On May 5, the conference semifinals between the Celtics and Wizards kicked off at the MCI Center.
Before the game, many fans were worried about whether the Wizards, who had rested for 9 days, would affect their game state because of the long rest time.
Facts have proved that the fans' concerns are not unreasonable.
Because on this night, Jordan, Hamilton, and Arenas only hit two of their first ten shots combined.
However, at the end of the first quarter, facing the Wizards who felt so bad, the Celtics trailed 17-21.
Under Artest's guard, Pierce, who could always hit the court in various postures, failed to hit any of his first seven shots in the first quarter.
As for the absolute core of this Celtics team, the fat and dark-skinned Bird "Snail Shell" uses his strength to interpret what is meant by Bird's template, and the "Dark Supreme Skin" cannot control it.
In the playoffs, when Jordan stopped joking and decided to have a serious duel with Walker on the court, Boss Joe suddenly discovered that defending "Snail Shell" didn't require him to put in much effort at all!
Anyway, he himself will be strong.
In the playoffs, it's nice to see Gasol no longer needing to be drained by Boss Joe like he did in the regular season.
Facing the Celtics, who had neither a big center nor a top rebounder, Gasol grabbed 14 rebounds in the first half alone this night.
In addition, on the sidelines, Wang Shuo also found the reason for the Celtics' low morale through subtle observation.
Although there is no evidence, in Wang Shuo's opinion, this Celtic team is 100% in internal strife.
On the court, the Green Army players, led by Kenny Anderson, obviously had problems with Pierce and Walker, the Green Army's twin stars.
Since entering the playoffs, Walker and Pierce have combined for more than 15 three-pointers a night...
To be honest, if other Green Army players have no objection to this, in Wang Shuo's opinion, it only shows that the tempers of other Celtic players are not generally good.
Yes, in a decade or so, in the NBA, there will be a pair of brothers called "Splash" who can throw as well as Pierce and Walker at this moment.
But the problem is...
The people "Golden State LaVine" and "Golden State Irving" are accurate!
After the first round of the playoffs, if Wang Shuo read the technical statistics correctly tonight, Walker and Pierce's combined three-point shooting percentage was not even 30%!
That's it, who gave you two brothers the confidence to jointly throw 15 three-pointers from the outside in a game?
Liang Jingru?
In fact, many people will have certain misunderstandings about Walker and Pierce in the future.
That is because the former is obsessed with three-pointers and mistakenly thinks that his athletic ability is not good enough.
Because of the latter's later size, he would be considered to have no breakthrough ability.
In fact, at this time in 2002, Pierce and Walker's impact ability was quite strong.
In the regular season, the two brothers combined to attack the basket more than 10 times per game.
Moreover, both of these goods have considerable finishing efficiency at the basket.
In Wang Shuo's view, if the two brothers can slightly optimize their playing style and increase the proportion of "sudden shots combined with mid-shots", then they will definitely be a great combination.
In addition, Jimmy O'Brien, the head coach of this Celtics team, was obviously born 20 years too early.
In the second half of the game, when Wang Shuo saw that the Celtics took the initiative to remove Tony Batty, the only player in the team who had the ability to protect the rim, and switched to a deadly lineup composed of Eric Williams, Walker, Pierce, Delk, and Anderson. Five hours...
For a moment, Wang Shuo really thought that he was facing an NBA team from the next twenty years tonight.
You may not believe it, but in this Celtics lineup, the tallest player on the court is Walker, who is 203 centimeters tall.
Moreover, what is braver than the future Warriors is the two small guards in the Celtics lineup...
The height is only "183" centimeters.
MCI Center, the Spanish fans who came all the way from Barcelona to Washington tonight to support Gasol are blessed.
Because Gasol, with his hands in his pockets tonight, has no idea what his opponent is.
On the court, the perimeter players of the Wizards and Celtics are frequently assisting for their own reasons.
In the three-second zone, Gasol, who scored a full 20 points tonight just by relying on the second offense, just wanted to thank nature every time he grabbed a rebound.
Oh, look at this gift from nature!
In the end, 78 to 90, with Gasol's dominant performance of 36 points and 24 rebounds that night, the Wizards successfully won the first game of their conference semifinals against the Celtics.
On May 8, the G2 game between the two teams continued at the MCI Center.
In this game, Walker and Pierce fully learned the lessons from the previous game.
This pair of "big smarts" who believed that the Celtics failed to win the last game because they didn't throw enough from the outside shocked the world again in the G2 game.
In the whole game, the two brothers, who jointly fired 22 times from beyond the three-point line, successfully drove other Green Army players on the field crazy, and also became the number one contributor to the Wizards' victory this night.
Compared with the G1 game, the Wizards' outside touch improved somewhat in this game.
Unfortunately, due to the excellent condition of his teammates, Gasol, who only played 25 minutes in this game, only scored 18 points and 17 rebounds.
It is worth mentioning that in this game, Joe Johnson, the rookie selected by the Celtics this year, also had a fierce argument with Pierce and Walker on the court.
All right.
Now Wang Shuo finally understands why the Celtics will trade away Joe Johnson next season.
Because it is obvious that it is impossible for normal people to integrate into this extremely happy Celtics.
On May 10, just as Wang Shuo and his team arrived in Boston to prepare for the G3 game between the team and the Celtics tomorrow night, the NBA officially announced the allocation of major awards for the 2001/02 regular season.
Jordan undoubtedly won the regular season MVP this season.
At the same time, Jordan, who won the regular season MVP at the age of 39, also successfully created a new NBA record for the oldest regular season MVP.
In Boston, during an interview, Jordan, who one second was telling reporters that he was completely unprepared to win the regular season MVP, took out the script he had written in advance and made a eloquent statement in the next second. A speech about success.
Of course, this regular season MVP will not have any impact on Jordan's historical status.
After all, as the first man in NBA history, Jordan's historical status has no room for improvement.
But, for those who want to surpass Jordan, or even compare themselves to Jordan...
The impact is only a little bit as big as 100 million points.
In addition to Jordan, Wang Shuo, who won the NBA Coach of the Season award on the 10th, also set multiple records in one fell swoop:
The youngest and best coach in NBA history.
The first foreign coach in NBA history to win this honor.
The first unanimously voted best head coach in NBA history.
As the saying goes, reality does not require logic, but award selection does.
Because we need to find a suitable reason for the 39-year-old Jordan to still have a season triple-double on the NBA stage, and for the Wizards to "overnight" go from last place to a championship team...
Therefore, this season, Wang Shuo, who led the Wizards to an all-out victory, naturally received the first vote from all the judges when they selected the best coach.
No idea.
The judges wanted to give their first vote to someone else.
But why, in addition to his absolute strength on the court, Wang Shuo also received off-court weight from Stern?
This season, in Stern's view, the most important reason why the NBA has been able to shake off its decline and bottom out is because the Wizards have brought back the suspense of the championship.
There was also the slam dunk contest that was saved by Wang Shuo's clever idea.
In addition, Stern is determined to support young coaches like Wang Shuo who like to play offense. Therefore, this time, Wang Shuo is awarded the best head coach with unanimous votes, and there are also rewards and recognition for his outstanding contributions to the NBA.
In Boston, when they learned that Wang Shuo was unanimously elected as the best head coach this season, everyone from D'Antoni to Brown and Malone felt that they had benefited from Wang Shuo's honor.
After all, the title of Best Head Coach Assistant by all votes is a very valuable stepping stone when interviewing a head coach in the future.
Can......
Forget it about D'Antoni and Malone.
But how does honest Mike Brown know...
Before Wang Shuo traveled through time, he was the first unanimously voted best head coach in NBA history.
In the future, the reason why Brown can become the first unanimously voted best coach is because he led the Sacramento Kings to break the 16-year curse of bad performance.
In the NBA, it is difficult to win the best head coach award if you have been the head coach of a strong team.
Because in the eyes of colleagues, wearing a dog crown does not mean that you have strong coaching ability.
Wang Shuo likes the feeling of winning awards, and he also likes the feeling of constantly making history.
So if there is an opportunity in the future, he will definitely start his "Nomad Dynasty", lead different teams, form different lineups, and win the championship!
In Boston, at Wang Shuo's press conference for winning the award, a reporter asked him what he thought of being voted the best coach in the NBA.
In response, Wang Shuo pondered for two seconds before replying: "Well deserved."
Reporter: Are you really not humble at all?
Then, a reporter asked him the secret of the Wizards' success this season.
Wang Shuo deliberately let it slip and said, "This is a secret. I will reveal the answer at the right time."
Finally, the reporters brought the topic back to this year's playoffs and asked Wang Shuo how confident he was to lead the Wizards to the finals.
Wang Shuo paused and said, "Unfortunately, you have to ask God this question, but I think you are lucky."
Reporter: What do you mean?
Wang Shuo added: "Because at this moment, God is sitting in front of you."
reporter:"......"
After the press conference, Wang Shuo's interview quickly became a hot topic among fans.
However, Washington Wizards fans retorted to Wang Shuo: "Wang Shuo is just talking nonsense!
Because in Washington, God can only be ranked second, He is first! "
Washington fans, who have always been aggrieved, can be said to be feeling proud this season under the leadership of Wang Shuo.
Washington fans love Wang Shuo's fearless attitude and his fearless attitude, which he dares to fight against anyone he catches.
Of course, the main reason is because the Wizards have a good record this season. As Wizards fans, everyone has enough confidence to speak.
On the 10th, Wang Shuo's limelight even overshadowed Boss Qiao, who in the eyes of reporters was not as good as Wang Shuo because his speech was too long.
As expected by Wang Shuo, after Jordan won the regular season MVP and he was elected as the best head coach with unanimous votes, Stern actually gave the best defensive player to Ben Wallace.
According to "conscience", although Ben has performed well this season, whether it is the team's defensive efficiency or his personal defensive efficiency on the field, it is "obvious" that Artest is the one who deserves the best defensive player.
But this is the NBA under Stern.
It is impossible to give you all the benefits.
After all, on the 10th, in addition to Jordan and Wang Shuo, Gasol also won this season's Rookie of the Year for the Wizards.
In addition, the Sixth Sixth Player of the Year and Most Improved Player of the 2001/02 seasons were won by Collis Williams and O'Neal respectively.
The results of the 2001/02 season's best team and best defensive team selection are as follows:
All-NBA first team: O'Neal, Duncan, Jordan, Kobe, Kidd.
All-NBA second team: Ben, Garnett, Webber, McGrady, Iverson.
All-NBA Third Team: Gasol, Nowitzki, Carter, Payton, Nash.
All-Defensive First Team: Ben, Duncan, Artest, Kidd, Payton.
All-Defensive Second Team: Mutombo, Garnett, Jackson, Christie, Kobe.
The award selection results are out, some are happy and some are sad.
Artest, who failed to win the Best Defensive Player, was successfully shortlisted for the All-Defensive First Team and squeezed out Garnett for the All-Defensive First Team forward spot.
Thanks to the Wizards' previous promotion that focused more on the team, and the league's intention to cooperate with the Wizards in order to dilute people's excessive praise of Jordan, Jackson was also successfully shortlisted for the second team of the All-Defensive Team.
And Gasol, who has become the light of Iberia, has become the biggest winner among the 01-level rookies. With his outstanding performance against the 76ers, he squeezed out Mutombo and became Jordan's "deputy". The brightest star.
As for the only player among the four major shooting guards who fell to the third team...
Anyway, at this time, whoever is "special" is embarrassed.
On the 11th, the Wizards, who had won a lot in the awards competition, scored another victory at the North Shore Garden Arena.
On the court, the award-winning Wizards players were all firing on all cylinders, trying to prove to people that they deserved the honors they received.
And the Wizards players who didn't win any awards were even more desperate.
For example, Hamilton has been in C this season and has never paddled.
In the end, the score of this G3 battle was 113 to 91.
After losing three games in a row, the Celtics, who were trailing 0-3, were basically eliminated.
Because in the NBA, there has never been a precedent for a comeback from a 0-3 deficit.
Even before Wang Shuo traveled through time...
The Celtics, who also have a pair of forward-guard happy twins, also failed to make a comeback.
On the 13th, the powerful Wizards did not give the Celtics any chance. At the end of the first quarter, they led 38 to 15, which even made the fans at the North Shore Garden Arena choose to leave the stadium early.
As the game progressed, the Celtic players became increasingly frustrated and only wanted to end the game quickly.
After a long period of hot chicken, 119 to 74.
The Wizards, who won 4 consecutive games in the conference semifinals, successfully advanced to this year's Eastern Conference Finals!
In Washington, the increasingly popular local media complained: If the Wizards continue to play like this, the ticket packages everyone bought this year will not be cost-effective at all! (NBA packages generally include the regular season and playoffs)
Look at the Nets next door. Every round of the series is played, so that ticket package is worth it!
In New Jersey, the Nets, who are preparing for a battle with the Pistons, just want to say "haha" to the local media in Washington at this moment.
Because if possible, do you think the Nets are willing to be so entangled in every series?
On the 14th, after leading the team back to Washington, I watched the Nets draw 2-2 with the Pistons in the first four games of the series...
After one comment, Wang Shuo really wanted to complain about Byron Scott.
How on earth did this guy manage to lead this Nets team, which is so strong on paper, to fight against these rookies in the Eastern Conference?
After watching the video, Wang Shuo realized.
Good guy...
Larry Brown just used Iverson to beat him brainlessly...
Why did Scott dare to use Kidd as Iverson?
In Wang Shuo's previous life, he could always hear many people bragging about how great Kidd's physical fitness was, how suitable he was for performing individual singles on the court, and how suitable he was for being the team's scoring core.
However......
This group of people has really never watched Kidd's games at his peak.
Yes, Kidd's physical fitness is indeed outstanding.
But have you ever considered the fact that Kidd's highest scoring average in the playoffs during his career was just over 20 points per game?
Yes, Kidd can easily force the opposing defender to play.
But, did you know that Kidd's career finishing rate at the basket is close to 50%?
Oh, by the way, did you know that the two "183" players, Iverson and Paul, both have a higher finishing rate at the basket than Kidd?
Also, did you know that Kidd's career shooting percentage is only 40%, and his career playoff shooting percentage is only 39.1%?
No, I haven’t watched Kidd’s games and don’t even know Kidd’s strengths and weaknesses. How dare these people say that Kidd is suitable as a scoring core?
I'm not going to brag about it, but Kidd's touch is "on par" with Rubio's. Sometimes even if you let him go for an open layup, he dares to throw it to you.
God is fair.
While giving Kidd a top-notch body and a perfect brain, it also ruthlessly deprived him of various touches in offense.
In Wang Shuo's view, Scott's mindless offensive tactics based on Kidd's beating can only be described as stupid.
Because of Jason Kidd, even if he doesn't burst, he can still connect the team on the court and organize the team's offense.
On this Nets team, the overall golf IQ of the players on the team is very high.
If Wang Shuo were to coach him, he would definitely arrange for the Nets to play Princeton and maximize Kidd's role as a field commander.
However, no matter how much Wang Shuo wants to complain about Scott in his heart, the more stupid this guy is, the better it is for the Wizards.
Because now, the Wizards, who are the first to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, can wait for the Nets and Pistons to finish each other, then wait for work and win the tickets to the Finals in one go!
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