"Tie Jun, are you tired?" Lao Zhang asked.
"It's not bad. It's better than when I hit the rookie wall in March. It's not that tiring," he said.
"You still have two months less to play. But it's because you haven't trained systematically for a long time and your physical reserves are not enough." Lao Zhang said.
"Brother Zhang, my shooting percentage in this series is 52%, what do you think?" he asked.
"That's right. Compared with the first round series of the three super centers, your efficiency is no worse than theirs, or even a little higher." Lao Zhang said.
Nodding, he said thoughtfully: "I can actually add a few more hard plays under the basket, but I'm just worried that my physical fitness can't keep up. That Jordan can score 40 or 50 points a game, but my score is a little too little.
"
"Don't do it, Tie Jun, he is already very good now."
Lao Zhang quickly stopped and said: "When I watched the live broadcast of TNT, the two commentators analyzed it and they also believed that your number of attacks at the basket must be controlled, starting from the regular season, so as to control physical fitness.
, can perform well throughout the season.
If you want to improve efficiency, it must be improved on the basis of physical control. There is no need to compete with Jordan in scoring. He is a shooting guard and is responsible for scoring. You are a center and your responsibilities are different. The physical consumption of a center is much greater than that of Jordan.
It is impossible for a defender to take as many shots as a defender.
Your offensive efficiency is already good. What needs to be improved now is your ability to protect the basket, assist in defense, and further strengthen your rebounding ability. In terms of offense, just improve your throwing and shooting, as well as the basket.
You also need to strengthen your pace, which will allow you to fight with less effort."
In the evening, the two watched the Spurs game.
At 97:100, the Spurs eliminated the Trail Blazers 3-1 and advanced to the second round.
As soon as the game was over, Barkley called and shouted: "Old K, have you watched the Spurs game? When we play the Spurs in the second round, David Robinson is relying on you. Don't worry, you have been surprised. I
I'll patch it up for you, just don't reach out randomly."
"No problem, leave it to me and I'll kill him." He immediately patted his chest and promised.
"Let go and fuck him. This is the playoffs. If you need to elbow, use the elbow." Barkley warned.
"I know, don't worry." He said.
The Suns will have the next two days off, and all first-round games will be played.
Western Conference second round: Suns vs. Spurs, SuperSonics vs. Mosaic.
Eastern Conference second round: Bulls vs. Cavaliers, Knicks vs. Hornets.
On May 10th, the second round begins, with the Knicks facing the Hornets in the East, and the SuperSonics facing the Mosaic in the West.
As a result, the Knicks defeated the Hornets. Super center Ewing scored 33 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. He made 14 of 28 shots, with a shooting percentage of 50%, which was an excellent performance.
If there is a flaw, it is that there are too few offensive rebounds, only one.
The Hornets' rookie Mourning performed equally well, making 10 of 21 shots, shooting 47.6% from the field, scoring 27 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 5 offensive rebounds. The only flaw was that he made 7 turnovers.
Mourning played a superhuman performance in the first round of the series, which also overshadowed Wang Tiejun's performance in the playoffs.
He scored 3,011 in the first game, 1,814 in the second game, 148 in the third game, and 337 in the fourth game. He averaged 38 minutes per game, 13.75 field goals and 7.25 field goals, with a shooting percentage of 52.7%, 23.7 points and 10 rebounds.
Far surpassing Wang Tiejun and exceeding his own regular season performance.
In the West, the SuperSonics defeated the Mosaics.
Super center Dream Olajuwon scored 26 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 blocks and 6 turnovers. In addition to many mistakes, he only made 8 of 22 shots and his shooting percentage was only 36.4%, but he had as many as 8 offensive rebounds.
, reaching a terrifying 50%.
The biggest reason why the SuperSonics can win against Mosaic lies in the substitute lineup.
Substitute swingman Nate McMillan played only 16 minutes and only scored two points on free throws. He did not take a single shot, but he contributed 10 assists, averaging one assist per 1.6 minutes.
Most of his assists went to Eddie Johnson, another backup swingman. This guy only played 23 minutes and felt hot. He made 9 of 16 shots and scored 20 points.
Payton, the main point guard, did not perform well, only sending 4 assists.
Overall, the Sonics sent out 29 assists, while Mosaic only had 13. This is the main reason why the Sonics won.
The 11th, match day.
In addition to the Suns and Spurs, there are also the Bulls and Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.
The Spurs arrived in Phoenix yesterday. They were very low-key and did not hold a press conference. At two o'clock in the afternoon, they arrived at the American West Arena for pre-game training. Before the training, they accepted interviews with the media.
"David, last year the Spurs were swept by the Suns in the first round. Are you ready for this year?" a Phoenix Sports reporter asked.
"What preparation?"
Robinson's face collapsed, no matter how good his mental quality was, he could no longer maintain it.
"Be prepared to be swept away again." The reporter said innocently.
He was so angry that he snorted: "Don't even think about it."
After saying that, he went to warm up and stopped accepting interviews. The reporter couldn't even call him back.
At half past six, the Suns arrived at the arena.
At this time, America West Arena was opened and fans began to enter.
Starting from the second round, NBA is now implementing a best-of-seven game system with a 22111 home and away game system, which is different from the best-of-five game system in the first round.
The national live broadcast rights for the second-round series between the Suns and the Spurs belong to ESPN, and the commentators are Winston Rollin and Carter Oldman.
At half past seven, the arena was almost full. The atmosphere at the home court was very good, and the buzzing noise was endless. The Suns' mascot, the gorilla, was also very excited and kept interacting with the fans.
At this time, the starting lineups for both teams were also announced.
Spurs: David Robinson, Antoine Kyle, Sean Elliott, Darle Ellis, Avery Johnson
Suns: Wang Tiejun, Barkley, Ceballos, Dan Maley, Kevin Johnson
Winston Rollin analyzed: "The young general Avery Johnson served as the starting point guard in the first round of the Spurs. He sent 22 assists in four games, averaging 5.5 per game. There is a certain gap between his and Kevin Johnson's strength.
.
But this guy's ability is more reflected in his leadership of the team. He has a daring style and a hard-working style. Although he is an undrafted player, his status in the Spurs locker room is not lower than that of David Robinson, or even
Even stronger, he is the Spurs' true locker room leader."
Carter Oldman laughed and said: "Dream's character is the strongest, Ewing is too dull, and Robinson's character is too modest."
"Damn it, I can't see how humble he is." In the home team's locker room, Wang Tiejun shouted while watching the TV.
"Kill him, Old K. This is our home court."
Kevin Johnson raised his fist and shouted: "We swept them last year, let's not make it easy for them this year."
"Kill the Spurs!"
Lao Wang immediately shouted.
"Kill the Spurs!"
The locker room immediately roared, and morale became even higher.
At eight o'clock, the game starts.
David Robinson's jump ball is even stronger, and the Spurs attack.
On the left wing, Robinson took the initiative to withdraw the ball.
In the regular season, he suffered a lot in the strong confrontation with Wang Tiejun, so now he tries to avoid confrontation with him.
Thrush
And he's better at facing the basket than posting up.
Wang Tiejun also knew that he could not guard the admiral, so he adopted the strategy of defending the penalty area first and letting Robinson's jump shot from the outside go.
To put it simply, try to let Robinson shoot jumpers from the outside, don't let him get in easily, which will reduce his overall efficiency, and don't care about the gain or loss of a ball.
Robinson took a tentative step and Wang Tiejun quickly retreated. The former retracted the tentative step and made a jump shot before the latter pounced on him.
"Whoa!"
The water splashed and the two-pointer hit.
"One step away from the paint area, this is a two-point shot. Robinson's two-point shooting percentage is only 30.8%, which is the lowest among the three super centers, but his two-point shooting percentage can reach 39.1%, which is 39.1%.
Dream’s 45% is low, but higher than Ewing’s 34.8%.”
During the ESPN live broadcast, Winston Rollin mentioned several statistics very familiarly.
Back on the offensive end, Wang Tiejun positioned himself low on the left wing.
Robinson did not adopt top defense, and the tonnage difference was 16 kilograms. He knew that he could not withstand it, and that defense would consume too much physical energy and suffer in vain, so he adopted a entwining defense.
This kind of defense was the first one he used on Wang Tiejun, and he had the most experience with it.
It is to use constant entanglement and small movements to interrupt the opponent's rhythm and even anger the opponent's emotions, thereby controlling the opponent.
His left arm was entangled by his opponent, his waist was occasionally elbowed, and a leg was inserted between his legs, and his knees were secretly pushed from time to time. Wang Tiejun felt very uncomfortable.
However, he still stood firm and opened his right hand to ask for the ball.
Kevin Johnson made a pull gesture and then looked for an opportunity to pass the ball down.
After receiving the ball, Wang Tiejun discovered that the Spurs did not double-team him.
This shows that the Spurs' defensive focus is on Barkley's side, or at the basket. As long as he shoots in the low post on the left wing, he will not be double-teamed.
"Bang! Bang!"
With two consecutive hits, Robinson was completely knocked away. He put his foot on the left waist of the paint area, then jumped sideways on one foot and threw a side hook.
Robinson reacted quickly and jumped up again to block the shot. He did jump faster, but he still couldn't block the side hook. After all, his arms were not that long and they were separated from Wang Tiejun's body.
"Whoa!"
There was a splash of water, and he hit a hook in the last two minutes.
The two scored one goal each, and after two rounds, they met again.
The Spurs attacked, Robinson took the ball to the basket on the left wing, used a tentative step to fend off Wang Tiejun again, and then made a jump shot.
The difference from last time was that this time he did not take back his tentative step, but took one step forward. When he saw his opponent retreating from defense, he jumped directly to take action.
In this way, his shooting position is closer to the basket, and he takes off close to Wang Tiejun's body.
Wang Tiejun, who retreated from defense, always maintained his posture as a bear. After taking half a step back, he found that his opponent had taken off next to him. His lower limb muscles vibrated at high frequency in an instant, and he took off at a faster speed to block the shot.
In fact, his bullet speed has not increased, only the rhythm of his jump has been accelerated. The bear step can make his body react faster.
Robinson was about to take a shot in the air when suddenly a big hand was blocked in front of him. He couldn't help but raise the angle of his shot. The ball slipped past Wang Tiejun's fingertips and flew towards the basket.
"Rebound!"
As soon as the ball was released, he felt something was wrong and shouted loudly.
But it was too late, the ball was a little short, hit the basket and bounced, and was caught by Wang Tiejun.
"Beautiful defense! Old K blocked the general's near-basket jump shot..." the on-site commentator roared excitedly.
The Suns did not arrange fast break tactics because David Robinson is the fastest among the three super centers and is comparable to top guards. He would suffer from fast breaks. Wang Tiejun could not keep up, so he steadily advanced to the frontcourt and began a positional battle.
.
This time Wang Tiejun got the ball.
There was no dribbling, no ball striking, both feet stayed in place for the first time, and I only managed to loosen the opponent's grip a little.
At this time, his left foot did not move, and he moved his right foot into the paint area, making an upward breakthrough.
Robinson immediately moved up and reacted quickly.
But at this moment, he retracted his right foot, made a hook gesture, and raised his right hand.
When Robinson saw it, he quickly retracted his upward movement of his left foot and rushed forward.
The next moment, his right foot moved inward again, and the iron mountain exploded.
"Bang!"
Their left shoulders collided.
"Oops!"
Robinson was knocked sideways and almost fell over, and his left foot, which he was supporting, was almost sprained. It was only his good flexibility that prevented him from being injured.
But Wang Tiejun only stagnated slightly. The huge difference in tonnage and the powerful force allowed him to still maintain acceleration. He passed Robinson in one step and hit Antoine Kyle who was returning to the basket.
Dunk.
"Bang!"
As the violent sound of the basket was smashed, the American West Arena burst into cheers.
"Beep!"
The referee's whistle sounded, pointing to Antoine Kyle. The player fouled and an extra penalty was awarded.
"Old K, good job!" Buckley ran over excitedly and shouted.
"Yes."
He nodded, feeling that this attack was indeed a good one.
This is an attack that takes advantage of the characteristics of the bear step, that is, the characteristic of switching between relying on fighting and moving at any time. It uses repeated movement feints to keep Robinson in motion, thereby knocking away the opponent with less relying on fighting force.
This saves energy and avoids fouling.
Next, he hit an extra free throw and the Spurs attacked.
Fifteen seconds later, Robinson took action again.
It was still a tentative jump shot. This time, he took back the tentative step before shooting, but it seemed that Old K expected that he would shoot like this and returned to defense quickly. His shot was affected again, and it was far away from the basket, so he missed this shot.
Score two points.
At this time, he realized that he still had to be close to the basket and always shoot from the outside, so Old K's defensive prediction would be very simple.
A minute later, he used his tentative step again. This time, even when he saw Old K retreating, he resolutely killed him with one step.
"This guy is so fast!"
Wang Tiejun turned around quickly, still half a step behind Robinson.
Fortunately, Barkley implemented weak-side defense and got half a step ahead of Robinson. The latter forced a throw and failed to hit.
Wang Tiejun grabbed the basket and protected the backcourt rebound.
"David Robinson made 1 of 4 shots. With the cooperation of Old K and Barkley, his shooting rate was low. But this is not surprising. His performance in the playoffs was like this. He was not tough enough. Let's take a look at his performance in the first game.
You’ll know just how you perform in the series.”
During the ESPN live broadcast, Winston Rollin's outspoken remarks did not save any face for Robinson.
Carter Oldman smiled and said: "Today the Suns obviously worked harder on the defensive end. Old K was very successful in defending Robinson alone."
In the 7th minute of the first quarter, at 12:18, the Suns led by 6 points at home, and the Spurs called a timeout for the second time.
Spurs core David Robinson was in a sluggish state. After making 1 of 4 shots, he took two more shots and hit one. He made 2 of 6 shots and scored 4 points and 2 rebounds. He was replaced after a timeout.
Wang Tiejun then came off the field, focusing on conserving his physical fitness.
He also made a hook shot later, but it missed, so he didn't take another shot. He made a total of 2 of 3 shots, 1 of 1 free throw, and scored 5 points and 3 rebounds.
At the end of the first quarter, at 20:27, the Suns led by 7 points.