The playoffs are over, and the playoffs begin. Although 2 more teams are out today, there are still 16 teams here, competing for the 2022 championship. Tomorrow at 1 a.m., the 75th season in NBA history will enter its climax. In this season, which is probably one of the most championship contenders in history, we can see more exciting star performances, more magnificent city heroes, more moving stories, more intense duels in the first round of 8 series, and in the first round of 8 series, we will also make predictions - predictions themselves are meaningless, but if this gives you a preliminary idea of the strengths and weaknesses of each series, our purpose will be achieved.
Sun vs Pelicans
4 to 1
After reversing the Clippers in the fourth quarter this morning, the Pelicans, who started the season with 1 win and 12 losses, magically advanced into the playoffs. Waiting for Willie Green in the First place in the West is his mentor Monty Williams and the Phoenix Suns, who served as an assistant coach last season.
Judging from the regular season record, the Suns won 3 wins and 1 loss against the Pelicans, winning more than double digits in all three games, and the only loss Paul did not play. Rookie Herb Jones is a very good outside defender, but whether he's against Paul or Booker, there's another point that the Pelicans can't handle. The Suns will repeatedly torture Valanciunas with Paul or Booker's blocking offense, and Green may have to cut back on his playing time in this series and use Larry Nance Jr., who did well today, but the Suns are not the Clippers, and if you play against the Suns with a small lineup, Ayton will be another problem for the Pelicans. If certain games hit key moments, the Suns are the most efficient, experienced, and trusted team in the league at key moments, and the Pelicans have three rookies in the rotation, Alvarado, Jones and Trey Murphy III. The young Pelicans will inevitably pay some tuition to the Sun Teacher.
From the star's point of view, with C.J. McCollum's physique and playing style, it is difficult for him to take advantage of the sun, and the Pelicans still have to pin their hopes on Ingram. The Los Angeles outcast has become a rising star in the league after personally sending off the Lakers and Clippers. He'll have to figure out how to contribute to the Suns' elite flanking defense, and while it's hard to bridge the natural divide between a 36-win team and a 64-win team, it at least puts a satisfying end to the Pelicans' grand story this season.
Grizzlies vs Timberwolves
4 to 1
It's a showdown between two emerging teams in the league, who are equally young and fast. Neither Jay Morant nor Anthony Edwards, when they're on the pitch shouting for a nice dunk, they don't care about the disgruntled eyes of others – and given that, the series is hard to watch.
It's also a showdown between two small market teams. They've all done tough rebuilds through drafts, trades, and leaks, and it's time to test their rebuilding results. For the Timberwolves, being able to hit the current position is a complete task. What they should do is let go of their baggage and have a good experience of this series. The Grizzlies' excellent scrambling ability will give them a head start in this series. Their league-first frontcourt rebounds, steals, fast-break scores and blocks will make the Timberwolves overwhelmed. Given Jaren Jackson Jr.'s terrifying efficiency in guarding the basket, if Towns can't pull him out and fix it, the game will be completely controlled by the Grizzlies.
In the first six years of his career, Towns has played only one series, averaging just 15.2 points per game, underperforming both offensively and defensively. That bad feeling seemed to come back to him in Wednesday's play-off against the Clippers, and if you want to recall his wonderful performances in this game, you can only think of him complaining to the referee. If he can't play the best playoff performance of his career against Adams and Jalen Jackson Jr., edwards and Russell alone, the Timberwolves will have a hard time continuing the suspense of this series.
Warriors vs Nuggets
4 to 2
In the regular season, the Nuggets led the Warriors 3-1, but the Warriors did not have Draymond Green in those four games, and considering that Green is likely to be responsible for defending Jokic for most of the series, the regular season head-to-head record is actually of little significance to guide the series.
Curry has announced he will play in the playoffs in the opening game, and his form will determine the direction of the series. As the league's best-known giant killer, Jokic will be repeatedly trained in defensive blocks as long as he maintains the average offensive level in the regular season. And Green is back, which also means that the idea of pinching Curry to force him to play the ball will also be severely tested. Given the toughness of the roster, the Nuggets are unlikely to be all-encompassing on the defensive end, and Coach Malone is likely to gamble on putting one head off, depending on whether he wants to test Curry, who has just returned from injury, or the Warriors' flanking shooters.
Even if Curry doesn't play well, the Warriors are still likely to win in this series. Klay and Poole are also tough points for the Nuggets' guard group to handle. And this season the Warriors' defensive efficiency is second in the league, and they can constantly give Jokic problems with new defenders and defensive strategies. And while Jokic is a tough point for the Warriors to deal with, his problem-solving helpers are stretched thin — in terms of recovery, Murray and Porter Jr. still have a theoretical possibility of returning in the playoffs, but the Nuggets are cautious about it. Only the strong play of Hyland and Cousins at the end of the season can continue into the playoffs or denver's shooters are extraordinary, and the Nuggets, who are short of major generals, are likely to survive a few more games in this series.
Lone Ranger vs Jazz
4 to 3
A cold adversity: If NBA games only play three quarters, the Jazz will be the best team in the league this season.
Why did the Jazz always get flipped in the fourth quarter? To answer this question, we can look at what kind of situation the alliance has evolved today. After losing the series last year after being trained by Mann in the playoffs last year, teams across the NBA have now learned how to deal with Gobert during the most critical time of the game: playing small lineups, no one in the Jazz will give the ball to Gobert anyway, even if he has stuck the opponent's small defender under the basket for three seconds. I don't know what Coach Quinn Schneider has set up for this, but in terms of regular season game content, it's hard to believe the Jazz can suddenly solve this problem in the playoffs.
Dallas certainly has sufficient personnel reserves to execute this strategy. If they line up The squad of Brunson, Dinwiddie, Doncic, Dorian Finney-Smith and Bertans, who should Gobert defend? If he's pulled away from the basket, can he still provide good rebounding and basket protection? Instead, Dallas played a very high level of defense in the regular season, and if both sides are healthy, the odds of the Lone Ranger winning this series are very high. But now, that's one of the hardest to predict series, all stemming from Doncic's currently uncertain injury situation. If Doncic comes back alive, even if the Lone Ranger comes up and loses two home games, there is still hope of a turnover; if Doncic falters, the Jazz will easily accept the series victory.
Heat vs Eagles
4 to 1
When the Hawks beat the Cavaliers with Trae Young's 38-point, nine-assist performance, the Heat could be just as happy as they were. Compared to the Three-Tower Knight after Allen's comeback, the Eagles are undoubtedly the opponents that the Heat want to meet more. Judging from the regular season record, the Heat won 3 and lost 1 against the Hawks, and the only game they lost only lost by 2 points.
In terms of lineup, the Cavaliers still have a physical advantage against the Heat, but the Hawks are likely to be the hardest to play the Heat in the top ten teams in the East: Most of the Hawks' offense is initiated by Trae Young's blocking, and the Heat have one of the league's strongest interior liners, Bam Adebayo; the Eagles' shooter group is the key to their recovery in the second half of the regular season, and the Heat happen to be one of the best three-point defense teams in the league; the Hawks lack elite wing defenders, Jimmy Butler and Taylor Gray. Hiro could have done whatever he wanted in some of the series.
The series could have been more suspenseful if John Collins could still play, but after even Clint Capela left the game injured this morning, it's hard to imagine how a team starting from Okongu would beat the First place in the East. The Hawks need to play a perfect game while expecting the Heat to make mistakes in order to avoid being swept away. The Heat only need to play at a normal level and suppress the Eagles' shooters to win this series with ease — it's hard for the Hawks to win two games in this series just by relying on Trae Young's mismatch to single out Adebayor.
Celtic vs Nets
4 to 3
A year ago, the Boston Celtics also played against the Brooklyn Nets in the first round. At that time, the Nets were second in the East, and the Celtics were seventh in the East, and the Nets played the all-time offensive efficiency of the playoffs, scoring the Celtics in 5 games, and the only game the Celtics won, Tatum scored 50 points.
Today, as in both eastern positions, the situation has completely reversed. The key point of this reversal occurred on the day of the trade deadline, when the Nets lost Harden and got Curry Jr., Drummond Jr. and Ben Simmons, who has not played so far. With the big three duo of Durant, Harden and Irving crowned the "shortest life" fix, the Nets' strength plummeted, and Irving's home ban did not change this fact. Nash's personnel scheduling, the team's lineup hard injuries and no small injury hazards, in the eyes of most scouts and coaches, all of this may put them at a disadvantage in the confrontation with the Celtics, and can only rely on the star's personal flash to fight back.
Of course, the playoffs have always been games that belong to superstars. Against most teams, Udoka's tailor-made change system for the Celtics has been excellent, but given that the Nets have the NBA's top singles resources and the Celtics have lost key basket protector Robert Williams, this defensive line of thinking is likely to be in trouble at the beginning of the series. But the series is 4-win in 7 games, each with 48 minutes to play, and Durant and Irving may rely on individual ability to win some goals, but Boston has home advantage and has better team depth and chemistry. As long as they don't panic because of the loss, as the series deepens and the nets' star players decline physically, they will eventually regain the dominance of this series. But again, it won't be a good series, and even if the Celtics can win, they will probably suffer huge losses, laying the groundwork for the next round of their series against the Bucks.
As for the news that "Ben Simmons may return in the series G4 to G6" that broke out yesterday, I suggest that you still take a look. First of all, he may not actually make a comeback as promised, and second, even if he does, an athlete who has never played a tough game in the playoffs and has not played a formal game in a year is by no means the savior of the Nets, and looking back, the Nets have lost their championship hopes in the February deal.
Bucks vs Bulls
4 to 1
At the start of the season, the Bulls were at the top of the season, topping the top spot in the East, but at the end of the season, you look back at the entire season, and in the 15 regular season games against the final top four in the East, the Bulls had a record of 1 win and 14 losses — the only win was the Celtics who had not yet formed at the beginning of the season.
You should realize that even with their personnel, the Bulls are not a team with enough explosive power to beat a strong opponent, not to mention that they are now short of major generals: Ball has been reimbursed for the season, and LaVine has been plagued by injuries at the end of the season. With the Team's frontcourt depth in front of the Bucks in a mess, it's hard to expect Tristan Thompson, who won the season, and Patrick Williams, who just finished injury, to defend Antetokounmpo.
Do bulls have a chance to be upset? It doesn't seem easy either. In the NBA, upsets generally come from three-pointers, and the Bucks' defense has declined this season, and they often lose to weak teams because of opponents' three-point rampage, but this happens to be the Bulls' weakness: the Bulls' shooters, although they have a high shooting rate, have very few shots, and their average three-point shooting per game can only rank second to the bottom of the league. Vucevic punished the Bucks with long-range shots in the playoffs two years ago, but this season he's only shot 31.4 percent from three-point range, no longer the courage he once was.
Most of the Bulls' offense is started from the mid-range by Demar DeRozan, and the Bucks' Holliday is probably the best defender of the entire NBA defense of DeRozan and mid-range scorers. DeRozan is still the king of the fourth quarter of the season, but you can hardly expect the Bulls to keep the suspense into the fourth quarter. Only if Ravin, DeRozan or Vucevic have a surprising outburst in the playoffs, and the Bucks make mistakes repeatedly in a game because of their carelessness, the Bulls have a chance to win one or two games.
76ers vs Raptors
3 to 4
In last weekend's tweet, we already explained once why the Raptors were not an easy opponent for the Philadelphia 76ers: they won 3-1 against Philadelphia this season, including two coaching games at the end of the season; their fronts have excellent size and athleticism to consume and pinch Embiid, while also blocking Harden's signature three-pointer and ball-holding breakthroughs; their front-line head-to-head style of play can just name the 76ers' outside defensive weak rings (Harden, Maxi And the 76ers' best outside defender, Sable, couldn't go to Toronto; the 76ers couldn't defend Siakam except Embiid. Today, we would like to say two more words about this.
When I watch the 76ers play against the Raptors in the final part of the regular season, I often think of the scene in Animal World where the hyenas on the African savannah chase lions. Embiid is undoubtedly the lion and the only point of strength for the 76ers. As soon as the ball hits him, the Raptors' forward group will continue to bite him, and he can only try to use his singles, fouls and pinch shots to help the team start the offense - anyway, now the explosive Harden can no longer count on.
As we all know, Embiid is not an athlete known for his physical fitness. He was always mighty at the beginning of the game, and over time, his movements would slow down and his efficiency would decline, but he couldn't rest for too long: but as soon as he played, the game would immediately get out of control, and in the game on March 21, Rivers tried to play the team's newly signed Jordan Jr., who lost 10 points to the 76ers in just 10 minutes on the court, and handed over a 0-point and 2-rebound stat sheet.
So, if Harden can't suddenly return to the top, the winner of this series will be embiid's playing time and the shooting percentage of the 76ers shooter. This makes us wonder a few questions: If the 76ers hadn't made that deal today, with Drummond and Seth Curry in the squad, would they have had so much trouble playing the Raptors? If the 76ers break the sand in the first round of this season and Harden does not perform well, will the 76ers continue to renew Harden's top salary? If the maximum salary is renewed, will this team have a future? If there is no contract extension, won't the team lose so much trading chips in vain?
Speaking of which, both the 76ers and the Nets seem to have been losers in the shook league deal during the season, so is there anyone who is the winner of the deal?