In fact, the Mavericks already knew about this result before the last day of the regular season.

Because of the win-loss relationship with the Spurs, whether they win the last game or not, it is this position.

This result is not good or good for the Mavericks.

The downside is that as I said before, the Forest Captain's joint defense has been the best in the league this season.

The good thing is that Nash remains with the Mavericks.

When Nelson Sr. and Cuban quarreled before, he said that Nash would play a major role in the Mavericks' offensive defense.

As a result, they really faced the Timberwolves.

Looking back, it was a blessing that the Mavericks didn't trade Nash in the first place.

Against the Timberwolves, the Mavericks players were also happy.

The reason why the Spurs lost last year was not only because the Spurs themselves had a lot of small moves, but also because of the excessive consumption in the first round.

After all, the intensity of the playoffs, every round is attrition.

If you want to win the championship, you have to be tough in addition to strength.

If we meet the Trailblazers again this year, the consumption will not be less.

But the Timberwolves, looking at the joint defense, are very strong, but the Mavericks are just one of the teams that are the best at attacking and defending.

Their artillery bombardment itself is very restrained in joint defense, and the old Nelson began to practice positional battle and joint defense tactics as early as December last year.

If you want to say that the team that is most sure of playing the Timberwolves, the Mavericks say second, and the Lakers dare not say first.

The Mavericks are happy, and so is the Timberwolves.

In the eyes of head coach Sanders, the four teams in the top half, the Kings are the first in the West, they can't meet them, the Lakers are the strongest team in the league, needless to say, and the Spurs are also their sufferers.

In contrast, the Mavericks, who are labelled as "relying on feel", are the team they are most likely to beat.

Of course, it's not just Sanders who is happy, but Garnett as well.

Not to mention how much Garnett hates this Mavericks team now, after being abused by 58 points last season, fans have 58 memes.

Time could have diluted everything, but the result was good, Sun Hao scored 58 points in the game with the Timberwolves!

It's like an endorsement, repeating impressions!

As a result, the fans, who had already forgotten a little, remembered it again.

It's so sad!

So this time when he meets the Mavericks in the playoffs, he will definitely be ashamed.

Not to mention winning the Mavericks by 58 points, at least the Mavericks must be eliminated from the tournament.

Don't think it's wishful thinking, it's in the Great West, and the Mavericks and Timberwolves are only eight games off the record.

The difference in strength between the two teams is not as big as the rankings reflect.

On one side is the confident Mavericks, and on the other side is the Timberwolves, who are determined to get revenge.

Four groups in the West, this is definitely the most watched group.

Just like last year, the league handed out the first wave of awards of the season before the playoffs officially began.

Best Manager and Most Improved Award.

The suspense for the best manager is basically generated between Carlisle, Adelman and Byron Scott.

Although Adelman took the Kings to first place in the West, the Kings finished third in the West last season.

In terms of record improvement, the Nets' record has improved more than the Celtics.

But in the end, Carlisle was voted Manager of the Season.

The reason, of course, is the role of the head coach.

The Nets' changes are more due to the addition of Kidd, while the Celtics have not changed much on the roster, but the improvement in player performance is obvious to all.

There's nothing wrong with this best manager.

There is still some suspense in the best manager, but the Most Improved award is as good as last year.

O'Neal Jr. of the Pacers was elected with nearly 50% of the vote.

After these two awards, the door to the NBA playoffs has officially opened.

As with last year, the Mavericks didn't play on their first matchday.

The first day was played by the first and fourth ranked teams in the East and West.

On the western side, the Kings vs. Jazz and Lakers play the Supersonics;

On the eastern side, the Celtics vs. the Pacers, the Pistons vs. the Magic;

In four games, three fierce battles, the Kings only won the Jazz by 3 points, the Celtics only won the Pacers by 1 point, and the Pistons and Magic played overtime, and the Pistons narrowly won by 2 points in the end.

This year, the competition between the East and the West is more fierce than last year, and the strength to reach the playoffs is not weak.

Of course, there are exceptions.

The Lakers beat the SuperSonics 102-82.

Kobe Bryant and O'Neal combined for 60+ in three quarters and easily defeated their opponents.

The Lakers in the playoffs are two completely different teams from the regular season.

The next day, Sun Hao and his Mavericks will also have their first game of the playoffs.

The venue of the competition, in Dallas.

They have the home advantage of the series.

Fans in Dallas have had an unprecedented.

The team played a tie-break with the Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals last season, and although they were a little short of the Western Conference finals, they were already excited.

This season the team is stronger than last year, and the expectations of the fans are naturally higher.

And the team has prepared the inside line of the wheels, they will also find out.

The overall winner? It's not impossible!

On game afternoon, Mavericks players arrived in the locker room one after another.

Before Sun Hao arrived in the locker room, he was thinking about a question in his mind.

What are they going to do this season.

It's actually a problem that accompanies them for one season.

In the beginning, as Nelson Sr. said, they were just trying to beat the Spurs.

As a result, they did it very quickly at the beginning of the season.

Then, there is victory along the way.

Their new goals are also looming.

Including the team hoarded 5 players who can play center forward in one go.

That goal, in fact, is almost spoken.

When he arrived in the locker room, Sun Hao saw that his teammates were in a good mood, and he reached out to gather everyone together.

"Guys, it's time to set a goal for our playoffs."

Sun Hao rarely spoke like this this season, but when he opened his mouth, the players all looked at him one after another.

"Our goal is to win the championship!"

Without any mud and water, Sun Hao went straight to the point.

"We may fail, but we will succeed, and I hope that in June we will be able to have a big victory parade in Dallas!"

In fact, after coming into contact, Sun Hao found that NBA players, especially those in the United States, entered emotions very quickly.

A lot of the time, they don't need that lengthy foreshadowing.

This is also an important reason why many chicken soup coaches in reality do not need to say a lot, but they can still mobilize the morale of the team.

Sun Hao's two sentences have already made many players in the locker room scream excitedly.

"That's our big goal, and it's going to take a lot of steps to get there, and we have to do a small goal first, to eliminate our first-round opponents."

After his teammates finished shouting, Sun Hao continued to speak.

"We've played the Timberwolves a lot this season, we've played Kevin Garnett a lot, and we're not afraid of them, but we don't take them lightly either, he and his team have one characteristic, tenacity, so the quickest way to beat them is to break them at the start."

If Sun Hao's previous words were an overview, then now he is talking about the details.

Although Garnett fought and retreated, and made a big jumper, you have to admit that his mental attributes are very strong.

To beat someone like that in the playoffs, you have to be absolutely dominant at the beginning.

Otherwise, their series with the Timberwolves will likely be dragged into a protracted battle, not to mention whether they can win or not, even if they can win, they will have to peel off their skin.

Then they may have to play the Spurs and the Lakers, and it will become more and more difficult.

"Like winning them by 58 points?"

Sun Hao was talking about a very serious topic, but Nowitzki's next words made the Mavericks players laugh.

Even Sun Hao couldn't help laughing.

Garnett's 58-point stalk really can't run away!

And the key is Nowitzki.

Hey, they're Hall of Fame-level power forwards, and you're a superstar.

You hacked him like this, aren't you afraid of being beaten?

Sun Hao thought of this and wanted to speak again, but suddenly forgot what to say.

And the atmosphere in the locker room was completely deviated by Nowitzki, and it was impossible to come back.

"Yes, win them by 58 points! Kevin 58 Garnett! ”

However, Sun Hao also changed the small goal.

Anyway, if they can win by 58 points in the playoffs, it will definitely completely crush the confidence of the Timberwolves.

When Nowitzki heard Sun Hao's words, he was stunned for a moment, and then laughed too.

He was just joking, Sun Hao, this is really dark!

As the game was about to start, the players changed their clothes and prepared to enter the field.

"Dirk, you Garnett off as soon as you opened."

Sun Hao was putting on his shoes, and turned his head to Nowitzki, who was still rubbing his feet.

Nowitzki was stunned for a moment.

"In a game where Garnett scores more, the Timberwolves will lose."

Sun Hao didn't explain much.

But he did get to the point.

Garnett's scoring explosiveness has always been a problem.

His all-round power is incomparable to no one among the big men, but his explosiveness is also the weakest among the supergiants in history.

For comparison, take Nowitzki, who is talking to Sun Hao now, as an example.

Historically, Nowitzki's 40+ regular season is 27 times, and he is the best among power forwards.

But Garnett, only 4 times.

Looking at the playoffs again, Nowitzki 40+ 7 times.

Garnett, Uh, 0 times.

So it's not a question of whether Garnett is efficient or not, it's his style of play that dooms him to not score high scores.

And if he tries to score high, it will be disastrous for the Timberwolves.

Especially for this Timberwolves team that has not yet reached its peak.

So to provoke Garnett and force him to score, that would be a very reward-on-investment thing.

Of course, Garnett, as the king of trash talk, is not so simple to provoke him.

But it never hurts to try.

However, after Sun Hao explained, Nowitzki reached out and made an OK gesture.

Sun Hao was a little surprised, but he didn't ask much.

I'll leave the details to Nowitzki himself.

After the preparations, the players entered the stadium one after another.

Nash's fan is standing closest to the aisle again.

And as soon as Nash went out, he yelled at Nash.

Nash threw a "envy me" look at Sun Hao, and then swaggered over to sign autographs for his fans.

Sun Hao smiled, and then looked at the front row of the audience.

His Scarlett, who was already there waving at him.

After Nash signed his name, he went to the ring.

“sun！”

Sun Hao was also about to go to greet Scarlett when a voice stopped him.

He looked back to see that it was Nash's fan, and he was waving at him for him to come over, and he was full of confusion.

"I have something for you."

When he walked over to try it, the fan pulled out a bag from underneath.

To clarify, this fan is a white man, and blacks do not dare to do this kind of action in the United States.

"This is Isaiah Thomas's signed jersey, for you!"

After listening to the fans, Sun Hao was full of surprise.

Thomas has retired, but his signed jersey is still precious.

Sun Hao didn't take it right away.

It's useless.

"The sneakers you gave me were too valuable, so it's a return gift and you have to take them."

The fan then explained that Sun Hao reacted, and it turned out to be because of this.

He just wanted to comfort the fans, and he almost forgot about it.

Don't say it, Nash is a fan who knows how to be polite.

He didn't refuse.

Grabbing his jersey and greeting Scarlett, he walked to the bench.

"What did he give you?"

It's just that what he didn't expect was that the scene where the fans gave him something was seen by Nash.

He handed the bag over.

Nash took out his jersey and looked at it.

Suddenly, Sun Hao felt that the air was full of vinegar.

It was at this moment that he remembered something.

Many people's idols in this era are Jordan, but Nash's idol is Jordan's sworn enemy, "Smiling Assassin" Isaiah Thomas.

Nash's fans gave themselves signed jerseys of their idols, which were then seen by Nash.

He would be jealous if he changed it, let alone Nash's vinegar jar.

"I gave him a pair of .hao before, and he just gave me a gift in return."

Sun Hao knew Nash's personality and explained as soon as possible.

Sure enough, after Sun Hao finished speaking, he felt that the vinegar in the air was much lighter.

"How about we make a pact?"

However, remembering that Nash's idol was Thomas, Sun Hao had an idea.

Nash looked at Sun Hao suspiciously.

"If you can win this game by 58 points, I'll give you this jersey."

"Really?"

Nash couldn't believe it.

"What are you lying to?"

This jersey was originally an accident for Sun Hao, and if it could play other roles, it would be worth a lot.

"Okay, that's it!"

Nash was full of chicken blood in an instant.

The jersey appealed too much to him.

Nowitzki, who was on the side, couldn't help but look at Sun Hao after hearing what the two said.

Sun Hao used a 58-point meme in the locker room to motivate his teammates, which he can understand.

Even Sun Hao let him open to anger Garnett and think about the game strategically, he can understand.

But as far as Sun Hao said to Nash just now.

Wait, my little emperor, you don't, you really want to win the Timberwolves by 58 points, right?

In the playoffs?