The Godfather of Basketball

The Cavaliers and Pacers took the lead in the Eastern Conference finals. The Pacers played very tenaciously, but James still outperformed Paul George at the critical moment, and the Cavaliers finally won the game 108 to 103.

On the same day, the Warriors beat the Grizzlies 101-86.

After that, the Thunder played against the Clippers and the Nets played against the Wizards in the semifinals.

The Thunder swept the Lakers in the first round, while the Clippers played a tiebreaker with the Spurs. The Thunder had an absolute advantage in both paper and physical strength.

After the game started, Harden's defense was used by Rivers, and the Clippers took a double-digit lead in the first half, which was surprising.

However, the talent of the Thunder team is indeed much stronger. In the second half, Stevens started to use zone defense tactics. Ibaka, Tucker, and Durant guarded the penalty area tightly.

In the end, the Thunder won the Clippers 106-96 and also won the first game of the series.

So far, the three most promising championship favorites have won the opening game one after another. The Nets and Wizards in the last group have not received so much attention.

But for fans in New York and Washington, their much-anticipated game has only just begun.

The Nets ranked eighth in the regular season, which means that all of their series have to start on the road, and the first game of the second round is also played at the Verizon Center in Washington.

The Wizards is the team with the most name changes in the NBA. It has gone through 6 changes, but the name is changing, but the fans' support for this team has never changed.

Located in Washington, the capital of the United States, this team has become the most special existence in the NBA.

The Verizon Center Arena is a new arena that was put into use in 1997. It can accommodate more than 20,000 people and is one of the largest arenas in the NBA.

Tang Tian and the players of the Nets stepped into the arena, and when they looked up, they could see the only championship banner hanging above the arena. It was still in the 77-78 season, and it was created by "Big E" Elvin Hayes. Leading the team to win, the Wizards at the time were still called the Bullets.

During the opening ceremony before the match, a close-up of the flag was also shown in the clip of the large LED screen.

After sweeping the "King of the North" Raptors, the morale of this team is overwhelming, and many fans are already talking about the championship.

"We have Paul Pierce, we have John Wall, we have Brad Beal, we have the most favorable schedule, it's time to bring a new championship banner to Washington."

This was the hottest comment on social media before the game, with tens of thousands of likes.

After the opening ceremony, the starters of both sides appeared one after another.

The Wizards sent a regular lineup, with John Wall and Brad Beal on the outside, Paul Pierce and Nene on the front, and Gortat at center.

For the Nets, Tang Tian adjusted the starting lineup again. He put Joe Johnson in the starting lineup to match up with Pierce. The other positions remained unchanged. Deron and Bogdan Bogdanovic were on the outside, and Bogdan Bogdanovic was on the inside. It's Yi Jianlian and Jokic.

Tang Tian and Wizards coach Whitman shook hands at halftime. When the two walked back to the half court, both starters came to the middle circle and began to jump the ball.

Gortat dialed the ball back to the Wizards half, and the home team got the first chance to attack.

The pick-and-roll coordination between the two wings of the frontcourt.

Whitman's coaching ability is very poor. He has been the head coach for 9 years. Only in the past two years with the Wizards, the team's winning percentage has exceeded half. To sum up the coaching ability, "immovable like a mountain" is a nickname given to him by some fans, but he has some skills in training young players, which is why he stayed.

And it is true that the arrival of Pierce has brought many changes to this Wizards team. For example, the pick-and-roll cooperation is very simple, but because Pierce and Bill both have the ability to catch, shoot and break through, the Nets' defense is stretched.

Wall is a smart academic point guard. After seeing this, he broke through the middle of Deron and killed the basket.

However, he obviously underestimated Deron's ability and got rid of the trouble of synovitis. Deron is now a flexible little fat man. When Wall made a layup with a low hand, he directly blocked him back.

Yi Jianlian flew to save the ball, and the Wizards' first attack came back without success.

Deron moved forward with the ball and handed the ball to Jokic outside the three-point line.

Gortat huddled at the free throw line, which seemed to be the Wizards' tactical choice.

Jokic made a three-pointer directly after seeing it.

"Shua!"

Throwing a direct hollow into the net.

Before the game, Jokic went to the arena to practice three-pointers for two hours in advance, and he quickly entered the state.

The Wizards' offense, the same tactic, but this time Wall passed the ball to Bill who came out of the pocket, and Bill still didn't make a three-pointer from the outside.

In the previous life, DeRozan and Lowry of the Raptors were called "garbage brothers" by some fans because of their poor performance in the playoffs, but in fact, before the Raptors, Wall and Bill of the Wizards performed even worse. Last year, including this year's playoffs so far, the shooting percentage was less than 40%, which is why Pierce can make such a big change.

Jokic got the defensive rebound, Deron dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and gave the ball to Jokic.

Gortat is still huddled at the free throw line, which is playing strictly according to the coach's arrangement.

Jokic was stunned when he saw it, and then made a three-pointer.

"boom!"

This time the shot was a bit heavier, but the arc was very straight. After hitting the rebound, it rebounded and rolled into the net bag.

6 to 0, Jokic felt hot when he came up, and he directly voted high.

Pierce stood up at the critical moment. He received a pass from Wall and hit a layup in the frontcourt, finally breaking the home team's scoring drought.

Looking back, Jokic still fought the three-point line. This time Gortat had to rush out. Jokic played aggressively, and a feint speeded up Gortat to kill the basket, forcing Nene to come over After that, another beautiful shot was given to Yi Jianlian under the basket, and the latter dunked directly with both hands.

There was a commotion among the fans at the scene. Jokic is not a center, he is a defender!

The scene shot was shown to Whitman who sat on the bench on the sidelines, and the latter remained calm, as if nothing happened.

Tang Tian was also a little confused when he saw this. He was a little caught off guard when he suddenly met such an opponent in the first round of fierce confrontation with Budenholzer.

Jokic did not encounter a targeted defense, but was completely opened up.

For the first time since he entered the playoffs, he has fully redeemed his talents in the three-pointers from the outside, organization, and even low-post dislocations and passing.

Driven by Pierce, the Wizards struggled to bite the score, but they were still unable to overtake the score.

In the end, the Nets beat the Wizards 94-81 on the road and won their first win in the series.

Wall and Bill combined for 9 of 33 shots and a total of 26 points. Compared with veteran Pierce's 11 of 15 shots and 26 points and 5 rebounds, it is really distressing.

And Jokic played the best masterpiece of his career, 12 of 20 shots, 4 of 8 three-pointers, 4 of 6 free throws, 32 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

This is a standard "big triple".