NBA: LeBron James wants to team up with me

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In the first round of the playoffs, the lineups for the Eastern and Western Conferences were determined.

In the East: Bulls vs. Magic, Heat vs. 76ers, Celtics vs. Knicks, Pacers vs. Hawks.

In the West: Spurs vs. Jazz, Lakers vs. Mavericks, Thunder vs. Nuggets, and Rockets vs. Clippers.

Among these matchups, the ones with the least suspense are undoubtedly Bulls vs. Magic, Heat vs. 76ers, and Lakers vs. Mavericks.

There's no way around it—these teams, with the best regular season records in the league, have a huge disparity in strength against their opponents.

Take, for instance, the Bulls' first-round opponent, the Orlando Magic, who have a standout center in Andrew Bynum.

However, there's one thing to note: Although Bynum averaged a double-double with 20+11 per game in the regular season, Gasol isn't necessarily inferior if he faces him head-to-head on the court.

Just in terms of weight, Gasol's 120 kilograms won't be completely overwhelmed by Bynum's 129 kilograms. Even if Gasol can't prevent Bynum's internal attack, he can still wear him down physically.

The Magic, who failed to gain an advantage in the center position, had no chance against the Bulls.

This turned out to be true.

Facing the Magic, the Bulls showed no mercy, winning 4-0 in a clean sweep to advance.

The strength gap in this series was too great, so the Bulls didn't have to play seriously. Wang Chong, Jeremy Lin, Garnett, and other players were all playing hard.

Even so, the Bulls led by more than double digits in every game. The games were relaxed and flowed easily, even more so than in the regular season.

The current problems of the Magic team are truly enormous, and their weaknesses are glaring. In the past, they relied solely on interior defense supported by Howard. Now, that position has been replaced by Bynum. While Bynum is not much worse than Howard, defensively, they are not even in the same league. As a heavy center, Bynum is slow and clumsy. He just can't help defend and support the entire team as flexibly as Howard could.

After easily advancing in the first round, the Bulls would face slightly tougher competition in the second round.

The battle between the fourth and fifth seeds in the East, the Indiana Pacers vs. the Atlanta Hawks, ended with the Pacers defeating the Hawks in a tiebreaker 4-3.

The Pacers, currently, are not much different from how Wang Chong remembered them. The team's key starters include point guard George Hill, shooting guard Paul George, small forward Danny Granger, power forward David West, and center Roy Hibbert.

Although Paul George hasn't yet emerged in the 2011-12 season, with only 12+5+2 averages per game, Danny Granger, who hasn't been injured yet, is still able to contribute as the team's primary scorer, averaging 18.7 points per game.

The overall strength of the Pacers is certainly not weak and only lags behind the top three teams in the East: the Bulls, Heat, and Celtics.

But in comparison to other matchups in the East, the Pacers are already the best opponent.

The Heat and the Celtics, on the other hand, easily defeated their respective opponents.

The Heat faced the Philadelphia 76ers and eliminated them easily, 4-1, to advance.

The Celtics encountered some problems against the Knicks in the playoffs. Although Stoudemire was still making his usual mistakes, Rose and Anthony's explosive strength should not be underestimated.

The Celtics lost two games due to slight errors, but the difference in strength still allowed them to defeat the Knicks 4-2 and advance to the second round.

It's worth mentioning that Rose got lucky. He was supposed to get injured in the first round of the 2011-12 season against the 76ers, but this time he avoided injury during the playoffs. As a result, he can remain healthy for the next season and continue to compete in the NBA. Though Rose doesn't have the title of youngest MVP due to Wang Chong, it would be a blessing in disguise if his peak years could last a few more seasons.

The result of the first round led to the second round. The Heat and Celtics met head-to-head. The two Eastern Conference giants were forced into a battle. In contrast, the Bulls found it much easier to face the Pacers.

During the first round of games, the league also announced the results of the All-NBA team selections for this season.

Compared to the past two years, this year's All-NBA selections have changed significantly.

First, the positions for center Howard, forward Wang Chong, and James were as stable as Mount Tai, with no changes.

As for the point guard position, Kobe and Paul had been selected to the first team in the last two years.

But this year, things were obviously different. Paul, Kobe, and Howard were all on the Lakers at the same time, making it impossible for all three to be selected for the All-NBA team, especially since the Lakers only had the second-best record in the West and the third-best in the league.

Therefore, the league chose to allow Kobe, who averaged 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists per game, to continue being selected to the first All-NBA team, while Paul was chosen for the second All-NBA team. The point guard position went to Spurs' Tony Parker.

As one of only two teams with 50 wins in the league, Parker performed well as the core of the Spurs' offense this season, averaging 18.3 points, 3 rebounds, and 7.7 assists per game, with a 48% shooting percentage.

It's just that those stats are still a bit too ridiculous to warrant selection for the first team. After all, Paul, who fell to the second team, averaged 18 points, 10 assists, and 2.5 steals per game this season. His stats are much more impressive than Parker's.

Additionally, Westbrook of the Thunder and Rose of the Knicks had good individual performances, but their team records were slightly inferior, making them less deserving than Parker. In fact, anyone with a keen eye knows what the excellent record of the Spurs is really linked to: the overall strength of the Spurs and Coach Popovich's technical level.

It's not that Parker didn't contribute, it's just that if he were replaced by any of the point guards mentioned above, the Spurs would either be stronger or weaker.

As a result, when fans learned that Tony Parker was selected for the first All-NBA team, many expressed great dissatisfaction with the results.

But there was nothing the league could do. What should we do? We can't let Howard, Kobe, and Paul all be selected for the All-NBA team, right? Three players from one team selected for the first team? Looking at history, this has never happened before, and certainly not when the Lakers only had the third-best regular season record in the league.

The five players selected for the second team include Westbrook, Durant, Griffin, and Bynum, in addition to Paul, who was dropped from the first team.

This list is not controversial. Both Griffin and Bynum are interior players who can average 20+10 points per game in the regular season. Not to mention Durant, who averages 28 points per game and leads the league in scoring. He wasn't selected for the first team because it was firmly occupied by Wang Chong and James, leaving him without a chance.

The third-best team list includes Rose, Wade, Nowitzki, Anthony, and Yao Ming.

Rondo became the biggest victim. Initially, in the 2011-12 season, Rose only played 39 games due to injury, which prevented him from participating in the All-NBA selection. But Rose, now with the Knicks, had a better attendance rate during the regular season, playing more than 50 games, allowing him to be part of the selection, pushing Rondo out.

The same happened with Yao Ming. His participation rate wasn't high, but he still played 51 games. He also knocked out Tyson Chandler, who should have been selected for the third team, despite averaging 11 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

Compared to the All-NBA team, the All-Defensive Team is relatively less controversial.

Howard, Wang Chong, and James continue to occupy the top defense spots at center and forward. In the guard positions, Chris Paul and Tony Allen were selected for the first defensive team.

The second defensive team includes Rajon Rondo, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Serge Ibaka, and Tyson Chandler.

One notable mention here is Ibaka.

Just like in the original timeline, Ibaka was still selected by the Thunder in 2008. Although the Thunder took Griffin with the first pick in 2009, Ibaka remains the Thunder's primary interior player. After all, Griffin was the first to join the team in the league's inaugural season, while Ibaka was the starting power forward when Griffin suffered an injury that ended his season.

After Griffin returned from injury, Ibaka shifted from the power forward position to center. Though his height is a bit shorter for a center and his weight doesn't match up against traditional heavy centers, there are very few such centers in the league these days.

Ibaka, now playing center for the Thunder, is quite similar to DeAndre Jordan when he was with the Clippers. He formed a twin-tower duo with Griffin and used his shot-blocking ability to help the team.

One thing to note is that Ibaka's shot

-blocking ability is truly top-level. In his prime, when he could run and jump, he averaged an incredible 3.7 blocks per game. Unfortunately, a great shot-blocker doesn't automatically make you a great defender. While Ibaka was selected for the second defensive team, he will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the playoffs. Ibaka and Griffin are tied, and they may not be able to handle Howard.

On May 12, the second round of the playoffs begins.

The Bulls face the Indiana Pacers.

As expected, the game against the Pacers was more difficult than anticipated. At the beginning, the two teams were nearly equal. The Pacers' overall lineup was fairly balanced and blossomed in multiple positions. The teams were tied until the final quarter. The Bulls relied on Wang Chong's explosion in the final quarter, scoring 16 points in just that quarter, leading the Bulls to a successful victory over the Pacers.

Two days later, in the second game of the series, the Bulls, with the experience from the previous match, were in much better shape. They took the initiative at the start of the game, played consistently, and maintained their lead to secure the win.

This victory put the Bulls' record at 2-0, giving them a significant advantage.

However, the Pacers, now back on their home court, fully demonstrated their resilience and toughness. They had a spectacular performance at home, regained the victory, and managed to bring the series score to 2-1.

This wasn't over yet. In the next game, the Pacers caught fire and made 17 out of 25 three-pointers. After another win, the score was tied at 2-2.

It rained all night, and during a play where Jeremy Lin used a pick-and-roll from his teammates to drive into the paint and attack the basket, he made contact with the Pacers' center, Hibbert. After landing, Jeremy Lin fell directly to the ground, clutching his knee in pain.

Wang Chong couldn't help but feel a small pang in his heart when he saw this.

Damn it, whatever was meant to come, was still coming...

No matter how much Jeremy Lin's load was reduced during the regular season, he still couldn't avoid injuries.

There was no way to prevent this. The players themselves didn't have the necessary durability, and no matter how much rest they got, it would be useless, especially in the playoffs, when the intensity of the competition rises, and the probability of injuries increases even more.

The good news after the game was that Jeremy Lin's knee injury wasn't severe, far from the extent of the original meniscus tear.

But the bad news was that, although the injury wasn't serious, Jeremy Lin still needed 4 to 5 weeks of rest. This meant that Jeremy Lin would not only miss all of the Bulls' second-round playoff games but also the upcoming Eastern Conference Finals, unless the Bulls could make it all the way to the Finals. Otherwise, Jeremy Lin would essentially have to forfeit the rest of the season.

By the end of the game, the Chicago fans were left helpless.

All they could say was, bad luck.

Losing three point guards in a season was something no team could afford.

Bulls fans, who had originally had a glimmer of hope that the Bulls could defend their fifth consecutive championship with Jeremy Lin's rise, now knew that their playoff run had likely come to an end.

Even if Wang Chong was strong enough to defeat the Pacers in the second round, the Heat's Big Three and even the Lakers' Big Three were still looming behind him, far stronger.

Wang Chong himself truly understood this.

After all, he hadn't yet reached the level where he could take down the Big Three by himself, especially this season's Heat. With their advanced tactics and the super configuration of the Big Three, their strength was undeniably one of the best.

But still, he had no intention of just sitting back and dying.

Two days later, the Bulls returned to their home court and defeated the Pacers 101-85. In this game, Wang Chong nearly recorded a triple-double with 46 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. A few days later, on May 23, the Bulls defeated the Pacers 92-87 in an away game. They triumphed 4-2, moving ahead to the Eastern Conference Finals.

At the same time, another Eastern Conference series was wrapping up—the Heat and Celtics. The two teams were tied at 3-3, and the deciding game was about to begin.

On May 26, in the seventh playoff game between the Heat and the Celtics, both teams had a fierce battle. In the end, the Heat narrowly defeated the Celtics 101-98 and advanced to the NBA Championship for the second consecutive year. They moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Meanwhile, James finally won the first regular-season MVP trophy of his career. He was so overwhelmed with emotion that he broke down in tears on the court.

It wasn't easy; it really wasn't easy.

In recent years, Wang Chong had monopolized the regular-season MVP award, but there was no way around it—whether through personal stats or team record, Wang Chong's performance was so dominant that no one else stood a chance to compete.

In fact, to be honest, there was no suspense over the MVP race this season. From the perspective of personal stats, Wang Chong averaged 34 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists per game, even better than James' 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists.

As for team records, the Bulls were still number one in the league with a better record than the Heat.

Considering the team's leadership, the Bulls had endured continuous injuries this season. Even with a roster full of injured players, Wang Chong was still able to lead the team to the best record in the Eastern Conference, and he truly deserved to win the regular-season MVP again.

But neither the league nor Stern could allow Wang Chong to keep winning the regular-season MVP. You see, Wang Chong already had 4 regular-season MVP trophies, just one shy of Jordan's 5. At 27 years old, he still had many years left before reaching his peak.

What Stern wanted was a league where many players could shine, not one where Wang Chong's family dominated for too long. So it was no surprise that there was some manipulation in the MVP voting process.

End of this chapter

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