Capítulo 1197: Chapter 489: Youngest MVP in History!

In the last two games, Philip Saunders chose to focus on defense, which was a good attempt, but it didn’t pay off. The Mavericks’ team depth is better than the Lakers, but in terms of intensity, it seems a bit weak compared to Kidd+Kobe+Garnett+two centers. Depth couldn’t beat quality.

With the first round complete, the Jazz, Lakers, Nuggets, Grizzlies, Bobcats, Cavaliers, Bulls, and Hawks advanced to the second round!

…

On May 8th, the first game day of the second round arrived.

This round of playoffs offers more highlights than the first.

The Jazz, who completed a black eight, are receiving more attention than the 07 Warriors. They are a 50-win team, theoretically capable of winning the championship. The Nets and Pistons, who made it to the Finals from 2002 to 2005, were also merely 50-win teams. The term ‘wild west’ emerged because, for three years, every team in the Western Conference playoffs had a theoretical chance to win the championship.

The Jazz have already taken down the top seed in the West, eliminated the fourth-seeded Grizzlies, and could potentially knock out the second or third seed to advance to the Finals in one go! The Knicks did it in ’99!

Lakers vs. Nuggets, Kobe facing off against his peers Iverson and Ray Allen, is highly anticipated!

Fans couldn’t have expected that it would take until the 10th year of the NBA for the showdown of the 1996 golden generation to hit its peak. Starting from the 05-06 season with Kobe vs. Nash, up to this season, there have been straight playoff showdowns for four consecutive years involving superstars from the ’96 class.

13 years have passed, and many fans who started following the NBA with the ’96 class have gone from being young teenagers to scruffy uncles, but in recent years, they’ve felt their passion reignite.

Cavaliers vs. Bulls, with James and Yao Ming involved, there’s no shortage of attention.

But ultimately, public opinion generally believes that the Cavaliers will have a tough time. James has faced Yao Ming 22 times in his career and has won only enough times to count on one hand, while the Bulls, who performed mediocrely the entire regular season, had a highlight performance after the All-Star weekend and have already taken down the Magic in a strong playoff showing.

The Bulls have Luol Deng on the outside and Yao Ming on the inside, and even most fans of the Cavaliers logically feel pessimistic about this series.

After the Bulls’ upset over the Magic to advance to the second round, some LeBron fans indifferent to Cleveland have called for James to head west.

There are three players in the league who have consistently restrained James. Felton hasn’t lost to James since entering the NBA, Howard has a 5-2 record against James since hitting his peak last season, and Yao Ming holds a 17-5 record against James…

These three guys are all in the East!

Some fans have expressed that if these three were in the West, it would be the Cavaliers winning 70 games this season. The Cavaliers lost 9 out of 11 games against these three teams in the regular season. Adding these 9 games, James could have equaled Jordan’s historic 72-win record.

However, today, the hottest topic of discussion isn’t any of these three intriguing series but rather the less anticipated Bobcats vs. Hawks.

The three youths vs. three stars matchup has some points of interest and creates some buzz, but it clearly can’t compare to the other three series.

The sole reason this series has become the biggest hot topic before the second round starts is the impending ceremony for the youngest MVP in history!

The past few days, this matter didn’t receive much heat due to Duncan, Paul, and Wade being too ‘hot,’ even Bobcats fans went to join in the buzz. Once the first round was entirely over, it kind of put a ‘period’ on all first-round matters in the fans’ minds. With the MVP award ceremony around the corner, didn’t the excitement just rise?

As for Rookie of the Year and DPOY… the two are currently paying tribute to the Silver Horned King.

Zhang San: The fans still love me.

Silver Horned King: Can you answer if I call your name?

At night, after a full 6 rest days, the Bobcats finally welcomed their second round of the playoffs.

At 7:30, Tuhang Stadium, the Hawks and Bobcats entered one after another.

The entry time was 10 minutes earlier than usual, but it still wasn’t enough!

The award ceremony was quick, the live broadcast was by Court Sports, and the interview content was scripted official Q&A. The group photo of Zhang Yang with family, teammates, and team staff was arranged in the morning… The main delay was the lengthy 10-minute speech by the flamboyant Boss Qiao, which could also be considered as showing off.

Both the player and owner flourished, winning the championship, with the team only in its 5th year, having already won two Best Coach awards, one Best Manager, Scoring King, MVP, and even 70 wins… How could Qiao Tu not be smug?

Regarding the owner’s forceful stealing of the spotlight, Zhang San chose to endure it… Just tonight and the two home games the day after tomorrow, a total of 16 first and second-row tickets, not even considering resale tickets, fetched a face value of 290,000 US dollars, and just cashing this stack of money at the bank would take more than 10 minutes.

After the group photo, with the award ceremony over, the Hawks players entered the court to congratulate Zhang Yang.

Hawks’ three stars… no, make that four stars. Horford averaged 10.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.5 blocks in the six games of the first round against the Celtics, although his 42% shooting was lacking, but it was decent considering the strong Celtics’ frontcourt. He further proved his All-Star potential and is considered the fourth-best power forward in the East, after Bosh, Al Jefferson, and Okafor.

Among the four stars, Bibby and Joe Johnson have moved past the phase of constantly comparing themselves to others. Both have had experiences leading their teams individually and have acknowledged that they lack the abilities of Kobe or Wade. They have even let go of their pursuit of personal stats. Bibby averaged 21+6 before joining the Hawks but has now dropped to 15+7; Joe Johnson averaged 25 points before the formation of the big three perimeter stars and now averages 18.8 points… Although their congratulations might be superficial, without much sincerity, there’s no envy or jealousy, for this award has never been of any concern to them.