The Los Angeles "Fishing Squad" was finally formed, and the basketball world was suddenly much quieter.
No need to calculate the probability, no longer have to analyze the opponent, no longer have to study the schedule, the Lakers' 2021-22 season hung up in advance, and the troubles are gone.
A football team has long told us that when the sports game qualifies into the mathematical field, the probability is not played, and the Lakers once again verified that this is true.
Basketball traffic is thousands, the old Zhan Lakers account for half, when the league's most topical star and team out, what to see next?
The Lakers are gone, the Nets are still there, this team that has been equally troubled this season, failed to get a direct opportunity to reach the playoffs, but also did not fall freely like the Lakers, they locked in the playoff area, but the specific suspense remains to be solved. According to the rules of the play-offs, teams in the top half (seventh or eighth) have "two lives" and have room to lose one game, while in the second half (ninth or tenth) lose one game and they are finished.
The Nets, whether from the lineup construction or the coaching system, do not have the qualifications to become a defensive team, they are an offensive team, relying on Durant and Irving's personal talent to support the system, so that the offensive and defensive imbalance of play is not stable, but it is more likely to soar high scores. Durant and Irving are both in the top five of the singles per game this season, and both have at least twice killed 50+ in a single game, such a two-person attack data, the entire league only has the Nets.
The beauty of the Nets is that they are unpredictable, they may have a low lower limit, they may lose in the playoffs, but they may also have a very high ceiling, and rushing to the championship is not hopeless, because no one can predict what Durant and Irving will do. Plus, Simmons may not be able to play in the regular season and play-offs, but what if the playoffs come back?
The Nets, the enigmatic team, and the "enigma" itself is a traffic password.
As the league's three major traffic groups, the Warriors' situation can at least make the league breathe a sigh of relief, they have secured the playoffs, now it is up to them to see if they can hold the top three in the West, and how far they can go in the playoffs.
Entering the playoffs is to preserve the bottom line, and how high the Warriors' ceiling is in the hands of the Splash Brothers, the deeper the season, the weaker the role of the system, and the more important the star's ability to solve. Klay Thompson has been in a good position after the initial state struggle of his comeback, he has averaged 22 points per game since March, 35+ in 3 games, can not expect Thompson to fully return to the level of competition before the injury, especially defensively, but as long as his offense has about 80% of the peak combat strength, the Warriors' ultimate goal this season can be pulled up.
The Warriors can't make it, Curry has the final say. Curry ended the regular season early with a foot injury and he will return in the playoffs. Curry last played in the playoffs in 2019, when he led the Warriors to the Finals for the fifth consecutive year with an average of 28.2 points per game. After waiting for three years, Curry finally waited for the playoffs, and the recuperation in the final stages of the regular season can also be regarded as a charge, can Curry play the playoff outbreak?
The first traffic in the West is the Warriors, but the first team in the West is them? The Suns, the only 60+ wins in the league, are incredibly stable in attack and defense when they are at full strength, and their offensive and defensive efficiency are among the top five in the league, and from the perspective of team basketball, it is difficult to find their flaws.
However, the Sun's trend in the playoffs is still marked with a question mark, which is the question raised by last season's final defeat. At the level of competing for personal talent, can the sun do it? Regular season dominance is very different from playoff dominance, and the Suns don't need to prove anything in the regular season, but the playoffs are another matter.
There are two teams in the top five, one is the Suns and the other is the Grizzlies. Rebounding, steals, blocks, fast attacks and penalty area scores, the Grizzlies are all the first in the league, they have the toughest muscle confrontation, copying the old "grinding and hanging" style of play, on the basis of which Morant's superb waist drives the explosion of the visual effect.
The Grizzlies are the second youngest team in the league, and the youth army is often not optimistic in the playoffs, after all, the inexperience is insufficient, but the Grizzlies' play style is very suitable for the style of the playoffs, and Morant is not afraid of the strong fighters, they are already subversive in the regular season, will it be the same in the playoffs?
When it comes to the brutality of the ball, the Bucks are often overlooked, but they are the last thing that should be ignored. The Bucks have a low presence as defending champions, but their strength is not low-key at all. One of the bucks' strength is their defensive system, the offensive style of play has been verified by the championship, and the richness of offensive and defensive resources is impeccable, which echoes the sun thing as a whole.
Integrity is a conventional weapon for playoff clearance, but "nuclear weapons" are strong point explosions, and alphabet brothers are the bucks' most "killing" points. For players in the golden age of their careers, winning the championship is usually a bonus to open the second vein of Ren Dou, and this season's alphabet brother is like this, he is already a level that is difficult to limit single defense, which is the bottom line of the Bucks to enter the two consecutive championships.
Alphabet Brother is a symbol star of the rise of big men to change the era of small ball, and this season's MVP is highly likely to be produced between him and Jokic and Embiid, and the NBA is back in the inner world. Is it the third time alphabet brother won, is it Jokic Lianzhuang, or embiid's first coronation?
Embiid's eyes are not only the MVP, but also the scoring king. After the Lakers determine that they will not play in the playoffs, James may continue to recover from injuries and no longer play, once this is equivalent to voluntarily abandoning the scoring king battle, Embiid, who currently leads the scoring list with 30.4 points per game, is expected to become the first center player to win the scoring championship after O'Neal in the 1999-00 season.
Of course, even if James withdraws from the scoring championship battle, this season is not completely unrelated to him, and the selection of the best team still has a chance. The best lineup of the season may adopt a new model, changing the traditional one center + two forwards to three frontcourt players, which will allow Jokic and Embiid to be included in the lineup, and once so, the third place in the frontcourt will be alphabet brother, and James will definitely not play for a while (perhaps, even with the previous model, a squad is unlikely).
According to the selection criteria for center + forward to constitute the frontcourt, James also has to compete with stars such as Towns, Durant, Tatum, DeRozan (who has been on the front line in the past three seasons), Jimmy Butler (after all, the first leader in the East), etc. The second team is unstable, and the probability of the third team is greater.
So, is there another possibility that old Zhan Sanjin also...? I don't dare to say this.