The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 368 Easy first round
There are four groups of games on the first day of the playoffs, and the scores of the two games in the West are very mysterious.

The third-ranked Thunder in the West played against the sixth-ranked Mavericks in the West. The Thunder also settled the battle at halftime, beating the Mavericks by 38 points.

Like the Rockets, the Mavericks changed their regular season roster out of their own wit and shot themselves in the foot. However, the Mavericks adjusted a little bigger because Parsons couldn't play, and the Rockets were purely for manipulation.

In addition to the strength of the Shuangjun, the Thunder's suffocating defense is refreshing.

The playoffs are different from the regular season. If the team does not change their minds, they will only lose.

And the paleness of the Mavericks also shows that they failed to operate last summer. Except for the old Nuo Tianwang, no one on the team stood up to score.

Compared with the west, the competition in the east is more intense.

The seventh-ranked Pacers in the Eastern Conference went up and down and killed the second-ranked Raptors in the Eastern Conference.

Paul George broke out in the second half and helped the team reverse and defeat the Raptors to win the game.

The Raptors became cute in the playoffs, not to mention the lineup. Carroll, who was acquired at a high price last summer, was placed on the bench. Although his performance did not meet expectations due to injuries, the opponent has a strong third position. Now, Carroll, who has playoff experience and defense, doesn't need it. It's better to let the fans take command.

The battle between the Eagles and the Celtics for fourth and fifth places is a fierce duel of team basketball.

The Eagles rejected the opponent's reversal in the final quarter, narrowly beating the Celtics 102-101, leading the series 1-0.

The score is only 1 point away. You know, the Celtics have been firmly suppressed by their opponents in the first half of the game. In this game, the Celtics took 52 shots in the half and only hit 12 goals. "In the first 6 minutes of the game, we struggled on the defensive end. But after that, everyone's defense did a good job." Green Army coach Stevens said.

"The Hawks' interior is full of energy, although they are not outstanding in terms of height. Of course, when we play small ball tactics, the lineup is not very big."

Thomas Jr. said, "We can't dig ourselves a hole like this, especially in the playoffs, it's hard to win like this."

In addition, Celtics guard Bradley was injured, which also clouded their playoff prospects.

"We lost a brother, it's heartbreaking," Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. Stand up at the right time."

On the second day of the game, it still felt strong and weak.

However, the Cavaliers with the number one moving department almost ran into trouble when they played against the Pistons.

The Cavaliers can only rely on James, Irving and Love to score, so the score has been entangled, and even the Pistons took the lead, but at the last moment, the three All-Star performances immediately took over the game.

Competitive basketball needs a team, no matter how strong a star is, it is impossible to play for 48 minutes alone, but competitive basketball also needs stars, and heroes are always needed at critical moments.

In another contest in the East, the third-ranked Heat beat the sixth-ranked Hornets.

The Heat signed Joe Johnson in the second half of the season, and the team has more firepower. The key is that their inside can give the team enough support. In this game, Whiteside dominated the inside and the Hornets played very hard.

The Hornets only grabbed 28 rebounds in the whole game, which was much lower than the average level. It is conceivable how much they were suppressed.

In the matchup between the Spurs and the Grizzlies in the Western Conference, the two core players Gasol Jr. and Mike Conley were unable to play due to injuries. The Spurs clocked out of get off work in three quarters and easily won.

The two teams also have a lot of connections in the playoffs, but this time due to personnel issues, there should not be much suspense in this playoff matchup.

In the four or five matchup in the West, in the game between the Clippers and the Trail Blazers, the Clippers took control of the situation at the beginning of the game, firmly suppressing their opponents, and did not give the Blazers a chance.

The Blazers' double guns gave people the feeling that the playoffs mode had not been activated, and Lillard also seemed extremely unwilling in an interview after the game.

However, the Blazers saved so much money last summer and were able to make the playoffs, which is considered a profit.

On April 4, the second game between the Warriors and the Rockets started. To be on the safe side, Curry had a truce.

The Rockets also changed their starting lineup and brought up Motiejunas.

The Warriors put Livingston into the starting lineup. The team does not have Curry as a big killer, but its strength is definitely still among the strong teams.

The Rockets scored in the paint at the start of the game, and the Warriors didn't really care about it. Even if they couldn't beat the Death Five without Curry, it didn't matter if they used Bogut inside to play against the normal lineup.

Zhang Xiaotian and Klay Thompson played tough at the beginning and took on the team's scoring task.

It's really not easy for the Rockets to limit the two of them, but the only strength of the Rockets is Harden. Klay Thompson and Iguodala can take turns to consume.

Howard, who is in his prime, no longer has the demeanor of the first center, which has a great impact on the strength of the Rockets.

And Iguodala's touch has also improved this time. Although Terry, Beasley and Josh Smith on the Rockets' side played well, the Warriors did not suffer from the bench this time.

The most important thing is that Harden, the rocket's strongest point, was overwhelmed by Klay Thompson, so the Warriors controlled the rhythm in the first half.

Although they only led by 8 points at halftime, a lead is a lead.

In a game against the Warriors, it is not safe to lead ahead, let alone lag behind.

In the lead, the Warriors don't need to change their tactics in the slightest, just stare at Harden.

The Rockets scoring organization wants Harden to talk about it. If the Warriors work harder, even if the Rockets can fight them to the end, it is estimated that Harden will not have the strength in the end.

Howard just wanted to get up in the third quarter, but Zhang Xiaotian pushed him down.

If it was Warcraft at its peak, it would definitely not be so easy to solve, but now Howard's defense is much slower, and he can't stand the Warriors' deliberate impact at all.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, neither Harden nor Howard went down, and the Rockets still planned to fight.

But Zhang Xiaotian took over the game as soon as he came up, and helped the team extend the lead to double digits in 2 minutes.

The Rockets hastened to restrict Ariza in a targeted manner. Ariza is tall, long and has good defensive awareness. He is flexible in movement and ruthless in attack. He should be very agile in dealing with flexible strikers, but he cannot restrict Zhang Xiaotian.

This is the problem of strength. In fact, Ariza is Iguodala's type. He is good at defense, but it is not easy to meet top strikers who can shoot.

The point is, the Rockets' overall defense sucks.

In half a quarter, the Warriors stabilized their lead and beat Howard down.

Even with Curry resting, they still won easily.

最终张小天拿下28分7篮板7助攻，帮助球队季后赛首轮2：0领先火箭。

(End of this chapter)