So I am the god of basketball?

Meng Lang's foot injury was not serious and he continued to play in the next game.

This made the Los Angeles media and Los Angeles people breathe a huge sigh of relief. They really couldn't accept Meng Lang being reimbursed for the season at this time. They couldn't accept even half a month's rest.

They hope the Lakers can maintain their current form.

But they soon discovered that their hopes were dashed.

There have been some changes in the Lakers' style of play, but they are very happy because this change is in a good direction:

In the second half of March, the biggest change for the Lakers was the increased pick-and-roll cooperation between Meng Lang and Barkley on the court.

Barkley's height and his shorter center of gravity than ordinary insiders make his pick-and-roll surprisingly good. Another thing is that Divac's pick-and-roll for Meng Lang is incomparable. That is, after Meng Lang was double-teamed, Barkley held the ball high and could make a series of choices, even Divac had many more.

Divac can also handle the ball, but the general way for the inside, especially the big center, to handle the ball in the high post is to support.

There are really not many centers who can shoot mid-range shots by themselves.

I can count them on one hand.

Barkley is different, he can even pull to the outside to reorganize the offense.

This Divac cannot be compared.

In addition, the reason why Meng Lang took the initiative to call the pick-and-roll is that after the pick-and-roll, he can launch an offense very well, such as breakthroughs, three-pointers, or misplaced post-ups. In short, his personal offensive methods can be better reflected.

It really makes his face stand out, and it's really hard to get rid of those who are flexible.

This is a big problem for him now.

However, if you roll in with your back, you will easily be flanked from a high position, which wastes attack time.

This has become more and more obvious in recent games. The head coaches of other teams basically do not allow Meng Lang the opportunity to enter the high post with his back. Once inside, they will be double-teamed. Of course, another reason for doing this is that Meng Lang's current back-to-back mid-range is too accurate.

And if you put him in the mid-range position, his ability to dispatch from the center is too strong!

and so……

Now as long as Meng Lang reaches a high position, he will inevitably be attacked by his opponents.

Changing the way you play is inevitable!

The effect of this move was immediate, and Meng Lang and Barkley became the league's new "pick-and-roll" representatives. Bill Walton believes that the destructive power formed by the two of them is much higher than the general inside and outside pick-and-roll.

Bill Simmons believes that this is a pick-and-roll between two outsiders. Barkley's uniqueness is destined to make this move impossible for other teams to copy...

Until the end of March, after losing to the Spurs, the Lakers never lost again.

On April 4, they lost to the Golden State Warriors and then the Seattle SuperSonics.

The reason they lost to the Warriors was because Hardaway and "Madman" broke out in this game. "Madman" felt so hot that he could boil water. He scored 44 points and made 12 of 9 three-pointers.

Jones couldn't stop it.

In the loss to the Sonics, they fell into their rhythm in the second half. Once a team like the Sonics gets the rhythm right, their offense can come one after another in a steady stream.

In the end, the Lakers lost the game.

Meng Lang scored a "triple double" with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, but because he lost the game, he bluntly said, "This is not even bullshit!"

Data is data only when you win.

Unless you are too outrageous, scoring 60 points in a single game plus this kind of data is a single theory.

No one will blame the loss on a player who scored 60 plus 70 plus points in the game.

That's a sure thing!
Because for "super stars", it is very easy to "swipe" thirty or forty points. If you can't do this, you are definitely not a "super star". But even for a "super star", it is difficult to score 60 or 70 points.

As for data like 27 plus 10 plus 11...

It may be a little more difficult than scoring 30 or 40 points in a single game.

But it was limited. Anyway, losing this game was unacceptable to Meng Lang.

He can accept other people's "difficult kills"!
After all, the other party had played with luck, so he couldn't accept such a defeat, right?
But losing like this right now was something he couldn't accept.

The Lakers' rhythm was suppressed, which was because the ball holder failed to take the lead.

Who is the leader of the Lakers?
Of course it's Meng Lang himself!
Chuck Daly didn't care about the loss after the game.

Even he believed that the reason for the defeat was Meng Lang.

But how many years has he coached Meng Lang?

This is the fourth year starting from his rookie season. Except for the ups and downs in his rookie season, at other times, especially after becoming the core of the team, Meng Lang has always given performances that satisfy him. Sometimes, Even describing the performance as "satisfactory" is not enough!
It's rare to see such a night, and the responsibility for losing the game lies with him. What does Chuck Daly have to worry about?
In this way, he could feel that Meng Lang was a human being!
Moreover, after losing this game, Meng Lang's energy on the court was obviously different. In the last five games of the season, Meng Lang became more focused, as if he had started the playoff mode in advance.

In these 5 games, he averaged a "triple double" of 32.4 points, 11.4 rebounds and 11.6 assists per game!
Well, not average, but actual "triple-doubles" in 5 consecutive games.

This shocked the entire league.

The gold content of the "triple double" at this time is still very high.

In fact, before Westbrook mass-produced "season triple-doubles", "triple-double" had always been synonymous with all-around.

For a long time, LeBron was considered the most versatile player in the league. However, after Westbrook "averaged a triple-double" for three consecutive seasons, he no longer emphasized this point when introducing LeBron.

This has something to do with his career entering the next stage, and it also has a lot to do with Westbrook being too crazy.

In the 90s, the shock caused by Meng Lang's "triple-double per game" was directly proportional to the later Kobe Bryant's consecutive 40 plus points.

Michael Jordan was also "lying" because of this. Many media believed: "Dream can also score, but he can also assist and grab rebounds. He is more versatile than Michael!"

In fact, the invisible competition between him and Meng Lang has never stopped.

At the beginning of the season, he competed with Meng Lang for "Player of the Month", and in December they entered a more detailed competition for "Player of the Week".

The "Christmas War" can be regarded as a turning point in this battle.

Prior to this, Jordan won one more "Player of the Week" award than Meng Lang, but after losing the "Christmas Game", the final "Best Player of the Week" award in December went to Meng Lang. Even the "Best of the Month" award for December was given to Meng Lang.

Although the Lakers encountered injuries in January and Jordan snatched back a "Best of the Month", the Bulls encountered injuries in February and Meng Lang took the "Leading of the Month" again.

After entering March, the competition between Jordan and Meng Lang became more intense.

Jordan not only wants to win another "Best of the Month" but also tie Meng Lang in the number of awards.

At the same time, he also wants to put the "scoring king" crown on his head again.

Although he has passed the stage of using "scoring king" to prove his scoring ability.

There is no problem even naming the "scoring champion" after him now.

Because in the history of the NBA, he is the only player in the league who can score to his level. Chamberlain may have surpassed him at his peak height. He averaged 55 points per game, which is really rare in the NBA. But in terms of length, it is absolutely incomparable. And his length is not a "pseudo-peak" like that of "someone who claims to be goat" later - who gave away two dynasties at their peak?

Jordan's 8-time "scoring champion" is unique in his dominance of the "scoring champion" statistic.

As long as he has a full season in this league, he has been the league's scoring champion in the past eight years.

He didn't want the record to break.

Especially the person in front of him now...

It's Meng Lang!
He even wants to get this award back at the end of the season!
He believed that if he really did it, he would definitely succeed in making Meng Lang angry.

The media also noticed this sign. Entering March, Jordan's scoring momentum increased significantly, and his scoring average reached 3 points per game. If you can't see this, you are too blind.

But the goats in the United States are all wholesale, just like someone in the future has always emphasized that he is not interested in data, but often the winner of the game has been decided at the last moment, and when the end is about to end, there will be a "two points", Jordan's recent field goal attempts per game have also increased from 23.1 points to 26.3!
Even the Chicago media believed that the Michael Jordan from five years ago was back!
But during this period, Meng Lang's scoring momentum was equally fierce.

Averaged 33.5 points per game.

It looks like he averaged 1.5 points lower than Jordan.

But before entering March, Meng Lang averaged 32.4 points per game, while Jordan averaged only 29.6 points per game.

This is the statistical result of 60 games. After conversion, Jordan will score 7.64 points more than Meng Lang in each game in the next time!
Jordan's lead is still far behind!

After working hard in March, Jordan only allowed his scoring average to exceed 30 points per game, but there was still a gap of about 32.6 points from Meng Lang's average of 1.9 points per game. This means that in the remaining 4 games in April, he will even score 7 points more than Meng Lang in each game...

Although this battle for the "scoring king" without gunpowder has not reached the final moment, the shape of the results can already be seen.

To Jordan's relief, Rodman returned and the Bulls regained momentum in March, which allowed him to successfully win the "Player of the Month" award in March.

这么一来，孟浪分别拿到了11月、12月、2月的“月最佳”，而他拿到了11月、1月、3月的“月最佳”，在“月最佳”的数量上两个人打平。

It was on the points per game list that Jordan suffered a questionable defeat!
Because he clearly emphasized again that he has no "interest" in the "scoring champion"!
Unexpectedly, at the end of the season, he suffered his second doubtful defeat... Meng Lang's consecutive "triple doubles" actually made him seem incompetent.

As we all know, Jordan is a stubborn person.

For some opinions, he is the kind of person who can prove them early and take action immediately. Without any hesitation, he proved in the last game of the Bulls' regular season that he could get a "triple double" if he wanted to. He finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 4 steals, ending 96~ The last regular season game of the 97 season.

After the game, he shook the data sheet in his hand towards the media reporters: "See? Is this what you call omnipotence?"

His tone was obviously dissatisfied, because in order to prove his versatility, he lost the last regular season game, and the Bulls' record was fixed at 66 wins and 16 losses!
Lost 5 more games than last season...

Of course, five more losses seems like a lot, but that's because 5 wins is too exaggerated. If you don't compare it with last season, the 71-win record is extremely exaggerated.

The Bulls are also the team with the best record this season.

Ranked below them is the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers' record this season is fixed at 64 wins and 18 losses.

Lost 2 more games than the Bulls.

It doesn't look like the difference is big.

But for the Lakers, which has just been formed and has almost all newcomers except Divac and Eddie Jones, 64 wins is almost the limit. I think I can still win some games. But similarly, in some of the games the Lakers won, there were also games they would have lost.

Why are there so few teams with 70 plus wins in a single season? There are only two teams now. Originally there was only one in the NBA during this period. The main reason is that they won all the games they shouldn’t have won and lost all the games they shouldn’t have. The competition was also grasped.

But a team will always have ups and downs. It is normal to lose some games that should not be lost and win some games that it could not win.

This is the regular season!

Adjustment is the main theme of the regular season.

How can any team go through a season without problems from start to finish?

For the newly formed Lakers team, the probability and possibility of problems would have been greater. Chuck Daly was very satisfied with 64 wins, Meng Lang was also very satisfied, and the media and fans in Los Angeles were also very satisfied.

Even Lakers boss Buss made a rare appearance after the last game of the season.

With a smile on his face, he even took the initiative to say hello to Meng Lang.

Even he believes that Jerry West's "big gamble" last summer was correct.

Meng Lang is still Meng Lang after being reimbursed for the season. He is still one of the best players in the league and is currently the one most qualified to challenge Jordan.

The exposure the Chicago Bulls received this year cost $3 million.

The Lakers only spent more than 1 million to do this! ——No one would think that Meng Lang’s exposure this year will be less than Jordan’s. In the several competitions between the two of them in the media's view, Meng Lang basically won!

The media who think the Lakers have made money are also writing a book: "Giving the Dream trade veto power was the most correct thing the Lakers did last summer, bar none!"

Old Buss also revealed through people close to him: "This is the most correct thing for the Lakers after they moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles!"

This is even more exaggerated than what the media said.

This shows how satisfied Old Bass is with this deal.

As for why he didn't say it himself...

That's right, the Lakers management, including Buss, still hopes to hang McCann's jersey above the Lakers Arena. They don't want to give up the Lakers star. Of course, the main reason is that I don’t want to give up that glorious Lakers dynasty!

Ranking third in the league behind the Bulls and Lakers is the Utah Jazz.

They achieved a record of 62 wins and 20 losses.

Ranking fourth in the league is the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference. In the first season of Tim Hardaway and Shaquille O'Neal's partnership, they together helped the Heat achieve a record of 60 wins and 22 losses.

Then there are two teams with the fifth-best record in the league:

New York Knicks and Seattle SuperSonics!

They are both 57-25...

The seventh-ranked team in the league is the Atlanta Hawks, with 7 wins.

It can be seen from the records of the top seven teams that the strength of the East and West this season is very even.

Of course, if you have to say it, the Eastern Conference is definitely stronger. The league is first in the Eastern Conference. At the same time, among the top 7 teams in the league, 4 teams are in the Eastern Conference and the other three teams are in the Western Conference.

Later, many fans tended to ignore this point when discussing whether LeBron's achievements could catch up with Jordan's.

For a long time in the 90s, it was not the pattern of "the west is strong and the east is weak" that was later seen, but the pattern of "the east is strong and the west is weak"!
This season, due to the rise of the Lakers, the Western Conference is looking to be a little stronger.

But in fact, in the original West, only the Jazz had 60 wins, but the Bulls and Heat in the East were both 60-win teams.

Pushing forward one year, there were two 60-win teams in the Eastern Conference, and the Bulls even won 72 games. Under this premise, the eighth-ranked team in the Eastern Conference still won 42 games, 39 games more than the eighth-ranked team in the Western Conference. , 3 more games!
You must know that the Eastern Conference teams only play 2 games against the Western Conference every year, which means that out of 82 games, only 30 games are played against Western Conference teams, and the remaining games are melees within the Eastern Conference.

They have to play the Bulls at least three times. Since there are only 3 teams in the league, some teams even have to play five games with the Bulls.

Even with more games against the Bulls, the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference still won more games than the Western Conference. There is only one reason, and that is that they have a better record against the Western Conference teams. Otherwise, there would not be such a high level of victory.

Jordan's six consecutive championships were all won from the Eastern Conference, which has a higher gold content...

LeBron only dominated a weak Eastern Conference. This was something he only accomplished when he had Chris Bosh and Wade before him, and Irving and Kevin Love after him.

This is enough to show the gap between LeBron and Jordan in terms of dominance.

Meng Lang never dared to underestimate Jordan, and this was a large part of the reason.

From any aspect, you can see this man's dominance over this league. There are really too few men who become stronger the more they analyze.

After the Hawks, the next four teams in the Eastern Conference are the Pistons with 4 wins, the Indiana Pacers with 54 wins, the Washington Bullets with 54 wins, and the Cleveland Cavaliers with 45 wins.

In the West, after the Sonics, there are the Portland Trail Blazers with 53 wins, the Timberwolves with 44 wins, the Phoenix Suns with 40 wins, and the Los Angeles Clippers with 36 wins.

Judging from the rankings of these latter teams, the gap between the east and west is even more obvious.

The Eastern Conference teams are obviously stronger.

But when it comes to "bad performance", the East cannot compete with the West.

The first is the Boston Celtics. In order to get Tim Duncan, the "Cardinals" really gave up their old face, but they still won 15 games throughout the season, second to last in the league.

The first is the Vancouver Grizzlies.

The league's "second-year newcomers", the Grizzlies, won the last place with 14 wins and 68 losses.

Then there are three teams in the bottom three of the league: the Philadelphia 3ers, the Denver Nuggets, and the Spurs.

They are both 21-win teams.

But the West still has the 24-win Dallas Mavericks.

The New Jersey Nets' 26 wins and 56 losses are crazy enough, but they are only ranked eighth from the bottom in the league.

It can be seen how intense this season's "frenzy of messing up" is.

Sure enough, the next pick has its own competition!
However, they are all determined to mess up. One of them was still competing for the championship last season. Two years ago, it won the league's "two consecutive championships", but this season it ranked eighth from the bottom in the league. With his identity, he got mixed up with these rotten fish and shrimps.

That team is...

The 28-win Orlando Magic!

After spending 8 million in the summer, the result was one of the "30 Bears" in the league this season (less than wins). This result is undoubtedly unacceptable to the people of Orlando. The fans couldn't accept it, let alone the trouble-making Orlando media.

They madly accused Pat Williams, believing that he had ruined the Magic's originally bright future: "Pat Williams in the summer of 96 was the stupidest general manager in NBA history, and there is nothing more ridiculous than him. Head coach!”

Farce ensued, and eventually Pat Williams resigned.

When Pat sat in front of the microphone and announced his decision, there was only relief on his face.

This nightmare-like day is finally over!

If it was one season, no, two seasons ago, he might still be a little reluctant to step down from the position of general manager of the Magic. But now, there is no trace of reluctance at all. Instead, I felt that my determination was too slow.

This is Orlando now, and it impressed him as the former Magic general manager.

Ruthlessness is the biggest feature of this tourist city.

He deeply regrets bringing the Magic to Orlando.

The Lakers' last game of the regular season ended much later than the Magic.

Meng Lang learned about the dismissal of Pat Williams at the last press conference of the regular season. There was no surprise or regret on his face, but a look of joy: "Congratulations to him for me, he I made the best choice in my life and may be luckier than helping the Magic draft me!”

Barkley complained for Pat Williams: "He shouldn't have to bear all this. Everyone knows where the real problem is!"

He was selected by Pat Williams in the draft. At that time, only Pat believed that he was different. Of course, this also paved the way for the 76ers management to trade him. This also made him even more grateful to Pat Williams. Without Pat, he would never have been selected with such a high pick in the first round, fifth overall. (End of chapter)