The NBA regular season continues, and as the schedule deepens, the Eastern side also continues to appear on the Eastern side, which will bring changes to the pattern of the standings, earlier Embiid is determined to undergo surgery, will be expected to be absent for a long time, whether the season reimbursement is still unknown, which also makes the future of the 76ers season uncertain. The dark horse team, the Cavaliers and the Knicks' constant onslaught, the Eastern landscape has undergone new changes. The Bucks, on their side, have made their own adjustments to the team that they were far from expecting. 4 games and 3 losses! The lead was reversed, and the Celtics took advantage of the reap.
After the Bucks traded for Lillard in the offseason, it was believed that the league was about to enter the finale, and the combination of Antetokounmpo and Lillard would directly lead to them becoming the biggest favorites to win the championship. However, as the schedule progressed, it turned out that it was far from the case, and the Celtics' big four played well to occupy the top spot in the standings for a long time, witnessing the success of their trade. On the Bucks' side, Lillard + Brother Alphabet's run-in has not been able to enter the clear situation for a long time, which has caused their record to fluctuate, but fortunately, they are still at the top of the Eastern Conference standings, but their operation of changing the head coach did not expect the outside world.
The most important thing is that the head coach changed on the Bucks' side is Rivers. Since Rivers took over, the Bucks have played four games, but their final record is just 1-3. Game 1 loss to the Nuggets, Game 2 loss to the Trail Blazers. In this game against the Jazz, who were weak in the West, they scored 19 points at one point, but they collapsed directly in the third quarter and the last quarter and were reversed by the opponent, and finally lost the game 108:123, and when there were more than 30 seconds left in the game, Brother Alphabet had already left the game early.
It is said that this season, in order to get Lillard, the Bucks dismantled the team's original roster system and let go of the core defensive giants in the backcourt, and the existing combination in the backcourt is Beasley and Lillard, and their defensive efficiency has plummeted this season. Once the league's top defensive powerhouse, their defensive efficiency this season is just 116.2, which ranks 18th in the league. So far this season, they have averaged 124 points per game, ranking second in the league in offensive efficiency and third in the league with an average offensive efficiency of 120.1, but the output on the offensive end has not covered up the team's problems on the defensive end.
Originally, the chemistry between Lillard and Brother Alphabet gradually became better, and the team was able to stabilize its position and record in the standings, but their operation of changing the head coach directly caused them to shoot themselves in the foot. Rivers is the head coach of the ball without saying too much, although he has a very rich resume and has coached different teams, but he is in the lead, there are many cases of being reversed by opponents, and he is called the king of reversal by the outside world, just like this game, when the team is leading by 19 points, he was continuously impacted by the opponent, Rivers stayed on the sidelines and looked dazed, and the on-the-spot adjustment was far from achieving the effect, and finally ended in a fiasco.
In an interview after the game, Rivers' remarks also caused heated discussions. Asked what led them to use an eight-man rotation, Rivers said he probably should have let Robin Lopez play more than just four minutes. At the same time, the rotation was expanded to 9 players. Speaking about Giannis Antetokounmpo's 13 assists, Rivers said, "He should have 30 assists. He can easily assist 20 times a night. If you look at the balls he gives to his team-mates, I like the way he's playing now. "I don't know if a performance of three losses in four games will cause Rivers to go out of class at the speed of light.
Now the pattern of the East has become more confusing, the Knicks and the Cavaliers are obviously not enough superstars, the future of the 76ers is unclear, and the Bucks have become the current situation, so the biggest beneficiary is the Celtics at the top of the list, although the Celtics' current lack of offensive ability is their biggest problem, but the team's lineup configuration is far higher than these teams, then they are expected to become the last team in the East to reach the Finals stage. Which team do you think will make it out of the East this season?