full court guidance

Chapter 91 End of Season and Ranking Issues

After the All-Star Game, each team has entered the rhythm of grabbing points. Those who have missed the playoffs can be unscrupulous and completely rotten. Those who can still compete for the playoffs must compete in almost every game and strive to play the best performance. .

Houston Rockets Big Three can be a strong contender for the championship if all members are healthy, especially the late performance in the All-Star Three-point Contest, so that all Rockets fans are full of confidence.

Many media speculate that this year's championship will be the Rockets again.

The Rockets players didn't take this argument to heart at all, and played their own games with peace of mind. Under the strength of the Big Three, the Rockets achieved an excellent record of 25 wins and 8 losses in the remaining games, and finally failed at the beginning of the league. Under normal circumstances, the Rockets actually scored 50 wins and 32 losses, ranking fifth in the Western Conference.

Late in the second half of the league, the number of shots dropped sharply, and finally failed to surpass Kobe's crazy average of 35.4 points per game. His scoring average was fixed at 33.4 points per game, 2 points less than Kobe's average per game.

But he still created a series of three-pointer records. The average number of shots, number of hits, and field goal percentage per game, as long as they are related to three-pointers, were all included late.

The Detroit Pistons achieved a league-best record of 64 wins and 18 losses with their strong defense, and the San Antonio Spurs ranked first in the Western Conference with a one-game difference.

However, neither of these two teams is much favored by the media. Although the Pistons changed their head coach, Philip Sanders replaced the fired Larry Brown, but he only made some simple repairs to the Pistons' lineup. The style of play has not fundamentally changed.

The finals with the Rockets last season has made fans all over the world aware of a problem-the purely defensive team seems to be a bit unsatisfactory in the face of the late super stable firepower. Their lack of enough ability to grab points has become their biggest weakness.

The Spurs are almost the same as the Pistons. Although Duncan is strong, he has suffered from plantar fasciitis this season. Not to mention that his playing time has decreased a lot, and his statistics have also dropped considerably.Also last season was swept by the Rockets, they are likely to still be unable to effectively limit the Big Three of the Rockets.

05-06 regular season rankings, East: Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, New Jersey Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks.

West: San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers.

The Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz, both with over .50 winning percentages, were unfortunately excluded from the playoffs.

Among them, the Cavaliers are the most noteworthy in the Eastern Conference. They signed the free agent Chinese insider Wang Zhizhi this season, and supplemented Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall. They have found a good helper for LeBron James.

With his excellent outside shooting ability and league-average defense, Wang Zhizhi became an unexpected discovery for the Cavaliers—you must know that he participated in the summer league because the little emperor greeted the team and gave him a chance That's all, in fact, there was no plan to sign him at the beginning.

As a result, with his excellent performance, he squeezed out his competitor Drew Gooden and became the Cavaliers' starting power forward in the second half of the league.

Although his moving speed is a bit slow, James obviously likes Wang Zhizhi, who can open up space for him to break through, and often passes him the ball. In the end, Wang Zhizhi averaged 11.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3 assists per game.

In terms of statistics alone, he is enough to become a qualified starter, not to mention his role on the court, which cannot be reflected by pure statistics.

Because of his existence, James has gained more breakthrough space. Before he has practiced stable shooting, James averaged 31.4 points, 7 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game this season!
If it weren’t for Kobe’s unfavorable nature this season and his perverted lateness, James would have won the first scoring title in his career. In the MVP selection, he was only behind Steve Nash and ranked second in the league. .

The Cavaliers have an excellent record and also won 50 wins. Unfortunately, the Nets are forced to rank third with the advantage of the division championship, and the Cavaliers can only regret to rank fourth.

Fortunately, there is a clear gap between the strength of the bottom four in the East and the top four, and the possibility of an upset is not great. Even if the Cavaliers' opponent in the first round is a wizard with the general Arenas, the probability of the Cavaliers advancing is still very high .

It's a pity that they will meet the Pistons with the best defense in the league early in the second round. In the regular season, the Cavaliers and the Pistons have a poor record against the Pistons, and the possibility of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals is extremely slim.

The Denver Nuggets in the West are even more terrifying. Their record is only 44 wins and 38 losses. In the terrifying Western Conference, they ranked third in the Western Conference with the advantage of the division championship-but according to their real results, they only ranked ninth in the Western Conference The Kings won a game, which means that they are actually only the eighth in the West!

The result of this is that the Lakers will face the Spurs in the first round, and what is even more terrifying is the Mavericks and Rockets. The Mavericks' 60-22 record is second only to the Spurs in the West, because the Suns and Nuggets are the division champions. Forcibly locking the top three, which makes them have to face the Houston Rockets in the first round!
Who's to make sense of this?

It was the Texas Civil War when they first came up, and the Rockets didn't want to fight the Mavericks with an outstanding record this season in the first round.

Not only the Fire Bulls fans are dissatisfied, but also the fans of the Spurs and Lakers are dissatisfied, because even if they make it to the second round, the opponents they will face will be terrible. They will face the winner between the Mavericks and the Rockets.

This season, the old German driver has completed his super-evolution. Last season, his strength was already very strong. This season, he has gone one step further. He averaged 26.6+9 data per game in the season, and his shooting percentage was 48.9%.

In addition to him, Jason Terry, Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse, which one is not a recognized capable player?

It's just because the Mavericks' players are ugly and don't attract fans, so they are considered to be the old drivers who lead the team with a single core. It's not unreasonable for them to get 60 wins this season.

In fact, not every regular season has a team that can win 60 wins!

The Rockets are even more fearful than the Mavericks. Putting aside their various difficulties in the first half of the season, let's look at the data of the Rockets' Big Three after their comeback.

They averaged 113 points per game!The offensive power can be called the strongest in the league. The key is that this team's defense is still perverted. If they don't often beat the opponent, they can often limit the opponent's scoring to 90 points.

Late averaged 33+ per game (actually in the second half of the season, late averaged only 28+ points per game), Yao Ming averaged 25+10 per game as a super center, McGrady averaged nearly 20+8+8 per game, all of which are enough to explain the Rockets The Big Three are special and scary.

It's no news that the Rockets' Big Three teamed up to score 80+ at every turn. It's news that they can't score 80+ together.

The other role players only need to be optimistic on the defensive end and provide a little output occasionally.

Some fans even said that cooperating with such a big three can win the game even if they lead two dogs up.

This is a bit exaggerated. In fact, Liangzi CIC performed well. He averaged 8.6 points per game this season and shot 53%. As a rookie, his efficiency is amazing.

Many professionals have analyzed that the Rockets' possession of the ball is very deformed, which just shows how powerful the Big Three are and how bad their role players are. The Rockets' management is simply a bunch of brains.

Such a ranking rule has also caused great dissatisfaction among fans. Some fans even expressed on the Internet, is it possible that in the future, some divisions will not be able to enter the playoffs because their own divisions are too weak, so they can still forcefully use the previous ones? Playing in the playoffs with three identities?
In fact, the Spurs had already figured out that it seemed a little wrong to rank first in the Western Conference, but it was a pity that they couldn't get off the tiger in the end-because the Suns and Nuggets have the advantage of the division championship, they will definitely lock the top three seats. In exchange for them in the first round with the Rockets.

The Spurs, who were swept last season, had lingering fears about the Rockets, especially when they saw a late three-pointer and trembled all over.

This caused Popovich to express his dissatisfaction with the league's ranking rules in public many times. He publicly ridiculed the league's divisional champions to recommend the top three rules. The spirit greatly reduces the enjoyment of the game.

Well, the old cunning Zhuge Weiqi was fined by the league for this, but as long as it helps the team, Zhuge Weiqi will not care.

Compared with the Spurs, the Suns are much more at ease. The Pacific Division they are in is not competitive this season. Whether it is second or third, it makes no difference to the Suns, so they played very well in the second half of the season. Relax, often lose some games inexplicably.

In fact, the league has also realized the seriousness of the problem, and plans to cancel the rule of locking the top three champions in the division next season-after all, the Nuggets this year are really bad, and if they are a little bit unlucky, they may not be able to make it to the playoffs. When the time comes to force the Nuggets into the playoffs, not only the fans will be dissatisfied, but other teams will also be very upset.

Kobe lived up to expectations this season and led the Lakers to the playoffs despite leading the team with a single core. It's a pity that they have to face the Spurs with an excellent record in the regular season. No one will believe that they can go further.

I believe the management of the Lakers will not be satisfied with this. Kobe has proved that he has the strength to lead the team to the playoffs alone. It is time to find some excellent helpers for him this summer.

Kobe's patience has also reached its limit. Seeing that the Rockets had a bad first half of the season, and the Big Three returned in the second half of the season, they easily regained their record and are still a strong contender for the championship. It is impossible to say that Kobe is not envious.

If the Lakers still get nothing in the transfer market this season, Kobe will definitely leave!

There are also many fans who are obsessed with Kobe and Late's perfect cooperation in the All-Star Game, making the Los Angeles media full of expectations for Late's joining.

(End of this chapter)