The NBA playoff showdown is still in full swing, this season's league is full of champions, there are many strong teams, but there is no team with absolute dominance, as strong as the Celtics, who have the league's first winning rate in the regular season, and in the playoffs, they will also lose to the Heat without Butler at home, as strong as the defending champion Denver Nuggets last season, and failed to complete the sweep of the Lakers。 In addition to the Celtics and Nuggets, there are some favorites this season, such as the Thunder, who have taken a 3-0 lead in the first round of the playoffs and picked up the match point.
Although the overall lineup of the Thunder is very young and lacks playoff experience, as the so-called newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, such a youth team can keep up with the intensity of the game in the playoffs, full of enthusiasm, and will be more dominant in physical fitness, unlike the general dark horse team, Alexander, the star of the Thunder, is already at the level of a quasi-superstar, and he has also played an average of MVP level per game this season. Despite their young age, the Thunder have a mature and critical game that makes history this season. In addition to the Thunder, the Los Angeles Clippers are also one of the biggest favorites to win the championship this year, and the Clippers have the most luxurious roster in the league, with Leonard, George, Harden and Wei Shao all joining forces to reach full strength on paper.
During the regular season, the Clippers also had a period of high glory, with a 27-4 winning record in 31 consecutive games midway through the season. For a long time, the Clippers with the Cajiao duo as the core have lacked a player who can organize a tandem to help them sort out the offense, and the addition of Westbrook last season was not enough to help the Clippers solve this problem, because in the past few seasons, Westbrook's personal ability has declined seriously, and the ball quotient is also worrying, and there are often outrageous mistakes. However, the Clippers brought in James Harden in a blockbuster trade at the start of the season. Since Harden left the Rockets, he has transformed into a pure guard, specializing in organizational tandem things, and it has worked very well. During the 76ers, Harden also won an assist title.
When Harden gradually integrated into the Clippers, the Clippers also fully evolved, all the way up, from the last few places in the West at the beginning of the season, once rushed to the first place in the West, and finally ranked fourth in the West, and got a ticket to the playoffs. When it comes to the playoffs, the reason why everyone is generally optimistic about the Clippers is that they have a lot of old-school superstars and a lot of experience in the competition. However, in the playoffs, the Clippers showed their original form and did not play as dominant as everyone imagined before. G1 relied on explosive three-point performances, won a Mavericks, and then suffered two consecutive setbacks, G2 finally lost by three points, and G3 completely collapsed in the second half, and finally lost the opponent by 11 points. Lost by 3 points and lost by 11 points! The overrated Western giants, say goodbye to the championship.
In fact, the problems of the Clippers are also obvious, first, Xiaoka has suffered from injuries, since he joined the Clippers, he has to drop the chain in the playoffs almost every year, missing a lot of games, resulting in the team was finally eliminated. Second, George's play has been very inconsistent, and George has always been unpredictable, and it is difficult to play a decisive role in the game, and he only scored in single digits in G3. Third, the structure of the Clippers roster is also flawed, with two stand-up single-type forward cores on the floor at the same time, which is difficult to integrate into the team's tactical system, and the Clippers are still relatively weak inside, lacking the kind of blue-collar players who can take on the dirty work. Fourth, Westbrook started to do things again, although Wei Shao is always full of passion on the court, but it is difficult for him to control his emotions and is easy to be anxious in the game.
At the same time, Wei Shao's efficiency in the first three games of the playoffs can be described as miserable, playing an average of 22.3 minutes per game, scoring 7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1 block, shooting 29.2% from the field, 27.3% from three-point range, 66.7% from the free throw line, and a total of 123% from three. Less than 30% shooting, which is also a career playoff low for Wei Shao. The Clippers are the only ones in this year's playoffs, Harden, who played better, but Harden has become the team's core scoring point, leading the Clippers to move forward with difficulty. In any case, the Clippers, as the last hope of the Western giants, are currently in a better situation than the Warriors who missed the playoffs, the Lakers and Suns who were given match points by their opponents, and I don't know what kind of performance the Clippers can play in the next few playoffs?