In the opening game of the playoffs, the Warriors defeated the Mavericks in just three quarters and surrendered early.
115:82, 33 points difference!
Curry scored a game-high 28 points, Thompson scored 22 points, and Wang Feng scored 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
On the Mavericks side, Nowitzki made 9 of 17 shots and scored 21 points. He was the best player on the Mavericks team.
Harrison Barnes, the outside core who the Mavericks had high hopes for, was completely defeated in the matchup with Wang Feng.
Facing Wang Feng's defense, Barnes was unable to maintain a normal offensive rhythm and made frequent mistakes. He only hit 4 goals in 15 shots, scored 9 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and made 4 turnovers.
In the same 1-on-1 duel, Wang Feng scored 19 points on Barnes, while the latter only had 9 points.
The level of the two of them seems to be completely different.
In fact, this is also true.
Comparing the overall rating of ability values, after another season of training, Wang Feng's various ability values have improved slightly. In addition to the rewards he received during the All-Star Game, it has reached 80, which is almost the same as Barnes.
With similar ability values, Wang Feng, who has multiple high-level badges, is much stronger than Barnes!
What's more, although Wang Feng's overall evaluation is similar to that of Barnes, the situation is completely different.
To put it simply, Barnes is like a comprehensive talent with comprehensive development of moral, intellectual, physical, artistic and labor skills. Although he has a certain foundation in all aspects, there is no absolutely outstanding feature or advantage in any one aspect.
Wang Feng is a seriously partial player. Some of his abilities are almost at the top level in the league, such as three-pointers, mid-range, outside defense, etc., but some abilities are seriously unsatisfactory, such as dribbling, breakthrough with the ball, passing assists, etc.
Rebounding and interior defense.
It is difficult to determine which of the two development directions is stronger, but with an overall ability value of only 80, Wang Feng, who has outstanding characteristics, can easily defeat Barnes, who is weak in all kinds of martial arts.
On April 18, in the second game of the series, Barnes, who was unwilling to lose to Wang Feng, once again challenged the opponent. The result was even worse this time. He made 1 of 11 shots and only scored 5 points on free throws.
Before the first half of the game was over, Carlisle couldn't help but the veins on his forehead popped out, and he pinned Barnes, who was beaten like a piece of shit, to the bench.
Unfortunately, the Mavericks' problem cannot be solved by replacing Barnes. The gap between the two sides' lineups is too large, and no matter how they adjust the lineup or change tactics, it will not help.
At 107:78, the Mavericks lost again by 29 points.
The two games lost a total of 62 points, allowing the entire league to see how powerful this Warriors team really is.
The Mavericks, who returned home with two defeats, did not experience any miracles.
121:94.
99:87.
In four games, with a clean 4:0 score, the Warriors easily eliminated the Dallas Mavericks and entered the second round.
It is worth mentioning that in the last two games, Barnes seemed to have given up.
Hitting 4 out of 15 once and 1 out of 11 once seemed to make him completely realize that he was no match for Wang Feng and that he had no way to deal with Wang Feng's defense.
After understanding this, Barnes no longer insisted on single-handedly challenging Wang Feng, but began to integrate into the teamwork, using teammates' pick-and-rolls to form mismatched single-handedly, avoiding Wang Feng's defense.
This behavior is undoubtedly correct, and it also made his performance in the next two games much better. In the third game, he scored 18 points on 7-for-16 shooting, and in the fourth game, he scored 26 points with a 58% shooting rate.
It's just that Barnes, who finally played to a certain standard, didn't feel the slightest joy in his heart, not only because the Mavericks were swept by the Warriors, but also because of his complete failure in the duel with Wang Feng.
In the 4-game series, Wang Feng averaged 22 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game, shooting 47% from the field. His scoring was second only to Curry, who averaged 27 points per game. He was the Warriors' second-leading scorer, better than Thompson's per game.
18.4 points is higher.
When the whistle sounded at the end of the fourth game, Barnes looked at Wang Feng, who looked calm and acted very calmly, and couldn't help clenching his fists.
At this moment, Barnes vaguely felt that the gap between him and Wang Feng would probably grow wider in the future.
…
After waiting for a few days, the Warriors, who were the first to enter the second round, finally had results for all the first-round playoff games.
The four teams in the Eastern Conference that entered the second round are the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Rams and Miami Heat, all of which are teams with records in the top half.
As for the four teams in the top half of the Western Conference, one of them capsized in the gutter.
The Clippers, ranked fourth in the Western Conference, faced the Trail Blazers, fifth in the Western Conference, in the first round.
The Clippers are obviously better than the Trail Blazers in terms of starting strength and lineup depth on paper. This can be seen from the regular season records of the two teams.
The Clippers won 53 games in the regular season, while the Trail Blazers only won 44 games. The win gap between the two sides was close to 10 games.
But under such circumstances, the two teams met in the first round, and the Trail Blazers eliminated the stronger Clippers 4:2.
I have to admit that Paul is really bad. He is obviously one of the top point guards, but he always misses the Western Conference Finals. It was not until he later joined the Rockets to partner with Harden that he finally broke the curse.
And then Paul, who has entered the twilight of his career, fought all the way to the finals with the Suns. He was only one shot away from winning the first championship of his career and greatly improved his historical status. However, he met the peak Antetokounmpo.
, what a tragedy.
Paul's Clippers failed to advance to the second round, and the Warriors' opponent in the second round became the Portland Trail Blazers.
This is completely consistent with another time and space.
The core player of the Trail Blazers is Damian Lillard, a point guard with extremely strong offensive ability. His partnership with CJ McCollum can be regarded as the best backcourt in the league second only to Curry Thompson and the Splash Brothers.
Double guns.
The matchup between the Warriors and Trail Blazers is basically a battle between these two backcourt pairs.
…
In fact, Lillard and McCollum have a bit of a poor version of Curry and Thompson in terms of playing style and other aspects. They are really very similar.
Before the start of the Portland Trail Blazers' regular season, Aldridge, the team's eldest brother, was tempted by the Spurs and chose to leave the team. Lillard, who took up the team's offensive banner, had a rapid increase in personal data, averaging 25.1 points per game in the regular season.
6.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists, and CJ McCollum also rose to prominence, averaging 20 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, becoming Lillard's most capable assistant.
The reason why the Trail Blazers were able to eliminate the Clippers was due to the double-gun performance of the two backcourts.
In the first round of the six-game series, Lillard averaged 22 points per game and McCollum averaged 19.7 points per game. Together, they defeated Paul, who averaged 23.8 points and 7.3 assists per game.