The Fifth Point Guard

After defeating the Jazz in the opening game 96-90, the Kings won three of the next four games.

In the only loss to the Jazz, the Jazz collectively blown out.

Ostertag, who has been playing very silently, scored 22 points and 12 rebounds, Karl Malone had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and John Stockton had 15 points and 7 assists.

In addition, Cheney scored 15 points, Halprin 11 points, Kirilenko 10 points.

The Jazz scored in double figures with six players, before they pulled back a city 107-104 at home.

However, this is the last playoff victory for the Jazz duo.

After being eliminated by the king, Stockton fell in front of Malone, leaving a man's tears.

The defender whose career was labeled as "dirty" finally said goodbye to all the fans who loved and loathed him.

It wasn't until the moment Stockton announced his retirement after the season that many fans discovered that Stockton's 19-year career has not only been low-key, peaceful, silent, and dirty. Then there's the fiery passion and desire to win on the court, and the tenacity to never admit defeat.

In his 19-year career, Stockton played a total of 1,504 games and ranked first in the NBA with 15,086 assists and 3,265 steals.

Stockton announced his retirement at the end of the season at the press conference after the game, which made countless people sad.

Bob Cousy, the greatest point guard of the last century, said with enthusiasm: "If there is a point guard in the dictionary, then his interpretation must be-John Stockton."

Malone, who has worked with Stockton for 18 years, said: "Definitely, absolutely, there will never be another John Stockton, ever."

When asked what he wants to do after retirement, Stockton answered like this.

"I haven't thought about this issue yet. First of all, I must rest for a while and relax thoroughly. Then, I will take my wife and children to visit my hometown. My father has a hotel there. I want to study hotel management in the past.”

Malone, who was sitting on the side, joked: "Oh, I have something to say about his father's hotel. It is said that his father, John Sr., sold his hotel so that he could study hotel management. Later, John lost his job after studying. , because he doesn’t have a hotel to manage, so he can only come to play basketball.”

There was laughter at the scene, which lessened the sadness of Stockton's retirement.

Stockton laughed through his tears and replied, "Carl, it's not what you said. At that time, my father did mortgage the hotel for some things, and later redeemed it."

Malone immediately smiled and said, "Well, I know, because you studied hotel management. It's just that I didn't expect you to play basketball, so Old John, who gave up the idea of ​​sending you to further study, had to redeem the hotel again."

The people at the scene were once again amused by Malone's sense of humor.

When the reporter asked Ma Long what he planned to do next, a trace of unwillingness flashed in the tough guy's eyes.

"I don't know. I can't make a decision yet. I will think about this issue during my break. Maybe I will join a team that is closer to the championship and pursue the championship dream before retiring."

After talking about the west, let's look at the east.

After the Nets took the lead in rushing to the Eastern Conference semifinals, another group in the half, the 76ers, also won the first round.

Shen Tong and Iverson will play in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Hornets have played very well this season, and the team's starting lineup is strong enough to compete with any team in the league.

Jamal Magloire and PJ Brown have both offensive and defensive insiders. Although there are no superstar insiders like Duncan and Garnett, the performance of these two is very stable.

Magloire averaged 10.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, while Brown averaged 10.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

But the statistics of the two are mediocre, but the combination will never lose to any other team's insiders.

In addition to two stable inside players, small forward Jamal Mashburn, who was selected to the All-Star team this season, played well.

Averaging 21.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, he is one of the few players in the league with 20+5+5.

In addition, the two guards Baron Davis and David Wesley are players who can fight tough battles.

As the name suggests, the Hornets have the sharp needles of the bee tail and a hard-working attitude.

It's just that their bench lineup is really bad.

There isn't a solid bench player.

In addition, Iverson played against the sky this round.

In the first game, Iverson scored 55 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals, helping the team beat the Hornets 98-90 to get off to a good start.

In the sixth game that eliminated the Hornets, Iverson scored 45 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists to help the team beat their opponents 4-2.

There is no suspense in the game between the Pistons and the Bucks.

With a bunch of shooters, the Bucks met their last opponent, the Pistons.

It was as if a gun had been shot at an iron plate.

The power of the gun is not weak, but the iron plate is not an obstacle that the gun can penetrate.

Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Michael Reed, Desmond Mason, Toni Kukoc.

The group of shooters formed by these shooters was smashed to death by the bricks of the Pistons.

The big score of 4-0 was clean and neat.

The Pistons easily captured the Bucks.

Ben Wallace even joked: "What? The game is over? I haven't started yet!"

The duel between the Pacers and the Celtics was dark.

After losing to the Celtics in the first game, the Pacers responded immediately, 89-77 in return for a game to tie the total score to 1-1.

This time it was the Pacers' turn to show off. Jermaine O'Neal scored 23 points and 20 rebounds.

The other four main players also scored in double figures.

Under the counterattack of the Pacers, the Celtics' 19 and 14 points were not enough to help the team win.

Originally, people thought that the Pacers would definitely make persistent efforts and successfully eliminate the Celtics. Who knew that the pair of Gemini stars played an amazing competitive state like a volcanic eruption after a quiet game.

After an eye-popping 101-83 victory over the Pacers in the third game, the Celtics took a 3-1 lead in the fourth game 102-92 and won this round of match points.

In this campaign, O'Neal scored 25 points, 19 rebounds and 5 blocked shots, but Pearson played even better. He scored 37 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, helping the team win the most critical victory.

After losing Game 5, the Celtics finally beat the Pacers 110-90, knocking out their opponents 4-2 and advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

In the semifinals, the Celtics' opponent was the Jagged Pistons.