The NBA playoffs are in full swing, after the first round of games, all 8 rounds of the series are 1:0, and more importantly, none of the games below the gram are born, all of them are teams with good records to win! In the West, the game is even more intense, 4 games 1:0, but also shows a lot of problems, although the 5-8 teams failed to win, but also caused a lot of threats to the opponent, staged a fierce competition in the Wild West: the Clippers have won good news, and the black 8 is expected to be born.
Black 8 is expected to be born!
The matchup between the 1st and 8th in the West is often the round of matchup with the largest gap, but this season's West is different, and there is a great possibility to create a Black 8 miracle!
The Thunder won the first place in the West this season, this team played very fiercely in the regular season, showing strong combat effectiveness, but this team also has obvious shortcomings! First of all, the Thunder is a dark horse team, the team only ranked 10th in the West last season, and has made great progress this season, but the team's heritage is not so deep! Secondly, the Thunder team is too young, most of the team's players have no playoff experience, and they lack the intensity of the playoffs, and the team's performance is likely to decline significantly!
In the first meeting of the 2 teams, the Thunder did show a lot of weakness, although they won the victory in the end, but it was also because the Pelicans performed too poorly at critical moments, they did not have much lead in strength, if the Pelicans found their form, they had a good chance to win the Thunder and achieve the black 8 miracle.
Nuggets suppress Lakers!
The Nuggets and the Lakers are old rivals, the two teams met in the West last season, and finally the Nuggets swept the Lakers 4:0 to advance, and the two teams met again this season, in the first game, the Nuggets also suppressed the Lakers and won the game.
The Lakers are indeed inferior to the Nuggets in terms of strength! The combination of James + thick eyebrows, in terms of performance and role, is actually not inferior to Jokic + Murray, but there is a big gap between the role players of the two teams! Porter Jr., Gordon, and Pope can all stand up to help the team, and even Reggie and Watson on the bench can also make a lot of contributions! As for the Lakers, the performance of role players is average, Russell's performance is even more stretched, and the huge gap in strength between role players also makes the Lakers unable to bargain in front of the Nuggets at all, and this round of the series probably ends with the Nuggets being promoted.
The Clippers have good news!
The matchup between the Clippers and the Mavericks is undoubtedly full of highlights! The Mavericks have performed very well this season, the combination of Irving + Doncic has shown strong dominance, and the presence of Gafford and Lively has also greatly increased the strength of the Mavericks' interior line!
But at the start of the first game, Harden broke out directly in the first half, scoring 20 points in the half, opening up a gap of more than 20 points for the Clippers, and the game was completely reduced to a one-sided situation, and finally the Clippers easily won the Mavericks and took a 1:0 lead!
The Clippers won the first game, but this is not the happiest part of the team, and the team has also received good news! First of all, Harden, after entering the playoffs, his state has improved significantly, and the threat on the offensive end has been greatly improved, which has enhanced the offensive ability of the Clippers! Secondly, although Zubac is not a strong interior line, he has achieved an overwhelming advantage in the face of the Mavericks' centers, which is also a point of the Clippers' absolute advantage!
Finally, Xiaoka is likely to make a comeback in Game 3, and the advantage of the Clippers will undoubtedly become greater, and the Clippers also occupy the absolute initiative in this round of the series, winning the Mavericks to advance to the next round, and there is basically no suspense.
Okay, so which 4 teams in the West do you think will advance to the next round?