While the Bulls were waiting for the first round to end, the league announced the winners of the second and third rounds of awards.

These are also some of the awards that have attracted much attention from the outside world, including the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), Rookie of the Year, and the regular season MVP.

The first announcement of the best rookie sparked a heated debate among fans.

With an average of 22.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 50.6% shooting per game, Griffin was selected as the best rookie of the season.

Judging from the data alone, Griffin deserves the title of best rookie.

But the problem is that Griffin was a rookie selected last year.

He was supposed to compete with Xu Yong and Tyreke Evans for the best rookie, but due to injuries, he did not appear in the NBA until this year.

Although this is indeed his rookie season in the NBA, it is obviously unfair to the 2010 rookies.

This year's No. 1 pick, John Wall of the Wizards, averaged 16.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Under normal circumstances, this performance is enough to win the Rookie of the Year award.

Although both of them are playing in the NBA for the first time, Griffin had already started to get in touch with the NBA last year, feeling the environment and atmosphere of the NBA, familiarizing himself with the team tactics, and even aspects such as diet control and training methods.

In fact, this situation had already happened to Oden in 2007, but Rose finally defeated Oden and became the best rookie, so it did not cause controversy.

Compared to the best rookie, the result of the best defensive player is undisputed.

With an average of 14.1 rebounds (second in the league), 1.4 steals (career high) and 2.4 blocks (fourth in the league) per game, Howard was named the league's best defensive player for the third consecutive year.

It is worth mentioning that this is the first time in NBA history that someone has done this.

Then comes the MVP award, which is the most watched by the outside world.

Rose was ultimately elected MVP with nearly 30% of the votes, beating Howard (18%), James (13%), Kobe (11%) and others.

As a result, he became the youngest player in NBA history to win the MVP at the age of 22.

It is worth mentioning that Xu Yong also received nearly 14% of the votes in the MVP voting.

This data even exceeds that of James and Kobe.

This wave of results also attracted heated discussions among fans on social media, even more so than the previous best rookie.

"This vote is not fair at all. Xu actually got more votes than LeBron and Kobe? He is just a second-in-command!" Comment from "Bronny Future Superstar".

"No, on the contrary, Xu should get more votes. The data cannot fully reflect his role. He is the key to the Bulls winning many key battles." Comment from "KBforever".

"Haha, what were Kobe's stats like back then? When he teamed up with Shaq, his MVP vote share never went above 3%, even though he averaged 28.5 points per game." Comment from "Kobe-mr.81".

"Compared to Xu, Rose is the one who should be questioned more for winning the MVP, right? His scoring mostly came from Thibodeau's defensive counterattack system. Without that system, he simply wouldn't be able to score that many points." Comment from "only.king".

"Who is the key player for the Bulls to eliminate the numbers man? Rose really doesn't deserve it." Comment from "Lakers Nation".

"Although MVP represents the regular season, if you don't play well in the playoffs, then you will undoubtedly be the worst MVP." Comment from "only.king".

"Rose's shooting still can't break through the zone defense. Although his assists are good, his passing awareness is still poor. He is young and excellent, but he really doesn't deserve the label of 'youngest MVP'." Comment from "TD Rookie of the Decade".

"The person who deserves the MVP the most should be Dwight Howard. As an inside player, his average points per game ranks 12th in the league. He has won DPOY three times in a row. He has brought the Magic team to a level beyond their actual strength this season." Comment from "Dwight Howard".

User "Dwight Howard" deleted the comment.

"???"

"Howard's statistics are 'superhuman', but he can't even prove that he is the best center in the league." Comment from "only.king".

"In a sense, Dwight is LeBron at the center position, with the same explosive physical fitness and the same rough skills." Comment from "I won't leave Cleveland" (the user has been reported).

"He always struggles against Yao." Comment from "TD Rookie of the Decade".

"Unfortunately, Yao came to the East, and even more unfortunately, the Magic's opponent in the second round is the Bulls." This comment came from the "Lakers Champions".

…

As the playoffs entered the second round, not only did the fans' attention begin to increase, but the media also followed up on the promotion of the game.

ESPN conducted a survey on the upcoming four divisional semifinal matchups (Oklahoma City Thunder and Grizzlies, Lakers and Mavericks, Bulls and Magic, Heat and Celtics).

The questions in this survey include "Which team do you think will win", "Which matchup has the most suspense", "Who will be the key person in determining the outcome of the match", etc.

The results of this survey show that among these four matchups, the teams that received more votes are the Thunder, Lakers, Bulls, and Heat.

In the survey with the greatest suspense, the Thunder and the Grizzlies topped the list, followed by the Heat and the Celtics, and then the Bulls and the Magic. The Lakers and the Mavericks were considered to be the matchup with the least suspense.

In the selection of key figures, the four groups are: Durant, Kobe, Yao Ming, and Wade.

Compared to the fans, ESPN is the real topic maker. This survey result, which is full of flaws, continues to attract more attention to the upcoming divisional semifinals.

…

Chicago, United Center training ground.

The Bulls are still preparing for the second round.

Because they rank first in the league, they will have home-court advantage in all series, which allows them to be at ease in the series.

However, because the waiting time was a bit long, the team's game status became a problem.

In order to solve this problem, Thibodeau's choice is to conduct high-intensity single-quarter full-court competitions in training.

It's like the one in history where Jimmy Butler led a group of substitutes to defeat the Timberwolves' main players.

Mixing the main players and substitutes, Thibodeau and Malone each coached a team and fought hard on the court.

Yao and Shark face off, with two guns fighting each other and defense tearing each other apart.

This was an intra-team competition. If outsiders watched it, they would have thought that the divisional semi-finals had started early.

After the game was over, Xu Yong and Yao Ming sat on the sidelines to rest.

Soon after Yao Ming sat down, he patted Xu Yong on the shoulder, then used his head to gesture to Rose who was sitting in a daze not far away.

During the competition, Rose was in good condition, but his emotions were a little off.

Although Ross is not usually very talkative, it is still easy to tell that he is silent and unhappy.

Xu Yong nodded. In fact, he didn't need to guess much to know why Ross was like that.

Originally, winning the MVP as the youngest player was a great thing, but the overwhelming doubts on social media made no one happy.

In fact, most of the doubts on the Internet are from the fans' perspective. From the team's perspective, Rose is very important to the Bulls.

Because he is the most lethal player in Thibodeau's defensive counterattack system, similar to Wade of the Heat.

As for positional warfare, the Bulls played with one big and four small players most of the time in the game, and the proportion of defensive counterattacks was not much lower than that of the Heat.

So in the current Bulls team, Rose and Xu Yong have a tacit understanding and complement each other, and neither is indispensable.

Moreover, Rose is an absolute team player. He is willing to give the ball to Xu Yong in positional battles, which is something that the core players of ordinary teams cannot do.

This was particularly evident in the first round against the numbers team. Xu Yongneng averaged 27.5 points per game, which was based on the team's highest number of shots.

So the comments from the outside world now are very unfair to Rose.

However, Xu Yong couldn't talk to Ross about anything, because there were people with complicated backgrounds on social media who were trying to stir up trouble and create discord.

Although this will not cause problems within the Bulls, the effect of his conversation with Rose at this time will definitely not be very good.

In fact, it is better to do than to say.

Letting Rose perform in a way that can respond to outside doubts is more effective than saying anything.

…

After fans discussed it heatedly on social media and ESPN did enough warm-up, the curtain of the divisional semifinals finally opened.

In the two groups of matches between the East and the West, the games between the Bulls and the Magic, and the Thunder and the Grizzlies will start first.

At the United Center, the emotions of Chicago fans were extremely high.

The results of ESPN's survey are not groundless, because in the regular season, the Bulls' record against the Magic was 3-0.

Because of the restraint in the interior, the Bulls have a much higher chance of winning against the Magic than against the Heat.

So, eating popcorn, drinking fat-house water, and watching the home team beat the opponent, wouldn’t you be excited for this experience?

Of course, the opening of today's series is a little special. There is an award ceremony before the opening ceremony.

Rose will receive the controversial MVP trophy before the game.

Of course, the controversy was other people's. When Rose held up the trophy representing the highest individual honor for a player, the United Center was filled with deafening cheers.

After Jordan, another Bulls player won the MVP trophy, and the title of "Youngest" was hung at the front of the trophy. How could this not be rare!

Rose was a little nervous at first, but when he heard the cheers of the fans and when he turned around with the trophy in his hand and the Bulls players, led by Xu Yong, came forward to hug him, a smile appeared on his face.

With the support of fans and teammates, those doubts seem to become less important.

After the award ceremony, the two teams conducted pre-match warm-ups, and the on-site photographer cut to shots of Howard and Yao Ming.

Based on past experience, the matchup between the two centers tonight will be the key and focus of the matchup between the two sides.

After the warm-up and the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were announced one after another.

Magic: Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, Turkoglu, Brandon Bass, Howard;

Bulls: Rose, Xu Yong, Artest, Battier, Yao Ming.

The Bulls made some adjustments to their starting lineup tonight, directly putting out a starting lineup of one big and four small players.

This is still a relatively rare situation after the mid-season, but it is obviously aimed at the Magic.

The Magic's starting power forward, Bass, is not the type who can handle the ball and play one-on-one, and his height is similar to Battier.

The game between the two sides started immediately. Amid the cheers of the fans, Yao Ming passed the ball back to the Bulls' half, officially opening the game.

The Bulls advanced to the frontcourt.

Howard directly defended Yao Ming from the front, not giving Yao Ming the opportunity to catch the ball easily.

And the players on both sides are always ready to move towards the basket to provide assisting defense.

The Magic team clearly focused their defense on this.

Rose held the ball and glanced at Xu Yong, who then signaled him to shoot and moved to the weak side to distract the defense.

This is what Xu Yong calls “doing”.

His performance in the first round was inseparable from Rose's right to pass the ball, so now if we want the rose to bloom, he naturally needs to be willing to be the supporting role.

And he didn't make this decision on a whim.

Just like he had an advantage against Meeks, Rose faced Nelson, a short and strong guard who was 1.83 meters tall, and Rose had a big advantage against him.

Rose understood what Xu Yong meant by this move, and he did not hesitate. He dribbled the ball and accelerated past Nelson.

Nelson is very tough in confrontation. Although he is short, he is not slow.

However, this fast speed is relative, especially since strong guards usually move slowly laterally, and Rose took advantage of this.

Almost in an instant, Ross turned Nelson into an early morning street.

When the Magic focused all their attention on Yao Ming, they completely forgot about the lethality of the Bulls' new MVP.

After Rose passed Nelson, he entered the Magic's penalty area almost instantly.

Yao Ming's reaction at this time was also very fast. Originally, he had no chance because he was being bypassed, but now he turned half his body and blocked Howard outside the penalty area.

Because of the Bulls' lineup of one big and four small players, the other players on the Magic team were unable to assist in defending the inside so quickly at this time.

So it was almost extremely easy for Rose to get into the paint and easily score a layup.

The fans cheered instantly at the scene. They couldn't see too many details. What they saw was that Rose, who had just won the MVP, had a strong desire to attack and scored at the beginning.

In the Magic's offense, Turkoglu held the ball and organized the play from the outside.

Speaking of which, the relationship between the Magic management and Turkoglu is also very interesting. Last season, the management felt that the combination of Turkoglu and Howard was not high enough, so they used him in a three-way trade in exchange for Carter.

After the trade, we found that Howard's performance dropped drastically without Turkoglu, and then he was traded back from the Raptors this season.

This time, a good horse returned to the good old grass, and although it was a bit of a slap in the face, the effect was very good.

After holding the ball, Turkoglu stretched out his hand to signal, and Howard moved to the high post to play pick-and-roll.

The two cooperated well. Howard broke the ball and cut to the basket, while Turkoglu kept an eye on all directions and chose to pass the ball to Howard.

After Howard got the ball, he directly knocked Battier away, then he jumped up and violently shot the ball to the rim with both hands.

Howard was actually very unhappy, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to social media to say such things. You know, that was the closest he had ever been to the MVP.

So after completing the dunk and hearing the whistle, he swung his arms vigorously before landing.

But just as he was about to roar again, the referee's gesture interrupted him.

The whistle just now was not 2+1, but the referee blew an offensive foul!

As the league's best player at committing offensive fouls, Battier stood outside the legal collision zone early on.

Howard raised his hands and looked at the referee in confusion. After confirming the decision, he showed his signature sunny smile, shook his head helplessly and retreated.

This foul is crucial because the Magic's power forwards, whether it was Lewis before or Buss now, do not have much assisting defense ability.

Once Howard gets into foul trouble, the Magic's inside line will become even weaker.

In the Bulls' offense, after the space on the court was opened up, Rose continued to break through with the ball from the outside.

Nelson followed Rose at first, but Rose simply changed direction without slowing down and passed him cleanly.

For two consecutive rounds, Nelson proved one thing: he really couldn't defend Rose.

Rose rushed to the basket again, and he was really too fast. Buss on the weak side had consciously moved inward in advance, but it was still too late.

However, Howard squeezed past Yao Ming and got in front of Rose.

Having just been called for an offensive foul, he must get back at his former self in this defensive round.

Aiming at Rose's shot, Howard found the right angle to block it.

However, Rose showed his physical fitness in the air. After the confrontation, he made a long pull-up shot with obvious air lingering to avoid the block and made a layup on the other side.

This ball was difficult, especially after the confrontation, Howard used his strength to push Rose out.

However, Rose managed to complete the shot even though he lost his balance.

"beep!"

The referee's whistle sounded again.

"Bang!"

The basketball hit the backboard and then spun into the net.

Rose scored this difficult 2+1!

And more importantly, this was Howard's second personal foul.

Howard played for less than a minute in the opening game and was called off!

Rose lost his balance and fell to the ground, but after seeing the referee's gesture, he jumped up from the ground and let out a rare roar.

Obviously, he, who won the MVP, is under more pressure than Howard, who missed the opportunity.

But the 2+1 he scored facing Howard just now made him vent out all his emotions.

And after the roar, he went to high-five Yao Ming and Xu Yong one after another.

Just like he did not need to say hello in advance when he helped Xu Yong in the All-Star Game, although Yao Ming and Xu Yong did not say hello to him, he could fully feel what the two did for him tonight.

This is what a real team is.

Rose went to the free throw line for the extra free throw.

The Magic were also forced to make a substitution, replacing Howard with Ryan Anderson.

Howard no longer had a smile on his face when he left the court. Instead, he couldn't help but kick the bench as he walked to the bench.

When the outside world thought that the Magic had no chance, he was determined to respond to them with a performance and prove his MVP-level strength.

In the end, he never expected that his warm passion would end before it even began.

"MVP! MVP!"

At this time, the cheers of Chicago fans could be heard at the scene.

The fake MVP has left, and the real MVP has just begun his performance.

“Swish!”

Rose made the free throw amid the cheers of the fans and scored 5 points in a row at the start of the game.

Tonight, the roses are fragrant.