This season's NBA regular season is more than half over, and the situation in the east and west is showing different trends. The Western Conference has a serious stratification gap. The top four Timberwolves, Thunder, Clippers and Nuggets are entangled together and fall into a chaotic situation. From the fifth place Pelicans to the tenth place Warriors, the gap between them is only 4 games. In fact, there are various possibilities. The Lakers and Warriors also have the opportunity to continue sprinting, while the Jazz and Rockets were unknowingly left behind. Entering the sprint stage, the Lakers' strength came from Lao Zhan, and the Warriors' strength came from the team finally finding the right way to run in. Newcomers such as Kuminga, Bojie, and Davis took over, and veterans gave up their positions. In contrast, the situation in the Eastern Conference is more complicated. From the second-place Cavaliers to the eighth-place Heat, there is less than 6 wins before and after, and there are various possibilities.
However, the Celtics have completely distanced themselves from the teams behind them. In the first 57 games of this season, the Celtics had a record of 45 wins and 12 losses, and the gap with the second-place Cavaliers was 8 games. This is wider than the gap between the first-place Timberwolves and the eighth-place Suns in the West! According to the analysis of the US media, the probability of the Celtics locking the first place in the Eastern Conference is greater than 98%, which is almost certain! In addition, the Celtics' championship probability is also unparalleled, significantly ahead of the Thunder, Bucks, Clippers, Nuggets and other teams. During the offseason, Smart, Gerwig, Lowe, Brogton and others were sent away, and Porzingis and Holiday were welcomed. The original lineup framework was built for the playoffs, but it was the only one in the regular season. Leading the way, are they already invincible this season? An ugly 8-game winning streak, ranking first in the league!
Since the beginning of February, the Celtics have experienced an 8-game winning streak. Interestingly, just before the 8-game winning streak, their last loss was against the Lakers who lacked the LeBron James combination, and at the end of the fourth quarter The moment is spent! Since then, they have beaten the Nets twice (one of them won by 50 points), defeated the Grizzlies (won by 40 points), swept the Knicks, defeated the Bulls, etc. The strongest opponent is the Heat, which lacks Butler. The Celtics narrowly defeated the Celtics by 4 points. Generally speaking, the Celtics will basically not make mistakes when facing these weak teams. Even if one of the two top picks is in a downturn, including Holiday, White, and Porcelain, they can still do well. make up! Moreover, the Celtics' starting five this season: Holiday + White + Porcelain + Tatum + Brown, averaged 98 points per game. When these five started the game, the team had a record of 23 wins and 5 losses!
is indeed very strong! But the more you fight like this, the less likely you are to look like a champion! Let me give two very simple examples. For example, during the 8-game winning streak, the Celtics narrowly defeated the Wizards by 4 points. The game was very difficult. The reason was that they made 11 of 34 three-pointers in the game, while the Wizards made 20 of 47 three-pointers! Three-pointers are the lifeblood of the entire Celtics magic ball system. This season, they averaged 42.6 three-pointers per game and made 16.3 three-pointers per game, both ranked first in the league. Their three-point field goal percentage was 38.3%, fourth in the league. Boshen's efficient finishing, coupled with Holiday's assault, including the defensive contributions of these two people, have indeed raised the lower limit of the entire Celtics, but these two are not the upper limit determiners. To put it simply, once the Celtics are not accurate in three-pointers, it will be difficult to beat any team. Fortunately, the overall pressure in the regular season is not that great. Even opponents such as the Heat and Bucks will not use real guns.
The second example is that before this 8-game winning streak, the Celtics won 8 of 11 games. The three games they lost were all at home. They lost to the Nuggets by 2 points and the Clippers by 19 points, including being beaten by the Lakers. flower! The Celtics have a home record of 26 wins and 3 losses this season and have lost these three games. Against the Nuggets, Tatum scored 22 points on 9-of-24 shooting, with a true shooting percentage of less than 50%; Brown only had 13 points on 9-of-19 shooting, which was even worse! Facing the Clippers, Tatum made 8 of 18 and scored 21 points, while Brown made 3 of 13. He repeatedly challenged Leonard and finally scored 8 points. Including beating the disabled Lakers, Tatum scored 23 points on 8-of-21 shooting, and Brown scored another 8 points on 4-of-12 shooting. He has repeatedly wanted to have thick eyebrows in the military, but he doesn’t have the strength! If two games in one game are accidental, then how can we explain the sluggish performance against the strong teams in the Western Conference?
To put it bluntly, be it Tatum or Brown, apart from three-pointers and breaking through with the ball to cause damage, they have no other means of scoring. Because of the thickness of the team's lineup, they can be the dominant player in the Eastern Conference, including in the first two rounds of the playoffs without encountering too much pressure.But at the level of the Eastern Conference Finals, Brown's inefficiency with the ball and Tatum's lack of offensive ability are very obvious. The key is that like Embiid, they have been living in their comfort zone in the past few years in the regular season: shooting three-pointers, drawing a few fouls, and their teammates taking turns to step up and win easily. This time Help them improve? Embiid just hides and shoots in the regular season, but can he be dominant in the playoffs? White's efficiency, Boshen's finishing methods, and Holiday's combination including defense actually cover up the shortcomings of the two-way player, which is definitely not a good thing.
In my opinion, although the Celtics have made great progress in the regular season this season, due to the lack of setbacks and trial and error opportunities, the upper limit is getting lower and lower, just like the Bucks last year. And at critical moments, Tatum averaged 2.6 points per game and 34.1% shooting, and Brown averaged 2.0 points per game, which was not very convincing. Just like in the past few years, a team that pinches the soft persimmons and guarantees the Eastern Conference finals standard seems to be the favorite to compete for the championship, but such a team is actually vulnerable. The Celtics really don't have a championship profile, and Tatum and Brown are more suitable as second-in-commands.
