NBA Building Cardinals

Chapter 255 Countdown to the Playoffs (45)

Sure enough, as soon as he came back in the fourth quarter, after a short rotation, Van Gundy took Yao and Mai ahead of schedule and led the Rockets to start a counterattack.

But also due to the exhaustion of physical strength, the Bobcats not only withstood the Rockets' counterattack, but also played the Rockets' wave of climax in turn, which completely lost the suspense of this game.

At the end of the game, the Bobcats played on the road with:
109:101
8 points to beat the Rockets.

The victory of this game also allowed the Bobcats to win five of the eight games on the road trip.

The last game of the next road trip will be against the Warriors.

Faced with this game, the Bobcats still have a great chance of winning the game.

Once the Bobcats win this game, then in the nine games of the Western Conference road trip, the Bobcats will achieve a record of 6 wins and 3 losses.

April 3

After the Bobcats defeated the Rockets in the away game, they also rushed to the Golden State Oakland Arena without stopping.

The intensive schedule during this period also suffered from the young players of the Bobcats.

It can be said that he sat on the plane until he vomited, and rushed to the next game after this game. Even in this state, he was able to get a record of 5 wins and 3 losses, which also made Liu Rui feel very gratified.

It is also because during this period of the road trip, the Bobcats encountered several underdogs one after another, which may be considered a blessing in misfortune.

Facing the Warriors, Liu Rui didn't take it seriously at all, not only because the Warriors were poor this season, but they also wanted to lose enough balls to win a higher draft pick.

The main reason is that the Warriors are currently in the league, except for the Bobcats, the team that likes three-pointers the most.

When two teams with the same emphasis met, Liu Rui could better understand the Warriors' tactical choices.

Add in the sheer gap between the players, and it's hard for the Bobcats to lose this game.

For the Warriors head coach Montgomery, Liu Rui is even more fond of it.

After all, Liu Rui has such an advanced three-point concept, which is based on the vision of traveling back.

Montgomery completely used the ideas of this era to build the future system.

So before the game, Liu Rui also hugged Montgomery on the sidelines once.

It's just that the difference from last time is that the situation of the two of them can be said to be different now.

Although Montgomery is the godfather of basketball in the NCAA, he really hit a wall after arriving in the NBA.

After this season, whether he can continue to persist in the NBA is still unknown.

On the other hand, Liu Rui did launch an impact on the playoffs with the little-known Bobcats.

So this time they played against each other again, which also changed the mentality of both of them.

After chatting with Montgomery on the sidelines for a while, Liu Rui still didn't express his intention to recruit him, because the time has not yet come.

Facing the Warriors, due to the continuous away games, all the players followed the plane to the Oakland Stadium.

But for veteran players like Divac and Smith, Liu Rui did not give them playing time, but let them sit off the court to rest.

After the game started, there was no suspense. From the first quarter, the rhythm of the game has been controlled by the Bobcats.

In order not to embarrass Montgomery too much, Liu Rui has tried his best to send players with poor defensive ability to play on the court.

Even so, at the end of the game, the Bobcats still ended with:

127:109
18 points beat the Warriors.

Seeing that the score of this game is still quite high, this reminded Liu Rui on the sidelines of a sentence in his mind.

I also want to keep a low profile, but his strength doesn't allow me...

In this final road trip in the Western Conference.

奥卡福本场比赛出场了19分钟，8投5中，罚球3中2，拿下了12分7篮板4助攻的数据。

Jefferson contributed 17 points and 14 rebounds in 8 minutes.

With the running-in in the game, the two people's match in the inside line has also become more and more tacit.

Whether it is on the offensive or defensive ends, it can be said that there is a clear division of labor.

And although this season is not over yet, the current best rookie award has been reserved by Okafor.

Because of Okafor's performance this season, he has left other rookies far behind.

So far this season, Okafor has averaged 27.4 minutes per game, scoring 14.6 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists.

And on the defensive end, there are 1.1 steals and 1.4 block.

On both ends of the offense and defense, he definitely deserves the title of best rookie.

And, if it weren't for Charlotte's low market exposure, with this performance, if it was in Los Angeles or New York, it would definitely be selected as an All-Star.

Okafor's data, whether it is points, rebounds, or blocks, has declined according to his previous life.

But in terms of assists and efficiency on the court, they have improved a lot compared to the previous life.

The most important thing is that this season Okafor has been strictly controlled by Liu Rui's playing time. So far, he has not suffered any serious injuries.

For Okafor, this is his greatest asset.

The victory in this game also officially announced the end of the Bobcats' nine-game streak in the West.

In these nine games, the Bobcats have achieved an excellent record of 6 wins and 3 losses.

Help the Bobcats' record now come to 36 wins and 31 losses, once again rose to the seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

Although the gap with the team behind him is very small, at least sitting in this position can bring great psychological comfort to Bobcats fans.

Rather than chasing after him hard, of course sitting on top makes people feel more at ease.

The end of this game means that there are still 15 games left in the regular season of this season.

At that time, the ranking of the final playoffs will be fully implemented.

Judging from the current situation, the Bobcats are still very hopeful to keep their place in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

No matter how the outside world speculates, in Liu Rui's view, the most likely to fall out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference is his Bobcats, and the Bulls behind.

Although the Nets are currently ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference, Liu Rui is still optimistic that the Nets can enter the top eight in the Eastern Conference in the later stages.

After the game, Liu Rui also led the team back to Charlotte.

Next, the Bobcats will usher in a rare two-day break, and after the break, there will be a series of home tours.

What the players have to do is to seize the time to restore their state recently.

And in training, try to complete more running-in with teammates.

But compared to players, Liu Rui has a lot to do now.

The entire coaching staff must not only analyze the upcoming games, but also start preparing for the playoff rankings.

See if you can try to win as many games as possible in the next few games left, so that the Bobcats' ranking will rise again.

Otherwise, even if they finally enter the playoffs, they will face the Heat or Pistons in the first round.

Obviously, this is not good news for any team...

(End of this chapter)