Portland has a bad-sounding nickname, the City of Tears, and although the term was originally not related to injuries, people have gradually forgotten that the city's real nickname is the City of Roses, which is naturally due to the Trail Blazers' ravaging injuries. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In 1971, when the Trail Blazers first entered the NBA, during the game against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Trail Blazers player Jim Barnett hit a long shot, and then the Trail Blazers' announcer shouted in excitement: "Tear City, good." By chance, he added the word tear in front of Portland. But what the announcer didn't expect was that for many years to come, the Trail Blazers players would be shrouded in injuries.

The most touching is undoubtedly Bill Wharton, who led the Trail Blazers to win the first championship in team history, as the league's top center that year, Wharton led the team to win the championship in a disadvantageous situation of 0-2, which undoubtedly proved his strength. But then he stopped due to injury and never led the Trail Blazers to such heights, and he reluctantly joined the San Diego Clippers in 1979. Had it not been for the injury, Wharton would have had an even more illustrious career.

In recent seasons, the Trail Blazers have always been plagued by injuries, and the main players, including Roy and Oden, are also inevitably doomed, and some people have even begun to compare the Trail Blazers' abandonment of Durant and the selection of Oden to miss Jordan in 1984. It was indeed a good choice for the team to sign Matthews before the start of last season, Roy really went wrong in the regular season, and if he didn't prepare in advance, the Trail Blazers wouldn't be able to make the playoffs, let alone the championship, and it was hard to say whether they could make the playoffs.

But this season, the Trail Blazers seem to have cut off the black hand of fate, except for minor injuries such as ankle soreness, the Trail Blazers team has not suffered any serious injuries, which is completely unimaginable in previous seasons. The good physical condition of the players is also an important guarantee that the Trail Blazers will always be at the top of the West, and McMillan is even thinking about whether to sprint at the end of the season to see if he can replace the Spurs as the first in the West.

Ye Feng is also very satisfied with the team's current state, although he has always been pressed by the Spurs to second place, but he doesn't care, it doesn't matter if the regular season record can be ranked first in the West, it is good to be able to guarantee the top three, to be honest, the second place in the West has been beyond his expectations.

However, Ye Feng questioned the head coach's attribution to the team doctor, and he secretly slandered: "The key is that the team doctor has not been changed, or Mr. Roberts, who has been in the team for a few seasons, is this the credit of the team doctor?" If he had this ability, Roy and Oden would not have been injured repeatedly, right? ”

Compared with the team doctor, Ye Feng believes that this is God's favor for the Trailblazers, after all, this season's schedule is more dense than last season's, which makes the team not have a lot of time to rest, and even so, the team has no major injuries, isn't this God's favor?

Of course, McMillan's large-scale and high-frequency substitutions are also important reasons. If it weren't for his frequent rotation during the game, with the Trail Blazers' tactical system of running at such a high intensity, the injury would have erupted long ago. Even Ye Feng and Matthews, known as the iron men in the team, only played 33.1 minutes and 34.7 minutes per game this season, respectively, and they both played more than 37 minutes per game last season.

The basis for McMillan's approach is the age structure of the Trail Blazers, with most of the main players under the age of 30 in their playing years, and Miller and Camby not falling out with each other because of the reduction in playing time, so he is relieved to boldly start a more frequent rotation than last season.

This time also shows how critical the operation of management before the trade deadline, such as Felton and Hickson are important additions to the Trail Blazers this season, if it is still the same bench thickness as last season, McMillan will not dare to be careless, and he will have to work as hard as last season.

As the season progressed, the Lakers, who were older on average, began to fall behind, with the Spurs, Trail Blazers and Thunder firmly in the top three in the West. The Spurs' performance has made people admire Popovich's coaching skills, considering that the GDP is not too young, and they are no longer the feared duo of the first decade of the 21st century. But Popovich was able to keep the Spurs at No. 1 in the West, something that the head coaches of the other 29 teams in the league had a hard time doing.

McMillan's extensive rotation is also the result of learning from Popovich, but he is not as extreme and daring as Popovich, considering that Parker, who averages the most minutes per game, has only played 31.4 minutes per game, and Duncan and Ginobili have not even played 30 minutes. Ginobili is the team's super substitute, and Duncan only needs to play 29.7 minutes per game, which is really jaw-dropping as the core of the team.

What head coach in the league wouldn't want his players to play like the Spurs? Playing less minutes, protecting veterans while training newcomers, and maintaining the No. 1 record in the West or even No. 1 in the league, is simply what they can only dream of. But it's a pity that there is only one Popovich, and the style of the Spurs has been branded with the mark of the old man, and others can't learn it if they really want to, and McMillan has done a good job.

The Eastern Conference still looks like a replica of last season, with the Bulls and Heat leading the way, completely opening up the gap with the rest of the team. However, the Heat were still forced by the Bulls, and although Rose, the core of the Bulls, missed many games due to injury, the Bulls remained extremely competitive, and Deng and Boozer brought a lot of help to the team. And the Bulls management also found a locker room leader for the team, Richard Hamilton, the "mask man" of the Pistons Five Tigers, making the team more mature and stronger, even the Heat, who have completed the run-in, can only be relegated to second.

So far, the rookies of the class of 2008 have really begun to be called another draft peak after the golden generation in 2003, Rose, Mayo, Westbrook, Love, Ye Feng, Gordon and other players have become the absolute main force and even the core of their respective teams, and the rookie success rate of the top ten picks is quite amazing, even the later Hibbert, Anderson, Courtney Lee and others have become excellent role players.

But people still have different opinions on who is the strongest rookie in the class of 2008, and Rose, who broke James' monopoly on the regular season MVP, and Ye Feng, who led the team to win the championship and was crowned the MVP of the finals, can be called the strongest rookie in the class of 08. Last season, Ye Feng and Rose can be said to be almost the same, Ye Feng has a slight advantage, so can Rose still compete with Ye Feng this season?