After the Lakers returned to their home court today and defeated the Cavaliers 116-97, their last 10 games have reached 9-1 and successfully returned to the top eight in the West, which means they have "two lives" in the play-offs.
As the regular season draws to a close, the Lakers have a strong record that will have a significant impact on the entire Western Conference map and even the playoffs, and they even have a chance to replace the Pelicans in seventh place and gain home-court advantage in the playoffs. Although the Lakers only have four games left, the Suns, who are in sixth place, are still shocked.
In view of the characteristics of the Lakers' playing style and lineup configuration, in front of them, except for the Nuggets, no matter how high the position is, they can't help but feel cold in their hearts. The Lakers went 3-1 against the Thunder, 3-1 against the Clippers and 3-2 against the Suns during the regular season.
The Lakers have shown strong stamina by controlling the nodes of the stage more precisely than last season, which is not unique among the strong teams in the West. For example, the Mavericks adjusted their lineup and style in time and won 13-2 in the last 15 games; the Warriors played a six-game winning streak before losing to the Mavericks and successfully escaped the Rockets' pursuit; the Suns went 7-2 in the last nine games in order to escape the play-in circle; and the Clippers were 5-1 in the last six games although they were sluggish for a while.
Among the several teams that have been strong on offense, the Lakers and Mavericks are the most solid, as their style of play has been stable and their defensive characteristics are prominent. The uncertainty for the Warriors outweighs those two teams as Kuminga is not back and the roster is still in turmoil.
However, with only four or five games left in the regular season, some strong teams suddenly lacked follow-up and suffered consecutive defeats, and such a low tide came at a very bad time.
For example, the Kings, which have been surpassed by the Lakers, have 6 wins and 6 losses in the last 12 games; the Pelicans, who are likely to be surpassed by the Lakers, have suffered 4 consecutive defeats at home, and have lost 1-5 in the last 6 consecutive home games; the Bucks, who have been ranked second in the East for a long time, lost to the Raptors, with 1 win and 5 losses in the last 6 games; the Cavaliers have lost Mobley and Mitchell in a row, and the lineup has gradually been consolidated recently, with 3 wins and 6 losses in the last 9 games, and the range expanded to the last 14 games is 5 wins and 9 losses, otherwise the Bucks have lost the top two rankings.
Happiness is mostly similar, but misfortune has its own misfortune. Teams like the Lakers, Mavericks and Warriors have greatly increased their defensive intensity, combined with the popular offensive and defensive transitions, to play an efficient offense. For example, the Lakers won the Cavaliers today, and a wave of 19-0 in the third quarter confirmed the victory. However, those teams that are in the trough of losing streak are either because of sudden injuries, or because they are at ease.
It's like running a 99-lap car, leading all the way is not a lead, and when you are about to sprint, suddenly the engine fails, the tires go flat, or the interval advantage is too big and the throttle is loosened.
Once the event is quickly transferred from the regular season to the playoffs, it will not be able to take the intensity it should have, and it will not be able to find the tacit understanding it once had, and it is very likely that it will be beaten down in the first round.
Injuries are a big reason for the slowdown of some strong teams, with the Pelicans being very typical.
Ingram has missed eight games in a row, the first two of which can be maintained by inertia, but the last six games have been against strong opponents, including the Thunder, Bucks, Celtics, Suns and Magic, although all at home, they have only won once against the Bucks.
In the past two years, the Pelicans have not been able to get rid of the fate of playing in the play-offs, and Zion has not missed much this year, and has reached the standard on the baseline of 65 games, who would have thought that Ingram injured his right knee and whether he could catch up with the play-offs is not easy to say. He's just starting to resume individual training, and he doesn't know how long it will be before he can play a five-on-five match, let alone make a comeback.
Without Ingram, the only main points of attack that the Pelicans can rely on are Zion and McCollum, and Big Valan has not stopped a game all season. Zion's finger was stabbed, and he thought he could take a break against the Spurs, but he didn't expect him to not play, and he didn't even play the Spurs at home.
McCallum has played a sharp increase in minutes during his last 1-5 loss, averaging 39.6 minutes in six games, and playing in the current trend, approaching 40 minutes is equivalent to about 43 minutes in the past. With this level of fatigue, even if you make it out of the play-offs and make the playoffs, the first round will be more than lucky.
The Thunder had a good hope of stomping the Nuggets under their feet and keeping the first place in the West, but injuries came unexpectedly near the end. Forward Jalen Williams sprained his ankle in the last two games, and Gilgeous-Alexander missed four of his last five games due to a quadriceps injury in his thigh, and the Thunder suffered a three-game losing streak. The Thunder's lineup is generally not tall enough and relatively thin except for Holmgren, so whether it is playing the Clippers, Mavericks or Suns in the first round, there is no advantage at all.
But the Thunder lack stamina, and there is another reason, that is, they have too much lead over the Clippers, even if they lose 3 in a row, they still have a 3-game advantage, and they don't worry about being caught up, so they have a small injury and a lack of motivation. Another example of this mentality is the Bucks, who were in a normal 5-2 run before the 1-5 record, but the main reason for their decline in form was that they couldn't go up or down.
Due to the Celtics' one-time victory, the Bucks have been behind them for a long time in double digits, and there is a theoretical possibility of bucking the trend to win the first place in the East, and at the same time, the Cavaliers, Magic, Nicks and Pacers are also far away from them, so small injuries and big repairs have become the Bucks' strategy.
The most obvious of these is Lillard, who has only missed five games all season, the most since 2019, but he is actually about to turn 34, so when he has an uncomfortable thigh, the Bucks decisively let him rest for three games. Unfortunately, the three games he took off the Bucks were in a listless phase, and they were superimposed with the rest of the old rice and Beverley's feet.
In fact, Alphabet has only rested for 5 games, so when Lillard returned, just as the Raptors came to challenge, the Bucks let Alphabet rest on the grounds that his left leg was uncomfortable. The Raptors have lost 15 in a row and the Bucks are sitting at home again, who would have thought that Trent would shoot three points like crazy and play the same as VanVleet, so the Raptors ended the long losing streak on them.
Although it still hasn't shaken the Bucks' second place in the East, the three-game losing streak has had several undesirable consequences:
First, their three consecutive defeats were the Wizards, Grizzlies and Raptors, and they were already eliminated from the playoffs, and they couldn't beat the weak team, not because of their strength but because of their mentality;
second, it will have a greater negative impact on Lao Li's prestige, because when the young coach Griffin was fired, the Bucks were 30-13, but after Lao Li took over, 17-17, there was a quarrel on the Internet;
Third, the Bucks' strength is widely questioned, and despite still being second in the East, specialized media outlets like B/R actually rank them behind the Magic and the New York Knicks in the power rankings.
At the end of the season, there are teams that counterattack strongly, and some teams suddenly lose control of the elevator and fall, this kind of encounter has often occurred in previous years, but this year's Lakers, Warriors, and Mavericks' end-of-season strength has brought great uncertainty to the future.
The brutal play-offs, coupled with the instability of the head team, have particularly whetted people's appetites, and like last season, the black seven and black eight are like time bombs that may detonate at any time.