"Do you like to play the Spurs or the Suns?"

The Lakers are preparing for the semi-finals of the division. After the training class that day, Sun Hao and O'Neal sat together and chatted again.

"Spurs."

O'Neal gave his own answer.

Sun Hao gave him a puzzled look.

"For the Suns, the inside is more comfortable than the Nuggets."

Sun Hao continued.

In order to be fast, the Suns directly let Stoudemire play center.

Don’t think that Stodmeier is nicknamed “Little Overlord”. He sounds more domineering than “Little Emperor”, but his defense is diarrhea.

If the Suns really use him to play center against the Lakers, then there is only one sentence to describe that scene: I beat you out, press you into the shit, and finally hit you with your shit!

And even if the Suns don't have Stoudemire to play center, no one in the Suns can withstand O'Neal.

Steven Hunter, Jack Voscoul... These names that you may not have heard of before are much worse than the Nuggets' three major inside players.

"No, I don't want to run around with them, that's too tired."

But O'Neal's words were very real.

Even if the Lakers have the strength to beat the Suns, they will not be able to score the ball in every round of the game.

When you can't make it, you have to follow the Suns to run back and forth at high speed.

That intensity is much more than Phil Jackson asked him to train.

After confirming his eyes, this guy is a complete "lazy guy".

So in comparison, he is more willing to play against the Spurs, who like to play positional battles.

Moreover, O'Neal's subsequent words made Sun Hao unable to refute.

"It's the same with anyone, Darrell Stoudemire and Tim Duncan, it's not much different for me."

There is no difference between Stoudemire and Duncan. The only one in the NBA dares to speak like this is probably O'Neal!

"But the two guys on the San Antonio outside have become much stronger, and the subsequent games will not be so easy to play."

After O'Neal pretended to be a pussy, he added seriously.

The words he said in the first round will make people feel a little blind and arrogant at first.

But in fact, this guy is smart.

He was able to say that because he knew that the strength of the two sides was very different, so he said it, and there was no such thing as being slapped in the face.

But the Spurs are different. He knows that despising such an opponent is digging his own grave.

All of this has to start with the 1995 finals.

He will remember his experience of defeating Michael Jordan in the finals that year but being swept by Houston.

After hearing this, Sun Hao nodded seriously.

O'Neal thought so, he would be relieved.

When Phil Jackson said before that the Suns had a chance, he felt that it was not completely impossible.

But it turns out that this Spurs is stronger than everyone else.

The Lakers, even though he and O'Neal have advantages in their two-point matchups, there is still no possibility of an easy victory.

As the media exaggeratedly reported, this is a collision of galaxies within the Milky Way.

As for who will win in the end, no one knows.

And for Sun Hao, the Spurs are also his most familiar opponent.

In the first few years of his career, he has been fighting with the Spurs.

Now that I am in my first year as the Lakers, I meet again.

Well, it was either Duncan saying to him that "the future is yours", or he was the first to say to Duncan that "now is mine" to the game.

It will certainly be very exciting.

...

Two days later, under the high expectations of fans, the Wizards and Celtics in the East, and the Lakers and Spurs in the West officially started.

Like before, the East is earlier and the game is also held earlier.

The Wizards and the Celtics are old enemies, plus Yao Ming and Gasol, the two top inside players in the same class, and their experiences are many highlights.

However, it can be clearly felt during the game that the Wizards' strength is better than the Celtics.

In the end, the Wizards played an advantage from building the game to winning the game in the end.

97 to 81, although the Wizards' style of playing under Jeff Van Gundy's guidance lacks viewing, the players perform their own duties and their strength is not bad.

In history, the Houston team under Van Gundy's rule has always been a team in the ranks of championship competition.

However, the team has not found a capable role player in those years. After finding Yao Mai, they were injured one after another, so they did not achieve results in the end.

Now history has changed, Yao and Mac are still there, but they are surrounded by high-quality role players such as Hamilton, Lafrenz, Alexander, etc.

Just as fans expect from the All-Star Game, this year's Finals really have the chance to stage a Wizards vs. Lakers.

That's exciting.

Of course, that's just the fans' expectations. At least in the West, the Lakers still have a lot of unknowns to pass the Spurs.

The first game of the series was still played at Staples Center.

The Lakers ranked first in the Western Conference and first in the league. They have a home advantage over all teams in the playoffs.

Staples Center, the attendance rate is overwhelming.

After sweeping the Nuggets, Los Angeles fans' expectations for the Lakers also soared.

Although they are facing the strong team Spurs, they are still full of confidence in the team.

Including Lakers boss Bass, he also came to the scene!

Bass said he wanted to go to the scene to watch Sun Hao play basketball again. He hadn't come before his physical discomfort. He came on such an important occasion as the opening match of the semi-finals!

During the warm-up before the game, the photographer on the scene gave Old Bass shots in the box, which caused cheers to burst into tears.

Including the Lakers players on the field, they felt very inspired after seeing this scene.

After the opening ceremony, the starters of the two teams appeared one after another.

The Spurs, Parker and Ginobili on the outside, Bowen and Duncan on the front line, and center Rasu Nestrovic on the front line.

Ginobili has been playing in the starting lineup this season, and Popovich has not made any adjustments in the playoffs.

Nestrovic was the starting center of the Timberwolves.

After playing his career-highest performance with the Timberwolves last season, he was recruited by the Spurs last summer with a 6-year, 42 million contract.

On the Lakers, Phil Jackson continued to use the starting lineup in the playoffs, but the difference is that Finley played the small forward tonight and Christie played the shooting guard.

The intention of this adjustment is clear, it is to let Christie compete with Ginobili.

Christie's first match with the Lakers was the Spurs, and his defense against Ginobili was also very good in that game.

So although this adjustment is small, it also makes fans look forward to the game more.

There is a small detail before the game begins.

In the past two games, Parker, Sun Hao's little fan, would come over to say hello.

But he didn't do that today.

I don’t know if it was the dunk that made Parker have a little temper during the All-Star Game.

The game began soon, and the two teams started. O'Neal pushed Nestrovic and pushed the ball back to the Lakers' half, officially kicking off the game.

Like the previous first round play style, the Lakers played O'Neal first as soon as they came out.

After Sun Hao hung the ball in, O'Neal directly hit Nestrovic with his back.

Nestrovic is a Slovenian, with outstanding height and arm span and excellent confrontation.

Spurs fans affectionately called him "Daine" at this time, and believed that he was the most suitable inside player to partner with Duncan in addition to "Admiral" David Robinson.

In fact, Nestrovic's confrontation is indeed possible, a typical big white bear.

"Bang!"

The two of them made a muffled sound in the first confrontation, which was a complete power duel.

Then...Nestrovic was pushed back with a big step.

It is obvious that although Spurs fans have high expectations, he still doesn't have enough viewing in front of the "playoff shark".

In fact, in the current league, the one-on-one that can withstand him slightly in front of him may not be able to find a third one except Yao Ming and Danpier.
To be continued...