At the end of the season, the top eight in the Eastern and Western Conferences are also hotly contested.
In the East, the Cavaliers rank first in the Eastern Conference with 59 wins, followed by the Bulls with 58 wins, and the Raptors rank third in the Eastern Conference with 56 wins!
Except for the top three, there is no team in the Eastern Conference with more than 50 wins. The fourth to eighth teams are the Heat with 49 wins, the Hawks with 48 wins, the Celtics with 48 wins, and the Hornets with 48 wins. , 45-win Pacers.
Although compared to last season, the overall strength of the Eastern Conference has improved. For example, the Pacers, the team that won the last playoff spot, also had 45 wins and a record of over 50%.
Such a performance last season would have ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference!
But looking at the entire Eastern Conference, except for the Cavaliers, Bulls and Raptors, which are pretty good and can compete with the Western Conference teams, the other teams' records are somewhat dismal.
Overall, the entire alliance still has a trend of being strong in the west and weak in the east.
After all, this season in the West may be the most competitive in recent years.
In the West, the Trail Blazers lead the league with an unprecedented 75 wins, the Warriors also broke history with 73 wins, and the third-ranked Spurs also posted a regular record of 65 wins and 17 losses.
You know, 65 wins in a single season. This kind of performance can definitely win the first place in the regular season in the NBA in most years. However, this season they can only compete for third place in the Western Conference.
Then there is the fourth-place Thunder with 55 wins and 27 losses, and the fifth-place Lakers with 53 wins and 29 losses.
Except for the top five, there is no team in the Western Conference that has exceeded 50 wins. The sixth to eighth teams are the Mavericks with 44 wins, the Grizzlies with 43 wins, and the Mosaic with 42 wins.
Compared with the minimum threshold of 50 wins last season to enter the playoffs, the minimum threshold for the Western Conference playoffs this season has been lowered to 42 wins. Why can it be said to be the most intense in recent years?
In fact, the fierceness mentioned here mainly refers to the competition among the top four in the division, which has even reached an unprecedented level.
In the past, almost no one thought that any team could break the Bulls' record of 72 wins in the future. However, this season, two teams broke this great record at the same time. This is something that countless experts find incredible. matter.
Not to mention, there is still a 65-win Spurs team behind...
Yes, the difficulty of entering the playoffs in the Western Conference has indeed become lower this season, but this does not mean that the intensity of competition in the Western Conference has also decreased.
On the contrary, competition in the West has not only not declined, but has become even more inhuman!
First of all, we must understand a point. The so-called strong west and weak east means that there are more strong teams in the west and fewer strong teams in the east. It refers to the universality of the team, not the particularity!
Because the overall strength of the West is stronger than that of the East, and much stronger. Because Western Conference teams will face more Western Conference teams in the regular season, while other Western Conference teams generally only have 30 games against Eastern Conference teams in a single season, but there are as many as 52 games against Western Conference teams.
In this way, when other teams in the Western Conference often encounter the regular season's three hegemons, the Trail Blazers, Warriors, and Spurs, they basically lose more than they win. This makes them lose more this season than last season. 10 games.
Ultimately, it is inevitable that the win requirements for the Western Conference playoff threshold will be lowered.
But in fact, the competition in the entire western environment is unprecedentedly fierce!
The records of the Eastern and Western Conferences are finally determined, and the first-round matchups of the playoffs are also announced.
In the East, the Cavaliers faced the Pacers in the first round. Although the winning difference between the two teams was as high as 14 games, this did not affect the crazy popularity of this matchup.
The biggest attraction is the competition between the two current small forwards, James and George, the two stars of both sides!
Since Paul George entered the league in 2010, he has not missed the playoffs almost every year. This year's matchup will be the fourth time in his career that he and James have met in the playoffs.
Then the Bulls faced the Hornets in the first round, the Raptors faced the Celtics in the first round, and the Heat faced last season's Eastern Conference Finals powerhouse civilian Hawks in the first round.
In the West, the Trail Blazers' first-round opponent is the Mosaics. This is almost an essential classic part of the Western Conference playoffs every year.
Ahem, classic Wang Zelin beating up the little beast!
Since Wang Zelin entered the NBA, the two sides have had a lot of grievances in the regular season in the past few seasons. They even beat each other 4-0 in the playoffs. This first-round showdown will also be full of highlights.
I have to mention the Mosaic team here. In such a fiercely competitive Western Conference, they were able to get rid of Kardashian's pressing defense in time and lead the team into the playoffs. There is no doubt about Harden's personal strength!
The Warriors faced the Grizzlies in the first round. Since Curry transformed into Ku Ritian and led the Warriors battleship to officially take off, the Warriors can almost be said to have become the Grizzlies' nemesis.
The two sides fought 4 games during the regular season this season. The Warriors and Grizzlies had a record of 4:0, sweeping their opponents cleanly in the regular season.
Therefore, even in the playoffs, no one thinks that the Grizzlies will be the opponent of the Warriors.
In fact, it is not just the matchup between the Warriors and the Grizzlies, but also the matchup between the Trail Blazers and the Mosaics. These two sets of matchups are almost known as the least suspenseful matchup in the first round of the Western Conference.
The reason why it aroused heated discussion for the first time is that the Trail Blazers and Warriors are both the top three super teams in active traffic, and they have their own topicality;
Secondly, because their first-round opponents have had many grievances with them before;
Finally, before every playoff game, many fans are obsessed with black eight and black seven.
According to the setting of the fairy tale script, the Trail Blazers and Warriors are undoubtedly the ultimate bosses, so Mosaic and the Grizzlies are naturally ordinary civilian players.
The classic plot of civilians fighting against bosses has always been a beautiful fantasy in the hearts of many people.
Emmm, although the possibility of Mosaic and the Grizzlies being upset is about 0, this does not prevent them from daydreaming.
The Spurs faced off against the Mavericks in the first round. It was another grudge match full of love and hatred. The former four power forwards in the league, "Stone Buddha" Duncan and "German Tank" Nowitzki, were in a duel, and it was very likely that the two of them would The last playoff matchup of their careers was equally exciting.
This kind of sunset red matchup is definitely one to watch, and for old fans, it is as attractive as taking drugs.
With the momentum created by the league and the media, the popularity is really no less than the first-round game between the Trail Blazers and the Warriors.
The Thunder faced the Lakers in the first round, another grudge match.
It can be said that the rise of the Thunder Youth Storm led by Dewey is really inseparable from the presence of the Lakers and Kobe. The two teams have many grievances whether in the regular season or the playoffs.
(End of chapter)
