NBA: I am a master dealer

Chapter 373 The battle for the playoffs heats up

Not surprisingly, after the game, the major media once again bombarded James.

"The number one player in the league who has never defeated his mortal enemy?" 》

"When will James prove himself again?" 》

"The LeBron James era is over before it even begins?" 》

"It's Time for the Cavaliers to Consider Rebuilding"

Almost all commentators also expressed disappointment in James.

Having played so many games with Xue Liancheng, it is simply unbelievable that he has never won once.

what does this mean?

This means that James' image as the number one player in the league has collapsed.

What's even more frightening is that this seems to have the illusion of hitting a nemesis.

After all, we played four games in the regular season last season, four more games in the playoffs, and three more games this season. Not to mention other things, you can win even if you play so many games, right?

result.

Not winning a game is the scariest thing.

As if destined, a nemesis came from heaven.

of course.

There are also many people who defend James, such as the James brothers. Their theories are all kinds of weird, and they are basically of the weird brain circuit type.

"You still lost 27+11+11, can you blame James?"

"I gave up to Owen. Isn't it expected to lose? Is it necessary to have such a big reaction?"

"At the last moment, James broke through and scored consecutively. Can James be blamed for failing to make a shot?"

"It's really weird, James + Love + Irving, you said it's the Big Three teaming up, the Knicks, Xue Liancheng + Oladipo + Lopez, why didn't you say anything?"

"That is, this season the Cavaliers only have James in the All-Stars, while the Knicks have three All-Stars. When it comes to teaming up, who can compare to Xue Liancheng!"

"Every time we lose, we say it's James' fault. The team is a whole, and everyone is responsible for losing. Why should we blame James and become his nemesis? Can we really speculate..."

"Looking at the Knicks bench and role players, you will find that the Cavaliers' bench is a piece of shit, and the loss is due to the role players."

"This new coach is really rubbish, even rubbish than Brat. He should have called a timeout when Oladipo started to gain momentum at the last moment. He didn't respond. His on-the-spot performance was too poor."

"Does Xue Liancheng dare to defend James alone? Give him a hundred courages, but he won't dare. Just like this... he is still praised as James' nemesis. It's really funny..."

"That's right! He was beaten into pieces on the field, and he's still such a nemesis?"

"Some media just have no brains..."

That's right.

In the end, the Jamies put the blame on the media.

Isn’t God miraculous?

Are you surprised?

They don't have the capital to face the problem head on.

In fact, it is very simple to refute or overturn.

That's one win.

However, there are also many Cleveland fans who criticize James.

"I'm so speechless. This season is over. Let's rebuild..."

"I don't even know what James was doing at the last moment. He didn't take any responsibility at all. No wonder he always loses. See what Xue Liancheng did at the critical moment? He stood up and shot a three-pointer."

"James, are you okay? If not, just retire."

"You want to bring a championship to your hometown? You can bring something like this."

"Let's just disband on the spot. Really, it shows my heart disease..."

James, on the other hand, was even more single and skipped the post-game press conference, leaving Francois and Love to face the storm.

but.

Any breaking news has a timeliness.

As the end of the regular season approaches, the battle for playoff seats has become fierce, and media reporters and fans have turned their attention to this.

The current situation in the Eastern Conference is the most stable, and the competition for other teams' rankings is very complicated.

Ranked first is undoubtedly the Knicks, with a record of 62 wins and 12 losses.

They no longer have record pressure, and it stands to reason that they need to take a break to prepare for the playoffs.

But Xue Liancheng is still competing for MVP, so they need to have an equal record and cannot slack off.

Another point.

They also have to get used to new tactics and roles.

For example, Oladipo has changed from a pure finishing point to another initiator of offense with the ball. Oladipo needs to adapt to his new role, find his own game rhythm, and touch his teammates. Game characteristics and style.

Therefore, this requires a process and more time to get used to it.

Lopez tried his best to separate himself from Xue Liancheng and Oladipo and play at staggered times.

In other words, Lopez brings more substitutes.

This also requires an adaptation process and finding a playing rhythm that is more comfortable for you, such as reusing low-post singles skills and switching styles when partnering with Xue Liancheng.

This resulted in them being unable to arrange rest breaks.

However, the Knicks are relatively relaxed now, and they don't have the pressure of life and death or fighting for rankings.

The second one has been castrated.

After the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Knicks, their record reached 50-23, while after the Miami Heat defeated the Pelicans, their record improved to 51-22, already one game ahead of the Cavaliers.

After chasing for more than half a season, the Heat finally caught up.

It has to be said that the Heat's integration has begun to bear fruit, and the positioning of the Big Three has gradually become clearer.

Gasol is the core of the defense and plays a central role on the offensive end. He is the most important part of the Heat at the moment.

Even more important than Wade.

Because the Heat rely on defense to win, Gasol's role as the core of defense and the most trustworthy person among the three highs is undoubted.

Wade plays the role of point guard and also serves as the offensive end point.

It is the Heat's most reliable offensive scoring point at present.

But Anthony has always been outside the tactical system and has not been integrated into the offensive system at all. He is good at running, catching and shooting, pick-and-roll, screen, and coordination.

Spoelstra finally learned from the pain and let Anthony return to the singles he was familiar with.

This change has a pretty good effect.

At least Anthony is no longer confused. His offensive state and touch have returned somewhat, and he is focusing on RBI.

Provide a lot of firepower support for the Heat.

Especially when the team is in a scoring drought, Anthony can always stop the team's bleeding by relying on his back post.

This immediately brought back the Heat's weak offense, and their offensive efficiency has reached the middle level of the league.

and so.

Anthony's positioning is also very clear.

Just score.

Besides scoring, scoring.

The three of them each perform their own duties, and when combined with Ibaka, Porgyzins, Hardaway Jr., Richardson, Winslow and others, the strength they display is already very powerful.

The third is the knight.

James was scolded badly, which had a lot to do with their fall to third position.

After all, second and third place are completely different in the playoffs. If they both make it to the second round, they will definitely meet.

Once they meet, the second team will have home field advantage.

When the strength is almost the same, the home field advantage is too important.

The atmosphere allows them to build their own state and have psychological advantages.

The home whistle can actually gain benefits for them.

Therefore, the Cavaliers dropped to third place, which made Cleveland fans anxious.

Fourth is the Toronto Raptors, with a current record of 47 wins and 25 losses, which is still some distance away from the Cavaliers.

Fortunately, there is distance, otherwise James will only be sprayed worse.

After all, if they fell to fourth place, they would have to face the Knicks led by Xue Liancheng in the second round, which would be really fatal.

The situation is ten thousand times worse than losing home field advantage.

It is truly a great blessing among misfortunes.

Here, the Cavaliers should actually thank Xue Liancheng and the Knicks.

The Raptors were on the verge of catching up, but they were double-killed by the Knicks a while ago and suddenly fell behind. Then they were not in that good shape and lost several games.

It may be related to the frustration of self-confidence.

This allowed them to put some distance between themselves and the Cavaliers and Heat.

Then the fifth position is the Boston Celtics, with a current record of 41 wins and 32 losses.

From here on, it's a break.

There is a long way to go with the fourth-placed Raptors, and it should be difficult to catch up.

The most important thing is that they were defeated by the Knicks one after another, which greatly affected their record.

Otherwise, it can still threaten Toronto a little bit.

For now, there is basically no hope for the top half.

This leads to another question.

If you rank fifth, you can avoid the three seeded players competing for the championship. This position is definitely a hot spot for the teams in the bottom half.

Or to put it more bluntly, the team ranked fifth is the easiest position to advance to the next round.

That's right!

There is more hope than against the Knicks, Heat, and Cavaliers. so.

The Celtics were under a lot of pressure because they were chasing so closely.

Sixth is the Atlanta Hawks, with a record of 41 wins and 33 losses.

They were unstoppable at the start of the season, and for a while they were number one and far ahead, but as they entered the middle of the season, they began to show signs of weakness.

Now at the end of the season, it is even more desperate and has dropped to sixth place.

but.

They are only half a game away from the fifth-place Celtics.

If they want to reach the second round of the playoffs, they have to fight tooth and nail for this spot.

of course.

There is another factor. If you don't work hard, you may fall to seventh place.

Because the seventh-place Charlotte Hornets have a record of 40 wins and 33 losses, which is only half a game behind the Hawks.

And they are also victims of being tortured by the Knicks. They have played three games with the Knicks so far this season. They only won one game at the start of the game when the Knicks were not getting along well.

Lost the other two games...

Otherwise, they might not only be ranked seventh.

Fortunately, their seventh position is quite secure and they won't be caught up for a while.

Or to be more precise, with 9 games left in the regular season, as long as they don't commit suicide, they won't be caught up by the teams behind them.

After all, there is a difference of three or four wins...

But unfortunately, their remaining games include a game against the Knicks.

This means that they basically have no advantage in competing for fifth place in the Eastern Conference, and the schedule is the most difficult.

Ranked eighth is the Indiana Pacers, with a record of 37 wins and 35 losses.

In the recent period, their situation has not been very good, they have lost many games and their decline has been serious.

But it's not easy for George to bring the team to this position.

After all, the competition in the Eastern Conference is too fierce.

Last season's two playoff powerhouses, the Bulls and Wizards, are gone. You can imagine how terrifying the overall strength of the Eastern Conference is this season.

But they are not entitled to take it lightly.

Because in the remaining ten games, the Pacers will play two games with the Knicks.

This is simply a disaster and can be called a devil's schedule!

If they were not careful, they might fall off the high-speed train of the playoffs.

As a result, we met the Knicks twice at the end of the season, and it really rained all night.

Now they can only hope that the Knicks will take a rest.

Or to be more precise, they hoped that Xue Liancheng, the son of Indiana, would show mercy and let them live.

Otherwise, their playoff spot will be in jeopardy.

Ranked ninth is the Detroit Pistons, with a record of 37 wins and 37 losses, only one win away from the Pacers.

Hope is just around the corner.

but……

Although they have no game against the Knicks, their schedule is equally tough. There are eight games left, five of which are playoff-level teams.

It's not that simple to compete for the last playoff ticket.

After the Chicago Bulls lost to the Magic today, their record fell to 35 wins and 38 losses. They were in the top ten and were already far away from the playoffs.

Ok……

In other words, it's gone.

The most important thing is that being defeated by the Knicks two consecutive times was too demoralizing, causing them to suddenly fall from being a strong contender for the playoffs to the tenth position.

Now losing to the Magic is simply adding insult to injury.

This three-game losing streak is too hurtful.

They are still two and a half games away from the eighth-placed Pacers. With only 9 games left, it is quite difficult!

Are you talking about the death penalty?

It's not that serious.

But basically you act based on other people’s faces.

At the same time, you still need to live up to your own expectations and fight for the rest of the game to win.

Only in this way can there be a glimmer of hope.

As a strong player in the top half of the Eastern Conference last season and a second-round player, with little personnel changes this season, they didn't even cross the threshold of the playoffs and were only ranked tenth, which is really embarrassing.

It can be seen from this that the importance of Xibodu also reflects Xibodu's ability.

Thibodeau's defensive system was downplayed, and they gradually went from strength to collapse.

Eleventh is the Washington Wizards, with a record of 34 wins and 38 losses.

Last season, they were sixth in the Eastern Conference and once competed for the top half. This season, they dropped directly to 11th. It is simply unbelievable.

You know, there won't be much changes in their personnel this season.

Wall had the best season of his career, and Bill continued to improve. As a result, he couldn't even see the playoff threshold.

They are in a worse situation than the Bulls, because they are still half a game behind the Bulls, and three games behind the eighth-place Pacers.

With 10 games left, it would be extremely difficult to surpass the Bulls, Pistons, and Pacers to grab the last ticket to the playoffs!

You have to hope that the teams in front of you don't perform well, and you have to continue to win in order to have hope.

But is this possible?

You have one or two competitors, and they may take advantage of the chaos, but you have three!

The probability of all three not performing well is very low.

So it's really difficult for the Wizards this season.

but……

There is still hope. After all, there are many examples of buzzer-beating admissions, and they are only half a game behind the Bulls.

Coupled with the difficult schedules of the Pacers and Pistons, they have a chance to overtake in corners.

It just depends on whether their driving speed is fast...

The remaining Magic and Bucks have reached a record of 28 wins and 45 losses. This season is basically goodbye.

In George's words, he has already decided where to go fishing.

There are currently three things to watch in the East.

The first one is whether the Raptors can come from behind and squeeze out the Cavaliers and even the Heat. In this case, they will directly hit the main artery of the Eastern Conference and all rankings will be messed up.

Liang Jian's famous saying can be summed up: the whole northwestern Shanxi is in chaos.

The second thing to watch is who among the three teams of the Celtics, Hawks, and Hornets can lock in the fifth position.

After all, if you encounter three seeded players, you will definitely have a narrow escape.

Only the Raptors look promising.

So their battle will definitely be fierce.

The third highlight is the Pacers, Pistons, Bulls, and Wizards competing for the last playoff ticket.

The level of competition is still very fierce.

There is hope for everyone.

But there is only one ticket, and it can be said that there are thousands of troops crossing the single-plank bridge.

The situation in the east is so complicated.

The situation in the west is relatively clear.

But there are also wonderful places.

The Warriors and Spurs are basically locked in first and second place.

The Thunder are also firmly in the third place, and no one else can take it away. They can't surpass the two previous king teams.

The fourth-ranked Clippers are also very stable. They can't compete with the Thunder, and those behind them can't catch up with them.

Then starting from fifth place, it became exciting.

The fifth-place Memphis Grizzlies have 38 wins and 35 losses.

The sixth Portland Trail Blazers have 37 wins and 37 losses.

The seventh Houston Rockets have 36 wins and 37 losses.

The eighth Dallas Mavericks have 35 wins and 37 losses.

The ninth Utah Jazz have 35 wins and 38 losses.

From the ninth-place Jazz to the fifth-place Grizzlies, there is only three wins.

That's right.

Just three wins, which is the same distance between the Eastern Wizards and the Pacers.

The only difference is that they have five teams competing for four playoff spots, while the Eastern Conference has four teams competing for one playoff ticket. The pressure they face is completely different.

The Jazz have the lowest starting point, but they still hope to compete in the playoffs as fifth.

Whoever is eighth in the Eastern Conference is basically participating in the playoffs, because the competitive ability shown by the Knicks this season is the strongest in the Eastern Conference.

It gives people the feeling that you simply can't compete.

Therefore, the current situation in the West is relatively easy.

But the card position battle is still very interesting.

Everyone may not make it to the playoffs. As for who is the lucky one, the situation is still unclear.

But in terms of schedule difficulty, the Grizzlies are the worst, followed by the Houston Rockets, then the Mavericks, and then the Jazz.

The easiest one is the Trail Blazers, who have only two playoff-level teams in their remaining games.

Therefore, the Trail Blazers have the greatest chance of getting a ticket to the playoffs.

The most difficult one is the grizzly bear, with six in total, it is simply hellish difficulty.

(End of this chapter)