Chapter 196 Who is Michael?

The game between the Pelicans and the Rockets finally came to an end.

At the same time, the Eastern and Western Conference semifinals had also concluded one after another.

In the East, the Cavaliers swept the Hawks 4-0 once again.

Budenholzer was starting to doubt his life.

This former first assistant coach of Tang Tian and former best coach was already on the countdown to leaving the Hawks.

The Knicks defeated the Raptors 4-1.

The "trash brothers" still couldn't shake the label on their heads, and the Raptors once again performed like dragons in the regular season and worms in the playoffs for the nth time.

The Warriors swept the Spurs 4-0.

After Leonard's injury, the Spurs completely lost the capital to compete with the Warriors, and this result was also expected.

In this way, the matchups for the Eastern and Western Conference Finals were set.

The teams advancing to the conference finals were still the same four teams as last year.

The Cavaliers and Knicks in the East, and the Pelicans and Warriors in the West.

The Knicks have enough capital this year to pose a threat to the Cavaliers, while the Pelicans and Warriors will usher in a truly epic showdown.

The Pelicans, back-to-back champions with 70+ wins for two consecutive seasons and possessing the league's, or even quasi-historic, first player;

The Warriors, with a peak "Big Four," including the league's top point guard, a top-two small forward, and a historically rare quartet of stars.

Plus the highly watchable intensity of competition from the early 2000s.

No matter how you look at it, this is the most exciting series in the league in the last ten or even twenty years.

In fact, the moment the matchups were confirmed, all the tickets for this round between the two teams were cleared out, and the scalper market was more popular than ever.

Moreover, this is also the ultimate showdown between superstar basketball and "bandwagon" basketball.

The game hadn't even started yet, but the viewership predictions given by major media outlets were record-breaking.

It was also at this time that the league announced the fourth batch of season awards.

This time there was only one award, the league's Best General Manager.

Bob Myers of the Warriors defeated Steve Mills of the Knicks and David Griffin of the Cavaliers, winning the season's Best General Manager for the first time in his career.

He received more than 50% of the votes.

This election was not too controversial. After successfully recruiting Durant in the summer, the Warriors' strength was further improved compared to last season.

To put it bluntly, the Warriors' lineup last season was swept by the Pelicans, but this season's Warriors have a chance to beat the Pelicans.

This is the change, and this change comes from the roster change, for which the general manager deserves the first credit.

After the Warriors won this honor, adding in the previous Best Coach award, they made up for all the awards they hadn't won in the past few seasons, a veritable season of great harvest.

Of course, the weight of these awards is not high. Defeating the Pelicans, Cavaliers, and Knicks, and regaining the championship, that is the biggest gain.

The third season of Pelicans versus Warriors, and the most exciting season, fans were discussing it on social media, and the media certainly wouldn't miss it.

TNT's latest show, in addition to the Big Three, they also invited two absolutely heavyweight figures.

"Magic" Johnson and "His Airness" Michael Jordan.

It wasn't strange for Johnson to appear in the media, but after Jordan became the owner of a team, this was the first time he had appeared on such a large-scale program.

In fact, even TNT only tried to invite him, but unexpectedly Jordan actually agreed this time.

The content of the program involved the changes in the league, the evaluation of league stars, and of course the most important thing was the prediction of the upcoming conference finals.

Everyone unanimously believed that the Cavaliers would beat the Knicks as they had in the past, even though the latter had Wall in their lineup.

In their opinion, Wall had never proven himself in the playoffs.

But in the prediction of the Pelicans and Warriors, the opinions of the five people showed a relatively large divergence.

"That's the team that looks most like us I've ever seen."

Johnson strongly supported the Warriors.

"First-class stars, first-class offense, and excellent defense, that's a modern version of Showtime."

Johnson's reasons were also quite simple.

"Yes, my reason tells me that Magic is right. Curry and Durant's one-on-one ability is much stronger than Paul and Harden's. Tang's defense is very strong, but he can only limit one of them, so I support the Warriors."

Kenny Smith is a very rational person, and he also stood on the Warriors' side.

"Hey! Hey! Kenny, you never learn, do you want to wear a pink dress again?"

Barkley's way of speaking was really annoying, and Smith shook his head with a big laugh. If time could be turned back, he would never have worn that damn dress.

"The Pelicans are the defending champions, they lead the Warriors 2-1 in the regular season, and they just beat the Rockets with three superstars, 4-1, and now you're telling me they can't beat the Warriors?"

Barkley glanced at Smith with disdain.

"I support Charles, the Pelicans have Tang, they are invincible."

O'Neal's praise of Tang didn't need much explanation, he just started blowing him up.

After the four people finished speaking, they all looked at Jordan in unison.

There was obviously a reason why the program team found five people. Now the support rate was 2 to 2, and it depended on who Jordan supported in the end.

"Michael."

Johnson said.

"Pelicans. I've been through that situation. I did it, and Tang will do it too, overcome seemingly powerful opponents."

Jordan inadvertently showed off, he had stepped on a bunch of superstars to reach the top, and then completed two three-peats.

From this remark, it can be seen that Jordan quite appreciates Tang Tian.

This was also expected. Since the last time the two met, he had been showing goodwill to Tang Tian on various occasions.

He was paving the way for the free market a few years later.

This episode of TNT had extremely high viewership, and Jordan's views made the Pelicans fans feel excited.

The conference finals were about to arrive, and the Pelicans were also actively preparing.

After training that day, Tang Tian was lying on the soft chair in the locker room watching a video, which showed his two sons chasing an American shorthair cat.

It must be said that Little Lion has now grown into a big lion. Although it is still very docile, Tang Tian would not dare to let his son play with it now.

"Tang, did you watch yesterday's show?"

At this moment, Diaw came over and said.

"What show?"

Tang Tian went back to accompany his son after training yesterday, and didn't watch TV or his phone.

"TNT's, predicting our game. Guess who is more favored?"

Diaw said, sitting down next to Tang Tian, his eyes glanced at the tablet.

"This cat is so miserable."

Tang Tian rolled his eyes at Diaw. This guy only talks dirty all day long.

"Us, probably."

He continued.

"Hehe, you guessed it, Charles, Shaq, and Michael all think so, 3 to 2."

Diaw continued.

Charles is Barkley, Shaq is O'Neal, Michael? Was it a guest invite?

"Which Michael?"

"Which Michael else could it be?"

"That Michael?"

Tang Tian was stunned.

"Yes, Michael Jordan."

Hearing what Diaw said, Tang Tian, who had always been calm, suddenly felt a little flustered.