Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 67 67. End of the regular season

In a blink of an eye, it came to the end of April. With the Timberwolves' last game away victory over the Nuggets, the Timberwolves have played all 82 regular season games this season.

In the end, the regular season record of the Timberwolves in the 04-05 season was fixed at 67 wins and 15 losses. While breaking the best record in team history, they also ranked first in the league with a visible advantage.

Except for the Timberwolves, the team with the best record this season is the Suns' 62 wins and 20 losses.

And the Suns and Timberwolves are the only two teams with more than 60 wins this season. As for the Heat, Spurs and Pacers, the three teams have 59 wins, 58 wins and 57 wins respectively.

From this point, it is not difficult to see how difficult it is for a team to win more than 60 wins in a single season, and the Timberwolves' 67 wins can be ranked even in history.

After all, the last team with 67 wins in a single season dates back to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 99-00 season.

That season "Shark" O'Neal was at his peak, and the OK combination was the most shining double star in the league.

At the same time, in the 99-00 season, the lakers eliminated the pacers 4:2 in the finals, which officially opened the curtain for the lakers' three consecutive championships.

In addition, with the end of the regular season journey of each team, the current regular season rankings of the East and West have been determined.

东部方面，排名第一的自然是打出59胜23负的迈阿密热火，即使“大鲨鱼”奥尼尔早就巅峰不再，但本赛季奥尼尔场均仍然可以砍下23分10篮板2助攻以及2次封盖。

Helped the Heat overwhelm the Pacers, Wizards and other teams, and finally secured the No. [-] position in the Eastern Conference.

As for the rankings from second to eighth, they are: Pacers, Wizards, Pistons, 76ers, Bulls, Celtics, and Nets.

Originally, the Celtics were gaining momentum after the All-Star break, and even once climbed to the third place in the Eastern Conference.

But Antoine Walker suffered a strained Achilles tendon in the final stage and missed the last 15 games of the regular season.

Fat Toutuo Walker's injury caused the Celtics' ranking to start to decline all the way. In the end, they were surpassed by the 76ers and other teams, and fell to the seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

To make matters worse, Fat Toutuo Walker's injury is currently not optimistic. According to Boston media reports, Walker is likely to miss the first round against the Pacers.

If Antoine Walker really can't come back in the first round of the playoffs, then the Celtics' journey to the playoffs this season will basically come to an end.

Originally, the odds of winning against the Pacers and Celtics in the first round were not great, and the odds of winning were at most 3.5%.

Now that Antoine Walker is unable to play again due to an Achilles tendon injury, it can only be said that the Celtics are really unlucky. The configuration that could have reached the semifinals was brought into the ditch by Walker.

If nothing else, the Celtics can go home and fish with a fishing rod after up to five games.

Even if Paul Pierce has played well this season, but based on "truth" alone, the Celtics will become unreasonable even if they are reasonable!

In the West, the first place is the wolf cubs who played 67 wins and 15 losses in the regular season.

Ranked two to eight are: Sun, Spurs, Sonics, Kings, Nuggets, Mavericks, and Rockets.

This ranking is not friendly to the Timberwolves, who have the best record in the league. The first round match against the Rockets is something Luke did not expect before.

The Rockets' performance has been very stable throughout the season, and even at the end of March, the Rockets once sat unshakable in the fifth position in the Western Conference.

However, the overall level of the West this year is much higher than that of the East, and the records of the four to eight teams are very similar, and it is difficult to distinguish the superiority for a while.

Even if the Rockets, which is eighth in the Western Conference, have a record of 48 wins and 34 losses this season, they are only four games behind the Sonics, which ranks fourth in the Western Conference.

Even if the Rockets' record is placed in the East, they can directly rise to third place, but unfortunately, the league structure is like this. Even if the Rockets fans are dissatisfied, they have to face the fact that they will play against the Timberwolves in the first round.

In fact, the first-round matchup not only made Rockets fans feel desperate, but even Timberwolves fans felt the pressure.

This season, the Rockets have been very stable under the leadership of the Yao Mai combination, and there are not many loopholes on both ends of the offense and defense.

Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy is a well-known defensive coach in history, which also makes the Rockets' defensive efficiency rank fifth in the league this season, averaging 91.5 points per game, which is not far behind the Timberwolves.

Yao Ming, the No. [-] pick in the third grade, is one of the most lethal centers in the penalty area this season. Except for "Shark" O'Neal, I am afraid that other centers in the league will find it difficult to beat Yao Ming.

Yao Ming averaged 18.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game this season, and his field goal percentage of 55.7% was impeccable.

If you really want to find out one flaw, then Yao Ming's biggest flaw in this period is passing.

That's right, Yao Ming, who has the ability to support high positions, averaged only a pitiful 0.8 assists per game this season.

What made all this is naturally the tactical system of the head coach Jeff Van Gundy, and Yao Ming's future knee injuries also have an inseparable relationship with the use of Jeff Van Gundy.

Jeff Van Gundy is a typical defensive coach. On the offensive end, he firmly believes in hitting the ball to the basket and reducing shots from outside the three-point line.

This season, the Rockets averaged only 15.4 shots per game from beyond the three-point line, making them one of the teams with the fewest three-point shots in the league.

In order to allow Yao Ming to increase his dominance in the restricted area, Van Gundy asked the trainer to keep telling Yao Ming to gain weight, so that Yao Ming's weight this season has reached 143 kilograms.

What is the concept of 143 kilograms? The current "big shark" O'Neill weighs 147 kilograms, so after comparison, people will clearly find that Yao Ming's weight has reached the red line.

Even after gaining weight, Yao Ming did become more ferocious in the penalty area, but at the same time, the excessive weight made Yao Ming lose his previous flexibility, and his knees and ankles will bear greater confrontation pressure.

Yao Ming has shot 78% of his shots at the basket this season, which is a bit outrageous for Yao Ming, who has a soft touch and mid-range shooting.

In Jeff Van Gundy's tactical system, Yao Ming is a ruthless low-post machine, so Yao Ming's average assists per game this season is only a pitiful 0.8 times, which is worse than that rough guy Howard.

Yao Ming will become a glass man center in the future, and head coach Jeff Van Gundy will at least take half of the blame on him.

Weight gain is not a bad thing for Yao Ming, but excessive weight gain is just Jeff Van Gundy to satisfy his own offensive philosophy.

However, Jeff Van Gundy is an excellent defensive coach. So far in Van Gundy's coaching career, he has never had a season with a winning percentage lower than 50%.

Under such circumstances, Jeff Van Gundy's handsome position is naturally difficult to shake, and all Yao Ming can do is to seek survival in the cracks!

The first round of the playoffs against the Rockets, even if it is not so friendly to the Timberwolves, but looking at the entire West, none of the teams entering the playoffs will be good.

Even the seventh-ranked Dallas Mavericks are even more troublesome, but the current Mavericks' problem is naturally taken care of by the Sun.

No matter who these two teams can advance to the semifinals, it is a good thing for the Timberwolves.

In the top eight in the Western Conference, Luke most hopes to meet the Supersonics. After all, a team like the Supersonics that focuses on outside shooting is Luke's favorite team.

It's just a pity that in today's league, outside teams like the Sonics are like an outlier.

Except for Luke, who has many years of small ball experience, other teams are somewhat confused when they meet the Sonics. They either defend the three-two defense on the defensive end, or attack Lewis and Ray Allen.

So in addition to the hand feeling and no obvious nemesis, the Supersonics were able to thrive in the West, and finally got to the fourth place in the West. In the first round, they will play against the Kings who just sent Chris Webber away.

As for the Timberwolves, they can only solve the Rockets' problem first. Even if the Timberwolves have the best record in the league in the regular season, the regular season and the playoffs are two concepts after all.

Even Luke didn't dare to be careless, and worked out a plan with the coaching staff before the series started to avoid being caught off guard by the Rockets.

If the Timberwolves get black eight in the first round of this year, I am afraid that Luke will become a joke of the entire league. Luke will naturally stop this kind of thing from the source.

The first match of the first round of the series between the two sides will officially start on April 4, local time in the United States.

At that time, the playoffs of the 04-05 season will officially kick off!

(End of this chapter)