With the NBA playoffs in full swing, the answers to the major awards of the regular season are also beginning to be revealed one by one.
As always, the NBA official first announced the winner of the Best Sixth Man Award-Antoine Jamison of the Dallas Mavericks.
As early as the summer league, Duan once set his goal for this season to be the best sixth man.
However, due to good luck, many player templates suitable for Du En were selected.
Coupled with Kobe's off-court incident, Duane got more playing time and ball rights with the Lakers.
As a result, Duan has always played in the starting position since entering the NBA, and therefore missed the Best Sixth Man Award.
Of course, the current Du En does not lack a template for the best sixth man.
There are few best sixth men like Harden, who went from the bench to the regular season MVP.
In most cases, being able to become a champion puzzle player is amazing.
Now Du En's sights have undoubtedly been set on pursuing the regular season MVP and finals MVP! But not this season.
…
"Dunn, the Rookie of the Year news is already coming.
If nothing else, when the second round of the playoffs begins, you and LeBron James will share this honor.
If the Los Angeles Lakers are eliminated in the first round, then you have to go to New York for the awards ceremony.
If the Los Angeles Lakers reach the Western Conference semifinals, then LeBron James will come to Los Angeles to join you. "
Before the first round of G2 of the playoffs between the Lakers and Jazz was about to start, Nike executives delivered a message to Dunn about the Rookie of the Year.
In fact, the selection of major awards in the regular season has ended. It is not difficult for a top sponsor in the United States like Nike to know the results of the selection.
NBA officials, however, only suppressed the news for the time being and did not publish it, hoping to catch big fish in the long run.
By constantly releasing news about various awards, fans of teams that have not made it to the playoffs are attracted to continue to pay attention to the playoff games, thus increasing the overall ratings of the league.
By the way, Du En was quite happy to know in advance that he had become the Rookie of the Year.
However, the honor had to be shared with James... In this case, Du En was not very interested.
In the past, Du En only wanted to have sex with others. Unexpectedly, in his rookie season alone, he would be beaten by James...
All I can say is that if you walk too much at night, you will inevitably encounter ghosts.
This year, just like 9 years ago, a double yolk egg was produced.
And what is very surprising is, how can Kidd be so virtuous? Qualified to share Rookie of the Year award with Jordan's successor Grant Hill?
Kidd averaged 11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game, while shooting only 38.5% from the field. Hill averaged 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5 assists per game, while shooting 47.7% from the field.
Although Kidd's record is a little better than Hill's, don't forget that there is another No. 1 pick, Big Dog Robinson, who has more gorgeous statistics and a better record!
The Big Dog led the Bucks, who were last in the league, to ninth in the Eastern Conference, missing out on the playoffs by one game.
Kidd and Hill, who also did not make the playoffs, have far inferior statistics and records to the Big Dogs, but they became famous first.
All I can say is, Business is business!
Anthony, who led the Eastern Conference to the playoffs this year, is also like Big Dog Robinson.
Because he has stains on his body, he is not suitable to be promoted as a facade. Even if his statistics and record are not bad, the best rookie still has nothing to do with him.
Of course, for Nike, it doesn't matter whoever wins Rookie of the Year, Duane, James, or Anthony.
Nike will not push Anthony down just because it promotes James.
Not to mention that the current Nike hands are not that long and do not have the ability to operate like this.
Just talking about the current situation, Nike is still relying on the great god Jordan to control the situation, and Anthony is the future star that Jordan likes.
It can only be said that Jordan never disappoints people when it comes to looking at people.
It is not easy for Kobe to withstand the death eye from Jordan and break into the top ten in history...
…
Closer to home, time soon came to April 21, when the Lakers and Jazz G2 started again at the Staples Center.
Perhaps it was because of the three-day gap, or perhaps because G1 won too easily, but the Lakers showed signs of rest in the first quarter.
Fortunately, the Lakers were only in poor offensive condition and did not fall behind defensively. Therefore, the score in the first quarter was 21 to 19. The Lakers were playing at home and were only 2 points behind the Jazz.
But a super team is a super team.
It was Duane who took the lead with his substitute lineup to break the deadlock at the beginning of the second quarter, helping the Lakers overtake the score and turn defeat into victory.
When Kobe, Malone, and O'Neal returned to the game, the Lakers began to gain momentum and took a 9-point lead after the first half.
Just when the point difference was about to widen completely in the third quarter, the Jazz's sixth man Gordon Jirisek suddenly ushered in a wave of explosion. He scored 7 points in a row with a combination of sudden shots and helped the Jazz stabilize the situation.
However, after Kobe took the initiative to apply to defend Gordon Jirisek, the latter quickly died down.
Just like that, 68 to 76, the Lakers entered the fourth quarter with an 8-point advantage.
Unlike G1, Jackson adjusted O'Neal's playing time tonight and directly started O'Neal and Duan in the fourth quarter.
Sloan also didn't expect the main force of Zen Master's Death Exercise to arrive so early.
Previously, Sloan carefully studied the Lakers' regular season video and felt that Duane needed to take strict precautions at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
In order to prevent Duen from playing pick-and-rolls, switching offenses, pushing the speed, and scoring through simple balls, more strikers were sent to surround Duen, but no center was prepared to defend O'Neal.
It can only be said that while Sloan plotted against Du En, the Zen master also predicted Sloan's thoughts.
With more trump cards in his hand, Master Jackson played O'Neal's king in advance.
Without calling a timeout immediately, Sloan could only let people flank Duane and O'Neal, and let go of other role players.
Sloan can only bet that the Lakers' role players have poor touch and cannot make three-pointers when they are open.
Then relying on O'Neal to slow down the Lakers' retreat, he focused on defensive counterattacks to narrow the score.
However, Fisher, Rick Fox, and Cobra Grant in the Lakers' bench all have baskets.
Duan's breakthrough and distribution allowed them to catch the ball very comfortably, and they could just pick up the ball and throw it.
Relying on 3 of 5 three-pointers from the Lakers role players, Sloan could only call a timeout and replace the main force, adopting a 212 zone defense with Kirilenko in the center to help defend.
Sloan called for a timeout, and the Zen Master naturally did not remain indifferent.
It's actually very simple, just put Kobe and Malone on the court again and that's it.
Of course, before the timeout ended, Master Zen still asked Du En to take the initiative to slow down the pace of the game.
As for matters on the court, Master Chan showed full trust in Du En.
Du En knew that he had been PUAed by Zen Master, but after returning to the field, he did not live up to Zen Master's trust.
Because he held a 10-point lead, Duen took the initiative to lower the pace of the game and played patiently.
Just try every means to break into the mid-range, or ask Malone to come out in the pick-and-roll to attract Kirilenko.
Then pass the ball to the basket, giving Malone and O'Neal a chance to play one-on-one.
If you really can't find it, then when there are about four seconds left in the attack time, pass the ball to Kobe and let Kobe find a solution.
Kobe didn't have any problem with taking over the pot. Instead, he wanted to try the "you four spread out and watch me play in singles" tactic.
However, Dunn did not leave so much time for Kobe to play singles.
The Jazz also had the Lakers' four main players on the court, and Fisher, the only one who was relatively incompetent, also made a three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Therefore, the Jazz do not have that many manpower to double-team Kobe without the ball.
They will only double-team Duen, the ball holder, to force Duen to make mistakes. When Duan passes the ball to Kobe, there are basically only two people double-teaming Kobe, not three, four, or five.
After Kobe receives the ball, it is also because of time issues that he will not waste offensive opportunities. He will throw the ball after he gets it. Whether he can score is another matter.
Just by playing slowly and grinding out positional battles like this, the Lakers have maintained an advantage of about 10 points.
There was no other way. With more than 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Sloan used the dead horse as a living horse doctor and resorted to the shark-cutting tactic in advance.
O'Neal played a lot of time tonight and scored 22 points. After making only one of four free throws, Jackson decisively replaced O'Neal.
Without O'Neal, the Lakers still have Kobe, Duane and Malone. The super team can do whatever they want!
It's also because the Jazz cut the shark and the number of fouls has been accumulated.
Under the instructions of Zen Master, Du En and Kobe worked harder to hit the basket.
Although Duan played the entire fourth quarter, he only scored 2 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists in the fourth quarter.
Although there were many breakthroughs, he did not fight alone, but passed the ball to Kobe, Malone, and O'Neal.
And because Kirilenko was in the middle to help defend and did not defend Duen, Duen actually did not consume much physical energy.
Jazz power forward Tom Gugliotta, seeing Duen break into the paint with the help of Malone's screen, was also worried that Duen would cause a foul, so he did not make much defensive action and only dared to stand still in advance and reach out to block the shot.
Unexpectedly, Du En directly attacked the sky with an eagle and bullied him forward! It seemed like it was going to fly over his head and buckle him!
"How the hell can this still fly?"
"Oh my god? Is Duan going to dunk?"
"Duane, Duane, Duane!"
Many Lakers fans at the scene stood up from their seats excitedly when they saw Duan's actions.
Who would have thought that when faced with the Jazz's defense in Game 2 of the playoffs, Duane would still have the strength to fly into the sky and escape into the fourth quarter, holding his bow like a full moon!
Tom Gugliotta was also frightened by the momentum of Duan's death slam, and subconsciously took a step back, not wanting to become a backdrop.
It happened that Tom Gugliotta was cowardly and stepped on the reasonable collision zone with his back heel, which made Duan's dunk even more reasonable.
I saw that Dun, who was so powerful and unforgiving, really flew towards Tom Gugliotta!
When Tom Gugliotta reached out to block the shot, Duan put his left hand on Tom Gugliotta's shoulder.
This move is both to push Tom Gugliotta down and prevent the defense from affecting his dunk.
At the same time, Du En's whole body was lifted up by a section, and the hair on the top of his head just exceeded the frame.
boom--
After swinging half a circle, he grabbed the ball with his arm and dunked it hard into the basket. When the basketball fell into the net, Tom Gugliotta was also knocked down by Dunn and fell heavily to the floor.
It was also thanks to Duan's score, the big windmill death dunk from the dunk king, that instantly ignited the passion of the fans at the Staples Center.
"MVP, MVP, MVP!"
Even though Kobe and O'Neal were also present, Lakers fans still stood up from their seats and shouted "MVP" to Duane in unison!
No problem, the Rookie Challenge MVP is also the MVP!
O'Neal, who had just taken a break, jumped up from his seat when he heard the Lakers fans cheering for Duane, came to the sidelines and shouted MVP to the audience, and shook the towel vigorously, as if he was enjoying himself with the people.
All I can say is that Du En stepped forward at the right time!
The score difference had just been narrowed to less than 10 points, and the situation still looked a bit dangerous. Duan suddenly stood up and dunked, making the Jazz deafening and confused. This really boosted morale!
As for the referee on the sidelines, although in terms of professionalism, Du En's ball was suspected of being an offensive foul, but the atmosphere on the scene was so high that there was nothing to worry about.
However, a referee also gave a different opinion at this time.
"This is Staples Center and the scale of the penalty is in our hands.
We should let the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers and fans across the United States.
Continue to watch Duan's dunks in slow motion again and again! "
"You're right, I agree with you."
"Then apply for game replay! Let's see how Du En dunked the ball!"
What is a professional referee? This is called professionalism!
What was originally a death dunk that shocked Los Angeles fans suddenly became a classic actual dunk that fans across the United States will talk about in the future.
In the slow-motion replay, the referee did catch it. Tom Gugliotta took the initiative to retreat and stepped into the reasonable collision area before Duen collided.
Therefore, there is no doubt about the penalty this time, and Du En's score is valid!
It was also because the game time, which was originally less than three minutes, suddenly increased by more than ten minutes due to Du En's death dunk.
The Jazz's previous momentum of chasing points came to an abrupt end.
Witnessing Duan's violent and passionate actual dunks time and time again, the mentality of the Jazz players could only be quickly cracked amidst the cheers of the fans in the audience.
Although Sloan did not choose to give up, he gave a long speech on the sidelines and inspired the Jazz players with passion.
But after the timeout, the fighting spirit of the Jazz players on the field was indeed obviously not as good as before.
93 to 105, with Duen's death dunk to boost morale, the Lakers won by 12 points and once again won G2.
Next, the Lakers will immediately pack up their luggage and bring their talents to Salt Lake City!
As the No. 1 team in the Western Conference, it is nothing special to hold on to victory in G1 and G2 at home.
The key still depends on whether we can overcome the harsh conditions on the road and win G3 and G4!
As a rookie, Duan also needs to relearn how to win the playoffs on the road!
(End of chapter)
