(The original text was published on December 10, and the content was the discussion between Rohlin and Ric Bucher in Fox Sports Melissa, which does not represent the translator’s point of view)
Although it is widely believed that the popularity of winning the championship is in the east, a new competitor has recently emerged in the West. This week, Fox Sports NBA reporter Melissa Rohlin and Ric Bucher discussed how to view Pelican sudden appearance? Did basketable Nets regain their magic? Which team’s new aid has brought the team to a new height?
Pelicans are now the first in the West. Are they a real championship team?
Melissa Rohlin: I don’t know if pelicans are real champions, but I’m sure they will be very competitive in the playoffs. Without Zion last season, CJ-mccorum and Ingram led Pelicans to surprise everyone in the first round of the playoffs. With Zion returning to the team, the pelican is a real threat with 23.9 points and 7.2 rebounds on average. The problem is that the situation in the West is very crowded now. Everyone has the same level. It is difficult to judge which team is outstanding. After all, the pelican with the number one seed has only 3.5 more wins than the ninth Clippers in the West. Therefore, the West is a completely open competition. I really like Willy-Green’s coaching performance in Pelican. Zion has absolute advantages on the court, and the whole Pelican team can burst into power that cannot be ignored. In fact, who can guarantee that Pelican will not surprise us again in the June competition?
Ric Bucher: No, but their competition is very good. I hope they can continue to win. Pelicans did not perform so well in games with close scores or against strong teams, which is a common situation in the playoffs. Zion brought trouble to pelicans as much as he brought to his opponents. He was so outstanding that he had to give the ball to him. However, when Zion had the highest usage rate in the team, each hundred rounds of assists only ranked fourth, just a little ahead of Graham. The translation is: Zion did not create offensive opportunities for teammates. Whether it is a fengshui ball attack basket or a patch, as long as the main attacker of Zion is the left hand, he will be full of energy. When you meet a strong team or a playoff team, it is impossible for Zion to use his dominant hand to attack all the time, at least limit it. If Zion had no ball in his hand, then his threat would be much smaller and he could only grab the rebound, which would bring about space problems. Then there is the defensive thing. How can I evaluate it? Zion is not stuck, staring at people or cap. I admit that Zion’s talent is rare, but pelicans hardly foul the defensive end without him. However, pelicans cannot not put Zion on the court. I can’t wait to see how they will solve this problem.
The heat was the first in the East last season, only one victory away from the finals. This season, the heat has now fallen to the tenth in the east. What’s wrong with them?
Melissa Rohlin: The biggest problem with the heat is that the offensive efficiency Alliance is in the top five. Of course, the impact of injuries is real. Butler missed 10 games, and the best sixth man Croal last season also missed 8 games. But the interesting point is that even if the record of the heat is so bad, it is difficult to exclude them from the strong team. Some nights, the Heat seemed to be the team that entered the Eastern finals last season, and had the opportunity to return to the east finale stage, such as the match that defeated the Celtics last week. However, the Heat also had many inexplicable defeats, such as losing in the match of four grizzly bears, including the grizzly super star Morant. I wouldn’t be surprised if it took a long time for the heat to come back.
Ric Bucher: I will never exclude the heat. Few teams can give full play to their abilities like them, but the Heat needs core players (Butler, Adebayor, Lowry) be able to play and play a high level of competition against the top teams of the league. Butler missed 10 of the 25 games so far in the season. Without him, the Heat achieved a record of 4 wins and 6 losses. The decline of Lowry’s state also hurt the heat. Butler and Lowry were the only two organizers of the heat, so the attack end of the Heat struggled like this.
The Celtics once led to 45 points in the victory over the sun. What do you think of the Celtics winning the Sun? Is the Celtics so much stronger than the sun?
Melissa Rohlin: Sun’s defeat was terrible, but I’m not sure I can see so many things from this match. First of all, Paul had missed 14 games in a row before. Facing the Celtics, the game just came back and performed poorly. Scores and assists were as many as mistakes (all 4). Secondly, Booker just cut the data of 40 + and 50 + in a single game a week ago, but he performed very badly in the face of Celts, with only 17 points and 35.3% field goal percentage. In other words, the Celtics may indeed be the strongest team in the league at present. There is no doubt that the Celtics finished their first finals trip in 12 years last season, and they were full of hunger after losing to the Warriors. The current offensive efficiency of Celtics (119.9) is the first in the league, and the defensive efficiency is also the top ten in the league. The stag ranks next to it, and an accident may rob the Celts from the top position in the east. There are still many teams in the league that can compete with Celtics, even the sun, unless the sun returns to Celtics after another big defeat.
Ric Bucher: maybe not. The Celtics are the strongest team in the league at present. It is not only because of their record. The Celtics are a bit like the natural enemies of the sun. When facing most teams, the advantages of the Sun lie in the flanking position and the point guard. The problem is that the advantages of Celtics are the same. No one thinks that the combination of Booker, Paul and Mikael Bridges will be better than Tatum, jellun Brown and smat. What’s more, there was Brogden on the Celtic bench, and the sun was only Payne. The balance of victory was directly tilted, so there was the final score. In addition, there are chemical reactions, and Celts are also better than the sun. Another point I don’t understand is that Elton faced Celtics front court with only Griffin and Grant Williams in the first quarter. Why did he only have three chances to shoot?
During the off-season this year, many well-known players have changed their new bosses. Which new aid season has played best so far?
Melissa Rohlin: I like Mitchell’s performance in The Knight, with an average of 29 points and 49.6% field goal percentage hitting a new career record, leading the knight to the third record in the East (16-9). After finishing five seasons in jazz, it was obvious that coming to the Knight benefited him a lot. Since James brought the Knight into the finals in 2018 and left as a free agent, Mitchell was the first player to help the knight become important again. Since James left, the Cavaliers have been out of the playoffs for four consecutive seasons. This situation may end soon after Mitchell comes.
Ric Bucher: It’s hard to ignore Mitchell, but I have to bring Grant, the pioneer, for rain and dew fairly. Grant’s fame was not even that big, which made his performance in the Pioneers even more sensational. Grant is famous for his defense, and his average score (23) hit a new high in his career, partly because he has developed accurate three-point shooting ability. Before this season, Grant’s three-point hit rate never exceeded 39 percent, while currently his three-point hit rate is 46.1 percent. Grant even hit the bottom line of the whistle to win the jump shot. There is reason to believe that this is not only the first time he hit the whistle to kill, but also the first time he shot the game in NBA. Brogden is also worth mentioning. I believe that the partner of smart Brogden is also very efficient, because he knows where the efficiency master Brogden will wait for him.
Basket net has won 5 of the past 6 games and 8 of the past 11 games, ranking fourth in the east. Is basketable nets back? Can they challenge the top teams in the East?
Melissa Rohlin: The Story of NBA has changed so fast that I feel that the farce of basketable nets was more exciting than soap operas not long ago. Now basketable nets has made headlines for another reason. They are starting to win. The biggest difference is that they decided to defend well. In the past 10 games, basketable nets changed from the worst defensive team in the league to the 10th strong defensive team in the league. Interestingly, basketable nets can win as long as you defend carefully. Since Owen returned from the suspension, basketable nets has regained its competitiveness. If they continue to fight like this, things will become very interesting in April.
Ric Bucher: I looked at the list of basketable nets and thought: why can’t they challenge the top teams? Then I looked at the heavy burden that Durant and Owen had to bear. They had to play for 37 minutes in each match. Then I thought about their injury history. I thought it was unsustainable. Finally, it must be emphasized that Durant and Owen both like the whole thing very much. I am not sure that they can control themselves not to do something that will distract their attention, especially Owen. Therefore, I think it is impossible for basketable nets to beat the Celts and the Bucks and challenge the top teams in the east.
Original: Melissa Rohlin & Ric Bucher
Compile: Li Taibai
Discussion & Analysis