The Jazz lost two home games in a row, which was something that no one expected.

Although I know that the Jazz may not be the opponent of the Lakers, the situation cannot be so one-sided, this is the remnant Lakers in Butler's absence, and the Jazz team is also the No. 1 team in the West, and it is so vulnerable to facing a remnant team.

After losing two in a row on his home court, how will he play in Los Angeles, the home of the Lakers, in the next game?

If there were still some Jazz fans who thought their team had some hope of winning before the series began, then basically no one thinks the Jazz can get past the Lakers.

The top of the Western Conference will stop at the Division Semifinals in the second round of the Western Conference.

On May 4, the series G3 kicked off, and the court returned to the Lakers' home court, Staples Arena in Los Angeles.

This game was no one's surprise, the Lakers established an early lead, and suppressed the Jazz throughout the whole game, although the Jazz also had the momentum of counterattacking in the second and third quarters, but they were quickly suppressed by Wang Feng, who shot in time.

113:105。

The Jazz lost three in a row, the score came to 3:0, and the Lakers scored four match points, and there was no longer any suspense in entering the Western Conference finals.

The head coach of the Jazz team reluctantly admitted in the post-game press conference.

"Although we have a better record in the regular season, everyone knows that the regular season and the playoffs are completely different concepts, our core players are still too young, the playoffs are inexperienced, and the strength of the opponent is undoubted, especially Wang Feng, who has a dominant performance on both offensive and defensive ends."

"It's not over yet, even if there is one last game left, we will do our best to deal with it seriously, and I believe that the Jazz team with Rudy (Gobert) and Donovan (Mitchell) as the core inside and outside will become ......stronger in the future."

Mitchell, who is the core of the team's offense, seems quite frustrated.

"I'm mainly responsible for the situation the team is facing, and as the heart of the team's attack, I haven't been able to shoulder the team's attacking ......"

In the three games, Mitchell scored 11 points, 19 points and 25 points respectively, and his performance was better than one game, and it was obvious that he was gradually adapting to Wang Feng's high-pressure defense, but when the score was 0:3, Mitchell was still a little late to adapt to the speed.

Although he is called a young player, Mitchell, who was born in '96, is actually 25 years old, and has been selected as an All-Star and All-Three this season, and is already a top 20 or even top 15 scorer in the league.

Such a brilliant player would be so powerless in the face of Wang Feng's defense, which really disappointed many Jazz fans.

In another time and space, in the 2021-22 season, the Jazz playoffs fell into the sand again, and then the Jazz chose to tear down the existing roster and rebuild, and the two cores of the team were traded away.

Mitchell was traded to the Cavaliers, while Gobert was traded to the Timberwolves.

At this point, the Jazz team of Gobert and Mitchell has completely become history after a brief period of glory.

Wang Feng didn't know about this, because when he crossed over, the 21-22 playoffs were still in full swing, and the Jazz were eliminated by the Warriors in the first round.

Even if Wang Feng knew the follow-up results, he wouldn't have any special thoughts.

The two cores of the Jazz's inside and outside line, whether Gobert or Mitchell, can only be regarded as second-rate stars in the league, and their own strength and development potential have upper limits, to the point that they are somewhat similar to the Trail Blazers' 200 million backcourt two-gun Lillard and McCollum.

As a strong party, it is not difficult to reach the playoffs every year, but it is difficult to make some breakthroughs in the playoffs.

In a small ball market like Salt Lake City, instead of spending a high salary cap to keep the two, it is better to choose to trade while the two have good trade value, in exchange for some draft picks, and if you are lucky, you can get the likes of Doncic, Trey. Young, a rising star like Morant will make a lot of money, and this is the only way for a small-ball team to rise.

……

The big score is 0:3, which is no longer the extent of stepping into the edge of the cliff with one foot, the Jazz team has stepped out with both feet, but climbing on the edge of the cliff with his arms, he is only the last time to completely fall into the abyss.

In this case, the Jazz instead completely let go.

On May 6, in the Western Conference semifinals G4 game, at the Staples Center, the Jazz played the most hearty game of the entire series.

Gobert, Mitchell, and Bogdanovic all scored 20 points at the same time, while Jordan. Clarkson & Joe. Ingles and others also scored double-doubles, and the Jazz suppressed the Lakers from the beginning of the first quarter, and the Lakers also took it lightly because of the excessive advantage, and finally lost the game, and the score came to 3:1.

The Jazz forced a breath before they died and successfully dragged the game back to their home court, but it was only a matter of time before they were eliminated, after all, the Lakers still had three match points in hand, how could they lose the game of the Wyvern Rider?

Two days later, in the G5 series, the Lakers' starting lineup made changes. Poole was relegated from the starting line-up to the bench, and it was Jimmy, who had been in the starting line-up for six months. Butler.

Butler's recovery period was quite smooth, as early as the beginning of the playoffs began to resume training, from the first round of the playoffs to the second round of the G5 series, more than 20 days later, Butler has been able to accompany the team for daily training, and officially played on May 8.

Butler's comeback means a lot to the Lakers.

Although the suspense of the Western Conference semifinals with the Jazz has been lost, this does not mean that the Lakers do not need Butler.

As the team's second-in-command, Butler is very important to the Lakers on both offensive and defensive ends.

Don't look at Ingram's average points per game this season has surpassed Butler's career-high season, but in terms of the ability to hold the ball under the key, Butler is obviously stronger than Ingram, after all, he is the toughest ** in the league, and it is not in vain.

What's more, on the defensive end, Butler's outside defense ability and experience are far superior to Ingram's.

Butler returned to the team, and the Lakers came to the Western Conference finals next, whether it was against the Clippers or the Warriors, and they were a lot more stable.

Of course, Butler's G5 debut was just an attempt after recovery, although he was a starter, he only played about 20 minutes, and his personal data was not outstanding, only 9 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

No one thought Butler's debut was bad, after all, he was an injured player who didn't play in the entire regular season and had to take some time to readjust to the rhythm of the game.

In this game, the Lakers still won the G5 game 109-104, eliminated the Jazz with a total score of 4-1, and reached the Western Conference finals for the third consecutive year.

While the Lakers entered the Western Conference finals, the Clippers and Warriors were still fighting fiercely on the other side.

At the end of five games, the Clippers won the battle of Tianwang Mountain 3:2 and took the lead in winning the match point.

With the Clippers on home court in G6 and on the verge of elimination, the Warriors are on the verge of elimination.

If the Clippers defeat the Warriors, then the two teams in the Western Conference will all be teams that complete the counterattack, one is fourth in the West and the other is sixth in the West.

And on the eastern side, the battle situation is gradually becoming clearer.

The Nets eliminated the Celtics 4-1 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Bucks also took a 3-2 lead in the matchup with the 76ers.

The situation in the east can be ignored for the time being, and that is something that needs to be considered in the finals.

Wang Feng and the Lakers are still focused on the matchup between the Clippers and the Warriors.

Most people, including Wang Feng, believe that the Clippers will knock out the Warriors at home and advance to the Western Conference finals, but the development of the plot is often full of drama.

The Clippers, who had the upper hand at the beginning of the G6 game, changed dramatically in the second half, not only by the Warriors who took advantage of the situation to play a wave of 14:2 to directly reverse the point difference. Leonard even injured his right knee in a breakaway and went straight back to the locker room.

Leonard was actually injured in such a crucial game!

The Clippers home fans, who were originally overjoyed that the team was about to reach the Western Conference finals, were dumbfounded.

Everyone knows how important Leonard is to the Clippers.

So far in the playoffs, Leonard has averaged 30.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, which is even more dazzling than James's average of 26 points, 7.2 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game.

To put it bluntly, without Leonard, the Clippers would not have been able to take the lead they have now against the Warriors.

As soon as Leonard was injured, the whole Clippers team was stunned, and even James made mistakes in practice like sleepwalking.

The score that was already caught up began to be reversed.

The Warriors narrowly escaped to win the G6 game, the score was tied at 3-3, and they will play the ultimate tie-break in two days.

At this time, everyone's focus is not on the tiebreaker, but on Leonard's injury.

A day later, the Clippers officially announced that Kawai. Leonard suffered a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and needed surgery, not to mention a tie-break a day later, and it will be difficult to return to play even next season.

As soon as the news was announced, everyone knew that the Clippers were finished.

Without Leonard, the Clippers would only be left with the dying James and Westbrook, who became an undercover agent as soon as the playoffs arrived, and their strength could not be compared with the Warriors.

And so it is.

In the seven-tie-break battle, James's long-lost incarnation of Thanos Zhan, played 41 minutes in the whole game, and scored 44 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists quasi-triple-double data, but he was powerless to return to the sky, so he could only helplessly watch the team lose the seven-game and be eliminated.

The sudden change even Wang Feng didn't expect.

In another time and space, Leonard was also injured in the second round of the 20-21 playoffs, but the Clippers' opponent at that time was the Jazz, and after Leonard's injury, the Clippers were still in Paul. George eliminated the Jazz and defeated the Suns in six games in the Western Conference finals.

Although the playoff schedule is different from the current one due to the outbreak of the epidemic in another time and space, the time period of Leonard's injury is strikingly similar, and I don't know if it's a coincidence.

Either way, the Clippers are finished.

This season's second round is not over, and Leonard will miss the entire season next season, James must lead the team alone, and even he faces a worse situation than Wang Feng.

Butler was injured, Wang Feng was surrounded by Ingram, Kuzma and other potential young players to assist, but James had only one trade around Westbrook, who was going to be treated as negative equity.

It's hard to say whether the Clippers will make the playoffs next season.

Some media have even used words like "King Twilight" to describe James.

At the end of this season, James will be nearly 37 years old, and he will be 38 years old in the playoffs next season.

If you change to other players, you will have retired early or become role players at this age, and your competitive level will drop significantly, and your personal data will also fall off a cliff.

Even if it is as strong as James, it will be difficult for people to cross this hurdle.

Last summer's big gamble to form a Big Three was James' last chance to challenge for a fourth career title, and he didn't even do it this season, and next season without Leonard is even less hopeful.

And if you wait until 2023, James will be 39 years old, and it is difficult to say whether he can continue to play.

Of course, people don't know that in another time and space, the 38-year-old James in the 2021-22 season can still play an average of 30.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game.

Even if James was criticized on the defensive end at that time, the scoring was also suspected of scoring, and even if he played such data, he failed to lead the Lakers to qualify for the playoffs or even the play-offs, but it still did not affect the shock that James brought to people.

What more could a 38-year-old player ask for in such a performance?