rpbooks Chapter 448 Advancing to the Semifinals
Chapter 448 Advancing to the Semifinals
Chapter 448 Advancing to the Semifinals
Two nights later, the series between the Warriors and the Thunder and the Cavaliers and Pacers were all tied 1-1.Most importantly, the Lakers ravaged the Rockets with 37 points, easily won the fourth game of the first-round series at home, and advanced to the second round without any risk.
The Rockets players returned to Houston with the report card of the failure of the tiebreaker to participate in the final season summary conference.Harden was very silent at the press conference. He just bluntly said that this season was a failure, and he will continue to work hard next season to strive for a better performance. He did not make any more conclusions.
Howard also attended the season summary conference, answering all kinds of aggressive questions from reporters.He was very depressed, but he couldn't express it at all.
D'Angelo Russell did not participate in this summary meeting. After returning to Houston, he immediately started to prepare for training and continue to improve himself.His talent is not as good as Xu Tian's, and he may not be able to reach the MVP level in his entire career, but he is not willing to be ordinary.Such goals support him and make him willing to devote himself to training.
Jason Terry was originally full of confidence in the Rockets, but now it is this ending, feeling disheartened.Then he announced his upcoming retirement on his personal Twitter, putting an end to his career.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and star Dirk Nowitzki tweeted their best wishes for Jason Terry and welcomed him back to Dallas.This is something that is part of the human relationship, and it is normal.
After the Spurs determined their opponents in the second round, all players ended their idleness and took the team plane to Los Angeles to prepare for the upcoming Western Conference semifinals in advance.Since the game between the Warriors and the Thunder has been played a few days earlier, the schedule is relatively dense, and the Lakers are only given one day to rest.
The Lakers ranked second in the Western Conference in the regular season, with home court advantage, and were able to save time and effort. On the second day of eliminating the Rockets, they then prepared for the series against the Spurs.The overall strength of the Spurs, especially the inside strength is much stronger than that of the Rockets, which is extremely difficult to deal with.
Popovich has not played against the Lakers in the playoffs for many years, and his understanding of this team is not as deep as that of the Thunder, but he knows very well that the focus is still on how to target Xu Tian.They have Kawhi Leonard on the front line, enough to serve as the main defense task, and how to liberate Aldridge and Duncan's dominance in the interior is exactly what he needs to deal with.
Magic Johnson was very impressed with Xu Tian's performance in leading the team. He hosted a banquet for all Lakers players and coaching staff in Beverly Hills the day before the game, expecting them to perform better in the Western Conference semifinals.
Xu Tian strictly controlled his diet, and he just attended normally without making any promises.He doesn't like to talk trash recently, and is more used to responding to fans with performance.
Scott had already changed his view of Xu Tian. After getting drunk, he couldn't stop praising Xu Tian, saying that he had never coached such an all-round and hard-working player, and he had a great chance to lead the team to compete for the championship this season.
ESPN has prepared two promotional videos in advance, one is the Rockets vs. Spurs, and the other is the Lakers vs. Spurs. When the results of the series between the Lakers and the Rockets come out, the second promotional video will be released directly to prepare for the upcoming match between the second and third places. The Western Conference semifinals are warming up.
Various media once again made advance predictions for this round of the series. A total of 4 experts participated. Ten experts believed that the Lakers would advance to the Western Conference Finals, and another ten experts believed that the Spurs would advance to the Western Conference Finals.As for the prediction of the number of games in the series, most of them think that they will play seven games. Only one expert believes that the Spurs will eliminate the Lakers with a big score of 2-[-].
Since the Spurs selected Duncan, they have been able to make the playoffs every season. They have a lot of experience and have a lot of experience in preparing for the game.Even after resting for a week, they still didn't feel any discomfort. After just two joint training sessions, they regained their previous tacit understanding and were ready to deal with the fierce fighting in the second round.
Spike Lee's personal documentary "Flying to the Sky" created by Xu Tian was broadcast on TNT's network platform after the first round of the playoffs. .
After the dinner, George was responsible for driving Xu Tian back to Walnut City, during which the two talked about something about the Western Conference semifinals.
George drove slowly in the traffic jam, and took the opportunity to ask Xu Tiandao, who was sitting in the co-pilot, "Xu, who do you mainly defend in the Western Conference Semifinals?"
Xu Tian thought about this question and said: "It should be Tony Parker. He has been in good form in recent years and has a strong strength."
"Who should Danny Green be handed over to defend?" George continued to ask while driving.
"TJ Warren." Xu Tian also had an answer in his heart.
Danny Green is good at running, and he will run frequently without the ball. It is difficult for Xu Tian and George to chase him for a long time, so they can only be handed over to Warren.
After driving out of the traffic jam, George asked, "Xu, what chance do you think we have of beating the Spurs? I mean, they have Tim Duncan, they have Tony Parker, they have Manu Ginobili, Marcus Aldridge, Kawhi Leonard at the Defensive Player of the Year level, and more importantly, they have Popovich as the head coach. This kind of team is really difficult to deal with."
Xu Tian heard some lack of confidence in George's words, and said, "It's okay! The Spurs are very strong, but we are not weak, otherwise we would not be able to reach the second place in the Western Conference, don't you think?"
George looked at the night scene of Los Angeles when the lights first came on, and his mentality of worrying about gains and losses disappeared.He didn't know what kind of magical power Xu Tian possessed, but he always believed him unconsciously.
Xu Tian didn't know the feeling he brought to his teammates. Feeling the cool night breeze in Los Angeles, he put the grievances with the Rockets behind him and concentrated on thinking about the game against the Spurs.
Kobe has never been afraid of the Spurs, but he was unable to play this time, so he could only analyze the video carefully and try to provide valuable suggestions to Xu Tian and the Lakers.
After Mark Madsen returned to his home, he didn't take a rest immediately. According to Scott's arrangement, he looked through all the classic playoff videos of the Spurs over the years.The playoffs are not as good as the regular season. The opponents need to know the personality characteristics, technical level, shooting habits and past performance of key balls of each player, so that they can be targeted when arranging defense.
After roughly watching a few Spurs game videos, Mark Madsen felt deeply worried, and had to go to the balcony to blow some air to ease his nervousness.
George sent Xu Tian to the door of the small villa in Walnut City. Seeing Alice who was waiting for Xu Tian at the small gate, George said with a smile, "Your fiancée treats you very well, no wonder you don't go for sex."
Xu Tian responded to George with a smile, and told him to pay attention to safety when he went back. Then he returned to his home and immediately started preparing for the Western Conference semifinals that will start tomorrow night.
(End of this chapter)