On the penultimate matchday of the regular season, all 30 teams played. Tomorrow will be a day off, and the day after tomorrow Monday will be the final day of the regular season. I have to say that the person who invented the play-offs is really a genius, the previous closing days have been relatively peaceful, and the rankings and matchups have been confirmed before the end of the regular season.
After the play-offs came out, the regular season ended intensely in the past few years, and the ranking could not be determined until the last game was played. The NBA's schedule is also a god, and the Pelicans' last two games are against the Warriors and Lakers, two direct rivals, and the changes in winning or losing are huge.
The West is now not only a play-off zone with suspense, but the top ranking is even more intense. Before today's game, the Nuggets were No. 1 in the West, and the initiative to lock in the No. 1 in the West was in their own hands. Today, however, the Nuggets sent the No. 1 in the West out of the country.
Against the Spurs, the Nuggets were all in the main force, leading by 23 points at one point. I turned off the stream almost when the Nuggets were leading by 20 points, but I didn't expect the Spurs to directly reverse the Nuggets in the final quarter, and Graham's quasi-kill throw only left the Nuggets with 0.9 seconds.
In the last 0.9 seconds, the Nuggets first arranged a tactic, and Popovich directly saw through the Nuggets' arrangement and called the last timeout to modify the defensive arrangement. After the timeout, the Nuggets couldn't send the ball directly and lost to the Spurs in a humiliating loss.
Before today, the Nuggets were first in the West, the Spurs were in the bottom of the West, and the strongest team lost to the weakest team. Is Nuggets Acting? Judging from Zhuge Ma Long's "criminal record," it is not impossible.
Now the Clippers, who are fourth in the West, and the Mavericks, who are fifth in the West, have been decided, and the West No. 1 will definitely play one of these two teams in the second round, and either team will be a tough bone after passing the opponent.
After today's loss to the Spurs, the Nuggets are basically unlikely to be first in the West. Now the Nuggets, Timberwolves and Thunder are all 56-25, ranking first with the Thunder, second with the Timberwolves and third with the Nuggets. The chart below shows all the possibilities after the last game.
The only possibility for the Nuggets to be No. 1 is for both the Thunder and the Timberwolves to lose, and they win, which is almost impossible to happen, especially if the Thunder play the Mavericks, who have already rested in the rotation.
Whether it is Malone's clever plan to settle the world, or whether he loses his wife and loses his soldiers, it depends on how well the Nuggets play in the playoffs.
The fourth-place Clippers and fifth-place Mavericks have both started to rest, and the Clippers have established home-court advantage today, but for the Mavericks, starting the playoffs on the road is not a bad thing. Compared to the past two meetings, Doncic has an extra Irving on the lineup this time, with better forward depth and more athleticism.
And the Clippers also exchanged zero for one more Harden who controlled the court, who wins and who loses in these two teams is really unpredictable, the state of the card after recovering from injury is unknown, and it is also unknown how many percent Harden can play, and the probability of these two teams playing the seventh game is not small.
The Nuggets, the strongest above, lost to the weakest Spurs, and James, the oldest today, almost lost to the youngest Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are still a development league-level roster, but the Lakers played extremely hard, and were even overtaken by the Grizzlies in the final moments.
James and Thick Eyebrows look good, both 30+, but their mistakes are really ugly. Although it was won in the end, it was arguably the most ugly game to win this season.
James, the oldest player in the league, had 37 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. The league's youngest GG-Jackson II scored 31 points and had three steals. After the game, the two men stood together, separated by a 20-year river in between.
The Lakers' win over the Grizzlies was crucial, and with the Warriors and Kings losing today, the Lakers moved up to eighth place in the West. In the last game against the Pelicans, if they win, they would be eighth in the West, with two lives.
The Pelicans had a chance to lock up sixth in the West after winning the Warriors today, but the Suns won the Kings, so the Pelicans would have to fight hard in the final game against the Lakers if they want to lock up the sixth place in the West.
And if the Suns win the Timberwolves in the final game and the Pelicans lose to the Lakers, the Suns will lock up sixth place in the West. So today, the Suns pulled the Lakers and gave the Lakers two lives of hope, and the Suns had to count on the Lakers to pull themselves in the last game.
For the Lakers, the final game must also be won. Because neither the Kings nor the Warriors have an advantage, if the Lakers lose to the Pelicans in the end, and both the Kings and Warriors win, the Lakers fall to tenth. And the Kings played the Trail Blazers in the last game, and the Warriors played the Jazz, both of which are unlikely to lose.
Finally, to sum up, the top ten teams in the West, except for four or five teams that have been determined, the other eight teams have reasons to win. The big scuffle on the last day can be said to be rare in history.
There is also a small easter egg on the last day of the game, if the Lakers win the Pelicans and the Suns win the Timberwolves, the Lakers and Pelicans will meet again in the first round of the play-offs, and the Suns and Timberwolves will also meet in the first round of the playoffs.
The person who arranged the schedule was really a genius.