Discussion and resumption|Mid-season quarterfinals prediction: The last fight of the old men or the young people are kings?

Larry Bird once said that the regular season is too long and that sometimes you need to have some fun to get the most out of your game.

So he once tried to shoot with his left hand the whole game, or compete with Danny Ainge, the team's most accurate free-throw shooter, compete for the league's No. 1 free-throw shooting percentage, and so on.

The regular season can be just too boring at times for the truly top-notch, accomplished stars.

So, this year, the league officially launched the mid-season Champions Cup, and the innovative format not only did not affect the regular season, but some fancy designs (such as the floor) were also refreshing.

The group stage competition on the last day even gave people the illusion of watching the Football World Cup, and there were many teams that needed to score small points to qualify.

In the end, except for the warriors who couldn't hold up the wall with mud and could still be turned over with a lead of 24 points, the final quarterfinals were all here.

Celtics, Bucks, Knicks, Pacers in the East,

Lakers, Suns, Pelicans, Kings in the West.

The older generation of LeBron and Durant, the Mesozoic Alphabet brother, Booker, thick eyebrows, Lillard, and the younger generation such as Zion, Edwards, Haliburton, and Fox.

Wonderful enough.

(1) Suns Vs Lakers (home team in the back)

The Lakers have won two games against the Suns this season, but the first of the two victories is missing Van Debiao, and the second time is missing Vincent + Van Debiao, which is still strong. And the Suns didn't have Booker in both games, one Durant single-tree support, one Durant + Beal.

Suffice it to say, predicting the midseason matchups between the two teams is hardly comparable to the two games in the regular season.

Because the current Suns, under the leadership of Booker, are playing a wave of seven consecutive wins, and now they have rushed to third in the West.

The Lakers have suffered a series of injury blows, Van Debiao, Vincent, Hachimura, and Reddish have fallen one after another, if it weren't for the hard support of the two big brothers Zhan Mei, maybe they wouldn't even be able to keep eighth in the West now.

Now that Durant has carried through the "Nets mode" of leading the team alone at the beginning of the season, Booker has successfully taken over, and Adu has been a spectator on the sidelines for two consecutive games and has gained a precious respite.

If Beal can also return this week, the full Suns will undoubtedly strike fear into the league.

For the Lakers to start, they have to survive the game against the Pistons, Thunder, and the Rockets at home before the start of the halfseason on December 6.

If there are no new injuries before the game against the Suns, and at the same time, Reddish, Hachimura, Vanderbilt, and Vincent can return, there may be a fight.

James and Durant, two old men, have not played each other for four consecutive years since 2018, and as a result, the league has arranged five times in the regular season this year, not counting the possible matchups in the playoffs.

It's really a new account and an old account together.

Prediction: Suns advance

(2) Knicks Vs Bucks

The Knicks, who are now fifth in the East, can be regarded as a "strong team filter", with the solid system built by Thibodeau, as well as Randle and Bronson, the two All-Star level bosses, they can now be regarded as a stable and strong team in the East.

The Bucks, on the other hand, have been one of the most inconsistent championship contenders since Lillard joined. Although 13-5 is third in the East, it really doesn't have the dominance of previous years.

But one thing to say, even if Brother Alphabet leads the team alone, there should be no problem in New York.

Prediction: Bucks win

(3) King of the Vs

The Kings did not rush into the top three in the West like last season, not because the team regressed, on the contrary, this year's team has improved in Fox and Xiaosa's independent offense and overall defense, which can only be said that the overall level and competition intensity of the West this year is too exaggerated.

Similarly, the Pelicans' recent back-to-back losses to the rebuilding Jazz have exposed their lack of playmakers, and in the absence of C.J. McCollum, they have to rely solely on the individual abilities of Zion and Ingram.

However, last week, the Pelicans killed the Kings 129-93, 117-112 in a row, and it seems that there is obvious restraint in their style of play.

Prediction: Pelicans win

(4) Celtics vs Pacers

The Pacers are the "Kings" of this season, making a name for themselves in the league with their unstoppable offense, and Haliburton is arguably one of the two most surprising guards of the new season. (The other is Maxi)

But after all, they faced the Celtics, who are now the league's No. 1 team, and the two teams met for the first time this season, and the Green Army cut the Pacers 155-104 at home, which was simply inhumane.

In other words, if even the Pacers can't get by, then the super lineup of the Celtics offseason group will simply shoot themselves to death with a piece of tofu.