The regular season is over, and although the Cavaliers are listed as one of the three championship contenders, the Cavaliers' performance in the regular season is hardly satisfactory. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

They were swept by the Warriors for an easy season, and Irving and Love were far from being in shape than expected, and it seemed that Cleveland had to rely on James alone to save the day.

For the upcoming playoffs, the only hope for the Cavaliers at the moment seems to be only health. If the Cavaliers were able to stay healthy in the playoffs last season, many believed that the championship would not be taken by the Warriors.

Love exited the battlefield in the first round of the playoffs, and Irving fell on top of Game 1 of the Finals. Even if James finally descends to heaven, he can't bring Cleveland his first championship.

In light of this, the biggest enemy on the Cavaliers' way to the championship is not so much the Warriors or the Spurs, but rather the injuries of the Tigers.

However, in the just-concluded regular season of this season, the Cavaliers, who were fully healthy, failed to perform as well as people expected.

Although they went 11-3 in the opening season, the Bulls in the opener and the Bucks and Pistons since then have raised questions about the Cavaliers' championship prospects.

The point of suspicion was first and foremost pointed at head coach David Blatter, who was also saddled with the Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Initially, the Cavaliers executives, including James, supported Blatter, and the Cavaliers seemed to be calm, but as the schedule deepened and the Warriors went against the sky with record-breaking behavior along the way, this made the Cavaliers begin to be restless.

Just four days after the Cavaliers suffered a 98-132 loss to the Warriors for the first time this season, the Cavaliers abruptly announced that Blatter was out of class and replaced by assistant coach Tyronn Lue.

The outside world is surprisingly calm about the news of Blatter's dismissal, but it is very keen to dig up the culprit that led to Blatter's dismissal. Eventually, James came into everyone's field of vision, and although the "Emperor" himself repeatedly denied it, Blatter hinted that James was the mastermind.

After Blatter's departure, the Cavaliers showed unprecedented unity, and with Irving's return, the Cavaliers' Big Three were once again strong.

It's a pity that the Cavaliers are "strong when weak, weak when strong" as before, and often overturn in the gutter against non-championship teams such as the Celtics and Hornets.

What's worse is that James, as the core of the team and the pillar of the Big Three, actually publicly made "discordant remarks" on social media, and the "Emperor" took the initiative to go to Miami to train with Wade during the break, but left his Cavaliers teammates aside. this

Everything hinted at - the Knight Triumvirate was distracted.

When people's hearts are scattered, the team will not be easy to lead.

Although the Cavaliers locked up the first place in the East early, compared to the Warriors' anti-natural play and the Spurs' old and strong, the Cavaliers don't seem to have the slightest hope of competing for a championship.

In addition, Irving and Love are in a worrying state, of which Irving's average of 19.3 points per game has slipped to the second worst in his career, and Love continues to play the role of "Adou who can't be helped", with an average of 16.1 points per game is already miserable, as for the likes of Jr Smith and Tristan Thompson, it is difficult to provide fire support to the Big Three on a regular basis, so the current Cavaliers can definitely be described as struggling.

Looking at the current situation of the Cavaliers, it seems that all this is the same as the Cavaliers before James went to the Heat, everything needs James to save, and there are only a handful of other teammates who can share the worries of the "emperor".

The playoffs are about to begin, and although the current Cavaliers championship index has dropped significantly, fortunately, the Cavaliers are fully healthy at the moment. If they can stay healthy, they will have the opportunity to dispel the doubts of the outside world through their own practical actions.

In the East this season, in addition to the team with James being as strong as ever, the Hornets are also eye-catching.

In the 2015 season, the Hornets averaged only 94.2 points per game, the fourth lowest in the league, and this season, the Hornets averaged 103.1 points per game, ranking 11th in the league! Among the top eight teams in the East, it is also second only to the Cavaliers.

Jumping from 11th in the East last season to the top 6 in the East, the Hornets have finally ushered in a new lease of life after trading and changing their tactical play!

Throughout the regular season, the Hornets have given a refreshing feel to the style of play of the Eastern Warriors.

In the 2015 season, the Hornets were the slowest offensive team in the entire league and the Eastern Conference, Al Jefferson habitually fell into the position, and Kemba Wall's three-point shot (1.4 per game shooting 30%) at that time was completely ineffective, and he could only send the ball to the basket step by step, and break through the layup on the weak side through one block at a time.

This season, Walker scored close to 20+5+5 data, averaging 37.4% three-point shooting rate and 2.3 three-point shots per game, which is a great improvement. And in terms of three-point shooting, Walker has also had a highlight performance this season, hitting 7 three-pointers in a single game to set a personal record.

In fact, this is just a microcosm of one of the most obvious tactics of the Hornets this season: only five teams have hit more than 800 three-pointers in the entire season, and with the exception of the Warriors, who were the first team in history to shoot more than 1,000 three-pointers in a single season, only the Rockets, Trail Blazers and Cavaliers have made slightly better three-pointers than the Hornets (within 15), while the Clippers have not hit as many three-pointers as the Hornets.

Throughout the season, three-pointers and run-and-run shots have been a theme for the Hornets: they have a team-breaking record of 41 three-pointers in a single game, and a team-made team record of 20 three-pointers in a narrow double-overtime win over the Kings on the road.

The key figures for the Hornets this season are Batum and Jeremy Lin, who have really played a huge role in the main and bench lineups.

Batum has played a small forward season averaging 15 points, 6.2 rebounds and a career-high 5.8 assists per game, while Jeremy Lin found himself off the bench, averaging 11.6 points and 3 assists per game and a career-high 3.2 rebounds and 0.54 blocks.

These two have been key figures in the Hornets' acceleration this season.

Obviously, Jefferson's injury has given the Hornets more opportunities to pick up the pace, and as one of the players who have been the best at playing in the box before, the speed disadvantage that Jefferson has brought to the Hornets is also obvious.

However, the Hornets' determination to change their face was great after the start of the season, and they once went from a slow-paced team that averaged only 95.33 points per game last season to 102.7 points per game in the first 25 games of the season to become the eighth offensive team in the league with 102.7 points per game in the first 25 games.

Jeremy Lin + Batum + Walker, the Hornets have developed from only one offensive initiation point and blocking point last season to three possession points this season, which is the biggest change for the Hornets.

But the Hornets' fast play whirlwind is not the same, they have a paranoid pursuit of defensive rebounding, will not rashly launch sporadic offense and fast down, their defense is the eighth in the league, and while seeking speed, the Hornets can control the average turnovers per game to the first in the league (12.6) It is really rare, which shows that the Hornets have finally found their own style of play after several years of changes, attempts and adjustments.

Marvin Williams is at a new turning point and peak in his career, re-establishing his confidence with the Hornets and leading the team as a starter, averaging 11.7 points per game to set a new personal high in the past seven seasons, while 6.5 rebounds is a career high, and more importantly, he also has a career-high 39.8% three-point shooting percentage.

Marvin Williams, who entered the league in 2005, burst into his own with the Hornets, and Marvin Williams has also been one of the Hornets' most consistent three-point point this season.

The Courtney Lee trade was a very important addition for the Hornets this season, and his three-point shooting and perimeter defense have been a huge help to the team.

Frank Kaminsky is a rookie but a seasoned player, especially with his outside shooting touch and height that has some tactical value for the Hornets.

The Hornets have indeed been relatively consistent throughout the season, which is why the Hornets can make the playoffs with the Warriors' style of play in the defense-oriented East.

And this year, the Hornets also played a lot of classic games, and interestingly, two of the most classic games were played by Jeremy Lin.

This year, Jeremy Lin shot about 4 percent more from the bench than he did against the starters, and he was even considered a favorite to be the sixth man of the season.

In the game against the Cavaliers, Jeremy Lin played at least 24 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists for the second time in his career to lead the team to reverse the Cavaliers, and the more classic game was the Hornets reversal of the Spurs by 23 points at home, Jeremy Lin scored 29 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists at that time, at least 29 points in a single game for the eighth time in his career, and he was also the fourth player in Hornets history to score 29 points, and finally led the team to reverse the Spurs.

At that time, Vicky also praised it, saying that it was a game that belonged to Jeremy Lin.

Rediscovering myself, I am Jeremy Lin's biggest takeaway from choosing the Hornets. The team atmosphere, style of play and tactics here are the best for Jeremy Lin.

Of course, Jeremy Lin also has a lot of flaws, such as catching the ball and running without the ball and shooting is still not very good, and there will still be inconsistency in shooting 0 of 6 in a single game or only scoring a few points.

But Jeremy Lin's performance is absolutely competent in terms of value for money, and it is certain that in next season, whether he is in the Hornets or not, Jeremy Lin will have a good contract, which he has earned back through personal efforts this season, and it should be said that this season of the Hornets is the most successful season of his career.

In the first round of the playoffs, as long as the Hornets are not playing against the Cavaliers, anything is possible. After all, there is not much difference in the strength of the East from second to eighth this season, and the Hornets will be hoping to make a qualitative leap this year, having had a very successful regular season and perhaps continue to surprise their supporters in the playoffs.

There's no shortage of spoilers in the NBA, but this season, there are exceptionally many of them.

Looking at the current rankings of the eastern teams, many people may have an illusion. Because at least this year, the conclusion that the West is strong and the East is weak is no longer valid, and in the East, if a team has a win rate of less than 5 percent, it will not want to enter the playoffs again.

Such a scenario, a few years ago, would have been unimaginable.

At that time, the Heat's Big Three dominated the Eastern Conference, and only the Pacers, Bulls, and the Celtics, whose roster had not yet disintegrated, could barely compete with them.

But in terms of overall strength, there is an insurmountable gap between the east and the west.

As a result, in most cases, some Eastern teams hung up the white flag in advance and announced their disarmament before the end of the season, which also produced a large number of games that lacked suspense and were extremely low to watch, and this situation even made the NBA league move the idea of changing the game system.

But this season, somewhat surprisingly, the Eastern powers have suddenly risen to prominence.

Almost from the first game of the season, the rankings of many teams have been tightly bitten, and the four teams of Heat, Celtics, Hornets, and Hawks have not been ranked until the last day of the regular season.

As a team that has been wandering in the lottery area for a long time, the rise of the Hornets is really a surprise.

You know, as the owner of the team, Michael Jordan's management ability has been criticized by the outside world in the early years, and his poor selection vision is in stark contrast to the unmatched talent of the player period. But this season, the Hornets' excellent performance finally helped Boss Joe out of his bad breath.

In fact, back in the preseason, the Hornets announced their rise with a winning streak.

Next, they finished in the top three in the East again in the regular season.

Even with the impact of injuries, Al Jefferson, the original Hornets inside gatekeeper, has been reduced to a fringe man. However, the addition of Batum, the rejuvenation of Marvin Williams, and the help of Jeremy Lin and others on the bench have made this team unprecedentedly strong and at the same time created an extremely united fighting atmosphere.

The Heat's strong return is also a big event in the East.

You must know that due to the summer of 2014, James resolutely left Miami and returned to his hometown of Cleveland, coupled with the aging of Wade and Bosh, especially the latter, who frequently suffered from blood clots, people are no longer optimistic about this old team.

Unexpectedly, in the middle of last season, the "big white edge" Whiteside was born, which brought a new turn for the Heat. In addition, the health of veterans such as Wade has improved, and young people such as Winslow, who have joined the new team, are also good enough to fight.

As a result, the Heat gradually got rid of last season's decline and re-demonstrated the strength and confidence to compete with the Eastern powers.

As for the young Celtics, last season, they were in the rebuilding period, and they reached the playoffs with the mad dog spirit of not giving up at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. It's a pity that he met the Cavaliers in the first round and was swept away.

This year, although there are no major changes in personnel, the results of the Green Army are still improving.

On the outside, Thomas Jr.'s leading demeanor has led many pundits to compare him to Larry Bird in the 80s; And the handsome coach Brad Stevens, with his resourceful dispatching and command, has gradually become the new favorite of the coaching circle.

During the regular season, when the league's best teams were defeated on the Warriors' home court, the young Green Army became the first team to storm Oracle Arena. If general manager Anji can make good use of his draft picks and complete one or several exquisite operations, perhaps in the near future, the Green Army may be back among the top teams.

Of course, in addition to the three Eastern teams and the X-factor Lakers mentioned earlier, the Trail Blazers can also be regarded as a spoiler this season.

Originally, last summer, with the departure of the big four - Aldridge, Batum, Matthews and Robin Lopez - one after another, it was thought that the Trail Blazers were destined to become the belly of the fish in the West.

Unexpectedly, Lillard was so arrogant that he carried the Trail Blazers on his shoulders alone. And the young CJ McCollum has turned into the most reliable partner by Lillard's side. When the season came to April, the Trail Blazers did not fall into the lottery zone, but instead locked up a playoff spot early, giving everyone who doubted them a resounding slap in the face.

Judging from the current situation, the situation in the east is shrouded in a cloud of doubt. In the West, most people think that the Warriors and Spurs will be the Western Conference Finals, while in the East, the Cavaliers' opponents in the Eastern Conference Finals have never been able to surface.

Because the overall strength of the remaining seven teams is not much different, it is not surprising who will win in the playoffs, where the overall quality of the team is most considered. (To be continued.) )