Chapter 211 210. Best lineup!
"Jack, thank you for the fishing gear I gave you. I like it very much."

On May 5, the afternoon after the team swept the Cavaliers to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, Zhang Yang returned to Charlotte with the team.

As soon as I returned to the apartment, turned on my computer and logged into my email, I saw the email from the Silver Horn King.

Zhang Yang looked at several photos in the email attachments. One was a group photo when he just received the fishing gear, one was a picture of them setting up their fishing position on the fishing boat, one was a fish basket filled with several fish, and another was a group photo when he just caught a big fish. His smile was exactly the same as the boy under Laojun's seat who turned into a demon.

Zhang Yang stared at the photo of the basket of fish for a long time and felt depressed.

The Mavericks were eliminated on the 5th. The season ended very early, so naturally they had to start preparing for the new season very early. After the draft lottery on the 10th, the league allowed all teams to contact the draft participants on the 11th, and the Mavericks started the draft work early.

The Mavericks do not have a first-round pick this year, as they used it up when they traded for Anthony Walker. Later, when they traded Anthony Walker for Terry, they got this year's second-round pick in return as a bonus. The Hawks are ranked fourth from the bottom, so the Mavericks have the 4th and 34th picks this year.

Now that the NBA no longer accepts high school students to register for the draft, the first-round picks are basically locked in a small group of players, and it is difficult to have an upset. If agents grab a popular rookie, they can lock in a first-round pick. There will be no more situations like McGrady and Zhang Yang, who were not predicted to be high in the draft but were unexpectedly selected in the lottery.

After the experience last year, the agents have a clearer direction for this year's work. The first stage is to strive to get the popular draft picks. If they get them, they'll have a chance. If they don't, there's nothing they can do. The second stage is to take a group of unpopular draft picks to try out with teams that have second-round picks.

The Mavericks, who have two second-round picks, have become a hot commodity in the eyes of agents.

After the Mavericks sent out tryout invitations to various agents, Tellem went to Dallas on the 13th with several white seniors to participate in the draft. After Zhang Yang learned of Tellem's itinerary, he asked Tellem to buy a set of fishing gear for Nowitzki.

The original intention was to tease the Silver Horn King for being cheated... but now his mentality exploded.

As the saying goes, anger comes from the heart and evil comes from the courage. He sent an email to Nowitzki: "Dirk, do you think it is possible that I am mocking you for being eliminated in the first round by giving you a fishing rod and having to fish to kill time?"

Nowitzki seemed to be really bored and quickly replied to the email.

"Hahaha, of course I know you have such thoughts. I heard that you didn't catch any fish last year, so I sent you the photos to share the joy of catching a fish."

Zhang Yang replied with an ellipsis.

German humor is... kind of interesting.

Soon Zhang Yang received another email.

"My other friends were very careful when talking to me at this time, afraid to irritate me and think I was too fragile. I know they meant well, but that made me feel even worse. I really appreciate you joking with me in a normal way.

Congratulations on reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. I hope you can defeat your next opponent and then defeat Duncan and Nash!"

Zhang Yang looked at the last sentence, smacked his lips, and replied, "Thank you for having such high expectations of me. I will try my best."

After finishing the chat with netizens, Zhang Yang thought about it and sent an email to Tellem: "Sign me up for a class during the off-season. I want to learn fishing techniques!"

After closing his email, Zhang Yang checked out various portal websites.

The hottest news about their Bobcats and Cavaliers series - the mascot rogue cat Frusci, the Cavaliers' lineup is too bad, and the new Bad Boys will become the ruler of the Eastern Conference.

Zhang Yang didn't see a single piece of news saying anything bad about James. When James was mentioned, it meant that he tried his best... But the 1.0 version of James did play very hard. He gave up in Game 4 and could find a reason. The entire Cavaliers team gave up, so it would be useless if he didn't give up alone.

Rondo and Millsap became popular in this series, especially Rondo, who got 4+20+5 in Game 5. If the shooters had not performed so poorly in the final quarter, 20+10 was possible.

...

In the evening, Zhang Yang returned to his parents' home, had dinner, and took his younger brother to watch the live broadcast of the game.

First up is the Pistons and Bulls G4.

The Pistons are currently leading 2-1. In the first three games, the Pistons won two home games. The Bulls won the first game after returning to their home court. The average score difference is 3 to 89, which is a standard Eastern Conference playoff game.

The same was true for tonight's game. After the game started at 6:, we went straight into a desperate defensive mode.

Ben Wallace struck hard against his old club, pressing the defense at close range, moving back to the basket to block shots, and getting steals and blocks in abundance.

The Pistons' perimeter defense also made things difficult for Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng. The three of them had an average shooting percentage of less than 3% in the first three games.

The two teams were evenly matched. With less than a minute left, the Bulls led the Pistons by 1 point, 77 to 76. Seeing that the second home court was about to be defended, Billups made a three-pointer against Hinrich and reversed the score to 1 to 2.

Hinrich was also tough at the critical moment. He turned around and rushed to the basket to score 2+1, overtaking the score again with 80 to 79.

But in the last 6 seconds, Billups stepped back and hit a three-pointer against Hinrich, winning the game at the buzzer!

82 to 80, the Pistons defeated the Bulls and took a 3-1 lead.

At the end of the quarter, Yang Jing and Zhang Chen also came to the living room to watch the live broadcast with their two sons.

After the game, Yang Jing said, "Yang Yang, Billups is so accurate in key shots! Can you beat him?"

Zhang Yang: "It's hard to predict when a player like him will explode. If possible, try not to give him the opportunity to play the key ball. If it comes to the critical moment, you won't know until you play it."

Yang Jing: "Oh, I think you can win. Do you think the Bulls have a chance to come back?"

Zhang Yang: "The possibility is very low. It is difficult to win three games in a row even if we have the strength advantage. We played against the Cavaliers. In Game 3, if Raymond, Emeka, and I failed to score after the Cavaliers had a climax, we might lose. The Bulls are weaker than the Pistons. Billups and Hamilton are in their prime, the most mature and powerful. Hinrich can compete with these two, but Deng and Gordon can't."

Yang Jing: "It's a shame. If the Bulls had come back, our Eastern Conference Finals would have been much easier."

Zhang Yang: "I really want to play against the Pistons to avenge last year's defeat, but it would also be nice to play against the Bulls. Their lineup is overflowing with talent and may not be able to maintain it next season."

Yang Jing: "Are they going to disband? Is it because of salary issues?"

"Ah?" Zhang Yang said casually according to what he remembered would happen, but he didn't expect his mother to pick up the conversation.

Yang Jing: "Big Ben signed a five-year contract. After defeating the defending champion Miami Heat in the first round, Hinrich got a five-year, $5 million contract, and Nocioni got a three-year, $5 million contract. Deng and Gordon are from the 4800 class and are in their contract year next season. They also have potential players like Sweetney and Sefolosha... They can't keep so many talents, right? I saw in the news that the Bulls want to trade young players for superstars. Ray Allen, Yao Ming, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett... are all on the list predicted by the news."

Zhang Yang: "Mom, when did you become so knowledgeable about these things?"

Yang Jing: "This is your job. Of course I have to pay more attention to it. You will know if you read more news."

Zhang Yang: "Oh..."

The two chatted for a while, and then the second live broadcast began, Game 4 between the Spurs and the Suns.

The Spurs are currently leading 2-1. After taking advantage of the home court in G1, they wanted to replicate their G2 style of play in G1, but were beaten by Gentry.

D'Antoni let Gentry take over coaching and used the same lineup that was used against the Bobcats in the regular season - Nash, Raja Bell, Marion, Kurt Thomas, and Dio were the main players, while Barbosa and Stoudemire played in the rotation and scored points.

The Suns' lineup was unable to defend against Duncan, who scored 20 points on 12 of 29 shots and continued to beat the Suns' frontcourt.

但吉诺比利被拉加-贝尔防得9投3中只拿到6分，帕克被迪奥顶防、马里昂或科特-托马斯补防搞得14投5中只拿到13分。

纳什20分16助攻、斯塔德迈尔27分、巴博萨18分，太阳队靠着防守以101比85爆锤马刺队。G3马刺队回到主场打太阳队，还是被压着打。

At the end of the third quarter, the Spurs were 75 points behind the Suns at 82 to 7, and Popovich was almost in despair.

但到了末节，前三节12投4中的吉诺比利，末节8投7中拿到15分，率领马刺队单节轰出33分。

The Suns couldn't defend, so there was no defensive counterattack. This main lineup couldn't play a positional battle. They forced a fast break because Barbosa and Little King were not there. They only scored 19 points in the final quarter. The Spurs reversed the situation in the final quarter and held on to the home advantage with 108 to 101.

In Zhang Yang's memory, the Suns did have an advantage in strength in this series, but before watching the game report and the live broadcast, he did not expect that the Suns gained this advantage through defense.

Tonight, the Suns did not change their style of play because of the reversal in G3. D'Antoni firmly implemented Gentry's tactical strategy and sought an alternative offense and defense.

This year's Suns team is really beyond Popovich's ability. He can't think of a way to deal with it and can only rely on the troika.

But unfortunately, Yao Dao failed to soar again tonight, scoring only 14 points with 3 of 10 shots.

With 24 seconds left, the Suns led the Spurs by 104 points, 95 to 9, and still had the ball. The Yaodao just missed his 11th shot of the night, and the Suns secured the victory.

Just when the commentator was saying that the Suns were going to do a 'gentleman sweep' of the Spurs this year, Robert Horry suddenly rushed towards Nash who was advancing after receiving the ball. Nash thought that the opponent was going to steal the ball, so he leaned sideways to protect the ball... but Horry, who was using a rugby impact move, hit him and sent him flying, and when he fell down, he fell on the technical table.

Stoudemire, Dio, Bell, Kurt Thomas and a group of people rushed forward, and Nash, with a bloody nose, also climbed up and rushed forward... but there was no conflict. Horry hid behind the crowd. The Spurs' No. 21 player who went to stop the people did not fight back after being beaten, and even opened his hands to increase the area of ​​​​the beating.

After the referee separated the two teams, he executed the penalty. Horry, Stoudemire and Dio were sent off, and Kurt Thomas, Bell and Nash received technical fouls.

Zhang Yang said "Oh wow" when he saw this. "I reminded the Son of Wind to be careful... But it's also true. It's said that a thief can steal for a thousand days, but you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days. Bowen's black feet are easy to avoid, but Horry's actions, which are just for fighting, are hard to predict."

Yang Jing: "How come only one player from the Spurs team was punished, while all five players from the Suns team were punished?"

Zhang Yang: "Duncan blocked his teammates behind his back and would rather be beaten than let his teammates fight back. According to the rules, the Suns should have received more punishment."

Yang Jing: "Too despicable..."

Zhang Yang: "Yeah, all those who study psychology are dirty..."

The final score was 104 to 98, and the Suns defeated the Spurs by 6 points to regain the home-court advantage, but Zhang Yang knew that the Suns' playoffs were over. Stoudemire and Dio's fists rained down on Duncan, and it was impossible not to ban him.

He estimated that Duncan definitely did not intend to commit a flagrant foul, otherwise he would have enough conditions to do bad things in the interior, and could have been dirtier than Malone. But after this happened, Duncan calmly made an operation to maximize his benefits...

...

Another series, the one between the Warriors, the miracle makers of the black eight, and the Jazz, attracted a lot of attention at the beginning, but there was no suspense after two games.

G1爵士队116比112飙赢了勇士队，G2爵士队127比117再胜，G3勇士队虽然以125比105扳回一城，G4爵士队就以115比101把大比分打成3比1，锁定胜局。

The Warriors' frontcourt defense is only suitable for defending Nowitzki, and it is not suitable for defending Boozer at all. Boozer averaged 4 of 14 shots in 9 games, with a hit rate of over 60%.

After being beaten by Yao Ming in the first round, Okur stood up in this round, averaging 51.7 points and 17 rebounds per game with a shooting percentage of 10%.

In the first round against Yao Ming, Okur only shot 35% and 27% from three-point range, and was called a "Turkish softie" in the United States. The American media ranked the team as a "European softie lineup", with Okur and Nowitzki as the starting twin towers.

But facing the Warriors' inside line, Okur was the absolute boss. He blasted Biedrins on the offensive end and blocked Biedrins's defense under the basket.

When Zhang Yang saw the series data comparison between Yao Ming's 25.3 points per game in the first round and Okur's 11 points and 8 rebounds per game, he couldn't understand why there was a rumor in China that Yao Ming was restrained by Okur?

If even Yao Ming could restrain himself, would the Jazz have to fall behind 0-2 to turn the game around against the Rockets? Whether the Jazz can win depends on the physical strength of Yao and McGrady. If they are in good physical condition and can shoot accurately, the Jazz will have no way to stop them. But if they have physical problems and cannot shoot accurately, the Rockets will have no way to stop them either.

After a day of rest, on May 5, the Bobcats began preparing for the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Bobcats coaching staff and players have no control over what's happening in the West. They can just watch the fun and curse Horry and Popovich. In the East, they have already determined that their opponent is the Pistons, and they are certain that the Bulls do not have the ability to win three games in a row against the Pistons.

Not to mention the Bulls, even if they were asked to play against the Pistons when they were trailing 1-3, they could only fight hard with desperation.

At noon, the Bobcats received good news—several players won awards!
The league announced the best team awards.

Players' Best Team:
Nash, Kobe, Nowitzki, Duncan and Stoudemire were selected for the first team.

Zhang Yang, McGrady, James, Bosh and Yao Ming were selected for the second team.

Wade, Arenas, Anthony, Garnett and Okafor were selected to the third team.

Best defensive team:
Kobe, Raja Bell, Bowen, Duncan and Camby were selected to the first team.

Hinrich, Kidd, Gerald Wallace, Garnett and Ben Wallace were selected to the second team.

All-Rookie Team:

Rondo, Roy, Rudy Gay, Aldridge, Garbajosa and Bargnani were selected to the first team, with Garbajosa and Aldridge tied for the vote.

Randy Foye, Craig Smith, Millsap, Adam Morrison and Terrence Thomas were selected to the second team.

Zhang Yang was a little surprised when he saw the list of winners.

It was certain that he would be selected into the best team, but I didn't expect him to be selected into the second team.

Since Wade was absent too many times and the team just made it to the playoffs, there was nothing wrong with him being so busy, but Arenas played 74 games, averaging 29 points, 4.6 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.6 steals... The record was still greatly affected. Arenas' personal performance was not at Kobe's level where he could dominate the team regardless of the record. In March and April, Kobe rushed from third to first in the scoring list, and Arenas was completely unable to hold on.

That is to say, Zhang San was able to defeat the general and enter the second formation with the help of the blacksmith... Thank you, buddy!

Okafor was put at the center position, which was considered a favor from the league. If he went to the forward position, he would probably not be able to compete with Anthony and Garnett, let alone Nowitzki, Duncan, James, and Bosh. Only by going to the center position would he have a chance to be selected into the best team while Big Ben is getting old.

It’s not that Okafor is not good enough, it’s just that this is the golden age of the forward line.

Gerald Wallace was selected to the second defense after playing only 60 games, and his defensive performance was highly recognized.

But compared to this, Yao Ming's side is really exaggerated - he played 48 games, averaged 25 points per game, was selected to the second team, and made history!

In NBA history, even in the 72s when there were only 50 games in a season, there has never been an All-NBA player with fewer than 50 appearances.

The closest was Pete Maravich, nicknamed the Pistol, who played 77 games in the 78-50 season and was selected to the second team.

That night, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace and Okafor treated us to dinner.

However, Zhang Yang was only responsible for sharing one-third of his teammates' expenses. Felton sent him home and said, "You can't drink, so it's no fun to take you there..."

(End of this chapter)