There was no upset in the second round of the Eastern Conference series. The Nets easily swept the Pistons 4-0.
Without Billups, the Pistons have a very obvious weakness of having too few scoring points. They can only rely on Richard Hamilton, Clifford Robinson, and Collis Williams to score, and then work hard to defend.
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Ben Wallace played very frustrated in this series, and the Nets kept using pick-and-rolls to bypass his offense. Kenyon Martin averaged 18.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game in the series, and his shooting percentage was 51.7%.
, there is nothing I can do.
Ben Wallace is almost a liability on the offensive end, and opponents can huddle around the penalty area to defend. He averaged 42.5 minutes per game, scoring 9 points, 17.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.8 steals, and 3.5 blocks, with a shooting percentage of 48.1%.
The worst thing about him is that his free throw shooting percentage is only 41.7%. When he catches the ball under the basket, the opponent can foul and send him a free throw. He averages only 2.5 goals in 6 free throws per game and is the target of being hacked.
Big Ben can't really practice his free throw shooting. He has no shooting talent at all. Fans saw this when he was with the SuperSonics.
The Nets' offense is not that good either. The advantage is that Jason Kidd launches fast breaks. Kidd himself can also score on counterattacks and is the Nets' leading scorer. This is really a tragedy.
The Bulls eliminated the 76ers 4-2.
In the matchup with Theo Ratliff, Yao Ming had the upper hand and had a wonderful series. He averaged 24.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2.3 blocks per game, and his shooting percentage was 53.4%.
Ratliff, who is 208cm tall and weighs 102kg, is good at assisting in blocking shots, not defending high center forwards. There is a huge gap between his height and weight with Yao Ming, and he has no way to deal with Yao Ming's turnaround jumpers and hooks, so he can only
foul.
Elton Brand also had an advantage against Derrick Coleman, scoring 18.3 points, 11 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.1 blocks in the series.
Under the guidance of Larry Brown, the 76ers players resolutely attacked the basket. The scene was very tragic, and all kinds of big shots were flying everywhere.
The 76ers relied on defense and outside offense to defeat the Bulls in two games. The Bulls' outside offense was not good and they were a group of blacksmiths. In addition, Yao Ming was in foul trouble in those two games and his playing time was shortened.
After the game, the player with the highest evaluation was not Yao Ming, but Iverson.
The media said that Iverson completely destroyed the Bulls' perimeter players and was a fearless fighter. Unfortunately, his teammates did not give him enough support on the offensive end.
Iverson averaged 47.8 minutes per game, 28.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 2.5 steals, and 9.7 free throws. He shot 38.6% from the field, 30% from three-point range, and averaged 4.7 turnovers per game.
Although Iverson's shooting percentage is as bad as ever, the media said that it is remarkable that he dares to break into the penalty area again and again with the height of an ordinary person. So his courage moved many people, although more people did not understand his size.
Why do you have to rush in to find the hat?
Chinese fans are very excited and look forward to seeing the Chinese Derby in the finals. They believe that the Bulls are stronger than the Nets. In the Eastern Conference, no center can beat Yao Ming.
On May 19, the Western Conference Finals began in Seattle.
Against the SuperSonics, the Trail Blazers eliminated the Kings, and the Mavericks' tactics no longer worked. Sabonis could only be a spectator on the sidelines, and could not appear as a surprise player.
Yang Jian had the upper hand against Bonzi Wells, and the Blazers could not make up for the gap in this position. Coach Maurice Cheeks could only try his best to arrange players to double-team Yang Jian.
On the defensive end, Yang Jian was able to resist Wells closely and prevent him from starting up with the ball. Wells couldn't squeeze Yang Jian with his back, and his forced turn and jump shot would be seriously interfered with, and his jumping ability and wingspan were much inferior.
Of course, Wells couldn't guard Yang Jian, and was easily passed during the counterattack. When the SuperSonics played positional battles, Reuben Patterson could mainly defend Yang Jian, but he still struggled in single defense and needed help from his teammates.
In positional battles, Yang can easily step back and shoot a jump shot with a few moves. He can also play pick-and-rolls with the center to find mismatched offensive opportunities. His style of play is flexible and changeable.
Rashad Lewis, like Rasheed Wallace, is a big man who shoots from the outside, with half the same strength. Zach Randolph is in the second season of his career and is only good at low-post singles and lacks variety.
It doesn't cooperate with teammates, and its effect is average.
Randolph can't play for a long time because he is strong offensively and weak defensively, and his defensive awareness is very poor.
He almost didn't guard the pick-and-roll, and just hung around the penalty area waiting to grab rebounds. The Trail Blazers sent blue-collar Dale Davis to play center, and the defense would be better, but the offense would be worse.
The Trail Blazers' defensive weakness is also point guard Damon Stoudemire. The "Little Flying Squirrel" who is 178cm tall is too short and will be beaten by Payton and Billups during counterattacks. Several of the SuperSonics defenders have
You can't defend anyone, so you need teammates to help defend you.
Two points are stretched on the defensive end, and all Sonics players are opened up.
The Trail Blazers can't defend near the penalty area. If they defend like this against the SuperSonics, they will be shot dead. No matter who plays in the SuperSonics, they are guaranteed to have at least three outside shooting spots open and can quickly take Yang Jian's pass.
In the first game, the SuperSonics got off to a good start, 113-89.
In the second game, the SuperSonics used the same style of play, and Brad Miller's hands were hot. He was very accurate in the mid-to-long range and scored 15 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in a single quarter.
Yang simply scored 14 points and 8 assists in the quarter, and other players also scored points. The SuperSonics led 45-21.
Wells and Randolph attacked hard in the second quarter to recover the score, but their shooting percentages were very low and they took turns shooting. As a result, the point difference between the two sides continued to widen, and the half entered garbage time.
In the end, the Sonics won 144 to 95. They almost won by more than 50 points even with all the substitutes in the final quarter. The series was decided.
Yang Jian attracted a double team and scored the ball. When his teammates could make a shot, the Sonics were almost invincible. The referee blew the whistle, which at most gave the Trail Blazers more free throw opportunities. You can't call a Sonics player a foul on catching and shooting, right?
The Trail Blazers returned to their home court to pull back a game, 103 to 99.
The referee's whistle was so biased that the ball blind could see it. When defending Yang Jian, the Trail Blazers players could use their hands to pull him, especially when guarding without the ball, they wanted to directly hug and throw him. Such an approach, the referee pretended not to see.
This referee is very famous, the whistleblower Tim Donaghy who went to jail in the parallel world. This man's resume is quite amazing. Not only did he blow the whistle, he was also one of the referees on duty during the battle at Auburn Hills.
When the score was tight in the second half, how bad was the referee's call?
Rasheed Wallace blocked a shot from behind and knocked down Yang Jian due to physical contact. When his hand did not touch the ball at all, the referee actually called the SuperSonics' baseline kick, which was equivalent to a pull.
Sid blocked a shot.
Yang Jian was treated like this, so you can imagine what the situation was like for his teammates. Under the defense of various small and big moves, except for Yang Jian, Billups and Kemp, everyone else did not perform well.
Kemp was very unhappy with the Trail Blazers and was often booed by fans when playing at home. Now that he is playing in Portland as a member of the SuperSonics, the fans are booing even more.
In this case, Kemp especially wanted to prove himself with a wonderful performance. He tried his best, cut through the ball many times after the screen and tried to dunk, made many fouls, and his free throw rate was quite high.
The Trail Blazers won not only by defense, but also by more flowers. Randolph, who scored the most, only had 22 points and 9 rebounds.
Under strict defense, Yang Jian still scored 30 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, and almost got sent off for 5 fouls. The physical confrontation between him and his opponent was more fierce, and he was called for two fouls without reaching out.
Kemp's performance was equally eye-catching, scoring 21 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks in 25 minutes, shooting 60% from the field.
However, only the two of them and Billups scored in double figures for the Sonics, and everyone else failed.
When he encountered an unfair whistle, Yang Jian was not very angry. Just because he knew it was Donaghy, he felt there was no need to be angry with this guy. He wouldn't be able to get away with it for long anyway.
He just said a few meaningful words at the press conference. "Losing a game in the playoffs is not a big deal. It's not that I have never lost, but I don't believe that the Trail Blazers can win four games against us. Tim Donaghy
, you might as well remember this name, I have already remembered it."
Yang Jian did not say that the referee was a black whistle, he only said that he remembered the name and the league would not be able to fine him. In the future, when Donaghy goes to jail, fans will have a topic to talk about.