The playoffs are about to begin, and the closely watched Nets will play at home against the eighth-place Cleveland Cavaliers, and this game will determine who will eventually advance to the playoffs as seventh in the East.
The Cavaliers were the brightest dark horse team in the East this season, but unfortunately, due to consecutive injuries, the team's record also declined, and eventually fell from the top of the East to the eighth.
Although the Nets are strong on paper, they also have many problems, although they have super giants such as Durant and Irving, but they have not been able to play a performance that matches their paper strength, which is why they eventually have to play the playoffs, and at the same time, this competition with the Cavaliers for seventh place also adds a lot of suspense.
However, before the game began, the Nets received a huge positive news. According to Shams, Cavaliers All-Star center Jarrett Allen has confirmed that he will miss the play-off game against the Nets, and his absence will obviously greatly reduce the Cavaliers' strength.
Jarrett Allen, who has been recovering from a left finger fracture on March 7, is expected to return at the end of the season and thought he could catch up with the play-offs, but now his recovery doesn't seem so ideal. Without Allen, the Cavaliers' internal strength is damaged, and they will face no small challenge in impacting the playoffs.
Allen averaged 16.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 blocks per game this season, and his presence, offensive and defensive ends are no small threat to the Nets. Now that he can't play, the Nets will face much less pressure on the inside, and the balance of the game seems to be tilting towards the Nets.
If the Nets can win the playoff, they will eventually advance to seventh in the East and playoff first against the Green Army led by double probing. Such a showdown is also a continuation of last season's first round of grievances.
The Nets, which had the Big Three, played against the Green Army in the first round last season, and they eventually eliminated each other by a big score of 4-1. Compared with last season, today's Nets are less Harden, and the 3 giants have become the Duo duo, but there are also more powerful helpers such as Curry Jr. and Zhuang Shen, and at the same time, Ben Simmons may also usher in a comeback, but how the state is still to be verified.
On the Green Army's side, the strength they showed in the middle and late part of the season is not comparable to last season, the offensive and defensive ends are extremely dominant, and the team has entered the right track after experiencing the run-in at the beginning of the season, which is also an important reason why they can soar from the play-off seat all the way to the second place in the East.
So, this time, the two sides met again in the first round, and it was actually very difficult for the Nets to want to play the following grams.
Of course, the team with Durant and Irving, with their strength and playoff experience, will burst out of how much energy, no one can predict, no one can despise them, even if they are very low in the ranking, but as long as they stand on the playoff stage, they have the opportunity to lead the team to complete the counterattack.
And it is the existence of this suspense that also makes the second game of the playoffs between the Nets and the Green Army more exciting.