After ending the game with the SuperSonics, the Spurs defeated the Timberwolves, Kings, Knicks, Bulls and other teams in a row, and after ending the Lakers' 11-game winning streak, the Spurs achieved the second-longest 9-game winning streak of the season, but in the last few games in March, the Spurs encountered a big setback again, and after 4 days of being ended by the Mavericks 9-game winning streak, the Spurs lost again to their rival Trail Blazers, and this season's Trail Blazers played a crazy 17-1 performance after the All-Star Game, In all four games against the Trail Blazers this season, the Spurs also lost all of them, losing without any temper, and after losing to the Trail Blazers, the Spurs lost back-to-back to the Mavericks again, and finally ended the March game with a record of 9 wins and 4 losses. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The current Spurs are ranked third in the West with a record of 51 wins and 19 losses, and the difference between the Lakers and the second Trail Blazers in the West is also getting bigger and bigger, and this season's Lakers have also greatly improved their record after Phil Jackson stayed, and currently ranks first in the league with a record of 59 wins and 13 losses, and it is not surprising that the Lakers will have a record of more than 60 wins in a single season after 10 years. The 57-14 Trail Blazers are struggling to catch up. Behind the Spurs is the Jazz, who had the same record as the Spurs last season, and after a slump at the beginning of the season, the Jazz are slowly catching up, ranking behind the Spurs with a record of 48 wins and 22 losses, and there is still a possibility of catching up with the Spurs with 12 games left in the regular season.

Coming in fifth place in the West behind the Jazz is the Suns, who are 46-25. The Timberwolves after the All-Star are also getting better, losing only 4 games in 19 games, ranking sixth with a 44-27 record, while the gap between the Kings in seventh place and the SuperSonics in eighth place is very small, and often a single game can change the rankings between them, and the Mavericks behind are still chasing behind the butt and have not given up hope of competing for a playoff spot.

Compared with the disparity in strength in the West, the gap between the teams in the East is very small, the Pacers are in first place in the East with 47 wins and 25 wins, followed by the Heat with only 44 wins and 28 losses, which is not as good as the Timberwolves, which are ranked sixth in the West, and the New York Knicks, who are ranked third in the East, are also 44-28, because the record of 3 and the Heat this season is 1-3, and they are behind the Heat. From the fourth place, the gap is very small, respectively, the 76ers 41-30, the Raptors 40-31, the Hornets 39-31, the Pistons 38-33, and the remaining Bucks, Magic, and Celtics, the difference in wins is also within one game, and they are all desperately competing for a playoff spot. So far in the regular season, the final standings in the East are still uncertain.

"Greg, we've secured a playoff spot." After the final game of the round between the Kings and the SuperSonics, Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer couldn't wait to push Popovich's office open to tell him the good news. After the West-seventh Kings lost 108-123 to the West-eighth SuperSonics, the two teams had a 41-30 record and a 40-31 record, respectively, and the Spurs sealed a playoff qualification 12 games ahead of schedule.

"Oh" Popovich replied without looking back, seemingly unconcerned about it, his eyes still fixed on the VCR.

"Greg, you've watched these tapes hundreds of times." The video tape in Mike Budenholzer's mouth is the video of several games between the Spurs and the Trail Blazers this season, the Trail Blazers who were still hung by the Spurs in the first two seasons, after experiencing a big deal and run-in last season, suddenly exploded this season, and the Spurs won all 4 games, according to the current situation, the chances of the two teams meeting in the second round of the playoffs are very high, if you can't find a way to deal with the Trail Blazers, the Spurs' journey to defend the title can only stop in the second round.

"This Trail Blazers team is even more terrifying than the Lakers, all 5 main players on the court have 20+ scoring ability, there are two All-Stars on the bench, and the most troublesome is Pippen, although he is old, but his ability to connect the team is still so terrifying." Popovich shook his head, looking a little helpless. The Spurs are the best defensive team in the league this season, limiting opponents to 85 points per game, but compared to the Trail Blazers' 4 games, the Trail Blazers averaged 92.5 points per game, while the Spurs only averaged 83 points per game in 4 games, which is a world of difference compared to the 96 points average this season.

"I think Meng seems to have found a way to deal with Pippen in this last game." The Spurs may encounter difficulties in the playoffs, and Mike Budenholzer is also very aware of them. In the first three games of this season, Pippen met Meng Xu is simply fancy kneading, all kinds of hanging, and in last week's game, Meng Xu is still far behind Pippen in terms of tandem teams, and is not inferior to Pippen in defense and offense, so far in terms of field and data.

"We have to find a foolproof way, otherwise we still won't have a chance." Popovich said, bringing up the last game with the Trail Blazers again, the last game was the most anxious game played by the two teams, the score gap between the two sides was always within 3 points, and the Spurs only lost to the Trail Blazers by 4 points in the end.

The Trail Blazers have Rasheed Wallace, Sabonis, Schramf, Jermaine O'Neal four interior players, any one of these four players is the main player or even the core player in other teams, so the Trail Blazers' interior strength and bench depth are also the league's first, the Spurs' interior twin towers against almost all teams in the league, even the Lakers' big sharks have an advantage, but the Trail Blazers are at a disadvantage.

And the outside group of the Trail Blazers, Scottie Pippen, Damon Stoudemire, Steve Smith, and Brian Grant are also the outside three irons of the Spurs, oh, now it should be the outside four, although Meng Xu's three-point shooting rate this season has reached 42%, but the overall shooting rate still fails to exceed 40%, and the low shooting rate is outrageous, which can be said to be a wonderful flower in the entire league. Even the Trail Blazers fringe people like Staciogmund and Greg Anthony are strongmen who can average 15+ per game as long as they are given the opportunity, and the Trail Blazers' total salary of 73.5 million this year is also the first in the league.

"Greg, let's get some rest early, we have to fly to Miami tomorrow morning." Looking at Popovich, who had already drunk three cups of coffee in a row, Mike Budenholzer persuaded on the sidelines.

"Well, go back, you sent me today, I didn't drive."