After the All-Star Weekend, each team in the league took advantage of the trade deadline to strengthen themselves through transactions as much as possible to prepare for the final sprint to the playoffs.
With various transactions happening frequently, the Cavaliers and Warriors, the two teams ranked first and second in regular season record, did not make any big moves. They only signed one or two players with minimum salary and short-term contracts to complete the roster.
Fill to full capacity of 15 people.
Both teams are the favorites to win the championship this season. Their regular season records are extremely stable, their team tactics are reasonable and their lineups are stable. There is no need to break the existing chemical reaction through transactions.
This is also true.
After the trade deadline, more than half of the teams in the entire league began to sprint towards the playoffs. The top eight teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences need to continue to stabilize their records to maintain their positions, and outside the top eight, there are
Teams that have a chance to make the playoffs are not willing to let the season end like this and start to catch up.
But only the Cavaliers and Warriors have as stable a record as ever.
At the end of February and the entire March schedule, the Cavaliers participated in a total of 20 games, winning 15 games and losing 5 games. The winning rate was as high as 75%, almost on par with the Warriors in the Western Conference.
It is worth mentioning that in mid-March, the Cavaliers challenged the Warriors away from home. This was the second and last regular season contest between the two teams this season.
In this game, Curry was sidelined due to an ankle sprain. The Warriors lost to the Cavaliers. They suffered a double defeat in the regular season and were double-killed by their direct rivals, the Cavaliers.
Winning both games against the Warriors boosted the Cavaliers' morale, but Tyronn Lue knew how to give up when things were good. In the following games, he began to take turns arranging the main players to rest.
The Cavaliers' record is firmly at the top of the Eastern Conference without any surprises. Compared with the Warriors, the Cavaliers are still several games behind. It is very difficult for the Cavaliers to surpass the opponent and become the league's first.
In this case, simply let the players get more opportunities to rest in order to prepare for the playoffs.
With this idea in mind, after entering April, the Cavaliers only had a winning rate of less than 40% and lost more than half of the games.
However, even if they were let go in the final stage of April, the Cavaliers' record was still very good, and finally settled at 60 wins and 22 losses, with a winning rate of 73%, ranking first in the Eastern Conference and third in the league.
The five-star Warriors have the best record in the league, with 66 wins and 16 losses in the regular season, with a winning rate of 80.5%.
This winning rate is actually very good, and it can be ranked among the best in league history.
However, neither Golden State Warriors fans nor various media and basketball commentators are very satisfied with the Warriors' performance.
There is no way, the most helpless thing in this world is comparison.
Last season, the Warriors won 74 wins, 8 losses and 35 consecutive victories, setting multiple records and shocking the entire league. In the new season, the Warriors changed their guns and Wang Feng became a stronger Durant. How come he is still better than Durant?
How many more games did you lose last season?
What is this? Are the five-star Warriors weaker than the 74-win Warriors? If this is really the case, what is the reason for this?
What is even more unacceptable is the fact that the Warriors were double-killed by the Cavaliers during the regular season.
Even if Curry is absent in the second game, losing is helpless, but the defeat in the first game cannot be dealt with no matter what!
The Cavaliers, who were almost defenseless against the Warriors in the first two seasons, have become so strong just because Wang Feng joined the team? Many Warriors fans are vaguely uneasy.
"If these two teams really meet in the Finals, can the Warriors really win?"
…
Many people are currently unsure who will win the championship between the Cavaliers and the Warriors. Most people believe that the Warriors can win. Although they were double-killed in the regular season, they are the five-star Warriors with two regular season MVPs.
, the Cavaliers are at a disadvantage in terms of lineup and regular season record. This is an indisputable fact.
But there is one thing that the vast majority of fans agree on, and that is the finals. It is very likely that these two teams will meet up, which means that the two teams will compete in the East and West respectively.
The Cavaliers' opponent in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs is the Chicago Bulls, who are ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference.
At the beginning of the season, the Chicago Bulls spent a lot of money to form the Big Three combination of Wade, Butler and Rondo. To this end, they did not hesitate to send away their star Derrick Rose, who had been unable to return to his peak due to injuries.
The Bulls, who form the Big Three, have a strong lineup and a deep bench. They were once considered one of the strong teams in the Eastern Conference.
However, it turns out that the structure of the Big Three combination of Wade, Butler and Rondo is unreasonable.
First of all, the three of them are outsiders, and they are all players who are not good at long-range shooting. This has led to the Bulls' offensive rhythm being very slow and lacking shooting space now that small ball tactics are popular.
Secondly, both Wade and Rondo have deteriorated very seriously. Wade, who is also limited by injuries, has long lost his original explosiveness and scoring ability. The offense has begun to shift from breakthroughs to the basket to mid-range shots, and his shooting rate is also very average.
, only about 43%, averaging only 18.5 points per game for the Bulls.
On the other side, Rondo's situation is even worse. He does not fit the Bulls' system. Rondo averaged a double-double of 11.9 points and 11.7 assists with the Kings last season. However, his numbers with the Bulls plummeted.
7.8 points and 6.7 assists, which is incompatible with the team's tactical system.
Obviously, the Bulls' Big Three combination failed, resulting in the team barely entering the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of only 41 wins and 41 losses.
Facing the Cleveland Cavaliers, no one thought they had a chance to win.
The result is what most people expected.
On April 16, the opening game of the first round of the playoffs began.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Chicago Bulls.
This is a game with almost no suspense throughout.
From the moment of the jump ball, the Cavaliers were always in the lead until the end of the game.
James scored a game-high 27 points, Irving 21 points, Wang Feng 18 points, and Love 14 points.
Although Wang Feng's score was not high, in this game, Wang Feng, who was responsible for guarding Jimmy Butler throughout the game, successfully limited the opponent's shooting percentage to less than 35%, allowing the opponent, the Bulls' strongest scoring point, to only score 16 points in the game.
Jimmy Butler is an outstanding player who has always been underestimated. Especially in the next few years, Butler has been proving that he is the toughest one, leading the Heat to the Finals and competing with James.
Fighting with Davis, personally overthrowing the 76ers who abandoned him, killing Embiid and Harden to the point of losing their armor.
But the current Butler is not as strong as he will be in the next few years, and even at that time, his scoring ability is not at the top level in the league. He is just more trustworthy when fighting tough battles.