After Gasol's return, the Lakers finished the regular season with a 5-2 record. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

After April 19th, the regular season of the 2016~2017 season officially came to an end.

And with the end of the season, the teams in the East and West that have made the playoffs have also been officially announced.

In the East, the Cavaliers continue to stand out as they finish the season with a 62-20 record and top the Eastern Conference.

Outside of the Cavaliers, several other teams have a much worse record.

The Celtics are in second place with a 53-29 record, and the youth team has gone beyond the words "the future is promising" and they will have to prove it in this year's playoffs.

The Celtics were followed by the Pacers, who put up a 52-30 record under George and Teague for the new season, which allowed them to finish third in the East.

The 51-31 Knicks are in fourth place, and their summer signings, combined with Anthony's hot form, finally brought them back to the playoffs after three years.

The Bulls sit in fifth place in the East with a 49-33 record.

The sixth-ranked team is the Raptors, the "Kings of the North" with 48 wins, and their backcourt performance this season has dropped from last season, but it is still enough to ensure that they make the playoffs.

The final two spots in the East went to the Hawks and Pistons, who won 45 and 43, respectively.

The Eastern Conference is also coming up, with the Pistons taking on the mighty Cavaliers for the second year in a row, the Celtics also meeting the Hawks they faced last year, the Pacers returning to the Raptors, and the two biggest changes in two days, the Bulls and Knicks, in the playoffs.

The overall record of the East is much worse than last year, but there are a lot of highlights, 3 of the 4 pairs of opponents are old opponents who have played each other last year, and the remaining group is the two teams that have just made a trade, which is bound to create fierce sparks.

Compared with the East, the overall record of the West under the leadership of the Warriors can be described as unprecedentedly strong.

The undisputed Warriors, who are ranked first in the West and number one in the league, finished with a 74-8 record, breaking the regular season record they set just last season and breaking the regular season record for the second year in a row.

After the embarrassment of winning the regular season last season only to be eliminated in the semifinals, their goal this year is to fail without a title.

Outside of the Warriors, the Spurs overtook the Timberwolves and Clippers to finish second with a 65-17 record.

The Spurs were followed by the Timberwolves, who had an eye-catching performance in the All-Star break, but after the All-Star break, the shortcomings of inexperience were gradually revealed, and the winning percentage of the game dropped a lot compared to before, but even so, they still ranked third in the West with 58 wins and 24 losses.

The fourth-placed Clippers, Ingram, finally found their groove in the second half of the season, and with his outstanding performance, the Clippers' record also improved, and they finished fourth in the West with 57 wins and 25 losses.

The Clippers were followed by the Rockets, and the bombardment tactics allowed them to end up with a 55-27 record, and it is worth mentioning that this is the third year in a row that the Rockets and Clippers have met in the NBA playoffs, which can be regarded as making history.

The Lakers relied on a series of wins after Gasol's return to salvage the previous slump and finally won a 54-28 record, and they will meet the Timberwolves in the first round.

The Lakers were followed by the Thunder and Jazz, who won 50 and 48, respectively.

In the top eight in the West, only one team has won less than 50 wins!

In addition, the Trail Blazers, who reached the playoffs last season, and the Grizzlies, who spent a lot of money in the offseason, both missed the playoffs with a record of 47 wins. From this, it can be seen that the competition in the Western Conference playoffs this season can be described as a dark one.

When the final dust of the league standings fell, fans around the world can be said to have very different reactions, compared to Los Angeles fans are much happier, the Clippers and Lakers, after the 2012~2013 season, both entered the playoffs again!

The alternation of the two teams also makes it impossible for them to get bored in late April.

On April 20, the Lakers and Clippers, who had just finished their regular season, had their final training session before the start of the playoffs at the Staples Center.

After regular practice, Tang and Stephenson went to the Clippers' locker room to visit his former teammates.

"Guys!" Tang Shuai suddenly went in and shouted, and after startling the members of the Clippers, there was a noisy scolding, but soon, this scolding turned into laughter.

After greeting everyone else, Tang Shuai sat down and talked to Paul.

has been Paul's substitute and Paul's backcourt partner, the relationship between Tang Shuai and Paul can be said to be the closest except for Stephenson.

"How about fighting the Timberwolves, are you mentally prepared?" Paul looked at Tang Shuai and smiled.

"There's a good chance, they didn't play well after the All-Star break, and at the end of the day they're still very young." Tang Shuai nodded and said.

"Haha, you're embarrassed to say that people are young." Paul laughed and said, but after laughing, he sighed for a while, then patted him on the shoulder and said, "Play hard, you won Karl (referring to Downs) once when you were an All-Star, and you want to win it back in the playoffs this time!" ”

"I'm going to do it." Tang Shuai nodded, then glanced at the others and said, "Playing the Rockets in the first round should be the best news for the Clippers, right?" ”

"Haha, you can see the look in the eyes of these guys, they are all working hard, although it is difficult to win the next round against the Warriors, but compared to last year, the situation is much better."

"Well, expect us to meet in the final." Tang Shuai said with a smile.

"Hmm." Paul nodded as well, and the two of them clapped each other's hands, which was an agreement between them.

After chatting with the others for a while, Tang Shuai and Stephenson returned to the Lakers' locker room.

Compared to the relaxed looks on the faces of the Clippers players, most of the Lakers players looked much more nervous.

Although most of the players have experience in the playoffs, they are now playing in 6th place to play 3rd, and the psychological pressure can be imagined.

And most of the team is playing the playoffs in the West for the first time, and the intensity of the game is still difficult for many people to adapt to all at once.

Knoll was there to shake his legs constantly to relieve his nervousness, and he was the only chick in the team.

"Hey, Nolens, don't shake, if you shake it again, your leg should be broken." Stephenson couldn't help but smile on the side.

"We're really going to play the playoffs, it's true." Knoll didn't respond directly to Stephenson, but said something to himself.

This immediately caused the others to laugh.

After smiling, the tense atmosphere in the dressing room was relatively relaxed.

"Don, you also played the playoffs for the first time last year, how did you keep yourself from being nervous?" Noel looked up at Tang Shuai at this time and said.

"Me?" Tang Shuai pointed to himself and said.

Everyone else looked at Tang Shuai curiously, indeed, Tang Shuai's performance in last year's playoffs was phenomenal, especially against the Warriors, I am afraid that until now, it is difficult for many people to hook the figure that they want with a rookie.

"Maybe it's ......" Tang Shuai's words immediately aroused the interest of others, "I'm too nervous......"

His answer immediately drew a burst of "cut" glances from the others.

"I want to be overly nervous!" Stephenson said at this point.

There was laughter in the dressing room.

……

On the evening of April 21, U.S. time, the Clippers sat at home and welcomed the challenge of the Houstacon Rockets, which was also their first home court in the playoffs.

At the same time, the Lakers boarded a plane to Minnesota, where they would take on the newcomers, the Timberwolves.

Minnesota is known for its coldness, bordering Canada to the north and Lake Besupier to the east, they can be said to be one of the most frozen cities in the United States, in winter, their minimum temperature has reached minus 45 degrees, and in the coldest month, their average temperature is below -11 degrees, the cold degree can be imagined.

Before Tang Shuai and his Lakers teammates came to Minnesota to play, they basically didn't go to the street except for training.

However, in April, the temperature here is much warmer, and they don't have to go out on the street like a polar bear, basically long sleeves are enough to cope.

The Timberwolves' home arena is at the Target Center arena, which has a capacity of 20,000 people after Garnett left Boston, and the 20,000-capacity arena has often had less than 70 percent attendance, but with Thibodeau leading the team back to the playoffs this season, the arena is growing in popularity, and by the time the opening game of the playoffs happens, the arena is already full.

The cold of Minnesota can't stop the fans' enthusiasm for the game at all.

Ahead of the start of the match between the two sides, quite a few media outlets and commentators made series predictions.

The youth army reached the playoffs for the first time, and in the previous predictions, they were not very optimistic, after all, they still lacked a lot of experience.

However, I don't know if it's because of the Trail Blazers' excellent performance in the playoffs last year, but the team under Thibodeau is always reassuring, just like the regular season records of both sides, almost 70% of reporters and media believe that the Timberwolves will win the matchup, and even more, in terms of predicted scores, more than half of them chose a 4-1 scoreline, believing that the Lakers can only steal one win in the series.

"Billups is a great coach, but he's still too young, and playing against Thibodeau will make him look confused, and the overall talent of the Lakers is too low, if you give Don another two years to grow and Gasol two years younger, I believe it will be a good matchup, but unfortunately it didn't work."

As Webb, a commentator for ESPN, said on the show, Minnesotans, who have an all-round advantage in addition to experience, are considered to be the final winners. (To be continued.) )