The NBA playoffs are completely opened, unlike the situation in the East, which is clear, and the West is completely chaotic, Clippers VS Mavericks, Suns VS Timberwolves, Lakers VS Nuggets, Pelicans VS Thunder, in addition to the game between the Thunder and the Pelicans, the Pelicans boss Zion is injured and does not know when he will return, so that fans feel that the game will lose the suspense it deserves, and the situation in the other three games can basically be said to be confusing. But in reality, even if Zion is not available in the game between the Thunder and Pelicans, it is still difficult to determine the outcome. Today, the author will take you to analyze the trend of each series after the first game.
Clippers vs Mavericks
For fans, this series is not so much a match between the Clippers and the Mavericks as it is a firepower contest between the Super Big Four and Eastern European combinations, and whoever has the most firepower wins. And there is no doubt that the Clippers' Big Four will have more firepower, as the results of the G1 game have confirmed. But is that really the case? It's not so much that the Clippers' Super Four played a huge role in G1, it's that the rest of the Clippers are more consistent in the playoffs than the Mavericks' youngsters.
You must know that in Leonard's absence, the Clippers' Big Three combined for 63 points, which is even one point less than the 64 points of Doncic and Irving of the Mavericks. But the Clippers' center Zubac scored 20 points and 15 boards, and guard Terence Mann scored 13 points and nine boards, and the two combined scored more than the rest of the Mavericks. Excluding the 64 points of the Eastern European pair, the other players of the Mavericks scored only 33 points, and the performance can be said to be completely abnormal. According to the previous Mavericks games, except for the Eastern European combination, the other players must score at least the same as the two. Therefore, the results of the two teams in G1 do not show that the Clippers have more firepower than the Mavericks, it can only be said that the young players of the Mavericks have not yet adapted to the intensity of the playoffs, and if they can play normally, the result of the game will definitely be different.
I believe that by G2, the Mavericks, who have been accustomed to such an intensity of the game, will definitely fight back and pull the score back to 1-1. Of course, such a statement is based on the fact that Clippers boss Kawhi Leonard has been injured and unable to play, but in this series, Leonard's injury is not serious, so when the Clippers are in crisis, he will definitely be on the line to lead the Clippers against the Mavericks. So to put it this way, the two teams have to play at least 6 games. I predict a 4-2 win over the Mavericks by the Clippers.
Suns vs Timberwolves
The Timberwolves' super performance this season made many people unexpected, not only broke through all the way to the top three positions in the West, but even faced the Suns with the Big Three in the playoffs G1. For many fans, the Suns, who have the Big Three of Durant, Booker, and Beal, should not fall to the young Timberwolves, even if they are only sixth in the West this season and can't go far in the playoffs.
In fact, there is no need for fans to worry too much about the Suns, they are probably just entering the playoffs, some players have not adapted to the intensity of the game and the atmosphere of the opposite home court for the time being, or too underweight the opponent to cause themselves to be thin, Eric Gordon, Grayson Allen, Devin Booker, these players all have a wealth of playoff experience, even if they only got 0 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, 4 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in the G1 game, no one would think that they would be slumped all the time.
In the second game or when they return to their home stadium, I believe that the state of several of them will definitely bottom out and resume the offensive firepower. After all, the Suns have a 4-1 record against the Timberwolves in the regular season, and even if they are at the bottom of the rankings, there is not much psychological pressure. However, the Timberwolves are indeed resilient, not only ranking first in the league in defensive efficiency in the regular season, but also led by Edwards in offensive firepower, and the Suns still need to work hard to break through them in the playoffs. Therefore, the author predicts that the Suns vs Timberwolves series will be a 4-3 victory for the Suns in the tiebreaker.
Lakers vs Nuggets
This series has been called the least suspenseful series by many players, because the Nuggets swept the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs last year, and with little change to the lineups of both teams, it is almost certain that the Nuggets will be the absolute winner of this series, and the results of the G1 game seem to prove it. However, the Lakers, who learned the lesson of being swept last year, are not Amon this year, they once took a 10-point lead in the first two quarters of G1 against the Nuggets, but unfortunately the main point guard Angelo Russell's sudden power outage, only 1 of 9 three-point shots in the game, finally caused the Lakers to lose the game.
Russell's aberrations were entirely his own and didn't even have much to do with the Nuggets, after all, he couldn't even shoot an empty basket at the time. Therefore, I believe that in G2, the Lakers' coaching staff will make improvements to Russell's problems, so that they can fight back in G2, even if they can't win at the Nuggets' home court, and the Nuggets take a 2-0 lead to Los Angeles, but the Lakers players at home will be in better shape, so as to complete the Jedi comeback. If nothing else, the match between the two teams will be dragged into a tie-break. In the end, the Lakers may complete the 4-3 revenge against the Nuggets with their rich experience in stealing seven.
鹈鹕VS雷霆
This round of the series would have been very good-looking, with two youth teams colliding with Earth on Mars. But unfortunately, Zion, the boss of the Pelicans, was unexpectedly injured in the play-in stage, and it is unknown when he will return. Facing the Pelicans, who have lost their boss, the Thunder, who are the No. 1 team in the West this season, should advance to the next round without any surprises. However, the youth team means they don't have much playoff experience, playing well in the regular season and not necessarily continuing that performance in the playoffs. Sure enough, the G1 of the two teams played directly to the last moment, relying on the Thunder's counter-lore to end the game. Being forced to this extent by the loss of the eighth place in the West, it is hard to imagine whether the Thunder will be able to fight back when Zion returns.
You know, Zion's injury doesn't look serious, and once the Pelicans fall behind by two games, there is a good chance that he will be back in the game. When the time comes, it is really uncertain who will die in this round of the series. Therefore, the author predicts that the Pelicans may rely on their sufficient tenacity to drag the game into a tie-break, defeating the Thunder team with little playoff experience 4-3 to complete another black eight miracle.