NBA: James wants to team up with me

The Lakers' record has been very stable since the All-Star Weekend. Based on their defensive fundamentals and Wang Chong's style of play as the absolute main attacker, the Lakers' combat effectiveness has always been ranked among the best in the league.

The schedules in March and April ended quickly thanks to Wang Chong's consistently high-frequency average output.

In 82 regular season games, the Lakers finally achieved a record of 62 wins and 20 losses, with a winning rate of 75.6%, ranking second in the Western Conference, second only to the Spurs' 65 wins and 17 losses.

The team with the best record in the league is the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference with 69 wins and 13 losses.

Despite the historical super configuration, it is not so easy to replicate the 73-win record.

It's a very simple truth. Even with Durant, the future five-star Warriors, they were unable to achieve a 73-win record. In those years, the Warriors' best regular season record was only 67 wins.

This is not only a question of team strength, but also requires various factors such as time, place, and people, among which the health of the team is the most important.

This Bulls team obviously did not have the luck to win 70+ games. Although James and Curry maintained a very high attendance rate this season, Gasol Jr. missed many games due to injuries and ultimately played less than 60 games in the regular season.

In fact, even in the absence of a major boost, the team was able to achieve 69 wins, which is a remarkable record in itself.

西部入围季后赛的八支球队，战绩从高到低依次为65胜17负圣安东尼奥马刺，62胜20负洛杉矶湖人，53胜27负洛杉矶快船，50胜32负俄克拉荷马雷霆，42胜40负波特兰开拓者，41胜41负达拉斯小牛，40胜42负孟菲斯灰熊，39胜43负新奥尔良鹈鹕。

It can be seen that the Western Conference teams are beginning to show a huge disparity in performance. Earlier, even the seventh or eighth place in the Western Conference could achieve 50 wins, but now even teams with a winning rate of less than 50% can qualify for the playoffs.

反而是东部那边，69胜13负芝加哥公牛，56胜26负波士顿凯尔特人，54胜28负迈阿密热火，51胜31负多伦多猛龙，48胜34负印第安纳步行者，46胜36负亚特兰大老鹰，45胜37负夏洛特黄蜂，44胜38负底特律活塞。

Not only the eight teams that qualified for the playoffs, but also the ninth-placed Washington Wizards and the tenth-placed Cleveland Cavaliers maintained a winning rate of over 50%.

It's quite sad to talk about it.

The defending champion Cavaliers didn't even make the playoffs this season, while the Lakers next door jumped from the bottom of the league to become the third-best team in the league with 62 wins.

Wang Chong's terrifying dominance on the field was once again confirmed.

Wang Chong's personal data this season has also experienced an explosive growth.

场均38.4分10.6篮板7.4助攻，投篮命中率54%，三分命中率43%！

This performance far surpassed Jordan's average of 37.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game that year.

Looking at the history of the NBA, only Chamberlain in ancient times could be better than Wang Chong in terms of data performance.

But Chamberlain lived in the wild era of the NBA, with opponents of varying strengths. At the same time, Chamberlain also had a clear tendency to inflate his stats, which is simply not the same thing.

The strongest point is that while Wang Chong was doing his best on the offensive end, he also did not fall behind on defense, with 1.9 steals and 1.8 blocks. Although this is slightly lower than when he won DPOY in the previous two years, the decrease is almost negligible compared to his improvement on the offensive end.

In fact, the Lakers' defensive system, which maintained their stable performance and morale in the later period, was built around Wang Chong, Green and Thompson. This shows Wang Chong's contribution on both offense and defense.

With an average score of 38.4 points per game, Wang Chong was elected the league's scoring champion without any suspense. This was also the tenth time in his career that he won the league's scoring champion honor, officially tying the former basketball god and the second best player in history, Michael Jordan.

But Jordan won his tenth scoring title when he was 35 years old. Wang Chong is only 31 years old now and there is still a possibility that he can win more scoring titles.

Wang Chong's personal data reached a career high, which is actually not a particularly good thing for the Lakers, because it means that the data of other players on the team must be average.

This is true.

Klay Thompson, the second scoring point of the Lakers, averaged 19.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game this season, with a shooting percentage of 46%. Compared with his time with the Warriors, his scoring dropped a few points, but it was not too obvious.

But others are different.

First up is Kobe. This season is the worst in his career except for his rookie season. He averaged 14.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in the regular season, and his shooting percentage was only 37%. Not only on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end, Kobe had a completely negative performance. He could not defend against the opponent's offensive spearheads, and defensive role players often lost their defensive positions and lost track of their opponents.

This is actually normal. Kobe is already 37 years old and has experienced serious injuries. To be honest, it is already amazing that he can even play on the court.

But the problem is that the Lakers are currently a favorite to win the championship. With such a burden in the team, even the die-hard fans of the Lakers can't help but feel hesitant. Should Kobe give up his current starting position for the sake of the team?

After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that if Kobe does not play, no matter who replaces him, including Jeremy Lin, Jamal Crawford and anyone else on the bench, the Lakers will be stronger than they are now.

As for the Lakers' two inside players.

Draymond Green is positioned as a blue-collar defensive stalwart, and no one can find fault with his performance during the Lakers regular season.

Although his averages of 8.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game are not particularly impressive, he is fully qualified as a blue-collar player.

Jokic did not perform well in the first half of the regular season, but he continued to get stronger in the second half, with his average stats increasing from single digits at the beginning to 12 points and 8 rebounds.

Such data is already a very good performance considering the status of an unappreciated second-round pick.

As for the Lakers bench, role players such as Jamal Crawford, Jeremy Lin, Nick Young, Jordan Clarkson and others have relatively fewer opportunities to perform, and most of them only score in single digits. Only the sixth man Jamal Crawford averages 11.8 points per game, but compared to the past few seasons when Crawford often averaged 18+ or 20+ points per game, it is obviously a lot less.

In the middle of the season, Crawford had already expressed dissatisfaction with his current position and ball possession, and wanted the team to trade him away.

The Lakers also asked for prices in the free market, but not many teams were interested, so the deal fell through.

But this season is Crawford's contract year. When the free market opens in the summer after the season ends, Crawford will most likely choose to leave the Lakers and choose a team that offers him a high salary and more playing time.

Wang Chong did not feel too much regret about Jamal Crawford's impending departure. The highlight of Jamal Crawford's career was mainly during the 07-15 seasons.

16-17赛季，重新和快船签下一份2年2419万合同的克劳福德，状态却明显下滑，场均仅有12.3分1.6篮板2.6助攻，随后的17-18赛季，被送往森林狼的克劳福德场均数据降到10.3分1.2篮板2.3助攻。

So in Wang Chong's opinion, Jamal Crawford himself is not a potential high-quality stock. He only needs to be used a little and there is no need to keep him.

This is what happened to the Lakers in the 15-16 regular season.

What will happen next is the more intense playoff competition.

The Lakers' first-round playoff opponent is the Memphis Grizzlies, ranked seventh in the Western Conference.

The Grizzlies are one of the teams that were badly betrayed by Wang Chong. Gasol Jr. was intercepted, causing them to lose their inside core. They were lucky enough to get the No. 07 pick in , but unfortunately they selected Oden.

This caused the Grizzlies to struggle in the quagmire in the past few years, and it was only in the past two years that they gradually recovered.

But even so, the Grizzlies are definitely not an excellent team. This season's regular season record is 40 wins and 42 losses, and the winning rate is less than 50%. It is only because the competitiveness in the Western Conference is getting worse and worse that they have a chance to enter the playoffs.

But entering the playoffs makes no difference to them. In the first round, they will face the Los Angeles Lakers led by Wang Chong. How can they beat them?

The Lakers' situation this season is not particularly ideal, but that is only compared with a few special teams such as the Bulls in the East and the Spurs in the West.

Compared to most other teams in the league, the Lakers are an invincible super team.

The Grizzlies are certainly no exception.

On April 2016, 4, the opening game of the first round of the playoffs officially began.

The Lakers had an easy win at their home court, Staples Center.

From the very beginning of the game, the Lakers took the absolute initiative on the court, firing collectively from the outside, making it difficult for the Grizzlies to cope. They established a 37-point advantage in the first quarter with 22:15, and continued their efforts in the second quarter, widening the gap to 22 points.

The game had actually lost its suspense at this stage.

What excited the Lakers fans the most was that Kobe, who had not had any outstanding performance during the regular season and played very badly, performed at a rare level in this game. He made 15 of 8 shots, 6 of 5 free throws, and scored 21 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, becoming the second highest scoring player on the Lakers after Wang Chong who scored 27 points.

This performance brought tears to the eyes of many of Kobe's die-hard fans.

came back!All are back!

This is the Black Mamba they are familiar with, Kobe Bryant!

Sure enough, the poor performance in the regular season was just superficial. In the playoffs, Kobe was still able to be an effective force for the Lakers.

If Kobe can maintain this state in subsequent games, the Lakers may really have a chance to win the championship by defeating the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals and the Bulls in the Finals.

But unfortunately, this is just wishful thinking of Kobe fans.

Kobe's recovery was just a flash in the pan, because in the second game of the series just two days later, Kobe performed poorly again, making 16 of 6 shots and scoring only 37.5 points with a hit rate of 15%.

But even so, the Lakers still won with a score of 102:95, which shows the difference in strength between the two teams.

Even with Kobe, who had a very low shooting percentage, the Lakers were still able to easily defeat the Grizzlies.

After suffering two consecutive losses, the Grizzlies' situation was not much better when they returned to their home court in Memphis.

4月22日，系列赛第三场，灰熊队87：97不敌湖人，大比分来到3:0。

Even with the home-court advantage, the Grizzlies still find it hard to win.

By April 4, the fourth game of the first-round series, the Grizzlies still had no way to stop the Lakers' rolling cavalry.

At the FedEx Center in Memphis, a large number of Grizzlies fans could only watch their team being swept out by the Lakers 0:4 in four straight games.

Although they were very unwilling to accept such a result, the Grizzlies had no choice because they were facing the Los Angeles Lakers led by eight-time champion Wang Chong.

Even in these four games, the Grizzlies couldn't even force Wang Chong to play at his full strength.

Wang Chong, who averaged 38+ points per game during the regular season, only averaged 4 points in these four games. This was not because of the Grizzlies' Wang Chong's successful defense, but because Wang Chong did not need to score 31 points at all, the Lakers could have won.

The Lakers, who swept the Grizzlies and entered the second round, will face the winner between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks.

Although the Lakers quickly swept the Grizzlies 4-0, the series between the Clippers and the Mavericks was basically clear when the Lakers advanced to the second round.

After all, Nowitzki is old, and it is already a very good result for him to lead the Mavericks to continue to enter the playoffs. It is really beyond his ability for him to face the Big Three combination of Harden, Paul and Jordan at the same time.

After four games, the Clippers have taken the lead with a 3:1 lead. They only need to win one more game to eliminate the Mavericks and advance to the second round.

However, the tenacious Mavericks fought hard in the next game and narrowed the score to 3:2.

But this is their limit.

In the sixth game of the series, the Mavericks were finally unable to fight and were defeated by the Clippers with a score of 2:4.

The Clippers successfully advanced to the second round, but also encountered an opponent they absolutely did not want to face, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers are definitely the most difficult opponent for the Clippers, not only because the Lakers have Wang Chong, the league's number one player, but also because they are located in Los Angeles and share the same arena, the Staples Center. The Clippers' fan base cannot be compared with that of a top team like the Lakers.

Although the Clippers have gradually accumulated a certain fan base with the help of two superstars Harden and Paul in the past two years, they are still too young.

Basically, for the Clippers, there is no such thing as a home court for any game held at the Staples Center. In other words, if the logo on the court floor is changed, at least 80% of the fans in the stadium will be Lakers fans.

This is definitely not an exaggeration. The huge disparity in the number of fans between the two sides is there. Even if the Clippers fans compete for tickets, they cannot compete with the Lakers fans. Even if the Clippers officials reserve tickets specifically for their own fans, it is difficult to change the result.

After all, a large portion of the fans at the Staples Center have purchased season tickets. You can't refuse them entry just because they are Lakers fans, right?

So from this perspective, the Lakers are a more difficult opponent for the Clippers than the Spurs.