Vol 3 Chapter 701: Another year of Christmas

"Super Heavy Artillery (
Since late November, the situation in the entire western region has slowly become clearer.
The top teams in the East and West have basically not exceeded expectations. Especially in the East, starting with the ninth Washington Wizards, the teams behind basically have no hope of making the playoffs. The overall technical and tactical standards and the players' condition are very poor, it is difficult to squeeze one from the Qianba team.
Those teams that have changed dramatically from what people imagined are all concentrated in the West.
The Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs have fallen behind! The former hasn't played a few games that can be seen since the beginning of the season, while the latter has dropped from the first place in the West to the top ten. Judging from their current wins, they are not much better than the Warriors, Suns and Timberwolves. In addition to these two unplayed teams, there is one team that is impressive. The Memphis Grizzlies played well under the leadership of rookie Morant. Although their record has just reached 50%, they have three more wins than the ninth Blazers. Of course, only one-third of the entire season has passed, and no one can say what the final result will be. After all, it is possible that one humble trade and signing during the season can revitalize a team.
The strong teams from all walks of life are chasing after me to refresh their winning streak this season. Those big teams really don't have the slightest chance to win even one victory. The Golden State Warriors, ranked last in the West, won only 9 games in two months.
The Thunder are still competing with the Lakers, Clippers and Nuggets for the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference. Compared with the thunder's lone show in the previous two seasons, the Western Conference this season is really a flurry of demons. Especially in the competition for the top four in the Western Conference, there have been more than one or two situations where you can directly climb from fourth to the top after winning a game. On the contrary, the eighth position is always occupied by the Grizzlies. The team in front can't fall, and the team behind can't catch up.
On December 25, the annual Christmas War kicked off.
This year, the league has arranged four games. In these four games, the strength of both sides of the battle is very strong, and each game has a strong topicality.
The Celtics and Raptors game started first. As the top four teams in the Eastern Conference, the match between these two teams has attracted a lot of attention before they even started. But after the game ended, everyone realized that this was just an appetizer for the Christmas War.
The Celtics took a double-digit lead in the first quarter and maintained it until halftime. When everyone thought the Raptors would launch a counterattack, Jaylen Brown made 5 of 5 shots in the third quarter and scored 16 points in a single quarter, leading the Celtics to extend the lead to 22 points. In the last quarter, the Raptors finally started to fight back, but it was too late.
Just when everyone was disappointed with the performance of the Raptors as the second in the East, the Bucks, the number one in the East, stepped up to rescue them. They didn't act like an Eastern Conference No. 1 team when they faced the 76ers who were more than 10 games worse than themselves. Especially Antetokounmpo's performance, he took 27 shots, only hit 8 of them, and made 0 of 7 3-pointers.
I have to say that not only Antetokounmpo is ashamed, but the Bucks are also lost. They are unstoppable this season. Not only set the season's longest 18-game winning streak, but also easily won the game against the favorite Lakers and Clippers. But the 76ers defeated them with just one move. That is: Don't let go of sudden shots, lock Antetokounmpo. When the latter fell into the 76ers' tall interior defensive circle, the game belonged to the 76ers.
The two teams leading the Eastern Conference have fallen, making everyone look forward to the Western Conference even more. When people continue to criticize those teams that seem to be strong, they actually hope to see the following things happen.
The four teams participating in the Christmas game in the West are the Lakers, Thunder, Clippers, and Nuggets. They are also the first to fourth teams in the Western Conference's regular season record.
There is no doubt that the Los Angeles Derby was the focus of the four focus battles that day.
The Los Angeles Derby was only recognized this season. For one thing, the Lakers and Clippers have been quite different in strength over the past many years, and only two teams with matching strengths can be called Derby. Secondly, the Lakers and the Clippers have a lot of friction in signings this summer, and they both have a sigh of relief and want to compete.
The opening game of this season arranged for the Lakers and Clippers duel. At that time, the Clippers defeated the Lakers in the absence of Paul George and won the first victory in the regular season of this season. This time, it was the second time the two sides met.
The Lakers are determined to pay attention to regain a city. They attacked with all their strength and took a 12-point lead in the first half. However, the second half of the third quarter became the turning point of the game. Although the Lakers maintained their lead until 3 minutes before the end of the game, James’ key mistakes and the Lakers’ consecutive missed shots gave the Clippers the victory of the game.
The Thunder and Nuggets game was the last Christmas game, and it was the most anxious game of the day.
No one wants to lose, especially when it is broadcast live across the United States. What's more, before this game, the Nuggets had won seven consecutive victories, and the Thunder were also four-game winning streak. This also means that after this game, one of the two teams will definitely end their winning streak.
In the game, both sides went all out. In the first three quarters, including the first half of the fourth quarter, there was always a stalemate. In the last few minutes, An Luo's play became a point that the Nuggets could not limit.
In the end, after a big rhythm with An Luo at the core, the Thunder gained enough advantage. Moreover, they withstood the Nuggets' strong counterattack at the last moment and won the Christmas War.
For An Luo, the Christmas War is just a regular season with a slightly higher degree of attention. In the past few seasons, the Thunder have never missed such a game. For the team, this is an excellent thing. It can not only make a lot of tickets and peripheral goods, but also increase the attention of the team. But for the players, it is not necessarily a comfortable thing.
Most players in this league hope to be with their families at home on this day. An Luo is not keen on foreigners' festivals, but he also hopes to have more time to spend with his family. Fame and attention are not lacking in Anroko now.