3-0. The third game was another overwhelming victory.

The Pelicans were treating the Thunder like experience fodder, and while they were at it, they realized they'd leveled up themselves.

From that perspective, the Thunder actually played pretty well.

To practice tactics, you have to find teams with good defense like this. Playing one game against them is more effective than playing a whole series against the Cavaliers.

The Pelicans were pretty lucky.

Two days later, the fourth game between the Pelicans and the Thunder continued at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The arena was still packed. Although they were down 0-3, the Oklahoma City fans were still in high spirits.

The team moved here during the "Four Young Masters" era, then made it to the Western Conference Finals and were contenders for several years, accumulating a lot of popularity.

Amid the cheers of their home fans, the Thunder's offense performed exceptionally well tonight, leading the Pelicans 55-45 at halftime.

But in the second half, their shooting cooled off, and the Pelicans gradually caught up and took the lead.

In the end, the Thunder still lost 95-105, and were swept out of the playoffs by the Pelicans.

Davis had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Jokic had 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists, and Holiday and Bogdanovic each had 11 points.

Tang Tian continued to coast, getting 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Westbrook had his best game of the series, shooting 11-for-29, with a massive triple-double of 33 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.

After the game, the two sides exchanged the final handshake.

Tang Tian and Westbrook hugged for a good while.

Tang Tian said a lot of encouraging words to Westbrook.

With Durant and Ibaka leaving one after another, this team had gone from a championship contender to an ordinary team.

Regardless of Westbrook's style of play, he was sticking to Oklahoma City, and leading the team to the playoffs in the West with his own strength, in a conference with five superteams, which was worthy of respect.

A 4-0 sweep. Although the series between the Pelicans and the Thunder had some twists and turns, the result was about as expected.

The Thunder were simply not on the same level as the Pelicans. Winning one game would have been an upset; a sweep was only to be expected.

As the series between the Thunder and Pelicans ended, the first round of the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs had also reached a certain stage.

In the East, the Cavaliers were up 3-0 on the Heat, the Knicks led the Pacers 3-1, the Raptors led the Hornets 3-1, and the Hawks were tied with the Bucks 2-2.

In the West, the Warriors led the Clippers 3-0, the Spurs led the Trail Blazers 3-0, and the Rockets led the Mavericks 3-1.

After fully integrating, the Cavaliers had demonstrated a super-class level of strength. This year, their chances of making it to the Finals were still very high, and whether their opponent was the Pelicans or the Warriors, it would be an arduous battle.

Walker played like Iverson in the 2001 Finals in the opening game. His fate seemed to be the same as Iverson's. The Hornets' overall weakness made it impossible for him to turn the tide.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was endlessly targeted by the Hawks' coach, Budenholzer. His lack of shooting was infinitely magnified. No matter what the outcome of the series was, his summer would be very busy.

The series between the Mavericks and the Rockets was a bit of a shame. After the first two games, the score was 1-1. The Mavericks also had a good chance to win the third game, but Butler and Carlisle had another argument during the game, ruining a great opportunity. Then the Rockets won the next two games, and now they were on the verge of elimination.

It was foreseeable that this summer would be another difficult one for Cuban.

The first round of the series had come to an end.

And just then, the league announced the second batch of season awards.

There was only one award this season, but it was very prestigious.

Defensive Player of the Year.

This year's Defensive Player of the Year competition was mainly focused on a few people.

Green, Leonard, Gobert, and Tang Tian.

After Durant came to the Warriors, Green took his ball-handling at the arc to the extreme, averaging a near triple-double of 10.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7 assists this season.

And without having to focus on offense, he had more energy to put into defense, averaging 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, a very impressive performance.

He was also one of the hottest candidates.

Leonard took on more offensive responsibility this season, averaging a career-high 26.3 points and 3.5 assists, but he still contributed 1.8 steals and 0.7 blocks on the defensive end.

His "death wrap" was still feared by opposing players. He was also one of the few all-around stars in the league.

Gobert had a career year this season, averaging 14 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and 0.6 steals, with a league-leading 66.1% shooting percentage.

Not only his stats, but his performance on both ends of the court had already made him one of the top centers in the league.

As a rising star in the paint, he was also worthy of such an award.

Finally, there was Tang Tian.

After his stamina improved this season, Tang Tian had put up an all-around, historic superstar performance.

His average number of steals was the highest in the league, and he also broke his own single-season average steals record.

Durant, Curry, Westbrook, Harden… the dismal performances of superstar after superstar against him were the best proof.

All four had reasons to be selected.

The final voting results came out, and the four players' vote percentages were 21%, 15%, 17%, and 44% respectively.

Tang Tian, with an absolute overwhelming advantage, beat the other three and was elected as the Defensive Player of the Year!

This was also his second consecutive season, and the fourth time in his career, to be elected Defensive Player of the Year!

"I strongly agree with what the Pelicans' head coach, Brad Stevens, said, that the quality of defense can only be evaluated by the opposing players."

In the latest episode of TNT, Barkley used the most straightforward way to evaluate the election results.

"Or, we can call Tang the Historical Superstar Tester."

Kenny Smith added.

"Historical Superstar Tester", this evaluation also went viral on social media.

After a series of nicknames such as "Godfather" and "Tang Ritian," Tang Tian finally gained a new nickname after so long.

And this nickname was more down-to-earth than the previous ones.

The standard for evaluating a superstar, in addition to statistics, was more importantly their performance against superstar defenders.

Tang Tian was a historical superstar, and those who could perform well under his defense were historical superstars.

This logic was quite clear, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

After winning this Defensive Player of the Year award, Tang Tian also successfully tied Ben Wallace and Mutombo for the most Defensive Player of the Year awards.

And even more so because he was an outside player, this number of awards was history-making.

It was already difficult for an outside player to win Defensive Player of the Year, let alone four times.

To put it in an image, it's hard to do it seven times a night for one day, but to do it for four days is simply inhuman.