The NBA playoffs are now in their second round.
The Warriors, Lakers, Suns, and Clippers in the West have all gone home fishing. The Warriors were eliminated by the Kings in the play-offs, the Lakers were eliminated by the Nuggets 4-1 in the first round, the Suns were swept out by the Timberwolves 4-0 in the first round, and the Clippers were eliminated by the Mavericks 4-2 in the first round.
On the contrary, although they won the first and third place in the West, but the Thunder and the Timberwolves are not favored, the Thunder is a 5-game winning streak in the playoffs, and the Timberwolves are 6-game winning streaks in the playoffs, including a double win against the Nuggets on the road.
The Nuggets, last season's champions, have proven themselves;
The Lakers, Suns, Warriors, and Clippers are old teams, and they have older stars, such as James, Davis, Durant, Curry, Leonard, Paul George, Harden, etc.
Therefore, these teams, which have both traffic and possible strength, are often favored by the "expert" media.
And the Thunder and Timberwolves, although they remained in the top 4 in the West most of the time from the beginning to the end of the regular season, they are just not favored, saying that the Thunder are young and soft inside. Say the Timberwolves are unstable, Towns is soft, Edwards is young, and Gobert won't attack.
At the end of February this year, Yang Yi commented:
The most competitive teams in the West at the moment are the Nuggets and the Clippers.
In terms of game content, the highest level in the West is not the first and second Thunder and Timberwolves, and teams like the Thunder can't go far in the playoffs, and they can't go far without an inside line.
The Nuggets and Clippers, who are third and fourth, are the best teams in the West, if not the league, in terms of game content and roster balance.
Some of Yang Yi's previous "evaluations" belong to "talking nonsense", which is a speculation based on the current situation of the NBA, so as long as you watch the game, you can basically come to that conclusion.
But this time's evaluation, it is completely blind.
At that stage, there was no problem in touting the Nuggets and Clippers, because the Nuggets and Clippers at that time did play a good score, and the lineup was relatively neat, which is relatively rare in the West.
However, there is no reason to step on the Thunder and the Timberwolves.
The Clippers have Zubac and are said to have an inside line, so why does the Thunder have Holmgren without an inside line? Since you can't go far without an inside line, why can't you go far if the Timberwolves have twin towers on the inside line?
At the end of the day, it's about stepping on it for the sake of stepping on it.
If you follow this standard, the Nuggets last season should also belong to being stepped on, but in the end the Nuggets won the championship, and then this season the Nuggets belong to the touted.
For example, when predicting last season's championship, Yang Yi's prediction was the Milwaukee Bucks, the hottest at the time. Of Tencent's 50 experts, only 1 predicted that the Nuggets would win the championship, and the final accuracy rate was 2%! 1 out of 16, the probability of blind selection is also 6%, and these experts in Tencent are finally 2%, bull!
Before the start of the regular season this season, Yang Yi's prediction was that the Denver Nuggets, the defending champions, were still the hottest at the time. Tencent's 36-man prediction is 10 for the Nuggets, 5 for the Bucks, 5 for the Celtics, 5 for the Lakers, 4 for the Suns, 4 for the Warriors, 2 for the Grizzlies, and 1 for the Clippers. Now there are 21 players out, with the Nuggets and Celtics remaining.
Before the start of the playoffs, 45 people made predictions, and Yang Yi still chose the Nuggets.
17 chose the Nuggets, 9 selected the Celtics, 5 selected the Clippers, 4 selected the Lakers, 3 selected the Suns, 2 selected the Bucks, 1 selected the Heat and 1 selected the Timberwolves.
Just after one round, 15 of the 45 people are out, 1/3 out, leaving the Nuggets, Celtics, and Timberwolves!
The Thunder, who are No. 1 in the West, are not picked.
The Clippers are out, and while they do have an impact from injuries, they are ultimately out. The Nuggets are currently down 0-2 at home, and although there is still a possibility of qualifying, it is more difficult. Yang Yi blew 2, and it is understandable that the Clippers are out, but if the Nuggets are eliminated by the Timberwolves, then there is really no explanation.
As for the Thunder, which can't go far, it's currently in the second round.