Chapter 1263: Seating Arrangement, Playoff Opponents Announced (Part 2)
At the beginning of the season, no one thought that the Suns, with Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Nash, Stoudemire Jr., Grant Hill and a bunch of bench thugs, would miss the playoffs. It’s the biggest upset this season.
History has told us countless times that the accumulation of strength on paper is wrong. It is too sad that such a Galaxy fleet cannot even enter the playoffs.
This shocked many fans. After all, as a powerful player in the league from 2005 to 2008, this sudden fall made people feel surprised and a little regretful at the same time.
Facts have proved that it was indeed a huge mistake for the Suns to trade O'Neal to the team. Nash is a speedy point guard and is the best in the world in organizing fast breaks, but positional offense is not his strong point. 1V1 is world-class, fast break is an absolute shortcoming. This creates a situation where one intends to speed up and the other intends to slow down. It is impossible to win with such a separated lineup and tactics.
What makes fans even more regretful is that with the failure of this season, it seems that the time has come for this legendary Suns to say goodbye to everyone. With Nash aging, this strong team that shines in the league with its running and gunning will Slowly walking into history, it’s time to say goodbye to everything.
After talking about the Suns, continue to focus on the playoffs. The fierce competition in the Western Conference playoffs this season is mainly reflected in the competition for 2-7th place.
The first is No. 7, the biggest dark horse Hornets who created league history last season. Although there have been no personnel adjustments this season, Paul is still strong, and Peja's three-pointers are still accurate, but their record is compared to last season. It dropped a lot.
The main reason for this is the solidification of their tactics. When you are thoroughly studied by most teams in the league, it will be difficult for you to gain a foothold in the league. This is another commonplace topic. Coach Scott may have the shortest shelf life in the league. One of the coaches.
They only won one more game than the Jazz, and that was all thanks to Paul. In the league's final game, under the leadership of Paul, the Hornets completed a 14-point reversal in the last quarter and defeated the Eastern Conference's powerful Hawks in an away game. This allowed them to maintain their seventh position and eventually reach the playoffs with 49 wins and 33 losses.
Above them is the Dallas Mavericks, who have confirmed their sixth place in the playoffs one round ahead of schedule. Even though the Mavericks only finished sixth this season, their record has just reached the 50-win mark, which is the same as last season's 67. There is a long way to go to win and sweep the league, but before the start of this season, most commentators and experts predicted that they would miss the playoffs.
The first is that they finally fired the meritorious coach Junior General Johnson. At the same time, the new coach Carlisle also made very big adjustments to the team. They traded the young potential point guard Harris in exchange for the old Kidd, and at the same time lost Josh Howard is a high-quality third position, but other positions, especially the criticized center position, are still Dampier, and there is no reinforcement. This makes everyone not optimistic about them, but with this lineup, they won the victory. 50 wins, entering the playoffs as sixth in the Western Conference.
However, their position is not envied by others, and even the Jazz and Hornets after them have made it clear that they do not want to surpass them.
The main reason starts from the last round!
Before the final round of the Western Conference, the second-place Nuggets, third-place Spurs, fourth-place Trail Blazers and fifth-place Rockets all had 53 wins.
This has also resulted in the most fiercely competitive ranking battle between 2-5 in history. After the final round, several of their teams may change positions at any time.
But even if it is such a coincidence, as we all know, the Rockets regrettably lost to the Lakers in the last round, and their goal was set at 53 wins. Taking into account factors such as the relationship between victory and defeat, the Rockets have determined their position as fifth in the Western Conference.
At this time, Rockets fans are also getting away from the regret of losing, turning on the TV or computer, excitedly anticipating which team will lose at the same time to accompany the Rockets, and paying attention to a wave of playoff opponents. According to most From what Rockets fans think, it’s impossible for only one of these four teams to lose!
However, things are really strange. After the last round of games, the Nuggets, Spurs, and Trail Blazers defeated their respective opponents, and their records all became 54 wins!
Especially the Spurs. They played the Bobcats in an away game. As a result, the Spurs still lost by 5 points until the last 3 minutes. Many fans felt that the Spurs were going to lose. Spurs fans began to count the number of ranking possibilities after the Spurs lost.
But at this time, Parker suddenly rose up and pulled the Spurs back from the brink of defeat with two consecutive three-pointers. In the end, they won 102-100 by two points...
Rocket: "MMP..."
As the saying goes, winning is not scary, but everyone is embarrassed. The top three have won, so their positions have not changed at all from before the start of the final round!
However, Rockets fans were ecstatic after the embarrassment. By some chance, the Rockets' opponent in the first round of the playoffs was this season's biggest dark horse, the Portland Youth Army!
This gave them a historic hope of reaching the second round of the playoffs. Although the Rockets were defeated by Roy in the first meeting between the two teams, the Rockets won all three subsequent encounters. This is undoubtedly the best in the playoffs. The record provides an important psychological advantage, and compared with the Trail Blazers, the Rockets have very rich playoff experience, so the Rockets have a greater chance of winning this time.
The matchup between the Rockets and Trail Blazers is also the one that Chinese fans are most concerned about. As for the Lakers and Jazz, everyone has already agreed that the Lakers have advanced. Now they are waiting for the Rockets and Lakers to stage the Chinese Derby in the semifinals.
The focus of fans in the United States is the direct confrontation between the third-placed Spurs and the sixth-placed Mavericks. The Cow-horse battle is once again staged in the playoffs. This time the aging Spurs meet the rebuilding Mavericks. Who will win? Still unknown.
However, most people are still optimistic about the Spurs. Originally, the Spurs have been close to being overtaken countless times, but the last wave of 8 consecutive victories allowed them to cling to the third position. This seems to make people see the former team that once reached the playoffs. Just the resurgent Spurs.
The encounter between the No. 2 Nuggets in the Western Conference and the No. 7 Hornets in the Western Conference is a duel between new forces. Fans are also looking forward to what kind of fierce sparks these two prosperous brothers Anthony and Paul will have!
In short, the Western Conference confrontation in this year's playoffs is definitely full of highlights, and compared to the Eastern Conference, it is also full of contingency and uncertainty.
In the analysis of 24 basketball experts recruited by ESPN, among the four Eastern Conference matchups, only the Heat vs. Hawks matchup is considered suspenseful.
In the West, with the exception of the Lakers and Jazz, the other matches are basically 50-50.
"Phew, the show is about to begin!" Ji Feng finished reading the information and put on the computer. At this moment, he seemed to be able to feel the smoke of the playoffs floating behind him.