NBA's strongest prince

Chapter 107 The playoffs are coming

After easily torturing the Rockets, Russell and Yao Ming talked on the phone for a long time.

Russell gave Yao Ming an idea and asked him to force the management to find a lineup that was more suitable for him.

It's a pity that Yao Ming has a better personality. Although he is not the dull type, he will not tear himself apart with the management.

Therefore, his career in the Rockets is doomed to be unresolved, at most he will gain some useful and useless friendships.

On April 4, the Suns faced Kobe Bryant's truce due to injury, and the Lakers, who were already training rookies, took it lightly.

Then they played back to back, with a record of one win and one loss.

The Suns were beaten again by the Warriors, and Russell now feels that the current bearded Davis is his nemesis.

Now that Harden has not yet entered the league, heavy guard Davis is really difficult to deal with.

The main reason is that Russell is relatively weak. D'Antoni couldn't bear to let him be tortured on the court, so he asked him to rest for a few more minutes. Fortunately, this kind of victory or defeat did not affect the ranking, and the Warriors could not enter the playoffs.

The Suns had a relatively intensive schedule in the final stage, but their opponents were relatively weak, and the team also arranged a proper rotation.

It can't be completely regarded as a rotation. There are still some minor injuries on the players that need to be adjusted.

Iguodala hadn't rested before, and at this time he got the adjustment time given by the team.

On April 4, the Suns abused the Lakers again on the road.

Although Kobe played in this game, the current Lakers have no fighting power.

Kobe didn't force it either, he also knew that the season for the Lakers was over.

His thinking is that the team still needs a better big man.

Russell knows the end of the story, the Lakers will trade for parallel import champion Kwame Brown next season.

This can't be helped, good insiders are really not so easy to get, and the Lakers also waited for a long time before they came to Gasol.

After settling the second point of the Lakers, the Suns easily killed the Hornets that had been rotten since the beginning of the season.

From start to finish, the Hornets didn't get the No. [-] pick, but they still picked the person they needed.

In this way, the Suns have only 4 games left in the regular season.

On April 4, the team played against the Clippers at home.

The Clippers couldn't make it to the playoffs, but their record wasn't too bad. They still mainly practice Livingston.

Livingston, who entered the starting lineup, played well, but compared to the pick, he is still too immature.

He actually wanted to beat Russell to prove his strength, but unfortunately he really couldn't.

The current Livingston is not as big as Russell, you must know that he is in his early two meters.

As a player who entered the league in high school, his physical fitness is really not strong enough.

Iguodala is still resting, but his rest will not have a great impact on the team's strength. If Martin replaces him in the starting lineup, the offensive end will actually not be affected, but the defensive end will almost be.

Of course, the Suns still have many options, including Ariza and Barnes, but Martin usually gets this opportunity more conspicuously.

After easily killing the Clippers who trained players, the team is back to back.

But it's all at home, so it doesn't have much impact. Iguodala also chose to come back. There are only a few games left before the playoffs, and he still needs to find his feeling.

Facing the king, the Suns originally planned to have a good contest.

However, King Stojakovic and Brad - Miller both truce, the sun had to give up.

With Webb gone, and without Bai Miller, King's Princeton would not be able to play.

If the Kings can't beat Princeton, it's a bad team with poor defense. The Suns have completely established their advantage in one quarter, and this back-to-back is also extremely easy.

The penultimate game of the season is against the Nuggets. Now that the Suns have locked in the first place in the Western Conference ahead of schedule, there is no pressure.The Nuggets have a good record during this period and have already landed ahead of schedule. Only the Grizzlies and Timberwolves are still competing for the playoffs, so they are already preparing for the playoffs.

It is impossible for the Nuggets to fall to eighth in the West now. If they want to go further, they need to beat the Suns and look at the King's wink, so they didn't work too hard.

After the Suns broke out with strong combat effectiveness in the first quarter, the Nuggets basically gave up.

So this game is also very easy, everyone has a tacit understanding, and they all set their sights on the playoffs.

After the game, the top eight in the Western Conference have been locked in advance, and the Timberwolves are out.

The playoff teams are the Suns, Spurs, Sonics, Mavericks, Rockets, Kings, Nuggets and Grizzlies.

The Suns played against a good opponent in the first round, and the Mavericks actually had a better record than the Sonics, just because they were in the same district as the Spurs and could only rank fourth according to the rules.

As a result, the Rockets have faced stronger opponents. The Suns are really strong this season, and the Supersonics are indeed a dark horse. They are at the bottom of the top four.

In the East, the battle is still in chaos. The ninth and Cavaliers have the same record as the eighth Nets. The seventh 76ers will win one more game. The third Celtics and the fifth Wizards have the same record. Results depend on the final day of play.

So on the last day of the game, the Suns let all the players play to determine their status, and they didn't take it seriously.

After a fierce fight in the East, the ranking was finally determined, and the Cavaliers missed the playoffs by half a win.

In this case, the Western Conference playoff teams are the Heat, Pistons, Celtics, Bulls, Wizards, Pacers, 76ers and Nets. Among them, the Bulls have a better record than the Wizards, which is also the same as the Western Mavericks. However, the team ranked fourth in the same division as the second-ranked team.

In the first round of the playoffs, there will definitely be no problems with the first-tier teams in the East and West, but it is hard to say for other teams.

Especially in the East, except for the Heat and Pistons, the strength gap between the other teams is very small.

As No. [-] in the Western Conference, the Suns can adjust for one more day, and there will be a game on the second day of the playoffs.

The team only did light training. In order to meet the confrontation in the playoffs, they need sufficient experience.

On the contrary, the coaching staff is relatively busy. Even the Grizzlies, the eighth in the Western Conference, have to study carefully. Otherwise, if the boat capsizes in the gutter, most of them will lose their jobs.

Russell was interviewed before the game. As a player who participated in the playoffs for the first time, he was relatively high-profile.

"Before, everyone always talked about what the playoffs would be like. Now the playoffs are about to be played. You should take a good look at the performance of the Suns and see what level of team we are."

Russell is really more confident, nervous but not afraid.

He has a hidden advantage over others in the playoffs, and that is the simulated battles in the system.

He didn't go to extra training these days, but spent his time on the simulated battle.

Simulating one or two games can only be regarded as familiarity, but if they simulate one or twenty games, or even more, Russell will have a very full understanding of their opponents.

He will have a full understanding of the habits of the opposing players, the loopholes in the opponent's tactics, and what methods the Suns use to make it easier to break through the opponent's defense or limit the opponent's offense.

This kind of understanding may not directly determine the outcome, but it can increase the bargaining chip of the outcome.

(End of this chapter)