This Forward is Not Serious

"Ah sneeze~"

Paul, who was preparing for training, sneezed violently.

I didn’t know who was thinking about him just now.

He rubbed his nose and looked around at his teammates.

On paper, the Hornets introduced James Posey during the offseason and are even stronger than last season.

If Chandler can play now, it's not like they have no chance, and maybe even a good chance.

"Chris, close the door."

After returning to the locker room after training, West said when he saw Paul coming in.

This should be a preparation for talking about something in the locker room that the media doesn't want to hear.

"Chris, do you think we can win?"

When Paul sat down, West asked with some uncertainty.

Being reversed by the Spurs last season was already a bit autistic.

They strengthened during the offseason and tried to make a comeback, but found that their performance was not as good as last season.

This situation does make people a little worried.

The most authentic expression is that West asked, but after asking, everyone else in the Hornets team looked at Paul in unison.

"David, you should know that the Houston Rockets once completed the sixth seed in the conference and finally won the championship."

Paul’s answer, full marks.

In the 1994-1995 season, the Rockets ranked sixth in the Western Conference. They counterattacked all the way to defend the title, and the famous saying was born:

"Don't underestimate the heart of a championship."

Although the Hornets are not the defending champions, this example is apt.

Because they are not weak themselves, falling into this position is the same as the Rockets back then because of injuries.

Sure enough, because of his words, the Hornets' morale improved significantly.

They have a chance to replicate the Rockets' success!

On the same day, the playoffs officially started.

The Cavaliers, Pistons, Hawks, and Heat in the East, and the Lakers, Suns, and Trail Blazers Spurs in the West all appeared on this day.

Four games played, three big wins and one small win.

The small victory came from the Spurs and Trail Blazers. Although Duncan scored 27 points and 9 rebounds, and Parker also scored 24 points, no one else scored in double figures.

GDP, no less will do.

…

The playoffs continued the next day.

The Eastern Conference game still starts first.

However, unlike the first day, this day was full of surprises.

In the first game, the Bulls overturned the Celtics 105-103!

Rose entered the playoffs with the team in his rookie season, and then scored 36 points, 4 rebounds and 11 assists in the first playoff game of his career!

Jordan: My successor is here!

Rose's style of play really hurts his knees, but he is still a hundred million points stronger.

Then, the 76ers also defeated the Magic 100-98.

Howard made 11 of 13 shots and scored 31 points and 16 rebounds, but it was to no avail because the Magic only made 5 of 18 from outside.

This directly exposed the Magic's Achilles' heel. Compared with Howard, three-pointers are the most critical factor in determining the Magic's victory or defeat.

Then, the Rockets, who took the lead in the Western Conference, lost to the Mavericks 91-101...

This day can be called NBA upset day.

Fans suddenly discovered that if the Nuggets also lost to the Hornets, all teams in the top half would be killed today.

Inexplicably, this game is more interesting than imagined.

The Pepsi Center Arena was packed with seats, a sea of ​​blue.

The fans were also extremely excited.

The team was already in excellent shape after the All-Star Game, and if they won this round, they would be the most handsome player in the playoffs today. How could we not be excited?

Specifically, during the opening ceremony, the decibels of the cheers seemed to knock off the ceiling.

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were announced.

Hornets: Paul, Russell Butler, Peja Stojakovic, David West, Chandler.

Nuggets: Billups, Dengta Jones, Anthony, Lin Ying, Nene.

"beep!"

As the whistle blew, Nene jumped up and moved the ball back to the Nuggets half. The home team attacked first!

Before the game even started, Lin Ying and Billups looked at each other tacitly and got the same message from each other's eyes.

Chandler didn't jump high when jumping the ball, and his reaction was slow. The impact of this foot injury was obvious.

Billups raised his hands in the frontcourt to organize, Lin Ying and Nene picked and rolled without the ball.

Just when the Hornets thought the Nuggets were going to misplace their singles tactics, Billups had already sent the ball in with one hit.

Lin Ying caught the ball and faced Chandler, and a layup caused Chandler to foul!

Then, Lin Ying had a brief verbal exchange with Billups when he went to the free throw line:

"Create him again."

"Know."

Just, very specific.

Chandler is the Hornets' inside barrier. If he is not injured, Lin Ying will most likely get a hat-trick if he challenges him like this.

But when I saw the details with a jump ball, and then used small tactics to test it, I found that his injury did have a huge impact.

So if this barrier is knocked down, the Nuggets will gain a huge advantage in the opening game.

Two free throws were made steadily, and the Nuggets took the lead to score.

Looking back, Paul and West started a pick-and-roll. After breaking up, they quickly changed direction and scored a backhand layup.

The speed of change of direction is indeed a bit like Iverson.

Just like Duncan before and after the injury, Paul was also the same. At this time, he had not been seriously injured. Not only could he fly and escape, but he could also run with lightning speed.

Looking back, at Billups's signal, Anthony held the ball, and Nene pulled out to play a pick-and-roll for him.

Let’s stick with Chandler.

The one guarding Anthony was Russell Butler, who double-teamed decisively at this time.

However, Anthony was in great form, breaking out of the double-team and scoring a flying dunk.

An Fengxian has gained a reputation in vain!

However, it can also be seen from this ball that Chandler did not dare to reach out after a foul.

That's the details.

Even if Chandler is not defeated, the Hornets' interior defense has already dropped a lot.

There's a reason why Billups is known to fans as the "ball-blind evaluator."

In games, especially in the playoffs, this kind of detail may be more useful than scoring 20 points.

Of course, it can be seen from the looks in the eyes of Lin Ying and Billups that Lin Ying has become very sophisticated in terms of experience after following Billups for the past six months.

Paul repeated his old trick, this time after attracting a double attack, he knocked the ball back to West, who hit a mid-range jumper.

This wave of pick-and-rolls perfectly demonstrated Paul's strength. With a height of 1.83 meters, he can have this kind of vision and this kind of passing. He is worthy of being the first point guard candidate in history.

But looking back, at Billups's signal, Anthony broke through Butler with the ball, got to the basket and got up again to score again!

Paul missed a jump shot in the frontcourt. Turning around, Billups and Nene went to the basket for a layup in a pick-and-roll.

I just want to hit you inside, every time I hit you, I will hit you accurately!

Chandler kicked his foot in frustration.

Scott, the Hornets' "best coach" on the sidelines, also looked solemn.

The Nuggets are so targeted!

And the consecutive defensive failures also caused some problems on the offensive end of the Hornets.

West caught the ball and was guarded by Billups. When Paul wanted to return the ball, he didn't give it back and directly hit the ball in a misplaced position.

As a result, Billups fell to the ground as soon as the elbow was raised, and the referee's whistle also sounded.

Offensive foul!

What a detail!

This foul is undoubtedly adding insult to injury for the Hornets.

Originally, Chandler would throw a trap when he fouled, but now West also has it, and the interior defense has become a vacuum.

Lin Ying set a pick-and-roll for Anthony and then inserted into the basket and got into position.

Billups knocked the ball to Anthony, and Anthony shook West's hand.

West didn't dare to take action. This ball was a good opportunity.

"Dang!"

It's a pity that it's a little off.

However, Lin Ying jumped up from the basket and grabbed the offensive rebound!

He was already stuck in a good position early, and his take-off speed was faster than Chandler's. This caught the board so deeply that Duncan passed it.

He got up again, but Chandler couldn't bear it anymore and reached out to block the shot.

However, he didn't expect that Lin Ying's first move was a fake move. When he couldn't hold back anymore, Lin Ying got up again.

"Snapped!"

Another thug.

The referee's whistle followed.

Chandler's second personal foul!

Scott: Yeah!

The buzzer sounded and Chandler was substituted!

He only played three minutes!

When Lin Ying went to the free throw line again, Billups came up and high-fived him again, and there was a brief verbal exchange:

"Well done."

"It's a small thing."

The two have a good understanding.

Paul looked at the two of them, and for a moment he felt like he was back in the days of carrying backpacks for the big guys at the Olympics.

you……

Just bully me!

And this kind of bullying made him helpless, because he couldn't do anything about Chandler!

Lin Ying made two free throws again.

8 to 4.

Paul continued to score points, and this time he called Stojakovic to pick and roll for him.

This is to catch Anthony, the only loophole on the court for the Nuggets.

Anthony: Come and chop me down if you are a brother!

A certain gun: Here it comes!

Anthony, you are really on guard.

The biggest difference between Anthony and history is that he has not gained weight, which makes his confrontation worse than at the same time in history, but his flexibility is barely okay.

Of course, equally outstanding is his enthusiasm. After Billups came, he felt that he really had a chance to win the championship, and his enthusiasm reached the highest level in his career.

Paul saw no chance and passed the ball to Peja on the outside.

Peja meets Billups' three-pointer...

When I raised my hand, I touched a little ball.

This ball was missed!

Lin Ying couldn't help but give Billups a thumbs up at this moment:

Thin, too thin!

Nene picked up a rebound and gave it to Billups immediately.

Billups took one look at the Hornets' quick retreat, gave up the fast break, controlled the ball to the frontcourt, and waited for everyone to land before organizing.

With a wave of hands, Lin Ying and Nene played a pick-and-roll without the ball.

However, this time Billups did not directly feed Lin Ying the ball, but waited for Lin Ying to post up in the low post before passing the ball in.

Here it comes, the Nuggets’ classic mismatched singles tactics this season!

After Chandler left the game, he was replaced by Hilton Armstrong.

Because of his name, domestic fans may have heard of him, and some fans even nicknamed him "Astronaut".

He was the No. 12 pick in 2006. His experience in the first two years was quite miserable, because Chandler joined the Hornets in the same year he was selected and had to be forced to play as a substitute.

After Chandler was injured this season, he finally got a chance to start. As a result, Hornets fans discovered that his technical characteristics mainly include two points:

The offense is not good, the defense is not good.

Poor basic skills on the offensive end, no shooting ability, and unstable hooks and layups under the basket;

On the defensive end, the defense that got him into the lottery was also due to his lack of physical strength;

Some people may ask why Peja is not played in position.

The reason is actually very simple, Peja's defense is not bad.

This may be different from what many people think.

Although Peja is a white shooter, his defensive level is above the league average. Similar to Anthony, his defensive weakness is his footwork.

But he is tall and has long arms and defensive awareness, so it is not that easy to beat him.

In comparison, Armstrong is obviously a better breakthrough.

Lin Ying held the ball with his back and directly attacked.

Armstrong is nearly 2.11 meters tall but weighs only 106 kilograms.

He was very good at this kind of lanky inside line when he was a rookie, and now that he has developed his confrontation skills, he is even more comfortable with it.

All I saw was that Lin's shadow was getting deeper and deeper, and Armstrong was pushing forward and retreating.

When he got to the restricted area, he launched a wave and climaxed directly.

"Bang!"

Lin Ying turned around and smashed the ball into the basket!

He also agreed with what Billups said in the locker room before.

To defeat the Hornets quickly, defeating the opponent in the first game is the best solution.

The ball instantly detonated the Pepsi Center.

And we can also see the importance of a healthy Chandler to the Hornets.

It seems that the lineup is not much different, even a little better, but in fact it is very different.

Back to Paul looking for Peja again.

This time Peja had a better chance, but his three-point shot... still didn't happen!

Peja is a historical three-point shooter. At his peak, he was the boss of the Kings and was among the top five MVPs.

But the biggest difference between him and Klay Thompson is his habitual diarrhea in the playoffs.

After playing in the playoffs for 8 years, only the 2002-03 season and last season were considered to be as good as they should be.

As a result, it immediately returned to normal levels this year.

This time the rebound went to Lin Ying, and the Nuggets launched a defensive counterattack.

After Billups scored a fast break layup, the score on the field had become 12-4!

Lin Ying just felt it before, but now the whole Hornets team has a big word "danger" above their heads.

The defensive end couldn't hold on, the offensive end couldn't make a shot, and more importantly, there was a foul crisis.

Looking back, West helped defend Lin Ying and got his second foul in a single quarter...

The Hornets were forced to replace "JU-JU" Julian Wright, whom Lin Ying had played against in college.

Wright has a similar build to Armstrong. They were only one pick away from each other in the draft, and they also struggled in performance.

However, his technical characteristics are different from Armstrong's. Although there are two points, he is:

This won't work, and that won't work either.

His offensive versatility in college became completely incompetent in the NBA, and he was beaten on the defensive end due to lack of confrontation.

Some Hornets fans sighed:

Wolong and Phoenix can settle down the world with just one person. How could the Hornets have two of them at the same time!

This wave, this wave is called insider stabbing by thousands of people!

After the first quarter, the Nuggets already led the Hornets 36-15 by a full 21 points!

During the break, Lin Ying turned to look at Paul.

Paul's figure seemed to have turned into a blurry figure.