I'm not really a role player

Chapter 181 The Battle for Fourth in the Eastern Conference

On the 16th and 17th, the Bobcats played back-to-back home and away games against the Grizzlies.

In the two games, the Bobcats won very easily. This is to say: there is also competition among the teams that have been rebuilding after a bad performance.

The 08 draft, according to the pre-election reviews, was considered a great year——

OJ Mayo, Michael Beasley, the two high school No. [-]s have all gathered together, plus the NCAA's outstanding performances Rose, Love, potential Harden, Curry...

There are still a lot of top rookies in this draft, and the overall quality is very high.

Therefore, there are many teams that are determined to rebuild. The Grizzlies are one of them, but the competition they face is also fierce.

In the West alone, there are as many as three teams with similar records to them, the Clippers, Timberwolves and Supersonics, plus the Grizzlies, and the Heat, Knicks, Bucks and Bulls in the East...

There are a total of eight teams, and the competition is poor.

You know, playing poorly is also a technical job, losing or something, you don't just lose if you say you lose.

It's okay for the strong teams in the playoffs last season, just like the two games between the Grizzlies and the Bobcats, they played normally and lost normally.

But if you encounter some teams that don't do serious things, such as competitors, such as the Kings and the Nets, such bad teams that are not bad, but play no different from bad teams.

After a game is won, whether they lose or not is not something they can decide on their own.

In addition to the difficulty that opponents may create for these rebuilding teams, maintaining the fan market is also something that rebuilding teams need to consider.

It’s okay to lose, but you must lose beautifully, so that people can see hope.

Combined, the difficulty immediately rises.

Therefore, the Grizzlies naturally have to firmly grasp an opponent like the Bobcats who has no psychological burden to lose in the two games.

After winning these two games, the Bobcats' winning streak expanded to 11 games, and the number of wins quickly increased to 40 games.

After the game, in an interview, Li Ke was asked: "11 consecutive victories, 40 wins and 27 losses, you have overtaken the Cleveland Cavaliers and become the fourth in the Eastern Conference..."

Fourth in the East?
Li Ke was stunned for a moment. To be honest, he really didn't pay much attention to the rankings during this period. He knew that they were two or three wins behind the Cavaliers at the beginning, and it was not so easy to overtake them.

As a result, with the 11-game winning streak, they overtook the Cavaliers...

"Uh, to be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the winning streak and ranking during this period."

A perfunctory answer dismissed the reporter, and Li Ke immediately understood why Le Bang felt bad for him.

The Bobcats overtook the Cavaliers and ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference with a half-game advantage!

……

After Lao Ai joined, the Bobcats' record began to improve significantly, but at that time, the Bobcats still had wins and losses.

Knowing that the old shark joined, the AWSL combination has been formed, and its combat power has reached the top of the league. The 11-game winning streak is a proof.

In addition to the immediate combat power brought by Lao Ai and Lao Sha, more importantly, the Bobcats' schedule itself is difficult before and easy later.

Speaking of the 11-game winning streak, the Bobcats have encountered only five strong teams in the playoffs. The Cavaliers, Raptors, and Wizards are already ranked behind them in the same district.

As a result, in the game against the Lakers, the Bobcats almost lost. Relying on the god Li Ke to go down to eat with the god Kobe, and hit the last ball, Li Ke's lore was worth a point.

Looking at the schedule after the Grizzlies, there are only one Cavaliers, one 76ers and two Raptors left for the strong teams in the playoffs...

"The west is strong and the east is weak, making great contributions..."

To put it bluntly, the real strong teams in the NBA are all in the West, and the East can be regarded as the top power, including the Celtics, Magic, the Pistons are too old, and the Cavaliers are too chaotic.

Look at the west again, lined up one by one——

The Lakers led by Kesao, the Hornets led by Paoge, the Spurs whose GDP is still online, the Jazz led by Utah's new Shuangsha, the uninjured Rockets, the Suns still led by Nash Stoudemire, the Lone Ranger led by the driver, the Nuggets led by the social combination of Guagua and Artest, among the top eight, is there anyone who is easy to mess with?
Even if it is the ninth Warriors and the tenth Trail Blazers, if they are placed in the East, their strength should not be underestimated.

In a regular season, the Bobcats have only two home and away games against Western teams, and most of their games against Eastern teams are three or more. The Eagles, Heat, Magic, and Wizards who belong to the Southeast Division have to play four games.

Against the Eagles, the Bobcats have already played four games, with 2 wins and 2 losses. Against the Magic, the Bobcats lost all four games.

Li Ke can say with certainty that if he plays Magic now, he will definitely not lose all four games...

Playing against the Wizards is 3 wins and 1 loss. Playing against the Heat, it was a three-game victory, and there was one game missed.

Just to make an analogy, if you change the Bobcats to the west, and pick one of the three divisions at random, it will all have to be peeled off.

There are the Lakers and Suns in the Pacific, the Nuggets and Jazz in the Northwest, not to mention the Rockets, Hornets, Mavericks, and Spurs, and only the Grizzlies.

If you play four games with these teams in a regular season, the Bobcats' wins will be reduced by at least three or four games...

Therefore, there is nothing wrong with saying that the west is strong and the east is weak and makes great contributions.

Speaking of Le Bang's dislike for Li Ke, the value is actually not high, only 5 points.

But the 5-point dislike is already very real. To put it simply, the Bobcats have a high probability of being the first-round opponent of the Cavaliers in the playoffs.

Although in the second half of the regular season, the Bobcats' record has improved a lot, but compared with the top three in the Eastern Conference, whether it is the Bobcats or the Cavaliers, their wins are much worse.

The Magic are already 46 wins and 25 losses, and their lead against the Bobcats is as high as 4 games.

The Pistons and Celtics have better records. It is already impossible for the Bobcats to advance one more place in this ranking, and the same is true for the Cavaliers.

"The Raptors and Wizards can't come up, so the matchup for this playoffs is already determined..."

After the Grizzlies, the discussion in the locker room is inseparable from the playoffs.

"So, there's nothing to play for the rest of the regular season?"

The old shark spread his hands, which meant that he was going to take a rest.

Speaking of which, the old shark came to the Bobcats, and he was very diligent. He never missed a game, and he was routinely late for training by about an hour.

When I arrived at the training hall, I practiced as I wanted, without slack at all.

Boss Joe and Sam Vincent were surprised. The prick they had expected accepted the request of the new team so flatly?Is this still the Shaq in their impression?
Li Ke understood Lao Sha's thoughts very well.

Old Shark knows very well that his career is only a few years away, and no one wants to fall apart with the team that may be his last, be reduced to no team, and finally face a tragic ending of being forced to retire.

Now the Sharks are only thinking about finishing the last two or three seasons quietly with the Bobcats.

Maybe he still has some requirements for record, team status, and tactical status, but obviously, the Bobcats also meet his series of potential requirements.

So, why did the old shark make trouble and make himself a thorn in the side?
Regarding the rest, Sam Vincent actually has a similar idea. After all, the regular season is coming to an end, and the playoffs are currently at the moment. There is not much room for change in the ranking, and the opponents are still determined.

In the two trades, the Bobcats have added two aging cores, and the depth of the bench has also been weakened. If there is no rotation at the end of the season, are they still planning to overdraw the core and take a rest in the playoffs?
The problem is, Sam Vincent feels, the rest of the regular season isn't any less important in terms of importance:

"No, Shaq, the remaining 15 games, we still have to take it seriously, because we have to make sure that at the end of the season, we are fourth in the Eastern Conference!"

That's right, just this one reason is enough to make the Bobcats take the remaining 15 seemingly insignificant regular season games seriously.

"The advantage of being fourth in the Eastern Conference is that we will get home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Considering that our opponent is a strong Cavaliers, this is still very important."

Li Ke also agrees with Sam Vincent's idea. The advantage of the home court is too important for the Bobcats, a rookie in the playoffs!
Boss Joe hopes that the Bobcats can become the fourth in the Eastern Conference, because the fourth in the Eastern Conference means home court advantage, and the advantage of the home court means that after playing seven games, the Bobcats can sell one more game ticket than the opponent.

The ticket price for the playoffs will increase, and the average ticket price will rise from $50 in the regular season to around $200.

There are 9000 people at the Time Warner Center, and if you sell one more ticket, you will earn an extra $400 million.

Think about the season, the loss of 1300 million made Boss Joe breathless. Now it’s all right. If you sell a ticket for the playoffs, it’s 400 million dollars. If a series is full, the loss will be wiped out...

……

On the 21st, the Cavaliers defeated the Pacers in an away game, raising their record to 41 wins and 28 losses, and tied the Bobcats directly.

The difference is that they played two more games, won one more game and lost one more game, and they couldn't say whether they were ahead or behind.

In short, this victory of the Cavaliers directly put the ranking battle between the fourth and fifth in the Eastern Conference on the table.

On the 22nd, all Bobcats were in poor condition and unexpectedly lost a game to the Raptors, ending the winning streak.

But at the same time, the back-to-back Cavaliers also overturned in the corner of Milwaukee. With a score of 98 to 108, the UAE scored 12 points and 9 rebounds, making great contributions.

On the 24th, Big Z scored 29 points and 15 rebounds in a fiery state, helping the Cavaliers to defeat the Hornets.

Then on the 25th, the Bobcats also won their last match against the Bulls of the season.

Then back to back, the old sharks rested, and the Bobcats lost to the Nets. This allowed the Cavaliers, who had no game for the time being, to temporarily overtake the Bobcats with a half-game advantage.

On the 29th, the Bobcats beat the Trail Blazers at home, but the Cavaliers lost to the Pistons at their home court.

Then there was the last game in March, when the Bobcats beat the Timberwolves away.

The game in March came to an end, the Bobcats and the Cavaliers were tied, but the gap in wins widened.

"The Bobcats with 43 wins and 29 losses, against the Cavaliers with 42 wins and 30 losses, the Bobcats have already led the Cavaliers by an entire game, and the gap has already widened..."

Speaking of the Bobcats record improvement, the happiest person besides the Bobcats is Mei Yangyang.

The reason is: he finally lost sight of the light, and this time, he succeeded in blowing the lynx!

During this period of time, Mei Yangyang’s program mentioned Bobcats the most, and he almost said: “Look, I said it half a month ago, Bobcats are very strong!”

The 11-game winning streak of the Bobcats proved Mei Yangyang's bragging, and the subsequent record improvement made Mei Yangyang find a topic.

But more importantly, the duel between the Bobcats and the Cavaliers seems to be a classic matchup.

The reason is: "Although the Bobcats have already led a win, the Cavaliers still have a chance to overtake, because there is still a chance for them to face the Bobcats head-to-head."

"If the Cavaliers can win the head-to-head match, then the gap of one victory will be directly erased!"

"The disadvantage of 1 win and 2 losses in a direct match will also be pulled to a 2-2 draw."

To put it simply, with 10 games left in the season, the Bobcats only have a one-game lead over the Cavaliers. Considering the remaining head-to-head confrontation, the Cavaliers can wipe out the difference of one game.

But the premise is that the remaining 10 games, whether it is the Bobcats or the Cavaliers, can no longer go wrong.

……

So, in April, in the first battle, Li Ke faced Xiao Du again.

The old sharks take turns, and the AWSL team only has three players to play, and Lao Ai's playing time is also controlled. The main players can only be Li Ke and Hua's second.

Fortunately, Li Ke's defense was strong, and Xiao Du who directly defended became Tie Du.

而华老二火力全开砍下27分8个篮板6个助攻2个抢断2个盖帽，直接就成了夏洛特的詹姆斯了。

Li Ke also scored 19 points on 7 of 17 shots in front of Xiao Du under Hua's second and Lao Ai, who played more than two quarters but also scored 8 points and 21 assists.

AWL without the S combination scored 67 points, and the Bobcats won easily.

On the other hand, the Cavaliers didn't pull their hips either. They defeated the Wizards and maintained a one-game gap with the Bobcats.

Then on April 4, the Bobcats beat the Raptors at home to complete their revenge.

The Cavaliers also beat the Heat at home.

In this way, before the fourth match of the season between the Bobcats and the Cavaliers on April 4, the Bobcats' record became 6 wins and 45 losses, and the Cavaliers' record became 29 wins and 44 losses. The gap of one win has been maintained until now.

A direct fight, an opportunity to bridge the gap, was placed in front of the Cavaliers.

With the end of the season, the situation of the playoffs gradually became clear, and the ranking battle between the Cavaliers and the Bobcats was the only remaining suspense in the final stage of the season.

For the fourth place in the Eastern Conference, the two teams, who had long been undisguised, were ready to fight before the game started.

Lebron said in front of the reporter: "We will beat the Charlotte Bobcats, and the fourth place in the Eastern Conference can only be the Cleveland Cavaliers!"

(End of this chapter)