Update time: 2013-01-20

The game has entered the full March. Except for the only few teams that are determined to play, most teams are still hard to part with the playoff spots. After defeating the Miami Heat, the Supersonics have only 24 games left. Due to the drag of the record at the beginning of the season, the Supersonics have a record of 44 wins and 14 losses.

In the West, according to the situation analysis in recent years, at least fifty wins should be achieved, so it is basically guaranteed to enter the playoffs. In the East, forty wins can basically guarantee to enter, so the New Orleans Hornets have such great resentment. It turns out that they have always been a regular player in the playoffs in the East, but in the West, they can't even enter the playoffs every year.

However, this season's Hornets can be said to be reborn from the ashes of a Phoenix, and they suddenly jumped to the top position in the West. In addition, the Supersonics, which performed well, the rise of the two teams is considered to have changed the pattern of the West.

Traditional powerful teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns have shown a scene of sunset this season. The strong teams in the past few seasons, such as the Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz, the Houston Rockets, and the Denver Nuggets, are still on the playoff list, but they are always struggling, making people look like they lack the championship temperament.

The Portland Trail Blazers have not yet woken up from their sinking, and the Golden State Warriors are no longer as glorious as last season. They look like they are short-lived. The Sacramento Kings are still swaying between defense and offense. The Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves, the pair of brothers in distress, are competing for the last position in the West.

Thanks to the contribution of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Los Angeles Lakers, which was at a low point in the past two seasons, have returned to the ranks of Western Conference strong teams, at the cost of the Grizzlies' record declined rapidly. After unexpectedly defeating the Seattle Supersonics, Memphis fans seemed to see a glimmer of hope, but then a four-game losing streak, which clearly told them that the team had begun to rebuild and they had to endure the pain for a long time.

No matter how high a team fans are at this time, they are extremely envious of Seattle fans. They are also rebuilding. Why does our team take several years, and you are just in a moment?

At this time, the first place in the Western Conference was the New Orleans Hornets, the second was the Dallas Mavericks, and the Supersonics ranked third, with only one win-win margin away from the Mavericks, followed by San Antonio Spurs, but the Los Angeles Lakers behind had already threatened their position, and the two teams had a tie in record numbers, and the Spurs were ahead of them only by winning and losing.

The sixth is the Houston Rockets, the seventh is the Phoenix Suns, the eighth is the Denver Nuggets, and the ninth is the Uta Jazz. The Houston Rockets are not bad, and they are more than two wins ahead of the three teams behind, while the three teams behind are only half a game away.

The top nine are basically quite close to each other, and the distance between the first and ninth is only six wins. Unlike the Eastern Conference, the number one Boston Celtics and the fifth-ranked Washington Wizards have nine wins.

The Portland Trail Blazers rank 10th in the West, the Golden State Warriors rank 11th, and the Memphis Grizzlies rank 12th. These three teams still have the possibility of entering the playoffs. The three teams behind, the Los Angeles Clippers, only theoretically have the hope of entering the playoffs, while the Sacramento Kings and the Minnesota Timberwolves have no theoretical possibility.

After stabilizing the situation with three consecutive victories, it is equivalent to suppressing the situation. Now we are going to start fighting for the playoffs. Although there should be no problem entering the playoffs, ranking is also a very critical factor, and we decide to be able to get to that point.

It is best to avoid it if some teams can avoid it, especially those experienced and strong teams. Therefore, the goal set by the coaching team led by Calesimo is to stay in the first group as much as possible by the end of the season. Not to mention the home advantage, the teams ranked behind have more or less one problem.

In the next twenty-four games, in addition to winning as many as possible, we must also try to ensure that the team and players do not experience large-scale or serious injuries. The first two and three main players cannot play is a very obvious signal. Many players are already tired until now.

Once the body enters a state of fatigue, it is very easy to cause various injuries. Cott Thomas has not recovered yet, and Wilkins can play, but muscle strain is a very difficult type and there is no need to undergo any surgery. Just rest or assist in treatment for a few days, but as long as the movement is too large, it will be very easy to recur.

Ridno's flu was cured, but during the shooting training the next day, his shoulder was hit by Deronti West again. No one knew whether Deronti West did it on purpose. Anyway, Ridno needed another week of rest to hit, and accordingly, Deronti West had another week of chance.

However, Deronti West is not trusted by Carlesimo. Even if Watson needs to go off the court, Stephen will be the one who takes the ball. Anyway, the other guys will only dribble over the midfield. There is no problem with Stephen completing this task now.

Just when Carlesimo was glad that there was nothing wrong with the team's starting lineup, as soon as the team landed in Minneapolis, Wilcox caught a serious cold again, which was so serious that he needed to get a drip. Naturally, he could not play in this situation. There were two important players missing in the inside rotation lineup, and Carlesimo began to feel a little stretched.

The Supersonics' inside line is not very strong, and they usually rely on the number of rotation players. This one is not good enough. Anyway, most teams in the league are not strong in the inside line, and if there are too many staff members, they will benefit a little bit. However, problems occur continuously at the same position, even if there are too many people, it is a bit unbearable.

Wick Cox is the team's genuine power forward, and Cott Thomas is his substitute. Both of them suddenly had problems. Although there was also one Nick Colinson and one Robert Holly, Robert Holly could only last ten minutes in one game. Isn't this equivalent to Nick Colinson needing to play for more than thirty minutes on the court?

Moreover, as Robert Swift was gradually squeezed out of the regular rotation lineup due to tactical adjustments, many times Cooperd's substitute was Wilcox. At that time, Cott Thomas or Nick Colinson came to replace Wilcox. Now that he was injured by two people, how to rotate became a big problem.

Perhaps due to the cold weather, the temperature in Minneapolis was only about three or four degrees colder than Seattle in the north. However, for some reason, it gave people a very cold feeling. After playing for two minutes, Watson turned his ankle.

This is what makes you feel unparalleled. You are short of manpower in this position, but you lose this position. Looking at Deronti West who is eager to try, Calesimo was still a little worried about him, so he called a timeout, and replaced Wilkins to go up and let Stephen play the point guard.

Deronti West had a gloomy face. He never expected that the team's two point guards were injured and it was not his turn to play. After seeing this, although he did not dare to return to the locker room directly, he changed his seat to the position of the water dispenser guarding the plane, which clearly confronted the head coach. This made Carlesimo very angry. He originally planned to change him in a while. Since he was so uncooperable, he might as well not play in this game.

Could it be that if Zhang Butcher died, he would have to eat a pig with a hairy pig? Stephen played well in the position of point guard, but he was not very outstanding. After all, he was not an orthodox point guard, but against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Supersonics still seemed slightly better than the Minnesota Timberwolves who were unwilling to play.

The Supersonics team easily defeated the Timberwolves with this residual formation, which was also the first of their seven consecutive away games. I really don’t know how the league arranged the season. At this time, the Supersonics actually arranged such a long away trip.

Fortunately, the more humane point is that these teams are not too far away. They are basically in the northern part of the United States, either in the northeast or the northwest. They don’t need to fly too far. After defeating the Timberwolves, the Supersonics rushed to Detroit, the car city of Motels. After a day of rest, they fought with the Pistons at the Auburn Hills Palace Arena.

Compared with the main players of the Pistons, there was no major change in the championship period. The starting lineup was only one less than one Wallace, but like a group at that time, it was like another team. Not only did the airtight defense be gone, but even the tacit offense was not as good as before.

But such a team still caused great trouble to the Supersonics. In the end, Billups missed the final victory by Stephen in the last twenty-three seconds and won the game by 100 to 97. After the game, even Stephen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

As a result, the SuperSonics lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the away back-to-back game the next day in the away game back-to-back match, with injuries and exhaustion. The "Brownless Hero" Villanueva scored 35 points and 11 rebounds, while the "Big Mouth" Bogut also won the victory in the match against Coopard, and scored 26 points, thirteen rebounds and four blocks.

The Supersonics lost in this game. When the game was five minutes to end, Calesimo had already replaced all the main players. Although the score difference of more than ten points is not difficult to reach, it is better not to force it so much when the team is exhausted.

In this game, Chinese player Yi Jianlian did not play due to a wrist injury, but before the game, he made a special banquet for Stephen. After all, Stephen was already a part of the Chinese national team at this time, and his achievements and status were definitely at the level of a big shot.

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I was the only one left in the family and didn't fall down. If I didn't place them, I couldn't sit down and write. I also had to take care of myself, otherwise my family would be in chaos.

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Chapter completed!