In "The Sword In the Snow", the peak sword god Li Chungang met the young Wang Xianzhi, because of his pity, he could not bear to use the stunt "Sword Open Heaven's Gate", half a move lost to Wang Xianzhi, the sword Trojan bull was broken, and he lost the first place in the world.
Wang Xianzhi was grateful for the strength of this battle to give him the realm, and although he was invincible for sixty years, he always called himself "the second in the world".
After all, he missed the era when "Li Chungang walked the rivers and lakes with his sword in green clothes".
1. Kobe, Adu, Otter Rabbit - a ten-year inheritance
There is affection in the rivers and lakes, and there is righteousness in the inheritance.
The reason why the world is endless is because there are always new people who take over the torch of legend.
Twelve years ago today (April 18, 2010), Kevin Durant played his first playoff game.
At Staples, he faced the defending champion and his most admired scorer, Kobe Bryant.
That year he won the scoring championship for the first time and entered the All-Star for the first time, which was the youth of the horseshoe rush.
The black mamba on the other side has washed away the lead and is attacking his fifth championship trophy.
In that series, Bryant shot 40.8% from 23.5 points.
Although Adu, who played in the playoffs for the first time, also had 25.0 points, he was only 35.0% from the field when he was defended by Altai.
The eliminated sixth battle was even only 5 of 23.
4-2, when the young Thunder wasn't enough to shake Kobe Bryant's Lakers.
But by two years later, when Bryant made his last playoff appearance, he was already in front of the more mature and tough Grim Reaper.
In the 2012 Western Conference Semifinals, Adu was not only surrounded by more mature Westbrook and Harden, but he himself became more old-fashioned and well-rounded.
His dribbling height is reduced and his left and right hands are more flexible. Bryant said that he only needed to defend his right hand before, but when he was able to open the bow left and right, he did not find a way to restrain Adu until he retired.
In that series, the aging Lakers could not stop the youthful thunder at all, and they were easily taken away 1-4.
Kobe Bryant scored 31.2 points, 5.4 boards and 3.4 assists, shooting 42.6%.
This time, Durant is more efficient, averaging 26.8 points per game while shooting an exaggerated 51.6%.
At that time, neither Atei nor Kobe Bryant could stop the death god who was firing at full speed.
Although now Kobe Bryant and Durant will be compared more with LeBron.
But a decade ago, Durant was the most recognized "Mamba successor" in the scoring field.
The league also intentionally or unintentionally "arranged" the two of them together.
Durant touched Bryant twice in the playoffs (2010-12) for the first three years of his career. Even if it weren't for the fact that Nowitzki was too anti-heaven in 2011, it would have been the top of the West for the Lakers and Thunder.
New strongmen, challenging old legends, there's nothing like playing straight in the playoffs.
Today, twelve years later, Durant's identity is reversed, from a challenger to a defender, to face the young Tatum and the Green Army to challenge him.
Bryant was born in 1978, Durant in 1988, and Tatum in 1998.
Every ten years, there is always a scoring maniac born.
When Tatum was born, Bryant was already the youngest All-Star in history, singled out michael Jordan on the court.
Tatum vs Durant – Another Round of "Fateful War"
His starting point is very high,
In order to get him, in 2017, the Green Army was even willing to sign down the yuan that had "flickered" from the Nets.
While having one more 18-year first-round pick, he skipped the balloon brother and Fultz, who had been blown up that year, and chose another forward talent from Duke University.
In his rookie season, he played the main force in the Green Army, all the way to the East Finals. Although he finally failed to grab seven, he was both "educated" by LeBron's sixth consecutive three-pointer, and he also had the elderly Zhan Huang who was in the seven-mile slot.
For a rookie, this experience is too precious.
In his third year (19-20), he was already an All-Star averaging 23.4 points per game, the league's third team. And as the de facto team boss, he led the Green Army to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The old danny Angie, after the failure to introduce Irving, was determined to use the "double probe flower" combination of him and Jaylen Brown as the cornerstone of the team. Even now that Stevens has succeeded him, he has never thought of breaking them up.
In today's Green Army, Tatum + Jaylen is their "Jordan and Pippen".
As for who Jordan is, it's clear at a glance.
In the past two seasons, Tatum has averaged 26+8+4 and is already a real league first-tier superstar.
Last season, there were 50+ performances in the regular season, play-offs, and playoffs.
This season, twice 50+, the first in the league in the same period.
And, defensively, his DWS (Defensive Victory Contribution) is 4.6, the league's first. Being able to score points while defending is also top-notch.
You could even argue that he was the league's strongest single offensive and defensive striker in Leonard's absence.
We all know that in addition to being the most paranoid and cold-blooded killer in history, Bryant also has nine defensive first-team and three defensive second-team defenses. Selected in the defensive team 12 times, the first in the history of the outside.
Today, Tatum, one of Kobe's most loyal fans in the league, has not hidden his admiration and pursuit of Black Mamba since entering the league.
The feud between Hu Kai is well known, although legends such as Russell and Magician have worn the opponent's jersey, but it is a special occasion after retirement.
And Tatum, as the head card of the Green Army today, is so dignified in wearing a Lakers jersey.
If you are a Green Army fan, it is inevitable that your heart is not a taste.
Now, like Bryant, who challenged Durant with four crowns in hand, he launched an attack on the two-time championship +mvp, four-time scoring champion, and the NBA's god of death, Durant.
In fact, their rivalry was staged once in the playoffs last year, but at that time, the Green Army was missing Jaylen Brown, and the Nets were duhaou's three-star gathering, and the difference in strength was too great.
Although the Nets passed the game 4-1 easily, the only game they lost was because Tatum alone scored 50 points.
This season, Tatum gave Durant and the Nets a 54-pointer.
It seems that when you touch Durant, you can always inspire a different kind of fighting spirit of the otter rabbit.
Durant, in the past two years, has been regarded by more and more people as the number one in the world today.
Last season, against the alphabet brother who later won the championship and won the fmvp, almost everyone recognized him as the better player.
He averaged 35.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 42.8 minutes throughout the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The alphabet brother is 31.9 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
At the Olympic Games, he helped the dream team that no longer had a good time to win the gold medal, and became the team's history scorer and gold medal king.
In fact, it has now secured its position as the "first person in the league".
Third, the first match - Tatum won first
This season's regular season, Durant also started with Stephen Curry and was seen as MVP's biggest hit. It was only later that the Nets' steady turmoil and losing streak in the second half of the season forced people to leave him as a candidate.
But by the time it came to the playoffs, no one would ignore his presence.
Sure enough, in the first game, the Nets' targeting of him has almost reached the point of doing everything.
From the beginning of the defense of him to catch the ball, there has been a careful arrangement. Try to keep him away from the three-point line or offensive hot zone.
And when he starts attacking with the ball, the other Green Army players will be ready to pack the bag at any time.
The two teams drew 61-61 in the first half and the Nets made 12 turnovers, including Four by Durant alone, and scored seven points on 2-of-10 shooting.
But in the third quarter, the Nets collectively missed the accuracy and were beaten 35-24 by the Green Army, and it was he who stepped forward to score 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting to avoid the team's direct collapse in the third quarter.
This led to the magical takeover of Irving's fourth quarter.
But such performances are not enough for the Nets and Durant.
They face the green army that is the first in the league defense, the best performer in the East since 2022, and the second only in the league after the Suns. In the team lineup, except for him and Irving, the other three positions are in the ascendant.
More importantly, after a season of training, the Green Army is a far better whole than the Stormy Nets.
If the Nets want to win this series, they need Durant and Irving to show 100% superstar performance.
In the first game, Irving did it, with 39 points, 5 boards and 6 assists, including 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Durant didn't, and the 23 points, 4 boards and 3 assists were definitely failing, and that didn't count his six turnovers.
Even the ball that Tatum finally killed was directly due to his staring mistakes.
And Tatum not only completed the kill, but also the performance of 31 points, 4 boards and 8 assists really overwhelmed Durant.
The first game was his complete victory.
More importantly, in this direct competition, the resources around him are much better than Durant's.
It is said that it is a direct alignment, but the same team offensive arrow, the Nets and the Green Army have provided them with a lot of blocking opportunities.
However, after the change of defense, Durant faced smart, Horford, Gway, Jaylen, the best defensive level of tough players.
Once the Nets change defenses, Tatum faces the naïve Zhao Si, the under-height Brown, Irving, or Curry and Dragic, who are just defensive colanders.
And that's not counting the Endless Attacks the Green Army has carefully arranged against Durant.
In the first game, although it was killed, the Nets were also convinced. After all, they can hardly expect to be able to beat the second place in the East when Durant is playing so stubbornly, and the whole team needs to play better.
Durant, on the other hand, is also time to prove his historic killer weight.
It's like Kobe Bryant in 2010 who held the ring and let the young people go a little further back.
Or let Tatum be like his own ten years ago, break through the bottleneck, defeat the legend, and achieve his own era.
They each have six games to play.