Will the champion be deposited?

The most ardent opponents of fishing “either win or go home ... fish” remained in the NBA - this is the slogan of the current playoffs in the National Basketball Association. After five matches of the second round of the second round, the New Jersey Nets basketball players went fishing. They became the victims of Shakil Owl and Miami Hit. Moreover, if in the series with Chicago, basketball players from Florida harnessed for a long time, then in the series with the strong in general “NTS” “Miami” did not leave stone on the stone from the opponent. Are the wards of Pat Riley so strong?

Riley is returning

At one time, training Los Angeles Lakers, Pat Riley was known as the inventor of the new game style for basketball-“Show-Time”. The players who were driven by Magicik Johnson did what they wanted, speaking on the principle of Brazil’s football team: “You score as much as you can, we will - how much we want.” Judging by the first two rounds, Riley’s era returns, but with the only difference being that with rare exceptions, basketball in the west and in the east varies.

The Lakers of the 80s is a constant speed, a game in a positional attack with quick movements and, of course, the leading talents of Johnson and Karim Abdul-Jabbar. What is not today's Miami? Unless the “hit” plays more pragmatic basketball in the defense, but in the attack a little slower, although this fact does not prevent the magnificent basketball of “hot guys” from enjoying.

Today's Miami is more like an early “Lakers”, where, together with Magic, Michael Cooper, who played the norms of Nixon, and then Michael Cooper, went to the site. At the same time, both gave the programs an order of magnitude less than Johnson. The same can be said about Jason Williams, who is paired with Wad in defense. The ligament of the Waker Own and in the front line can be compared with Jabbar and Jamaal Wilks, and then James Warti, who replaced him. And, of course, Adonis Hasl, who is very reminiscent of Kurt Rambis.

If you look at the bench, you can also see some parallels with that era. Michael Cooper - Gary Payton, Bob Makadu - Alonzo Morning, James Saw - Wilks/Warti.

It is interesting that Riley tried to make the same team at Miami a few years ago when Alonzo Morning, Jamal Mashbourne, Tim Hardway and Dan Marley played in Hit, but did not grow together, and the reins of the board was given to Stan Van Gandhi. And only after Riley established himself as the president of the team and realized that he could absolutely everything in Miami, a point selection was performed, and after the misfire last year, the hit promises to become finalists of the championship.

If the hit in the first round was not particularly strained, in connection with which they lost two Chicago Bulls matches at once, then in the second Miami showed that he was configured to any opponent, even on Detroit. After the first two meetings, in which the rivals achieved two relatively easy victories, three in a row of thrillers took place, which will be included in a series of classical confrontations.

In the third meeting, Vince Carter drove his shoulder into Wade's face, but Dwayne continued the game and made it, scoring 15 points over the past 4 and a half minutes of the match. In the fourth match, the same Wade found on the line of the three -point throw of the lonely Gary Paiton, who did not slow to take advantage of the time to prepare and decided the fate of the meeting with his hit. And finally, the program intercepted by Waded in the last seconds of the fifth match made the match itself the last in this series.

Now Miami remains to wait for who will become the winner of the Clivend - Detroit pair. At the same time, everyone in the United States wants to watch the confrontation between the Hit and Pistons, which adorned last year's series with extinguishing.

Are the "bad guys" so strong?

After four meetings of this series, the score is 2: 2. And despite the fact that almost everyone is waiting in the final of the East Detroit, Cleveland and does not think to give up. However, we can say that the owners won two Cleveland meetings, as they say, on emotions. The fact is that the defender of the Starting Five “KEVZ” Larry Hughes died, and this influenced the further course of the series in a fundamentally.

Going to the third match with mourning bandages, Cleveland players won the third meeting, leaving no chance “Pistons” - 86:77. In the fourth meeting, Detroit could well win, especially since Rashid Wallace gave the whole country that the series would end in only five matches. However, unexpectedly for the rivals, the coach of the "cavalry" Mike Brown introduced the hidden reserve - Eric Snow into the game.

If the starting player had not begun the chase in the second half of this meeting, then they would not see Cleveland Victory. At the same time, another hidden trump card, which was previously invisible, was manifested in the “KEVZ”. We are talking about Anderson Varezhao, who perfectly played the second and third games of the series, setting along the way a personal performance record in the playoffs.

On the day when this material comes out, you will already know the result of the fifth match, which will be held on Thursday night in Detroit. Most likely, his winner will become the winner of the series. In this meeting, the teams will answer everyone to their own question: whether the Detroit has broken psychologically after the unexpected two (and not one) defeats in Cleveland and will the “cavalrymen” be able to victory not only in Cleveland, but also in the city of motors?

The last breath of the leader

Steve Nash is tired. I was very tired, which I admitted to reporters in an interview after the fifth match of the Faters and Clippers series, which Sans won in the second overtime. Is it a joke - to spend 11 matches of the highest voltage over the past 20 days. However, Nash still controls the game and is still a person, without whom the Phoenix cannot do. The fifth match was not entirely successful for the Canadian legionnaire in terms of performance. In particular, a three -point throw did not go again. There are no distant hits by Nash throughout the series with "Clippers" (0 out of 13).

However, it is precisely his programs and the wisest organization of the game that contribute to the fact that the Phoenicus afloat. Who, like not, was able to find on the seven -meter line the lonely standing Raja Bell, who translated the meeting in the second overtime, where Leandro Barbos and Sean Marion finished off the tired players from the city of Angels.

In this series, after the rivals exchanged victories in Arizona, the matches began to resemble the confrontations of the coaches. Mike D Undoni introduced into the starting five Tim Thomas, and the front line “Sans” looked against “Clippers” is very solid. The victory of the "Phoenix" was not long in coming. In the fourth match, "Clippers" played without Chris Kaman, and Elton Brand had to become centr. As a result, the five "Clippers" looked more mobile, and the game at the oncoming, even higher speed became a revelation for the wards of D underoni.

In the fifth meeting, Kaman reappeared in the composition, and “Clippers” lost. It is worthwhile to think that in the sixth match, Mike Dunlivi will think about whether it is worth playing in a heavy composition. The match in the “Staplz Center”, apparently, will become very interesting at least in the light of this decision by Dunlivi, Nash's fatigue, the magnificent game and experience of the playoffs Sam Kassella and, of course, the desire to “Phoenic” to be wise in the final of the conference.

In Kovboyskoye

Believed, but only with whom? Last year, in the final of the West, Phoenix met with San Antonio and lost in five fights. This time, “sperm” may not reach the next round. Already too motivated by Dallas, in which all players go to the parquet hungry until victory.

To say that the “sperm” was stammered will be not true. No wonder Michael Finley and Nick Van Excel were added to the club. But at the same time, all the secrets of Tim Dankan, Manu Zhinobili and Tony Parker are now studied by all the coaches of the association, and the model of the San Antonio game, embodied on paper, is almost a desktop book among all the mentors of the League.

Texas derby is taking place in a column, with dramatic endings in almost each of the matches. But all such endings remain with Dallas. So, in the third fight, the hero was Dirk Novitsky, who won the meeting with his exact penalties. The fourth game remained with Jason Terry, who first translated the game into overtime, and then organized a jerk of Dallas.

On Thursday morning, the result of this match will also become known, but the United States has already frozen in anticipation that the champion will be deposed.

05/17/2006 / Dmitry Donskoy, the material was published in the "newspaper" No. 82 dated 05/18/2006.