Original title: Are the Golden State Warriors the most surprising team in the playoffs?
In fact, frankly speaking, I personally am not too impressed with this play-off format this season. It is unfair for teams that were close to the threshold in the playoffs to work hard all season and end up letting them go home to fish just because of one or two play-offs. But that's just our personal opinion. Last season, after the impact of the pandemic, the last 22 teams in the league stood out and went to quarantine for the rematch. In such a particular situation, it is understandable that the league should give teams that really want to make the playoffs a chance. At least we saw a promising team like the Suns in the quarantine park, they played a record of eight wins in the quarantine park, and although they eventually missed the playoffs, it was precisely because they played such strong competitiveness after the resumption that they finally attracted Paul to join, which in turn gave the Suns a chance to rise this season. But this year, the league has a nearly full season of 72 regular season games, and in this case it has not experienced a suspension, so the league has given teams in the middle of the division a place to compete for a playoff spot from the playoffs, which we don't think makes much sense. In previous seasons, they had 16 teams in the playoffs each year, but now they decide the final results of the seventh and eighth teams in the division in one or two games under the play-off format, which is really not fair to the teams who are already in the bottom of the playoffs. Even considering that the ninth and tenth teams in the division are even far behind the seventh and eighth teams in terms of record, the play-offs are even more difficult. For the 10th-placed teams, they almost said goodbye to the playoffs as usual, but now they are not too far away from eighth in the East, and they only need to beat two opponents of similar strength in the play-offs to erase the mistakes they made in one season this season. And if the seventh and eighth teams inadvertently lose a few of these games at the end of the season, I will probably let their entire season go to waste.
This phenomenon was really difficult to accept when we first faced the strange format of the play-offs.
That's all I had in mind when I first heard about the play-off rules, and like I said, I've never been a big advocate of this format.
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But from the current situation, I am full of interest in the playoffs, and a big part of this is because Curry, who is full of firepower, brought the Golden State Warriors to the play-off competition. Even considering that they are likely to meet last season's championship team Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs, such a matchup is really exciting enough to think about. The Warriors have won seven of their last ten games, and we see too many variables. They were slaughtered by 30 points against the Lone Rangers on April 23, but today they pulled down the West's No. 116 Jazz. This huge difference of ups and downs is enough to attract the attention of the outside world, and in my opinion, they are almost the most anticipated team in the play-offs.
Although it may not be much of a win if they actually face the Lakers, we still expect the Warriors to play a beautiful play-off game or two under Curry's leadership.
We have already popularized the play-off format, and here we will briefly explain it: the top six teams in the East and West divisions will directly advance to the playoffs and divide home and away games according to their regular season record; The four teams ranked seventh to tenth will compete in two rounds of play-offs, the seventh and eighth teams will compete in the first round of the playoffs, the winner will qualify for the playoffs in seventh, and the defeated team will play the winner between the ninth and tenth teams, the winner will enter the playoffs in eighth place, and the rest of the teams will be eliminated.
To look at this year's Golden State Warriors, who finished eighth in the West after beating the Jazz in today's game, have already received a ticket to the play-offs.
If the season ends with the current ranking, the four teams that enter the playoffs are the Lakers, Warriors, Grizzlies, and Spurs, although we don't think the Warriors have much chance of winning against the Lakers, but if the Golden State Warriors can avoid the Los Angeles Lakers, they have a good chance of entering the playoffs hand in hand with the Lakers.
Curry's recent hot form is completely unstoppable, and he has re-played his all-ticket MVP level, but if we look at the teammates around Curry, the strength of this team is really not flattering.
Oubre and Wiseman have been affected by injuries, and the rest of the Green and Wiggins have a group of Developmental League players around Curry, just looking at their current roster, it is unlikely that they will win in the seven-game series of the playoffs.
Whether they face the Jazz, Suns or Clippers in the first round, although all three teams have their own problems, the Jazz have had some problems in the playoffs in recent years; The young Suns lack more game experience than Paul; The Clippers' core players still haven't proven that they can deliver consistent performances in the higher level playoffs. If the Golden State Warriors do make the playoffs, these three "problem" teams will be their potential opponents, but even so, it's hard to believe that the Warriors can pass them, and we hope that Curry's supernatural play will allow the team to win one or two difficult victories in this one, but we are not optimistic that the ultimate winner belongs to the Warriors. But for play-off opponents of their level, there's reason to believe the Warriors can strike a league-astounding performance on such an opportunity.
If it's just a tiebreaker, we believe Curry has the ability to turn the game around on his own against opponents like the Grizzlies and Spurs.
As far as the four teams currently participating in the playoffs are concerned, their team's star flavor is by no means weaker than the other teams in the playoffs, James, Davis, Curry, DeRozan, Morant, the existence of these stars dooms the Western Conference play-offs to be a fierce enough competition, to know that this is a game about the final result of the team's season, we will certainly be able to see a high-intensity, high-quality game in such a matchup.
Of course, we can't be too optimistic about the prospects of the Warriors, although Curry has gone badly in recent games, but they are likely to face the Lakers in the playoffs, which may not be an outcome that many people want to see. Even against other opponents, the difference in the strength of their respective teams is not large, and in such a tiebreaker game, the Golden State Warriors have no room for error, but they have swallowed countless defeats in the regular season this season, and such a tragic resume makes us believe that the Golden State Warriors can continue to play such a high level of time.
As we've said before, the Golden State Warriors are the most volatile team in the league, being beaten by smashed opponents on some nights and fireless in some games, even knocking out the armor of the mighty teams.
Both of these scenarios are also likely to be brought into play-off competition by the Warriors, and we have reason to believe that the supergod Curry may give us a magical show or two of top guards, but they are also likely to be defeated by their opponents in the play-offs.
Of course, no matter what the result they can get in the end, it will not have much impact on the Golden State Warriors, after all, they have not had much hope for the playoffs from the beginning of the season, and now the play-off defeat may be more of a game for them, but if they can stand out in the play-off competition, it must be another wave of offensive frenzy brought by the Golden State Warriors.
We have to admit that the team's former champion demeanor makes us look forward to him.
But in any case, the result is still up to them to compete hard, and in this, strength and luck coexist.