As expected, the Clippers easily defeated the Lakers and entered the Western Conference Finals in this year's playoffs.
This is almost everyone's expectation. The young Clippers are extremely strong, and the only team in the West that can stop them seems to be the Thunder.
But there were no surprises for the Clippers, but there were surprises for the Thunder. Their opponent in the first round was the young Golden State Warriors.
The Thunder played smoothly in the first two games, leading the Warriors 2:0, and looked at another series in which they easily eliminated their opponents.
As a result, in Game 3, the Thunder were strongly blocked by the Warriors at Oracle Arena and were defeated.
But it doesn't matter. It's just a loss in an away game, and the Thunder's overall strength is still superior.
But in Game 4, the Thunder suffered a fatal injury. Russell Westbrook, who had always been an iron man before, collided with Draymond Green during the game and suffered a serious knee injury.
After that, Westbrook never returned to the court. The Thunder, which lacked its core generals, completely lost its order on the court and was taken away by the Warriors' offensive wave, losing another game.
The series was tied at 2:2, and the Warriors evened the series.
After the game, Westbrook underwent an MRI examination. The result was a very serious meniscus tear and he was immediately declared reimbursed for the season.
Westbrook's reimbursement basically announced the early end of the Thunder's season.
Even if they can defeat the Warriors and reach the semifinals, they will not be able to make a further step in the playoffs without Westbrook.
And how could the young Golden State Warriors miss the opportunity to step on the Thunder's corpse and move on?
In the crucial Tianwangshan battle, the two sides contributed to an extremely exciting double overtime battle in this year's playoffs.
Damian Lillard scored 22 points and Klay Thompson scored 30 points. The two sides fought fiercely until the last minute.
Kevin Durant ran out of energy and missed a mid-range shot at the last moment. The Thunder lost 114:115, with a gap of 1 point, and lost the battle at Tianwangshan at home.
Although Durant scored 44 points in this game, without the assistance of Westbrook, the Thunder's overall strength has collapsed, and the team's morale has dropped sharply.
On the contrary, the Warriors' morale was greatly boosted. When they returned to Oakland in Game 6, the Warriors did not give the Thunder a chance. They suppressed them from start to finish 100:95 and sent the championship-favorite Thunder back to their hometown.
The Warriors reached the conference semifinals again after the Mavericks reached the semifinals in Black Eight in 2007, and successfully completed Black Seven.
Although there was an element of luck in winning this series, and the opponent lost a general, the Warriors' performance was still very exciting.
If they don't win the third game and fall behind 0:3, then the Thunder may still win the series even without Westbrook.
The Warriors seized the opportunity, and their young players showed strong combat effectiveness at critical moments. It is obvious that a new star in the league is rising.
In another first-round series, the Grizzlies faced the Spurs, which also showed people the rise of new forces.
The two sides fought seven games in the first round. The first four games were tied at 2:2. In the fifth game, the Grizzlies won Tianwangshan in San Antonio.
But the tenacious Spurs successfully dragged the series into a tiebreaker in Game 6, and the two sides had to decide the winner in San Antonio.
Just when people were generally optimistic about the Spurs playing at home, Griffin and Conley burst out with huge energy in the tiebreaker.
Griffin scored 29 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists in Game 7. Conley scored 25 points and 9 assists.
And Rudy Gay, who was once the Grizzlies' general and bounced between the Heat and Spurs, was undercover at a critical moment.
In the end, the Grizzlies won the tiebreaker 97:93 and successfully entered the second round to join the Warriors.
The second and third ranked teams in the Western Conference unexpectedly lost in the first round.
It shows that new forces have emerged from this season, and the two teams are fighting to get a place in the conference finals.
The Grizzlies have never reached the conference finals in history, and the last time the Warriors reached the conference finals was way back in 1976.
The two teams fought, and the Grizzlies had the upper hand. After all, the Grizzlies had been reorganizing since 2009 with the help of Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Conley. They already had a fairly stable lineup structure, and they had integrated several players. This season, it’s time to succeed.
In total, the Warriors have just gotten on the right track this year. They have successfully completed their task by defeating the Thunder in the first round, and they have no more ideas.
But the two sides still played extremely fiercely, and it was another tiebreaker. In the seventh game, the Grizzlies relied on their home court advantage and increased their intensity like crazy.
In the end, they had an ugly defensive battle, winning the series with a slim advantage of 2 points, 85:83, and successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals.
When the Grizzlies won the game, the entire FedEx Arena was boiling, and the Grizzlies entered the conference finals for the first time in history.
Blake Griffin burst into tears after winning the victory. Although it was not a championship, it was already a great honor for the Grizzlies to reach the conference finals.
The most important thing is that the Grizzlies' opponent in the Western Conference Finals will be the Los Angeles Clippers.
He still remembers the grudge that the Clippers betrayed by not selecting Griffin with the No. 1 pick. He has never forgotten it for a moment.
It was precisely because of this humiliating experience that Griffin settled down after entering the league and focused on honing his skills.
Memphis is far less noisy than Los Angeles. The fans here are simple and loyal. Together with DeAndre Jordan, who is also from the Clippers, he can concentrate on improving himself.
General manager Wallace also built the team around Griffin as the core and gave full play to Griffin's versatility.
In the first two rounds of the series, Griffin averaged 22 points, 10 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, which is quite an all-round performance.
At the same time, the Grizzlies' key to victory is their defense. So far, they are the team that concedes the fewest points per game.
They have DeAndre Jordan at the center position, and Conley, Tony Allen, and Tayshaun Prince in the backcourt.
This is a team that plays defense to the extreme, and the burden of offense mainly falls on Griffin's shoulders.
Griffin's broad shoulders carried everything, and he became the most popular sports star in Memphis.
The Grizzlies' attendance has reached new highs year after year because of Griffin's arrival. He single-handedly saved the Memphis market.
Now, he finally led the Grizzlies to a breakthrough and reached the conference finals to face the enemy Clippers.
After the whole team arrived in Los Angeles and the Grizzlies were conducting venue acclimatization training, Griffin said: "I think we will definitely take away a victory in Los Angeles and then return to Memphis."
Not many players dare to boast like this before the game. Griffin dares to say this. On the one hand, it shows that he has strong self-confidence. On the other hand, he has never let go of his grudge against the Clippers.
Of course, the sports media will not miss this opportunity for hype, and the attention of this series is also full.
Everyone's eyes are fixed on the Western Conference Finals to see how these two new forces will fight to the death.
At the same time, the Eastern Conference playoffs on the other side are a bit boring in comparison.
Starting from the 11th season, for three consecutive years, the Heat and Cavaliers met in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The last time these two teams met in the conference finals for three consecutive years was back in 1980.
In 80, 81, and 82, for three consecutive years, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics met in the Eastern Conference finals.
Philadelphia had 2 wins and 1 loss, but entered the Finals without winning a single championship, losing all to the Lakers.
The Celtics, on the other hand, won the championship against the Rockets when Bird won the championship.
Now the Heat and Cavaliers have become the Eastern Conference duo.
The Heat were eliminated by the Cavaliers for two consecutive years.
This year they formed the Galaxy Battleship and are bound to reach the finals and win the championship.
In the first two rounds, both teams went smoothly and encountered almost no decent resistance.
The Bulls, Pacers, Celtics, Knicks and other teams are unable to pose a decent threat to the two teams.
The only team that played well was the Nets, who took two wins from the Cavaliers in the semifinals.
But that's all. The Cavaliers still entered the Eastern Conference finals without any danger, and once again competed with the Heat.
However, it can be seen that after the Cavaliers underwent transformation, they regained their vitality in the regular season, but in the playoffs, they were somewhat uncomfortable with the high-intensity competition in the Eastern Conference.
Especially for James, Steve Kerr asked him to play the fourth position during the regular season, giving him the ball rights, leaving more to Irving, Green and others to dominate the offense.
He originally performed well, but in the playoffs, he gradually showed his true colors and returned to his familiar outside ball-controlling style at the third position.
There is no way, as the intensity of the game increases, players will still use the style of play they are best at and most accustomed to.
Cole had no choice but to hand the ball back to James after a team meeting.
In this way, the Cavaliers successfully passed the first round and defeated the Nets, and then simply defeated the Knicks in the semifinals.
Although the Cavaliers reached the Eastern Conference Finals, the bad news is that Steve Kerr's control of the team is declining.
Originally, he and James cooperated well, and with Min Congda suppressing him from behind, James worked hard to improve his forward organization at the fourth position.
It's a pity that some things really can't be changed. After persisting for most of the season, James couldn't help it in the playoffs.
Because the organization forward is so big, the defensive pressure is too great, and the offensive statistics are not good. The core position of the team feels like it is shifting towards Irving.
Irving's core role in tactics is becoming more and more obvious, and James feels like he is becoming a tool man.
Of course, James cannot allow this, and he doesn't care what Min Congda says or what the Cavaliers' record is like.
Anyway, he still has to play with the ball and control the game in the usual way. Didn't he successfully reach the Eastern Conference finals?
In terms of ability, James is indeed very strong, can bring the team to a good height, and his ability to abuse is top-notch.
However, Steve Kerr felt a little frustrated, because according to James's style of play, it is likely that he will not be able to pass the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals.
Even if you can beat the Heat, do you think you can beat the current Clippers?
Cole knew that it was time to find a way out for himself.
(End of chapter)
