Zhuge Malong: It's part of the plan!

After taking Jokic, the Nuggets lost to the Pelicans by 19 points and made only four three-pointers, all from Murray. The losing process made Malone unhappy, and although it proved Jokic's indispensability from the side and added another drop of weight to the MVP battle, it also seemed to imply that the Nuggets team, from top to bottom, including him Malone himself, was just a pendant for two consecutive MVP adults. Somewhat embarrassing.

If you lose, you lose. Malone and the Nuggets obviously don't care that much about the results themselves. They have six games left, three fewer than the Grizzlies, and have a direct conversation advantage, meaning that the Nuggets only need to win three of the remaining six games, and even if the Grizzlies don't lose the next game, the Nuggets are sure to be No. 1 in the West, guaranteeing full home-court advantage in the divisional series. As for the Finals, it's still far from that, and the Nuggets are obviously concerned about the more immediate situation in the West.

Since directing the Warriors, Rockets, and Jazz — the three teams with the highest net netting in the West that season — to a big drama in a semi-district — Malone has been dubbed Zhuge the way he did. Since then, at the end of each season, the Nuggets' every move has been highly watched by fans, even if some losses may not have the heart, Zhuge is too famous, it is difficult not to count these operations on his head.

The situation in the lower half of this year's Western Conference playoffs is extremely chaotic, and several strong teams with established superstars have fallen on the edge of the playoffs for various reasons, and may become potential first- or second-round opponents for the Nuggets. If you have the opportunity to operate, it is difficult not to rule out the suspicion of Malone performance, after all, after playing the 76ers on Tuesday and Friday there are three days off, now back to back, choose the first game to play the Pelicans instead of the second game against the Suns and then take a break, which means a lot of things.

The Pelicans' subsequent schedule is, Clippers (main), Kings (main), Grizzlies (main/back-to-back), Knicks (main), Timberwolves (away), of which the Clippers and Timberwolves will definitely fight, but the Knicks' Randle injury, the Kings and the Grizzlies may not fight too hard, they were originally a relatively difficult schedule among the Western Conference playoff contenders, but after winning the Clippers and eating the benefits sent by the Blazers and Nuggets, they still saw some possibility of preserving 8. The Pelicans are currently 1 game behind the Warriors, the same as the Lakers, and directly talk to the downside. It should be said that the Pelicans do not have a competitive ranking advantage over these two teams, and the Nuggets can have an unknown effect by letting them go, or even necessarily beneficial to them.

The Nuggets also don't want the Suns to be in No. 4 in the West. The schedule after the Suns is, Nuggets (main), Thunder (away), Spurs (main), Nuggets (main), Lakers (away/back-to-back), Clippers (main), a little difficult. However, Durant has returned, and they are currently 1 game ahead of the Clippers, 2 games ahead of the Warriors, and have a record with the Warriors to tie the ranking advantage, and basically have a Clippers. There is hope that the Suns will hold 4th in the West. If the Nuggets can beat the Suns at least once in the next two meetings, the situation will tilt slightly in the direction the Nuggets like, for example, by losing the first-round home court advantage. Since the Suns lead 7th in the West, it is unlikely that they will fall into the play-off zone to become the Nuggets' first-round opponent, so the Nuggets don't have to worry about the side effects of winning the Suns. Even if they can't successfully place the Suns at No. 5 or even No. 6, if they can win the Suns, the Nuggets will build confidence in direct conversations.

The Nuggets also don't want the Warriors to come to No. 4 in the West, let alone the Suns/Warriors in the West, so that no matter what the outcome of the fight between the two of them, one will end up being a second-round opponent. The Warriors' subsequent schedule is that the Spurs (home), Nuggets (away), Thunder (main), Kings (away), Blazers (away), have a direct conversation with the Nuggets, and the Nuggets may try to suppress it. If the Warriors lose to the Nuggets, although the probability is unlikely, they still risk falling into the play-off zone. The Nuggets should not want the Warriors to win 1-1 in the playoffs, so they will face them in the first round, so they at least hope that the Warriors will keep the top 7, and the worst play-offs will start at home, and the Warriors have a super high home win rate.

Let the Pelicans and try to take down the Suns and Warriors, which is already the limit of what the Nuggets can operate. Among the remaining opponents, only the Jazz is a potential Western Conference play-off team, but the Jazz are already in a semi-abandoned state and will basically become the Lakers by then.

If the Nuggets have a proper arrangement on their own side, can other teams continue to play according to Malone's script?

The main variables are the Suns, Lakers, Timberwolves, Pelicans, and Clippers these 5 teams, and there are many direct conversations between them:

Suns schedule: Nuggets (main), Thunder (away), Spurs (main), Nuggets (main), Lakers (away/back-to-back), Clippers (main)

Clippers: Grizzlies (guest), Pelicans (away/back-to-back), Lakers (main), Blazers (main), Suns (away/back-to-back)

Timberwolves: Lakers (main), Blazers (home), Nets (away), Spurs (away), Pelicans (main/back-to-back)

Pelicans: Clippers (main), Kings (primary), Grizzlies (primary/back-to-back), Knicks (primary), Timberwolves (guest)

Lakers: Timberwolves (guest), Rockets (guest), Jazz (guest), Clippers (away/back-to-back), Suns (main), Jazz (main)

Let's assume that these teams can safely take the Welfare Bureau, then the guaranteed wins, the Suns 42 wins, the Clippers 42 wins, the Timberwolves 41 wins, the Lakers 41 wins, and the Pelicans 39 wins. It can be seen from this that the Pelicans' competitive situation is still very unfavorable, and it is not easy for the Suns and Clippers to fall out of the top eight. There are 6 matches between them, and each team can get up to 2~3 wins from direct dialogue, which has a great impact on the final standings. Since the Timberwolves have a direct conversation advantage over the Lakers, if they can win the Lakers tomorrow, they have a good chance of finishing 7th, and even have a chance to rush to 6th or even 5th, but it will be difficult to rush to 4th.

The team with the most variables is the Clippers. They have 3 games against direct rivals, with the upper part being 4th and the lower reaching the play-offs. Malone definitely wants the Clippers to be their Black Knights, take out the Lakers, the Suns, and rush to No. 4. However, there is a paradox here - the Clippers did not have George, and could they beat 5th after finishing 4th? The 5th is likely to be the Suns or Warriors.

The Lakers also have to face 3 direct opponents, and in addition to these 3, the rest are all welfare bureaus. If the Lakers had won 3 direct conversations, they would have basically won 6 and ended with 44 wins. In this case, they have hope of not playing the playoffs, because the Warriors may end with 43 or 44 wins, and they have a direct dialogue advantage with the Warriors. But if they can't win the Timberwolves tomorrow, as long as the Timberwolves don't lose to the Nets and Pelicans at the same time, their ranking can hold down the Lakers. In this case, the Lakers will almost certainly play the playoffs, because the Suns and Clippers are basically stable to the Blazers, and they only need to win one more game to suppress the Lakers.

In other words, if the Lakers don't want to play the playoffs, they'd better win them all.

Let's go back to Malone – how much does Malone want the Lakers?

Some tangled.

If the Lakers enter the playoffs without playing playoffs, it basically means that they are not in the same half as the Nuggets. But it could also mean that the Warriors go to the play-offs and have a chance to play the Warriors in the first round. Or the Clippers fall, 4 is the Suns, 5/6 is the Warriors/Lakers, which the Nuggets don't like to see.

If the Lakers end up in 7th or 8th place, they could still advance to the playoffs with a 1-1 win and play the Nuggets in the first round. If the Lakers were 9th or 10th, they might lose the playoffs, but once they win the playoffs, they would definitely play the Nuggets in the first round. Of course, if the Lakers end up in 10th, they are very likely to not make the playoffs, this premise is that in addition to the Lakers themselves are very pulled, the Thunder without SGA also needs to defeat the Pacers tomorrow at least, and then beat at least one of the Suns and Warriors, eat the Jazz benefits, and then look forward to the Grizzlies' final round, and then pray that the Timberwolves, Suns, and Clippers can beat the Lakers. There is little hope for this.

The Lakers are unlikely to fall out of the play-off zone, as long as the Jazz help to the end, the Lakers are guaranteed a 41-win base. Although they have a direct dialogue disadvantage with the Lone Ranger, the Lone Ranger wants to win 41 and win 4 of the remaining 5 games, which is a bit difficult with the Lone Ranger's recent form.

So, for Mallon, the perfect plot should be:

The Clippers overturned the Lakers and Suns all the way, and finally ranked 4th and 5th in the Suns, praying that the Clippers won the Suns in the first round of critical attacks. The Warriors and Lakers are in 6th and 7th place, it doesn't matter who comes first, the 7th one must win the playoffs at home, so that the other half of the district is he. And No. 8 became one of the Timberwolves, Pelicans, Thunder, and Lone Ranger.

Looking at it this way, Malone may want the Lakers to win, hope the Warriors win but not win too much, hope the Clippers win, and hope the Suns lose.

Ma Long said: I don't have so many bad eyes in a day, it's all you yourselves!

Who let you be like this~

You just pretend that you think so, let's have fun, okay?