Chapter 243: A Herd of Heroes
Westbrook scored a triple-double in the first half, which may have overdrawn his luck in the second half. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć ļ½ļ½ļ½ļ½
In the second half, he was out of tune with his teammates, always a little bit off, and there were many good chances but they turned into mistakes.
In the second half, the Lakers were Yi Feng and Kobe Bryant, and in the case of Westbrook Clara's hind legs, Durant was difficult to beat with four hands, and finally the Thunder failed to keep their home court.
In the end, the Lakers played on the road, and they could finally avoid the embarrassment of being swept by the Thunder season.
On April 13, the Lakers' final regular season game of the season kicked off at home.
The Jazz now have a 38-43 record, and the Rockets, who just started their home game against the Kings just over two hours ago, also have a 38-43 record!
The two teams, with the same record of 38 wins and 43 losses, are in eighth place in the West by half a win due to a series of complex factors, while the Jazz are ninth.
And today, both teams play the final game of the regular season. The outcome of this game will directly determine who can really catch the last train of the playoffs.
If the Rockets win at home, then the Jazz will miss the playoffs, even if they slaughter the Lakers by a big score in the last game; If the Rockets lose at home, then the Jazz still have a chance to fight back and fight for the last playoff ticket in the West.
But when the game between the Jazz and the Lakers was about to start, news came from Houston that the Rockets defeated the Kings by a big score at home and successfully grabbed the last playoff ticket in the West!
Therefore, the game between the Jazz and the Lakers has not even begun, and it has become meaningless. Whether it is for the Jazz or for the Lakers, the victory or defeat of this game will no longer affect the rankings of the two teams.
So the game was tepid, Yi Feng and Kobe Bryant didn't even play, and Byron Scott had already decided to let them rest in the rotation.
However, in the end, with Clarkson's brave 37 points, the Lakers won the last regular season game of the season at home.
At this point, the entire schedule of the regular season is officially over.
The next top eight in the East that can appear in the playoffs are-
1. Cleveland Cavaliers, with a 56-26 record and a winning rate of 68.3%;
2. Toronto Raptors, with a record of 55 wins and 27 losses, a winning rate of 67.1%;
3. Miami Heat, 48-34, 58.5%;
4. Boston Celtics, 48-34, 58.5%;
5. Atlanta Hawks, 47-35, 57.3%;
6. Charlotte Hornets, 45-37, 54.9%;
7. Indiana Pacers, 44-38, 53.7%.
8. Detroit Pistons, 44-38, 53.7% winning rate.
The top eight in the West are:
1. Golden State Warriors, 73-9, 89.0%;
2. San Antonio Spurs, 66-16, 80.5%;
3. Oklahoma City Thunder, 54-28, 65.9%;
4. Los Angeles Clippers, 53-29, 64.6%;
5. Los Angeles Lakers, 51-31, 62.2%;
6. Portland Trail Blazers, 42-40, 51.2%;
7. Dallas Mavericks, 41-41, 50% win rate;
8. Houston Rockets, 39-43, 47.8% winning rate.
After three days of recuperation, the NBA's playoffs of the season are about to begin. While fans are looking forward to the upcoming exciting playoffs, they are still reminiscing about this magnificent regular season.
Despite winning the title last season, the Warriors have been questioned a lot, and many are not optimistic that they can defend their title. However, the slap in the face is the fact that the Warriors started a season-tying 15-game winning streak; Curry has repeatedly performed against the sky, and his efficiency even surpasses Jordan; The Warriors' 73 wins surpassed the 1995-96 Bulls and set a new NBA record.
For the Warriors this season, breaking records is as easy as eating, and the Warriors should be renamed this season: Golden State Record-Breaking Team.
Like the Cavaliers, the Warriors started the 2015-16 season amid skepticism, and the focus of questions was: Was the Warriors a flash in the pan? After all, the defending team was injured by head coach Kerr at the beginning of the game, and the return date has been uncertain.
It was in the midst of doubts that the Warriors started their own way to defend their title, and they took the "small-ball tactics" and "three-point game" to the extreme under the leadership of Luke Wharton. In the blink of an eye, the team ushered in the opening 15 consecutive wins.
In the time since, the Warriors have made winning a routine, but losing has made headlines. As for Curry, he used his unreasonable three-pointers to destroy the mental defense and self-esteem of the defenders again and again, so defending Curry became a league-wide issue.
In Game 81 of the regular season, the Warriors defeated the Spurs 92-86 away, successfully tying the NBA record of 72 wins in a single season set by the Chicago Bulls in the 1995-96 season; In Game 82 of the regular season, the Warriors defeated the Grizzlies at home, successfully setting a record for the highest win of 73 wins in a single season!
The regular season ended the Warriors with 73 wins, and they announced to the league in a way that bordered on the dead: Defending the title? Not at all!
If the Warriors stay healthy in the playoffs, the Warriors have a good chance of defending their title, after all, there are only a handful of teams in the East that can beat the Warriors.
Of the other seven teams in the West, only the Spurs seem to have the ability to do so. Of course, for the Warriors themselves, there is another opponent that must not be ignored - the Lakers. As the team that allowed the Warriors to suffer their only consecutive losses this season, the Warriors can't take them enough seriously.
However, the Warriors' terrifying three-point rain and the ability to chase points in an instant that makes people unsteady will become their most terrifying killer feature. In other words, in order to beat the Warriors, in addition to defending well and attacking well, you must also be able to maintain 48 minutes of concentration, and it is too difficult to meet all three at the same time.
The San Antonio Spurs, the most consistent team in the four major North American sports leagues, have won 60+ games this season without even falling down, and broke the best regular season record in franchise history (63-19). At the same time, the Spurs also became the only team in NBA history to have won 10 consecutive seasons for six consecutive seasons.
The Spurs, who still have a GDP mix and are led by Aldridge and Leonard, are actually still the favorites to win the championship this season, and are currently the only team that can level the balance and rivalry with the Warriors in the regular season, and perhaps their return to the playoffs will be the biggest enemy of the Warriors to defend their title.
At the beginning of the season, the Spurs actually became a strong contender for the Western Conference championship and championship this season through a series of trades, and before the Warriors played against the Spurs and the Warriors, the Spurs and the Warriors were invincible in the regular season, and even in the halfway point, the Spurs showed a crushing style of play and advantage.
Halfway through the season, they outscored their opponents by 564 points in their first 40 games, the most in NBA history, and after beating the Jazz, the Spurs even won by at least 25 points for the ninth time, setting an NBA record for the first 37 games. At the time, the Spurs were sixth in the league in offense, first in defense and second in assists.
The Spurs had a good attendance in the first half of the season, while the GDP duo had a strong sense of being old and strong, with Duncan playing 35 of the first 41 games of the season, Ginobili 35 and Parker 38 of them.
Ginobili, who missed 12 games due to testicular surgery, made history by scoring 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting in 15 minutes. For Ginobili, who is averaging less than 20 minutes per game for the first time in his career, this season is shooting 45 percent from the field and 39 percent from three-point range is also a four-year high.
Also on the off course is Parker, who averages a career-low 27 minutes per game, and most importantly, Parker's number of shots has plummeted from 12.2 last season to 9.8, but he still maintains a high 49% shooting percentage and 5.3 assists even more than last year (4.9).
And the most surprising thing is still the nearly 40-year-old "rookie" Duncan.
He averaged 25 minutes per game this season, a career low, after Aldridge came to the Holy City, Duncan handed over the inside shots, from last season's average of 10.6 shots per game to only 7.1 shots, but the elder Duncan can still blast 8.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists, absolutely old and strong, even in the first half of the season Duncan was regarded as one of the best defensive players at the time, and the season defensive plus/minus Duncan is also in the top three.
Of course, Duncan is also great to become the only active player to win 1,000 games (third all-time, 1,074 games for first Abdul-Jabbar and 1,014 games for second all-time Parish), and the first player in history to win 1,000 games on the same team.
After the end of the regular season, the Spurs' GDP combination of nearly 580 wins has long dominated the history, at least in terms of wins, crushing any strong combination that has left a strong mark in history.
At present, there is no problem with the replacement of the old and the new Spurs, the state of the GDP combination is more efficient than last year, and the power has not weakened, even if the occasional "pretending to be dead" in the regular season is just a way for the Spurs to change the soup and not change the medicine.
The Spurs have encountered problems in the first half of the season, the first is that Aldridge, who succeeded Duncan, took three months to adapt to the Spurs' system.
Aldridge's form was actually up and down in the first half, but the overall strength of the Spurs masked that.
However, after the All-Star break, especially since March, Aldridge's form has improved greatly, and he has exploded continuously and begun to really integrate into the Spurs, especially the echo between him and Leonard, which is what the Spurs want to see the most.
Leonard is undoubtedly the Spurs' most improved player, shooting nearly 50 percent from three-point range and becoming more consistent in his turnovers and pull-up jumpers in the restricted area, and Leonard could defend his title as the best defensive player of the season on the defensive end.
It's just that the fly in the ointment is that Leonard is not rich enough in offensive means.
But from both offensive and defensive ends, Ade, who is good at opening up space to shoot, and Leonard, who has the courage to break through and shoot equally stable, are a perfect match for the Spurs, and in the final stage of the regular season, Shuangde scored more than 40 points in a row to allow the Spurs to fully practice their tactics.
In fact, in the Spurs' main lineup, Danny Green has become a soft underbelly.
Indeed, this season, Danny Green's three-point shooting was a big disappointment, shooting 37.4% from the field and 32.9% from three-point range was indeed a bit shabby.
What the average person may not know is that Danny Green has become the only player in the NBA this season to hit 100+ three-pointers, 50+ steals and 45+ blocks in the past five consecutive seasons.
In many key moments, Vicky put Danny Green on the court not to open up the opponent with his three-point threat, but because he and Leonard are the chains of the Spurs' perimeter defense on the defensive end.
In terms of the thickness of the lineup, the heritage of the championship, and the changes in tactics at key moments, at present, in the West and even in the whole league, only the Spurs can compete with the Warriors.
The Thunder only have a combination of kings and bombs, and the Clippers are too variable, and the only one who can fight the Warriors at the top of the West may be the Spurs.
In today's West, the strength of the team has shown three grades as a whole, the Warriors and Spurs are in the first gear, the Thunder, Clippers and Lakers are in the first gear, and the Trail Blazers, Mavericks, Rockets, Jazz and Grizzlies are in the first gear. As for the others, they don't go into the stream at all.
But while the Warriors and Spurs are riding the dust, they can't ignore the fact that the Thunder have been practicing lineups and adjustments throughout the season, and the Thunder have entered the peak of their careers.
As for the Clippers, their regular season performance was actually discounted due to their big trades, plus Griffin's injury.
Both teams could be x-factors in the Western Conference playoffs, and it's not ununderstandable which of them will appear in the Western Conference Finals.
Of course, the Lakers also have a lot of uncertainty.
Before the start of this season, no one expected the Lakers to make the playoffs, and no one thought that they would win 50+ games.
Last season's Lakers only scored 21 wins for the second worst record in team history, with a miserable 25.6% win rate, setting a new record for the worst win rate in team history. It is self-evident that the grandiose family has declined to the extreme. Mass extinction injuries (nine players, including Kobe Bryant, were reimbursed for the season due to injuries) and the bad policies of the team's top brass are the main reasons for the Lakers' extremely poor record.
Things must be reversed, what time is the Lakers close, presumably they will soon usher in a rise, right?
This is the expectation of many Lakers fans, but none of them thought that the Lakers would immediately transform from a fish belly to a strong team this season! The rise has been so fast that it has far exceeded expectations.
The rocket-like strong rise of the Lakers is, of course, inseparable from the super booster of Yi Feng.
As a rookie, Yi Feng played in 80 games this season, averaging 35.3 minutes per game, contributing 32.8 points, 5.7 assists and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 50.4% from the field, 41.3% from three-point range and 90.1% from the free throw line.
What kind of non-human data is this?! (To be continued.) )