One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twelve. Regrets Are Inevitable

He was angry, but Hornacek had already guessed what kind of result he would encounter when encountering the Grizzlies.

Although Hornacek made a bold statement before the start of the playoffs and put a lot of pressure on the players. He hoped that these young players could perform well in their first playoffs, but he did not do so at all. Thought I could do something.

If our young players can compete with the Grizzlies for a long time under such a large strength gap, just like in the first half, and improve themselves under such a confrontation, gain experience in dealing with superstars, and understand themselves The gap with the truly strong teams... Hornacek felt that this was enough.

There was no suspense. In the fourth quarter, Paul George and Randolph held the line. Paul George scored 10 points and 4 assists in a single quarter, and Randolph had 6 points and 5 rebounds in a single quarter. The Grizzlies scored 29 to 28 in the final quarter.

In the end, the Grizzlies defeated the Suns 114-90 and won their first victory in the series.

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After the game between the Grizzlies and the Suns, the first game of the series between the Bulls and the Knicks in the East began.

With Griffin's 41 points and 22 rebounds and Rose's 23 points, 13 assists and 4 steals, the Bulls easily and smoothly won their first victory 116-92.

Seeing Ariza and Lopez shine in the Bulls, the Knicks have begun to regret trading these two for Noah. Although Noah still looks very good, their starting center for the Bulls is Howard, Noah's defensive core style of play, even if Howard is willing to play blue-collar power forward, he can't cooperate!

In terms of strength, Noah is currently better than Lopez, but obviously Lopez's athletic ability is more suitable for the Knicks.

Next up is the first game of the series between the 76ers and the Heat.

After a bloody battle, the 76ers narrowly defeated the Heat 103-99 at home and won their first victory in the series.

Paul's life is miserable... Josh Smith collapsed at 30. After his athletic ability declined, his shortcomings of knowing all the skills but not being proficient in them were exposed. Wade can hardly expect him to make more contributions in the playoffs. Paul is now in a similar situation to the one he was in during his last year or two with the former Hornets, who could only lead the team to the bottom half of the playoffs.

With the same style of play, Paul, who has better skills, has a lower limit of leadership ability than James. To put it directly, it is the gap between the first team and the MVP. Physical fitness is indeed something that cannot be overcome through hard work in competitive sports. .

Whether it is static physical fitness or dynamic physical fitness, there is a clear gap between Paul and James. The gap can be intuitively seen from the record of leading the team alone.

All seven series before the first round have been played.

All teams with good records won.

But in tonight's finale, the match between the Thunder and the Trail Blazers, the Thunder lost to the Trail Blazers 102-108 at home and were defeated miserably!

Lillard had 26 points and 13 assists, McCollum had 17 points, Whiteside had 14 points, 22 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal. Capela, who came off the bench, scored a team-high 31 points for the Trail Blazers under the guidance of Lillard. 6 rebounds and 4 blocks!

The Trail Blazers were provoked by the Thunder, and the entire team was in a state of rage, and they took advantage of the Thunder's defensive tendencies. No one on the Thunder team paid attention to Capela. Capela, who had little chance to perform in the regular season, was there. Become famous in the playoffs!

Whiteside's mid-range and short-range blocking and basket defense, coupled with Capela's mobility, led to a dominant defense in the paint! Although Durant scored a career-high 48 points in the playoffs tonight, Westbrook only scored 6 points. Although he had 7 rebounds and 11 assists, his performance was really not good.

Kanter's performance was also poor, with 4 points and 6 rebounds, which did not play a strong role at all. You must know that before the start of the playoffs, when the media analyzed the Thunder, they believed that Kanter would be the one who determines the outcome inside.

At this point, the first game of all the first-round series is over. The top two teams in the East and West have an obvious advantage in strength. There seems to be no suspense. In the eyes of the media and fans, the Lakers, Knicks, Suns, and Pistons There is no chance of a comeback.

However, the series between the third to sixth teams in the East and West seems to be quite suspenseful. The Mavericks, Trail Blazers, Heat, and Nets all have the possibility of defeating the top team, and the Trail Blazers have already won one game. .

Some fans are sorry. If Bosh had not had a hereditary blood disease, blood clots or blood clots, and with Bosh's style of play that is extremely suitable for today's small ball era, the Mavericks would have had an All-Star player. They and the Spurs The strength will definitely be closer.

But whether it's basketball or life, there are many regrets. The Mavericks have been busy for so long, but they still haven't been able to create a chance for Nowitzki to compete for a championship like Duncan did at the end of his career. It can only be a regret.

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"We had an advantage in the first round... I think we should have an advantage against any opponent because we are the strongest team, but we can't be careless. The more advantage we have, the less we can be careless. If we even have an advantage in the series We both lost the game, I think I can retire where I am..."

On the morning of April 17, during the Grizzlies team meeting, team leader Paul George was impassionedly urging his teammates not to be careless.

As for what he said, it really irritated his teammates, but Sun Ce estimated that if he really pushed it to the extreme and lost, this guy would definitely pretend that he never said anything.

The Grizzlies have no games today and tomorrow. The first and second, seventh and eighth teams in the East and West will have to rest for two days after the first game. The new playoff system that was implemented in the 13-14 season to give more advantages to the top two teams in the East and West has been widely recognized. Teams with good records should have advantages, otherwise what is the point of such good records? In the past, there was only one home advantage, but now it has become more reasonable.

This system reduces the probability of the first and second teams being upset, because there is more time to prepare. Even if they are caught off guard at the beginning, one more day of preparation can show the strength advantage of the top two teams with a greater probability. After all, there is definitely a gap in strength between the top two and the bottom two. As long as you can think of a way to deal with the opponent's targeting, it is not difficult to win. Moreover, even the seventh and eighth teams have no objection.

As players, there is no reason to think that they are bad. They also look forward to winning the division championship and the regular season championship one day, and then they will have the advantage.

There are no games, and the Grizzlies did not take a holiday during the playoffs. Just like last season's playoffs, after starting a series, the Grizzlies started "closed management" and devoted themselves to preparing for the next game!