As a Kobe hater, he was actually teammates with Kobe!

The Lakers swept the Denver Nuggets 4-1 and advanced to the next round.

They are the fastest group to qualify among the four groups in the Western Conference.

The results of the other three groups are as follows:

Dallas Mavericks (2): Golden State Warriors (3)

Phoenix Suns (3): Houston Rockets (1)

San Antonio Spurs (3): Utah Jazz (1)

No one would have thought that Dirk Nowitzki, who had the best record in the league and won the MVP award, might be eliminated by the Warriors in the eighth round.

The Lakers' next opponent will be selected from the Suns and Rockets.

For now, the Rockets are struggling to withstand the Phoenix Suns, who are bombarding the team.

...

...

There is still some time until the Western Conference semifinals of the playoffs.

During this period, Zhou Ze was not idle, but his training became more and more diligent.

The content of the training is - [Finishing at the basket].

Whether it's a layup after a breakthrough or a finish after a domineering elbow turn...

Any finish that wasn't a slam dunk would make the fans "thrilled".

Especially now that it is the playoffs, the standards for refereeing have become more relaxed, and the referees will turn a blind eye to many minor fouls.

Zhou Ze’s current layups: 85 (107).

Standing close-range shots: 68 (111).

Both of these attributes have great potential to be tapped.

The training effect is naturally visible to the blind.

...

...

The next day.

The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Utah Jazz and won Game 6, successfully advancing to the Western Conference semifinals and becoming the second team to qualify.

But there was an unexpected event in the game between the Suns and the Rockets. Yao Ming scored 41 points and 15 rebounds, narrowly defeating the Phoenix Suns and tying the score to 2-3.

However, Rockets fans were not happy.

The key factor in winning this game is mainly because the Suns' outside shooting is extremely strong.

In addition, in the next game G6, the Suns still have the match point.

Two more days passed.

Game 6 between the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors kicked off at Oracle Arena.

This is a game that has attracted nationwide attention.

The Mavericks, the top team in the league, were forced into a desperate situation by the Warriors.

What was even more surprising to everyone was that in the end, the Warriors defeated the Mavericks and completed an epic black eight miracle.

Ranked first in the league.

MVP Dirk Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks were eliminated in the first round.

Mark Cuban could no longer laugh after hearing the news.

Before the series started, he threatened that he would not meet Los Angeles in the Western Conference Finals this year, and his words came true.

They were eliminated early and will never meet again.

Dirk Nowitzki's face looked frighteningly ugly during a media interview, as if he had encountered the Silver Horned King of Taishang Laojun: "I put too much pressure on myself, so when I feel that my condition is not meeting my expectations, I will completely lose the rhythm of the game, which makes the situation worse."

After watching this interview video, Zhou Ze couldn't help but feel sorry for King Nuo.

...

...

Another 2 days passed.

The Game 6 battle between the Rockets and the Suns also came to an end.

With two seconds left in the game, the Rockets trailed the Suns by three points, 2-96. Yao Ming took the free throw line, made his first, and then used the rebound of the second free throw to pass to teammate McGrady, who missed the three-pointer.

The timer lights up!

The scoreboard still shows 96:99.

McGrady couldn't help but kneel on one knee, and his slender back gave people an infinite sense of ending.

Although McGrady scored 36 points in this game, he missed the final buzzer-beater.

As a result, the Suns, who defeated the Rockets 4-2, will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round, which is the second round of the Western Conference.

Last year, the Suns eliminated the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals and successfully entered the finals.

The media has created a sense of fateful confrontation between the two teams.

"Who! Is the strongest beast inside!"

《Amar'e Stoudemire vs. Zhou Ze, the second game of the playoffs! 》

"Can the Lakers avenge their previous defeat?"

"Can Amare, who has completed his second evolution this season, avenge Zhou Ze?"

Although the Suns won last season's Western Conference Finals, Stoudemire's individual player statistics and impact on the game were inferior to Zhou Ze's. After the finals loss to the Heat, even many local Phoenix fans believed that replacing Stoudemire with Zhou Ze would definitely defeat the Heat.

Holding his breath and working hard, Amar'e Stoudemire trained hard during the offseason. This season, he was not only selected as a starter for the Western Conference All-Star team, but also made it to the second team of the All-NBA Team.

After defeating the Rockets, Amar'e Stoudemire declared to reporters and media, "There's an old Chinese saying, 'When you've been away for three days, you should look at them with new eyes.' This time, not only will we eliminate them like we did last year, but I'm going to kick Zhou's ass!"

Some new reporters were surprised that Stoudemire could quote from classics.

But for veteran reporters, it seems quite normal.

Many famous American people quote famous Chinese people.

The Western Conference semifinals haven't started yet, but the atmosphere is already tense, making the surrounding media reporters as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

...

...

Zhou Ze not only read Amare Stoudemire's remarks, he even downloaded them.

to be honest...

In the first round series against the Nuggets, after Game 3, Marcus Camby was relatively quiet when facing himself on the court, even a little flattering.

Zhou Ze doesn't like it!

Zhou Ze still likes his opponents to act rebellious.

In addition, there has been considerable progress in the training of finishing at the basket during this period.

Breakthrough layup +3, improved to 88 (107).

Close-range shots from standing position +4, increased to 72 (111).

In addition, [Post-Mount Spin Technician (Bronze)] only needs 1900 successful spin passes to be promoted to Silver level.

At the current pace, if the Suns can hold on to Game 6 of the series, they will be able to witness the silver-grade [Post-Up Spin Technician].

...

...

The Western Conference semifinals begin.

The Los Angeles Lakers, second in the Western Conference, vs. the Phoenix Suns, third in the Western Conference.

By the way, after the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated in the upset, the direct beneficiary was the San Antonio Spurs, who are fourth in the Western Conference, but the Los Angeles Lakers also benefited from it. In subsequent games, the Lakers will enjoy home-court advantage no matter who they play against.

STAPLES Arena!

The starting lineup of both parties:

Suns: Steve Nash, Raja Bell, James Jones, Shawn Marion and Amar'e Stoudemire.

Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Zhou Ze and Kwame Brown.

There is basically no difference from the regular season lineup.

The jump ball after the start of the game was conducted by Zhou Ze and Stoudemire.

To be honest, Zhou Ze rarely goes for jump ball, and he did it on a whim tonight.

"drop!"

The whistle sounded and the basketball was thrown high into the air by the referee. Zhou Ze and Stoudemire jumped almost at the same time. Both of them had amazing jumping speeds, but in the end Zhou Ze was more skilled and was the first to catch the basketball at a height exceeding half of his palm.