Pierce: Whoever wins will be the second-best team in the West

Today is the last game of the regular season, after today's game, the ranking of the East and West is also determined, the top ten on the Western side are the Thunder, Nuggets, Clippers, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Suns, Pelicans, Lakers, Kings and Warriors, it can be said that there are two sets of matchups in the Western playoffs, that is, the Suns and the Timberwolves, the Mavericks and the Clippers, the two groups of battles are full of highlights, and the strength is very close.

In this series between the Suns and the Timberwolves, the Suns may have a chance to do it, after all, they have what the Timberwolves are most afraid of, the reason why the Timberwolves can play the top three in the West this season is not because of the double champion, but because Gobert led the team to play the league's No. 1 defense, but Gobert also knows that in the playoffs, he will be targeted by the opponent's point list, and the Suns have two backcourts to do so.

The battle between the Clippers and the Mavericks may be the biggest suspense in the entire West, whether the Nuggets meet the Lakers or Pelicans in the first round, as long as there are no accidents, they will enter the second round of the playoffs, and whether they face the Timberwolves or the Suns in the second round, the Nuggets are not easy to win, but they still have an advantage in strength, after all, they are the defending champions, and Jokic is the first person in the league, Pierce said in a previous interview that the Nuggets are the best team in the West.

So who is the second-best team in the West? Pierce had this to say: Whoever makes it out of the Clippers and Mavericks is the second-best team in the West. The reason why Pierce said this is that he also analyzed the West, and now the first place in the West is the Thunder, although they are the first in the West, but now it seems that they may be the easiest to be defeated in the top six in the West, and everyone knows that the regular season and the playoffs are not a kind of game.

In the playoffs, everyone played on the spot with adaptability and experience, the Thunder youth army has almost no experience, and their forward and interior defense will not be targeted by opponents, if the Warriors and Lakers hit the eighth in the West, they can probably do the black eight, but the Lakers will probably not fall to eighth, after all, a play-off game that is guaranteed to be won or lost, no one dares to say that it will win, so if you can win in seventh, you can't consider eighth, even if you meet the Nuggets.

In addition to the Lakers, like the Pelicans, the Warriors and the Kings, plus the Thunder, who is the first in the West, who can advance to the second round in the end, they are not as good as the Mavericks and the Clippers in terms of squad strength and star quality, so as long as there is no injury, as long as the two teams advance to the second round, they can get the Western Conference finals. And this series is also the most difficult to guess the outcome of the West, the Clippers are stronger on paper, but the Mavericks lineup is more reasonable.

The advantage of the Clippers against the Mavericks is that they have a number of finishers, Leonard, George and Harden can all finish, and their experience is good enough, the core of this team is a seasoned veteran, and they are certainly better than the Mavericks in some details and execution, and their coach Tyronn Lue also looks better than Kidd in terms of adjustment ability.

Of course, the problem of the Clippers is also obvious, after Harden has lost his peak now, his defense and offense are struggling, the offensive end cannot be effective singles, and it is difficult to defend the opponent's naming on the defensive end, although Wei Shao is powerful in the playoffs, but he is an unstable factor, and the playoffs may pit the team, and the biggest problem of the Clippers is that there are no five small centers, which also makes them very passive when playing fast and opening up space.

The advantage of the Mavericks' team is very obvious, that is, their dual core, Irving and Doncic both have top-level single ability, whether it is Xiaoka or George, it is impossible to limit them in a single game, and Doncic is the big core with the ball at this level, he will definitely catch Harden and Zubac by name, which is also what makes the Clippers uncomfortable, and they now have Washington and Jones against Leonard and George, unlike in the past few years, there is no forward to limit them.

Of course, the Clippers also have problems, Doncic's willingness to defend directly determines the height of this team, it can be said that Cuban has formed a suitable defensive lineup around him for Doncic to the greatest ability, Doncic's defense doesn't even need to be too good, it only needs to reach the league average, then the Mavericks' chances of winning are very high, and Irving's health is also a hidden danger, he has too many injuries in big games, and the health of the Clippers' small card is also a problem.

No matter who ends up having the last laugh in this round of the series, to be honest, they have the ability to fight against the Nuggets, and even say that they have a chance to reach the finals and win the championship, the Mavericks are only fifth because the team did not form the current lineup at the beginning of the season, and the Clippers are because Wei Shao was injured before the team's confidence problems, and now they have regained their confidence, this round of the series must be a contest between Mars and the earth, speaking of which, what do you want to say about these two teams? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.