I was determined to be bad, but I went straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Chapter 337 The cognition of normal people (second update)

From March to April, the situation of the alliance gradually became clear.

The competition in the East is mainly reflected in the competition for the first place in the East.

Cavaliers, Celtics, Bulls, Heat, the four teams are basically neck and neck.

In the past two seasons, the Cavaliers have been making great strides in the regular season.

After beating the Clippers to the top of the Eastern Conference, he suddenly stepped on the brakes.

Several generals in the team have rested "due to injuries".

Newcomers like Danny Green added playing time.

James' average playing time has shrunk from 39 minutes last season to 38 minutes this season, and after entering April, it dropped to 4 minutes a game.

The Cavaliers are preparing for the playoffs, and James doesn't want to win the meaningless league first and three consecutive MVPs.

His only goal is the championship.

If he can't win the championship this season, the three consecutive MVPs in the regular season are not only not an honor for him, but a burden.

Just like Nowitzki's regular season MVP in 2007, without the ultimate honor, accumulating too many other honors will create a "brush" and "external strength but middling" impression.

James listened to Min Congda's opinion, and he and the whole team stepped on the brakes to recuperate and prepare for the playoffs.

The Celtics, who played dead last season and were very successful, were unstoppable in the Eastern Conference, but they lost in the finals because they lost a home court advantage.

So this season the Celtics did not easily stay strong in the regular season, but played steadily and strived for good regular season results.

Otherwise, it would be a pity to lose because there is no home court advantage in a high-level game.

As new strong teams, the Heat and the Bulls have to compete for a higher ranking in order to occupy a good position in the playoffs.

Under the leadership of Rose, the Bulls started sprinting in March, first a wave of eight consecutive victories, and then lost to the Pacers in overtime.

Immediately afterwards, from the end of March to April, another wave of four consecutive victories plus nine consecutive victories pushed their winning streak to 62 victories in one fell swoop.

No. [-] in the East and even No. [-] in the league are firmly in their hands.

In a wave of consecutive victories in April, the Bulls successively beheaded the Celtics, Cavaliers, and Magic, and their reputation was greatly shocked.

Derrick Rose scored 30 points and 39 points one after another.

His violent breakthrough style of play captured the attention of all fans at the end of the season and became the most dazzling star.

And this is only Derrick Rose's third season.

In contrast, the Heat, which formed the Bosh-Wade-Gay iron triangle, encountered problems in the sprint towards the end of the season.

Gay was on and off because of a shoulder injury, and Riley had to spend the draft to get Shane Battier from the Rockets.

The combined offensive power of Bosh and Wade is very strong, but because of Bosh's defensive problems, it is always almost meaningless.

After Shane Battier came, the depth of the team's lineup has improved to a higher level, but the team's firepower is not enough.

The third point of attack, Gay, cannot be fully integrated into the team's offense, and the Heat's offensive and defensive system is still not perfect.

They gradually fell behind in the competition for the first place in the Eastern Conference and fell to the fourth place.

However, the cunning Riley let the team drop to fourth place, obviously wanting to touch the Bulls in advance in the semifinals.

Although the Bulls were the best in the regular season, they ended with 9 consecutive victories, and their morale was strong.

But the NBA playoffs and the regular season have always been two worlds.

The Bulls' single-core system on the offensive end can easily be targeted in the playoffs.

The Heat's dual-core lineup has a higher fault tolerance rate, and Wade's playoff experience is also richer.

The Heat didn't want to encounter the Celtics early in the semifinals, so they lost consecutive games in the last few games and gave up the third position to the Cavaliers.

In this way, the ranking of the Eastern Conference Final Four is the Bulls with 62 wins, the Celtics with 56 wins, the Cavaliers with 55 wins and the Miami Heat with 54 wins.

Of course, the Heat's losing operation means that they will face the Orlando Magic in the first round.

The magic was turbulent this season. After Carter proved to be unsuitable for the Howard system, the magic traded Turkoglu back to the magic team, hoping to reproduce the glory of 2009.

But in just two seasons, it is difficult to reproduce the once perfect chemical reaction.

And Howard had conflicts with the team because of the renewal issue.

Under the background that the Celtics and Cavaliers are still stable, and the Bulls and Heat are rising.

It's unclear how much of the Magic's championship ambitions remain.

From this point of view, it might be a good choice for the Heat to play the Magic in the first round.

Because the third Cavaliers will face the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.

Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Jeff Teague are not so easy to deal with in the playoffs.

As for the seventh and eighth Knicks and 76ers, they are basically here to play soy sauce, and it is difficult to pose enough threats to the Celtics and Bulls.

But the situation in the west is different. Contrary to the east, the top four rankings in the west have already been established.

The Spurs, who have changed their style of play, have gradually widened the gap with the teams behind them since the middle of the season.

With a very stable performance, he achieved a record of 60 wins and 22 losses.

This is the third time Duncan has led the team to 60 wins in the regular season since he came to the Spurs.

Also following the 2006 season, it returned to the No. [-] position in the Western Conference in the regular season.

However, the results of the Spurs' playoffs, which won the No. 2006 in the Western Conference in [-], were not very good.

They were killed by the Mavericks in the semifinals and failed to defend their title. I don't know if the No. [-] in the Western Conference can bring them a breakthrough this time.

The second place in the Western Conference is the Los Angeles Lakers. Their record is the same as last year, 57 wins and 25 losses, and they aim to defend their title.

The Lakers' opponent in the first round is the Memphis Grizzlies.

The competition for seventh and eighth in the Western Conference did not come to fruition until the final round of the playoffs.

最后一轮，快船队的战绩是46胜35负，灰熊是45胜36负，黄蜂的战绩也是45胜36负。

If the Clippers win the last game, they will definitely enter the top eight and rank seventh.

The Clippers' opponent in the last game happened to be the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies and Hornets have the same record, but the Grizzlies have the advantage in terms of winning and losing.

Therefore, with the same record, the Grizzlies rank higher.

However, the Clippers lag behind the Grizzlies and Hornets in the win-loss relationship.

In other words, with the same record, the Clippers are worse than the Grizzlies and Hornets.

If the Clippers lose the last game to the Grizzlies and the Hornets win, all three teams would be 46-36.

Then, the Clippers will rank ninth and miss the playoffs.

If the Clippers beat the Grizzlies in the last game and the Hornets win, the Clippers and Hornets will rank seventh and eighth in the West.

If the Clippers lose to the Grizzlies in the last game and the Hornets lose, the Grizzlies and Clippers will rank seventh and eighth in the West.

Of these three situations, the possibility of the first two occurrences is relatively high.

Because in the perception of normal people, in order to enter the playoffs, the Clippers must hold the initiative in their own hands.

Therefore, the Grizzlies must be won in the last game to ensure that they enter the top eight in the Western Conference.

Once they lose, the initiative is given to the Hornets, and they must bet on the Hornets' loss to enter the top eight.

As a result, before the start of the game, the Clippers' roster was surprising.

They all came off the bench, obviously they just didn't want to win the game.

(End of this chapter)