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The Cavaliers, who swept the Wizards 4-0, took the lead in the second round, and then several other matchups in the league also decided their outcomes one after the other. In the East, the Bulls defeated the Knicks 4-1, the Celtics beat the Raptors 4-2, and the Heat also triumphed over the Hawks 4-2.
The matchups for the four teams advancing to the second round were announced: Cavaliers vs Heat, and Bulls vs Celtics.
Cleveland Cavaliers fans are thrilled.
Isn't the fact that the Cavaliers could face the Heat in the second round a great opportunity to take revenge on James? Whether in the regular season or the playoffs, the Heat are clearly struggling. James' individual performance is flawless, but Howard and Wade have noticeable ups and downs, and there's no way to compare them to the Cavaliers, who are full of morale and flying all the way.
Not to mention the Cavaliers' fans, even the general public believes that the Cavaliers should be able to easily overpower the Heat, and James fears falling again before Wang Chong.
The game between the Bulls and the Celtics is much harder to predict. Although the Bulls have an absolute advantage in the regular season, the opponent is the Celtics led by Durant and Rondo. Moreover, the Green Army also has the twin towers of Millsap and Jefferson, their lineup is no slouch, and the two teams will definitely have a fierce battle.
In the West, the Clippers and the Spurs defeated their first-round opponents and successfully advanced to the second round. However, the other two teams in the upper half of the division crashed out, with the Thunder losing to the Pelicans 3-4 and being eliminated in the first round.
The competition between the champions ended with Davis, the "brow brother," defeating Griffin.
In terms of athleticism, Griffin is indeed stronger than the "Bushy Eyebrows" player. His explosive rebounding and explosiveness rank among the best in the league.
It's a pity that Griffin's playing style depends too much on his body, and as injuries accumulate and his peak rebounding and explosiveness fade, his dominance diminishes considerably. Even though he's a very skilled forward who can even attack with the ball, he's ultimately rich in moves but not truly versatile.
As a player, even at his peak, Griffin is only an All-Star caliber player with second-team honors and averages of around 20 + 8 points per game.
But Brother Thick Eyebrows is different. Although his physique is fragile, severely affecting his development, Thick Eyebrows is a player who can be selected for the double-team year after year, and at his peak, he averages 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 assists per game, along with being a superstar with 1.5 steals and 2.6 blocks.
One thing to mention is that with his defensive ability, it's truly a bit disrespectful that Thick Eyebrows has never won the DPOY (Defensive Player of the Year) award, a title comparable to Duncan's career, which he never won either.
There's no need to compare anything else—just the difference in physical talent is enough to show a huge gap between the Thick Eyebrows and the White Demon Beasts in the sky and on the ground.
It's hard to say, but if these two had been in the same draft, there would have been no suspense about the identity of the number one pick—it would just have been Anthony Davis.
In the Thunder vs Pelicans series, Davis averaged 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game, shooting 54%, completely dominating both ends of the game.
On the other hand, Griffin's 18 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game are actually solid when considered alone, though his scoring is slightly lower. He still contributes 5.4 assists, making him definitely a valuable second option for his team.
However, due to the direct matchup between the two on the court, the gap is extremely obvious.
The Thunder was defeated by the Pelicans and eliminated in the first round. Griffin, who was suppressed by the Brow Brother, didn't get much criticism because there are still masters on the Thunder's team.
The Thunder's main anchor, Russell Westbrook, was out of the spotlight during this series, averaging 23 shots per game in seven games, making 9 of 9 from the field, scoring 21 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 6.8 assists.
These stats contrast with his near 28+8+8 averages during the regular season.
But nobody can be blamed for this, as Westbrook's opponent in this series was the Pelicans' starting point guard, Jrue Holiday. At this time, his reputation wasn't very loud, but in the future, he would become a top defender, having been selected to the All-Defensive team six times, three times to the first team, and three times to the second team, in addition to All-Star level stats of approximately 20 + 5 + 7 per game. His strength is evident.
At this moment, Jrue Holiday may not yet have reached the level of strength that he would in a few years, but his defensive ability was already on par with being selected for the best defense in the future, and he was definitely not someone Westbrook could handle at will.
Moreover, the Pelicans' interior was guarded by the god Davis. Even if Westbrook could overpower Holiday with his size advantage, he still couldn't get past those Thick Eyebrows.
Generally speaking, if other defenders find that the opponent's defense is so impenetrable, they would immediately change their strategy and use other tactics to attack and score.
But Westbrook, on the one hand, is stubborn and feels that it's only Jrue. Isn't it easy for Holiday to handle him? On the other hand, his technical style is relatively simple. During this period, he occasionally forced mid-range shots that weren't very good. His primary way of scoring is to drive to the basket.
As a result, Westbrook was contained over the course of seven games, and the Thunder lost to the Pelicans, feeling aggrieved.
The final matchup in the second round, the Trail Blazers vs Mavericks, didn't have much to say.
The Lillard + Aldridge Trail Blazers are indeed good, but their performance is not stable enough, especially Aldridge, who was suppressed by 36-year-old Nowitzki, and couldn't do much about it.
Nowitzki, the only champion and MVP of his career, was taken by Wang Chong because he was the only one with a championship and MVP title, but he couldn't escape the "soft egg" title, which was actually a bit bitter.
But Aldridge is softer than a soft egg—what else can be said?
The second-round matchups in the West are Clippers vs Mavericks and Spurs vs Pelicans.
The second round of the Eastern and Western competitions will begin in early May.
Before the start of the second round, as in previous years, the league announced the results of the All-NBA Team and the Defensive Team of the season.
The All-NBA team basically hasn't changed much compared to last season, with Curry and Harden still dominating the guard positions, and Wang Chong and James in the forward spots. The only change is that Durant, one of the three players who has been consistently tied with Wang Chong and James for years, dropped off the list, and Anthony, who averaged 28 + 11 + 2 per game, was selected instead.
In fact, Durant's average stats per game aren't bad, averaging 30+8+4 per game, and the Celtics' record is also better than that of the Pelicans.
But the problem is that Durant missed a few more games this season, and in reality, whether it's Wang Chong, James, or Durant, they all play as small forwards.
The rise of Brow Brother Davis simply fills this vacancy. Although Thick Eyebrows is playing as a forward-center, not a traditional center, his style of play is that of a serious interior player, which is completely different from Wang Chong, James, Durant, and other small forward-style players.
Based on this alone, it's hard for Durant to surpass Thick Eyebrows in the All-NBA selections.
But in reality, there is one thing to say—whether in terms of personal stats or team records, the difference between James and Durant isn't very big, and one could say that it's almost interchangeable between the two, but basically, the gap isn't particularly large, and it's not easy for Durant to take a spot away from James, after all, there's still the mysterious off-court assistance.
Along with Durant, the second team selections were Westbrook, Chris Paul, Pau Gasol, and Marc Gasol. It's extremely rare that both Gasol brothers were selected for the second team, but Wang Chong isn't surprised, because originally, this season, it should have been Big Gasol selected for the second team and Little Gasol for the first team.
But here, because Gasol Jr. on the Bulls had Curry already selected for some time, and Gasol Jr.'s stats were only 18 + 8, which weren't too outstanding, it caused a lot of comments about him and his brother, Paul Gasol, also being named to the second team.
Worth mentioning, Pablo Gasol averaged 18.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 3 assists per game during the regular season this year, which is almost the same as Marc Gasol, and is worthy of being a pair of brothers.
The five players on the best team are: Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Blake Griffin, and DeMarcus Cousins.
As a result, it's extremely rare that both the Bulls and the Cavaliers had three players selected to the All-Star Team.
For the Cavaliers, Wang Chong was in the first spot, Gasol in the second, and Irving in the third.
For the Bulls, Curry was first, Gasol Jr. second, and Butler third.
It's truly deserving of being the only two teams in the league that reached 60+ wins in the regular season, their dominance is truly complete.
The selections for the Defensive Team are as follows.
First defense: Chris Paul, Tony Allen, Kawhi Leonard, Wang Chong, DeAndre Jordan.
Second defense: John Wall, Jimmy Butler, Antonio Davis, Tim Duncan, Rudy Gobert.
The San Antonio Spurs, who have the second-best record in the West, didn't get any players in the best team, but fortunately, they made up for it in the defensive lineup.
Three members of the team were named to the All-Defensive team: Leonard in the first spot, Duncan and Gobert in the second, fully showcasing the Spurs' defensive toughness.
Whether in the All-NBA team or the defensive lineup, some are satisfied and others are displeased.
Howard, for instance, is upset again.
In his last season with the Lakers, he lost his temper because he didn't make the All-Star team due to lack of results.
In his first season with the Heat, Howard returned to the All-Star team as he wished.
Unexpectedly, this is only the Heat's second season, and he will repeat the same mistake.
However, this time Howard can't blame anyone, as he missed many games due to injury, and his performance in the game was average, even below Gasol's.
Among the interior players selected for the All-NBA team, Gasol and Pau were the worst in stats. The two interior players of the three teams, Cousins, averaged 24 points and 12.7 rebounds per game during the regular season, and forward Griffin averaged 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists per game.
After the All-NBA and Defensive Team selections were announced, the second round of the competition also began. During the second round, the league would also announce other season awards like Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, Best Coach, and Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), as well as the MVP.
But that's all for later, and fans immediately focused on the upcoming second round. After all, there's a huge drama in the second round of the playoffs.
Cavaliers vs Heat, Cleveland's revenge battle, the umpteenth duel between Wang Chong and James, all kinds of tricks have made the game full of expectations. Although the final outcome of this round of the series is generally believed by most fans to favor the Cavaliers, with many thinking the Cavaliers should easily defeat the Heat and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Basketball commentators from TV networks like ESPN and TNT have given a win probability rate of 8:2 for the two teams, with the Heat having only a 20% chance of winning the series. This 20% takes into account the possibility of the Cavaliers facing injury problems.
It's time for a wave of shadowy areas in the hearts of Heat fans.
Anyway, on May 3, the opening game of the second round of the playoffs took place as scheduled.
At the Cavaliers' home court, local fans welcomed the first round of the playoffs with the Heat.
Cavaliers starting lineup: Irving, Wiggins, Wang Chong, Pau Gasol, Whiteside.
Heat starting lineup: Chalmers, Wade, James, Boozer, Howard.
At the tip-off, the young and energetic Whiteside beat Howard to win the ball.
After Irving dribbled the ball past half-court, he passed to Wang Chong, who received the ball, kept moving, and took a shot directly from beyond the three-point line.
James stepped up to block the interference as soon as possible, but he couldn't stop Wang Chong's shot.
"Shh——!"
The basketball netted the hoop, and less than 10 seconds after the game started, Wang Chong gave the Heat a disadvantage with a three-pointer.
The game continued in the way most fans expected.
The Heat today simply doesn't have the strength to compete with the Cavaliers, their situation is really poor. Although Wade and Howard are available, their injuries aren't entirely healed, and the Cavaliers' defenders are not easy to deal with.
Wade was guarded by Wiggins throughout the process, and if Wade were in his prime, a rookie Wiggins wouldn't be enough to handle him.
But now, Wade, who stands at 6'8" (2.03 meters), is taller than him, faster than him, and healthier than him, full of talent, and can't help but feel a strong sense of helplessness in his heart.
End of this chapter
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