Chapter 671: For Indiana
Although there was a slight setback in March, the Pacers were generally in a relatively good situation.
Of course, there is no way to compare to last year's Clippers, but the Pacers still played a very good record in late March and early April.
After Li Liang played the Cavaliers six fouls that day, he stopped the task training in the system, began to devote himself to the real game, and began to make the final sprint for the playoffs.
Since then, the Pacers have been on a spurt of all the way, losing only two games in nearly one month.
Including the final game of the regular season, against the Grizzlies on the road, Bird directly let the whole team rest - except for Li Liang.
Li Liang himself is reluctant to take a break, he likes to play.
As a result, Li Liang scored 34 points in the game, and the Pacers still lost to the Memphis Grizzlies by 4 points.
The Pacers finished the 2014-2015 regular season with a 61-21 record.
They joined the Golden State Warriors in the West as the only two teams in the league to break 60 wins in the regular season — the Warriors were their all-time best at 66-16.
This record is also ranked first in history.
However, the Warriors were beaten home and away by the Pacers in the regular season.
Li Liang's team has won more than 60 regular season games for three consecutive years.
The 61-21 record is also the best in the history of the Pacers, set by the Pacers led by O'Neal Jr., Artest and Miller in 2003-2004.
Before the playoffs officially begin, people are more concerned about who will win this year's regular season MVP.
When the Warriors were on top of the season in the middle of the season, Stephen Curry was almost certain to win the regular season MVP.
As a result, Li Liang exerted his strength in the second half of the race, and under his leadership, the Pacers' record continued to rise, and finally reached 61 wins.
To be honest, 66 wins against 61 wins still don't have an absolute advantage.
In '08, the Celtics had 66 wins, but the MVP gave Kobe Bryant 57 wins.
Therefore, there is still a lot of controversy about the ownership of MVP.
However, considering that Li Liang won the MVP last year, it is mainly because the bonus of 70 wins is too big to ignore.
There are only 61 wins this season, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to win.
Li Liang doesn't care much about MVP, he has won it anyway, and it is more important to win the championship.
After the final game, the Pacers threw themselves into pre-game preparation for the playoffs.
At the moment, the team is in good health, the squad is full, and at the same time, they have only lost two games in a month, and the morale of the team is very high.
After the final game of the regular season throughout the 2014-2015 season, the East and West standings and matchups are also out.
At the top of the East is the Pacers, who will face the eighth-placed Boston Celtics in the first round.
This made Li Liang very unhappy, and he played Boston in the first round, which was annoying, boring, boring, and unrewarding.
In second place is the Atlanta Hawks, who have risen this season, with a 58-24 record.
Their opponent in the playoffs will be the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Cavaliers are third, with a 56-26 record and the same late-range push as the Pacers.
The first-round opponent is the Washington Wizards again, James is still with the Cavaliers, but Arenas is no longer with the Wizards.
This is the third time James has faced the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs.
Facing each other at No. 4 and No. 5 are the Chicago Bulls and the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors were in the limelight at the beginning of the season, and at one point firmly occupied the top three positions in the East.
However, in the middle and late stages of the season, he began to thin all the way, and finally only got 48 wins, which was enough to rank fifth in the East.
In the West, this record only deserves to be in eighth place.
The Western Conference playoffs are noticeably more competitive.
The Warriors topped the West, followed by the Clippers and Rockets, and the Trail Blazers relied on division advantage to sit in fourth place.
The Grizzlies and Spurs, who are in fifth and sixth place, are only one win away from the third-place Rockets.
The Dallas Mavericks, who are in seventh place, have 50 wins, and the Pelicans are in eighth.
The Thunder, who have Durant and Westbrook, failed to make the playoffs this year.
Kevin Durant decided in March to have surgery for immediate season reimbursement.
For the Thunder, they will need to think hard about how to strengthen the roster next season.
The Pacers' first game is scheduled for April 19, with the players having three days to rest.
Li Liang didn't touch the system for three days, and he felt itchy.
But there is no way, he has to recharge for the playoffs.
The system does tasks, you don't have to say that it is still addictive.
Mainly, every time a task is completed, the reward is immediate.
You think, the average person will only get an effect after a year or two of fitness, and many people are addicted to iron.
The reward speed given by the system task is so fast, there are no side effects, and the effect is good, can this not be addictive?
Can a woman have a system of fun?
So Li Liang was really uncomfortable in the past three days.
He participated in every daily training session of the team on time, and after the training, he went to the gym to continue to practice.
Bird looked strange, it's really weird, Bruce Lee, who is always late and leaves early or doesn't even come on weekdays, what's going on these two days?
Mike Brown explained that this is Li Liang's routine operation, cramming temporarily, and grinding the gun in the face is not fast.
After three days, on April 19, the playoffs of the 15 season finally kicked off.
For Li Liang, the playoffs are his stage.
……
On the other hand, for the Boston Celtics, their mission for the season is complete.
Reaching the playoffs, training the team, and proving Coach Stevens' coaching ability.
It would be great if we could cause the Pacers a little bit of trouble in the playoffs.
The Celtics and Pacers have met for the sixth time in history in the playoffs.
The first five encounters were in 1991, 1992, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Of those five encounters, the first three were won by the Celtics and the last two by the Pacers.
With this sixth matchup, the playoff meetings between the two sides are both in the first round of the playoffs.
Among them, the two teams met in the playoffs for three consecutive years at the beginning of the 21st century, which can be said to have a deep relationship.
And they have been meeting in the first round, which proves that these two teams are hello and I am not good, and I want everyone to be good together.
This year it was the Pacers who took the lead and the Celtics became the underdog.
On the evening of April 19, the Playoffs logo was printed on the floor of the Consec Arena.
Then, in front of the technical desk, numbers from 1 to 16 are marked.
Because from the first round to the finals, you have to win 16 games to win the championship.
For each game won, a number is crossed with a spray gun, and when 16 is crossed, the championship is in hand.
Li Liang came to the Consec Arena early, to be honest, the overall level of the eastern team is not good, but the atmosphere of the game is definitely fanatical.
Maybe the people of Yincheng really don't have any special entertainment activities, and they vent a lot of energy and enthusiasm into sports competitions.
People arrive late and leave early, and the Consec Arena is almost full more than an hour before the start of the game.
Li Liang spent half an hour signing autographs and taking photos of the young fans, and once again made an emotionless group photo machine.
A lot of young fans are asking, "Where are you going next, Bruce?" ”
Li Liang was a little helpless, Lao Tzu hasn't left yet, so you just ask me where to go next?
Are you a Pacers fan?
Are you a James fan?
"I don't know, I'm going to win a championship first, for Indiana."
"What about after you win the championship? Where are you going? ”
Children don't care about you, they ask questions and find answers to what they want to know.
Li Liang thought for a while and said, "I will go where I am needed." ”
That's right, I, Bruce Lee, am a brick of the American basketball revolution, where I need to move.
Promote the championship balance in the professional basketball world in the United States, narrow the gap between the rich and the poor in the number of champions, and finally achieve a common championship......
Thinking of this, Li Liang felt that his ideals and practices were higher than those stars in history, and he didn't know where they were.