Whoever will win the MVP of the regular season is undecided until the voting results come out.

But the NBA playoffs have begun to unfold in full swing.

On April 15, 2018, the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers VS the Thunder.

Due to the advantage in record, the first game between the Lakers and the Thunder was played at the Staples Center, the home of the Lakers, which was the first time the Lakers appeared on the playoff stage in four years, and the last time the Lakers had a playoff trip was the 12-13 season, when the Lakers formed an F4 combination, but they had to rely on Kobe Bryant to break the Achilles tendon to enter the playoffs.

In the playoffs that season, the Lakers, who did not have Kobe, were swept 4-0 in the first round and eliminated.

Four years later, the Lakers returned to the playoffs, and the original Lakers leader sat on the sidelines in a suit and leather shoes, and the camera on the big screen of the scene was focused on Kobe Bryant, who smiled and waved in greeting, causing the audience to cheer like a tsunami.

Although Bryant has retired, his influence in Los Angeles has not diminished in the slightest.

Meanwhile, in the Lakers' locker room, Wharton was nervously making a pre-game mobilization speech.

That's right, Wharton was nervous.

As the head coach of the Lakers, Walton is also a standard rookie coach, this is his second season in charge of the Lakers, even he didn't expect that his coaching resume would be so smooth, and he actually led the team to the playoffs in the second season of his career.

Among the players in front of him, almost all of them are young players on rookie contracts, few players have playoff experience, and only Wang Feng and Lopez are the main players.

Lopez aside, he only played 13 playoff games in his entire career, with the Nets in seasons 12-13 and 14-15, all of which were eliminated in the first round.

However, Wang Feng has rich experience in the playoffs, and he has passed all the playoffs in three seasons of his career and finally won the championship trophy.

So after Wharton finished speaking, he looked at Wang Feng and motioned for Wang Feng to say a few words to motivate his teammates.

Wang Feng looked at Wharton, his expression quite helpless.

To be reasonable, Wharton's speech just now was not good, he himself was nervous, and by the way, the rookie players with the Lakers were also nervous.

His words probably mean that they finally entered the playoffs, and the Lakers are still the third team in the West, they must play a better performance, eliminate the Thunder and enter the second round, and the words also faintly reveal that if they do not perform well in the playoffs, their subsequent tactical position in the team will also be affected.

It's no wonder that the playoffs are so important that these young players aren't nervous.

But in fact, Wharton is not to blame, because the situation is the same for him.

The Lakers have finally made it to the playoffs, and if the team is eliminated by the Thunder in the first round under his leadership, Lakers management will definitely consider whether Walton is qualified as the head coach of the Lakers, and may fire him at any time.

But that being said, sometimes stress can be the motivation, and sometimes it can be the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

At least in Wang Feng's opinion, these young players should not have too much burden on their first trip to the playoffs in their careers.

After thinking about it, Wang Feng cleared his throat and said.

"Guys, let me say a few words."

"First of all, we made the playoffs this year and finished third in the West, which in my opinion is already overdone, at least for myself, whether it's the Lakers fans or the owners and management."

As soon as Wang Feng spoke, all the Lakers players were slightly stunned, and then they couldn't help but smile on their faces.

Indeed, Wang Feng's words reached their hearts, and they also thought the same, but the playoffs have not yet started, so if they say what is in their hearts so straightforwardly, once they lose in the first round, they will definitely be sprayed.

"I think the playoffs are such a precious stage, compared to winning the game, it is more important to play your true level and strength, winning or losing is no longer the key, if you can play at a super level, maybe the big contract after the rookie contract expires will be stable!"

Wang Feng feels that compared with ethereal things such as team honors, the lure of money from a big contract is more real.

He is not a high-EQ leader like James who has the temperament of a leader and can use words to fan the emotions of his teammates, so luring him with advantage is the best way.

At the same time, Wang Feng's tone and attitude of not caring about the playoffs also made the somewhat nervous Lakers players gradually calm down.

That's enough.

Wang Feng didn't expect that these words would have much effect, and all the remaining problems would be solved on the field, with him taking the lead in charging and leading the game attack, the nervousness of the young players would soon calm down.

To be honest, Wang Feng is also a little fortunate that the Jazz are ranked fifth in the West with the same record, which is really a good thing for the Lakers.

Although the Jazz and Thunder both have a 48-win record in the regular season, and the Thunder have Westbrook, Paul. George and Anthony Big Three configuration, but it's clear that the Jazz are tougher than the Thunder.

Not to mention anything else, just the double wrap-and-hold tactics used by the Jazz against Wang Feng when they faced the Lakers twice in the second half of the regular season, so far Wang Feng has no good way to crack it.

On the other hand, the Thunder team's tactics in the regular season were in shambles, and winning the game basically depended on the individual performance of the stars. Anthony's form has declined badly this season, with only 16.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in the regular season.

In Wang Feng's memory, the regular season record of the Thunder and Jazz is still the same, but the Jazz team ranks higher than the Thunder, the two teams entered the playoffs with the fourth and fifth in the West, and met directly in the first round, and then the result was that the Jazz eliminated the Thunder 4:2, the game process was easy and freehand, and the Jazz had achieved a score of 3:1 to get the match point after the 4 games, and the fifth game of the Thunder fought desperately to get back a city, but then the sixth game was eliminated by the Jazz.

Therefore, it is really Lakers' luck to meet the Thunder.

Wang Feng is confident that he can limit George's play in a one-on-one situation, and as long as he can find a way to kill Westbrook, then the Lakers have a chance to defeat the Thunder.

This is not difficult in Wang Feng's opinion, after all, it is Westbrook, a famous regular season dragon playoff bug, and it is not for nothing that he must pull his crotch every playoffs.

If the Thunder are eliminated in the first round, the Lakers can enter the second round and complete the meeting with the Golden State Warriors.

Being able to compare with the Warriors in the playoffs again, Wang Feng is still very interested.