Reborn in the 96 golden generation

Chapter 542 Barely entering the playoffs

Today, in addition to four championships, Zhou Yu has also won the personal honors of 2 regular season MVPs and 3 finals MVPs, and is one step closer to the throne of "NBA History No. 1".

But he and O'Neal and Kobe gradually drifted away. Before the start of the new season, O'Neal and Kobe finally chose to fly solo in order to escape Zhou Yu's "shadow".

O'Neal went to the Miami Heat and Kobe went to the Chicago Bulls.

Zhou Yu, lacking the help of two super powerful teammates, suddenly felt a little lonely, but he knew in his heart that what should come will always come, what should go will always go, and what should stay will never be kept.

What's more terrible is that after O'Neal and Kobe left, the Lakers failed to introduce decent stars to fill the vacancy after they left.

The reason is that some powerful stars want to lead the team to win the championship alone, and don't want to make "wedding dresses" for others, while the average capable stars are "lion big mouths", and they want to pay a disproportionate annual salary. In a fit of anger, Bass simply gave up the idea of ​​bringing in reinforcements.

In the end, the Lakers only got Odom and Stackhouse two players with mediocre strength and reputation through multi-party transactions to make up for the vacancies of O'Neal and Kobe.

After Odom came, Zhou Yu had to switch to center forward, which was a severe test for him. As we all know, Zhou Yu is better at outside activities because of his good touch, but at this time he can only hover near the penalty area. Scoring ability is severely limited.

At the same time, "French sports car" Tony Parker came to the NBA ahead of schedule and formed a super "GDP" combination with Duncan and Ginobili.

Coupled with the Dallas Mavericks with Nowitzki, Nash, and Finley and the Kings with Webber, Stojakovic, and Bibby, it will be more difficult for the Lakers to break out of the Western Conference where there are strong teams. There are many, or almost impossible tasks.

And the East is also very wild. The Miami Heat with O'Neal and Mourning's super "twin towers", the Chicago Bulls with Kobe and Kukoc, and the Philadelphia 76ers with Iverson and Ray Allen are all strong. Underestimated, a "three-legged confrontation" situation has formed.

In the 2001-2002 season, the Lakers' "five consecutive championships" journey was unanimously unfavorable to the outside world, and even Zhou Yu himself did not have much confidence.

The head coach Harris naturally saw the low morale of the team, so before the start of the new season, he talked to the players one by one to cheer them up.

After Harris' "Chicken Soup for the Soul", the mental state of the team members improved slightly. After all, the temptation of the championship is too great, and who can think that there are too many championship rings to overwhelm them.

After thinking about it, Zhou Yu also felt that the Lakers are not incapable of fighting, but they just need to play more overall and more patiently to make up for their lack of strength.

But the reality is cruel. Not long after the start of the new season, the Lakers encountered a three-game losing streak, and the losses to their opponents were more than [-] points.

If it weren't for Zhou Yu's super performance in the fourth game, the Lakers might lose one after another.

With the deepening of the season, the situation of the Lakers has improved slightly, but they are basically in the state of winning one game and losing one game. It is a luxury for them to win two consecutive victories.

After playing 70 regular-season games, the Lakers only achieved a dismal record of 33 wins and 37 losses, ranking 10th in the Western Conference and drifting away from the playoffs.

In the remaining 12 regular season games, Zhou Yu started the "Killing God" mode in a fit of rage. With a magical average of 43.6 points per game, he led the Lakers to a good record of 10 wins and 2 losses. At that time, the Lakers ranked 43th in the Western Conference with a record of 39 wins and 8 losses, barely squeezing into the playoffs.

The top eight wins and losses of the Western Conference teams and their rankings are as follows:

1. Sacramento Kings 61-21

2. San Antonio Spurs 58-24

3. Dallas Mavericks 57-25

4. Minnesota Timberwolves 50-32

5. Portland Trail Blazers 49-33

6. Seattle SuperSonics 45-37

7. Utah Jazz 44-38

8. Los Angeles Lakers 43-39

The top eight wins and losses of the Eastern Conference teams and their rankings are as follows:

1. Philadelphia 76ers 52-30

2. Miami Heat 50-32

3. Chicago Bulls 49-33

4. New Jersey Nets 44-38

5. Detroit Pistons 43-39

6. Boston Celtics 42-40

7. Orlando Magic 41-41

8. Toronto Raptors 40-42

This season's regular season MVP was completely missed by Zhou Yu, and was won by Tim Duncan. He averaged 25.5 points, 12.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.5 blocks per game, leading the Spurs to play the second best in the league record.

It is worth mentioning that since O'Neal and Kobe parted ways with Zhou Yu, they led their respective teams to achieve good results, ranking second and third in the Eastern Conference.

Criticism and ridicule towards Zhou Yu from the outside world are endless. Many media claimed that Zhou Yu won the glory of "four consecutive championships" because he hugged O'Neal and Kobe's thighs, which made Zhou Yu very embarrassed and annoyed.

The situation in the playoffs of previous seasons is very different. The Lakers, who are ranked at the bottom of the playoffs, have almost no home court advantage against any other team. Dangerous pass.

The Lakers are about to face the Sacramento Kings, which ranks first in the league, in the first round of the playoffs, and the promotion situation is very slim.

Some players in the team have already packed their bags and are just waiting to be eliminated in the first round and go home to fish.

In a fit of anger, Zhou Yu put on a posture of "breaking the boat and sinking the boat". Not only did he burn their luggage clean with a torch, but he also publicly vowed that once a player was found to be stagnant and slack, he would immediately report to the ball. The high-level team suggested that they be expelled from the team and let them go home for the elderly.

Seeing that Zhou Yu didn't look like he was joking, everyone cheered up and embarked on the journey to the first round of the playoffs.

The first playoff contest with the Kings will be held at the Kings' home court. The starting lineups of the two sides are as follows:

Los Angeles Lakers:

Point Guard: Fisher, Shooting Guard: Stackhouse, Small Forward: Li Nan, Power Forward: Odom, Center: Wang Zhizhi (Zhou Yu).

Sacramento Kings:

Point guard: Bibby, shooting guard: Christie, small forward: Stojakovic, power forward: Webber, center: Divac.

"Brothers, it's time for revenge. I see how rampant this kid Wang Zhizhi is now. We must beat him to the ground in this game, so that he can taste what it's like to lose. "

"Sure, all the flowers I've been waiting for this day will all wither."

"..."

While doing warm-up exercises, the members of the Kings stared at Zhou Yu glaringly, which can be described as "sharpening their knives".

"Director Zhang, from my point of view, Big Zhi and the Lakers are pretty good. Being able to make the playoffs is already considered lucky. Winning the Kings is equivalent to winning the 500 million lottery."

Su Qun, who was at the commentary seat, said with a troubled expression.

"Xiao Su, don't talk nonsense. The Lakers can break into the playoffs this season with this lineup, which shows that Big Zhi's strength continues unabated. The charm of competitive sports lies in uncertainty. Until the last moment, It's hard for anyone to make a conclusion, please don't underestimate the championship heart of a team of 'four consecutive championships' kings."

Zhang Weiping frowned, and quickly stopped him in a cold voice.

(End of this chapter)