Chapter 920: War with the Lakers

On May 3, the G4 games between the Mavericks and the Warriors, and the Nuggets and Jazz began.

At the end of the game, the upset finally broke, and there were two of them. The Mavericks were blackened by seven and the Nuggets were blacked by six. Two teams that were recognized as strong teams at the beginning of the season were eliminated in the first round at the same time.

As the core of the two teams, Nowitzki and the Golden Spear's ability to lead the team has been greatly doubted, criticized by the media, and huge pressure has been placed on them.

With all the first-round games over, the second-round battles are as follows: Heat vs. Bulls in the East, Pistons vs. Cavaliers, Lakers vs. Suns in the West, and Warriors vs. Jazz.

On the 4th, the league announced a number of individual honors.

Li Ba absolutely surpassed everyone in his performance and won the MVP honor for the second consecutive year with the Suns' second-place record in the Western Conference regular season.

Also on this day, the alliance held a draw ceremony.

The Spurs are struggling this season, and just like them, there are several teams, such as the SuperSonics, Trail Blazers, Timberwolves, etc., just to compete for the No. 1 pick.

In the end, the Spurs were so lucky that they really got the last record and the first draw.

Popovich and Holt prayed to God and worshiped Buddha with great sincerity. Their sincerity moved heaven and earth, and they actually won the No. 1 lottery.

"Greg, we're going to do it again!"

After receiving the No. 1 pick, owner Holt shouted at Popovich with great excitement.

Seeing that the Spurs won the No. 1 pick, Stern frowned. He didn't want to send Oden to the Spurs.

But the facts were established, and he had no choice.

Next, the Sonics won the second pick and the Trail Blazers won the third pick.

Everyone knows that the Spurs will only have one choice, and that is Oden.

After losing Duncan and selecting Oden who may be better and younger than Duncan, many people have to lament that the Spurs are too lucky.

But there are also some teams that are not envious. These teams are the Grizzlies, Mavericks, and Heat.

Last offseason, some teams chose to strengthen, and some teams chose to fail, and each had a different fate.

A strengthened team, they have reaped huge benefits from the skyrocketing ball market, no worse than selecting Oden.

And a bad team may not be able to successfully rebuild if it loses the ball market by relying on this year's draft, and even if it is rebuilt, it may not be able to regain the lost ball market.

On May 7, the second round of the playoffs begins.

On this day, the Western Jazz defeated the Warriors and the Eastern Cavaliers defeated the Pistons.

On the 8th, the second round of the Suns and Lakers, Heat and Bulls begins.

On the 7th, Li Ba arrived in Luocheng with the team and had a chat with Dayao Daba Dazhi.

As of today, he arrived yesterday. The Mavericks were eliminated. He has already booked a flight ticket and will return to China tomorrow.

"Is your wife okay?" Dayao asked.

"It can be maintained for a while. It depends on the situation. If it's not good, I have already planned it. I will take a year off next season and give you a chance to get a ring." Li Ba said.

"So serious?" Dayao and others asked in surprise.

"It's not to that level yet, but aren't I worried? The doctor said that you have to catch the disease early. I can't delay my wife's illness just for the competition, right? She has been with me since she was eighteen years old, and she is still pregnant. After losing my child, how can I ignore her? Then am I still a human being?" Li Ba said.

"Then it must be true that this disease... is serious, but..." Dayao said this and stopped talking.

"Where is Allen training now?" Da Zhi asked, changing the topic.

"Pioneer." Li Ba said.

"The Trail Blazers have the third overall pick, is there any hope for Allen?" Daba asked.

"Not much hope. The Celtics are fifth, and I hope they choose Allen." Li Ba said.

"The Celtics have Pierce, which is not part of the reconstruction. Allen can play the fourth position, and there is no problem in starting. It is indeed more suitable than those who are reconstructed." Dayao nodded.

On the evening of the 8th, the game started.

Before the game, the starting lineups of both sides were announced.

Suns: Li Ba, Marion, Battier, Ginobili, Rondo.

Lakers: Yao, Duncan, Artest, Kobe, Parker.

In the TNT live broadcast, Barkley explained excitedly: "This is recognized by all media. Whoever wins the finals mentioned will have an 80% chance of winning the championship."

"Now our ratings have exceeded 70 million, and I believe it will soon exceed 100 million." Kenny Smith said with a smile.

"After the two teams competed in the regular season, I believe both sides have found the most suitable tactics. I think there will be no testing in the G1 game. It will be a direct fight." Buckley said.

"The Lakers' offensive tactics, I believe, are to use Yao to contain the Hammers in the low post, and then Duncan and Kobe attack from the other wing. The Suns' offensive tactics should be to open up and let the Hammers single out Yao in the low post. If the Lakers assist Defend the basket and distribute the ball," Kenny Smith said.

In the CCTV live broadcast, Zhang Lili said in a depressed mood: "I hope the Suns can win this series and then win the championship. The chance to defend the dynasty is not easy. Hold on, Hammer!"

"It's not like the Suns have never defeated the Lakers. They will definitely win this series!" Yu Jia shouted.

The two of them learned about Li Ba's family situation from Dayao. They couldn't talk about it, and they couldn't ask about it when interviewing Li Ba. They could only cheer for Li Ba in this way.

However, their words made many Dayao fans in China dissatisfied. Their attitude was too biased, right? The Hammers have already defended their titles, but our Yao team has yet to reach the finals.

Game start.

Li Ba stood in front of the bench, looked around at his teammates, and said solemnly: "We have worked hard for a season, what do we want?"

"Dynasty! Dynasty! Dynasty..."

There were passionate shouts from the Suns bench.

"Dynasty! Dynasty! Dynasty..."

This shouting immediately infected the nearly 3,000 away Suns fans, who all stood up and cheered together.

Jump ball, Li Ba beat Dayao, and the Suns attacked.

The others pulled away and Li Ba was low on the left wing.

Rondo passed the frontcourt, and under the pressure of Parker, he first handed the ball to Battier outside the left three-point line, and then quickly cut into the paint area and took Parker away.

Battier took the ball, passed it in immediately before Artest came up, and then quickly ran to the left corner.

Li Ba caught the ball with one hand. At this time, Artest let go of Battier and came to double-team him. He immediately passed the ball back to Battier.

Battier caught the ball in the left corner, took a quick look before taking a shot, and with a swipe, he shot through the Lakers' basket.

3:0, the Suns lead away from home.

Barkley laughed twice, and then shouted loudly: "This is a typical triangle offense! The Suns played a triangle offense in front of Staples and Phil. It is indeed courageous."

Kenny Smith said: "I think the Suns have more advantages in running a triangle offense than playing an inside-four-outside tactic."