NBA’s aging star system

On April 4, the play-offs began, starting with the seventh and eighth games in the East and West.

In the West, the Jazz play against the Nuggets, and in the East, the Nets play against the Cavaliers.

The Nuggets suffered a serious decline in strength due to Murray's injury. Jokic was unable to support himself alone, and it was difficult to exert his full strength against the Jazz with a full lineup. The Jazz also won easily and secured the seventh position.

In fact, it is not that the Jazz have never thought about losing the game on purpose to avoid the Lakers, but the play-offs are a single-game format, and the Jazz dare not make a big move. If they lose the game again, they will directly miss the playoffs.

When the Nets faced the Cavaliers in the East, they played with all their main lineups. They lost to the Big Three Nets and the Cavaliers, and the Nets stabilized seventh place in the East.

On April 4, the ninth and tenth matches between the two sides started.

The result was as predicted by the Lakers. The Pelicans defeated the Timberwolves and the Hawks defeated the Hornets.

Two days later, the Pelicans played against the Nuggets and the Hawks played against the Cavaliers to determine the eighth position.

This time the result was different from what the Lakers predicted. The Pelicans team broke out, won the game with difficulty, and successfully entered the playoffs!

The Hawks also went against the trend, defeating the Cavaliers and reaching the eighth position in the Eastern Conference.

The Pelicans' victory also caused the Jazz to break out in a cold sweat. Jazz head coach Snyder was even more fortunate that he did not lose the game on purpose because of his cleverness.

Although we have to face the Lakers in the playoffs, it is at least better than not playing in the playoffs.

At this point, all the play-offs for the Eastern and Western sides have been completed, and the playoffs have officially begun.

On April 4, the playoffs officially started. The Clippers in the Western Conference started the game against the Pelicans first. The Lakers were relatively quiet and were training step by step under the leadership of Walton.

But after the Clippers game started, Su Tian still watched the live broadcast with members of the coaching staff to observe the Clippers' playoff status.

Head coach Walton sat next to Su Tian and said, "Su, what do you think of the Clippers this season?"

"Clippers? They should have no problem winning the series against the Pelicans. This should be relatively easy." Su Tian said.

"Of course I know this. I mean how far do you think the Clippers can go?"

Su Tianmo rubbed his chin and said: "How far can we go? There should be no problem in the first round. In the second round, the Clippers will most likely face the Warriors. It depends on Curry's performance. It’s bad that the Clippers can’t even advance to the Western Conference Finals.”

Walton was quite surprised by Su Tian's answer. Although Curry is indeed capable, the Warriors' strength has declined seriously in the past few seasons. It is no longer easy to reach the playoffs. Su Tian actually thinks that the Warriors can Win the Clippers!

"Oh? Su, you are so confident in the Warriors? You know Leonard has already come back."

Su Tian smiled and said: "Of course I know it, but I know the Warriors' state better. They will definitely bring big trouble to the Clippers."

While the two were talking, the game started.

In fact, this series is very easy for the Clippers. The Clippers don't even need to use any hidden methods. They only need the two cores to perform normally to win this game.

And Su Tian only watched the first half and stopped watching, because the Clippers' victory had been determined, and even the tone of this series had been set, and the Clippers would not have much resistance.

The final result of the game was indeed in line with Su Tian's prediction. The Clippers won the game with a score of 130-117, and the Pelicans had no strong counterattack at all.

Seeing the Clippers' state, Walton had a good idea, and turned around to prepare the Lakers' playoff plan.

The next day, April 4, the Lakers game started.

The Jazz are an old rival of the Lakers. They have been defeated by the Lakers countless times, and this time will be no exception.

From the beginning of the game, Su Tian scored consecutively to take the lead. In the first quarter alone, the Lakers led by 8 points.

While the Lakers' offense was running smoothly, the Jazz's offense was not unexpectedly severely affected. The main problem was Mitchell.

Mitchell still couldn't break through Su Tian's blockade. Without Mitchell's offense, the Jazz would be at the mercy of others.

At the end of the first half, the Lakers led by 14 points. Many Jazz fans didn't even want to watch anymore because the Lakers' victory was determined!

In the third quarter, Mitchell tried to fight back, but in the end it was in vain.

Two minutes before the end of the game, Snyder looked at the 2-point difference on the field, replaced the main players, and surrendered.

At the end of the game, the Lakers easily won the first game.

Basketball commentator Barkley said: "The Jazz were like a second-tier league team when facing the Lakers, with no resistance at all."

The whole game was uneventful. Su Tian only scored 27 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds, and did not show his full strength.

Two days later, Game 2 of the series.

The Jazz tried to change. When faced with Su Tian's blockade, Mitchell mainly played without the ball. When holding the ball, he also tried his best to cooperate with the pick-and-roll and avoid Su Tian's defense.

This method does have some effects. Mitchell's data has improved compared to the previous game, and his efficiency has also improved a lot.

But letting the ball-handling core play without the ball is a self-defeating approach, not to mention that the Jazz can't guard against the Lakers' offense.

Even the thick eyebrows that were previously known as "the pendant on Su Tian's thigh" repeatedly bombed the basket with the help of Su Tian. Gobert, the best defensive player, was no match at all.

After two games, the Lakers led the Jazz 2-0 and did not feel any pressure at all.

On April 4, the Lakers came to the home court of the Jazz. The Jazz's home court had always been known as the devil's home court during the Utah Shuangsha period. However, with the retirement of the two bad guys, the "devil" of the home court was gone forever.

In fact, to put it bluntly, apart from the geographical reasons like Denver, the so-called Devil's home stadium is due to the strength of the team itself.

The stronger the home team, the more devilish the home team will be.

And the current Jazz team, at least when facing the Lakers, can never be called a "devil".

Soon the game started, and as the schedule progressed, everyone soon discovered that the progress of the game was no different from that at Staples.

Soon after the first half, the Lakers already led by 11 points.

In the Jazz locker room, Mitchell lowered his head and said nothing. Next to him, Gobert also lowered his head to tidy up his shoes. The entire locker room fell into incomparable silence.

Head coach Snyder looked at the situation in the locker room and secretly thought something was wrong.

Snyder knows very well that the Jazz are no match for the Lakers, but he also knows that he cannot really let the team's spirit dissipate, otherwise the team will fall apart immediately.

Although the Jazz are not strong and can only reach the end of the playoffs, the Jazz have many conflicts within the team.

Mitchell and Gobert seem to have no conflict, but in fact the conflict is not small. Gobert wants to be the boss of the Jazz for a day or two, but as a defensive player, wanting to be the boss is really not convincing.