Basketball: Starting from the Rodman template

Chapter 200 The end of the season
This regret comes from the perspective of the media and fans.

After all, although LeBron James misses the playoffs every time, the gap is really small.

If they could adjust quickly after losing to the Heat instead of experiencing a "three-game losing streak", they might have had a different result.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Woody personally performed the ceremony of LeBron missing the playoffs for the second time.

LeBron listened to the reporter's words with a deadpan expression.

He's actually fine.

Compared with leading the team to barely complete the sprint, and then being beaten four times by Woody in the playoffs, watching Woody enter the next round, he feels that the current situation is quite good.

Although he did not enter the playoffs, all media said that he tried his best.

Also, if you average 30 plus 8 plus 7 per game, if it is not your best effort, then what else can be called your best effort?

So, regardless of the fact that he didn't make the playoffs, he definitely gained more than he lost.

It was just the reporter's next question that made his expression change drastically:
"If Woody finally wins the championship this season, would you feel that there is a gap between you and him?"

The question left LeBron frozen in place.

Yes!

How could he forget this?
This year's Heat team is so strong that they are the favorites to win the championship...

If he really wins the championship...

Think about it, Woody reached the Eastern Conference Finals in the first year of the playoffs and won the championship in the second year, but what about him?
After two years of playing, I don’t even know what the playoffs are.

They all came from the same school, and Cleveland came and gave up Woody for him. This scene is really going to happen...

He really didn't know what kind of public pressure he would face.

It was the general manager of the Cavaliers next to him who reminded him in a low voice that you are still being interviewed, and he finally reacted.

This "reality" shocked him so much that he froze.

Reporters recorded the photo.

Later, as the Internet became more and more developed, this photo also became a "emoticon" that many fans liked to use. It can be said to be the two most famous pictures along with "Yao Ming's Embarrassing Smile".

Of course, this photo of LeBron is usually used when you hear that the brother drives a Land Rover...

LeBron came back to his senses and answered the reporter's question: "I have answered this question countless times. Now, let me answer it again. No matter what achievements Woody achieves, I will send applause and congratulations. He is Luckily, he's off to a really good start. Me and him are different, I'm not in Miami, and I don't have a partner who came into the league the same year, and they're improving off each other, and that's a really cool thing! I mean, the Cavaliers The team is undergoing reconstruction, which is a necessary process, and I am happy with what I am experiencing at this moment. Everyone knows that Michael Jordan only won the championship in the eighth year of his career!"

These words are quite mature.

It's just that when reporters listen, it means something else.

"Do you think something you are looking forward to will happen this summer? For example, having another All-Star level helper..."

The word "Zai" is very spiritual.

Big Z has already entered the All-Star Game, but it is obvious that just being an All-Star is not enough to help him enter the playoffs.

But when a team has three All-Stars and their eyes are only on reaching the playoffs, it is undoubtedly a failure.

LeBron said: "I don't have an answer right now, I'm looking forward to something good happening."

In this way, the second season of LeBron James' career has come to an end. His data has improved even further, but unfortunately the team's record has not improved as a result.

At the same time, the Heat were also conducting their final press conference of the regular season.

Compared with the atmosphere on the Cavaliers' side, the atmosphere on the Heat's side is livelier.

All the Miami reporters at the scene were smiling.

This season has finally come to an end, and at the end of March it was determined that the Heat, which had broken the best record in team history, had a final regular season record of 3 wins and 64 losses, ranking first in the league.

Before the start of this season, many media indeed ranked them first in the league.

But the Miami media still treats this view with a cautious attitude.

Even though the Heat had the perfect start in team history, they still did not open the champagne in advance. The "wave of injuries" that followed proved this. However, as the Heat's injured players returned, their momentum became more fierce. Won an 18-game winning streak!

It was also after a winning streak that they finally determined that the Heat were going to do something big this season.

At least so far, this season is definitely the best record in the history of the Heat.

伍迪本赛季场均可以拿到24.3分13.2篮板7.8助攻1.5抢断2盖帽。

The shooting percentage was 55%, and the free throw percentage was 79.8%.

Compared with last year, the overall data has declined in rebounds, steals and blocks, but the two offensive data have been greatly improved, especially assists, which have almost doubled!

The changes in these two statistics illustrate the changes in Woody's role on the court this season.

Having mastered holding the ball, he can now attack more independently, and his presence on the offensive end suddenly becomes more obvious.

Another guy who has made great progress is Wade.

Averaged 21.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

Perhaps no one thought that Wade, as an "older rookie", would make such obvious progress in his second year in the league.

In fact, at the end of the season, Wade's performance was much better than his season average, averaging 23.4 points per game, almost catching up with Woody's scoring average.

Of course Woody averaged 27.6 points per game in the final stage of the season!
At the same time, there is still a gap between Wade and Woody.

But Woody was only 18 years old when he entered the league, and what about Wade?He was already 21 years old when he entered the league, and this improvement is even more valuable.

When reporters asked Wade why he could continue to improve, the first thing Wade thought of was Woody's inhuman performance, and he secretly thought about the gap between himself and Woody while hiding under the quilt every night. , how far will it be stretched...

He knows he has to thank Woody, because he is a player who can often put pressure on himself and force him to work hard to improve.

But there were some words that he was really embarrassed to say. He could only say: "When you join the team at the same time as a genius, you can only keep training to keep up with him."

These words made the sense of CP between Woody and Wade even more obvious.

As the last press conference of each team ended, the top eight in the Eastern and Western Conferences this season also fell into place.

Here in the East, the Heat are ranked first.

In second place are the Pacers.

They won 58 games, and the gap is quite obvious. However, in the four games against the Heat, their big score was 2-2. Although the Heat rested Shaq in one of the games, a win is a win. Yes, they did not lose to the Heat on the scene.

Ranked third is last season's defending champion Pistons.There is not much to say about this team. They were not ranked high when they won the championship last season. They are just like the old Rockets. Just don't underestimate their championship aspirations.

Fourth in the Eastern Conference is the Bulls.

No one thought they would be so successful this season.

Their situation is actually very similar to last season's Heat team. The team is full of young blood, and they also created a youth storm like last season's Heat team.

The fifth place in the Eastern Conference is the Washington Wizards.

The backcourt composed of Arenas and Larry Hughes gave them a ticket to the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Sixth in the Eastern Conference are the Boston Celtics.

Paul Pierce's lower limit is still acceptable. The Celtics' lineup has not changed much this year, but he still led him into the playoffs.

The seventh place in the Eastern Conference is the Philadelphia 76ers!
With the changes in the league's rules, Allen Iverson successfully won the fourth "Scoring Champion" trophy in his career, and at the same time allowed the 4ers, who were full of injuries, to continue to enter the playoffs.

The eighth place in the Eastern Conference is the Nets.

Kenyon Martin's departure at least proves one thing.

Not only was he inseparable from Kidd, Kidd was also inseparable from him.

According to this ranking, the matchup in the first round of the Eastern Conference is already obvious:
The Heat VS Nets, the Pacers played the Philadelphia 76ers, the Pistons' opponent was the Boston Celtics, and the Bulls, fourth in the Eastern Conference, played the Wizards, fifth in the Eastern Conference.

West side.

The Spurs maintained the first place in the Western Conference for a long time, but they still could not withstand the "quick whirlwind" from Phoenix. They gave up the first place in the Western Conference at the end of February, and finally stabilized at second place in the Western Conference.

The Suns have a record of 62 wins and 20 losses this season, becoming the only team in the league with a record of 60 wins.

This shows how fierce their whirlwind is.

Unlike the Heat, no one expected that Steve Nash would join the Suns, and this team could soar to such an extent!
The Spurs' record ranks third in the entire league. Although they don't have 60 wins, they have 59 wins!
And Popovich probably didn't care about 60 wins. In the last game of the season, he chose to rest the "troika", which resulted in the team losing the last regular season game and failing to win 60 games.

In third place is the Seattle SuperSonics, but they account for the division rules.

Its own record is only 52 wins, which looks good, but there is still a strength gap compared to the Mavericks' 58-win record.

Nelson was slapped in the face to a certain extent, because after he left, the Mavericks played a stronger record than last season.

And the style of this Mavericks team has undergone earth-shaking changes. Now they focus very much on the defensive end.

It's a pity that because of division rules, his Texas Spurs team is already ranked second in the Western Conference. The Sonics in the Northwest District are ranked third because of this, and they can only be ranked fourth.

They are not the only ones who are unlucky.

The Rockets' final record this season was 51 wins and 31 losses.

In fact, the momentum is similar to that of the third-ranked Sonics.

If sorted by record, then they, who are fifth in the Western Conference, should face the Sonics in the first round, but now they need to fight the "Texas Civil War" and face the Mavericks, who have a stronger fighting capacity...

The Houston media criticized the league's rule.

Sixth in the Western Conference is the veteran powerhouse Sacramento Kings, also known as the "Western Nets."

The situation of these two teams in recent seasons is a true portrayal of the decline of a giant.

Especially after sending away Chris Webber in the middle of the season, it was only a matter of time before the Kings fell.

Seventh in the Western Conference are the Denver Nuggets.

One worth mentioning is Carmelo Anthony.

After the All-Star weekend, he seemed to have regained the high spirits of the first season, averaging 24.5 points per game. Although the momentum of improvement is still not as good as LeBron's, the Nuggets are already very satisfied.

Especially his attitude. He is more focused on the game and has fewer and fewer troubles off the court.

This is a good sign.

When a reporter asked him why he suddenly changed, his answer also pleased all Denverites:

I want to go to the highest stage!
I'm Melo Anthony, remember!

Once again, only one of the "three great talents" missed the playoffs.

The final spot in the Western Conference belongs to the Grizzlies.

This is their second straight season making the Western Conference playoffs.

Pau Gasol's name began to be mentioned.

"This is a very difficult process. It is more difficult in the West than in the East. When Pau Gasol can do this (lead the team to the playoffs), we must give him more High rating. At this point, most of the media's views are because this team has Jerry West. I believe this is one of the main reasons why the Grizzlies entered the playoffs, but equally , Pau Gasol should also be among the reasons!"

These voices think Pau Gasol is undervalued.

Of course, there are also flaws with these voices, because Pau Gasol, who entered the league in 01, has not led the team to even a playoff victory.

The Grizzlies did slowly change after Jerry West came to this team.

These reasons are irrefutable, and those who support Pau Gasol can only wait for him to win his first playoff victory.

As the dust of the regular season has settled, the league also announced the "Rookie of the Year" for this season.

The result was actually determined in February and March, but it was only announced now:

In the first year of their establishment, the Bobcats had the first "Rookie of the Year" Okafor in team history.

Averaged a "double-double" performance of 15 points and 10 rebounds per game.

Juniors are indeed more mature than high school students, both on and off the court.

Howard ended up with only 12 plus 10 statistics this season. Compared to the crazy high school students last season, he looks like a high school student.

And his provocation against Woody is still a point of laughter mentioned by many media reporters.

Then came the "Best Sixth Man" of the season.

A new NBA record is born:

This season's rookie Ben Gordon became the first rookie in NBA history to win the "Best Sixth Man" award as soon as he entered the league.

(End of this chapter)