On April 16, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs entered the final stage, in an earlier game, the Hawks led the team to reverse the Cavaliers under the leadership of Trae Young, locking the eighth position in the East in advance, the Clippers finally lost to the Pelicans 101-105 at home, and finally the top eight positions in the east and west of the league were finally determined, and the Clippers regretted to be out.
For the Clippers, George triggered the health and safety agreement can not play, the impact on them is still quite large, and the whole game is a wave of three twists and turns, the two sides alternately lead, the Pelicans in the first half of the game is the dominant side, has maintained the leading advantage, but after entering the third quarter of the game, the Pelicans suddenly lost power, the Clippers played a wave of 25-2 offensive tide, successfully reversed the score, and the Pelicans never gave up, with the excellent performance of Nance and Murphy, In the end, the two sides returned to the same running line, at the critical moment Powell made two free throws and one shot, Varan slammed to lock in the win, and finally the Clippers were out early, and the Pelicans locked the last playoff spot.
In the whole game, the overall strength and staffing of the Clippers are basically on the weak side, and the reason why the Clippers are behind the Pelicans in the first half of the game is largely because the Clippers simply can't find a way to limit Ingram, especially the Clippers' inner line is more disadvantageous, neither Hatten nor Zubac can pose a threat to the Pelicans' internal line, and the Pelicans grabbed 54 rebounds and the Clippers only had 45.
After talking about the situation in the first half of the game, we must give Lu guidance some respect, whether it is his on-the-spot response ability or adjustment ability is definitely the top presence in the league, in the case of the lineup loss, Lu guidance decisively abandoned the inside line, sent five small lineups, and finally Lu guided the change of formation received a miracle effect, in the third quarter of the game, the Clippers successfully reversed the score, instantly let the Pelicans into a passive situation. So the question is, why did the Clippers eventually lose? First of all, we must admit that the Pelicans coach's response is very timely, after the removal of Varan, he gave Nance Jr. and Murphy a lot of playing time, with a small vs. little Pelicans more physical advantage, the Clippers for a long time to use a small lineup on the player's physical consumption is too large, on the other hand, the Pelicans side, the impact is full, and finally the Clippers still failed. But no one will blame the Clippers for their failure, and it can even be said that today's game showed us the resilience and depth of the Clippers, and Coach Lu almost tried his best and finally lost, there is really nothing to say.
For the Clippers, the long absence of the main players this season can still play such a performance, inseparable from the effort behind Lu's guidance, many people will feel that if George can play, the Clippers will not necessarily lose, Xiao Feng also thinks so, but Xiao Feng feels that this is of little significance, even if it is the Clippers through the playoffs. What are their chances of winning against the league's number one Suns in the first round? Sometimes Xiao Feng feels that it is not a good thing for the Clippers to leave the game early, and it is the most correct choice to enter the rest state early and wait until George and Leonard return healthy.
On the other hand, the Pelicans, although they made the playoffs, but their own problems are still many, in the face of the Challenge of the Suns, the Pelicans have almost no possibility of winning, for the Suns, maybe the Pelicans are not as good as the Clippers can pose a threat to them, of course, we must give the Pelicans enough respect, along the way, beat the Spurs, overturned the Clippers, maybe they have already proved their strength, sometimes, this season for them, has already completed their goals.
Today's topic is here, the above views are only Xiao Feng's personal views, please forgive me for the deficiencies.