The NBA playoffs are in full swing, and this year's playoffs are actually very interesting, with the old-school stars basically out early. ESPN's official Instagram summarized a set of data, and none of the top 10 active players in playoff career scoring won the first-round series, including Jandouku, Harden, Thompson, Paul, Leonard, Westbrook, Butler and George. In addition, there are only six starters over the age of 30 who are still in the playoffs, including Gobert, Conley, Siakam, Pope and Holiday Holiday. The league is already a world of young people, and there are many dark horse teams this season, and those inconspicuous underdogs have played unexpected dominance, like the Pacers and Knicks on the Eastern side, who have no superstars, but they have broken through the first round together.
The Thunder and Timberwolves on the Western side do not have any strong team culture, they have also had a mediocre record in the past few seasons, the Timberwolves have entered the playoffs 5 times in the past 20 years, and the Thunder has suffered a round trip 4 times and missed the playoffs 3 times in the past 7 seasons, but this year, they are expected to make greater breakthroughs and make history. As a super dark horse in the league, both teams have hard power. After the Thunder swept the Pelicans 4-0 in the first round, counting the last few games of the regular season, they have blasted a wave of nine consecutive wins, including an 18-point win over the Bucks and a 49-point win over the Mavericks. The Timberwolves also shaved their opponents' bald heads with a score of 4-0 in the first round, and they were still eliminated by the super giant Suns. Counting the Hawks' win in the final game of the regular season and the defeat of the Nuggets in the second round of G1, the Timberwolves also roared out a wave of 6 consecutive wins.
Bombarded 9 consecutive wins, quietly 6 consecutive wins! The league's two major championship dark horses emerged. For a long time, the new generation of dark horse teams have not been favored in the playoffs, such as the Jazz, who won 7% of the regular season in 21, the Hawks, who won 61-21 in 15 years, and the Memphis Grizzlies, who have been in the top three in the West in the past two seasons, are still deflated in the playoffs and can't go far. The reason is also very simple, first of all, these young teams lack a certain amount of playoff experience, and are used to the low-intensity games of the regular season, and when they suddenly increase the pace in the playoffs, they are exposed. Secondly, these young teams do not have enough superstars, which also makes them unable to stand up and exert their strength at critical moments.
But this year's Thunder and Timberwolves are different. The Thunder have Alexander, the Timberwolves have Edwards, both of them are not little Karami anymore, they are both supergiants, both are offensive and defensive players, and they can even play key shots. Alexander's core is strong enough, and he is a top-three player in the regular season MVP with his ability to break through and create damage, as well as his mid-range projection. And Edwards, who played a phenomenal performance in this year's playoffs, averaged 33.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks per game, which is simply a modern Jordan. There are two bosses with enough stars, so you don't have to worry about them not breaking through the upper limit. From a team perspective, the Thunder and Timberwolves also have their own characteristics. The Thunder rotate quickly, are good at counter-attacking, and are quite accurate in their three-point shooting.
The Timberwolves have a strong defense, the interior super twin towers are in charge, the combination of Gobert and Towns is a pillar in the restricted area, and Edwards, the core of the outside line, is also one of the most prominent guards in the league. Interestingly, the Thunder, as an offensive team, ranked first in the league in defensive efficiency after the first round of the playoffs, and the Pelicans only averaged 89.5 points per game. The Timberwolves, as a defensive team, have ranked first in the league in offensive efficiency so far in the playoffs. This also proves once again that there are no shortcomings in both teams, and the attack and defense are excellent as a whole. In addition, for these two championship dark horse teams, they actually have one thing in common, that is, their super rise this season is closely related to their respective 9-for-1 transactions.
In the summer of '19, the Thunder sent Paul George through a 1-for-9 deal, and got Alexander, Gallinari, 5 first-round picks and two first-round swap rights, which is also a classic deal in recent years, from the perspective of the time, both sides were winners, but I didn't expect the Thunder to win so much, not only trained Alexander into a superstar, but also selected Jawway with a first-round pick, Jaew is currently growing into a quasi-All-Star player, the second of the Thunder.
On the other hand, the Timberwolves, in the summer of 22, threw a lot of chips and sent 4 first-round picks + Kessler and others used a 9-for-1 deal, just to get Gobert, which attracted a lot of ridicule at the time, because Gobert's value is obviously not so high. But now that I look at it, the Timberwolves' trade at that time really had a good effect, Gobert and Towns' ultimate twin towers worked together, and he basically locked up the best defensive player of the year, and the Timberwolves have been making great progress this season, and they definitely have Gobert's credit. Thunder and Timberwolves, both teams have made a lot of money in the 9-for-1 trade, so who do you think they can go further in this year's playoffs?