NBA official website writer voting division final: Thunder wins vote to crush the Timberwolves, Knicks most unexpected

On May 21, today's playoff division finals will officially start. The Thunder and the Timberwolves ushered in the first game of the series. Before this game began, the Thunder also complained about the schedule. After the Thunder finished the tiebreak with the Nuggets, they only had one day off and had to play the Western Conference Finals. Moreover, the Western Conference Finals are one game the other day, which is indeed very tired for the Thunder. However, in the NBA official website's vote today, the Thunder is very optimistic and hopes to eliminate the Timberwolves. Let's take a look at their vote this time.

Timberwolves 1-3Thunder

This time, a total of 4 columnists voted on this. Although this kind of voting is a prediction, and ESPN columnists have experienced a failure in almost every round of predictions. But after all, this is a columnist on the league's official website, so it may be more professional. In their vote, three people chose the Thunder to advance, and only one person thought the Timberwolves could advance. It is understandable that the Thunder were optimistic. First of all, they have a home advantage. Secondly, this team has found all their problems after playing seven against the Nuggets.

On the other hand, the Timberwolves won 4-1 in two rounds, and they were too easy to win. I thought the two sides of the series with the Warriors would play very fiercely. As a result, everyone has also seen that Curry's injury did not cause the Timberwolves to suffer too much tempering, and their weaknesses have not been hit yet. One of the good things about the Thunder team is that no matter how they lost the game in the last game, the team will rebound immediately in the next game. Whether it is the final kill or because of the poor core performance, they can always play a good rebound. This is the temperament of the championship team.

The duel between these two teams now, the Timberwolves' advantage lies in Randle. He has advantages against most of the No. 4 or No. 5 positions in the league. Those who are taller than him are not as strong as him, and those who are stronger than him are not as fast as him. Therefore, James and Zhu Meng and him both suffered losses, and Chet could not defend him, so he needed the cooperation of the Thunder team to limit him. The advantage of the Thunder against the Timberwolves is their shooter and athletic ability. This team is good at counterattacking, and their space projection ability can also punish opponents' squat pit defense.

The strength gap between the two teams is not big. The performance of core players in this round of series will be very important. Edwards and Alexander are one of the most reliable scorers at critical moments in the playoffs so far. Whoever can make a more stable output at critical moments will have a better chance to help the team win. After all, the Thunder are a team with 68 wins in the regular season. It is understandable that they are more optimistic about it, but this does not mean that the Timberwolves have no chance. Their lineup matching has no shortcomings, and they have the ability to fight against any team and are not easy to be targeted.

Knicks 1-3 Pacers

This prediction result is probably something that many fans did not expect. After all, in the eyes of many US media and fans, the Knicks are more optimistic about being able to advance, but the NBA columnist gave a different answer. The Knicks are the strongest on paper among the remaining four teams, while the Pacers are the one with the most excellent rotation thickness among the remaining teams. The Knicks are good at winning games by relying on the core, while the Pacers are good at using multiple rotations to mark the entire game, consuming the opponent's physical fitness, so as to achieve the goal of winning.

The Cavaliers were exhausted by the Pacers at the beginning. The Knicks relied too much on the starter. It can be said that after eliminating the Pistons in the first round, I was not optimistic about them. As a result, many core players of the Celtics were injured in the second round, giving them the opportunity to reach the division final. However, the division finals were probably not so lucky. The Pacers' core was healthy enough. The two teams met in the playoffs last season. I don't know if you still remember that the Knicks were injured by their core players and were eliminated.

I am now worried that the Knicks may experience this experience again. After all, they have been too dependent on the core in the past two rounds, and the same is true for the regular season. Even the Iron Man may not be reliable in the long run. Thibodeau became crazy and even rotated 7 people. The intensity of the playoffs, their core health is worrying, and Carlisle is better than Thibodeau in terms of on-the-spot response and tactical targeting. He will also be a major obstacle for the Knicks to advance. The Knicks' biggest advantage against the Pacers is Brunson's singles ability.

Downs may not be able to play the strength of the first two rounds in this round of series. After all, Turner's defense is excellent. If he wants to defeat the Pacers, Anunobi and Bridges will perform better. The opponent also has Sika. He may be the most underrated star in the active league. Sika's scoring stability has been very good so far in the playoffs. He deserves to be the one who led the team to win the championship in 2019. He has the ability to hold the ball, has defense, and can handle the ball. He is simply a contemporary Pippen. Harry's attack in series with the Pacers is also difficult to limit.

Speaking of this, what do you want to say about these 4 teams? Welcome to leave a message for discussion.