The Godfather of Basketball

56 to 41, the Nets led the Pacers by as much as 15 points at halftime.

Back in the third quarter, the Pacers launched a strong counterattack. George made several consecutive rush shots before the double-team formed, and they once narrowed the point difference to single digits.

But when the transition period between the third and fourth quarters, the Nets' substitute confuses the Pacers' substitute again.

In the end, the Nets beat the Pacers 105 to 86 at home and won the first game of the series.

Gordon 22 points and 3 assists, Yi Jianlian 20 points and 7 rebounds, Jokic 18 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists, Deron 12 points and 6 assists, Butler 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, Booker and West each had 9 Points into the account, Oden 8 points and 7 rebounds.

On the Pacers side, George made 13 of 26 shots, 4 of 7 three-pointers and scored 36 points in the air, which was a bit tragic.

"We need more people to stand up and share the pressure for George." In the press conference after the game, coach Vogel said directly.

In this game, except Hill scored 15 points and Ellis scored 12 points, no one in the Pacers scored in double figures, and the others shot less than 40%.

Vogel had a point, but his hopes didn't materialize.

Now the strength of this Nets team is not strong in offense, but in defense. Butler, Jefferson Jr., Oden, the promoted Yi Jianlian, and even Gordon and Booker are all above the league average in defense. Coupled with the system of unlimited defense changes, the strength of the defensive end is far stronger than imagined.

George can still score as a super giant, but it is difficult for other role players to break through such a defense.

103 to 85, 91 to 81, the Nets made two consecutive wins and turned the big score into 3 to 0.

In desperation, George ran away at home. He played the whole game and scored 41 points. Hill and Ellis both contributed 15+. The Pacers pulled back a victory 113-103 at home.

But it's impossible to play like this every game.

After returning to Brooklyn, the Nets' high-pressure defense forced George to score only 26 points, and the Pacers did not score more than 80 points.

At the end of the fourth game, George sat on the sidelines for a while, with a blank expression and didn't know what he was thinking.

The two sides had a final handshake.

"You have done well enough." Tang Tian encouraged while hugging George.

George averaged 30.2 points per game throughout the series and shot 50% from the field. Without the devastating injuries of his previous life, he is really outstanding.

"I envy your players, coach." To Tang Tian's surprise, George said something very interesting.

Envy, there may be many kinds, envy that they can challenge James, envy that they have the opportunity to hit the championship, envy that they have such an excellent coach, envy that they have such a good team...

Tang Tian didn't know which one George was, but it didn't really matter.

He smiled and patted George on the shoulder, and then led his players back to the locker room.

The Pacers were eliminated 4-1. After Tang Tian took over, the Nets showed an upward trend.

At the same time, although Curry suffered a second injury in the series and is expected to be absent for 2-3 weeks, the Warriors still eliminated the Rockets 4-1 with their strong strength.

The Spurs, Thunder and Cavaliers also swept their opponents 4-0.

The five championship teams all advanced to the second round.

However, apart from the Spurs and Thunder, the other three semifinal matches have not yet come out.

The Clippers in the West and the Trail Blazers, the Raptors and the Eagles, the Hornets and the Heat in the East all played 2 to 3.

With such a big score, there is a high probability that there will be a tiebreaker in the end.

However, for the three teams that have already advanced, they can get more rest time, which is very precious in the playoffs.

The potential opponents of the Nets are the Heat and the Hornets.

In the previous life, the Heat and the Hornets also met in the first round. In the end, the Heat eliminated the Hornets 4-3.

Now that the Heat have a stronger Whiteside, theoretically the probability of advancing will be greater.

They are currently leading 3-2 with a big score, which also shows this point.

The Heat's starting lineup is not weaker than that of the Nets, and there are also powerful players such as Stoudemire, Winslow and Josh Richardson on the bench, plus the old opponent Spoelstra, the two sides will definitely fight together. round of fierce battle.

So even though it was a rest day, Tang Tian still arranged daily training for the team, and there were many parts of the training aimed at the Heat's style of play.

The Hornets defended their home court advantage and narrowly beat the Heat 90-88 in Game 6, dragging the game into a tie-break.

However, Tang Tian is still optimistic about the Heat, because the record is better, and the tiebreaker will be held at the American Airlines Arena.

After finishing the training session, Tang Tian stayed with his players that night to watch the tiebreaker between the Heat and the Hornets.

This kind of life-and-death game, both teams will spare no effort, and it is also the best opportunity to observe the opponent.

At the beginning of the game, the Heat quickly established a lead under the leadership of Wade, and they had a 15-point lead at halftime.

Everything is pretty much as expected.

However, in the second half, the situation on the court changed suddenly. Jeremy Lin and Walker continued to fire.

In the end, the Hornets completed the reversal in the tie-break and even won the Heat with a thrilling 103-102!

This result caused a lot of discussion among the Nets players, and Tang Tian was stupefied watching it.

This is different from history and what he expected!

The Charlotte Hornets, a team that only joined the NBA in 2004, miraculously set the best record in team history and entered the second round of the playoffs.

"Tang, us?" Frank turned around and looked at Tang Tian with some confusion.

Such a result is surprising, and it also made the Nets' previous targeted training all in vain.

"This is good news." Tang Tian said with a smile.

Although the result is surprising, for the Nets, it must be less difficult to play the Hornets than to play the Heat.

The Hornets' ability to advance to the second round has a lot of luck, and the backcourt combination of Walker and Jeremy Lin will hardly have a big impact on the Nets.

After two days of rest, the series between the Nets and the Hornets officially started.

As Tang Tian expected, Walker and Jeremy Lin could perform well in the first round. It has a lot to do with their opponents Dragic and Wade. One is poor in defense and the other is old and slow. Deron and Gordon, their play is very limited.

As for Marvin Williams and Jefferson, they were killed by Yi Jianlian and Westek.

4 to 0, with an average net win of 15+ per game, the Nets played more easily than the first round.

After winning the Hornets, the Nets also successfully advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.

This is the second year in a row that they have entered the division finals. Compared with last year, their road to promotion has been smoother, but their opponent has not changed. It is still the Cavaliers. It's even easier to hit.