29-point defeat, 26-point defeat! Beware of playing with fire! Congratulations to the Clippers for the deformed NBA team

This season's NBA regular season, unconsciously more than halfway through, after the All-Star Weekend, championship-level teams will begin to sprint at full strength, and the bad teams will also start to give the core a holiday, completely entering a polarized state. The overall situation in the West is actually relatively clear, the Timberwolves + Clippers + Thunder + Nuggets four teams, the gap is within 1 game, no one can afford to lose, and the probability of these four teams locking the top four is more than 90%, and the Suns behind them are more than 5 wins behind, which is really difficult to chase. But these four teams are in different situations. On the Clippers' side, they have won 32 of the past 41 games, and Tyronn Lue has given a death order that the team must ensure that the first two rounds of the playoffs have home-court advantage, that is, the guarantee must be in the top two in the West! Therefore, Harden + Leonard + George will not be easily suspended, but it is still easier to control their playing time within 35 minutes.

The biggest advantage of the Thunder team is talent, with a strong impact and a very high shooting rate, but the flaw is that the interior line is very poor, the frame is not good, the positional battle has no advantage, and playing the playoffs is destined to pay tuition. The Timberwolves are the first in the league in defense, and Edwards has already carried the team, plus the interior twin tower combination, their only shortcoming is that the offense is very unstable, and the team still lacks endpoints. And it is very interesting that the NBA official has put the Clippers first in the past two updated NBA official power rankings, which is the greatest recognition of Harden and Leonard, followed by the Celtics, after all, the first record in the league. But the third place belongs to the defending champion Nuggets. 29-point defeat, 26-point defeat! Beware of playing with fire and self-immolation! The NBA's most deformed team, this time I really want to congratulate the Clippers.

Let's start with two sets of data. The Nuggets are only 8-8 this season against teams in the top eight in the West, and the overall net difference is still a loss. In addition, like the 76ers in the East, they have a terrible high net against teams with a win rate of less than 50%, but against teams with a win rate of more than 50%, the Nuggets have a negative net score. Let's start with two small examples. In the game against the Thunder at the end of December, the Nuggets suffered a 26-point defeat at their home court, in fact, the Nuggets had a chance to top the West in that game, but the team was inexplicably spent. The Nuggets recently played the Kings, and they had a chance to top the top of the West, but they lost by 29 points away from home! Except for Jokic's 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, which is normal, everyone else is collectively dumb! We can simply understand that coach Malone does not want to be the first in the West.

In fact, when the Nuggets lost to the Timberwolves by 22 points at the beginning of the season, the tone was already set: The Nuggets only have five starters available, and there is no hope of a substitute! I will list a set of data, and the cumulative winning contributions of players in all teams in the league this season are simply understood as if a certain player is missing, the team will lose a few more games. Jokic's win value is +11.2, Murray is +4.9, Porter is +5.3, Pope is +3.4, Gordon is +4.5, adding up to about 30 wins, and the Nuggets bench, Watson is +1.8, cumulative is +1.0, and everyone else, all negative!

Malone has said more than once that he will give the bench more time and patience! But do you really want to count on Reggie, Jordan Jr., Strausser and others in the playoffs? The Nuggets' starting five-man group can be said to be the most balanced offensive and defensive combination in the league, especially in the playoffs. However, last season's bench also had Jeff Green and Bruce Brown, at least a few minutes of rest for Jokic, Murray and Porter. The Nuggets have had the opportunity to reach the top of the West more than once this season, but they have been "missed" by their active fiasco. Malone doesn't care about regular season results, and Jokic doesn't care about personal accolades.

But from another point of view, in the face of the embarrassing games of 8-8 in the first eight hours of the West, including the crushing defeat to the Thunder, the fiasco, the Timberwolves, and the complete defeat to the Clippers, will the Nuggets definitely be able to beat their opponents in the playoffs? Summarize two points: First, the situation in the West this season, Malone cannot calculate the rankings and playoff opponents like he has done in the past few years, and if he doesn't do well, he will play with fire, and he must do his best. Secondly, it is also true that the Nuggets' overall competitiveness has declined, not only because the bench is not deep enough, but their starting five have not rested much this season.

There are great health risks. In fact, looking at several competitive teams in the West, the Timberwolves and Thunder are both young troops, and the playoffs must have great ups and downs, and lack of experience is fundamental. The Suns have a big three, but only a big three, and they don't have defense. The Lakers and the Warriors, they may be able to try to compete for the play-in tournament, but the Lakers' framework has not improved much compared to last season, and the Warriors here Klay is a time bomb, and everyone has a hard time to read. In fact, the biggest opponent of the Clippers is the Nuggets, but the Nuggets are not as strong as they imagined. As long as the Clippers stay healthy, it won't be too difficult for them to break out of the West, and they are looking forward to winning the trophy by mid-June.