Back in Los Angeles, the Lakers began their pre-playoffs routine.

Qiao Hai wanted to talk to Scott Pippen directly, but received a call from Kevending.

"Mr. Qiao Hai, before the playoffs start, can I make an appointment with you?"

Interview, Qiao Hai thought about it, he felt that he could give Kevending a chance to interview, just when he was about to leave Los Angeles, he wanted to talk to Kevending about a cooperation that he had already thought of when he first met Kevinding.

But after thinking about it carefully, Qiao Hai shook his head: "I'm sorry, Kevin, we have a lot of work before the playoffs, and we are very busy, so I'm afraid we don't have much time." ”

Qiao Hai finally considered the impact of the recent Phil Jackson ownership incident and did not want to make an extraneous event before the playoffs began.

There was no sound on Kevinding's side, and Qiao Hai gave another time: "The playoffs are over, let's have an interview in the playoffs." ”

"Okay." Kevending replied, but he didn't hang up the phone, and hesitated: "Don't hang up the phone yet, Joe, I have a report here." ”

"Huh?"

"Yesterday Scott Pippen met with Phil Jackson on Sunset Boulevard and was photographed by our newspaper reporter, and we were considering whether or not to publish this report......"

Qiao Hai was immediately shocked.

"Scott Pippen meeting Phil Jackson?"

Qiao Hai hurriedly replied: "Can this report not be posted?" ”

Kevending didn't hesitate this time: "Then don't send it." ”

"Thank you." Qiao Hai said thank you from the bottom of his heart, hung up the phone, and Qiao Hai fell into deep thought.

Scott Pippen met with Phil Jackson, even if Qiao Hai is unwilling to read this matter too much, once the matter is exposed by the Los Angeles Times, the incident of Phil Jackson's entry into the Lakers will continue to ferment, and it will directly affect the Lakers' playoff preparations.

The previous hype of ESPN only indirectly affected the Lakers' playoff preparations, so Qiao Hai never cared.

Now, Qiao Hai must solve the impact of Phil Jackson's entry into the Lakers in advance.

Because Scott Pippen and the next head coach of the Lakers have met, Qiao Hai is reluctant to read too much into Scott Pippen's meeting with Phil Jackson, he feels that it may be just a normal meeting between the former player and his former head coach, without anything else.

But it is inevitable that the other players of the Lakers have no ideas, as long as other players have ideas, it will have a lot of influence on the current head coach Qiao Hai.

Qiao Hai thought about it carefully, and he decided not to talk to Scott Pippen anymore, take a wait-and-see attitude, and play the first playoff game before making a decision.

……

The regular season is all over, the last game of the season, the Lakers defeated the Spurs, the Jazz also won a victory, 37-13 locked the first in the league and the first in the West, Sports Illustrated came out with a playoff preview, the Jazz lineup, Utah's playoff experience has become their biggest reliance, and the Jazz is also the biggest favorite for the championship, after all, in the previous two seasons, the Jazz won the overall runner-up, and as soon as the Bulls disintegrated, the Jazz was naturally the biggest favorite.

The Spurs, who lost the key battle, are in second place in the West with 36 wins and 14 losses, and the Spurs have the twin towers of Tim Duncanga and Robinson, but the last game was defeated by the Lakers, which directly made people doubt the Spurs' playoff strength.

The Trail Blazers are 35-15 ahead of the Lakers, third in the West, the Trail Blazers play more team, five of the team scored double-doubles, the highest scorer Rasheed Wallace is only averaging 13.9 points per game, and three bench players have scored more than 6 points.

The Lakers are 34-16, fourth in the West, and the Lakers broke out in the last wave in April, defeating the Jazz, Spurs and other strong teams in a row, and almost became the real biggest hit, but Phil Jackson's entry into the Lakers broke out, and the Lakers' playoff journey was also affected to a certain extent.

The opponent of the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs is the Rockets, 31-19, fifth in the West, the chemistry of the Rockets' inner two elders plus Eddie Jones is still very good, and the interior two elders have rich experience in the playoffs, and the chances of the Rockets against the Lakers who seem to be about to have civil strife are not small.

Next up are the Kings, Suns and SuperSonics with 27-23, 27-23 and 25-25 respectively, while the Timberwolves are also 25-25, but they are in ninth place due to their disadvantage and ultimately miss the playoffs.

The Kings played Princeton tactics, and the interior combination of Chris Webber and Vlad Divac should be regarded as the first offense and second defense in the West.

The Suns rely heavily on Jason Kidd, and the Lakers beat the Suns in the regular season in a row by killing Kidd, so the Suns' playoff prospects are not very good, their opponent is the Spurs, and the Suns are difficult to resist with the Spurs' interior line alone.

The SuperSonics are stronger than the Suns on paper, Gary Payton, Gavin Baker and Schramf, there is a group of high-quality role players on the team, and they are not without the power to fight against the Jazz, so it may be a good thing that the Spurs fall to second place.

In the East, the Miami Heat, who are the first in the East, are only 33-17, so the Lakers are also fourth in the league and have a better record than all Eastern teams.

The Heat's opponent is the 27-23 Knicks, who are eighth in the East, Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway and Jamal Mashburn against Patrick Ewing, Sprewell and Alan Houston, this group of matchups is also very interesting, eighth against first, on paper, the gap between the two teams is not large

The Indiana Pacers, who are second in the East, and the Orlando Magic, who are third in the East, are both 33-17, but they are ranked in order because of their own records.

The Pacers' first-round opponent is the Mivolki Bucks, the Pacers have Reggie Miller, and the Bucks also have young big dogs Glen Robinson and Ray Allen, and this group of matchups is also not far apart.

The opponent of the Magic in the first round is the 76ers, and Chuck Daley's Magic will face the 76ers led by Allen Iverson.

Fourth in the East is the Atlanta Hawks with 31 wins and 19 losses, the same record as the Rockets, and their opponent is the 29-21 Pistons, the Hawks' star stars are Steve Smith and Deacon Bemutombo, and the Pistons are dominated by Grant Hill and Jerry Starkerhouse.

At a cursory glance, the playoffs in the East are fierce, with all eight teams evenly balanced.

On the contrary, in the West, the existence of several super teams has made the playoffs in the West extremely uneven.

However, the pressure on the Lakers is still very high, and the Rockets are not weak, as analyzed by Sports Illustrated, the Rockets have rich experience in the playoffs, and I am afraid it will be the first problem that the Lakers encounter.