I’m Really Playing Basketball

In the 2015 NBA All-Star Game, in the Western Conference, the Warriors, as the team with the largest number of All-Stars, naturally attracted much attention.

During this season's All-Star Weekend, the Warriors selected four All-Stars: Chen Xiao, Nongmei, Klay, and Beal, relying on their excellent record and outstanding performance of their players.

The Spurs, who have the same record as the Warriors, this time selected three All-Stars: Duncan, Maizi and Luo Ge.

As for the Cavaliers, who are No. 1 in the Eastern Conference, this time they have James, Oden and Conley, the same three.

Particularly worth mentioning is Conley, a point guard who was once compared to Rose by experts and was later beaten by Rose in the playoffs. His performance in the past two seasons was really outstanding.

Last season with the Cavaliers, he averaged 17 points, 6 assists and 2.2 steals per game. This season, with the Cavaliers, he averaged 18 points, 6.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

As a 27-year-old point guard, he is not too old, but not too young either, but he is still making continuous progress.

Both his control of the game and his personal offensive ability are improving.

This season, many of the Cavaliers' key games and key points were scored by him beside James.

Conley has shown strong key ball ability in these two seasons.

So much so that James has said more than once that Conley is the most perfect point guard teammate around him.

This is definitely not an exaggeration. He can control the rhythm, defend, step forward at critical moments, shoot, break through, and cooperate with Oden and James.

Although such a point guard is not as strong as Rose, Curry, and Paul, he is indeed the most reliable and perfect assistant for star players.

And this season, Conley was selected to the All-Star for the first time, which is definitely a tribute to his outstanding performance in the past few seasons.

After all, the whole world knows how difficult it is for you to make the All-Star team in the East.

Especially at the guard position.

Therefore, when he learned that he was selected as an All-Star as a substitute, Conley really burst into tears at the press conference.

He originally thought that he might never be able to become an All-Star since his career as a Cavalier was about to end.

However, the Cavaliers' excellent record this season has added a lot of chips for Conley to defeat James Harden and Westbrook to enter the All-Star Game.

Therefore, it can be seen from these public opinions before the All-Star Weekend.

Teams like the Spurs definitely don't want to waste anything during the All-Star Weekend.

As the head coach of the Western Conference during the All-Star Weekend this time, Pop has this plan, especially since the Spurs' three All-Stars are all veterans and don't care about this.

But teams like the Cavaliers and Warriors, which have many young players and even first-time All-Star players, are different.

This season, the Spurs, Warriors and Cavaliers, the three teams can be called the Three Kingdoms.

The record scores between the three teams are too close.

The battle for first place in the league is not to mention fierce, but it can definitely be regarded as a close relationship.

Moreover, because the home court advantage of the Bucks and Spurs in last season's finals played a final decisive role.

Therefore, none of the three teams intends to give up their home court advantage in the regular season.

Therefore, the three teams are desperately competing for the first position in the league.

Therefore, it will be interesting at this All-Star Weekend. The head coach of the Spurs and the head coach of the Western Conference, Bobo, is crazy about helping Chen Xiao compete for the MVP in return for Chen Xiao's help in helping Luo in last year's All-Star Game. favor.

Good guy, who is not a thousand-year-old fox? He came here to repay his kindness.

If Chen Xiao really wants to take over, Bobo dares to use Chen Xiao in this All-Star game.

Compared to Pop, the head coach of the All-Stars in the Eastern Conference and the head coach of the Cavaliers, Rick Carlisle is much more open-minded. Regarding the playing time of James and Oden, he said that the two of them decide, but Conley will want to express himself. At the same time, the same statement is also made for other rival superstars such as Durant, Curry, Rose, etc., and they will not be used forcefully.

By the way, this offseason, the Cavaliers brought back their meritorious head coach Rick Carlisle.

Carlisle is the former head coach of the Cavaliers, and the head coach who led Chen Xiao and James' Cavaliers to win the championship.

It can be said that he is a legend of the team. Coupled with his success in the Heat, he helped the Heat establish a dynasty. Therefore, Carlisle's return is an absolutely good addition to the Cavaliers' locker room.

James is too talkative in the Cavaliers.

The boss of the Cavaliers is Xiao Zhan, the head of the Cavaliers is Xiao Zhan, and all the young people on the team were trained by Xiao Zhan.

For the Cavaliers, James is the emperor.

This makes it difficult for James, who is now 30 years old and has grown from James to James, not to make a splash in the Cavaliers.

Interfering with the coach's tactics and the team's arrangements, his influence can't help but reach out to all aspects.

This also troubles Xiao Zhan. He wants to focus on the game itself, but others always ask him about other things.

He couldn't help it.

In this situation, Xiao Zhan asked Chen Xiao what to do. The solution Chen Xiao gave at that time was to find someone who can convince everyone and can suppress you and give him the maximum authority.

Obviously, apart from Chen Xiao, Carlisle is probably the only person in the entire league who can convince James and the rest of the Cavaliers.

Therefore, after Carlisle left the Heat, he was invited back by James with the salary of the league's top coach before taking a few days' rest.

And not only as the head coach, but also as the general manager and chairman of the team.

With the presence of Rick Carlisle, the Cavaliers' mom-and-pop franchise finally has a force that can check and balance James.

When the emperor has no checks and balances, he is likely to become selfish in the end and only think about himself as the true emperor.

Xiao Zhan is also afraid of becoming such a person.

This season, the Cavaliers' dominance in the Eastern Conference also reflects the value of Rick Carlisle.

The failure of the Heat in the last few years also made Carlisle very unhappy. If Pat Riley hadn't suddenly returned and disrupted his tactical system for the Heat, he was convinced that he could win at least one more championship for the Heat. Yao Ming's curtain call may also be perfect, and Wade's departure may also be avoided.

However, he does not have real power in the Heat.

The real power in the Heat is Pat Riley.

After becoming the No. 1 head coach in the NBA, Carlisle desperately hopes to become someone like Pat Riley and build a team of his own.

And James and the Cavaliers gave him such an opportunity.

The Cavaliers are now very strong. Based on this, he can quickly build the Cavaliers into the most competitive super team.

That's it this season.

Carlisle fulfilled his promise and did not squeeze players from rival teams such as Durant, Curry, and Rose in this All-Star Game.

On the west side, Chen Xiao never picked up Bobo's tune, leaving Bobo helpless.

In this All-Star Game, the players who are really interested in MVP are actually Kobe Bryant and Wade.

It can be said that the two men fought for a whole game in the All-Star Game.

You attack one and I attack the other. It's so exciting. Chen Xiao and the others don't have a chance to steal the show.

In the end, the result of the All-Star Game was that the Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conference 158-155, and Wade won the final AMVP.

In this game, Wade and Kobe moved the battle for the scoring title to the All-Star Game, which was indeed very attractive and exciting.

In this game, Wade shot 15 of 25 and scored 40 points, while Kobe shot 16 of 28 and scored 41 points.

The scoring department boss had one more point, but the game and MVP were taken away by Wade.

By the way, so far, Kobe leads the scoring list with an average of 33.5 points per game, while Wade ranks second with an average of 31.5 points per game.

In the battle for the scoring title, Kobe is also slightly ahead of Wade.

This All-Star Weekend, in addition to the All-Star Game, was actually very exciting, such as the three-point showdown between the Curry brothers. In the end, the Curry brother defeated the Curry brother with 27 points to 26 points, becoming a three-pointer. king.

And the dunk of the new dunk king Zach LaVine is absolutely amazing and quite exciting.

It was really surprising that the All-Star Weekend, which had started to rely on Chen Xiao, could have such exciting content when Chen Xiao was not very involved.

It can only be said that in the current NBA, a hundred flowers are indeed beginning to bloom.

As the legends of the older generation like Chen Xiao slowly fade away, new legends are emerging one by one.

After the All-Star Game, the NBA returned to the rhythm of the regular season. The goal of Chen Xiao and the Warriors in this regular season is simple, which is to compete for the first record in the regular season.

Regardless of whether they can win it or not, if the Warriors want to get past the Spurs, home court advantage is indeed very important.

If you can get it, you must get it.

Of course, if there is really no other way, the Warriors will not be stupid enough to fight hard.

Staying healthy and conserving energy for the playoffs is still the most important thing.

As for competing for first place in the Western Conference, the most important thing for the Warriors is the last five games in February after the All-Star Game and a few games in early March.

On February 20th, the Spurs will play at home, followed by six consecutive away games in the Eastern Conference. The opponents are the Pacers, Wizards, Cavaliers, Raptors, Celtics, and Nets. Then, back at home, they will play the Bucks again.

Let's put it this way, if the Warriors win these games, they will have the initiative to compete for the top spot in the league.

If you lose more than 3 games in these games, then I'm sorry, just conserve your energy honestly and adjust for the playoffs.

In the next eight games, except for the Nets, all will be playoff opponents in the East and West.

And except for the Spurs, who are number one in the Western Conference, the remaining six playoff opponents are all playoff opponents in the Eastern Conference.

This is in sharp contrast to the 14 opponents in January who only had 5 playoff opponents.

These short 10 days will be the most difficult 10 days for the Warriors in the regular season this season.

The Spurs will play again on February 20th. In this game, the two teams can be called ups and downs. In the first quarter, the away Spurs almost defeated the Warriors 31 to 21, but in the second quarter , relying on the Warriors' 70% field goal percentage and 66% three-point shooting percentage, the Warriors defeated the Spurs 35-26.

At the end of halftime, the Warriors, who were playing at home, were 1 point behind, and the two teams were still extremely anxious.

In the second half, the two teams finally got over the lack of competition status during the All-Star Weekend, and the status of both teams became much more stable.

In the third quarter, the Spurs beat the Warriors by 2 points 29-27, opening the point difference to 3 points.

However, during the rotation time in the fourth quarter, the situation suddenly changed. The full rotation lineup of Jokic, Ibaka, Barnes, Ding Yanyuhang, and Dragic disrupted the Spurs' rotation in just 4 minutes. A small climax of 12 to 4 directly led to the lead and narrowed the score difference.

Last season's strongest rotation in the league, the Spurs' rotation, was actually defeated in the fourth quarter of this game. I really didn't expect this.

What makes Bobo even more angry is that the rotation also brought down the main starting players.

In this entire quarter, the Spurs made 4 of 20 goals!

Leonard was 1 of 3, Duncan was 0 of 2, Wheat was 0 of 2, Luo Ge was 2 of 3, Parker was 0 of 1, Ginobili was 1 of 2, Al Jefferson was 0 of 2, Diaw was 0 of 2, Gary Neal went 0 for 2, Bonner went 0 for 2...

It was like a curse. In the end, the Spurs scored 13 points in the fourth quarter.

In the end, the Warriors defeated the Spurs 110-99 at home.

The score looks like a lot, but anyone who watched the game knows how difficult it was for the Warriors to play in this game.

Let's put it this way, if the rotation in the fourth quarter hadn't broken the Spurs' rhythm, the Spurs would have been better in this game.

Defeating the Spurs, the Warriors ranked first in the Western Conference and first in the league.

But this time was short-lived. On February 22, the Warriors played against the Pacers. The Warriors lost.

And the reason for losing this game is very surprising.

Forget it if the Warriors lose to Beasley, Love, Jay Williams and other Pacers star players in this game.

In fact, although these Pacers star players performed well, they were far less eye-catching than their substitute Stuckey.

In this game, the Pacers' substitute Stuckey made 11 of 17 shots and scored 30 points off the bench. Under his leadership, the Pacers' substitute scored 62 points in this game!

The bench scored more points than the starters.

In the end, the Pacers defeated the Warriors 122-116 at home.

This is the playoff team in the East.

You never know who among them will stand up. The overall strength of the Eastern Conference teams is too thick, which is why Western teams will shed a layer of skin when they come to the Eastern Conference.

The Warriors will shed their skin, and so will the Spurs.

This is why the Cavaliers have the third-best record in the league, but in the MVP rankings, James is always slightly ahead of Chen Xiao and Luo Ge.

The Cavaliers' record is more valuable, and the Cavaliers have performed better in strong dialogue this season.

Of course, Xiao Zhan's statistics this season are better than those of Chen Xiao and Luo Ge.

The Pacers' dark start cast a shadow over the Warriors' trip to the East.

In the end, this time for six consecutive away games, the Warriors lost to the Pacers, the Cavaliers, and the Celtics back-to-back. Back at home, the exhausted Warriors lost again to the Bucks.

8 hellish games, 4 wins and 4 losses.

This result is not bad, it can only be said to be good, but for the Warriors who want to compete for the first place in the league, this result basically ruins their possibility of being first in the league.

Even though the Warriors had a record of 14 wins and 1 loss in the remaining 15 games in March, they still ranked third in the league with a record of 65 wins and 9 losses.

Perhaps what makes the Warriors happy is that the remaining eight games in the future will all be opponents in the Western Conference, and the Warriors only have one strong opponent, the Spurs.

In the end, with the ranking still determined, on April 15, in the game between the Warriors and the Spurs, both teams played half of the game as the main players, and the rest of the time was given to the substitutes. In the end, the Spurs defeated the Warriors 117 to 112. Team.

In the end, the Warriors ended all regular season games this season with a record of 72 wins and 10 losses.

In addition, the Spurs are ranked first in the league with 74 wins and 8 losses.

Ranked third is the Cavaliers with 71 wins and 11 losses.

In the Eastern and Western Conferences, all three teams have a record of 70 wins. This is the first time in the history of the NBA.

In history, the Warriors won 73 games and the Spurs won 67 games in one season, both of which were called magical by the NBA. Obviously, this season is much more magical than that season in history.

Ranking second in the league and second in the Western Conference is indeed a bit regretful, but the Warriors are not too sorry. After all, the Warriors gave up after the devilish schedule in late February and early March.

And, most importantly, this regular season, the Warriors and Spurs have a record of 2-2!

If you take into account the last game, both teams did not use their full strength and just played a polite game. This season, there are only three games with real reference value for the two teams, and in these three games, the Warriors are Leading 2 to 1.

Although the two teams played very anxiously in every game, the Warriors did win 2 games, the one that won more.

Therefore, even if they are ranked second, the Warriors are very confident now.

Direct matchup is better than Spurs.

And if it really comes to the finals, it will have home court advantage against the Cavaliers.

This result is actually not bad.

Therefore, after the regular season, everyone in the Warriors is looking forward to the playoffs, and many young people are confidently preparing to embrace their first championship trophy.