Chapter 425: A fiercely competitive playoff spot

On April 14, 2004, the NBA regular season played the last day of the game.
In order to secure the fourth place in the regular season, the Cleveland Cavaliers played all the way to the New York Knicks, who were trying to keep their playoff spot.
After acquiring Stephen Marbury, the Knicks' record has improved and gradually rushed to the top eight in the East, but they have been hovering in eighth and ninth positions.
The Cleveland Youth Guards, who have fully tuned in, defeated the Knicks, who also played the main force, 100-90 at home, overpowering the Miami Heat and ranking fourth in the East.
Because of this defeat, the Knicks were overtaken by the Bucks in record, and unfortunately missed the playoffs.
In this game, Shentong scored 21 points, James scored 19 points, Boozer scored 14 points and 12 rebounds in a double-double, Ilgeskas 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks. Wagner, who came off the bench, contributed 13 points and 7 Assists.
On the Knicks side, Marbury did his best. He played 44 minutes, hit 11 goals in 21 shots, scored 27 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists. The inside titan Kurt Thomas had 12 points and 12 rebounds, but still Can't help the team win.
Compared with the clarity of the situation in the east, the top four seats in the west have not yet determined their final rankings until the last day.
The rankings among the Timberwolves, Lakers, Spurs, and Kings may change at any time based on the last day of the regular season record.
The Mavericks and Grizzlies have only one difference in record.
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The king took the lead in upset.
They lost to the bottom-ranked Golden State Warriors 91-97 on the road.
Peja Stojakovic had 27 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Bibby had 22 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. The hastily comeback Webber only scored 14 points and 7 rebounds.
After Webber's comeback, the Kings still failed to retrieve the mid-season chemistry, which worries the Kings fans very much.
On the Warriors side, Richardson, a rookie with Shen Tong, performed well, scoring 28 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. He was the biggest contributor to the team's victory.
Foyer, who is quite similar to Rodman's playing style, scored 10 points, 17 rebounds, and 5 blocks. The Kings had no temper inside.
A total of 6 Warriors scored in double figures, but they taught the Kings, known for their offensive smoothness, a good lesson.
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The Dallas Mavericks withstood the pressure and beat the Houston Rockets 92-89 away.
The Mavericks' most eye-catching player is not five-star Lianzhu, but Marquis Daniels.
Although Daniels looks ugly, but his skills are pretty good.
He scored 21 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block, which contributed to the team's victory.
In addition, in addition to Nash, who scored 5 points and 8 assists, the other four stars all scored more than double digits.
On the Rockets side, because the playoff seats have been locked, and winning or losing will not affect the ranking, the Rockets chose to let some players rest in the game.
In the lineup, only Yao Ming and Jim Jackson are in the lineup. Francis and Mobley are both included in the lineup.
Speaking of it, the Rockets helped the Texas brothers.
I don't know if they will regret helping the people of Dallas in a few years.
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The Timberwolves beat the Grizzlies 109-90 away, securing the first place in the Western Conference in the regular season.
Garnett still played steadily, effectively scoring 26 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, laying the foundation for the team's victory.
Sprewell also scored 20 points, and Kassel had 17 points and 8 assists.
Szebiak, who came off the bench, scored 17 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
The Grizzlies failed to block the offensive of the three monsters, but also completely lost hope of overtaking the Mavericks.
Gasol scored 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks. He was the Grizzlies' best performer, but under Garnett's light, the Spaniard was eclipsed.
Jason Williams had 15 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists.
Hubby Brown's five-on-five-down tactic was completely ineffective against the Timberwolves.
Shaking his head to reporters after the Browns race, he said: "Kevin Garnett completely ruled us. We need someone to stand up at this moment, but unfortunately, no one of us has stood up today."
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The Lakers were very tenacious through double overtime, defeating the bitter Trail Blazers 105-104 away, and the Spurs, who had a big win over the Nuggets, lost the possibility of overtaking.
Bryant played 53 minutes and made 14 of 31 shots, 4 of 10 three-pointers, 37 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Perhaps because of the long playing time, Kobe's free throws in this game were not good, only 9 of 5 free throws, far not as good as usual.
O'Neal had 25 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks.
Reporter: "Shaquille, do you have any thoughts on Kobe's free throws in this game? If his free throw percentage is the same as usual, you can end the fight in regular time."
O'Neal, who made 1 of 8 free throws in the game, solemnly replied: "No comment."
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Anthony had never felt such a gloomy moment.
Perhaps James in the last time and space had a similar feeling, but in this time and space, James is standing next to Shentong~EbookFREE.me~ However, Anthony can only rely on Andre Miller at present.
In this game, Anthony's kaleidoscope offense completely fell into the trap of the Spurs.
Anthony, who had 12 points, 4 rebounds and only 5 goals in 15 shots, finally realized the horror of the Spurs.
Miller's 11 points and 3 assists were also far worse than usual.
The Nuggets' main outside shooter Leonard was defended and only scored 2 points.
On the Spurs' side, the gdp combination began to provoke the backbone.
Duncan is still the team's pinnacle, 23 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, continuing to perform mvp performance.
Parker had 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Ginobili, who came off the bench, had 6 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
The Spurs' suffocating defense allowed the Nuggets, which averaged 97.2 points per game during the regular season, to score only a pitiful 67 points.
The Spurs themselves still scored 93 points steadily, beating the Nuggets by 26 points.
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At this point, the NBA regular season of the 03-04 season is all over, and the seats for the 16 playoff teams are finally determined.
The east side.
The Pacers, Pistons, Nets, and Cavaliers are in the top four and will have the home advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The Heat, Hornets, Bucks and Celtics tied for five to eight places.
The west side.
The final top four rankings are: Timberwolves, Lakers, Spurs, Kings.
The Mavericks, Grizzlies, Rockets, and Nuggets ranked fifth to eighth.
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The opponent of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs is the predicted Miami Heat.
The "gentleman" combination of Shentong and James will be challenged by the "curtain" combination of Wade and Odom.
On April 18th, the first matchup between the two teams will be played at Gund Arena in Cleveland.