The Magic had a winning streak, and the Cavaliers were also going well. They also had a winning streak after losing to the Magic. On the contrary, the Heat were suspended for 2 weeks due to O'Neal's calf muscle strain, which caused the team's record to decline.
As a result, when March entered, the Pistons were still at the top of the league, winning 47 of 60 games and losing only 13. They were followed closely by the Heat, Cavaliers and Magic, with the Heat having 61 games and 38 losses.
With 23 wins and 23 losses, the Cavaliers and Magic both had 59 games and 36 wins and 23 losses. The Heat only ranked higher due to their advantage in more games.
Now the situation in the Eastern Conference has begun to become clearer. Basically, the Pistons can be sure of being first in the Eastern Conference. As long as the plane does not crash and the entire team is reimbursed, even if one or two people are injured, it will not have much impact on the result. The rest are in second place.
The three teams in the echelon are officially competing for second place.
For the Heat, Cavaliers and Magic, the Magic is under the greatest pressure.
The Heat have many veterans. Whether it is O'Neal or Payton, they have played in more playoff games than many players in the regular season. They are naturally familiar with adjusting pressure. And their attention is now on the playoffs.
, if they wanted the home court advantage, they would definitely go for first place in the league, but they did not. They adopted a more relaxed way of playing. Now the regular season is more of a formality, and the second and eighth places are not.
Too many differences.[
The Cavaliers don't have as many veterans as the Heat, nor are they as influential as the Heat, but their mentality is no worse than the Heat, or even better. The main reason for this is that they have made a big breakthrough in performance this season.
You must know that the Cavaliers did not make the playoffs at all last season, and are now guaranteed to be fourth in the Eastern Conference. This is a huge improvement beyond many people's imagination. Therefore, the Cavaliers' current performance has exceeded expectations.
Going up just means making more money, which is very similar to the Magic last season.
Therefore, the current performance pressure of the Cavaliers is not great. The whole team is relaxed and rushing to win more games and earn more money. There is such a phenomenon in the arena. The more relaxed you are, the more you let go of your baggage. On the contrary,
The better you perform.
The Magic is not the case. They ranked first in the league in the regular season last season, and also entered the Eastern Conference finals in the playoffs. They also upgraded the team's lineup in the summer, so everyone has higher expectations for them, and they think they are even.
It cannot exceed the 60 wins of last season, and it should be similar to the results.
However, according to the Magic's current winning ratio, it is far from this result in the end. It is for this reason that public opinion is more harsh on the Magic and there are more accusations.
Fortunately, the most difficult time has passed. March has entered and all the attention of the media and basketball fans will be attracted by n. Basically, as long as you don’t cause a big incident, the media will not write about you. In
Under this background, the pressure on Magic players is undoubtedly much less than before.
Edison was relieved about this. After all, the Magic this season was really eventful. The more attention the media paid, the more careful he had to be and the more he had to pretend to be nothing. Living like this every day was really tiring.
As the saying goes, "The blessings come today". On the first day of March, God gave Edison another gift, or good news - the Cavaliers unexpectedly lost to the Sonics, the third-last team in the Western Conference, at home in an unexpected upset.
In this game, James can be said to have produced MVP-level data, with a staggering triple-double of 26 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Ilgauskas and Larry Hughes also scored 17 points and 8 rebounds respectively.
With a score of 19 points and 4 assists, it can be said that basically everyone has performed to the best of their ability.
However, the SuperSonics performed at a superb level in this game and scored 22 three-pointers in the game, breaking the league's previous single-game three-pointer record. Making 22 three-pointers is not the most terrifying thing, what is even more terrifying is that
The Sonics took only 29 shots from beyond the three-point line in this game, and their shooting percentage was as high as 758%.
Among them, Ray Allen took 14 shots from beyond the three-point line and made 10. Rashard Lewis even made an exaggerated 11 shots and made 9. Others like Radmanovic and Ridnour also scored.
It can be said unceremoniously that the Cavaliers were beaten to death by the Sonics' three-point shooting, and there was no room for resistance. In the end, the two teams scored a rare high score of 122-128.
James scored a triple-double, but his team lost. You can imagine his depression. In the end, the little emperor was stunned because he took too long to wash in the locker room and missed the press conference. You must know that this may be affected by
The alliance punished him. But fortunately, his godfather took care of him, and everyone understood his feelings relatively well, so no one deliberately looked for trouble.
The Cavaliers lost, and the Magic's next game suddenly became important. If they could win, they would overtake the Cavaliers, who had overtaken them for more than half a season, and become third in the Eastern Conference.
However, according to expert analysis, Edison may have made a large-scale rotation of the team. The Magic deliberately did not win the game and continued to rank behind the Cavaliers. Because if the Magic reach third place, then according to the current situation, their chances in the playoffs will be
There is a great possibility of meeting the Heat in the second round.
In the regular season, the Magic's record against the Heat was not good. Although they did win, they were all narrow wins. On the contrary, every time the Heat beat the Magic, it was always a suspenseful score.
But the Pistons are different. The Magic have an obvious advantage against the Pistons in the regular season. The Magic's overall talent advantage can be fully reflected. The Pistons can defend the Magic on one or two points, but cannot defend on five points, and the Magic also won in Detroit.
Pistons. Therefore, although the Magic cannot be called the "Pistons nemesis", they are definitely not afraid of encountering the Pistons.
Therefore, in the eyes of the outside world, the Magic may start to deliberately choose their opponents at this time, avoiding the Heat and facing the Pistons. The safest way to do this is to maintain their fourth position in the Eastern Conference and not rush upward.
In fact, in a survey conducted by the "Sentinel" in Orlando, more than 60% of the audience hoped that the team would meet the Heat later, and more than 40% of the audience felt that staying fourth in the Eastern Conference was a very sensible choice. Of course, there are
40% of the audience felt that the Magic should have a more fighting spirit and strive for a better ranking. The rest of the audience felt that it does not matter who they play against, the key is their own strength.[
The Magic's behavior of deliberately manipulating the game is doubtless feasible. It's not that they let them play fake games, deliberately miss shots or let others shoot. That is too low-end. The most practical thing is to reduce Nash, Brand, etc.
Key players' playing time, or even not letting them play at all.
This would definitely not work at the beginning of the season, but by the end of the season, resting the main players has become an unspoken rule of the league. Everyone does it, and no one can tell anyone else. And as long as they are sensible fans,
I also accept this. After all, no one wants to see all the big names of each team get injured before the start of the playoffs. As a result, the battle for ace in the playoffs becomes a battle for bench depth.
So at the pre-game press conference between Oklahoma and the Hornets, reporters kept asking Edison questions around similar topics. (ps: Is there anyone who questions why the Hornets are in Oklahoma and not New Orleans?
In fact, New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina that season, and the victims took refuge in the Hornets' home court, so the Hornets played in Oklahoma until the 2007 season. In fact, the emergence of the Thunder and the Hornets later
This temporary move also had a lot to do with it. The local consortium saw the local basketball potential and decided to build a team. Their initial plan was for the Hornets to stay, but after the 2006-07 season, the Hornets left.
, so they acquired the Sonics and facilitated the subsequent relocation.)
Facing the reporter's sharp questions, Edison did not answer directly, but he also knew that if you don't say something informative, these guys will definitely keep asking you questions.
So Edison started to sing praises to the Hornets rookie Paul in order to change the subject.
"There is no doubt that this guy is the best rookie this year, not even one. Although many people around me say that the best rookie this year may be our Brandon Roy, but I think that is unlikely.
.Paul is the biggest favorite, and I think he can win this title with a clear advantage. In a word, the Hornets' front office did a great job in the draft."
"So, in your opinion, Paul is the best point guard among this rookie class?" Hearing Edison say Paul, the reporters in the audience also became excited. Edison's eyes on the rookie no longer need to elaborate.
And another characteristic of him is that he rarely praises rookies other than the Magic.
He is discerning, but rarely reveals his intentions. This makes Edison feel a little bit arrogant, so now college players are trying their best to have a relationship with him every day.
Now that he is praising Paul, the reporters in the audience will naturally not miss this opportunity and want to see what the quality of the new queen bee is like in this "Golden Eye".
"In my opinion, there are many point guards in this draft. Among them, the three that I think have the most potential are Paul, Deron and Rondo." Now that he had decided to say it, Edison simply let go and said nothing.
Although Edison clearly understood that he now has Nash, and no matter how great he praises Paul, no one will think of a trade. As for whether other teams will cause some turmoil, that is none of his business. This is called "seeing."
Those who are lively are not afraid of causing trouble, and those who are shopping are not afraid of chatting." However, Edison still habitually involves the players in his team, and then the reputation of others will add glory to his own.
"Paul is good at organization, Deron is good at scoring, and Rondo is good at defense. Each of the three has its own strengths. If they grow well, they will all be the backbone of the league in the future, and it is not impossible to even hit the top 50. But for now,
Look, Paul is the best performer. Deron should have to wait until next season. As for Rondo, because of the existence of Nash, his explosive period will be later. But starting late does not mean that the final achievement is certain.
Low, I believe these three people will be at least All-Star level."
"Actually, Paul's best template is Nash from our team. Even Paul is better in scoring and defensive abilities. If I were the general manager of the Hornets, I would build a team around Paul. If I can get a good inside man
Players and assisting several outside shooters, the future of the Hornets is unlimited."
