First, those who are proud of the losers, have a clear conscience
At the final whistle, Pelicans coach Willie Green tearfully hugged Chris Paul, who finally lost to the league's No. 1 Suns at home to end the season.
In 2010-11 at the Hornets, 2012-13 at the Clippers, the two were teammates, but ten years later, the ninth-place Pelicans in the West really scared out the league's number one Suns in a cold sweat, who would have thought they could win two games for the Suns before the start of the playoffs, or even force out the fifth Game of The King Mountain?
Ingram, McCollum, Valenciens, Herbert Jones, and even "Old Six" Alvarado have all earned more respect for this series.
This Pelicans can end the season with their heads held high.
Also struggling with their necks to the last drop of blood are the Toronto Raptors.
Trailing 3-0 in their first three games, they face this season's leading scorer, MVP favourite Embiid and James Harden. But under the strategizing of head coach Nas, he had to pull two consecutive games, and even took a 103-88 fire on the road to Philadelphia.
They are no longer the championship team of 2019, and the only people who have won the championship are VanVleet, Boucher and Siakam.
The team's future depends on Scotty Barnes, who has just won the best rookie, and in this series the youngster can score 12.8 points, 9.0 boards and 4.3 assists.
"Little Pippen" can be expected in the future, although the Raptors did not complete the unprecedented three chases and four, but this season's Raptors are also full of gains.
Second, the complete losers, in addition to the Nets, but also them
Someone can leave proudly with their head held high, and someone can bow their heads and be ashamed to see people. The hardest part is undoubtedly the Brooklyn Nets.
They and the Lakers were the biggest favourites to win the championship before the start of the season, and the result was who went home to fish first.
The Lakers are slightly better off, and LeBron can fly to Dubai for a vacation after the regular season. The Nets, which squeezed into the playoffs through the playoffs, did not know whether their backs were cold after seeing the Lakers' encounter.
They are essentially the same as the Lakers, both of the two superstars masking the deformed lineup and awkward play, while having to struggle because of the third superstar's pull-over.
While the playoffs began, the Nets and their fans' confidence stemmed only from Durant and Irving's insoluble singles ability.
But against the Celtics, who also have top outside talent, Durant is missing from the unsolvable mid-range of the regular season, and Irving can score 60 points against a team like the Magic at the bottom of the East, which does not mean that he can score 30 points in front of the best defensive player Smart.
Except for the two of them, the Nets' rotation team is not worth mentioning in front of the Green Army.
Perhaps there was a fluke in the first Tatum kill, but returning home to be double-killed only proves that they are not a grade team at all with the Green Army.
Of course, there is another team that can compete with the Nets for the "most humiliating" team, and that is the Utah Jazz.
Since building on the mitchell-gobert pair of inside and outside cores, they are one of the most stable teams in the league.
In the last three seasons they have won a total of 145 games in the regular season, and only the Bucks and Suns are stronger than them.
But every year in the playoffs, they almost always end a season in a gray and slippery way.
In 2018-19, he was continuously beaten by the Rockets and Harden 4-1,
In 2020, it was overturned by the Nuggets with a 3-1 lead,
Last year, it was eliminated 4-2 by the Clippers without Leonard.
This year, they can't even beat the Lone Ranger without Doncic.
Although both sides have denied it, the contradiction between Mitchell and Gobert, the core of the inner and outer lines, is almost universally known.
As the "two hundred million tianzun" who has just renewed the big contract, the best defensive player in three years, the best center in the league, and the real cornerstone of the Jazz.
Gobert's status in the team is unbelievably humble.
In six games against the Lone Ranger, he made just 33 shots, no. 6 on the team, and even worse than blue-collar coolie Reus O'Neal, even after he grabbed 22 rebounds in the frontcourt.
The Jazz crowd seemed to really just use him as a tool that would only defend and grab rebounds, completely disregarding how much of a misalignment advantage he had under the basket against a small lineup.
So later the Lone Rangers saw this, and in the second half of Game 6 Kidd even released a super small lineup of Doncic (2m 01) - Finney Smith (2m 01) - Bullock (1m 98) - Dinwiddie (1m 96) - Bronson (1m 85).
You're not going to punish me with Gobert anyway, so I'll beat you to death with a ball, right?
The Mavericks hit the Jazz 57-43 in the second half, while Gobert only made three shots, four free throws, and scored eight points.
Sir, rebuild it.
Gobert, go to a team that really respects you.
Third, semi-final outlook - new superstars and old legends, a pot of stew
History and time are slowly taking away the energy and dominance of LeBron, Durant, and Harden, and the era with them as the protagonists is gradually moving away from us.
The only exception is Chris Paul, who at the age of 36 can still play the NBA-record single-game 14-shot shot, leading Booker to a one-game Sun pass.
The NBA playoffs are the most focused on Match Up, and the Suns almost overturned against the Pelicans because they lacked the strongest fire point, Booker, and the opposite Ingram played them very badly.
But that doesn't mean that a loner with a better record than the Pelicans can bring more trouble to the Suns.
The Sun Vs The Lone Ranger is another story.
Kidd, Paul, Doncic, the "super brains" of the three generations of the NBA, will wrestle wits in a series. Can't help but look forward to it.
The Suns completed a 3-0 sweep against the Lone Rangers in the regular season.
Because in the Lone Ranger's strongest defensive line, Bronson is as thick and hard as Paul, and the defense is not up to Holliday's level. And Doncic is not a bouncing male + long-arm monster like Ingram and Alphabet Brother. The Suns have enough forward resources (Bridges + Crowder + Cameron Johnson) to target him.
Under normal circumstances, the Sun should be able to solve within six fields, the lone ranger, the only variable is what kind of miracle Doncic's genius can bring.
In the same way, although the Celtics killed the Nets 4-0 to become the hottest team in the league at the moment, it does not mean that they can easily beat the next opponent.
Because after Durant, Tatum is about to face a younger and more powerful alphabet brother.
Compared to the Nets, the Bucks' integrity is much better. Even without Middleton, they could easily beat the Chicago Bulls.
Even the alphabet brother who averaged 28.6 points and 13.4 boards and 6.2 assists per game gave people the feeling that they were not yet fully empowered.
This is probably the most confusing showdown in the Semi-Finals of the East-West Division FOUR
The Celtics finished second in the league, first in the East and first in defensive efficiency in the regular season after 2022. Not only does Tatum average 26.9 points per game, 8.0 boards and 4.4 assists, but he is also the player who has won the most 50+ in the past two seasons, and this season's defensive end is the first in the league in the Victory Contribution Value (DWS).
The Bucks are the defending champions and have the league's most terrifying inside killer alphabet brother today. This year's regular season clearly felt like the Bucks were playing. Alphabet Brother, Holliday and Middleton have frequent rotations, and they have not played more than 70 games, but even then they still played a tie for second place in the East.
Both sides have top superstars, both are the ultimate teams, compared to the Green Army vs Nets, this is the top showdown in the East.
If the first round of the playoffs between the Warriors and nuggets is the confrontation between Curry and Jokic, the two masters of the court, and the tricks of Kerr and Malone, two excellent coaches. Then the contest between the Grizzly Bear and the Timberwolf is completely a violent fist-to-flesh fight between two hot-blooded teenagers.
In the end, the Grizzlies turned the tables again in the fourth quarter, 114-106, ending the Timberwolves' journey this season with an aggregate score of 4-2.
And they are likely to be more dangerous opponents than the sun to the Warriors.
In last season's playoff, it was the Grizzlies who killed the Warriors.
In the regular season, they came in second place in the West, stealing the Warriors' home-court advantage.
If the Warriors used the "New Death Five Small" to make fans miss the invincible memory of 2015-16 infinitely, then the more young and hot-blooded Grizzlies look at it, the more they look like the Thunder of that year.
Just as tough and brave, with an aggressive super defender (Westbrook & Morant). The inside line is piled with a group of fierce muscular men (all adams, as well as Jackson, Clark, and Tillman), and the outside brooks, Bain, Sledgehammer, Melton, and Jones are also unlimited.
They don't have durant's death, but the solid whole has worn most of the league's teams to death.
Don't look at the Grizzlies fighting with the seventh-place Timberwolves in the West, the scene is hot, all kinds of mistakes and all kinds of climaxes. But that's because the Wolf Cubs are also a bunch of hot-blooded teenagers, and neither side wants to make the game a traditional playoff soft and hard, so they play ups and downs.
But for the Warriors,
They would rather have a tit-for-tat battle with the Sun and Paul than fight with the Grizzly Bears' youngsters all the way from the "Hundred Herbs to the Sanwei Bookstore".
Green, Clay, Curry, all three of them are 98 years old.
And the Grizzlies' final five (Morant + Dillon + Bain + Clark + Jarlen) today) is only 118 years old.
The warriors can adapt to the intensity and impact rhythm of the Grizzlies will be the key to this set of duels.
The first two games that start at the Grizzlies' home arena have a good chance of determining the entire direction.
If the Warriors can control the rhythm with experience and technical advantages, block the impact of the Grizzlies teenagers, and take away at least one victory, then the series suspense will soon end.
But if the Grizzlies can hold the home court, with physical and confrontational advantages, the Warriors will enter the quagmire of 2016 against the Thunder, 2018 against the Rockets, and last season's playoffs.
Curry and Clay may not be able to stop the galloping Grizzlies.
This round of the series can't play the seventh game, and whoever masters the rhythm can solve the opponent in six games.