NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 96: In the second half of the playoffs, the Lakers won 66 games and ranked first in the league!

(There will be another chapter tonight)

The All-Star Weekend is over, and the league is back on track for the final stretch of the regular season.

The All-Star period has always been a watershed in the regular season, because after the All-Star period, the league will also close the free market. Each team must seize the time to strengthen and improve the lineup. After the free market closes until the offseason restarts, There is no way to adjust the lineup through trading or signing players.

The remaining thirty-odd regular season games after the All-Star Game will also be the last chance for teams hovering on the edge of the playoffs to hit the playoffs. Therefore, every time this period comes, the intensity of the game will increase significantly, even if The Lakers, whose record ranks first in the league, do not dare to neglect at all.

Fortunately, for the Lakers at this time, both O'Neal and Kobe have returned one after another and are in good condition. Although the team still has Karl Malone missing, the overall situation is harmless.

The Lakers made no moves on the trade deadline. For them, as long as the team can stay healthy, they are the favorites to win the championship, and their strength is one level higher than all other teams in the league.

that's the truth.

Even though the difficulty increased sharply, the Lakers still won a wave of 5 consecutive victories after the All-Star Game, defeating the Trail Blazers, Warriors, 76ers, Suns and Nuggets.

After winning the Rookie Challenge MVP, Wang Chong's tactical status with the Lakers has been improved, and his average number of shots per game has increased to 14.

You must know that even O'Neal only averaged 14.1 shots per game this season.

However, Wang Chong's shooting rate is definitely not comparable to O'Neal's. Even in the mid-range shot, which he is best at, his shooting rate is barely above 50%, which is still far behind O'Neal's nearly 60% shooting rate.

And although O'Neal doesn't average many shots per game, he averages a lot of free throws per game. 10.1 free throws can score 4.9 points. Although the efficiency is not high, it still brings him an average of 5 points per game.

This keeps O'Neal's scoring average at 21 points per game.

21分11.5篮板2.5封盖，内线球员中比他得分还高的，也只有24分的加内特，22分的邓肯以及21.8分的诺维斯基等少数几人。

As for Wang Chong, the increase in the number of shots taken, coupled with the fact that O'Neal and Kobe Bryant briefly became the core of the offense in the past half month when they were both absent, allowed Wang Chong's scoring average to exceed the 20-point mark, although it was only a marginal score of 20.1 points. But he still scored 20+ points, which made Wang Chong the third player among the 03 rookie class to average more than 20 points per game in his rookie season.

After experiencing a brief period of discomfort at the beginning of the season, James and Anthony quickly became the absolute core of their respective teams, averaging more than 20 points per game before the All-Star Game.

However, the shooting percentages of the two are slightly lower than Wang Chong. James's shooting percentage is 41%, averaging 18.9 shots per game, while Anthony's shooting percentage is 42%, averaging 17.9 shots per game.

Both of them averaged many more shots per game than Wang Chong, but they didn't lead by much in scoring.

Although there are still die-hard James fans who think that the reason why Wang Chong's offensive efficiency is high is because he is in the Lakers, O'Neal and Kobe attract opponents to defend, allowing Wang Chong to attack and score with easier defense, unlike James can only rely on himself in the Cavaliers.

But more and more fans believe that in terms of offensive ability alone, Wang Chong is definitely the strongest among the 03 rookies.

Before you know it, the schedule of February and March passed in the blink of an eye.

Led by the "pseudo Big Three" model of O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and Wang Chong, the Lakers have always maintained a super high winning rate. On March 3, the Lakers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 30:107 at home, ending the entire March journey.

At this time, the Lakers' record has reached 58 wins and 15 losses.

<divclass="contentadv">Only the last 9 games of April remain in the regular season.

There are many strong opponents in these 9 games, including the Spurs, Rockets, Grizzlies, Kings and other teams that are all strong teams in the playoffs.

But even so, it is a matter of course for the Lakers to win 60 games in the regular season.

While Lakers fans are happy, they can't help but feel a little regretful.

If all members of the Lakers team can stay healthy this season, the Lakers may have a chance to chase Jordan and the Bulls' best regular season record of 72 wins and 10 losses!

This is not bragging. With F4 and Wang Chong, the Lakers' overall strength has surpassed other teams in the league by one level and basically will not lose.

Unfortunately, Malone was injured in the middle of the season and was reimbursed for the regular season. Kobe and O'Neal both missed nearly 20 games. To be able to still have a record of 60+ wins in the regular season despite a lot of injuries, it is completely obvious that he will be healthy. The intensity of the Lakers.

In the last 9 games, as expected, the Lakers achieved a record of 8 wins and 1 loss, and only lost one upset game to the Trail Blazers on the road. The other teams including the Spurs, Kings and other strong teams in the Western Conference were simply defeated by the Lakers. He was killed neatly by the horse.

On April 4, the Lakers lost to the Trail Blazers 14:104 in an away game, an upset loss and the end of the last game of the regular season.

All 82 regular season games have ended, and the Lakers' record is fixed at 66 wins and 16 losses, with an 80% winning rate ranking first in the league.

There are only two teams in the league with a record of more than 60 wins, namely the Lakers with 66 wins in the West and the Pacers with 60 wins in the East.

Originally, the Pacers should have achieved a record of 61 wins and 21 losses this season, leading the league. However, because the Lakers had more Wang Chong, the Pacers lost one more game in the regular season, resulting in less Wang Chong. One win.

The Pacers aren't the only team affected by the Lakers.

The Lakers' 66 wins were ten more games than their original 56 wins, which means that the records of other teams have been more or less affected.

In the West, the Timberwolves, who were supposed to win 58 games, ended up with 57 wins, while the Spurs had 56 wins, ranking second and third in the West.

接着往下，西部入围季后赛的球队分别还有55胜27负的萨克拉门托国王，50胜32负的达拉斯小牛，49胜33负的孟菲斯灰熊，45胜37负的休斯敦火箭以及43胜的丹佛掘金。

The arrival of Wang Chong changed the Lakers' ranking in the Western Conference playoffs, but it did not change history on a large scale. At least among the eight playoff teams in the Western Conference, the rankings of other teams did not change much. The Timberwolves, who were number one in the Western Conference, were pushed to second place by the Lakers, who were originally second.

The ranking in the West is like this, and the ranking in the East has not changed even more.

The record from high to low is 60 wins over the Pacers, 47 wins against the Nets, 54 wins against the Pistons, 42 wins over the Heat, 40 wins against the Hornets, 40 wins over the Bucks, 39 wins over the Knicks and 36 wins against the Celtics.

What must be mentioned here is that the Cavaliers, led by the famous Son of the Chosen, won 35 and lost 47 in the regular season, ranking ninth in the Eastern Conference, and unfortunately missed the playoffs.