Chapter 262: The First Round of Showdown
On April 14, all 82 regular season games of the 2015-2016 NBA season ended, and the Golden State Warriors laughed at the league with a 73-9 record that broke the Bulls dynasty record. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
The first place in the East is the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are only 57-25 and can finish third in the West. But interestingly, the third to sixth places in the East all have 50 wins, but because of the win-loss relationship, the Celtics can only rank fifth, in the first round of the playoffs, against the Atlanta Hawks.
The second place in the East is the Toronto Raptors with the "garbage brothers", both brothers have awakened this year and led the team to the playoffs strongly, and they firmly occupy the second place in the East. The Heat are third, the Hornets are sixth, and the Pacers and Pistons are seven or eighth.
In eighth and ninth place are the Bulls and Wizards, both teams were strong opponents in the playoffs last season, but they couldn't help it. The Bulls even replaced the defense-oriented head coach Tom Thibodeau, but they didn't expect that this season, the record would be even worse.
The Bulls have the former MVP "Windy City Rose" Derrick Rose, as well as the rising Jim Butler, who is extremely strong on both offensive and defensive ends, and the defensive titan Joakim Noah on the inside, as well as the Lakers' former champion center Pau Gasol.
The team has a number of fierce players such as Nikola Mirotich and Aaron Brooks, both in the starting and on the bench. But because of injuries, their record is not good, and Rose, who is full of injuries, has declined significantly.
If nothing else, this summer, he will leave the city that made him famous.
At that time, perhaps the Bulls will start rebuilding with Butler as the core, and the Bulls' poor record this season is also related to the conflict between the team's two cores. However, Rose, who once rekindled the hope of winning the championship in the city, left like this, which is also embarrassing.
But this is the NBA, you say he is cruel, but there is also a lot of warmth and touching, in fact, all this is reality, only in fairy tales, will always be warm sunshine.
As for the Wizards, although the backcourt duo Wohl/Er and Beal have grown, they still don't see much hope, and the players around them have changed batch after batch, and they still haven't found the most suitable person to help them go further.
At the bottom of the East is the Knicks, although it is the hottest city in the league and the basketball market, and it has superstar Carmelo Anthony and a strong contender for Rookie of the Year Porzingis, but Derrick Fisher is still playing a bad hand.
If he still doesn't have anything too good to do next season, then "Zen Master" Phil Jackson is estimated to not be able to keep him, and may become the first coach to be fired next season, the most powerful contender.
The quarterfinals in the Western Conference are still those familiar names, with the Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, Trail Blazers, Mavericks, Grizzlies and Rockets in second to eighth place.
It still shows the three major illusions of Texas: the Spurs are old, the Mavericks are weak, and the Rockets are strong.
For more than ten years, such an illusion has always existed.
However, the prospects of the Mavericks and Rockets are not optimistic. Although the Rockets' lineup looks very luxurious, the outside has the league's top player, James Harden, the most powerful contender for this season's MVP, as well as "Mad Dog" Beverley, the defensive gate "Tieza" Trevo Ariza, and the interior has the monster Howard.
To tell the truth, such a team does have the strength to compete for the championship, but on the surface, it looks very strong, but the season is interrupted, various problems are violent, head coach McHale leaves, and Harden and Howard are not in agreement.
The only good thing is that they still made it to the playoffs in the end, just one more win than the Jazz.
As for the Mavericks, it is even more miserable, before the season started, their owner Cuban spent a lot of money to sign Jordan Jr., and finally was snatched back again by the Clippers, who suddenly killed a horse gun. In the end, he had to cheapen Wesley Matthews, gave him a big contract, and finally signed an injury number.
I didn't play dozens of games before the season, but fortunately I finally came back. However, in recent years, the Mavericks seem to be entangled with injuries, and the heavily signed "Gao Fu Shuai" is reimbursed for the season due to injury, and Deron Williams is also injured, with five or six sick numbers.
Even though the "German tank" Nowitzki, an old driver, is old and strong, but driving such a broken car, he can't soar to 160 yards.
In the first round, against the "double less" leader, the Thunder, who is aiming to win the championship, the Mavericks can win a game, which is very powerful, and the experts are all giving sweeping predictions.
As for the Rockets, if there is Shangguan Yu, relying on three-point shots, maybe they can fight with the Warriors, and against the Warriors who have just broken the record, maybe the Rockets will not escape the fate of sweeping, at most they will win a face-saving game.
As for the Spurs, against the seventh-ranked Grizzlies, it is also nine out of ten, not to mention the current Grizzlies, starting point guard Mike Conley, starting center Marc Gasol, all seasons reimbursement. Tony Allen, the 3-and-D defensive titan on the front line, is also injured.
The only thing to see in the West is the Clippers and the Trail Blazers, but the Clippers are too dependent on Paul, they were blocked from the Western Conference by the Rockets last year, and they don't know this year that they can touch the floor of the semifinals.
As for the matchup in the east, it is even more confusing, and it is estimated that the knights will play the piston fire more easily, and it should be the end of the sweep.
Although the Raptors have a strong backcourt duo, they also have Younas Valanciunas who is playing better and better inside, and he can contribute 12.8 points and 9.1 rebounds this season, giving the team a great help on both offensive and defensive ends. The bench is also deep, and their goal is not just for the second round of the playoffs.
But the Pacers aren't talking about the team that is still up to you, superstar Paul George is enough to make the Raptors spin-breaking, not to mention a few Hill battles.
Although the results of the predictions given by experts are 4 to 2 or 4 to 3, the Raptors still have a slight advantage, but the final result is not for sure.
As for the next two matchups, they are quite interesting, the Heat vs. the Hornets, the two teams with comparable records, no one knows who will die.
The Celtics are also evenly matched against the Atlanta Hawks, although the Hawks seem to have stronger overall strength and a more obvious advantage on the inside, but the Celtics have too many uncertainties and it doesn't look so easy to be defeated.
What's more, in the Celtics, there is also Shangguan Yu, the rookie of the year and the most powerful contender.