4 highlights of the second half of the NBA: Can Hu Yong counterattack the boat deer Kai to meet the challenge, who will win the awards

With the end of the NBA All-Star Weekend, the NBA is about to enter the second half of the fierce battle, and the remaining regular season competition is still full of highlights. Can the Lakers and Warriors replicate the miracle of the Lakers' counterattack last season? Who will be the big dark horse between the Knicks, the Mavericks and the Cavaliers? Can the Clippers reach the top of the West? Will the Bucks fall out of the top four in the East? Can Tatum + Brown lead the Green Army to win the championship? The six major awards and the ownership of the best team such as MVP will also cause huge suspense and heated discussions.

1. Can the Lakers and Warriors, the two major traffic teams, replicate the miracle of the Lakers' counterattack last season?

Last season, the Lakers started with 2 wins and 10 losses, and there was only a 1 in 1,000 chance of advancing to the playoffs, but the Lakers, under the leadership of Zhan Mei, successfully counterattacked and advanced to the play-offs, and continued to counterattack all the way to the Western Conference finals through the play-offs, only to be swept 4-0 by the Nuggets, who eventually won the championship.

This season, the Lakers and Warriors are both struggling, both teams have fallen out of the top 10 in the West, and once hovered in the bottom four of the West for a long time. Fortunately, the Lakers and Warriors have won 6 of the last 7 games recently, and they have risen to ninth and tenth in the West respectively, and the Jazz and Rockets continue to lose, allowing the Lakers to temporarily sit in the top 10 in the West.

However, the goal of the two teams of the Lakers and Warriors is obviously not just satisfied with grabbing a playoff spot, whether they can continue to counterattack and impact the playoff spots, and even replicate the Lakers model last season, to impact higher goals is expected.

The Lakers traded away the incompatible Westbrook in the middle of last season, and the introduction of Russell became the key to boosting the team's counterattack. As for the Lakers and Warriors this season, neither the Lakers nor the Warriors made a trade change in the middle of the season, so it is worth looking forward to whether they can create a "Northern Expedition" counterattack miracle.

2. The Knicks Mavericks trade upgrade + the Cavaliers are in hot condition, can they become dark horses?

The Knicks and Mavericks have been upgraded to varying degrees through trades this season. The Knicks have successively introduced players such as Anunoby, Bojan and Burks, and their record has improved for a while. It's just that the recent injury invasion has led to a four-game losing streak, especially due to Randle's injury, but the current record is still fourth in the East.

The Mavericks have introduced Gafford, Washington and other ways to improve their offensive and defensive strength, and have now played a wave of 6 consecutive wins to rank seventh in the West, and are only 1 win away from the Pelicans who are sixth in the West, and are expected to hit the playoffs.

As for the Cavaliers' recent 10 wins in 11 games, they have been in hot form all the way to the second place in the East, becoming a big dark horse team in the East.

The Knicks, Mavericks and Cavaliers are the three teams, who will be the dark horse team in the second half of the season to continue the counterattack, and whether they can go far enough in the playoffs.

3. Can the Clippers reach the top of the West? Will the Bucks fall out of the top four?

The Clippers were never able to break out of the West in the Capepper era, until this season they traded for Harden to form a Big Four lineup of "Little Card + George + Harden + Wei Shao", plus the team also has role players such as Zubac, Powell, Mann, etc., so that the Clippers can counterattack all the way to the "Northern Expedition". Considering that the gap between the top four in the West is extremely weak, the Timberwolves, Thunder, Clippers and Nuggets are all expected to reach the top of the West, and whether the Clippers can finally sit on the throne of the first place in the West is worth paying attention to.

When the Bucks finished second in the East, they fired rookie coach Griffin and hired TRivers 2008 championship coach in favor of Rivers as coach. It's just that Rivers coached the Bucks in the first 10 games, with a poor record of only 3 wins and 7 losses, and the Bucks have now slipped to 35-21, being overtaken by the Cavaliers and falling to third in the East, and leading the Knicks and 76ers behind them by only 1.5 wins and 2 wins respectively. If the Bucks continue to perform in such a slump, they will likely fall out of the top four in the East and thus enter the bottom half of the East. Of course, the good news is that the 76ers' core Embiid is injured, which has caused the 76ers' recent record to continue to decline.

Of course, the Celtics, who have consistently led the league this season, are currently at the top of the league at 43-12 and have a good chance of winning the regular season. It's just that Tatum and Jaylen Brown have led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference finals many times, and they also advanced to the Finals in 2022. However, the "double J" combination has never been able to lead the team to win the championship, and the team's combat effectiveness has been further upgraded after the introduction of Porzingis and Holiday this season, and the key to whether the Big Four can lead the Green Army to win the championship is likely to depend on the performance of Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

4. The major awards of the season belong to whom, DPOY and other awards will be awarded in the end? Embiid will not be eligible for the award if he does not meet the standard

MVP candidates: Jokic, Alexander, Antetokounmpo, Doncic, Tatum, Leonard, Sabonis Jr., etc

DPOY candidates: Gobert, Adebayo, Bushy Eyebrows, Wembanyama

Best Sixth Man Candidates: Monk, Hardaway Jr., Reed, Powell, Bogdan

Most Improved Player candidates: Haliburton, Maxey, Shin Kyung, Scottie Barnes, Koby White

Rookie of the Year candidates: Wembanyama, Holmgren, Henderson

Best Coach Candidates: Mazzulla (Greens), Finch (Timberwolves), Daigneault (Thunder), Bickerstaff (Cavaliers)

Best Team Predictions

For a while: Alexander, Doncic, Antetokounmpo, Jokic, Durant

Second team: Haliburton, Mitchell, Leonard, Tatum, Sabonis Jr

Three: Fox, Booker, Edwards, Bushy Eyebrows, James

(Text/Drunken Sleeping)