The first place in the West is the Warriors, who have the best record in the league, with 71 wins and 11 losses.

The Warriors also became the first team in NBA history to score a 70-plus record for three consecutive years.

It is also the first team in NBA history to win 70 plus for three consecutive years, but did not win a championship during this period, if it can't win it this year......

I can really only say "the king of the regular season"!

Probably for this reason, they didn't rush to break another record in regular season history, losing three of their seven games in April. Steve Kerr had a massive rotation break in preparation for the playoffs.

It was also in these three years that they learned what it means to "the more brilliant the record, the greater the pressure!" ”

In fact, when he was with the Bulls and followed the entire team to play the best record in history with 72-10, Steve Kerr didn't have much pressure.

Now that I think about it, there was pressure, but it was on Michael Jordan and they resisted it for him.

At present, with 70 wins for three consecutive years, the sound that the Warriors may cause if they don't win the championship really puts them in a very dangerous situation at the moment, and falling down is the end of being "whipped" for 10,000 years.

But even more uncomfortable is ......

"The Warriors can't help but play this kind of dominance because the strength of this team's roster is ...... here"

If you don't perform well in the regular season, you will be ridiculed by the group; If you perform well in the regular season and don't win the championship in the playoffs, you will still be ridiculed by the crowd......

That's the risk of a "superteam"!

Second in the West is the New Orleans Hornets, who finished with a 65-17 record due to James Harden's injury, which ranks second in the league;

The third place in the West is the Portland Trail Blazers, and the arrival of George Hill has given the Trail Blazers a rotation of the No. 1 position, and his arrival has also made the degradation of Deron Williams less urgent.

They have also won 60 games this season.

61 wins and 21 losses!

The fourth place in the West is a bit unexpected, Sacramento relied on Terrick Evans and Cousins, who is among the ranks of "super centers", to make it back to the playoffs after n years, not to mention, and also successfully entered the upper circle of the West.

Fifth in the West is the Memphis Grizzlies, with the departure of Tony Allen, the old "Grizzlies" are now only left with Mike Conley and Gasol Jr. to hold on, but in terms of this season's record, they have well held the last glory belonging to the old "Grizzlies", or ranked fifth in the West.

Sixth in the West is the Spurs, who nearly toppled the Warriors in the playoffs last season.

Their record this season is not satisfactory, as for the reason, it is similar to the original, after Leonard and Popovich had a gap, once they encountered injury problems, their first reaction was to rest, and they also refused to communicate with the Spurs team doctor, not to mention Popovich, who did not know the latest situation.

Now that the two sides have come to a sensitive freezing point, Popovich has a headache, he doesn't know what the problem is, of course, in terms of his character, he certainly can't imagine that it was because Leonard played with an injury in the playoffs last season.

Is it also called a thing?

Back then, Tim Duncan made him use plantar fasciitis, and then didn't he obediently do what he said?

It can only be said that Popovich did not realize at this time that he had to "eat stool"!

He's also a face-saving person, and these things haven't been said, so on the surface, the entire Spurs team is still in tune, and the San Antonio media continue to follow the progress of Leonard's comeback, looking forward to the day when he is back on the court.

It doesn't matter if it's a wasted season, the Spurs can afford to wait!

Seventh in the West is the Clippers.

Griffin had no problem with Jordan Jr. leading the team, they once climbed to the fourth place in the West, but after the All-Star Weekend, Griffin was injured, which made the Clippers lose their competitiveness, thanks to the advantage before the All-Star Weekend, otherwise, they would not be able to enter the playoffs!

Still, even though it's only the seventh playoff game in the West, the Clippers are still happy because their "big brother" has long since gone fishing.

Lakers, Lakers, you have today!

"Cool" is just one word, and the Clippers only say it once......

Eighth in the West is the Thunder team led by the single-handedly Wei Shao.

There's not much to say, it's not easy to lead the team to the playoffs single-handedly in the West!

The Oklahomas won't ask for more, just shout "Westbrook Bull Break" there and you're done!

Judging from the rankings of these teams in the West, compared to the changes in the East, their changes are not so large, although the rankings of these teams have changed for their own reasons, they still reached the final playoffs, and from the results, only the Kings are the "dark horses" with a relatively rapid increase.

Compared with the rise of the "upstarts" in the east, it is really much slower.

It is also understandable that the league itself is in the stage of alternating between the old and the new, the "giants" have huddled together to make the final struggle for their dying youth, and the remaining group of sub-teams are either constantly rebuilding and sinking, or various "youth armies", which all require time and cost......

I can only say, let's boil it again!

Get through this era, and the next era will be fine!

No player will ever have nineteen, but the team will always have nineteen "new cores".

No matter how much Li Wan breaks it, he is almost 30 years old!

Hum!

On April 16, the day after the end of the 17~18 season, the league announced the "best rookie" of the season.

As originally, it still belongs to Ben Simmons, whose average of 15 plus 8 plus 8 per game is indeed a bit of a Ha man.

But the difference from the original is that he originally became the final "best rookie" with more than 50% of the votes, but this time he only got 43.5% of the votes, only 1.5% higher than Mitchell, who came in second.

If he hadn't been out with an injury in the final game of the 76ers' regular season......

At the thought of this, Ben Simmons' agent team broke out in a cold sweat, fortunately! Thankfully, I chose not to play this game!

Mitchell, who averaged 20 points plus 4 plus 4 per game, unfortunately missed out on the "best rookie".

On April 17, the league continued to announce the season's awards: the Most Improved Player Award.

This award, as always, belongs to "Bitter Mamba" Victor Oladipo, who is averaging 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game this season...... Sadly, shortly after winning the award, he began to suffer from injuries.

Speaking of which, many players in this era have suffered frequent injuries when they first played, such as him, and then Dinwiddie.

It is said that the confrontation in this era is not so fierce, coupled with more scientific training, injuries should not be so frequent.

And if you really want to say that you don't have self-discipline, in the 90s, everyone was "dry" on the court after playing in a nightclub for a night......

I don't know if the physical fitness of these NBA animals in the past was too good, or the physical fitness of these NBA players is too poor now......

This was followed by the "Best Sixth Person" award.

This year, the competition for this award is quite fierce.

On the Columbus Explorers' side, Broger averaged 14.8 points per game, which is not low.

But this year's "sixth man" of other teams is also particularly fierce......

The Nuggets have Will Barton, who averages 15.7 points per game, and the Hornets have Eric Gordon, who averages 16.8 points per game.

In the end, this award belongs to Louis Williams of the Clippers, who averages 22.4 points per game!

It's already the data that can only be played by the starting outside core.

Although he averaged 33.2 minutes per game, he was indeed already playing time at the core level of the starter.

But because he was the player who came off the bench, this award was eventually won by Louis Williams!

Brogdon missed out on his first "Best Sixth Man Award", but he wasn't much disappointed, and probably knew that there were so many monsters competing for this award this season that he had run out of chances.

His mentality was actually quite good, Li Wan originally planned to comfort him, but when he saw him the next day, he took the initiative to greet Li Wan with a smile.

With this one move, Li Wan knew in his heart that he didn't need to worry about it at all.

To say that in the first season of his career, he entered the finals and won the championship, and the newcomers who have experienced the big scene are indeed very different from the average newcomers.

The horizon has long gone up.

The "Best Sixth Man" award is a good thing for him, and it is not a pity that he does not have it.

This is the second season of his career, and it's not like he won't have a chance to pursue this award.

And......

It's really not as fragrant as the championship trophy!

The opponent of the Columbus Explorers in the first round of the playoffs is the Boston Celtics, and in terms of the state of the entire Celtics and the current combat effectiveness, the overall state of the Explorers is not too tight, and of course it is impossible to be too relaxed.

Although they only came to Columbus last season to win the first championship in team history, they are actually a team with a "two-in-a-row" background.

Naturally, such a team cannot be arrogant because the opponent is not strong enough.

The lion fights the rabbit, and it also takes all its strength.

On April 18, the first day of the playoffs officially arrived.

The Columbians were no longer inexperienced, and they began to parade the streets early in the morning.

Compared to last year, when a group of people gathered together in high spirits but didn't know what to do, the whole street seemed chaotic and chaotic, but now the Columbians are celebrating in an orderly manner.

And it's done in batches.

From early in the morning to the beginning of the game, the entire streets and alleys of Columbus were not ordinarily lively.

And when this group of Explorers fans who had been making trouble all afternoon entered the scene, they still felt that they were not happy enough, and they directly used huge boos to make the newcomers of the Celtics have some uncomfortable expressions.

At this time, it should have been the time for Kyrie Irving to show his role, but he didn't care about his teammates and started training on his own, some people are born "Mavericks", and Irving is such a player.

He can't become the "boss" of the team, it has a little bit to do with strength, and more importantly, his personality.

Fortunately, this team has a veteran like Horford.

Although he was never the absolute core of the team during his time with the Eagles, he knew how to let his boyish players relax and get into the game.

Tyronn Lue was keenly aware of this, and before the game officially began, he asked the team to increase the defensive pressure from the start, so that the opposing rookies can feel the intensity of the playoffs, and as long as they don't adapt to this intensity, they can naturally take the lead from the start.

And the Columbus Explorers, when they had the lead, knew too well how to continue to widen the point difference.

I have to say that after winning two championship trophies, Tyronn Lue's brain is becoming more and more flexible.

The Columbus Explorers didn't start the game very well, but with their sense of urgency defense, they took a six-point lead at 4:23 in the first quarter.

Then, with Lee Wan and Carmelo Anthony hitting three-pointers one after another, the margin suddenly reached double digits, and the Boston Celtics had to call a timeout.

Stevens didn't make much of a change in his tactics, instead asking for a simpler tactical game.

There's no way, the psychological pressure of these players is too great now, and at such a time, it's really not suitable to play any difficult tactics, even if such tactics are played, they won't be effective, which is a certain thing!

Therefore, he chose to reduce the burden on the offensive level, and it would be better if the rookies in the starting line could reduce the burden from the ideological level.

Not to mention his move, it still played a certain role, Jaylen Brown and Tatum returned to the court and hit shots one after another. Helped the team stabilize the situation.

In fact, they had a good season and finished second in the East, but suffered an injury to Irving after the All-Star break, which led to the team going to the playoffs without Irving.

At that time, everyone was not optimistic that they would achieve good results.

It is also for this reason that the Celtics are infinitely favored, as they finally reached the Eastern Conference Finals.

Oh, and by the way, the so-called "Thanos Zhan" appeared in the playoffs this season.

The reason why the gold content is questioned is also this:

Their opponent in the Eastern Conference Finals is the Celtics without Irving.

Their top names are first-year Tatum and second-year Jaylen Brown.

In the face of such an opponent, the so-called "Thanos Zhan" played the seventh game of the Eastern Conference finals, and led the team to victory when Tatum left the court with six fouls.

If he hadn't left the game with six fouls, it would have been hard to say who would have lost or won the game.

Most of the media and fans also felt that the future of the Celtics was bright after the Eastern Conference finals played the "tie-break".

After all, they are facing "Thanos Zhan"!

In their second season with Irving, they finally decided to trade Irving and supported Tatum and Jaylen Brown after falling to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

It's just that Columbus, for their part, once again showed their experience as defending champions.

Seeing Tatum and Jaylen Brown trying to stand up to save the team, and Li Wan and Wiggins each led the defense, the Celtics' "double tanhua" immediately became uncomfortable.

During this time, Kevin Irving also showed his "killer" traits, hitting shots on two consecutive rounds with relatively little pressure on the defense.

Tyronn Lue was in no hurry to change the formation and continued to maintain the formation in front of him.

Although the three players on the Celtics side played well one after another, they did not have players who could limit Columbus on the outside on the defensive end, which made the Columbus Explorers maintain the point difference.

Tyronn Lue is naturally not in a hurry to change the formation, with this time, it is better to continue to maintain the current formation, so that Tatum and Jaylen Brown are struggling, they are rookies after all, and it is not easy to adjust once the state of the rookie fluctuates.

As experienced defensive veterans, Li Wan and Wiggins faced Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and found a way to limit them, using a set of "defensive combos" to successfully put the two rookies in a struggle.

But by this time, Tyronn Lue still did not decompress, but maintained it for another period of time, and after consolidating the "curative effect", he began to change formations and carried out a series of blockades against Owen.

Irving still has room to maneuver in the face of Wiggins, but when there is still Li Wan standing behind Wiggins, this offense really can't be played.

If the east is not bright, the west must be bright!

The time came to test the two rookies, but after being defended by Li Wan and Wiggins, the two rookies couldn't adjust in this game.

From the third quarter onwards, the Celtics gradually began to stabilize, and the point difference gradually came to double digits......

At the end of the game, the Columbus Explorers gradually took the initiative through defense after a little anxiety in the first half, and defeated the Boston Celtics by 121-101, 20 points after the Celtics completely collapsed in the second half.

Li Wan and Wiggins focused on the defensive end in the first half, but in the second half, he still got 39 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 1 block;

Wiggins didn't feel very good tonight, shooting 0-of-4 from beyond the three-point line, but he scored 17 points with occasional cuts and sudden ball-handling singles, in addition to five rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

It's not good to focus on the defensive end, and the stats don't tell him a lot about what he's doing.

It's no wonder that the one who didn't want to exert his strength on the defensive end, finally resisted a section, and did his best, and then he didn't dare to lead the defense again. Instead, he chose to use all his physical strength on the offensive end, and he still ran to use up all his physical energy from the beginning, and then even if he had no strength at all in the second half, he was still on the court, just from the point of view of statistics, he played 47 minutes and 57 seconds and only rested for 3 seconds......

He's great!

Carmelo Anthony didn't take a lot of shots tonight, just 14, but he was very efficient, hitting 10 of them from 14 attempts, including 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point line, and as soon as he got the ball in the second half of tonight, he was bound to see the entire Boston Celtics team rushing towards him.

But tonight's Anthony feels hot, no matter how he pounces, as long as he shoots in rhythm, he will inevitably throw the ball into the basket.

23 points without a single free throw......

Carmelo Anthony used projection alone to give Stevens a helpless expression.

On the Celtics' side, Tatum scored 18 points, which is not easy for him who averaged only 13.4 points per game in the regular season.

Well......

Originally, he also played better in the playoffs, which convinced many fans that his future was bright.

It's just that he hasn't won the championship for a long time, and some problems have been infinitely magnified at critical moments, resulting in more and more fans who can't look down on him.

His title of "Mamba" has also become a point of attack for many fans......

Of course, the fans who hold on to this point are all those who understand!

But again, the playoff results in the first 7 years of a GOAT's career are really not as good as his.

As for who is better after the eighth year, it depends on which coast Tatum is willing to take his talent to!

Otherwise, in terms of temperament, it will be Tatum who has won again!

Can I leave if I don't win the championship?

You can go, but you shouldn't put pressure on that for the first two years and cause the team's future assets to be depleted because of you, and then you say I have to leave for the championship.

I'll you!

Jaylen Brown also scored exactly 18 points, and Irving scored a team-high 23 points for the Celtics.

It's just that the efficiency of the three people is very low, and the best one is in the early 40%.

The worst Kyrie Irving is also the one who has suffered the most from the bag, with a shooting rate of only 30%!

'We were limited in attack, and of course we weren't able to limit their attack, so it's normal to lose in such a situation. [Columbus] they played really well, congratulations on getting the first game of the series! ”

In his post-match press conference, Stevens also highlighted the gap between the two teams on the offensive and defensive ends. In fact, what he originally wanted to say was that learning was the main thing, but thinking that this was the end of the first game of the series, there was no need to hit the players' self-confidence so quickly, even if he had seen that there was a huge gap between the two teams, but the day after the game, he still said:

"We lost by 20 points, but we held on to the halftime, we didn't fall behind too much between halftime, and as long as we can keep going, we can even make this game a win in the fourth quarter!"

This "chicken soup" is very effective.

The Celtics' squad also showed their resilience in Game 2 of the series, as the team that had reached the Eastern Conference Finals this season had a tough team defense for the Columbus Explorers.

The Columbus Explorers were actually in good shape tonight, playing a 10-3 in the opening game, but in the following time, the Celtics did not collapse, but stalemate the situation on the court, allowing the margin to continue to swing around 7 points.

However, Tyronn Lue did not give the Celtics more respite, and the Boston's perseverance was beyond his expectations, originally he thought that after the first game, the Celtics would have some emotional fluctuations and show greater flaws in the second game of the series, but now it seems that they still have the heart.

Then there is nothing to say, Tyronn Lue pressed the "Li Wan Nuclear Weapon" start button.

In the next time, Li Wan named Irving, Tatum and Jaylen Brown one by one, and "pointed" these people.

Tatum looked at Li Wan, who could easily score in front of him, and suddenly had such an idea in his heart...... No wonder my idol was pinned to the ground by him!

Bryant:??? Courtesy, you Tatum?

Jaylen Brown thought about the fact that this season's regular season media agreed that his defensive ability was much better, but now it seems that ...... He's got a J*!

The degree of being beaten on the ground by Li Wan is also called becoming stronger, then how rubbish he should have been!

As for Kyrie Irving......

For the first time, he felt that it was not unreasonable for Li Wan to call him "third" back then. Not to mention that Li Wan wants to call him "third", he himself wants to call himself "third".

After all, the three "champions" of the year: Derrick Rose, John Wall and him......

The first two proved that he could lead at least one team to the playoffs as the "absolute core of the team", and he has never proven himself until now, from the Cavaliers to the Heat!

This is not the "third child", what is it?

In the end of this game, Li Wan's score was fixed at 45 points.

If in the last game, Carmelo Anthony used his projection ability to make the entire Celtics desperate, now Li Wan uses his singles ability to make the Celtics collapse.

Oh yes, it's worth mentioning Carmelo Anthony's super high shooting efficiency in the last game.

The Celtics really didn't dare to leave him a gap in this game, and it was for this reason that Li Wan got a lot of singles opportunities tonight.

When Carmelo Anthony arrived, Tyronn Lue wanted to see the effect he most saw in the second game of the series against the Celtics!

With Li Wan's singles ability, the most suitable "second master" for him does not need to have too many requirements, what to score 30 points per game, what critical moment to hit the "throwing pot ball", and he does not need to have a strong ability to change tactics, the only thing he needs is one point:

can open up the space on one side, play a role in pulling the production, and then watch Li Wan's one-man show and it's over!

The team's strongest tactic has always been to "give the ball to Li Wan......

Barkley looked at Li Wan, who kept playing singles in this game, and suddenly thought of Michael Jordan, when the Bulls used pitchers on both sides to help Michael Jordan open up enough space to play alone, in order to limit the Bulls' move, the league introduced the famous "anti-isolation rule", and then there was the so-called "Jordan rule".

If you want to restrict Li Wan's singles, in his opinion, unless this set of playing styles is reintroduced, otherwise, it really can't be restricted......

However, he thought about it carefully, if such a law was really introduced, it was estimated that Li Wan would still not be able to stop him.

There's no way, Li Wan's range is even too far, he can do it without rushing to the basket......

The league's rule changes in 04 gave too much preferential treatment to outside players, and the later "cylinder" rule gave outside players a layer of "golden bell jar" protection.

It was also from this time that the "body hair whistle" gradually increased.

At a time like this, with a player like Li Wan, it's hard for you to really limit this guy from a tactical point of view.

One can only hope that one night, his performance will not be so good...... You can't expect him to perform badly yet, because in this league, or even in the history of this league, there is no guy as stable as Li Wan!

Jordan still scored only 7 and 8 points in two games, but Li Wan has never dropped below double digits since he became a starter......

With such a player, you really can't expect him to be in bad shape, you can only expect him to be not in good shape!

It's just that after these two losses, Celtic's whole mentality has gone wrong, which can be seen from their frustrated expressions in the post-game interview with reporters, although they only lost by 18 points in the second game, but their mentality was lost.

When facing problems related to Li Wan, the "three heroes" on the outside line were shaking their heads most of the time, and they didn't know how to restrict such a guy......

Everyone thinks that the Celtics have reached their tipping point, and the next two games, even if they have to return to their home stadium, are only afraid that they will lose faster and could turn into two one-sided games.

But the result ......

Once again, they showed tenacity, even playing the best game of the series.

They were only four points behind at half-time.

In an interview with midfielders, Stevens said: "Because we are Celtic, the blood of this team is tenacity, and we will not fall so quickly, at least not the kind that will not fall without any resistance at all!" ”

Of course, when the game was over, his rhetoric changed again: "You can't limit a guy like that, it's a very helpless thing, the whole game is completely under his control, he knows exactly when to start, and then brings you a feeling of despair!" ”

Well......

In just the second half, the changes before and after are so big, and the reason is very simple, Li Wan exerted his strength again, and scored 30 points in a single quarter in the third quarter, which made the 4-point difference that the Celtics desperately gritted their teeth in the first half quickly turned into a 14-point difference......

After holding on for so long, but in exchange for a rout, it's no wonder that even Stevens's mentality collapsed.

Li Wan's single-game score in this round of the series has reached a new high of 54 points!

It's also the first 50 plus in this year's playoffs.

But this is normal, as this year's "scoring champion", is it a big deal to win the first single-game 50 plus in this year's playoffs?

After Li Wan made two consecutive efforts, the Celtics were completely defeated, and in the fourth game of the series, they fell behind by 16 points from the first quarter, and they lost by 30 points until the end.

The Bostonians who couldn't stand this anger left the court early, and the "Double Tanhua" ended their first playoff game together......

The Columbus Explorers swept 4-0 and advanced to the semifinals!

Ma Long's words after the game are too good, the entire Nuggets team has really made James indecent since the finals, and they are about to catch up with a certain "little black man" who wrote the book, but it is understandable that the matter of retiring himself was swept away, which led to changes in the protagonist and things that should be paid attention to, and it is strange that the Nuggets are not disgusting!

Congratulations to the Nuggets, this year's championship is definitely not low.

Especially in the Western Conference finals, there are really too few who can win 5 against 8, let alone a 4-0 sweep!

(End of chapter)