On April 19, the NBA regular season of the season came to an end.

Although the Bulls are full of injuries and contradictions, with the efforts of Phil Jackson and Jordan, they still have a 62-20 record and rank first in the East!

Judging from the record, the Pacers firmly occupy the second place in the East and the third place of the Heat, but the actual ranking is not like this!

As mentioned earlier, the NBA is divided into the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference, and each league is divided into several divisions.

At present, the east has not been divided into the southeast division, only the Atlantic division and the central division!

The ranking rules in this era are: the first place in the two sub-divisions is ranked first and second, and further down, the other teams are ranked according to their records!

Teams such as the Bulls, Pacers, Hawks, and Hornets all belong to the Eastern Division, while teams such as the Heat, Knicks, and Wizards belong to the Atlantic Division!

So although the Pacers' record is second in the East, the playoff ranking is not second because he is in the same division as the Bulls!

The first place in the East is the champion Bulls in the Central Division, and the second place in the East can only belong to the champion of the Atlantic Division - the Heat!

In the previous life, after the Bobcats joined the league, the East and West were redivided into three divisions, and this rule is still enforced, and the top three in the East and West every year are the first in each division.

In the 05-06 season, the Spurs and Mavericks, both in the southwest division, were the two strongest teams in the West, fighting for the first place, and in the end, the Spurs won 63 first, and the 60-win Mavericks were obviously second, but they fell to fourth, because the division champion had to be ranked first.

In third place ahead of the Mavericks is the Northwest Division champion Nuggets with only 44 wins, the same number of wins as the eighth-place Northwest Division champions!

The playoffs are a knockout round, with the first playing eighth, the second playing seventh, the third playing sixth, and the fourth playing fifth!

The winners of the first and eighth places will be the winners of the fourth and fifth places in the second round!

So the Spurs and Mavericks, the opponents who were supposed to meet in the Western Conference Finals, met in the second round, played in the dark, and finally the defending champion Spurs regretted to be out!

Many people are complaining about the Spurs, they are the first in the league and the defending champion, but the rules made it meet the strongest opponent in the West in the second round and was eliminated early, which is too tricky!

So in the 06-07 season, the league changed the rules, and the division leader was not dominating the top three, but the top four. The second place with the best record in the other divisions can be ranked ahead of the division winners with the lower records.

However, this rule is still unfair.

In the 14-15 season, all five teams in the Southwest region entered the playoffs, with the Rockets winning 56 and the Spurs and Grizzlies both winning 55. On the other hand, the second-place Clippers in the Pacific Division are 56 wins!

According to the rules at the time, the Clippers had the best second place to squeeze into the top four, and the other three spots were the top spots in each division. Although the Clippers have the same record as the Rockets, they only had to rank third because they were not the top team in the division, and they hit the Spurs ranked 6th in the first round!

The battle was played in the dark, and in the end, the Spurs were eliminated in the first round, and the Clippers also took off a layer of skin and were almost eliminated in the first round.

In contrast, the Grizzlies, who are not as good as the Clippers, because they are ranked 5th, met the fourth-place soft pimple, the Northwest Division champion Trail Blazers, and then easily passed the test and entered the second round!

The Grizzlies, who have a poor record, can take advantage of it, but the Clippers, who have a good record, have suffered a big loss, which has once again caused heated discussions. Popovich also complained: "It's weird to have a team with 56 wins and a team with 55 wins meet in the first round. ”

In the 15-16 season, the league changed its rules again, and the top eight places in the East and West divisions will be based solely on each team's regular season record.

This also means that the regional champion may not qualify for the playoffs in the future.

In addition, the Board of Directors has also adopted a resolution that when two teams have the same record, the ranking and home-court advantage in the playoffs will be based on the regular season records of both teams. If the two teams also draw each other in the regular season, it will be interesting to see if one of the two teams finishes at the top of their division.

In the previous rules, the two teams had the same record, and the regional winner would be the one with home advantage.

The NBA has changed the playoff ranking rules twice, both because of the Spurs, and it can be said that the Spurs are also the biggest victims of the old rules. In the first round, he fought seven bloody battles and was eliminated in the second round. The second time was even worse, and he was eliminated in the first round of seven bloody battles.

In this day and age, the league hasn't undergone those changes, and the ranking rules are still the same. The Heat, who have a worse record, are ranked second because they are the top of the division, and the Pacers can only be relegated to third!

Some people must want to ask, why does the Heat compete with the Pacers for second place in terms of record, since they are always second in terms of play?

That's because in the playoffs, the team with the better record will have home-court advantage.

This year's Heat can nominally be second according to the rules, but the overall record is not as good as the Pacers. Once the two teams meet in the semifinals, the Pacers will have home-court advantage.

What Riley and the Heat want to fight for is this second-place home-court advantage!

The Knicks' double kill of the Heat has ruined the possibility of the Heat catching up with the Pacers, and now their only advantage in the nominal second place in the East is that they can pinch a soft pinch in the first round.

However, when Pat Riley saw his first-round opponent, his brow immediately furrowed.

The second-place opponent is seventh, and this year's seventh-place opponent is the Knicks, who are particularly convulsive!

Why are you again?

Thinking of the two defeats not long ago, Riley really hated having to take advantage of the rules. If the league were to put them in third place against the Nets based on their actual record, it would undoubtedly be much easier!

"Our opponent is the Knicks, look, I'll just say we can meet it!" Heat assistant coach Buzderrick Road.

The Heat's coaching staff glared at him.

Buzderik innocently said, "Hey guys, I just said a fact, what are you guys doing here?" ”

Pat Riley slapped the table and said loudly: "Okay, stop talking nonsense, let the scouts bring me the Knicks' playbook, the real strength of the Knicks is definitely not seventh in the East!" ”

Stan Van Gundy said: "That's right, the Knicks have gone through a 21-game losing streak and still made the playoffs, which is too strong. I feel like they're about the same strength as the Eagles and the Hornets! ”

Spoelstra sighed: "Maybe better than the Eagles and the Hornets!" ”

Pat Riley said, "No matter how strong they are, I will beat them!" Our goal is to win the championship, and the Bulls are not afraid, so how can they be afraid of a mere first-round opponent? ”

After a pause, he added: "All the players will not rest for the next three days, we will do targeted training." After eliminating the Knicks 3:0, there will be plenty of rest! ”