Bishop of the Devil

Because of Thompson's injury, the Clippers' odds of breaking out of the Western Conference are now much lower.

What is unbelievable is that fans in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals saw Thompson come back directly.

Logically speaking, such an injury, even if it is not serious, will definitely require a truce for one or two games, but Thompson seems not to be affected at all.

After four consecutive hard-fought games, the new Clippers team encountered unprecedented difficulties. In this Western Conference Finals G5, the Clippers led in the first half, but were overtaken by the Spurs in the second half, and ultimately lost by four points. Gave it to the Spurs.

The Spurs got the match point, which is definitely not good news for the Clippers. You must know that the next game is the Spurs' home court, and the Spurs are likely to end this series at their home court.

…

In G6 of the Western Conference Finals, when Sun Yue strained his thigh in the third quarter, Richard already knew that the Clippers' schedule for this year was completely over.

The referee blew the whistle to end the game, and players from both sides began to leave the field.

In this game, the Clippers lost to the Spurs by 11 points. In addition, they were eliminated by the Spurs and missed the opportunity to enter the finals. Therefore, the young people in the Clippers team looked depressed.

“Cheer up and we’ll come back next year.”

"Your performance this season has been outstanding. In my heart, you are all MVP-level players!" Although he felt a little uncomfortable, Richard still cheered up and encouraged his young players.

"Yes, if we come back next year, the Spurs will only become weaker and weaker, and our Clippers will definitely become stronger and stronger." Ben said excitedly.

Whether he wins the championship this year or not, it really doesn't matter to Ben. He has so many championships, so many DPOYs, rebounding champions and defensive teams. Even if he doesn't win a championship before retiring, it won't actually affect him. historical status.

Even if he wins the championship before retiring, it will not improve Ben's historical status much. After all, Ben is no longer the main player of the team.

There is actually nothing wrong with Ben. The Spurs will only get weaker and weaker, while the Clippers will probably get stronger and stronger.

The Spurs' GDP combination is gradually getting older, which will greatly affect the Spurs' combat effectiveness. The Clippers are full of new-generation players. With another season of training and experience in the Western Conference Finals, their strength will improve. Quite a few.

If Richard makes great gains in the next draft, the Clippers will definitely surpass the Spurs next season. If they meet the Spurs in the playoffs, it will not be a problem to kill them.

Of course, the premise is that the Spurs don't gain anything in the next draft, or not much. Otherwise, it's hard to say what the specific situation will be next season.

In the past two years, Popovich has acquired Jimmy Butler, Middleton and Kemba Walker, which has left Richard with some shadows...

…

The head coaches of both teams walked onto the court and shook hands.

"Congratulations, Greg. I wish you all the best to win the championship this year." Richard smiled and shook Popovich's hand, quite grandly. After so many years in the league, this is the first time Richard has ever lost. The only round of the regional semifinals can be regarded as breaking Richard's own record.

But Richard didn't care too much. There is no undefeated general in the world. If you lose, you will lose. It is impossible to win forever.

And reaching the Western Conference Finals this year actually makes Richard quite satisfied.

"It's not that easy. The Hornets you created are too strong, and the new Big Three of the Heat cannot be underestimated. No matter who these two teams meet, they are enough to give us old guys like the Spurs a headache." Popovich Qi said distressedly.

The Hornets and Heat are currently tied at 3:3. It's hard to say who will get the tickets to the finals.

However, if either of these two teams enters the finals, Richard feels that the final winner may not be them, but the Spurs.

The Spurs' current lineup is quite scary in terms of depth and thickness. The Hornets or Heat may cause them some trouble, but the final winner will definitely be the Spurs.

"I will take the players back to Los Angeles first, Greg, and we will meet again next year."

Richard said confidently that if we meet again next year, it will definitely not end like tonight.

"Okay, see you next year." Popovich nodded and smiled.

…

After leading the team back to Los Angeles, the players went back to their homes and found their mothers, while Richard began his offseason work.

In last year's draft, the Clippers themselves had no draft picks, but in this year's draft, the situation has changed a lot.

Last season, the Clippers' record ranked fourth in the league. The first three teams were the Hornets, Trail Blazers and Heat.

So the Clippers themselves have the 27th overall pick this season.

Under normal circumstances, the 27th pick in the 2013 draft would be Rudy Gobert, a top traditional insider with strength comparable to DeAndre Jordan.

Although Richard's current offensive and defensive system does not require players like Gobert, being able to get such a player with the 27th pick is incredibly cost-effective, so Richard cannot miss it.

But Gobert is definitely not Richard's ultimate goal in this draft. The quality of this draft is good, especially Antetokounmpo, who appeared with the fifteenth pick, is definitely a player that Richard must get.

In addition to Antetokounmpo, there are many outstanding newcomers this year. They suffered the loss of being unused in the game against the Spurs. Richard is going to plan carefully this time and strive to increase the intensity of the bench as much as possible. .

…

Because there are too few draft picks on hand, Richard can only exchange some draft picks through trade.

The tiebreaker results of the Eastern Conference Finals came out, and what made Jordan collapse was that the Buccaneers' record of six consecutive years of entering the Finals was broken...

Relying on the outstanding performance of the Big Three, the Heat finally won a ticket to the finals.

James and Bosh entered the Finals for the first time in their careers, which is undoubtedly a historic breakthrough for them.

But in the next finals, they failed to go further. Facing the veteran Popovich, the Heat were eventually eliminated in six games.

The Spurs won the championship and won the championship as fourth in the Western Conference. The finale of this season really surprised the fans.

Originally, they thought that this year at least the Western Conference would be dominated by the upstart Trail Blazers or the Clippers. No one expected that the old Spurs would survive wave after wave with extremely amazing resilience.

The tiebreaker of the Western Conference semifinals, six games of the Western Conference finals, and six games of the Finals. The Spurs had many difficulties along the way, but the final result was worthy of their efforts and they won the championship trophy.

What surprised the fans even more was that this year's Finals MVP was won by the 36-year-old Duncan.

In the six-game series, Duncan averaged 18.2 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. Although it is not a luxury, because of his presence, the Heat were not a very good opponent and did not score too many points under the basket.

In addition to Duncan, the performance of other Spurs players is also outstanding. There are actually six players in the entire Spurs team who averaged double figures in the series. This kind of real team basketball, if they don't win the championship, it is simply unreasonable. .