On April 9, 2004, the atmosphere of the playoffs had begun to sweep through the NBA, and there were only about ten days left before the playoffs.

The Raptors arrived in Detroit by plane that afternoon to take on the Pistons on the road, which is the Raptors' most important game, and they can't afford to lose. After arriving in Detroit, Xu Yi got the good news that he jumped three jumps directly on the spot, and Chauncey Billups was suspended due to a small hand injury!

As the playoffs approach, teams like the Pistons, who have already entered the playoffs and don't need to fight hard for the record, are starting to rest players with minor injuries on the team, and they don't want to affect the playoffs for these inconsequential games.

So, this game Chauncey Billups is on a truce! In this way, the Pistons' point guard position will be started and benched by Lynch Hunter and Mike James, neither of whom are rhythmic point guards, which is obviously good news for the Raptors, and the Raptors' fast break can be played again.

However, Xu Yi did not let the team stop practicing those individual small tactics, for the Raptors, these individual small tactics can still be used in the future, such as playing the Pistons in 4 days.

And in this game with the Pistons, Chauncey Billups is not there, and Ben Wallace on the inside is not there, so it will be relatively easy for the Raptors to win this game. However, the Pistons' bench depth still scared Xu Yi, not only did he have starter-level point guards like Mike James and Lynch Hunter on point guards, but even Memet Oku, who started in place of Ben Wallace, was not a doer.

However, the moment he saw Oku, Xu Yi fell in love with this Turk, at the end of this season, Oku's contract with the Pistons expired, and the Pistons' interior line was full, and obviously he would not renew his contract. Thinking of the Raptors' lack of a powerful center, it seems that Oku is a good choice, whether the Raptors continue to focus on run-and-gun tactics next season, or change to other tactics, Oku is an excellent choice for the center position.

Xu Yi was thinking about this while directing the game, and the Pistons, who had already determined the third place in the East, obviously had little interest in this game, and the Raptors controlled the game from beginning to end, and the Pistons didn't even struggle, so the Raptors successfully won the game.

At 98:90, both teams played more restrained, did not spend much energy, and the score was not large, and the final result of the game also made the Raptors very satisfied.

After the game, Xu Yi paid attention to the situation on the Celtics and Knicks' side, so much so that when Pistons head coach Larry Brown walked in front of him, Xu Yi didn't react, knowing that Kevin O'Neal next to him reminded him, Xu Yi raised his head sharply and shook hands with Larry Brown.

"Xu, it's rude for you to do this, but I gave you a victory." Larry Brown made a little joke with Xu Yi, Xu Yi didn't expect that the white-haired old man who didn't smile in this game would actually joke.

"Haha, thank you so much, but I hope it wasn't heard by those reporters, otherwise you'll be bad." Xu Yi smiled, and he noticed that several reporters were looking around and making the same joke.

The Raptors won Game 4 again, and then the good news came.

"Xu, good news, the Celtics have lost! The Celtics lost! While Xu Yi was chatting with Larry Brown, Kevin O'Neal shouted from the sidelines.

The Celtics lost! Xu Yi also ignored Larry Brown's surprise, and directly turned out the record table from the bench on the side.

"40-38 and we're already 40-39! 0.5 wins away! Ha ha! Hahahaha! Xu Yi laughed, and on the other side, Larry Brown also smiled and quietly left from here.

The Celtics lost, the Raptors won, only 0.5 wins away, watching the young man Xu Yi shouting there, completely ignoring the fact that this is Auburn Hills Palace, Larry Brown couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of his heart: Sure enough, young people are more motivated!

With only 0.5 wins left in three games and four games, the Raptors are already halfway into the playoffs. And twenty minutes later, the results from the Knicks' side also came out, the Knicks also lost, they lost to the Wizards! Xu Yi flipped over the Knicks' record again, 41-39, also a 0.5-win gap! And the Knicks have 2 games left!

"Our next game is against the Bulls, and it's going to be a game that shouldn't be lost, and the Celtics are going to play the Hornets, and the Knicks are going to play the same Hornets two days after the Celtics game, will the Hornets, who are fifth in the East, lose two straight games at the end of the season? Apparently not! Here's our chance, overtake, in the next game! In the away locker room of Auburn Hills Palace, Xu Yi directly made a blood-boiling declaration, and the playoffs are in front of the Raptors!

"The Raptors are making a big effort, and the battle for the Eastern Conference playoffs will be twists and turns!" After the game, the major media in North America focused on the sudden twists and turns in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

"Since the Raptors' change of coach in mid-March, they've won eight in a row! The state is compared with before the change of coach, it is like two teams, and the Raptors, who were ranked eleventh in the East before the change of coach, also overtook the Cavaliers and the 76ers all the way to become the ninth in the East, and the gap between the eighth and seventh in the East has gradually narrowed, and the Raptors defeated the Pistons in the last game, and the Knicks lost to the Wizards and the Celtics lost to the Spurs, and the gap between them and the seventh and eighth in the East is only 0.5 wins. The difference of 0.5 wins means that the Raptors have every chance to overtake! ”

"Maybe we still remember the playoff goal that the new Raptors coach Xu Yi shouted when he took office, which was considered by many people to be empty words at the time, but now, the Raptors are close to the playoffs, maybe in the next game, they can enter the playoffs!"

After 8 games, the media's attitude towards the Raptors has changed completely, and the pen is full of praise. However, Xu Yi also knows that this is actually another characteristic of the media, when they encounter strong opponents, they often use the method of killing. And before, when the Raptors were not in good shape, when Xu Yi did not show his strength, they naturally used a stick to kill.

Now that the Raptors have just one game left in the playoffs, these media are starting to plore and kill, not just for better ones in the future. What's more, the media will give the Raptors players the illusion that we are strong, and then they may be complacent, which is obviously not what Xu Yi wants to see.

Xu Yi thought about it, he felt that the Raptors' next opponent, the Bulls, was indeed no threat, but he still had to be careful of the pride and complacency within the team.