The top eight in the West are:

1. Timberwolves (58-24)

2. Lakers (56-26)

3. Spurs (57-25)

4. Kings (55-27)

5. Mavericks (52-30)

6. Grizzlies (50-32)

7. Rockets (45-37)

8. Nuggets (43-39)

(Arranged by division, then 1 to 8, 2 to 7, 3 to 6, 4 to 5)

That is, in the first round, the Timberwolves played the Nuggets, the Lakers played the Rockets, the Spurs played the Grizzlies, and the Kings played the Mavericks.

The top eight in the east are:

1. Pacers (61-21)

2. Nets (47-35)

3. Pistons (54-28)

4. Heat (42-40)

5. Cavaliers (48-34)

6. Hornets (41-41)

7. Bucks (41-41)

8. Knicks (39-43)

That is, in the first round, the Pacers played the Knicks, the Nets played the Bucks, the Pistons played the Hornets, and the Heat played the Cavaliers.

Such a ranking can be said to be very unfair to the Cavaliers, who are third in the East in the regular season, but are squeezed to fifth because of the small division.

The Heat, who had a worse record, fell to fourth place and also had home-court advantage.

(The rules have since been changed so that teams with good records have an advantage, but in '04 it was the higher-ranked teams that had home field advantage.) ）

However, the Cavaliers can only accept it.

The playoffs start on April 17, so there's not a lot of time to prepare.

In order to prepare for the war, Ye Feng avoided all other things and handed them over to Avril, Zhang Mofu, and Wang Zhiqian, while he prepared for the war without distractions.

Within the Cavaliers, everyone's morale is also very high, and it has not been affected by the problem of home-court advantage in the slightest.

A few days ago, Wagner was able to finally make a comeback after a season of recuperation, which made the Cavaliers' guard line even deeper.

However, without playing a season, coupled with the impact of injuries, it is difficult to say about Wagner's form.

Coach Paul immediately confirmed the 12-man roster for the playoffs.

Centre-forwards: Ilgoskas, Barty

Power forwards: Boozer, Newbell

Small forwards: Williams, Darius, Capono

Shooting guards: James, Ollie

Organizational defenders: Ye Feng, Bremer, Wagner

After that, there are all kinds of tactical lessons against the Heat.

In the playoffs, the game will be more targeted.

Often discovering a weakness of the other party can kill the other party.

In addition, Paul has repeatedly emphasized that the playoffs must be played more fiercely, the defense must be more ruthless, and must not be relaxed like the regular season.

When Paul said this, he was not optimistic.

After all, most of the 12-man roster is young and has little to no playoff experience.

But the good thing is that the Heat's playoff experience is also lacking.

If nothing else, the Heat's 12-man roster will be:

Centres: Brian Grant, Malik Allen, Lauren Woods

Power forwards: Odom, Haslem, Samaji Walker, Wang Zhizhi

Small forwards: Caron Butler, Rasol Butler

Shooting Guard: Wade,

Playmaking defenders: Eddie Jones, Alston

Therefore, this round of matchups has also received great attention from Chinese fans, and the domestic media has been even hotter, after all, there may be a Chinese derby in the playoffs.

However, the vast majority of fans know in their hearts that Wang Zhizhi will not play a lot. Unless the Heat have a large number of injuries on the inside, it is generally impossible to get consistent playing time.

……

On April 17, the much-anticipated playoffs finally began.

Today, a total of 4 matches were played.

The Rockets beat the Lakers, the Grizzlies beat the Spurs, the Pacers beat the Knicks, and the Nets beat the Bucks.

The most concerned is naturally the showdown between the Rockets and the Lakers and the Yao Sharks.

Although the Lakers are far better than the Rockets, fans are still looking forward to the matchup between the league's two remaining traditional big center stars.

However, it turns out that O'Neill is O'Neal, and it is not Yao Ming in the second grade who can challenge it.

With 20 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks, O'Neal played dominant-level statistics.

Yao Ming had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, and was almost crushed by O'Neal.

Of course, this is true just by looking at the data.

If you watch the game, you will see that Yao Ming has done a good job, and he almost sealed the Rocket's basket.

O'Neal shot 8-of-17 from the field and shot only 47.1%, which is already very poor for O'Neal, who often has a shooting rate of more than 60%.

There is hardly a second person in the league who can push O'Neill to this point.

Karl Malone shot 3-of-14 from the field, shooting 21.4 percent, and tonight's Malone barely dared to shoot under the basket, all of which were pull-down mid-range shots.

Bryant shot 4-of-19 from the field, shooting 21.1 percent, and he was also forced to shoot from beyond the three-point line, while shooting extremely low near the basket.

Payton shot 4-of-10 from the field and shot 40 percent, which was already his best, but he never made it to the basket.

If a person doesn't have a high hit rate, you can say that he doesn't play well.

However, the Lakers F4 all played abnormally, and the shooting options were generally far away from the basket, which is worth pondering.

That's right, this is Yao Ming's deterrent.

He doesn't need to do anything, just put his height of 229 cm under the basket, it's a deterrent.

Similarly, the Lakers' F4 defense is also very good, and Mobley, Francis, and Jackson's shooting has been greatly affected, and the shooting percentage is generally low.

As a result, the game turned into a defensive battle.

In the last 2 minutes, 71:69, the Rockets, who were obviously weak, led by 2 points, which was not expected by everyone.

Fans expressed shock at the strength of the Rockets and were also disappointed with the Lakers' performance.

However, the game is not over yet, and in 2 minutes, anything is possible.

Sure enough, in the last 2 minutes, the Rockets didn't score a single goal, not even 1 point.

The defense of both teams was so fierce that it was almost to the point of hand-to-hand bayonet fighting.

There are seven games in the series, and the first one is so important that both sides want to get off to a good start and win.

For this victory, the movements on both sides are very big and aggressive, you pull me, I push you, it's all a collision between muscles.

The referee saw it, but turned a blind eye and did not blow the whistle.

At that time, iron-blooded defense was in vogue, and there was a consensus at that time.

As long as the player's action is not too exaggerated, the referee will not blow it at the last moment, and leave the court to the player to decide.

With such defensive intensity, the Rockets wilted.

Whether it is Francis, Mobley, or newcomer Yao Ming, veteran Jackson, none of them can stand up for the team.

On the other hand, the Lakers, the big shark O'Neal was under tremendous pressure, first hitting a shot, causing a foul, and hitting 1 of 2 free throws.

O'Neal scored three points in a row to put the Lakers ahead by one point, 71-72.

And this score was maintained until the end.

Big score, Lakers 1:0 Rockets.

(End of chapter)