The All-Star Weekend is finally over, and the second half of the NBA regular season has arrived smoothly. Since this period of time, each club has been continuously improving its record, especially those teams that are in the top eight in the East and West. In order to consolidate their record, they have taken various measures to deal with it.
The teams at the top will choose to stabilize their results at this time, while allowing their core players to rotate and rest.
Only if they are well rested can they be in better shape in the playoffs. Otherwise, if they expend too much energy in the regular season, it may be enough to tire out the core players after one round of the playoffs and even increase the risk of injury. .
As for teams at the lower end, especially teams hovering on the edge of seventh or eighth place, they have no more options.
They can only go all out and try to get the ranking first.
After Zhao Feiyang won the Rookie Game MVP and the Three-Point Shootout Contest, his status in the team rose almost linearly. Head coach Eric Spoelstra specially asked Zhao Feiyang to enter the second team and lead the second team as a core.
Ray Allen has also become his close comrade-in-arms. The two of them can be said to be one of the Miami Heat's biggest weapons, and are crucial to improving the strength of the Heat's bench.
The Heat also continued to exert strength in the second half of the season, relying on the stable output of the Big Three and the second team. By the time the regular season came to an end, the Heat had already reached the top record in the Eastern Conference.
Ranked below them are the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, and Chicago Bulls.
The Indiana Pacers have had a good start to the season. The team also has All-Star players like Paul George, as well as a group of role players like David West and Lance Stephenson.
The overall strength is strong, and it is also the strongest competitor of the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference. It can even be said that there is no one.
The Toronto Raptors are ranked third. The most anticipated of their team is undoubtedly the Raptors "Twin Stars". The combination of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry is quite exciting. .
The only regret is that their striker Rudy Gay was traded early in the season and only played 18 games before being sent to the Sacramento Kings.
Ranked fourth are the Chicago Bulls.
Originally, their lineup was not bad, and it could even be said that they had a chance to compete with the Big Three in the Eastern Conference. It is a pity that Derrick Rose, the core of the Bulls, suffered an injury again. The man nicknamed "Windy City Rose" is no longer what he used to be. He only played a dozen games this season before falling down again.
With this fall, the hopes of the Chicago Bulls were completely dashed.
Although the team has reached fourth place in the Eastern Conference, once it encounters a strong team in the playoffs, it may be difficult for this team that has lost its spiritual leader to go very far.
No matter what, these four teams are undoubtedly the most competitive teams in the Eastern Conference.
Compared with the "weak" teams in the east, the teams in the west are much more complicated.
Number one is the San Antonio Spurs.
The team led by Gregg Popovich is centered on Tony Parker and others. However, they are good at team basketball and are actually relatively balanced in all positions. They have several veteran stars and Kawhi Leonard. Such a newcomer.
Since the beginning of the season, their performance has been very good. While the team's record is outstanding, newcomers like Kawhi Leonard are gradually able to stand on their own.
This is definitely a good thing for a team that is transitioning from old to new.
Compared with other teams that focus too much on immediate and short-term interests, the Spurs' emphasis on new players is very good in the entire league. Their excellent training team allows them to always be discerning and select those outstanding players. star player.
Second in the Western Conference is the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This team is blessed by the "Thunder Young Masters". Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are the two souls of this team.
In the first two seasons, they were unstoppable and reached the finals. Unfortunately, they lost to the Miami Heat led by the Big Three.
In last year's season, they entered the playoffs with the best record and thought they could shine in the playoffs. Who would have thought that without James Harden, the Thunder's two young players almost seemed to have their arms cut off. They were eliminated by the Memphis Grizzlies in the second round.
If they hadn't struggled hard to regain a victory, I'm afraid the Thunder would have faced the fate of being swept in the second round.
After two seasons like this, both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are tired.
They have tried too many times as the stars of the Thunder, and they have continued to attract other stars to Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, the Thunder is only a small-market team. For those superstars, this place is really It's unattractive.
Without enough exposure and numerous sponsors, the Thunder are somewhat similar to the Cleveland Cavaliers except for a slightly better salary package.
As a small-market team, Cleveland might not have been able to reach the finals in a few decades if it hadn't been for the emergence of LeBron James.
Ranking third is the Los Angeles Clippers.
This team is one of the most anticipated teams in the league.
They have the league's top striker Blake Griffin, the league's top point guard Chris Paul, excellent defenders like Jamal Crawford, and inside defenders like DeAndre Jordan.
In terms of lineup configuration, the Los Angeles Clippers are no worse than any other team.
For fans in Los Angeles, such a Clippers team is much better than the Lakers. Without Kobe Bryant, the Lakers were completely disorganized. Not only were their tactics poor, but there was also a pessimistic atmosphere from top to bottom.
And their ultimate goal is to make it all the way to the playoffs and strive to reach the Western Conference Finals.
Especially for Chris Paul, the Western Conference Finals floor was the pain of his life. Every time fans thought he would be able to reach the Western Conference Finals, the end result was extremely disappointing.
The reason why he came to the Clippers to join forces with Blake Griffin and others this time was to realize his championship dream before retiring.
The fourth-ranked team in the Western Conference is the Houston Rockets.
This team is headed by James Harden, with super insiders like Dwight Howard, and strikers like Chandler Parsons.
Of course, the most eye-catching one is Jeremy Lin, who was traded by the Knicks.
After the "Linsanity" whirlwind blew across the NBA floor, Jeremy Lin finally realized his dream of becoming the main player. In this team, he became the main defender and was no longer a role player lingering on the fringes.
Although Patrick Beverley stole his starting position in the second half of the game, he is still part of the team's main lineup.
