The first round of the NBA playoffs is still in full swing, and after 11 games so far, the away team has not won a single game. There are several sets of competitions, and the difference in strength between the two sides is indeed too large, like the Celtics and Heat in the Eastern Conference. The Heat has always been a team that has seen big scenes and has the temperament of the Black Eight, and the more they go to the playoffs, the tougher they become, and in the past 4 seasons, the Heat have entered the Eastern Conference Finals 3 times and the Finals twice. However, this year, the Heat can be said to be completely out of line, kicking a steel plate in the first round, their opponent Celtics, is the league's first team in the league in regular season win rate, this season's Green Army compared to last season, there is a huge improvement, more Porzingis and Holiday two All-Star players, and the double Tanhua is also continuing to improve.
What's more, Butler, the star of the Heat, is also injured, so the Green Army's first-round series is basically crushing the Heat without any suspense. On the Western Conference side, the series between the Lakers and the Nuggets is almost a foregone conclusion, and the Lakers have already stepped on the edge of a round with one foot. It's not that the Lakers are too weak, but the Nuggets are too strong, and the Nuggets' tactical system and lineup configuration can be said to be the Tianke Lakers. Of course, in the first round of the playoffs, there are still several sets of matchups with similar strength, such as the Thunder and the Pelicans, although there is a huge difference between the regular season rankings of the two teams, the Thunder is the first in the West, and the Pelicans are the eighth in the West. However, as a young dark horse team, the Thunder is too inexperienced, and their dominance will be greatly weakened in the playoffs, and the two G1 teams will also stalemate the score until the last minute.
There is also a matchup between the 76ers and the Knicks, just looking at the strength on the books, the 76ers are even better, because they have Embiid, the current top star, and the Knicks' Randle + Brunson duo is much lower. Considering Embiid's injury trouble at the end of the season, he is still in the recovery period, and although the Knicks have a relatively civilian lineup, they are after all the second in the East in the regular season, and the winning percentage has reached a new high in the past 11 seasons. From this point of view, the battle between the Knicks and the 76ers will definitely be very suspenseful. However, after the first two games, the situation was one-sided, and the 76ers, who were better on paper, suffered two consecutive defeats, and the big score was already 0-2 behind, and they were crushed by the Knicks, and it was difficult to see the dawn of advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
There is such a statistic, the 76ers have been eliminated 14 times in the best-of-seven playoff series, when they fell behind 0-2 in the first two games, and have never made a comeback. In fact, in the early part of the regular season this season, the 76ers have been in the top three in the East and are regarded as one of the favorites to win the championship. After trading Harden, the young Maxey took the position in time and assumed the responsibility of the team's second leader, just took over the second leader, Maxey evolved into an All-Star level player this season, scoring 50+ points in a single game three times in the regular season, and this year's NBA Most Improved Player Award is also likely to be his. Maxey is so powerful, Embiid was even more terrifying in the first half of the regular season, averaging 35+ points per game, once cut 70+18 data in a single game, and scored more than 1 point per minute of playing time per game, an efficiency that only Chamberlain has done in NBA history.
However, Embiid is really strong, and Brittle is really Brittle, and after only playing for more than half a season, he suffered a serious injury and began a more than two-month absence. Until then, if Embiid can continue his pre-season form and efficiency and avoid injury, there is no doubt that this season's MVP and scoring champion will be his. But the end result was unfortunately, the number of appearances was not up to the minimum standard, and Embiid missed out on most of the individual and team accolades this season. In the playoffs, he struggled to lead the team far. The playoffs have always been the main stage for superstars, and playing this kind of high-intensity game, especially at critical moments, tests the personal ability of the team's leading stars, and the higher the level of the star, the more they can lead the team to go further in the playoffs.
But Embiid did the opposite, playing well in the regular season, hitting heavy punches against weak teams, but not in the playoffs. This season is no longer precedent, Embiid's starting point is not low, with a background in Tanhuaxiu, he can average 20+8 data per game in the first season of his career. Since entering the league, Embiid has also entered the playoffs 7 times, but it is hard for you to believe that his best record with the team is actually only the second round of the playoffs, not to mention the championship and the Finals, and he has not even reached the Eastern Conference Finals. His ability to lead the team in the playoffs has indeed been questioned, and every time he goes to the playoffs, he will drop the chain and cannot fight a tough battle. In last year's playoffs, the 76ers and the Green Army fought fiercely to tie seven, and finally lost, Harden exploded two or three games in the series, but Embiid pulled it to the end. Upset 2 consecutive defeats! The favorite to win the championship fell off the altar, missed the MVP and the championship, the NBA big loser was born, if he can't lead the team to make a breakthrough in the playoffs, Embiid has won the MVP, and he also has multiple scoring titles, but he will never be as good as Jokic, Brother Alphabet, these stars who have led the team to win the championship, become the biggest loser.