Wade's expression is very exaggerated, the playoffs are coming soon, and the biggest theme of the Eastern Conference playoffs this year is James VS Xie Chen, that is, the matchup between the Cavaliers and the Knicks, so Wade knew that the two would eventually have a fight, but he never expected that Xie Chen would want to meet the most powerful Cavaliers in the East in the first round!

This is by no means a wise choice, Wade knows that Xie Chen has always been unfathomable, and in the face of James, he has already won once, and he has enough confidence, so Xie Chen may want to defeat James in the form of Black Eight!

"Xie's idea is so crazy, if LeBron knows about it, he will definitely go crazy." Wade thought to himself.

Now James's mood is really not good, he lost to Xie Chen in the dunk contest on the All-Star weekend, and then encountered the Warriors, Spurs and other Western powerhouses all lost in a mess, these two teams are the teams with the best chance to win the Western Conference championship, James regarded their game as a rehearsal for the finals, but the result was a fiasco for them, which made him very depressed.

Many people say, including Irving, that if the Cavaliers stay healthy last season, they will definitely beat Xie Chen's Heat to advance to the Finals, and as long as they enter the Finals, they will definitely win the championship.

The reporter didn't put the Warriors in his eyes at all, and the reporter told Irving's words to the Warriors' Dream Green, Green's expression was funny, and he rolled his eyes and said, "What if?" If I had been a little taller, I would still be Anthony Davis! ”

Wade didn't understand why Xie Chen wanted to meet the Cavaliers in the first round, it wasn't that Wade thought that Xie Chen wanted to blacken James, but he didn't have a choice, Xie Chen changed the topic and asked Wade: "What do you think of the situation this year?" Which team do you think has the best chance of winning the championship? ”

Wade said: "Frankly, I think this year's Warriors will still make it to the Finals. They have a better chance of winning the championship, and you may think your team has doubled up against the Warriors, but if they meet in the Finals, it will be a completely different matchup, unless you still have the ability to use it. ”

Xie Chen smiled and looked into the distance. If you can still enter the finals this season, if you meet old opponents in the finals, it should be a nice thing, right?

……

After defeating the Heat, the journey of March has started in a blink of an eye, Carmelo Anthony returned, and the Knicks defeated the Trail Blazers and Celtics one after another, and finally on this day, they were promoted to the eighth place in the East!

The New York Knicks are back in the playoff race!

The fact that the Knicks became eighth in the East. has become the focus of attention of the whole league, in any previous year, no one will pay attention to a team ranked eighth, but this year is different, because of the existence of Xie Chen, everyone knows how terrifying the real strength of this eighth place is.

The Cleveland Cavaliers also got the news as soon as possible.

"The New York Knicks are now eighth in the East." Dellavedova reported to James, laughing and saying, "Maybe our opponent in the first round is them." ”

James was completely dismissive. The boss of the No. 1 team in the East is full of style: "They're finally catching up, and there's still a month to go until the end of the regular season." They should be able to finish fifth or sixth, so it's unlikely that we'll be against them in the first round, and while I'd love to finish them in the first round, I'll be able to avoid us first. ”

……

New York.

Xie Chen invited teammate Anthony, coach Fisher and president Phil Jackson to his home for dinner, after dinner. A few people came to the gym, and Xie Chen explained the reason for inviting them over.

"Actually, I invited you here to discuss something with you." Xie Chen spoke.

The Zen master smiled and squinted his eyes and sat on a gym machine: "I guessed that you had something to do a long time ago." Calling all three of us here is definitely a big deal, so say it. ”

Xie Chen also stopped talking and said: "There is still a month before the regular season ends, according to our current winning rate, if there are no injuries in the next and our luck is not too bad, we may rush to the fifth place in the East, in that case, we may meet the Miami Heat in the first round, I don't want to meet them in the first round." ”

Fisher saw Xie Chen's thoughts: "I understand what you mean, you want to take the initiative to choose a team as the opponent in the first round, although the Miami Heat has an unstable record, it is definitely a very difficult opponent in the playoffs, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh The two cores have won the championship and entered the finals many times, and Hasan Whiteside's interior defense will also cause us a lot of trouble, plus it is your old master and your first team in the NBA, you definitely don't want to meet them." I agree with Hsieh's idea, in addition to trying to avoid the Miami Heat, we also want to avoid the Cleveland Cavaliers......"

Before Fisher finished speaking, he was interrupted by Xie Chen: "No, I mean, except for the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls, anyone can be beaten in the first round!" Knights don't matter! ”

"What?" The three of them were stunned at the same time, if they didn't want to play against the Heat, it could be understood that Xie Chen couldn't do it emotionally, but why did the Chicago Bulls avoid it? It's true that the Bulls are also very strong, but no matter how strong they are, they can't be the Cavaliers, right?

Anthony wondered, "What is the reason why you avoid the bulls but not the knights?" ”

Xie Chen replied: "Every time I play against these two teams, I feel very uncomfortable, and frankly, playing with them will make me have no confidence at all. ”

The three of them looked at each other after hearing this, this answer really frightened them, of course they knew that this answer was too far-fetched, but Xie Chen was the most critical person in deciding how far to go in the playoffs, since even he said something like "no confidence", then these two teams must not meet!

The Zen master, who has always been calm, couldn't sit still, thinking that with the strongest trump card Xie Chen, he could sit back and enjoy the championship trophy in the playoffs, but he didn't expect Xie Chen to have something to fear!

The Zen master hurriedly said, "Fisher, show me the current ranking in the east." ”

Fisher hurriedly took out a pen and paper, wrote out the rankings without thinking, and handed them to the Zen master, who glanced at them, from the first to the eighth place were the Cavaliers, Raptors, Bulls, Hawks, Heat, Pacers, Celtics and their New York Knicks.

The Zen master pondered for a moment and asked Xie Chen a question: "Xie." Every team will try to avoid an opponent they don't want to face, but you know, there are some things that we can't control, maybe we can control our record, but we can't decide the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, the next month. There is a very good chance that the standings will change, with the Chicago Bulls potentially dropping to fourth or fifth in the East, and the Miami Heat's record likely going up, and we may not be able to avoid them perfectly. ”

"There's a way." Xie Chen stepped forward, took out a pen and circled the Cavaliers in first place and the Raptors in second place, and said: "I just want to avoid the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls, and I don't care about any other opponents." The standings of these two teams are bound to change a little in the coming month, but no matter how they change, the Cavaliers and Raptors are in first and second place. It shouldn't be changed, at the very least, the Cavaliers' first place in the East won't change anymore, so we just need to firmly occupy the seventh and eighth positions. ”

When Xie Chen said that, the three of them were all startled, and Anthony said even louder: "Xie, are you crazy?" You're going to hold on to our eighth place. Just to face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round? No, no, no, you must have eaten something wrong. The Cavaliers are scarier than those two teams! It's never a wise choice to face the first place in the East in the first round, and if that's the case, the Celtics and Pacers don't know how to kowtow to thank us! ”

It's normal for Anthony to be excited and surprised, after all, anyone who hears such a crazy idea will think it's crazy, and the Cavaliers are the strongest team in the East. There is no reason to avoid the weak team and face the strong team, unless from the perspective of winning the championship, it is the same for everyone you meet, and you will meet sooner or later anyway.

The Zen master was also secretly shocked in his heart: "Xie actually did not hesitate to hold the eighth position in order to avoid those two teams. Against the Cavaliers, why did the Bulls and the Heat make Xie so afraid? I just finished playing with the Heat a few days ago, and I obviously won very easily! ”

The more he couldn't guess, the more worried the Zen master became, you know, Xie Chen is the only guarantee for the Knicks to win the championship!

The Zen master looked at Anthony, who looked excited, and comforted: "Do what Xie thinks, he is the key to our team, we must respect all his ideas, I believe that his approach is not completely without reason, next, if I guess correctly, you should let the plan deliberately lose the game from time to time to ensure our place at the end of the playoffs, right?" ”

Xie Chen nodded: "Of course we also have to fight for the seventh, against the Toronto Raptors, not the Cleveland Cavaliers, I just mean, even if it is a Cavaliers, it can't be the Bulls and the Heat." ”

Anthony thought for a moment, then said with a smile: "Actually, I think thank you for being too nervous, no matter who you meet, it's the same, if our goal is to win the championship, then it doesn't make sense to avoid anyone in the first round, and sooner or later we will meet them." ”

"Yes, Cameron is right, you can't hide if you want to meet, even if you avoid the Bulls and Heat in the first round, what about the second round? I think they also have a good chance of making it to the first round. Fisher also said wistfully.

As soon as Fisher said this, the Zen master was even more worried, and now Xie Chen just found a way to avoid the bulls and the Heat in the first round, what about the second round? What if the Heat and Bulls were destined for one team to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals? If Xie Chen really can't play these two teams, does that mean that he will lose the championship when he meets them?

Xie Chen also sighed, there was no way to choose to avoid it in the first round, and if he encountered it again in the future, he could only bite the bullet.

……

The decision to lose selectively is only the four of them who have reached a consensus at the moment, and they have not told anyone else that they don't want to hurt the confidence of the players, and they can't give a reasonable explanation.

Fortunately, the team left Anthony and Xie Chen, it is a second-rate team, and there are basically not many opponents that can be defeated, so as long as Xie Chen and Anthony have the idea of deliberately losing, what others do will not affect the result.

In the next game, the Knicks will face the Pistons, who are ninth in the East.

Drummond was nervous before he came to New York, and the whole team took this game very seriously, and before the game, the coach talked about the importance of the game and the horror of the opponent many times.

"The New York Knicks are very close to us, but they are far better than us! They're back in the top eight in the East, they're not going to fall back, and they're sure to be at the top of the pack before the end of the regular season, so this one could start with a slaughter! You must be 100,000 spirited, Xie and Anthony will not let us go, if you don't want to be humiliated, you can do it on the field! ”

At the critical moment of competing for the playoff rankings, when teams in such an awkward position as eighth and ninth meet, it must be a fight to the death, and everyone agrees that the Knicks are stronger, so everyone generally thinks that this game will be a slaughter.

Zhuang Shen Drummond was very serious at the beginning, and he didn't expect this game to win, Xie Chen got serious, and even the Golden State Warriors, who had the best record in the league, couldn't beat them, let alone them, he just didn't lose too badly.

But after playing for a few minutes, Xie Chen didn't score, but the Pistons still took the lead, which made Zhuang Shen a little unbreathable, and walked over to Xie Chen and said: "Don't pretend, I know that you want to torture us in this game, if you want to fight, you should shoot as soon as possible, you have not acted like this, and I feel even more uncomfortable!" ”

Xie Chen smiled: "Then it's uncomfortable for a while." ”

Xie Chen originally wanted to lose the game, of course, it was nothing to win, but he didn't try to win, and the outcome depended on God's will, but Drummond thought that Xie Chen would win at all costs.

At the end of the first quarter, the Pistons led by seven points, and the coach started talking again.

"In the first quarter, we were led by seven points, and in the second quarter, Xie will definitely start to attack wildly, you have to cheer up and hold on!"

Everyone was highly nervous by the coach's words, and Reggie Jackson was going to be nervous, but in the second quarter, Xie Chen and Anthony still didn't have any crazy actions to score points, and the score was stretched to more than 10 points!

The coach once again told the main players: "Xie is about to start scoring like crazy!" He's about to attack! You must hold on! ”

Reggie Jackson stretched out his hand to the coach while holding his underneath and said, "Coach, don't say any more, I've been so scared by you that I can't stand!" ”

Unexpectedly, Xie Chen deliberately lost the game, which could also bring another kind of torture to the opponent. (To be continued.) )