Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Wachovia Center Arena.

"It's coming! It's finally here!! The battle for the king of the East, the Miami Heat, the strongest in the past few years, against the Philadelphia 76ers, the king of the league, is finally about to begin!! ”

In anticipation, the confrontation between the two Eastern super teams officially kicked off.

Curry, Jimmy Butler, Andre Iguodala, Chen Mu, Plumlee.

Chalmers, Wade, LeBron James, Bosh, Chris Anderson.

The starting line-ups of both teams only need to be read once, and it is enough to make people feel chilled. Whether it's offense or defense, positional warfare or fast break, both teams seem to have no dead spots in all directions. Any opponent who encounters them will feel fear in their hearts, and they don't know where to find their flaws.

And as everyone knows, the real scary thing about these two teams is not how invincible their starting line-up is.

On the bench, the 76ers also have a sharpshooter Kyle Korver, and the Heat also have bench giants like Ray Allen and Battier. Even if it is played to the connecting stage, the two sides have enough background to compete with the starters of most teams in the league.

Looking at the depth of the roster, the Heat seem to have the better side. In addition to Ray Allen and Battier, Norris Cole, Haslem, Rashad Lewis, and James Jones are also very functional and good puzzle pieces.

Philadelphia, on the other hand, mainly relied on the starting five and Korver, and veterans such as Allen Iverson and Yao Ming, who had helped them win the championship in the past few years, had already returned to the field and hung up their boots.

However, fans who are familiar with the NBA playoffs know that the strength of the bench lineup is indeed very important. Especially in the long regular season, whether there is a suitable substitute to allow the main team to get the rest they deserve often determines whether a team has a chance to survive the regular season and save the physical strength of the main core to the blade of the playoffs.

But once you get to the playoffs, for the most part, the strength of the main players — including the super sixth who isn't a starter but actually plays their main time — basically determines the ceiling and floor of the team. In a playoff game, it's not unusual for the absolute core of the team to play more than 38 minutes, or even more than 40 minutes.

And here in Philadelphia, Chen Mu, Butler, and Iguodala are all physical maniacs, and they will not collapse after 48 minutes of running all over the court. The problem of a slightly weaker outside firepower when Curry was resting could have been solved after Korver came on the court.

Therefore, the prediction of the outcome of this round of the series, experts, are still more inclined to the Philadelphia 76ers, who have taken out the Heat in the playoffs for four consecutive years.

"It's you again." Before jumping the ball in the middle circle, Chen Mu came to James with a smile and stretched out his hand with a relaxed expression.

"That's right, it's me again." James's face was gloomy, and when he answered, the roots of his teeth were about to be crushed, and he shook Chen Mu's hand fiercely, pinching it hard, and he couldn't wait to crush Chen Mu's palm bone at this time, and leave the scene with an injury.

Of course, LeBron has always been a humble gentleman on the court, and this kind of thinking is just a psychological instinctive reaction when Chen Mu has been suppressed for many years, and it is impossible to really do this.

"That means you're going to lose to me again this year." Chen Mu smiled, and added some strength to his hands, not admitting defeat at all.

"Whoever loses wins, let's talk about it after the fight." LeBron gritted his teeth, stubbornly resisted the urge to go up and directly hug Chen Mu's scalp and start gnawing, and responded coldly.

The two glanced at each other, and countless camera lenses were aimed at the eyes of these two people, recording this historic moment.

Subsequently, turn back.

The aura is really strong!

Far away in front of the TV in Oklahoma, Gu Yu's eyes sank when he saw this scene, and he couldn't help but have an extremely strong desire to challenge in his heart.

This is the look that only people who have won MVP, entered the finals, and even won championships can have, right?

I want to get to that level, and it seems that I have to keep trying!

"This year, it is very likely that it will be LeBron James's last year with the Heat, and next year LeBron will have a player option to terminate his contract early." The courtside commentator said worriedly: "When I came to the Heat, LeBron James's intention was very clear, that is, to share the rising Chen Mu and the Philadelphia 76ers. He's had enough of losing and just wants a championship ring. ”

"At that time, if LeBron chose to go to the West, he could avoid Chen Mu, and the road to the finals might be smoother. But he didn't do it, because he knew very well in his heart that even if he joined a strong team in the west and really broke into the finals, he still had to face Chen Mu, and he still had to beat Chen Mu to win the O'Brien Cup. ”

As he spoke, the Heat's player contracts and details of the rights the players had appeared on the screen.

"It's not hard to imagine that if LeBron James can't break out of the East this year, then if the Heat wants to keep him, it will definitely not be enough to rely on his friendship with Wade and Bosh." The commentator continued: "This year is a special situation in the West, and if the Oklahoma City Thunder advances, they can play against either Philadelphia or the Heat. And if the Kings continue the dark horse road and miraculously advance, then no matter who breaks through in the East, it seems that it will not be difficult to win the championship. ”

"Fart!" Wei Shao became angry when he heard this, and raised his middle finger at the screen.

"Well, that's the truth." Gu Yu shrugged, not only was he not angry, but calmly analyzed: "Playing the Heat, it is a strengthened version of the Thunder, and the inner line is slightly weaker." But on the outside, the Heat are much stronger than the Thunder. If we play Philadelphia, we don't have much advantage inside or outside. ”

In a word, everyone was silent.

Although what Gu Yu said was cruel, it was indeed the truth. Playing a Spurs in the first round, the aging Duncan can bully Green, don't want it. If the Kings really make it to the Finals and face Philadelphia, Green meets Chen Mu......

"I don't want to think about it, I don't want to go one step at a time......" Green shivered on the side and directly changed the topic.

In addition, the king's strongest combination is the outside line of Gu Yu and Wei Shao. Although there are many defensive masters on the Thunder's side, except for Durant, the rest of the defensive masters are functional players, and the pressure on Gu Yu and Wei Shao on the offensive end is limited.

And the Heat have a combination of Wade LeBron, and Chalmers and Ray Allen, Battier and others are not good at stubble. Wade has always been known for his combination of offense and defense, and LeBron's performance in locking up MVP Rose in the black three-minute is still vivid. Gu Yu and Wei Shao encountered them, and I am afraid that they would also be more than lucky.

Philadelphia is even more terrifying, Chen Mu on the inside line is a difficult problem that a king cannot solve no matter what. Duncan is so old that he can play the king inside and lose his armor. Cousins was able to ravage the Kings before he had a mental explosion, which was already a thick inside depth.

Chen Mu's strength is probably more than one percent stronger than the current Duncan and Cousins.

Counting on Green and Bynum to block Chen Mu is simply a fool's dream.

On the outside of Philadelphia, Curry is agile and elegant, and his long-range shot has been in the realm of chemistry, which is the type of alignment that Wei Shao has the most headache. Originally, Wei Shao could still use his impact on the offensive end to create trouble for Curry and consume Curry's physical energy in order to achieve a mutual explosion.

But you can think with your toes that Philadelphia will definitely hide Curry on the defensive end and use Butler against Willis. Mutual explosions? Impossible.

Gu Yu is likely to face Butler, Iguodala, and even Curry, three completely different defensive styles. No matter how strong Gu Yu is, in the face of this combination that can last for 48 minutes and contribute ultra-high defensive pressure, he will definitely be consumed enough.

With Carlisle's shrewd mind, maybe he will create some tactics such as "forcing the change of defense and letting Chen Mu fight Gu Yu alone". At that time, Gu Yu will be infinitely consumed at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and it is still unknown how many successes he can exert.

"Don't look at the regular season as if we can always win Philadelphia, it's all an illusion." Looking at the game between the two sides on the screen, Gu Yu said: "The strongest Philadelphia 76ers must have handed over the ball to Chen Mu to handle from the first minute, giving Chen Mu unlimited tactical freedom to Philadelphia." That kind of Philadelphia 76ers, for many years, will only be seen in the playoffs. If we do make it to the Finals against Philadelphia, they're going to do it from the first game. ”

That's the gap.

Gu Yu's words made everyone realize this.

When the Philadelphia 76ers played the regular season, Chen Mu paddled and easily won a 30+15, which could hit the best record in the league every year.

After having Curry, Chen Mu's strokes are even more outrageous. But whenever Curry has the slightest sign of breaking out, Chen Mu will let go of the tactical freedom in his hands and hand over the power to Curry to use. He likes to cut air, shoot in the middle, run back, dunk, grab rebounds, and still win.

And what about the Kings?

Without Gu Yu's crazy bombardment of losing and fighting every night and putting his life on the field, how many games can he win? ?

The gap doesn't suddenly disappear just because of a few wins in the regular season.

The gap has always been there, it's just that the Philadelphia 76ers are willing to take it seriously.

And the progress of the game seems to confirm Gu Yu's inference.

Not only the Kings, but even the Miami Heat, who are fully focused and willing to do everything, are just a howling hound in front of the tough hunters of the Philadelphia 76ers.