Under Li Kaiming's explosion, in his first career playoff trip, he averaged 37.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.6 blocks per game in the first round, once again leading the playoff scoring average.
While the Wizards defeated the Hawks 4-1, the results of several other matchups in the Eastern Conference became increasingly clear.
The Bulls, led by good senior Rose, continued their hot form in the last period of the regular season. As early as the 26th, they swept the eighth-ranked Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference with a big score of 4-1 and successfully advanced to the semifinals.
The showdown between the Eastern Conference's second-place Heat and the Eastern Conference's seventh-place New York Knicks also came to an end on the 27th. The Heat sent Stoudemire home 4-1 and successfully joined the Wizards in the second round.
The Boston Celtics, who chose to take a bye in the last week of the regular season, met the Magic and had an extremely difficult fight. The two sides fought fiercely back and forth for 7 games before the Celtics finally defeated the Magic at home.
I wonder if Doc Rivers regrets now that he chose to give up third place in the Eastern Conference at the end of the regular season.
If you're not lucky enough, you'll get a round trip this year.
Therefore, those who take the initiative to make a fuss about their record in the playoffs and choose their opponents will not end well!
In the Western Conference, there were three matchups in which the higher-ranked teams advanced to the second round. Dallas easily defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 4-2, the Lakers defeated the New Orleans Hornets 4-2, and the Thunder swept them 4-1. Denver Nuggets.
The most surprising matchup was that the Spurs, second in the Western Conference, lost to the Memphis Grizzlies by a score of 2 to 4!
The Spurs were hacked!
After seeing this shocking news, Li Kaiming was stunned for a long time.
The Spurs with Duncan were actually defeated, and they were eliminated in the most humiliating way, defeated by the last place in the Western Conference playoff team!
In the past, the German tank Nowitzki was hacked, and now the number one power forward in history, Tim Duncan, was hacked. It seems that power forwards of this historical level cannot escape the fate of being hacked!
However, this news only surprised Li Kaiming for a while. After all, no matter how badly the Spurs lost, it had nothing to do with him. For him, the most important thing at the moment was to prepare for the second round, because the Wizards took over The next opponent is the super invincible team in the universe, the Heat, the terrifying Big Three team that has won two, three, four, five, six, seven championships!
Li Kaiming had some grudges with this Heat team during the regular season. Now that they meet in the second round, they are even more enemies and are extremely jealous!
To be fair, if as a rookie he can unseat the Big Three, the most unprecedented top three in history, then this season will be worth it even if he doesn't win the championship!
It's not that Li Kaiming hasn't thought about this in his mind, but as long as he thinks about it for a moment, he knows that it is unlikely that this will happen. Unless he can average 50 points per game, the Wizards will definitely be at a disadvantage in front of the Heat.
Besides, even if the Big Three of the Heat can get past it, can they still win the championship?
The only thing that makes Li Kaiming feel a little uneasy is that the Wizards have no home court advantage in this round, and the Heat's perimeter defense is extremely oppressive. If he wants his teammates to perform as well as they should on the perimeter, he must at least get The performance in the last round is enough, and even that is not enough.
The rest time between the first and second rounds was also relatively sufficient, but because the Heat and Wizards both took away their opponents 4-1, the game between the two sides was the earliest in the second round, especially Li Kaiming and the Heat's Big Three. It was a conflict with James, and this duel quickly became the focus of all fans' attention.
It’s okay if you don’t pay attention. The other groups of duels haven’t started yet.
Time soon came to March 1st, familiar Miami, familiar American Airlines Arena.
At the pre-game press conference, when reporters asked Heat coach Spoelstra how he would defend Li Kaiming during the game, Spoelstra's expression was very serious.
"He is the focus of our defense. Everyone knows he is a dangerous guy. He can hit shots from 20 feet away. He can also quickly rush to the basket and then complete the dunk over a seven-foot defender. He His offensive range covers the entire half, and all we can do is make it as difficult as possible for him. There are too many things that need to be done on the defensive end.”
Wizards head coach Sanders said that each of the Heat's Big Three can score 30 points in a game, and the Wizards need to keep a close eye on these guys and prevent them from playing comfortably.
The pre-game confrontation between the two sides mainly focused on the head coaches exchanging milk to see who had more milk and could best poison the opponent.
Judging from the current situation, both Spoelstra and Sanders are good opponents. If a cartoon image is made for these two people, it must have a 36D mind.
During the warm-up before the game, Li Kaiming discovered that the Heat fans seemed to be particularly "enthusiastic" towards him, and he didn't know who organized it. Before the game, as long as he missed a shot, the fans near the backboard would cheer collectively. He scored and the crowd started booing him!
are you crazy!
The game hasn't even started yet. Are you so energetic?
Or should we boo before the game starts? Otherwise, we might not have a chance to boo when the game starts?
However, Li Kaiming quickly adapted to the decibel volume. After a season of training, his ability to resist noise has been significantly enhanced, and his sleep is better than before!
Just the American Airlines Arena, nothing more!
The warm-up session for both sides ended, and the pre-match ceremonies were quickly completed, with the starting players taking the stage.
Heat: Point guard Mike Bibby, shooting guard Dwyane Wade, small forward LeBron James, power forward Chris Bosh, center Big Z.
Wizards: Point guard Kirk Hinrich, shooting guard Nick Young, small forward Josh Howard, power forward Kaiming Li, center Andre Blache.
Yes, Sun Yue has lost his starting position since the second game of the last round. Howard's performance on the defensive end is much more stable than him. Although Sanders likes to attack, when the opposite small forward is James' At that time, it was difficult for Sun Yue to face James.
Although Howard has been seriously injured, his confrontation ability and physical strength are much stronger than Sun Yue, which Sun Yue himself cannot deny.
And all he can do is train harder and seize every opportunity.
The time came to 3:30 in the afternoon. When the referee Derek Collins blew the whistle tonight, Big Z and Blatche took off almost at the same time. The two of them stretched out their arms to reach for the basketball in the air. In the end, they still looked young. Sheng's Blatche won the jump ball and the Wizards attacked first!
Li Kaiming took the ball and passed it to point guard Hinrich. All members of the Heat team took up defensive positions in the frontcourt, waiting for the Wizards to arrive.
Before the game started, Wizards head coach Saunders knew that against a team like the Heat, the Wizards would have an advantage in the paint. The Heat had Wade and James on the outside, so it would be very difficult to open up space from the outside. , not only the hit rate is low, but also there is a high possibility that it will be directly stolen by these two people.
Therefore, in this series, the Wizards will become a very traditional team, playing basketball in the 1990s, starting from the inside, finishing from the inside, and the purpose of the outside is to create space for the inside.
After arriving in the frontcourt, Li Kaiming went directly to the waist position to jam Bosh. Hinrich found a suitable angle on the outside, and then directly lobbed the ball to Li Kaiming inside.
In the playoffs, Bosh's defense was much more serious than in the regular season. He kept disturbing Li Kaiming with his hands, preventing him from easily getting a good position.
But how could Li Kaiming be disturbed by such a small move? He observed with his peripheral vision and found that no one came to double-team him. He dropped the ball directly, then turned around, blocked half of Bosh's body and rushed to the basket!
As a former All-Star center, Big Z has very good awareness on the defensive end. Seeing Bosh out of position, his huge body turned directly and faced the direction Li Kaiming came from, blocking it like a wall. Li Kaiming's way out.
The Heat's two big insiders arrived at the same time, and Li Kaiming had to take it seriously. Both of them were very tall. For a while, they couldn't find a gap to pass the ball to Brac, so Li Kaiming was in a flash of lightning. It was a direct throw from the basket. Big Z's block was a little slow, and Li Kaiming's throw went hollow into the net!
0 to 2!
The Wizards win first on the road!
The Heat served, and Mike Bibby took the ball to the frontcourt and handed it to Wade. Facing Nick Young's defense, Wade changed direction and threw it away, then inserted into the Wizards' penalty area like a blade.
Blatche at the basket let go of Big Z to cover the defense, and Wade directly passed an alley-oop to Big Z behind him.
The Heat fans at the scene thought this would be the home team's first dunk. Many fans were ready to celebrate. Unexpectedly, Li Kaiming suddenly came out and slapped Big Z for an alley-oop dunk. Pressed on the neck of the basket!
After reacting, Brac turned around and grabbed the basketball, then handed it to Hinrich to control the ball for half the court. Li Kaiming also accelerated from behind and rushed toward the frontcourt.
With an aging center like Big Z, the fast break must be a big killer!
The Wizards players were divided into three groups. Hinrich dribbled the ball on the right side to observe the situation. After the others arrived in the frontcourt, they opened up the perimeter. Li Kaiming broke through the Heat's perimeter defense like a Hummer. Hinrich arrived. When the ball arrived, a through ball was passed to Li Kaiming who cut in from the air.
After catching the ball, Li Kaiming took a big step, raised the basketball with one hand, and aimed directly at the basket.
Bosh, who was facing Li Kaiming, was chasing after him, and James, who was in the corner at this time, also directly let go of Howard and came to act as the last line of defense to protect the basket!
Facing the front and back attacks from the two men, Li Kaiming had no fear. He calmly took the last step and then flew up in the air, with most of his arms exceeding the basket.
At this time, James, who came from the bottom corner to help defend, also took off and reached for the basketball in Li Kaiming's hand!
But James still underestimated Li Kaiming's physical talent. He is the dunk king at 2.1 meters and can dunk a big windmill at the free throw line. He also has a wingspan of 226 meters. I am afraid that no more than three players in the league can reach this height.
And this time Li Kaiming took off with all his strength. James, who flew in front of Li Kaiming, soon discovered that he seemed to be one hand away from the basketball in Li Kaiming's hand, but he had already begun to fall!
The corner of Li Kaiming's mouth curled up in a cruel arc, and then he used his arm strength to dunk the ball into the basket with one arm through James!
