As for the playoff teams in the West, they are more stable, and they are still those teams.

Trail Blazers, Kings, Spurs, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Lakers, Jazz and Suns.

Among them, there are two teams in the west that are considered to be upsets, which is completely unexpected by fans.

It's unimaginable that the Lakers have only finished sixth in the West this season......

You must know that their team has the league's No. 1 center and the league's No. 1 quarterback, and they only have such a bad record.

With only a 49-win record, it's not as good as the Timberwolves' 50-win regular-season record.

It can also be seen from this that basketball is not a game of one or two people, but a game of one team.

The high-end combat power of the Lakers team is definitely super strong, but their team is also strong in these two points, which leads to their embarrassing regular season record.

As for the Mavericks' record, it was also unexpected, no one expected that the Mavericks would dare to quietly enter the top half of the Western Conference playoffs.

This also shows the viciousness of the old Nelson's vision, since they brought in Nowitzki from the Trail Blazers, the record has skyrocketed.

This season has a record of 57 wins, which is quite an achievement.

……

Since this year, the playoff format has begun to be restructured, and the first round of the playoffs has only been played five, but now it has begun to play seven games like other rounds.

If it is restructured in this way, it is naturally a decision made by the alliance after some careful consideration.

The first is that some strong teams can be avoided from being eliminated because of mistakes in the first round......

Because if you only play five games, the change is too big, and the weak team may be able to defeat the strong with the weak.

If there is only one fight, I am afraid that the accident will be even greater......

The second reason is that it can earn more tickets, anyway, everything is inseparable from a money word, how can the league let go of this opportunity to generate revenue.

……

Various media are already predicting the showdown of this year's finals.

The vast majority of media predictions are for the Pistons and Trail Blazers to meet in the Finals.

The reason why the Trail Blazers did not reach the Finals last season was because Big Ben was injured, and if it wasn't for Big Ben's injury, whether the Lakers could win the championship is still a matter of two words.

And this season, if nothing else, the Trail Blazers are expected to make it out of the West.

As for the eastern side, there is basically no suspense.

The Nets' strength is not bad, but it is just good, compared to the strong Pistons, even if they enter the Eastern Conference finals, it is already a blessing not to be swept.

……

Not only the media speculated, but even the odds offered by major bookmakers were similar to what the media speculated.

The Pistons are safe to be the champions of the Eastern Conference and will make it to the Finals......

……

On April 17, the first round of the playoffs began.

The Magic are naturally very uncomfortable now, if they only play five games, then with Maddie's super scoring ability, there may be a 1 percent chance of turning the tables......

That's right, even if Maddie scores out, in the eyes of all parties, the chance of the Magic turning the game around is only one percent.

But now there are seven games to play, and the odds of a comeback are too low and too low, and they are basically negligible.

……

The Magic team had flown to Detroit two days before the game to prepare for the game.

Maddie also approached Richard......

"Coach, Clark's contract expires next year." Maddie said something that is completely out of line with the upcoming playoffs.

Richard nodded, "What, you guys are thinking about Clark?" ”

"That's right, coach, I know you're going to Charlotte when the season is over."

"Can we get Clark to join us at that time...... Magic," Maddie looked at Richard expectantly.

For the next first round of the playoffs, Maddie no longer dares to have any extravagant hopes.

It's really too big a gap in strength between the two sides.

If Hill remains at the top, then Maddie still has the confidence to fight, but now Hill can't play even if he is at his peak, and even if Maddie is confident, he can't rise to the confidence that he can kill the Pistons.

Hearing Maddie's words, Richard smiled bitterly and waved his hand.

"Young man, I'm afraid you can only think about this."

"First of all, you should know very well that I won't interfere with the player's stay, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have let you go to the Magic in the first place......," Richard said with a smile.

"Huh? Coach, did you know that the Magic would face such a difficult time? Maddie asked in surprise.

The so-called Magic difficulties, namely Grant Hill's back-to-back injuries and Duncan's refusal to join.

Richard nodded, he naturally knew about it.

Seeing Richard nodding, Maddie was shocked and bounced straight out of her seat, looking at Richard in disbelief.

"Coach, I suspect you're not human right now!"

"You may really be God!"

……

Richard waved his hand and motioned for Maddie to be quiet, "Don't get so excited, continue talking about Clark." ”

"As I said just now, I will not interfere with the transfer of players, everything will be based on the player's ideas, and it is impossible to persuade players to join a specific team."

"Secondly, even if I interfere, do you magicians have room to eat Clark? No kidding, do you think Clark would be willing to take a pay cut to join the Magic? ”

With that, Richard looked at Maddie with a smile.

Maddie sighed, he didn't think about the salary space, and when he said this to Richard, he immediately knew that it was completely useless to get Clark.

The main reason is that the Magic already have two highest-paid players on the team, one is Maddy and the other is Grant Hill......

If you can dispose of Hill's contract, you can give Clark a maximum salary.

But Hill's contract is so easy to solve, and the league is afraid that no foolish team is willing to swallow Hill's seven-year, $93 million contract.

In the end, this contract can only rot in the hands of the Magic......

After leaving Richard's office in a dejected state, Maddie sighed heavily.

He felt that the future was a fog, and there was no light in sight.

As a professional player, and one of the top players in the league, whether or not he can lead the team to win the championship is a matter of two concepts.

……

Auburn Hills Palace, the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in the 2002-2003 season.

The Pistons sit at home and take on the challenge of their opponents, the Orlando Magic.

At the beginning, Maddie felt quite hot, hitting one after another, and scored 7 points in just a few minutes.

But what gave Maddy a headache was that his super offensive performance didn't lead the team to any advantage.

For no other reason, the Pistons' interior line is too strong......

Yao Ming and Clark turned over the river and sea on the inside, directly exploding the Magic's forbidden area.

After Maddie's feeling cooled down, the gap between the two sides was suddenly widened.

Judging from the current situation, unless Maddie can maintain the hot to hot feeling of the opening game, it will be difficult to catch up with the Pistons' score.

At the end of the half, the Magic was already 16 points behind, and Richard didn't rush to kill them all, replacing Yao Ming and Clark.

Boozer was replaced at centre-forward, while Gerard Wallace was put on the No. 4 position.

Singles Joe came on the pitch to play the number three position.

This lineup is almost a small lineup, and the defensive intensity of the interior line is definitely not as good as that of Yao Ke and the two.

However, the mobility is quite good, and the magic is still overwhelming......

By the end of the third quarter, the game had basically gone into garbage time.

Richard replaced a few cannon fodder players and let them play for a while, because even if Richard changed to the No. 2 lineup, the Magic would not be able to parry.

It's the first game of the playoffs, and we have to save some face for the Magic......

Maddy's performance tonight was quite amazing, with a quasi-triple-double of 32 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists.

But there is no way, relying on his outburst alone, there is no chance to lead the magic to victory.

After Grant Hill was reimbursed by the team, Mike Miller was almost the second leader of the team, but tonight he only scored a measly 12 points under Clark's defense......

Thinking about the fact that the second leader of the team only scored 12 points, it is difficult to win this goal.

……

In the first game of the playoffs, the Pistons easily took out the opponent Magic, which was completely unexpected.

Immediately afterward, the second match between the two sides began.

This time, the Pistons took a lot of effort, and it wasn't until halfway through the fourth quarter of the game that the game went into garbage time.

Maddy's performance in this game was also quite amazing, with 37 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, which is completely worthy of his status as an All-Star starter in the East.

But Mike Miller was completely limited by Clark again, and this game was not even as good as playing on the court, and only scored 7 points!

After Maddie finished this game, his face turned blue, and he was probably angry with his teammates.

If it weren't for the excellent performance of the Magic bench tonight, I am afraid that it would be the end of the last game, and it would not take three quarters to be defeated by the opponent.

……

The Pistons have won two cities in a row, and will move to Orlando next to face off against G3 and G4.

It's already the home court where no one cares about the Magic, because according to the current situation, the Magic are definitely finished, and being swept by the Pistons is their only possible ending.

But this G3 is a big surprise for Magic fans.

Maddie broke out for the third time in a row, and tonight's outburst even Richard was dumbfounded.

With just six minutes left before the end of the game, with the Magic trailing by a whopping 18 points, Richard saw that the situation was almost the same, and switched to a bunch of substitutes.

After all, the point difference is close to 20 points, and the strength of the Pistons' bench lineup is not weak, so Richard didn't think so much, and let the players on the court play with confidence.

As a result, there was a big problem directly.

With a minute left in the game, the Pistons still had an 11-point lead.

But at the last minute, Maddie performed a miracle.

First, quickly control the ball to the front court and pull out three points......

Then he stole Hu Weidong again, and returned to his head to chase three points.

Immediately afterward, the Magic fouled the ball carrier and sent him to the free throw line......

The one who was sent to the free-throw line was a cannon fodder player that Richard got through a trade, and he had never seen this kind of formation, and he missed both free throws.

When it was the Magic's turn, Maddie hit another three-point shot.

Richard was dumbfounded on the sidelines, did he witness Maddie's moment?!