May 3.

As time goes by, on this day, the match between the Thunder and the Dallas Mavericks Western Conference semi-finals will officially begin.

Before the game started, the entire route center stadium was already full. As a veteran team in the league, the Dallas Mavericks have occupied the Western Conference playoffs for many years under the leadership of star Nowitzki.

In addition, people know that the Mavericks' boss Cuban is a very enthusiastic team fan, so whenever the team has a game in the playoffs, Cuban, as the boss, will definitely come to watch it.

Although the Mavericks only ranked sixth in the Western Conference with 51 wins and 31 losses this season, this is due to the successive injuries of the team's main players in the regular season.

And as the Mavericks who entered the playoffs are in a healthy state, this Dallas Mavericks will become one of the most powerful championship contenders this season.

At least 4-1 was the most domineering response to killing the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs.

Before the game started, players from both sides scored goals and warmed up in their respective halfs. The head coach of the Mavericks this season is Rick Carlisle.

A typical academic coach can be said to be one of the most powerful tactical coaches in the league today.

At the same time, this is also Carlisle's first year of taking over the Mavericks' coach. Although the Mavericks' previous head coach, General Johnson, was still pretty good, the management's patience for him was obviously exhausted.

What's more, although the young general Johnson led the Mavericks to a league-leading record of 67 wins and 15 losses in the past two years, the Mavericks were eventually defeated by the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.

It can be said that this incident is definitely a big black spot in Johnson's coaching career, and it is also the kind of black spot that cannot be erased.

Although the Mavericks have always maintained a place to enter the playoffs under the leadership of General Johnson in those years, Johnson's ability between the regular season and the playoffs has caused many people to question.

In a word, it is like a tiger in the regular season and a rat in the playoffs. The contrast between the front and back is very huge.

It is precisely because of this that the Mavericks' management reluctantly cut off the young general Johnson and hired Carlisle to coach, hoping to achieve the goal of winning the championship by changing coaches.

As a typical figure of an academic coach, Carlisle not only has a very personal bookish fragrance, but most importantly, he also respects players very much on the court.

So for Yang Fan, Carlisle is definitely an excellent coach.

"Rick, we may not be your opponent in this round of the series, so I hope you can start gently after the game and leave me some face in front of so many people."

Before the game, Yang Fan took the initiative to walk to the Mavericks and joked with head coach Carlisle.

After all, Rick Carlisle has always been a very humorous person in front of the media, and often jokes about the head coaches of other teams.

"Don't joke with me here. Jushuai, I want to say in the league which coach is the most popular, so I think no one except you can afford this honor."

"To be honest, I was still thinking about whether to talk to you before the game so that you can let us go, haha."

After chatting with Carlisle on the sidelines for a while, Yang Fan found that Carlisle's personality was more casual than what the media advocated.

When I was joking, I couldn't tell that this was the state a 50-year-old man should be.

Charles Barkley: "Yeah, Yang took the initiative to find the Mavericks coach Rick, and seeing the two of them are currently like this, it seems that they have a very pleasant exchange."

"But I think so, these two guys have relatively casual personalities. If it weren't for the wrong occasion, then I think they would definitely sit down and have a long chat."

Kenny Smith: "At the same time, although Young has been questioned a lot this season, his behaviors are often puzzled."

"But judging from a change in the Thunder this season, Yang must be an excellent coach, so when the outside world is not optimistic about the Thunder, I really want to see if Yang can still create miracles."

"Of course, even if the Thunder loses in this round of the series, this still cannot cover up the Thunder's success this season!!"

As the game is about to begin, both sides announced their starting lineups:

Mavericks:

Kidd, Antoine Wright, Josh Howard, Nowitzki, and Danpier.

Thunder:

Livingston, Stephen Jackson, Durant, Jamison, and Collison.

In this game, the Mavericks continued their regular lineup and did not make any changes in starting.

Jason Terry, the No. 2 scorer of the team, who averaged 19 points per game, was still placed on the bench by Carlisle to play the role of the best sixth man.

And if you should say it or not, Terry is only suitable for playing the sixth man during this period. Otherwise, with his defensive ability, he will basically be beaten when he is in the starting lineup.

The Mavericks' starting second position Antoine Wright is considered unfamiliar to many people, and it can even be said to be an unknown person.

But for fans who like to watch the CBA league, this name is definitely not unfamiliar, and it can even be called a legend and inspirational!!

This season, as the starting shooting guard, Wright averaged 7 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist per game while averaging 23 minutes per game.

In the NBA's view, this data is completely a supporting figure, especially when Wright was the starting player and barely got this data, it also represents that Antoine Wright's personal abilities are very limited.

In fact, Wright's defense on the field is not very good, but he is a person with particularly active defense. It can be said that he is a standard case of hard work and ability to make up for his shortcomings.

On the offensive end, although Wright has the ability to shoot outside the three-point line, most of his shots and the most accurate offensive method are mid-range shooting.

But no matter how you look at it, Antoine Wright is just an inconspicuous small character among many NBA players.

But why Yang Fan remembers this player deeply is because in addition to being an NBA player, Wright is also a CBA celebrity in the Jiangsu team in his previous life!!

And at the same time, Antoine Wright did something that is memorable and worrying in the CBA, and it also touched and admired the Jiangsu team very much.

That was in 2011, Wright, who was still playing for the CBA Jiangsu team, decided to return home after the season to donate kidneys to his seriously ill brother.

Due to frequent drinking and staying up late, Brother Wright's kidneys gradually began to fail, and his condition is currently in danger.

In response to this, Wright did not hesitate to decide to return to the United States immediately after the end of the CBA this season to donate kidneys to save his brother.

That's right, it's just donating kidneys!!

You should know that Wright was only 27 years old that year, and for a professional basketball player, once a kidney is removed, the harm it brings is definitely a major blow to the entire career.

It would not be an exaggeration to even retire on the spot. In the sports circle, there are very few professional players who can return to the arena without kidneys.

Faced with this situation, Wright said: "I can't care about that anymore. That's my brother. Don't worry, after this, I will definitely work hard to recover and then return to my favorite basketball court."

It can be said that at that time, Wright's behavior moved the entire Jiangsu Nangang Team. Even Jiangsu team general manager Wang Min said with great emotion:

"We once defined him as a professional player model, but now we define him as a man who values ​​love and friendship."

"I think this is an intangible wealth he has brought to Nangang. The club will do its best to provide Wright with the best of its ability."

It is precisely because of this that Yang Fan has a very deep impression of this player. Don’t worry about his personal abilities on the court, but Yang Fan respects him as a real man!!

As for whether Jiangsu Nangang has really provided funding to Wright to pay for its original promise since then, Yang Fan naturally doesn't want to say much about this...

In addition, the other players in the starting lineup of the Mavericks can really be called famous!!

First of all, Kidd and Nowitzki are not to mention it, and Josh Howard, who is in the small forward position, can contribute 18 points and 5 rebounds per game this season, and has a balanced offense and defense.

It can be said to be one of the best forward puzzles in the league right now.

As for the last player in the starting lineup, Danpier, the second center in the Western Conference who was even more like O'Neal, who would cry when he heard it, and Yao Ming was heartbroken when he heard it!!

That's right, after the Mavericks provided him with a big contract, Danpier didn't know where he got his confidence. Facing the media interview, he said bluntly that he was the second center in the West!!

And he can also fight with O'Neal. It can be said that this statement is really fresh in memory.

It is worth mentioning that in the new season after Danpier said this, the Mavericks faced the Rockets for the first time, Danpier and Yao Ming directly had a head-on confrontation.

In the end, Yao Ming reluctantly scored 26 points and 12 rebounds on Danpier's head, while Danpier, the second center in the Western Conference, scored 5 points and 7 rebounds in the whole game.

Yao Ming was even more scared by his five fouls, which scared Yao Ming for only 33 minutes of the game and did not dare to stay on the court for an additional minute.

I have to say that Danpiel, the second Western Conference center behind O'Neal, is indeed so terrifying...

For the Thunder, Yang Fan once again made adjustments to the starting lineup in this game. He did not use Westbrook in the starting point guard position, but Livingston instead.

It can be said that although fans still felt puzzled and doubted about Yang Fan's adjustment, after experiencing the previous employment, no one has questioned whether Yang Fan was blind to employing people...

In addition, Yang Fan still uses Collison, who has better experience and more stable in the lower set.

After all, facing the second center in the West, Yang Fan still needs to give the opponent enough attention and give Danpier enough face!!

After the game started, the ball was first obtained by the Mavericks.

In fact, when Collison jumped in the midfield, Yang Fan didn't dare to expect the Thunder to get the first offensive ball.

Because of Collison's bounce ability, Yang Fan felt that even O'Neal and his grandmother could compete with each other.

The Mavericks are offensive, and this season, the Mavericks' core brain on the offensive end is naturally Kidd.

After all, no matter which team Kidd goes to, he is the absolute commander on the court, and there is no doubt about this.

Because speed and strength may decrease with age, but at the age of 30s, the experience and brain on the court have just reached its peak.

Usually, Danpier will fall directly to the low post on the offensive end because he really does not have any independent offensive ability, so he can only try to get to a better position and then grab more offensive rebounds.

This will help the Mavericks complete more attacks. At least not to say it. With this consciousness alone, O'Neal and Yao Ming have to feel ashamed.

As for the task of Wright and Howard, they are even simpler, that is, they are ambushed on the left and right sides respectively, and once they receive a pass from their teammates, they complete mid- and long-distance shooting.

Finally, Kidd beat him up first, and after the transfer, he gave the ball directly to Nowitzki and asked Nowitzki to play singles and shoot. This is the Mavericks' tactic...

Although Kidd doesn't seem to have any sense of existence at first, that's the case.

In fact, Kidd's greatest presence this season is actually his role on the defensive end and his command ability in chaos.

As for his positional warfare, his presence has never been very high. Although Kidd was no longer the "Kid" of the past, he dared to make a shot when facing the opportunity of open positions.

But overall, his offensive ability is still limited. Without Nowitzki, the Mavericks would fall directly to the countdown in the West.

Facing Nowitzki, who has excellent offensive ability, Jamison has struggled on the defensive end.

After all, Jamison's defensive ability is not very good, and facing a top-notch big player like Nowitzki, it is undoubtedly more difficult.
To be continued...