God's hand behind the scenes

Chapter 450
With 2 minutes and 17 seconds left in the regular time, this battle between the East and the West has lost its meaning.Although the Pistons only lead by 12 points, the Lakers have not been able to narrow the point difference to single digits for a long time, which greatly affected their morale. In the last two minutes or so, they were not defeated by the Pistons. It would be good to continue to widen the gap.

Such a situation made Zen master not in the mood to continue commanding the team. After he replaced all the starters, he watched the real-time statistics made by the Lakers staff and remained silent.Although Kobe and O'Neal played at a normal level, one of them contributed 25 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and the other scored a large double-double with 29 points and 13 rebounds. He scored 5 points and 3 rebounds on 14 of 5 shots from the outside, perfectly playing the role of a three-point shooter.

But Zen Master's eyes just glanced at their data, and then fell on the two lines of Payton and Malone.As veterans who still have strength, their performance in this game is substandard. Malone is relatively better. He suppressed Thomas in the first quarter, but then fell into constant turning back and forth. Got 16 points and 7 rebounds.

Payton became a disaster in the constant running of the Pistons guard. He was old and couldn't keep up with the opponent's footsteps at all, and he was completely blown up in one-on-one defense, whether it was Billups with average speed or Wade, who has a strong impact, passed him like a wooden stake. It is not at all obvious that he is the only point guard in NBA history who has won the best defensive player.

More importantly, neither of them played much. Malone played 24 minutes and Payton only had 19 minutes.Of course, the situation of them sitting on the bench for a long time is different from the previous game. Before that, Zen Master wanted to reduce their consumption to deal with this game, but now they have to sit on the bench because of lack of energy. Take a few extra minutes of rest.

This made Zen Master feel a little worried. After all, the intensity of the playoffs is higher than that of the regular season. If the veterans can't hold on, then the team's strength will drop by at least a notch.The only way now is to ask the players to try their best to gain a big enough advantage in the first half, so that even if they performed mediocrely in the last two quarters, it is enough to win the game.

In the rest of the regular season, Zen Master still has the opportunity to practice this idea, but this game is impossible.In the end, the Pistons defeated the Lakers 101-92 at home, further widening the gap between the two sides.Although this game cannot be said to have established the ownership of the championship, at least the Pistons have proved that they are the strongest team in the regular season.

The toughness shown by the Pistons in this game also made other teams aspiring to compete for the championship. Several teams in the East are even more frustrated. They seem to have seen the bleak prospects of the playoffs.With the current dominance of the Pistons, it is basically wishful thinking for other teams to break out of the Eastern Conference, and the Raptors players headed by McGrady and Carter still want to compete.

However, regardless of whether they can beat the Pistons in the playoffs, their record in the regular season is definitely not as good as this perverted team. The current Pistons are far ahead of other teams with a record of 52 wins and 14 losses. The Lakers, who were stretched to 2.5 wins, and the second-ranked Raptors in the East are also 7 games behind them. Even if the regular season champion is in hand.

But the Pistons players were not complacent about this. Even the two rookies were infected by the atmosphere of the team. They only knew to practice hard on the training ground every day, and tried their best to do what Brown asked for in the official game.Of course, what they did also allowed them to get more playing time. Brown likes such players who strictly abide by discipline.

Now the Pistons can be said to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. They only need to continue to win the game, and the opponents in the playoffs do not need to think too much.The other teams in the Eastern Conference are desperate for the remaining 7 playoff spots. Of course, no one wants to fall to the eighth place in the Eastern Conference. This is almost equivalent to being swept out in the first round.But for some teams, reaching the playoffs is a victory, and who cares whether they will be swept or not. Eighth and ninth have completely different meanings to them.

Soon the Raptors also locked a playoff spot, followed by the Pacers, 76ers, Nets, Hornets, Knicks and Celtics, but ranked sixth to eighth. The team can't take it lightly. The ninth-place Heat and the tenth-place Cavaliers are chasing closely. There is only a gap of 2 wins between sixth and tenth. The situation may change at any time.

Chang Wei does not want the Cavaliers to occupy the eighth position in the Eastern Conference. Although James is still a rookie and has not yet reached his peak combat power, he will put tremendous pressure on the Pistons' flanks.If possible, Chang Wei would rather the Pistons face any other team from sixth to tenth than the Cavaliers led by James.

But soon he was relieved. The Cavaliers' other main player, Ricky Davis, injured his knee during the game and will be sidelined for at least 3-4 weeks. This also means that he basically missed the final stage of the regular season. up.After losing Davis, the young James seemed a little helpless. After a wave of 4 consecutive losses, they have almost withdrawn from the playoffs.

Chang Wei didn't have much sympathy for the Cavaliers' encounter. If nothing else, they will become the Pistons' strongest opponent in the East after a few seasons.In fact, it was the Heat that started to rise at this time, but after Chang Wei helped the Pistons win Wade first, the Heat could only linger, and being able to rank ninth in the Eastern Conference was almost their limit.

The playoff battle in the West is also chaotic, and the Jazz and Trail Blazers are still pursuing a chance to make the playoffs.What worries Chang Wei is that the Rockets are temporarily ranked seventh in the Western Conference. The gap between them and the Jazz is only 1.5 games, and it is entirely possible that they will be squeezed by their opponents.Although the Rockets did make it to the playoffs this season in the previous life, it is hard to say now. If the Jazz or the Blazers suddenly exert their strength, it will be difficult for the Rockets to keep their place in the playoffs.

Generally speaking, No.9 in the East and West is the hardest. They can't make it to the playoffs, and the draft picks they get are very average. It's no wonder that every team wants to show their faces on the playoffs stage. Now, at least it can be called a strong team, instead of picking someone in the draft with a mid-first-round pick to enrich the lineup.

(End of this chapter)