Friends who often watch the NBA know that the ranking of the regular season directly determines the opponents of the playoffs, such as the first division will play with the eighth in the West, and the second in the division and the seventh in the division will play. Since the NBA increased the playoff format last season, making the divisional ranking competition at the end of the season more confusing, before the regular season will know the playoff opponent immediately after the end of the playoffs, and now it is good, but also have to wait for the playoffs to be played, the division first and division two will know who their first-round opponents in the playoffs are.
So, with the exception of division ninth and tenth, regular season seventh and eighth; even first and second teams wouldn't like the format. The top opponents like to know the opponents of the playoffs in advance, so that the coaching staff can better make targeted deployments; and the emergence of the play-off format, the first team in the West can not tell who their opponents are until two days before the playoffs, which will undoubtedly be a step behind from the tactical level.
And this season, regarding the second position in the West, both the Warriors and the Grizzlies are like needles. A set of interesting facts is that the Warriors are second in the West before the All-Star, and after the All-Star, a wave of four consecutive losses directly drops themselves to the third place in the West, sending the Grizzlies to the second place in the West; and on March 7, Beijing time, facing the Rockets, which are the first to last in the West and have lost 12 consecutive games before, the Grizzlies also lost, sending the Warriors back to second place in the West again. What is even more excessive is that the Warriors coaching staff announced that in the next game against the Nuggets, Curry, Thompson and other main players will not play, and they want to try to send the Grizzlies to the second position again. These two teams come and go, humble each other, and have to send each other to the second place in the West, what is the intention?
In addition to the first-hand disadvantages of the First and Second Western Conferences mentioned above, the most important thing is undoubtedly the opponents of the playoffs. The current 7-10 teams in the West are the Timberwolves, Clippers, Lakers and Pelicans, and if nothing else, the two teams that win the playoffs will be the Clippers and Lakers. And these two teams are exactly the last opponents any team wants to meet in the playoffs, and even the beginning of the season was once the favorite for the championship!
First of all, there is news that Clippers double stars Leonard and Paul George expect to return before the playoffs, if the brothers return to the Clippers, then the strength of the Clippers is not only the strength of the seventh in the West, that is properly the league's most terrifying offensive and defensive balance of the strong team; the other Lakers, although the regular season played a little funny, by the fans praised as "happy comedians", but the playoffs no one wants to meet James, Westbrook, Anthony, Howard these old balls led by the team, if you stay healthy, the Lakers naturally can not be underestimated, If you don't keep it, you'll be black seven or black eight.
Therefore, if the Lakers and Clippers really enter the playoffs, then the top two in the West must be heavy, so this is the reason why the Warriors and the Grizzlies do not want the top two in the West, after all, the water is too deep here, pick these two teams, it is really better to pick some Nuggets, loners slightly easier to play (note: just slightly, from the team talent is indeed not as good as the Lakers, Clippers), therefore, the Warriors fell to the third place in the West, not necessarily a good thing. （ikuet）