NBA: Being criticized for half a year at the beginning

After the trade deadline, teams in the league that have a chance to make the playoffs also began to exert their strength.

The Rockets were the same. Before Curry returned, the Rockets won 5 consecutive games.

They defeated the Jazz and Celtics at home, and also defeated the Nets and Kings in back-to-back away games.

The Rockets seemed to have regained the feeling of winning. After five consecutive wins, they returned to the playoffs and came to the eighth place in the West.

Harden averaged a double-double in five games, including two games with a triple-double.

Anthony averaged 25.4 points per game, and Durant averaged 27.9 points per game.

However, the Rockets lost the first game after Curry returned to the court. They lost to the Lakers, who were second in the West, away from home.

The Lakers also surpassed the Spurs and came to the first place in the West with this game.

After this game, Tang Yu re-established a rotation lineup list with the coaching staff.

The starting lineup is Curry, Harden, Durant, Anthony and Ibaka.

Put Curry and Durant in one group, and lead Kawhi Leonard, Jeremy Lin and Yao Ming to form a lineup.

Put Harden and Durant in one group, and Ibaka, Kawhi Leonard and Ray Allen in one lineup.

Terry and Oden will both get opportunities at certain times.

The Rockets have since started to make a full effort to enter the playoffs.

In the two games against the Jazz, the direct playoff opponent, the Rockets won all the games. This one-game-worth-two game allowed the Rockets to quickly secure the eighth position in the West.

But the Rockets in the top seven in the West could not catch up with the Mavericks. Until the end of the regular season, the Rockets were still one win behind the Mavericks and ranked eighth in the West.

In fact, this is also Tang Yu's fault. After the Rockets secured their playoff spot, Tang Yu began to rest and adjust the lineup.

Tang Yu tried to use Kawhi Leonard, Durant and Anthony as a frontcourt combination in the game, and Curry and Oden were in the backcourt.

But this lineup does not seem to be very useful. Tang Yu gave up this tactic after achieving unsatisfactory results.

This lineup is pretty good on offense, but defense is a big problem. Durant, the tallest of the five, can only play small forward. Melo and Xiaoka can compete, but their height is seriously insufficient.

The low-post defense of the two is also far from reaching that level of expertise. In the end, Tang Yu decided to use Ibaka as an important player of the team.

Ibaka can take on the heavy responsibility of offense, defense, support and organization of offense. It can be said that Tang Yu is training Ibaka to be a future center little by little.

The Rockets ranked eighth in the West with 47 wins and 35 losses in the regular season.

The other top seven are the Los Angeles Lakers-66 wins and 16 losses, leading the league and winning first place;

The San Antonio Spurs 63 wins and 19 losses are second in the West;

In the second half of the regular season, the Spurs played a good job, constantly controlling the winning rate to avoid the Rockets. Originally, the Spurs had been leading the league.

The good news is that the Spurs finally succeeded in avoiding the Rockets, and the bad news is that the Spurs were fined $150,000.

The Oklahoma Thunder ranked third in the West with 58 wins and 24 losses. The Thunder, who sent Durant away in exchange for the two old Celtics in their twilight years, have a chance to win the championship this year.

Another Los Angeles team, the Clippers, ranked fourth in the West with 57 wins and 25 losses. They successfully squeezed out the Grizzlies and Nuggets to get the home advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Memphis Grizzlies ranked fifth in the West with 56 wins and 26 losses. The Grizzlies suddenly declined after the All-Star Game, causing them to drop from the original third place in the West to the fifth place in the West.

This has a lot to do with the injury of the team's inside player Zach Randolph. After Randolph recovered, the Grizzlies' record gradually improved.

The records of the 3rd to 5th places in the West are very close, which is also a microcosm of the crazy West.

The Denver Nuggets, led by Al-Farouq Aminu, are ranked sixth in the Western Conference with 52 wins and 28 losses. Al-Farouq Aminu continues to grow this season, averaging 27.6 points per game, 11.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.9 blocks.

This data allowed Al-Farouq Aminu to enter the MVP list for the first time. After the season, Al-Farouq Aminu ranked fourth on the MVP list.

The seventh place is the Dallas Mavericks. Nowitzki returned to Dallas to continue to sit firmly on the throne. His season score rose to 24.8 points. The German who won the championship is expected to spend the rest of his life in Dallas.

The Eastern Conference is much less cruel than the Western Conference, and the competition for playoff seats is not as fierce as in the Western Conference.

The Heat ranked first in the Eastern Conference with 63 wins and 19 losses. After the Big Three of James, Wade and Bosh ushered in the blessing of Caron Butler, I believe they have a very great hope of winning the championship in this year's playoffs.

The Chicago Bulls also achieved a record of 60 wins and 22 losses under the leadership of Rose. Rose led the Bulls to 60+ wins for three consecutive seasons.Lee, the last time it was that man who achieved such an achievement.

The Indiana Pacers are ranked third in the East, with a record of 54 wins and 28 losses.

The traditional upper half power Atlanta Hawks are ranked fourth in the East with 50 wins and 32 losses.

The Orlando Magic are ranked fifth in the East with 46 wins and 36 losses. The problem of the Magic in recent seasons is that they cannot find enough helpers for Howard, and they can no longer replicate the myth of entering the finals four years ago.

The sixth place in the East is the Boston Celtics of the Green Army. It is unimaginable that the Green Army won a playoff spot under the condition of demolition and reconstruction.

Stevens's achievement in his first year as head coach also made the Green Army fans quite excited.

This also verifies the saying that while competing for the championship, they are also scrambling for the No. 1 pick.

The seventh place in the East is the 75 people led by Iguodala, who has a record of 42 wins and 42 losses.

The Milwaukee Bucks grabbed the last playoff spot in the East with 41 wins and 43 losses.

All the Eastern and Western Conference playoff rosters are released at the same time.

Western Conference matchups:

Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs. Houston Rockets (8)

San Antonio Spurs (2) vs. Dallas Mavericks (7)

Oklahoma City Thunder (3) vs. Denver Nuggets (6)

Los Angeles Clippers (4) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (5)

Eastern Conference matchups:

Miami Heat (1) vs. Milwaukee Bucks (8)

Chicago Bulls (2) vs. Philadelphia 75ers (7)

Indiana Pacers (3) vs. Boston Celtics (6)

Atlanta Hawks (4) vs. Orlando Magic (5)