Chapter 504: The All-Star Controversy and the Incredibly Confusing Battle for Western Conference Playoff Seats

This year's All-Star Game unexpectedly entered the starting lineup because Sun Yue was in the East and Yi Jianlian and Durant were in the West.

This has resulted in the already scarce All-Star position becoming even more scarce.

It is recognized that these three people do not have the ability to enter the All-Stars.

The direct consequence is that three players with All-Star ability will not be able to enter the All-Stars.

Players with All-Star ability cannot enter the All-Stars, which will of course cause controversy!

On February 2, the league announced the final results of the 2008 All-Star Game. The Eastern Conference's starting center is Howard, the starting forwards are Garnett and James, and the starting guards are Arenas and Sun Yue.

The seven substitute players are Allen Iverson of the Pistons, Wade of the Heat, Ray Allen and Pierce of the Boston Celtics, Bosh of the Raptors, O'Neal of the Cavaliers, and Antoine of the Wizards. Jamison.

Eagle king Joe Johnson, who averaged 22+5+5 points per game during the season, was not selected, and Michael Reed, who averaged 25 points per game during the season, was not selected. It is okay to say that Joe Johnson and Michael Reed were not selected. These two are not regular NBA All-Stars. But the Pistons' Rasheed Wallace also lost the draft.

Rasheed Wallace's performance with the Pistons this season is still very good.

If Sun Yue hadn't occupied a starting position, Rasheed Wallace would definitely have been on the All-Star bench.

Because of Sun Yue, Rasheed Wallace missed out on the All-Stars, which annoyed Pistons fans. However, because Rasheed Wallace’s star position was not sufficient, the impact on the league was actually not that big. big.

What really made the 2008 All-Star Game have a hurricane-like impact was the Western Conference.

The starting lineup for the Western Conference All-Stars is center Yao Ming, forwards Yi Jianlian and Durant, and guards Yee Si and Roy.

The All-Star bench lineup in the Western Conference is Nash, Stoudemire, Marion of the Suns, Tracy McGrady of the Rockets, Anthony of the Denver Nuggets, Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, and Duncan of the Spurs.

After the Western Conference All-Star lineup came out, public opinion in the entire NBA seemed to be going crazy!

It’s really not crazy. There are so many failed stars and superstars!

The 12 All-Star players in the Western Conference, the Suns and Rockets, two teams that are the same this season, occupy 3 positions.

The third-place SuperSonics in the West occupies two positions.

The remaining 4 positions are divided among the other 12 teams.

Now Yi Jianlian occupies another position, which means that the remaining three positions are divided among 11 teams.

Kobe, Duncan and Anthony, these three occupied the only three positions with almost no suspense.

So the superstars who failed to be selected for the Western Conference All-Stars this season include the Mavericks' new regular season MVP Nowitzki, the Grizzlies' former dunk king Carter, and the point guard who can average 20+10 per game this season, the league's new superstar Chris Paul. Wait, as for the undrafted star players, there are even more countless.

In the Western Conference, there are more than 20 players who are not selected for the All-Star Game and can average 20+ points per game in a season!

This season, except for the league's scoring leader Durant, who was selected for the All-Star Game, the league's other individual leaders, rebounds, blocks, assists, and steals all failed to participate in the All-Star Game!

And all these kings come from the west!

Of course, the reason why this All-Star lineup in the Western Conference has caused such a big controversy is not just because there are so many undrafted superstars and stars.

But players from only 7 teams in the entire Western Conference entered the All-Stars.

The 12 spots came from seven teams, and as the host Oklahoma City Thunder, not a single player was admitted.

You know, before this list was announced, many people speculated that Chris Paul could definitely enter the All-Star.

Chris Paul currently leads the league in assists and steals, averaging 22 points, 12 assists and 2.9 steals per game.

Under his leadership, the Thunder now have a good record in the regular season, ranking eighth in the Western Conference.

With such results, not to mention pushing down Kobe Duncan and Anthony McDynash, but also pushing out one of Stoudemire and Marion, there is no problem, right?

But obviously, judging from the substitute lineup announced by the league, the Suns' current record of being the best in the league's history during the same period has a very large impact on the voting for the All-Star substitute lineup.

As the most hyped team in history, it is abnormal for this team not to have a single player in the All-Star starting lineup.

Since you can't get into the starting lineup, let's get in as a substitute.

Three of the Suns' players in this year's All-Stars were substitutes. This is a kind of compensation for the Suns!

When the national media and public opinion are hyping up the Western Conference All-Star lineup, thinking that Paul should replace Stoudemire, Carter should replace Marion, or Dirk Nowitzki can replace Stoudemire, etc., many professionals who participated in this vote There was no problem on the person's face.

What does it mean to replace Stoudemire and Marion?

Even if Kobe, Duncan and Anthony are replaced, Stoudemire, Marion or McGrady are as stable as dogs.

Only one or two players from such a historical team make it to the All-Stars, that's a crime!

What's more, Stoudemire averaged 24 points + 9 rebounds + 2 blocks per game, and Marion averaged 20 points + 10 rebounds + 2 steals + 2 blocks per game. Are the performance and data of these two different?

In what way are these two inferior to those undrafted players?

Popular?

Popularity has never been a criterion for selecting substitutes.

Popularity is the criterion for selecting the starting lineup.

People who vote have their own standards.

But it is impossible for these voters to explain these disputes.

They are NBA head coaches, and they cannot guarantee that they will not be able to coach the players they selected.

In the NBA, players are the masters!

Even if they have thousands of reasons, they can only watch the controversy spread.

Now the entire NBA media and fans are involved in the controversy about who should be included in the NBA All-Stars.

The madness of the confrontation and shouting matches is simply staggering.

However, this matter does not seem to have anything to do with the Seattle SuperSonics.

It's not unrelated. Durant has been scolded for how long he has been in the All-Star starting lineup.

Now Durant himself doesn't care anymore.

As for other players, Rondo, Milicic and others are still regretful that they cannot be included in the All-Star substitute list.

But looking at the pile of names in the media, those names are really amazing.

These people have all lost the election. No matter how confident and arrogant they are, it is difficult for them to feel that they can replace these people.

Of course, there is still something depressing about being depressed.

After the away game against the Suns ended on February 1st, the Seattle SuperSonics returned to Seattle overnight.

After a series of devilish schedules, the Seattle SuperSonics can finally get some time to breathe and rest.

The Seattle SuperSonics' recent devilish schedule is not just the three games against the Rockets and Suns.

Before these three games, the Seattle SuperSonics' opponents were the Lakers, Spurs, Cavaliers, Hawks and other powerful Western Conference teams.

After ending this rather devilish schedule, the Seattle SuperSonics now have a record of 39 wins and 8 losses, ranking third in the Western Conference.

It widened the gap with the Sun Rockets and narrowed the gap with the Lakers, Spurs and Nuggets.

The current records of the Lakers, Spurs and Nuggets are 35 wins and 11 losses.

The competition between these three teams for third place in the Western Conference and sixth place in the Western Conference has entered a fierce stage.

The battle for third place in the West and sixth place in the West?

Was it wrong?

These are two completely opposite rankings, okay?

In fact there is nothing wrong with this.

For the Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets, the ranking they want most now is third in the Western Conference.

As long as they get third in the Western Conference and push the current third in the Western Conference to the sixth position in the Western Conference, then for these three teams, it seems to be the same as the first round with a walk in the first round.

It sounds really strange.

Neither the Spurs nor the Lakers and Nuggets have a very good record against the Sonics.

But all three teams feel they can easily defeat the Sonics in the playoffs.

However, it's not that easy to push the Seattle SuperSonics into sixth place.

The winning gap between the three teams and the Seattle SuperSonics is now three and a half games.

There are now almost 36 games left in the regular season. Thirty-six games are enough to chase three and a half wins. This is a chance.

If you analyze it from the data, there is certainly a great opportunity.

However, after experiencing the spectacle of three teams competing for fifth place in the Western Conference last season, how could they be as optimistic as data analysis suggests.

You know, the SuperSonics were also one of the weakest teams in history last season.

The four teams competing for fifth place in the Western Conference last season were also the SuperSonics, Lakers, Spurs and Nuggets.

The final winner of last season's Western Conference battle was the Spurs.

But did the Spurs have a three-and-a-half-game advantage over the SuperSonics in the end?

Not to mention three and a half games, not even one and a half games!

The Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets are indeed stronger than the Seattle SuperSonics.

But Yes's team leadership ability is really incredible in the regular season!

Now everyone generally accepts that the main reason why Yes’s team leadership ability is so strong is Yes’ comprehensiveness and perfection. In every game of the regular season, Yes can implement targeted playing methods against each opponent according to their differences. and change.

In the entire NBA, no team has such conventional targeted tactics during the regular season. Yes and the SuperSonics, who use targeted tactics in every game, are indeed dominant.

Even if the Sonics are weak, they can still achieve incredible results under the leadership of Yes.

After accepting leadership results like Yes, the Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets are all quite pessimistic.

Before the Seattle SuperSonics lost three games in a row, these three teams had been preparing to fight for the sixth place.

After third place is occupied by the Sonics, sixth is of course the best position.

The fourth and fifth teams have to fight each other. This will definitely be a very difficult battle.

And sixth can play the third Sonics, which is a pretty perfect position.

If getting the sixth spot in the Western Conference this season only requires constant losing, then these three teams must have started losing now.

But unfortunately, the competition in the Western Conference playoffs this season is too fierce.

The Grizzlies, seventh in the Western Conference, now have a record of 33 wins and 13 losses. They are not that far away from the Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets, who are fourth, fifth and sixth in the Western Conference.

As long as the Lakers, Nuggets and Spurs really lose without any scruples, they may not get the sixth place in the Western Conference. It is very likely that one of the three teams will be squeezed to the seventh place in the Western Conference.

The seventh-place opponent in the Western Conference will be the Rockets or the Suns, who are like gods this season!

This is the absolute worst possible situation.

Even for these three teams, fighting for sixth place is much more difficult than fighting for third place.

As long as you need to win continuously to compete for third place, you don’t need to think about anything else.

And fighting for the top six is ​​a matter of winning or losing, which is entirely up to me.

If there is really hope of competing for the third place, of course the three teams, the Lakers, Spurs and Nuggets, will definitely not compete for the sixth place.

It's just that they really didn't have a chance before.

Now after the Sonics lost three games in a row, they saw such an opportunity.

So now all three teams are waiting for the Sonics' record in the period before the All-Star Game.

As long as the record between the SuperSonics and them continues to get closer before the All-Star break, then these three teams will compete with the SuperSonics for third place in the sprint period after the All-Star break.

In the schedule before the All-Star Game, the Seattle SuperSonics and their records were not closer, or even farther apart.

Then even if they are unwilling to fight for six, they can only fight for six in the end.

The situation in the Western Conference regular season this year is really much more complicated than last season.

For many teams in the Western Conference, this regular season is really a desperate one.

Because of the Seattle SuperSonics' three-game losing streak, the SuperSonics have now been targeted by three teams: the Lakers, Spurs and Nuggets.

These three teams are waiting for the SuperSonics to drag the SuperSonics into the tiebreaker this season just like the Spurs were dragged into the tiebreaker last season.

The SuperSonics certainly know what teams like the Lakers, Spurs and Nuggets think.

Ye Si and the SuperSonics know from top to bottom that the Seattle SuperSonics really can't lose anymore.

If they lose again, they will really be the same as the Spurs last season.

On February 2, 2008, the Seattle SuperSonics welcomed the New York Knicks, currently second to last in the Eastern Conference, back-to-back at home.

This is a battle to stop the bleeding for the Seattle SuperSonics after losing three games in a row.

Amid boos from all Sonics fans, Nate Robinson and the New York Knicks were buried by the Sonics at Key Arena.

85 to 126, the New York Knicks lost this game on the road by 41 points!

And Nate Robinson was still flown by Ye Si once in this game.

In the NBA, if a player is played like this by another player, it will definitely arouse the dissatisfaction and sympathy of many people.

But if this person is Nate Robinson, many people feel that Yes can actually be more brutal.

As long as they understand the grievances between Nate Robinson and Yes and the Garfield Five, no one will think that Nate Robinson is innocent.

Nate Robinson has been selected as the most hated athlete in the United States by ESPN, TNT, ABC and CBS for two consecutive years.

Look at the red score on the big screen at the scene.

After the game, the Seattle fans still cursed him like a carnival.

Nate Robinson was really scared...he knew this wasn't the end.

Born to be strong, he once again felt deep regret and despair.

He could have easily been assisted by Yes to become Durant, become the scoring leader, become the assist leader, become an All-Star, become a superstar...

But all of this was ruined by his greed and greed...