The Trail Blazers only won three games after losing to the Warriors, and then immediately suffered two consecutive kneels. This was unexpected by many fans.
Therefore, it is very difficult to maintain a winning streak in the long regular season. Basketball games are full of all kinds of surprises and variables. It is not necessarily that the stronger team will be able to win the game.
The team's strength during the regular season is not only affected by injuries, but luck is also one of the unexpected factors.
After the game, Howard took the initiative to hug his old rival Wang Zelin.
"It's not easy!"
Howard sighed with excitement in his heart.
In fact, he couldn't help but lament that since Wang Zelin entered the league, whether he was with the Lakers or the Mosaics, he had never defeated Wang Zelin in a head-to-head match.
Now that Howard is no longer at his peak and has been traded to the Atlanta Hawks this season, in the eyes of countless fans and media, Howard has completely lost the chance to defeat Wang Zhen.
In the first meeting between the Trail Blazers and the Hawks this season, the Hawks went to the West to visit the Portland Rose Garden. The Trail Blazers finally defeated the Kings with a score of 131:105, scoring 45 points, 22 rebounds and 5 rebounds.
His amazing statistics of assists, 8 blocks and 5 steals beat all the Hawks insiders including Howard.
This further validates the views of outsiders.
Unexpectedly, just over a month later, the second meeting of the season between the two sides was also the last meeting of the regular season. The Hawks, who were generally not optimistic, unexpectedly defeated the Trail Blazers in an upset.
Even though Batum and Beverley, the two leading defenders of the Trail Blazers, have not returned yet, and even though the Trail Blazers are playing away games, not many people are optimistic about the Hawks winning.
The result was that the Eagles slapped everyone hard.
The winner is the king, the loser is the bandit!
When the score between the two sides was finally settled at 120:141, all the rhetoric was meaningless. The Hawks were the winners tonight, and the Trail Blazers lost tonight.
Faced with Howard's overtures, Wang Zelin also accepted tonight's defeat quite freely, and sincerely blessed Howard and the Hawks in the post-game interview.
After all, Howard has already given up on his own initiative, and he, Wang, is not a petty person.
And looking at this situation, Howard is really transitioning to the Master Huo stage.
Wang Zelin didn't have much favorable impressions of the childish and arrogant Warcraft in the past, but he really couldn't be angry with the fully mature Master Huo due to the influence of his previous life.
In Wang Zelin's previous life, Howard joined the Lakers for the second time in his later years, staged a prodigal son's comeback drama, and won his first NBA championship with the Lakers.
At this point, Howard has completed his career redemption journey, and has also turned countless haters into fans.
Coincidentally, Wang Zelin belonged to the latter group at that time.
If a different team beats the Trail Blazers today, it would be weird if Wang Zelin would give them a friendly hug.
However, after unexpectedly suffering two consecutive losses, the Trail Blazers' record also became 60 wins and 8 losses.
The regular season ends with more than a month left, and they have 14 games left.
If Wang Zelin still wants to continue to add chips to the regular season MVP defense plan, it means that they will only be allowed to lose 4 more games out of 14 games in a little more than a month.
In any case, a situation like losing three games in early March will never happen again!
Fortunately, relying on the huge advantage accumulated in the first half of the regular season, the Golden State Warriors, ranked second in the Western Conference, are still 5 games behind them. These 5 wins are enough to support them in achieving the top spot this season.
Regular season champion.
Of course, small probability events are not ruled out.
For example, let's say the Warriors win a dozen consecutive games, and then the Trail Blazers lose a few more games. Only in this way can the Cavaliers hope to overtake them.
However, the probability of this is more equal to 0.
Because after tonight, the Trail Blazers' two generals, Batum and Beverley, both returned, which means that the Trail Blazers' lineup system is back to full strength again.
The well-organized Portland Trail Blazers are the dynasty that has struggled to find an opponent in the league for three years!
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While the Trail Blazers suffered a losing streak, the Golden State Warriors entered March and were in an increasingly hot state. First, they had the last laugh in the strong dialogue with the Trail Blazers at the beginning of the month. In the next five games, they won consecutive games.
win...
After the All-Star Weekend, the Warriors have yet to lose and have won 11 consecutive games.
On the night of the 15th, the Warriors visited Los Angeles and started a battle with the Big Three of the Lakers. Thanks to the superb performance of the Splash Brothers and Durant, the Big Three of the Lakers were defeated by them.
After defeating the Lakers, their record has become 56 wins and 14 losses. When the Trail Blazers lost last night, the gap between the two sides was further narrowed.
At this time, there is only a 4-win gap between the Warriors and Trail Blazers, and it seems possible to overtake the Trail Blazers in the rankings at any time.
As expected, the game between the Warriors and the Lakers has ended, and Warriors fans have fallen into extreme excitement.
At the same time, there are endless voices of disapproval of the Trail Blazers from the outside world.
"My great warrior is invincible in the world!"
"I have said before that as Durant and the Warriors' system get better and better, the Warriors will become unsolvable in the league."
"So what if they are strong in the early stage? As the Warriors continue to exert strength after the All-Star Game, it is time for the Trail Blazers to give way to the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference!"
"Hahahaha, the Portland dynasty is about to collapse just after it was established. Facts have proved that the Warriors are the most championship-looking team this season!"
For a moment, Warriors fans were as excited as if they were celebrating the New Year.
Being able to close the gap with the Trail Blazers is something they have been looking forward to for countless days and nights.
The fans were so noisy. How could Green, who usually loves to stir up trouble, endure his loneliness and immediately roared - "Come on!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "A fake strong team is a fake strong team after all. There is only one champion, and that is our Golden State Warriors!"
This tweet instantly escalated the tension between the two sides.
Anyway, Green has always been a loudmouth and is not afraid of being criticized by fans, so he will tirelessly jump out and challenge Wang Zelin whenever he gets the chance.
Obviously, the Warriors want to overtake the Trail Blazers this season and avoid the shame of being suppressed by the Trail Blazers for the entire season last season.
After recruiting Durant this year, the Warriors have only one plan left, and that is to aim for the championship.
However, before aiming for the championship, they still have a small goal, which is to sweep the entire regular season and establish their dominance.
Stepping on the corpse of the Trail Blazers and ascending to the top is undoubtedly the best way for them to show their dominance!
In order to achieve this goal, they will press step by step over the next month or so.
Seeing that the Warriors have performed so well recently, all the pressure has now come to the Trail Blazers and Wang Zelin.
At this time, the Golden State Warriors are like a poisonous snake lurking in the jungle. As long as the Trail Blazers slack off even a little bit, they will attack decisively and kill with one blow!
A super team is chasing after them, and anyone who comes will frown.
After losing to the Hawks, many fans began to worry about the Trail Blazers. To be honest, even Wang Zelin was a little reluctant to play.
But sometimes, pressure is often motivation.
During normal training on rest days, Wang Zelin did not bring all the negative emotions online to the court. Instead, he encouraged his teammates more actively.
As a leader, anyone can panic at this time, but Wang Zelin must not panic. If even he panics, then you can imagine the change in the team's morale.
There is a saying that goes well, it is difficult to lead a team when people's hearts are scattered.
Therefore, as long as Wang Zelin's sea-fixing needle remains stable, the Trail Blazers' military morale will not be weakened.
With Wang Zelin's encouragement, the Trail Blazers did not appear particularly depressed after losing to the Hawks. Instead, everyone began to gear up and couldn't wait to win the next two consecutive away games to prove themselves.
The media doesn't care about the situation within the Trail Blazers. They just want to fan the flames and further expand the impact of the Trail Blazers' two consecutive losses.
During this period, ESPN sent a team of experts to analyze the schedules of the Trail Blazers and Warriors in the last month or so and predict the final results of the two teams in the regular season.
The prediction results show that the Warriors are likely to win 70 games in the end, while the Trail Blazers will most likely stop at 69 wins...
Uh, no more, no less, according to the ESPN expert team, the Warriors just beat the Trail Blazers by one game. Who would believe it if they didn't do it on purpose?
Needless to say, some fans really have no doubts about the authority of ESPN's expert team.
As a result, even local Portland fans and domestic fans began to worry about the Trail Blazers' next competitive state.
So, on the afternoon of March 16th, the Trail Blazers came to the second stop of their three-game series in the Eastern Conference—Miami!
Tomorrow, on the night of the 17th, they will have their last game of the season with the Heat.
Under the encouragement of the media, the showdown between the league's No. 1 team and the Eastern Conference team hovering on the edge of the playoffs actually turned into a focus battle!
Trail Blazers fans hope that Wang Zelin can lead the team to a hearty victory over the 75ers and put an end to the recent setbacks.
Warriors fans are eager for the Blazers to continue to overturn and be upset, so that the gap between the Blazers and the Warriors will only be three games!
Wang Zelin himself also attaches great importance to this game.
This is not because of the huge pressure. For this reason, Wang Zelin and the Blazers have long been accustomed to high pressure.
Do you really think they won the three championships for nothing?
They were all snatched from the mouths of powerful men from all walks of life!
The reason why he became interested in this game was only because of one person - "Big White Side" Hassan Whiteside!
This season, Whiteside has been playing the masterpiece of his career. So far, he has averaged 17.5 points, 14.2 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game. Both points and rebounds have reached career highs. The blocks have declined compared to the 3.1 blocks per game last season, but it is also very scary.
Ranking third behind Wang Zelin and Davis in the active shot blocking list.
In addition, Whiteside has been in very good shape recently. In the last game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, he interrupted No. 1 draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns in a direct confrontation and scored 23 points, 18 rebounds and 7 blocks.
A super close triple-double, leading the Heat to easily defeat the Timberwolves in the away game 123:105.
After this game, the Heat reached ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 34 wins and 35 losses. Their record was still the same as the Pacers, but they were ranked behind due to the head-to-head record between the two sides.
So strictly speaking, the Miami Heat can definitely be called a playoff team. Even if they are a playoff team in the Eastern Conference, they are much better than more than half of the current teams.
Based on Wang Zelin's understanding of Whiteside, that guy is also a vengeful man. The Trail Blazers have suffered a series of upsets recently, and he will definitely not miss the opportunity to add insult to injury.
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On the evening of March 17, the game between the Trail Blazers and the Heat attracted the attention of most fans.
This game was not only watched by fans of the Trail Blazers and Warriors, but also attracted a large number of spectators.
After all, if they lose to the Trail Blazers again in this game, they will suffer a three-game losing streak. At this juncture, if they suffer a losing streak, then their efforts in the past few months will most likely be in vain.
It is true that the Trail Blazers' record is already very good, and even the dialect history is quite outstanding and dazzling. Now asking them to do better is a bit nitpicking.
Precisely because the Trail Blazers are a super team, the fans and media will raise their standards and have high demands on them.
There are quite a few fans here today to see this. Although the Heat's home stadium, AmericanAirlines Arena, is not as star-studded as Staples or Madison Square Garden, it is relatively well-known compared to more than 80% of the current team's home stadiums.
.
Don't forget, the Big Three of James, Wade, and Bosh gathered here a few years ago, and the American Airlines Arena once became the focus of basketball fans around the world.
Although with the departure of Wade, the soul of the team, countless people ridiculed and ridiculed the management for being ruthless, their background is there.
In addition to celebrities from all walks of life, there are also some famous Heat players present today.
The biggest name is undoubtedly Alonzo Mourning, a generation of tough guy "Kidney Fighter".
Mourning's presence was like adding fuel to the fire, and the already blazing Miami Fire swept the entire venue instantly.
For a time, everyone felt the rolling heat wave coming from the Miami coast.
An hour before the start of the game, players from both sides took the field to warm up.
Since this game was temporarily adjusted to be broadcast live across the United States, the commentators naturally could not be as casual as before.
As for TNT, the top management decisively sent out the super popular ace combination of Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
The two also started today's work while the players were warming up.
"To be honest, the Heat's current record of 34-35 is nothing compared to the 60-8 Trail Blazers, but there are still variables in this game, and we all know that the Trail Blazers can no longer bear it. Another
The unexpected happened."
Sir Barkley did not have his usual playful smile tonight. As a senior player, he is really worried about the Trail Blazers.
It can be seen that he must have been affected by the recent negative opinions on the Trail Blazers.