After the ranking of the Western Region, except for the Suns who jumped up and down because of Howard, from the original sixth to the second, the ranking of the Western Region is basically the same as the situation in the original timeline in Chen Mu's impression.

In the original timeline, this season's West is a superpower, the Lakers are that super, and the Hornets, Spurs, Rockets, Suns, and Jazz are all strong.

Now that the protrusion of the sun has turned the pattern of the West Region into two superpowers, the original Lakers' relatively flat road to the finals may be overshadowed by the appearance of the sun.

The situation in the East District is even more extreme, both in the original timeline and in the current era, it can be described by the word "crushing".

"The Boston Celtics, who are the first in the East and have the Big Three, have a 66-16 record all season, undoubtedly ranking first in the East, and this is also the first record in the league. In the last decade, it is second only to the Mavericks' 67 wins last season. In NBA history, it is tied with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1970-1971 season for tenth place. ”

What the announcer said was a fact that basketball fans all over the world already knew, but this fact was so shocking that when she said it again, it still made the 76ers players a little scared.

66 wins, on the scale of NBA history, is also a terrifying record that can enter the top ten. The point is that this Celtics team, except for the Big Three, can be said to be unknown before the start of the season.

Of course, in the eyes of fans familiar with the NBA, Rondo, Perkins, Posey and others already have their own names before the Big Three became an army. But for those who aren't as familiar with the basketball pantheon, the Celtics belong to the kind of team that says, "Ah, I know these three guys, but what the hell are the other guys."

Before the start of the season, many football critics believed that Celtic must be able to achieve a rather brilliant record. However, the lack of substitutions will make this team face a lot of difficulties. Players other than the Big Three lack the ability to score. The ability to score independently is close to zero, which will be the biggest hit for this strong team.

"Basketball is a five-person sport, three super strong people, two average guys, and the bench is all mediocre players with mediocre ability, how can such a team win the championship? If such a team can win the championship. So what else is the integrity of basketball? It's good to pile up all the stars! ”

Some old-school fans said so indignantly.

It's not that what they say is unreasonable, basketball is indeed a team sport, no matter how strong a person's individual ability is, it is difficult to produce results without a good team. This was true of the Bulls back then, the Lakers later, and the same was true of LeBron and the Cavaliers in the future.

But the truth of success and defeat has been selectively ignored by these old fans.

A simple example, before the Lakers OK pair won three consecutive championships, Derrick Fisher. Is it really a starting point guard for a championship team?

Later, with his appearance and extraordinary talent, Fox, who got a new spring in his career in the V field, really has the ability to start a three-time championship team?

If you think about it carefully, in addition to OK, the other players on that Lakers team are actually very ordinary players. Maybe Fisher has his big heart and Fox has his ...... Appearance, role players who come and go, have also been crossed by Iverson. A "glorious" moment that becomes a historical backdrop.

All of this comes together to make us feel. Well, in addition to OK, this Lakers team is also strong, and other players also have good strength, even if they are not in this system, they will exude their own brilliance.

But what if this Lakers team doesn't win the championship?

If OK is just an unsuccessful experimental combination. After working hard for many years, what about breaking up?

If that's the case, we'd still think that Fisher is the amazing big heart player and Fox is a good wing player?

The same applies to the Celtics, who are now making a name for themselves. This is the credit he deserves for his abilities.

But what about Perkins?

There is no need to enumerate more examples, this narrative is just a mental experiment, a paradoxical little problem.

Do successful teams make successful role players, or do strong role players make successful teams?

"Second in the East, the Detroit Pistons, the long-time Eastern Conference Keepers have 59 wins this season. After losing Ben Wallace, the Pistons still maintained a pretty good record, which is inseparable from the growth of their backcourt players and the increasing evolution of their tactics. ”

The Pistons, and now Rasheed Wallace, are no longer the roaring Celestial Zun who has beaten the invincible opponents in the East Coast (self-proposed). The 33-year-old Tianzun and the 33-year-old McDyce together form the inside line of the Motor City, although this combination is still quite competitive from the regular season, but everyone knows that the glory days of the Pistons' iron-blooded defense have ended when Big Ben leaves.

The combination of Billups, Hamilton and Prince on the outside is still sharp, even sharper than in the championship year. Marc Hill, Starkey, Murray and others on the bench have also played their own value, and the Pistons are still strong, but they don't have much to do with the word dominance.

"The third place in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers, has a significant decline, with 48 wins in the year, which can only rank ninth in the West and miss the playoffs, but is the third seed in the East. It has to be said that the pattern of being strong in the west and weak in the east has not changed. ”

"Fourth in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Wizards, 43 wins can rank first in the Southeast Division and enter the top four in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards' outside firepower is still ferocious, and whether they can make a breakthrough in the playoffs is also one of the focuses of Eastern fans. ”

"Fifth in the Eastern Conference, Toronto Raptors, 42-40, will face the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs."

"The sixth-eighth places in the Eastern Conference are the Heat, 76ers, and Hawks, respectively."

With the final regular season standings determined, the matchups for the first round of the playoffs have also been released.

The Philadelphia 76ers, after an impressive 11-game winning streak at the start of the season, experienced a sharp decline and finally got a 50 percent win rate to move to seventh in the East. Compared to last season, the 76ers have really improved and are no longer the underdogs who are fighting hard to make the playoffs.

But this improvement is still not enough in the eyes of fans, Chen Mu, who has won the Eastern Player of the Month three times this season, and has the strength to challenge the top striker in the East, is in the team, but the team's progress is not obvious, this result makes many critics cry out incomprehensible.

"If you take a closer look at the 76ers' game, the reason is actually quite simple."

Iguodala changed the channel, and a certain station has already started a warm-up program for the first round of the playoffs, and the famous ball critic Bill Simmons once again sat in the guest seat and talked eloquently about the playoff situation.

"After the start of the season's winning streak, the 76ers lacked stamina and too many young players, resulting in a lack of ability to grasp opportunities in some key games and key moments. Especially point guard Kyle Lowry, although the performance of 12 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals per game this season is not bad, it can be regarded as a year of significant improvement for a sophomore player, and this season is even considered by many to be expected to win the most improved player award, but the selection of key moments does have some problems. ”

With Simmons' words, Lowry's stats, the most promising contender for the Most Improved Player award this season, were listed on the screen. From the point of view of data, Lowry's points and assists this season have more than doubled compared to last year, and there has been some improvement in rebounding and steals.

In the original timeline, Chen Mu remembered that the most improved player this season was Turkoglou. However, because of Howard's trade, Turkoglu was sent to the Suns. The Suns' starting lineup is quite neat, and Turkoglu has become the sixth man on the team to compete with Barbossa. The statistically grown is not as dazzling as in the original timeline, and it has basically lost the qualification to compete for the most improved player.

Other contenders such as Carman, Calderon, Rudy Gay, Granger, and Udri have seen Lowry's stats burst even brighter. If Lowry wins the Most Improved Player award this season, the 76ers will also be one of the teams to win the Most Improved Player award for two consecutive seasons.

However, it is not enough.

"Everyone may be shocked by Lowry's wonderful stats, but in some key games, Lowry makes fatal mistakes, some choices are not decisive enough, hesitation and the best time to counterattack is not common." Simmons is also a poisonous tongue and has always been ruthless in criticizing people: "I did a rough statistic that the 76ers lost a total of 6 games due to Lowry's key selection problems throughout the season. ”

"With 82 regular-season games in one season, six of them had selection issues, which is not a huge sample. But for the 76ers, if they can avoid those turnovers and win those six games, they will have a record of 47 wins, which would put them in third place in the East this season, pushing the Cleveland Cavaliers into fifth. ”

Simmons' words made many fans stunned, and after thinking about it carefully, if the 76ers can finish third in the East this season, can it still be regarded as an unsuccessful season?

"It can't be helped, that's the price to pay for being young, and Philadelphia is going through this kind of pain, and so are the Trail Blazers in the West." Simmons continued: "To put it in hindsight, if Miller hadn't been sent away to get Lowry, the 76ers' record this season might have improved slightly. ”

With Simmons' words, Chen Mu glanced at it and saw Lowry beside him bowing his head deeply. (To be continued......)

PS: Little Lowry is going to get hard!