NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

After the Knicks secured the top spot in the league, the rest of the league's teams also took their places one after another after fighting throughout the season.

The Eastern Conference rankings:
1. New York Knicks 65 wins and 17 losses.

2. Detroit Pistons 62 wins and 20 losses.

3. Boston Celtics 58 wins and 24 losses.

4. New Jersey Nets 54 wins and 28 losses.

5. Washington Wizards 50 wins and 32 losses.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers 47 wins and 35 losses.

7. Chicago Bulls 43 wins and 39 losses.

8. Miami Heat 41 wins and 41 losses.

To be honest, there is not much suspense in the overall ranking of the Eastern Conference. There is a big gap between each team and the teams before and after it. There are no two teams that are so tied that the winner can only be determined on the last day.

But this does not mean that the Eastern Conference is less competitive. They have 5 teams that have achieved 50 wins, and the winning percentage of 8 playoff teams has reached at least 50%.

This regular season strength is definitely the strongest, at least in the Eastern Conference in recent years!

The Eastern Conference is incredibly competitive this year!
It is definitely not an easy task to stand out from the Eastern Conference this year and make it to the finals!

The situation in the Western Conference this year is still quite chaotic as usual. Their competitiveness is no worse than that of the Eastern Conference, or even better!

Just for the first place in the Western Conference, four teams have taken turns sitting on it throughout the season. The entire upper half of the Western Conference can be said to be a mess, and each team really fought all the way until the last day to decide the winner.

Their specific rankings:
1. Dallas Mavericks 62 wins and 20 losses

2. Phoenix Suns 61 wins and 21 losses

3. San Antonio Spurs 59 wins and 23 losses

4. Minnesota Timberwolves 59 wins and 23 losses

5. Los Angeles Lakers 53 wins and 29 losses

6. Denver Nuggets 52 wins 30 losses

7. Los Angeles Clippers 51 wins 31 losses

8. Utah Jazz 51 wins 31 losses

Compared to the Eastern Conference where 5 teams have won more than 50 games, the Western Conference has seen an even bigger wave, with all eight teams that made the playoffs achieving 50 wins!

Each team played a very good regular season performance.

The feat of 13 teams in the East and West exceeding 50 wins is also the highest in the history of the league! Before this year, there has never been a year in which the league has so many 50-win teams at the same time!
In other words, at least judging from the regular season results, this year's playoffs will be the most intense and craziest year in NBA history!
All the players must be fully focused and give their all in every round of the game!

This year's playoffs are definitely the focus of everyone's attention!

But while the strong teams have put in brilliant performances and have achieved astonishingly good results, the results of the bad teams in the league have naturally been terrible.

After all, if some people win more, then naturally some people lose more!

Except for the 16 teams from the East and West that entered the playoffs, among all the remaining teams in the league, the 76ers had the best record, with 31 wins, and the second was the Grizzlies, with 30 wins!
Apart from these two teams, there is no other team in the league with more than 1 wins!
The gap between the rich and the poor in the alliance has never been so huge!
To be honest, if this year is a super year like 2003, it would be reasonable for these teams to be so bad.

But the problem is, the quality of this year's rookies is not that good.

There aren't any guys that are strong enough for so many teams to tank just for them.

This also means: these teams are not just playing badly, they are really bad!
The strength gap between teams is getting bigger and bigger.

This situation is definitely not good news for the league. At least Stern doesn't like this situation at all. He prefers a situation where at least 30 of the 20 teams are working hard for the playoffs, no team is in a bad state, and everyone is competitive.

This kind of alliance is healthy and people will watch it!
Otherwise, how can those weak teams, teams in small markets and small cities survive?

But no matter how much he thought about it, Stern had no good idea how to solve the problem.

At least for now, he can only pray that those bad teams will turn around soon.

Of course, those bad teams also want to turn things around, especially those extremely bad teams. They are eager to get an earlier draft pick so that they can get a super talent who can change the team this summer.

And this year's competition is extra intense!

The Raptors are ranked last with 12 wins, while the Portland Trail Blazers and the Hornets, who are not in New Orleans, are ranked second and third from the bottom with 14 and 15 wins respectively.

Then there are the Bobcats, Rockets, Hawks, Pacers and other teams with 16-20 wins.

In short, everyone needs a higher draft pick to save the team!

"Michael, do you need me to show you a way?"

Because the sneaker advertisement shot with Jordan at the end of March was so shocking, two top stars, and two stars from different camps actually appeared in the same advertisement. The impact this advertisement brought to the fans is probably stronger than the "Street Dance of China" back then!

The result of that influence and impact is naturally that Lin Tian’s sneakers are selling out again!
His new sneakers released this year immediately ignited the market as soon as they were launched on the market. From the end of March to the start of the playoffs in mid-April, it took only less than a month for the shoes to become the sales champion in the United States so far in 3!
Lin Tian's sneakers once again swept the league and the streets across the United States.

Of course, Lin Tian got to eat a big mouthful of meat, and Jordan and AJ also got to drink the soup. While Jordan was shooting commercials for other companies, AJ's sales also greatly increased.

However, no matter the magnitude or the degree of madness, he cannot compare with Lin Tian.

But Nike had already anticipated that this advertisement could significantly boost its sales, which was why they let Jordan on board without any hesitation.

Even if the other party gets the lion's share, there will still be benefits for us, right?

What's more, these are Jordan and Lin Tian. After discussion among the top executives of Nike, they really don't want to offend these two, so just let them have fun!
Lin Tian, ​​who had tasted the sweetness of the game, naturally called Jordan as soon as the regular season ended.

Hehe...if there's a chance, let's do it again!

That's a lot of money!
Who doesn’t like money!

It’s still such an easy money to get.

"No need!" Jordan refused without thinking when he heard Lin Tian's voice.

His pride told him: Even if Lin Tian was very good at judging people, he couldn't let Lin Tian control him! Otherwise, who knows what trap this kid would set for him.

"Then let's make another bet?" Lin Tian continued to ask.

"No bet, I swear, I will never bet with you again!" Jordan cursed and rejected Lin Tian again.

I really want to gamble with him again!

Isn't losing enough?

Even Jordan had lost so many games that he didn't want to lose again.

He also came to a thorough conclusion: If he wanted to avoid losing to Lin Tian, ​​the best way or the only way was not to gamble.

"What a pity! You just missed a Hall of Fame player and a great opportunity to beat me." Lin Tian shook his head, saying it was such a pity.

After saying that, Lin Tian hung up the phone, leaving Jordan scratching his head and feeling very uncomfortable while answering his own phone.

Do you want to fight back?

Do you want to give Lin Tian another chance to humiliate you?

Of course, Lin Tian didn't bother to care whether Jordan was entangled or didn't care at all. He had a lot of experience points now! After not acquiring new skills for many years, Lin Tian didn't care about the little experience points Jordan had exploded.

The main reason for making this call was out of fun, but he also knew that Jordan would definitely not accept his advice!
This guy is so arrogant. He just wants to be mean.

However, to Lin Tian's surprise, this time the phone rang in less than 10 minutes.

"Lin, if you got the No. 1 pick, who would you choose?" Jordan's question was simple and direct! He had obviously rehearsed it for a long time before calling, and his purpose was to get straight to the point right away, so that Lin Tian would not have the opportunity to humiliate him and give him the answer without knowing it!
"Are you asking me a question? Shouldn't your attitude be nicer?" Unfortunately, no matter how well prepared Jordan was, who was he facing?

His lifelong nemesis!

After being exposed by Lin Tian, ​​Jordan fell into silence.

But he didn't hang up the phone.

He didn't hang up the phone, and Lin Tian wasn't in a hurry either. He just left the phone there without urging him at all.

If the enemy does not move, I will not move.

Jordan was silent for at least 2 minutes before he finally said, "I beg you, you damn bastard! If you had the No. pick, who would you choose?"

"LaMarcus Aldridge."

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

This time, Lin Tian was very straightforward and decisive, and gave the answer directly.

After all, when fishing, you can't just pull too hard, you have to let it move for a while. If you just thrust and pull wildly, the fishing line will break.

If you have enough patience and wait until the fish is exhausted, you can then do whatever you want with it and put it in a hundred or eighty shapes!
Jordan, don't be in a hurry! Take your time.

This phone call with Jordan was just another episode before the start of the playoffs, and there was another similar episode.

Bird also called Lin Tian.

The questions were quite similar, but Bird was much more shameless than Jordan, and his skin was much thicker. He didn't ask something like "What if you got the No. 1 pick?"

What he asked was: "Lin, can you give me a draft prediction list, from 1-60, all of them!"

"Get lost!" Lin Tian's response remained simple and direct as always: "Do you have any shame?"

"Then let's just do the first round. I'll reduce your workload by half right away. Isn't that quite nice?"

"Get lost! Are you the 'Big Bird' Bird or the 'Cowardly Bird' trash? Can you please have some shame?"

"Lotto! Lotto is okay, right?"

"Top five! Top five is not too much, I just want five names!" Bird finally gave his bottom line: "You can mention any benefits you want."

"I can only say that if I had the No. 1 pick, I would choose Aldridge." After saying this, Lin Tian hung up the phone.

The main goal is to treat everyone equally without favoring anyone.

As for what to do if the Pacers and Bobcats don’t get the top three and can’t select Aldridge?
You can't blame me for that.

Mr. Lin has already given the best solution.

Isn't it too much to blame me for your bad luck?

After these two calls, the Knicks have almost waited for their first playoff opponent.

Miami Heat!
This season, the Heat finally returned to the playoffs after lying dormant for many years. This is the first time they have returned to the playoffs since the 01-02 season.

The team's current lineup is very different from the last time it entered the playoffs. Except for the general manager, who is still Riley, everything else is different!

The team's head coach became Riley's former deputy Stan Van Gundy, who is also the fat brother of Van Gundy Jr.

The team's main lineup has nothing to do with the original Heat team.

The team's main point guard is the top number one player of the 03 generation, white guard Kirk Hinrich, nicknamed 'Little Stockton', who is known for his calmness, stability, perseverance and hard work. The number two player is James Posey, who is famous for his defense and shooting.

这两人本赛季场均分别能贡献15分6次助攻和8分3篮板1抢断。

At the same time, the backcourt combination of these two is also known as the least athletic, slowest but most hardworking backcourt duo in the league.

The upper limits of these two are not high, but the lower limits are not low either. Overall, they are a very pragmatic and practical duo.

The third position is Antoine Walker, one of the Boston Twins back then. He is also the oldest player on the team, but years of wandering and lack of self-discipline have caused this guy to gain weight significantly. He is no longer the potential forward that was highly expected back then.

This season, Walker averaged only 15 points and 6 rebounds per game, which is at least two levels lower than his peak of 20+10! And he is actually only 29 years old this year!

Since he no longer has Auerbach's supervision, this guy's decline has been as fast as Kemp's.

The team's power forward is Lamar Odom, their absolute core and top scorer, who averages 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists per game.

Odom entered the league with the title of a talented player and the 'left-handed magician', but after playing for so many years, this guy has always been tepid. Although his statistics have always been good, he has never been able to make further progress.

Personal honors such as the All-Star Game and the Best Team have nothing to do with him. In fact, Odom, who entered the league in 99, only played in the playoffs for the first time this year!
He was selected in the lottery in the previous 6 seasons!
Given his talent and energy, this guy's career is an absolute disappointment! He didn't live up to the expectations that were placed on him when he entered the league.

But this year, he was finally able to live up to expectations a little and led his team into the playoffs for the first time!
The Heat's center position is Eric Dampier, a pure blue-collar center. He has been in the league for 10 years, but his level is really just that.

After being traded from the Pacers to the Spurs, this guy once boasted: "I am the second best center in the Western Conference", but the final result showed that what he shouted was not a boast at all, but a dream.

Not to mention the second center in the Western Conference, he couldn't even compete with Nesterovic in the Spurs and directly became the second center of the Spurs.

As his playing time on the Spurs became less and less and his presence became less and less, this guy moved to Miami last season and gradually secured the starting center position. He averaged 8 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block per game this season, which can barely be considered a qualified blue-collar worker.

The above five players, plus the sharpshooter Kapono and White on the bench, Haslem bought from the Pacers and others, constitute the main rotation lineup of the Heat now!
In general, this is a mediocre team with average talent, average prospects, and a ceiling of about 40 wins. At best, it can only make it to the second round of the playoffs.

Riley's team building in recent years has indeed been quite a failure.

Since Mourning left, he has never been able to find a tactic that suits the team and someone who can lead the team out of trouble. In the draft over the past few years, Riley has always had bad luck. Firstly, he did not have a very high draft pick, and secondly, he did not find a very suitable cornerstone.

At least in the short term, the Heat still have to calm down and wait. They have to wait until Riley has recovered and is back on track before they have a chance to challenge for the championship again.

As for when that was?
Who knows?

Perhaps this day will only come after the three frustrated guys have discussed it and come to Miami at the same time!

But before that day comes, the Heat have to finish this series with the Knicks first!

Even though the strength of the two sides is vastly different from personnel configuration to regular season records and all other aspects, the game still has to be played one game at a time!
"Relax, everyone, just relax! This should be the first playoff game for most of us, so just treat it as a regular season game, there is no difference."

Before the game started, Van Gundy didn't even shout slogans like "We must win", "Win the game", "We will definitely win" and so on.

All he did was to let the players relax and play the game with a normal mindset.

This is also his best solution.

Winning is hard to win.

The very least we can do is to make the players less nervous and try their best to play good games and perform well, and that will be a success.

Van Gundy has this attitude, and the suspense of this series can actually be seen.

Perhaps the only suspense of this series is how much cheers and tributes Alonzo Mourning can get when the Knicks play away, and how many fans will send Mourning sincere blessings.

Well, don’t mention it, Lin Tian really wants to see that scene.

He wanted to see how far the cold-blooded Riley would go for his White Moonlight disciple.

Riley: Want to see it? No problem! Let's see it now! (End of this chapter)