Basketball: The Chosen Victim

Chapter 250 Playoff Ranking Battle!

The time has entered April, and the 2011-2012 regular season, the second-shortest season in NBA history, has entered its final stage.

However, the Heat ushered in a losing streak in away games and took the initiative to give up the No. [-] position in the Eastern Conference, allowing the Bulls to take the opportunity to take the lead.

The Heat resolutely gave up the hard-won first throne, nothing more than to weaken the state of the Cavaliers and increase the chances of winning when they meet again in the playoffs.

In this regard, the Cavaliers will certainly not give up.

They immediately set off to face the next game at full speed. They were only one game away from the third Pacers. As long as they returned to the third place, according to the playoff table, they could continue to compete with the No.2 Heat in the season. They met in the second round of the playoffs.

Soon, the Grizzlies and Jazz suffered one after another, and the Cavaliers won two consecutive victories!
But the gap between them and the Pacers has not narrowed...

Because the Pacers are even more desperate than them!

The Pacers' current team boss Granger and future boss Paul George both exploded against the Thunder and the Hawks, and they struggled to win two consecutive victories, consolidating their positions.

For a while, the competition for the top four in the Eastern Conference became subtle.

No. 42 in the East, the Bulls, 16 wins and [-] losses.

Second in the East, the Heat, 41 wins and 17 losses.

The third in the East, the Pacers, 37 wins and 21 losses.

Fourth in the Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers, 36 wins and 22 losses.

The Bulls are most eager for the title of No. [-] in the East, although the current No. [-] in the East will face the Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs, facing the pressure of repeating the same mistakes.

But now that there are three giants in the East, the Heat, the Cavaliers, and the Celtics, the matter of rushing out of the East in the playoffs obviously does not have the benefits of securing the No. [-] in the East in the regular season, winning the MVP for Rose, and boosting team morale. Come really.

There is also a reason why the Pacers would rather face the Heat in the playoffs than give up the third position, and this reason is no less important than Rose's fight for the MVP.

That is "Big Bird" Larry Bird wants to rely on the top three rankings to attack the general manager of the best team of the year.

Last season, the Pacers only ranked 9th in the Eastern Conference and unfortunately missed the playoffs. However, after Bird's manipulation and reinforcement, they rushed directly to the third in the Eastern Conference this season.

If you can get the best team general manager of the year, then Bird will become the first person in the history of the league to win the MVP of the year, the best coach of the year, and the best general manager of the year at the same time!
And the Heat obviously saw this, so they were willing to play badly and lower their record rankings, hoping that the Pacers could snipe the Cavaliers.

But how could the Cavaliers, who saw through the Heat's intentions, be caught without a fight?

Coupled with Irving's recovery from injury, their contest with the Pacers for the third place in the Eastern Conference has completely heated up.

In addition to the appetizers of the previous two consecutive victories, the two teams greeted their respective rivals by coincidence.

The Cavaliers are currently the No. [-] Spurs in the West, and the Pacers are the newly adjusted Lakers.

The Spurs just completed the feat of seven consecutive victories, but the problem also lies in the seven consecutive victories.

Like Irving, Kaka's performance this season is not stable, but Popovich has great expectations on him, basically giving him unlimited firepower.

While this made his skills soar, it also had a side effect, that is, his extraordinary self-confidence.

Although Xiaoka played really well this season, and was later named the first team of the best rookie team, but facing a freak like Wu Di, he was extremely confident and the result was that he was cut off 6 times in less than 2 minutes of the first quarter. , Capped 1, hit only 5 of 1 shots, and made 3 turnovers!
Xiaoka was beaten into an emo, and the reason why he was able to quickly accumulate confidence in the Shura field of the NBA was because he played an excellent performance in a game against James.

Originally, he thought that Wu Di and James would be similar, but Wu Di directly taught a lesson with his actual performance about what is beyond the sky...

Although Xiaoka was beaten to no emo state, Popovich did not adjust the lineup to let him go.

Not that necessary.

With the mentality of the Cavaliers and Wu Di that they are determined to win this game, coupled with the current situation where the Spurs are 10 points behind at the start, let alone sending GDP, even sending PDD can't save the situation.

It's better to let Xiaoka feel the sourness of being abused on the court. As for whether Xiaoka will be driven from self-confidence to inferiority, Popovich never thought about this issue.

After all, that's Wu Di, how normal is it to be abused!

In Indiana, the Pacers unfortunately lost at home to the Lakers led by Kobe.

The two teams played inextricably, and the suspense continued until the end of the game. In the end, Kobe used a fadeaway jumper to kill the game.

Faced with this sudden situation, Pacers boss Danny Granger said to Kobe with a painful face:
"Dude, don't you know we're making Bird the best general manager?"

Kobe looked at the sky with his chin, the regular season has entered the final stage, the win or loss of this game is indeed dispensable to the Lakers, but he is just playing lore!
Seeing his appearance, Granger was even more angry: "Big Bird doesn't even give you face, tsk! What a guy with no EQ!"

On the other side, the big bird who just came over heard Granger's words, shook his head with a smile and said:

"Danny, don't embarrass him, he actually didn't know that goal would be scored!"

The pained expression was instantly transferred to Kobe's face. There is a total of one cup and one stone in the world. He gets one, other NBA stars get one, and Bird has all eight.

what?
Forgot Wu Di?

Wu Di never holds a cup, because he is the cup itself.

In short, the records of the Cavaliers and Pacers both came to 37 wins and 22 losses, but because the record of the Pacers and the Cavaliers in the previous game was two wins and one loss, the Pacers still ranked third.

The last seven games are critical. The Pacers' toughest opponents are the Thunder in Game 7, the Cavaliers in Game 3, and the Heat in Game 4.

The Cavaliers are the Celtics in Game 2, the Pacers in Game 4 and the Lakers in Game 5.

The Cavaliers took the lead in losing the game against the Celtics.

After continuous and intensive games, not to mention rookies such as Irving and Thomas Jr., even Wu Di couldn't handle it.

The Cavaliers are one game behind the Pacers.

To make matters worse, the Pacers felt hot and won the Thunder, which brought the difference between the two teams to one game again.

However, the consecutive bursts of hand feeling exhausted the Pacers players. In the fourth game, the Cavaliers felt warmer and successfully defended the home court 95-109, beheading the Pacers.

The record of the two teams became 40 wins and 23 losses again, but this time the Pacers became a bit embarrassingly fourth.

Because their mutual record with the Cavaliers has become two wins and two losses, and both belong to the Central Division of the East, so the ranking of the two depends on the third rule of the record ranking, that is, the relative division Other teams win percentage.

And when it comes to this rule, the Cavaliers are not in vain.

In the Central Division of the Eastern Conference, the most difficult opponent is the Bulls, but because Noah is still talking about all kinds of things, so whether the Cavaliers are a guest in Chicago or represent Cleveland against the Bulls, they are uncharacteristically full of energy. To death.

Some Cavaliers fans took the time to make a video of Wu Di misplaced the button and knocked Noah down. The number of views on this video has exceeded [-] million on Youtube.

The most difficult bone in the competition area was knocked into scum by the Cavaliers. The Pacers' record in the competition area fell behind and fell to fourth, allowing the Cavaliers to win the third place.

During the period when the Cavaliers and the Pacers competed for the third place in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls ran all the way, winning two more games than the Heat, and with only three games left, it is impossible for the Heat to return to the first position.

In other words, if the Cavaliers can win the game against the Lakers, the battle for the top four in the Eastern Conference will end early. Even if the Heat deliberately release water, it will be difficult for the Pacers to return to third.

On April 4, the eyes of fans once again focused on the Staples Center Arena in Los Angeles.

As long as they can win the Lakers, the Cavaliers can face the Heat in the second round of the playoffs!
Just keep the Heat out of the Eastern Conference Finals!
If this is true, it will disintegrate the Big Three!

The imagination of Cavaliers fans is reasonable. After all, since Wu Di took over the Cavaliers, the Cavaliers have maintained a 100% winning rate against the Lakers.

Wu Di's current highest personal scoring record was also achieved last season against the Lakers.

Every time he met the Lakers, he exploded, and Wu Di's strange physique even aroused the disgust of the majority of Lakers in China.

They thought it was Wu Di who ruined Corvo's kingly luck.

After all, no matter whether he wins the FMVP or the AMVP, Wu Di is taking over from Kobe, and even the sentence "jump shot is picturesque" directed by Zhang has the next sentence, "That painting is Wu Di".

Comparing the two people's off-court life, Wu Di hugs left and right, a group of beauties are in harmony, but Corvo is on fire in the backyard...

Although in public opinion, the two are already in the same situation, but in private, the relationship between Wu Di and Corvo is extraordinary.

Corvo's divorce lawyers were all found through Wu Baibai and Arina.

Corvo's current car is also the latest Lamborghini Mad Bull that Wu Di ordered for him during the offseason. It was originally used to give back to Corvo for his guidance before the finals.

And the Aston Martin that Wu Di usually drives the most is a bet from Corvo's dunk contest.

Of course, the most important reason why the two can get along well is because they have the same basketball philosophy.

The two people's desire to win and lose has reached the extreme.

It is only a basic operation to push oneself to the limit with steely willpower on the field. Kobe used Los Angeles at [-] o'clock in the morning to make up for his lack of talent, and Wu Di did not hesitate to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to improve his talent points...

Even the slogan of the Invincible brand, "Invincibility is not omnipotence, but doing everything you can", has some traces of "Mamba spirit".

With the friendship boat built in this way, the two of them will not have any extra pressure on the court, and it will be over if they go all out.

Wu Di continued his hot touch against the Pacers in this game. At the beginning, he dribbled the ball into the inside lane, and with a 360-degree turn and battle ax, he overwhelmed the audience!
And Kobe didn't give in at all, and swore home with an unreasonable three-pointer!
Although his three-point shooting rate is average, in fact, many three-point shooting records were created by him, such as hitting 9 consecutive three-pointers in a single game, hitting a maximum of 12 three-pointers in a single game, and the most in a half. Hit 8 three-pointers and more.

The record of hitting the most 12 three-pointers in a single game, if Wu Di did not appear, Kobe would have maintained it for more than 10 years.

And after Wu Di appeared and made the three-pointer a regular weapon in the NBA in advance, even guys like Lao Zhan began to practice three-pointers desperately, and Kobe naturally caught up with the trend.

Although Kobe felt hot, the Lakers fell behind quickly.

No way, there are enemies in the team!
There is nothing wrong with Kobe shooting a three-pointer, the key is the little shark Bynum, you big-eyed guy, why are you blindly shooting three-pointers?
The new Lakers coach Mike Brown was so angry that he pressed him on the bench, but Bynum was dissatisfied and even made a "giegie" type of disdainful laughter.

There is a reason for Bynum to be so arrogant. Without him, the Lakers really can't do inside!

Poor sister-in-law Jia was directly rebounded by Jordan and Love!
The Cavaliers quickly established a lead and expanded the score.

However, when Mike Brown let Bynum play again, Bynum played a small temper.

He asked Mike Brown to allow him to shoot a three-pointer before he would play.

"I'm also increasing my offensive toolbox. Isn't space-based centers popular now? Look at Love, can't he dribble and shoot three-pointers?"

Bynum murmured with thick lips.

"Ah, how can you compare with Love? He is the champion of the three-point shooting contest, how about you? A 20% three-point shooting percentage is not bad!"

Mike Brown's forehead was sweating anxiously, and his glasses were fogged up, but Bynum saw him like this, and his temper became even stronger:
"I don't practice, how can I improve my shooting percentage? Anyway, as long as you let me play, I will definitely shoot three-pointers!"

Mike Brown's face turned purple. He really wanted to compromise with Bynum like he did with James before, but this is his first year coaching the Lakers. If he compromises at this time, he will have no prestige, and the following days will only be more difficult. ...

As a result, Bynum was pushed to the bench again, and the situation on the court continued to deteriorate. By the end of the second quarter, the score on the court had become 64-49, and the Lakers had already been beaten.

During the intermission, Kobe Bryant came to Bynum specially. After some pressure from the boss of the team, Bynum broke out again:

"It's not fair! It's not fair at all! How can you keep hitting the iron on the court, and let me go off after only two fights? Why? Who is not an All-Star starter?"

Kobe's eyes were about to kill, he stared at Bynum, until Bynum turned his head away, he said:
"Okay! Since you said that, don't leave after the game, stay and challenge me one-on-one. We can only score with jump shots. If you can score one, how do you want to shoot three-pointers in the future? I will help you convince the coach , but if you don't enter, you will die in the future..."

Bynum knew that Kobe was really angry when he said such a thing, but when he wanted to compromise and admit his mistake, Mike Brown on the side interjected by mistake:

"Kobe, you can't make such a bet, in case he..."

Kobe got up and walked away cursing, while Bynum on the side seemed to have a shot in the arm, and insisted on shooting a three-pointer!

As the head coach of the Lakers, Mike Brown is undoubtedly a failure. This team has too many individual players, and there is no way to be reasonable. Bynum, Artest, Barnes, etc., which one is not a jerk?

Who doesn't rely on Kobe's coercion to play well?
But Mike Brown continued to manage the team with the attitude of telling facts and making sense...

In the end, Kobe scored 30+ in the air that night, and the game ended 121-98. The Cavaliers successfully won the key game and basically secured the third place in the Eastern Conference!
　The chapter on 8.1 has been lifted, veterans remember to read it~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)