In Boston, Celtics general manager Dennis came to the team early. As usual, his secretary made him a cup of coffee, while he sat in front of the computer and called the web page to check the status of last night's NBA game. .
Boston is in the Eastern United States, so the kick-off time of the Western Conference teams is relatively late for Bostonians, especially teams on the West Coast of the United States such as the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, and Trail Blazers. Three hours later than the Eastern Conference, the Eastern Conference game has ended and the Western Conference game has not yet started. When the Western Conference game ended, it was already very late Eastern Time, and many Bostonians had already gone to bed. So Dennis rarely pays attention to the Western Conference team's games on game night. After coming to the office the next morning, he learned about the Western Conference team's situation through the news, which became a habit that Dennis has developed over the years.
After watching the scores one by one, Dennis finally saw the score between the Clippers and the Spurs.
"92 to 87, the Spurs lost to the Clippers? How is this possible! Although the Spurs are unlikely to win the championship this year, their strength still cannot be underestimated, and now is a critical time to hit the playoffs. How could they Lost to the underdog Clippers? It is normal for the Clippers to score 92 points, but the Spurs only scored 87 points. The Spurs' offense is not weak, and the Clippers have never been a team good at defense. How can the Spurs be defeated? The team's defense only allowed 87 points, what the hell happened?"
Dennis immediately clicked on the detailed statistics, hoping to find some clues.
"Starting with all substitutes? What is that old fox Gray doing! Both core players have been put on the inactive list. Are they going to rest? There is still one month before the end of the regular season. Isn't it too early to rest now? "
Dennis took a look at the Spurs' standing in the Western Conference.
"The Spurs are currently ranked fifth in the Western Conference. After losing this game, they are 1.5 games away from fourth place, and the next six to nine are also very close to catching up. They don't even have a home court advantage in the playoffs. Where do the Spurs get the confidence to take a rest? At this time, they should not work hard to rise to fourth place and at least hold the home court advantage in the playoffs."
Dennis frowned and thought for a long time, guessing various possibilities, but the more he guessed, the more he couldn't figure out why the Spurs arranged this.
"Although the Clippers are not a strong team, it is impossible for the Spurs to win if they send the substitutes to play. The Spurs obviously want to lose!" Dennis said to himself, and suddenly, he thought of something, Then click the mouse to check the Clippers' record.
"The Clippers have now risen to 11th place in the Western Conference, and with the same record, they can be ranked 9th in the Eastern Conference. That is to say, there are four teams in the Western Conference with worse records than the Clippers, and six teams in the Eastern Conference. The team's record is not as good as the Clippers. If the strength rankings are based on the current record, the Clippers should be in the bottom eleven in the league! Damn... "
Dennis couldn't help but curse inwardly because he thought of the draft pick in his hand that was traded from the Clippers.
NBA draft picks are related to the team's regular season record ranking. The worse the record of the team, the easier it is to get a high draft pick. On the contrary, the better the team's record, the lower the draft pick. . The team ranked last in the league has the greatest chance of winning the No. 1 pick. The No. 1 team is basically certain to get the No. 30 pick.
So theoretically, if the Clippers are ranked 11th from the bottom, they are very likely to get the 11th pick in the draft.
However, before Dai Li became the head coach of the Clippers, the Clippers ranked second to last in the Western Conference, and their overall record was fourth to last in the league. They can be said to be the bottom team in the league. According to the situation in previous years, the fourth-to-last team has almost a 10% chance of winning the No. 1 pick, and the probability of winning the No. 2 and No. 3 pick is also very high. Even with average luck, it's easy to keep the top five picks.
In other words, after Dai Li took charge, the Clippers' draft picks changed from the top five picks to the 11th pick, which is obviously devalued.
In fact, the 11th pick is actually not bad, and it is also a lottery pick. But compared with the top five picks, the 11th overall pick has really dropped several levels, and compared with the No. 1 pick, it's in the sky and on the ground. Any team would rather gamble on the 10% probability of the No. 1 pick than the 100% chance of the No. 11 pick.
In order to form the Big Three, the Clippers traded a draft pick to the Celtics, which was this year's first-round pick. The Clippers' record this season is so bad, the value of the draft pick traded to the Celtics has also increased, and Dennis also feels that this transaction is really profitable.
The Celtics' record has been among the top three in the Eastern Conference and they have a chance to compete for the championship. The draft pick exchanged from the Clippers may win the No. 1 pick. A team that is competing for the championship may get the No. 1 pick. Every time he thinks about this, Dennis can't help but want to applaud for it.
Unfortunately, the Clippers' record improved, and the top five pick became the 11th overall pick, which completely eliminated the possibility of winning the No. 1 pick.
The Celtics wish the Clippers were worse, preferably at the bottom of the league, so that the Celtics could happily enjoy the No. 1 pick. Now that the Clippers' performance has improved, the Celtics have certainly suffered the biggest loss.
Thinking that the draft pick in his hand had depreciated, Dennis suddenly felt very angry.
"Damn Spurs, why are you losing? You should beat the Clippers at this time! You sent a full bench lineup, you are losing on purpose! Yes, it must be on purpose! No, I will complain to the league against you Losing to the Clippers on purpose!"
…
After defeating the Spurs, the Clippers' next opponent is the Rockets.
The last time the two teams met, the Rockets took the Clippers away with a wave of three-pointers in overtime.
The Rockets currently have the best record in the Western Conference and the entire league. Their record is five games ahead of the second-place Warriors. The probability of locking in the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference is already very high.
In Houston, Rockets coach Max also learned about the Clippers' victory over the Spurs.
"The Spurs actually lost to the Clippers, and they sent a full bench lineup, which is really confusing. Although this year's Spurs are one year older, there is still one month left in the regular season, so there is no need to do it now Just start resting the players." The assistant coach nagged in Max's ear.
Max smiled slightly and said, "You don't know that old fox Gray. This is not a rotation, but a trick he played. But what he never expected was that he wanted to trick others, but was tricked by others. "
"Coach, I don't quite understand." The assistant coach asked with a confused look on his face.
Max went on to explain: "I have worked for the Spurs, so I know Gray a little bit. I guess Gray is trying to avoid overtime. The Clippers have played too many overtime recently, and the Spurs The overall age of the team is too old. Playing one overtime game is equal to the consumption of two games in normal times, and the players are still at risk of injury. So Gray sent substitute players to play and waited for overtime with the Clippers, but he did not expect There was no overtime in this game, and Gray’s plan to plot others failed.”
"So that's it!" the assistant coach showed an expression of sudden realization.
After Max explained this, he himself fell into deep thought.
"Although Gray the old fox's plan failed, it also gave me a reminder. Maybe I can learn from it." Max thought to himself.
Max is the "run and gun master" in the NBA, and his tactics are very advanced. Back when the NBA still advocated defense, he had already led his team to use bombardment tactics. Now that the NBA has entered the small ball era, he has even developed a magic ball theory. During the offense, he gives up mid-range shots and either shoots three-pointers or attacks the basket. On defense, unlimited defense changes were used to break the most advanced and popular pick-and-roll.
However, Max has a big shortcoming, that is, he doesn't trust role players very much. In his team, many role players can only appear in garbage time. Because he doesn't trust role players, Max often uses a seven-man rotation lineup, which is also what fans often criticize him for.
The regular time of an NBA game is 48 minutes, and a team will have five players on the court at the same time, which means that the entire team's total playing time is 240 minutes, which is a fixed number.
If it is a seven-person rotation, the average playing time per person will be more than 34 minutes. If it is an eight-person rotation, the average playing time per person will be reduced to 30 minutes. If it is a ten-person rotation, the average playing time per person will be more than 34 minutes. The long time is only 24 minutes.
Comparing this data, each player can play 10 minutes less than a ten-man rotation compared to a seven-man rotation. This means that each of them can rest for ten more minutes per game and will be more physically fit.
Of course, this is just a theoretical data. In reality, the main players will definitely play more time, while the substitute players will play less time.
But one thing is for sure, the more people who enter the rotation and the more people who can play games, the less physical exertion the players will have.
Considering that there are 82 games in a regular season, coupled with the fierce playoffs, it is obviously a good thing for the team that the main players consume less physical energy.
However, Max is a head coach who often relies on seven-man rotation to play. It is impossible for him to want his players to consume less physical energy. What is certain is that the Rockets must consume more physical energy than other teams because they often play seven-man rotations.
"There is still one month left in the regular season, and it's time to prepare for the playoffs. This season, we have played too many seven-man rotations, which has taken a lot of physical energy out of the players, and there have been signs of injuries recently. , I have to find a way to control it.”
"Anyway, the Clippers can't make the playoffs, and they don't pose much of a threat to us. If we fight them in overtime, it's really not worth the gain. And our current record is firmly ranked first in the Western Conference. We don't want to be second. It’s not easy to catch up, and if we lose one or two games occasionally, it has nothing to do with the overall situation.”
…
The Clippers' victory over the Spurs was already an upset, but what was even more unexpected was that the Clippers actually defeated the league's number one Rockets!
This time, the Rockets also came on the bench. They even called back players who played in the Development League and played on the court for more than 20 minutes.
No matter how weak the Clippers players are, they will not be unable to deal with players playing in the Development League. This is another Tian Ji horse racing game.
The reason why the Rockets did this was because they really didn't want to spend overtime with the Clippers. After all, the Rockets have played a seven-man rotation for almost a season. By the last month of the regular season, the players' physical fitness is already very poor. Rather than fighting for one or two overtimes with the Clippers, it is better to save more energy for the playoffs.
…
Cleveland Cavaliers.
The head coach walked up to a strong player and asked, "Do you want to take a rest in the next game?"
This sturdy black player named Bronny is the "first man" in today's NBA.
After hearing what the coach said, Brownie showed a trace of confusion and asked, "Did something happen?"
"Our next opponent is the Los Angeles Clippers." The head coach said.
"I know there are some fans in Los Angeles who don't like me, but those who don't like me are mostly Lakers fans, not Clippers fans. Besides, even if the fans don't like me, the ball still has to be played. !" Brownie replied.
"You didn't understand what I meant. In the last game, the Clippers defeated the Spurs, because the Spurs played a full bench lineup; and in the last game, the Clippers defeated the Rockets, and the Rockets also played a full bench lineup. lineup. So I think, when we face the Clippers, we should also give some main players a rest. With less than one-fifth of the regular season schedule left, we should also focus on the playoffs. The goal is the championship, as for the regular season ranking, it is actually not the most important." The coach said.
For Bronny to be the "number one" in the NBA, his IQ must be online. After thinking about it for a while, he understood the reason.
Brownie nodded: "Our victory or defeat against the Western Conference teams will hardly affect our ranking. Among the Western Conference teams, the only ones we have to pay attention to are the Warriors and Rockets. We may encounter them in the finals. If we compete with a team If a team that has nothing to do with the playoffs plays two or three overtimes, it is indeed an unnecessary waste."
"Well, you should take a break for the next game. By taking this break, you can get at least five days of adjustment time. With such a dense schedule now, five days is really rare."
…
Boston Celtics.
Manager Dennis looked at yesterday's game report with a look of tears on his face.
In the last three games, the Clippers have defeated the Spurs, Rockets and Cavaliers, all of which are strong teams in the league.
More importantly, these three opponents of the Clippers all used their main players to make substitute appearances. The Clippers also moved up one spot on the strength list because of this winning streak. As a result, the Clippers' first-round pick devalued again.
"What are you doing? The Spurs sent substitutes, the Rockets sent substitutes, and even the Cavaliers sent substitutes. They are letting off steam! It is clear that they deliberately let the Clippers win! Why do I feel like the entire league is against me!"