The 2014-2015 season playoffs have begun in a lively manner, and it is another year of competition for the championship. This year's game is obviously very interesting.
That's why people are eager to see the Los Angeles Clippers dynasty collapse.
Humans are such strange creatures. They like to build a sacred tower and worship it for a while. Then they get bored and tear it down, leaving it in ruins before building a new sacred tower.
This kind of phenomenon has appeared repeatedly in various fields in human history, creating and destroying gods in the wilderness of human spirit, and they never tire of it.
In the eyes of many people, it's time for the Clippers' tower to collapse.
After Min Congda became the head coach of the Clippers, he led the Clippers to a beautiful winning streak with his fancy tactics and rotations, but he did not win more praise and support.
Because the media is sparing no effort to portray the Clippers as a monopoly demon, the NBA needs fresh blood and new championship winners-but in fact, the average age of the Clippers is still one of the youngest in the league.
Most people are optimistic about the Warriors. The Warriors' 70 wins in the regular season have made people full of expectations, and James Durant's explosive combination is even more frightening.
There is probably not much suspense about LeBron James' MVP this year. In the regular season, he averaged 22.7 points, 11 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game, which is Magic Johnson's average data.
At the same time, he also contributed rare hard work in his career on the defensive end, working hard to help defend, blocking positions without data gains, protecting backcourt rebounds and the basket, etc...
People saw how hard James worked for revenge and to win a championship. He was no longer the chosen one, but a basketball player who was willing to do anything to realize his ultimate ideal.
In a national survey before the start of the playoffs, more than 70% of state fans hope that LeBron James can win this year's championship, MVP, and FMVP.
In the comments of fans, there are many blessings and praises for James:
"I didn't like James in the past. He really didn't look good when he played, and the league invested too much resources in him to try to lift him up, which was really ugly. But this year is really different. He should get a championship of his own." He’s the champion, he deserves it.”
"In the past few years, too many stars have teamed up together just to win a championship, but they all died at the hands of the Clippers. I hope James can realize his dream."
"This year's Warriors are really historically powerful. I can't think of any reason for them to lose."
"I used to hate the Dallas Mavericks. I supported the Heat in 2006, but after Nowitzki and the Mavericks won the championship in 2011, I was sincerely happy for them. My feelings for the Warriors are the same this year. This is It’s LeBron’s 11th season, even though he’s just 30 years old.”
For most neutral fans, whether to support a player often depends not only on preference, but also on what kind of stories the player has experienced or is currently experiencing.
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato once said, “He who can tell stories owns the world.”
This is especially important for business leagues. If a player has no story, and your experience cannot arouse sympathy, resonance, or other positive emotions from the fans, then even if you are strong, the fans may not support you.
James' past story was one of failure. He did not become the Chosen One or someone who surpassed Michael Jordan, but it was this failure that became the beginning of a new story.
A young man becomes famous, goes through setbacks, stays loyal, achieves nothing, has the courage to pursue his dreams, and vows to defeat the alliance's cancer and dragon... This kind of story is what everyone likes.
When Kobe, Nash, Howard, Wade, Garnett and a group of others could not defeat the Clippers when they came together, this opportunity has now returned to James' hands.
People no longer care if he joins hands with Durant, which counts as a peak team-up. After all, the opponent is indeed too powerful.
As people expected, the Warriors' first two rounds of the playoffs were smooth sailing. They easily defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 4-0 in the first round.
This series is also full of highlights. Durant returned to Oklahoma City with sparks flying, and Westbrook led the team to resist hard.
Unfortunately, except for the third game, which caused a little trouble for the Warriors, there was no suspense in the other three games. The Warriors easily defeated their opponents and advanced to the second round.
In the second round, the Warriors' opponent was the Memphis Grizzlies. The Warriors sweated a little, but they still won relatively easily with a score of 4:1 and successfully entered the Western Conference Finals. The Clippers had been waiting for the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals for a long time. .
In the first and second rounds, the Clippers easily defeated the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers 4-0, and came to the Western Conference Finals without any suspense, preparing for a fateful showdown with the Warriors.
Even before the season started, people were looking forward to the battle between the Warriors and the Clippers.
The strength of the two teams is indeed much higher than that of other teams, and others can't even catch up.
Min Chongda remained undefeated after coaching the Clippers, with 28 consecutive wins in the regular season and playoffs. He was so popular that he was nicknamed "The Victory King of Panditmaninan".
The reason for this nickname is related to Huawei Center.
Because the Huawei Center is grand and huge, during the renovation process, the designer equipped it with an extremely expensive top-level bathroom. It was decorated in ancient Greek and Roman styles, and there were shocking huge oil paintings on the walls, depicting the Bible. , "Paradise Lost", "The Divine Comedy" and other Western classic religious works have left a very deep impression on the fans watching the game.
The reason why he wanted to do these decorations was just because Min Congda wanted to spend more money... So when he was guiding the design company, he added some domestic design elements to it. Unexpectedly, he knew Greek and Roman architecture. The style, coupled with some post-modern condiments, has a great effect, and it has become a scenic spot in Los Angeles.
Panditmaninan is the palace of Satan described in Milton's long poem "Paradise Lost". People used this to describe Huawei Center and gave Min Chongda a terrifying title.
To be honest, fans are happy to play these things, and the story of the alliance without the hero and the devil is boring.
Of course, as the two sides officially entered the Western Conference Finals, more teams began to support the Clippers.
The strong will never lack followers. In the survey before the start of the Western Conference Finals, the votes of fans supporting the Clippers and the Warriors were evenly split. Once the Clippers can reach the finals, it is estimated that the number of fans supporting the Clippers will definitely increase. surge.
If the devil can always win, then he is no longer the devil, he is a god.
Perhaps Americans are still not able to accept a basketball empire built by a Chinese general manager and head coach.
On May 1st, at Oracle Arena in Oakland, at 7:30 pm, the first game of the Western Conference Finals between the Clippers and the Warriors.
Before the game started, league president Adam Silver presented the 2014-2015 regular season MVP trophy to LeBron James.
At the beginning of the season, the Clippers players also combined to let James Harden win the regular season MVP.
Harden's performance is indeed worthy of MVP in other years. His personal data is 26.5 points, 6 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game. The team's record is 61 wins and 21 losses, which is absolute MVP level.
It's a pity that he met the 70-win Warriors and the revamped James. He was no match for James in the media voting, so before the start of the Western Conference Finals, he could only watch LeBron receive the MVP trophy from Silva and enjoy the whole game. The fans cheered.
LeBron James's expression was very calm. He had already won enough MVPs. If he didn't win a championship, these MVP trophies would feel like a pity.
After the award ceremony, the battle between the two sides officially began.
Everyone knew that this was destined to be an earth-shaking fierce battle.
Because of this, at the beginning of the game, both sides seemed a little nervous and couldn't let go.
Especially for the Warriors, except for James's attack at the basket in the beginning, they failed to succeed in the next few attacks.
On the contrary, the Clippers, who are accustomed to playing away games, started with an 8-2 start. James Harden made three-pointers, mid-range assists, and assisted Curry in one go. It seemed to tell James, "This MVP should be mine."
Steve Kerr immediately taught a timeout to stabilize the players' emotions.
He knew that it wasn't that the Warriors couldn't beat them, but that they wanted to win too much and were a little too nervous.
As the game progresses, this tension will become less and less.
As for the Clippers, Min Congda also formulated a detailed battle plan before the game.
With Durant's return, the Clippers can no longer focus on the interior. The overly contracted defense will be penetrated by Durant.
When you are overwhelmed by strength, you can fight however you want.
In this kind of confrontation where the lineups are evenly matched or even slightly inferior, the status of the stars and core players is crucial.
Curry and Harden are the top priority. They must use their full energy throughout the series so that the coach can make a fuss about the details.
If the core is stretched and out of shape, everything else is in vain.
This is in line with Sun Tzu's famous saying in The Art of War, "Every soldier must use the right combination to win by surprise."
If you want to win, you need to have a surprising force, a clever plan, and a sufficient reserve team, but the prerequisite is that you must be able to withstand the front, be evenly matched, or even overwhelm your opponent.
In some games, you can rely on substitutes and a certain veteran to burst out and win by chance, but a seven-game series will minimize the chance. If you win one or two games with a burst, but the core can't compete with the opponent, you will still lose the series.
A typical example is that in the 1997 Western Conference Finals, the Rockets played against the Jazz. The Rockets' core Olajuwon and Barkley and Drexler could no longer compete with the Jazz's three veterans, but 37-year-old veteran Eddie Johnson scored 31 in a game. The score broke out, a three-pointer was the buzzer-beater, and the series was tied.
But in the end, they lost the series 2:4 and were defeated by Stoke's buzzer beater in Houston.
And just two years ago, Olajuwon + Drexler's core state was so strong that they could counterattack all the way. Only then did the special players Elie and Cassell have room to play and help the team win.
Min Congda understands this very well. No matter whether he wins or loses in the first game, he must show his core state.
Therefore, the Clippers started with a Curry-Harden duo, and the others, Gasol, Davis, and Leonard, all provided support and assistance to the two. In the regular season, the two stood on the outside with their arms akimbo to attract defense. It is impossible to reproduce.
Cole also understands this truth. In this kind of head-to-head dialogue, you can't think of taking advantage of the situation, especially in the beginning. You must be tough and reckless, and the core must stand up and speak.
After returning from the timeout, Durant was the first to respond, beating Leonard one-on-one, breaking through the emergency stop and hitting a fadeaway jumper.
Then, James intercepted Harden's pass on defense and passed a long pass to Durant. Durant's fast break layup was interfered by Leonard and missed. Bogut followed up and made a tip-in, and the Warriors closed in on the score.
6:8.
Curry got rid of the defense without the ball on the outside, received the ball on the right side, dribbled continuously, broke through the Warriors from the wing, and assisted Davis with a high throw for an alley-oop dunk!
Immediately, James set a pick-and-roll for Lillard, but it was not successful. He passed the ball to Thompson who came out of the wing. Thompson caught the ball and faced the defense and hit a three-pointer!
At 9:10, the point difference narrowed to only 1 point!
The two teams played extremely fiercely at the beginning, and their tactics were very simple and clear.
Under high-intensity defense, the role of routines is decreasing, and the role of personal ability, execution and will is increasing.
Throughout the series, the battle of willpower between the two sides has begun.
(End of chapter)
