The playoffs are coming, the atmosphere in the league is tense, and the players are preparing for the rest except for those who are going on vacation.

As a result, Stern didn't seem to be nervous enough, and at the NBA press conference before the playoffs, when a reporter asked about the start of next season, Stern said: "Now it's basically confirmed, next season will enter a state of suspension, as for when the new season will start, just look at the progress of negotiations between the two sides." ”

The problem now is that the management wants to cut the total salary of the players by almost 40% and minimize the number of guaranteed contracts, which in the eyes of the players is simply a strip of meat from them, and simply let them work for nothing, and pay a fart salary.

Labor and management can't sit together and talk at all, because the bottom line between them is too far apart.

Clippers owner Raheem Sterling didn't think the demands were too much, explaining: "You see, the economy is so bad right now, if we continue to pay players like this, then the team will go bankrupt very quickly, what is that called? So for the sake of the healthy development of the league, I think the players should take the initiative to cut their wages. ”

When Sterling released these words, he simply found himself unhappy, and those players who had nothing to do and failed to make the playoffs rose up to attack.

J.R. Smith, the Nuggets' nerve guard, said angrily: "He wants us to take the initiative to cut wages? Then why don't you let him eat a few less meals on his own? It's good to lose weight and save money at the same time, and you look at his grease look, damn it, that's a typical capitalist bastard posture, do you know why he deducted our wages? Because he didn't think he had eaten enough! ”

Bucks rookie star Jennings also said angrily: "They have no conscience at all, they drive luxury cars and live in luxury houses, but they are unwilling to pay wages to workers, these damn black-hearted bosses!" They don't want to pay, that's okay, I'm going to play in Europe, and there are teams in Europe that are willing to give me money! ”

The coaching staff is the most unhappy with the suspension of labor negotiations next season, especially those who are preparing for the playoffs.

Because of the shutdown problem, the players' hearts are fluctuating, and they are all finding their own way.

You must know that basketball is a youth meal, so you can play it for more than ten years, and if you are injured, you can't play for ten years, it is a standard job to play one year or less for a year, so the stars have to take advantage of the fact that they can still play and hurry up to make money.

The NBA shutdown means that their income has shrunk by at least half, because their salary is calculated based on the number of games, so how can players play well if they are bent on finding a way out?

Nelson Sr. criticized at the playoff press conference: "This kind of terrible thing, don't mess around until the final result comes out." Like someone said the end of the world in 2012, there are constantly experts jumping out to talk about this damn thing, which doesn't help other than add to our panic. ”

Relatively speaking, the Warriors are relatively calm, in the playoffs, they are first in the West, playing a Western eighth, what is there to be nervous about?

The Warriors' eighth opponent in the West is the Hornets.

Many people may find it hard to imagine that the Hornets have also been given the opportunity to participate in the playoffs. In fact, with the strength of the Hornets, they should not appear in the list of the Western Eight Horses.

However, the reality shows that the Hornets received a ticket to the playoffs and became another team in the Southwest Division to enter the playoffs.

And the Hornets' successful model this season boils down to this: the superstar effect. The so-called superstar is naturally Chris Paul.

In fact, after witnessing the superstars move en masse last summer, Paul also had a thought. When resources are becoming more and more concentrated, and big names are more and more fond of getting together, if you are buried in a team like the Hornets, it is equivalent to a pearl dark investment. After all, the Hornets have been trading poorly in the past two years, which has made Paul deeply worried.

However, it is one thing to want to leave, and it is another thing to be able to go, unlike the big names who are free to decide their next home of their own will, Paul, who is under a contract, has to get the approval of the team if he wants to leave.

The Hornets naturally know what Paul means to the whole team, from the management to the coach Monty Williams, who took turns to play with emotion and reason for Queen Bee. After much hesitation, Paul finally made the decision to stay.

In a sense, Paul can be said to have made a difficult decision, after all, in the West where there are many strong players, the Hornets are not enough to watch. In addition to Paul, the other four main players of the Hornets are a generation of iron god Ariza, the Italian former genius Belineri, who has always been depressed, and Howard's former star Okafor, who is now 108,000 miles away, and the only one who can get it is only a quasi-All-Star level West.

As for the bench end, he drew his sword and looked around at a loss......

It's a bit of a bump to hit the playoffs with this kind of power.

But Paul did it, not only did it, but did it quite beautifully. Take a look at the table of Queen Bee this season, averaging 16 points per game 9. 8 assists, at first glance it is not as good as last season, but a lot of it is a big way to achieve the whole team at the expense of the ego.

After all, while the number of jù is declining, Paul's mistakes and shots are decreasing. What does this mean? This means that he has not only improved his efficiency, but also generously shared opportunities with his teammates.

The power of the list is unlimited, and the Hornets have averaged 20 points per game this season, but six players below Paul have scored in double figures, which is a model of "rallying around Paul and playing a collective role".

That's the value of superstars, and they may not have an absolute advantage over the top stars, but when they're on the pitch, they do have an immediate impact on the team's record.

Paul missed nearly half of last season's games due to injury, and Collison also played a brilliant number on the spot, but the team eventually collapsed, and this season when Paul is almost full, the Hornets can march into the playoffs with their heads held high.

However, in this playoffs, the Hornets are also here to go through troubled waters, and it can even be said that they are here to accompany the prince to study, a standard playoff round.

Not to mention how tough the Hornets' opponents are, how difficult the Black Eight is, and even if they have the heart to achieve the Black Eight miracle, they can't do it - just in early April, West, the only Hornets player who can help Paul, was injured and suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee and couldn't play for at least two months.

Two months later, the Hornets had already gone to the Maldives for group fishing.

The playoffs kicked off on April 17, and the Warriors fired their first shot, hosting the Hornets.

In this game, the Hornets really lack the chance of winning, even if the opponent Warriors are not the defending champions, even if they are not the first in the West, the Hornets are not sure at all when facing such a team.

Chamberlain's dominance on the interior is too strong, and the combination of him and Ibaka is overwhelmingly dominant in height, while the Hornets are at a disadvantage even if West is on the inside. The Hornets lost to the Warriors in all four meetings in the regular season, which is why they preferred to choose the Spurs in the final minute of the regular season, but unfortunately the Hornets ultimately failed to do so and still stood opposite the big Warriors.

Paul's face tense after entering, Chamberlain went up to tease him, touched Paul's chin and said, "Don't be so unhappy, Chris, just come to our Oakland tour, look, isn't our California scenery good?" Are you here to bring a DSLR this time? I didn't take me to borrow one for you to take two photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. ”

Paul said displeasedly, "Z, what do you mean, you think you've got us?" ”

Zhang Bo nodded of course and said, "Yes, I'll eat you when we do, isn't it?" ”

Paul was choked by this, and after a long time he said stupidly, "Even if you eat us, don't say it so directly, okay?" ”

Chamberlain will not let go of any opportunity to hit the opponent, but Paul's subsequent words made him honestly shut his mouth: "Z, don't go too far, if you push me too much, I will go to New York next season, I will be shameless, I will go to Cameron and Amare to huddle!" ”

Chamberlain really didn't dare to say anything more at this moment, the influence that Paul's point guard can bring is terrifying, New York now has a athletic and perverted frontcourt, what they lack is a super point guard, all along, New York is also frowning at Paul, fortunately, the league hosts the Hornets, and the league also resists the behavior of giants, which did not let Paul go to New York.

If it weren't for the league's timely hosting of the Hornets, New York would have been able to take Paul as early as Anthony was acquired.

The Hornets are facing a rebuilding problem, Paul's departure is a matter of time, and the Knicks are willing to pay any price to get Paul, and the Hornets uniform team has long been tempted.

After the warm-up, it was the raising of the national flag, after which the starting lineups of both sides were reported.

The Hornets starting lineup is Chris Paul, Marco Belinelli, Emeka Okafor, Trevor Ariza and Karl Landry.

West's absence has affected them too much, making them drop their interior height and strength sharply, and they can only be replaced by Landry, but how can Landry replace West's role for the Hornets?

The Warriors, when it comes to the playoffs, their lineup is fixed: Chamberlain, Ibaka, Jackson, West, Carter, both offensive and defensive, and there are Blair, Curry, Jamison, George on the bench.

Okafor was also a jumping man, but it wasn't enough to face Chamberlain, so he jumped, and Chamberlain had already reached out and gave the racket to West.

West slapped his horse forward, Paul stuck to him like kraft candy, and in the playoffs, both sides showed 100% strength and began a white-knuckle battle with bayonets.

Carter went up to block it, Paul then nimbly turned around and continued to spread his arms to deploy the defense, while West made a large cross-step change to hide behind Carter and seized the opportunity to throw the ball to Chamberlain.

In the playoffs, Chamberlain is more reliable.

In fact, in the face of Okafor's defense, Chamberlain was full of confidence, he grabbed the ball with his right hand and turned sideways to the hoop, then his waist and abdomen sank, and his shoulders sank, resisting Okafor's chest, and his whole body exerted his strength from his shoulders as the breakthrough point.

Okafor gritted his teeth to defend, his dark face shiny, and every muscle in his body bulged to block Chamberlain.

His defense was also successful, Chamberlain's push was not smooth, seeing this, Chamberlain immediately stepped back and put away the ball to make a jumper.

Okafor's defensive sense of smell is very sensitive, as soon as Chamberlain retreated, he understood that there was a problem, and immediately followed, but Chamberlain stepped back and then leaned over and ran forward against him, and then the two were staggered, Okafor turned around in a hurry, only to see Chamberlain raise his arm and send the ball into the hoop.

"Roar! MVP！ SUPER-Z! SUPRE-MVP！ ”

“SUPER-Z! SUPRE-MVP！ ”

“SUPER-Z! SUPRE-MVP！ ”

The cheers of the fans rang out like war drums, and the momentum of the scene suddenly soared into the sky.