The NBA regular season has come to an end, and the play-offs are halfway through. The Golden State Warriors, a former dynasty team, have disappointed fans this season. They finished the season with a 9-1 record in the final 10 games of the season in an attempt to turn the tide of battle, but lost the crucial game against the Pelicans and ceded the eighth place in the West to someone else. Then in the game against the Kings, in the absence of Monk and Huerter, they were beaten without a fight.
Curry was average and also had six turnovers. Klay played 30 minutes, but scored 0 points on 0-of-10 shooting, becoming the biggest war criminal in the Warriors' loss. In addition, Kerr's hiring was also offensive, with Moses Moody scoring 16 points in 13 minutes as the team's top performer, but not giving an extra minute. This kind of pinching substitution, the warrior of meritorious basketball, has been abandoned by this era.
On the contrary, the Lakers took the initiative to seize the opportunity and crushed the Pelicans in the final game to finish eighth in the West. Then in the play-offs, relying on Russell's key steals and three-pointers, as well as thick eyebrows' stable free throws, he withstood the Pelicans' counterattack and achieved the following grams. Finished seventh and advanced to the playoffs. Even if they play the defending champion Nuggets in the first round, even if the Lakers haven't won since last year's Western Conference finals, this is a thousand times better than the Warriors. After all, the Lakers still have room to turn the tide, and the Warriors can only point fingers in front of the TV.
The Lakers defeated the Pelicans to help the Suns advance to the playoffs in sixth place in the West. In a sense, the Lakers are the nobles of the Suns. The Suns will face the Timberwolves, the league's No. 1 defensive efficiency team in the first round, and they may have to lose a layer of skin if they play the Wolves on another team. But the Suns can lose anyone they fight, but the Timberwolves are not afraid.
Previously, some people predicted the championship, the Nuggets have the highest probability, and the Celtics are also very strong, but rarely mention the Phoenix Suns, but it's not good that the Suns, the dark horse, can really play in the playoffs.
This season, the Suns have a 49-33 record. After the All-Star break, some media published that the Suns had the most difficult schedule in the league. At that time, many people predicted that the Suns would fall to the play-in zone, and they would not have to play in the playoffs. But the Suns withdrew, playing the top 10 teams in the East and West in April, with 6 wins and 2 losses. Especially in the final battle, he defeated the Timberwolves strongly and grasped the initiative for himself to get a direct ticket.
The Suns have changed a lot this season, sending Ayton away in exchange for Nurkic. Grayson Allen has become a surprise soldier, with a vague shadow of the team's Big Four. The Suns faced the Timberwolves, and it was completely true. Taking the closing battle as an example, the Timberwolves, the league's first defensive efficiency, the Suns took the initiative in the first quarter by relying on Beal's outburst, and then Booker and Allen frequently exerted their strength on the outside, Durant didn't need to play much, the game was already spent, and finally completed a 19-point victory!
The Timberwolves are not afraid of the sky this season, but they are sluggish when they meet the Suns, and they are 0-3 in the regular season. Edwards, the team's leading scorer, averaged only 14 points per game against the Suns, shooting only 30% from the field. Durant in the playoffs is not Gade. The Grim Reaper's sickle is back, plus Booker and Beal's two major scorers, the Suns have opened the stand-up stick singles mode, and the Timberwolves are blocking the east, but they can't prevent the west, defeating the Timberwolves and impacting the championship is the ultimate goal of the Suns this season!