So I am the god of basketball?

The media asked Meng Lang: "Do you think the Lakers can create new history?"

Some experts have discussed the possibility of the Lakers breaking history.

They think it depends mainly on Meng Lang's attitude.

After all, the record of 73 wins and 9 losses was achieved by him leading the team, so creating new history now is not very attractive to him. If he doesn't want to break his own record, it's actually quite normal.

Meng Lang's answer to this was also very simple: "In the first season of the new century, something special is bound to happen!"

These words directly detonated the entire media the next day, and also made other teams' sniping against the Lakers more fierce.

However, the Lakers' fighting power has really improved.

Divac has reached his peak.

For a big center like him, in addition to physical fitness and skills, experience is also an indispensable part of his better performance. Therefore, centers like him can often perform better at the age of 30.

This was the case with Olajuwon, the original Shaq O'Neal, and Yao Ming also made it to the second round of the playoffs when he was almost 30 years old. It's a pity that injuries prevented him from going further.

The same goes for Divac.

Experience makes his support more threatening.

As for Kobe, he became the team's "second in command" earlier than before, and he now has more experience in dealing with big scenes. If he was a qualified "second in command" in the regular season last season, he became less qualified in the playoffs, especially the finals.

Now he is obviously more stable than before.

It can also be seen from the number of games he has played 20+ that as of the 70 games played so far, his number of games with 20+ points is more than 50 games, which is more than any previous season.

There were less than five games in which the score was only in single digits.

With such performance, he is undoubtedly the second-in-command of the team.

Ben Wallace's situation is similar to Kobe's. He originally became the team's top inside defender at the beginning of the next season.

But this time he became the core of the interior defense earlier than before, and he has experienced more things. He has now entered his peak earlier than before. And it is an absolute peak period.

It can also be seen from the media's reaction that this season, his voice for the "Best Defensive Player Award" is much higher than Mutombo's.

In fact, when it comes to defensive influence, Ben Wallace may not be better than Mutombo this season.

But just like last season when Mutombo won the "Player of the Season Award" after joining the Philadelphia 76ers and the 76ers' record soared, the same is true for Ben Wallace this season. Thanks to the Lakers' return to the top ranking in the Western Conference, he has also become the "biggest favorite" for this award.

This kind of competition between the two sides, where the difference is only a hair's breadth, sometimes becomes a particularly straightforward competition of performance.

The Philadelphia 76ers have had a good record this season, but the Lakers are the real "standouts".

Another thing to say is that Ben Wallace's further enhancement of his influence on the defensive end is also largely related to Russell's arrival. He filled the vacancy left by Eddie Jones and made the Lakers' outside line like an "iron wall" again. Ben Wallace also relied on such outside defense to maximize his defensive ability.

Two words can describe this Lakers team:
Invincible!

After losing the first game in March, the Lakers started their winning streak again. With 3 games left in the regular season, the Lakers lost another game, bringing their season loss count to 6 games.

ESPN said at this time: "I think everyone should know that Dream's statement that no team will want to face us next season is slowly becoming a reality."

The Lakers are advancing with great momentum, acting like the "strongest team in history."

At the same time, something happened to the Philadelphia 76ers that stunned all fans.

Tim Duncan, the "Great Fundamentals", suffered a serious injury. The team doctor gave the following diagnosis:
Tim Duncan will miss the rest of the regular season. His earliest hope of returning is the finals in June, and the probability is still very small.

Meng Lang remembered that Tim Duncan also suffered this injury when he was on the Spurs.

The reason is that Popovich used him too harshly.

Looking at the Philadelphia 76ers' use of Tim Duncan this season, averaging 38.9 minutes per game, hmm...

Ok!

The injury was not unexpected.

这么一来费城76人直接损失了一个场均25.2分12.4篮板3.2助攻2.2盖帽的“顶级内线”。

What's even more serious than this data is that the tactics centered around Tim Duncan can no longer be implemented...

Philadelphia instantly went from being the “favorite to win the championship” to “come back next year”!
All major media outlets are no longer optimistic that they can win the championship.

There is no way. Everyone knows how important Tim Duncan is to Philadelphia.

This was soon reflected in the Philadelphia 76ers' record. In the last 8 games, they lost 3 of them and only won 5. Although they still finished their regular season with the first record in the Eastern Conference.

However, it can be seen from the "position battle" between the seventh and eighth teams in the Eastern Conference that these guys would rather face the Philadelphia 76ers than the second-placed Chicago Bulls.

They can still compete a little with the Philadelphia 76ers, but if compared with this year's Chicago, they really have no chance at all.

After the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated, the team with the greatest probability of reaching the finals in the Eastern Conference suddenly became the Chicago Bulls.

Originally, some media thought that Meng Lang and Michael Jordan would never meet in the finals. With Tim Duncan's season being ruled out, they brought this matter up again.

Shaquille O'Neal was naturally a little angry. His destructive power under the basket has actually increased this season, but after the absence of Mashburn and P.J. Brown, the Heat's wing lacked a sufficiently threatening one-on-one player, and the inside also lacked a player who could provide backup defense and protect the rim.

Shaquille O'Neal's defensive problems have been clearly exposed this season.

Of course, Pat Riley is also very clear that it is a luxury to let Shaquille O'Neal waste his energy on defense. But the Heat have no one who can replace PJ Brown, so the defense in the interior has become a chronic problem...

Although they ranked third in the Eastern Conference this season, their record was only 56 wins.

The gap between the Philadelphia 65ers with 61 wins and the Chicago Bulls with wins is visible to the naked eye.

Fourth in the Eastern Conference is the Pacers.

Larry Bird proved his ability. He is not only a good player, but also a good team builder. With the growth of O'Neal and the strong defense provided by Artest, Olajuwon and Reggie Miller's "old soldiers never die", and Mark Jackson's "back-to-the-basket" command, the team's record this season returned to 50 wins and once again became the top four team in the Eastern Conference.

Fifth in the Eastern Conference is the New York Knicks. Jeff Van Gundy has brought the team back to life, and "Gorilla" Ewing has also regained some of his peak years. If Meng Lang remembers correctly, this will be Ewing's last "peak season."

The Milwaukee Bucks, ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference, won the Slam Dunk Contest with Vince Carter, which brought Milwaukee back into the public eye and the Bucks back into the playoff race.

As for the remaining two teams, the seventh is the Pistons, who lost Grant Hill and Alan Houston and are struggling to support themselves with Rasheed Wallace. However, Rasheed Wallace recently threatened to ask the team to send him away as soon as possible. This is the third time he has said this this season. If nothing unexpected happens, this will be his last season with the Pistons.

In fact, if we really talk about the team's self-esteem, the Pistons are only stronger than the Magic.

Eighth is the Charlotte Hornets.

Mashburn left the Heat to join the Hornets, and with the addition of the talented point guard Baron Davis, the team's prospects suddenly became brighter and they immediately made their way back into the playoffs.

This is the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the West, the Lakers, as expected, broke the NBA's regular season record with their strong momentum.

If nothing unexpected happens, this record will last for many years:
Their final regular season record was 74 wins and 8 losses!
An NBA season starts in early November and ends in late April, a total of five and a half months, which means that the Lakers can only lose 11 games per month to achieve such a record.

Just think about it, it takes an exaggerated dominance on the court and a stable state to be able to do these things.

"This Lakers team is terrible!" This is how B/A magazine commented on this Lakers team.

A reporter asked Meng Lang in a post-game interview with the Lakers: "Does this bring pressure to you?"

What he meant was that if they failed to win the championship with such a record, it would be a shame. Will these possibilities become a pressure for the Lakers?
Meng Lang said: "We are not rookies. We have entered the finals for the past three years."

Even though they did not create a "three consecutive championships", the accumulation of this finals was the key to the Lakers' current strength.

The absolute core of this team has all experienced those big stages. They have continued to grow in the past three years and have achieved their current state.

The biggest difference between the Lakers and other teams is:

Other teams often have the problem of "aging" of the core team after winning "three consecutive championships". The Bulls in the second "three consecutive championships" period are an example. Of course, the Bulls in the first "three consecutive championships" period did not have this problem, which is also a pity for Chicago people. If Jordan had not retired, they would definitely not have just "three consecutive championships".

The Lakers are another Bulls team, even more terrifying than that Bulls team.

Meng Lang still has 30 to 3 years to go before he turns 4!

Other core players such as Ben Wallace and Kobe are a few years younger than him.

It was like a young man in his twenties who had fought hundreds of fights, and was suddenly infused with 50 years of skills.

What kind of terrifying group of people are they? Need I say more?
So they can't be a team like the Warriors of the future.

There is an essential difference.

Second in the West is the Golden State Warriors with 65 wins.

The Phoenix Suns are nipping at their heels. Kidd, Ray Allen, Grant Hill and Marion have helped the Suns to a 62-win record this season.

When Barkley led the Suns to the best record in the league, it was at this level!

They achieved such a record in the first year of their partnership, which made the Phoenix fans excited and couldn't help shouting:

League, Phoenix is ​​back!
Fourth in the Western Conference is the San Antonio Spurs.

Popovich has proved that if he is given a good enough big man, he can bring the team back to the ranks of strong teams!

Under his coaching, Brand's performance in his rookie season was particularly impressive.

Average 20+10+2 per game!

He was supposed to share the "Best Rookie" award with Francis, but this time he took the top spot.

Fifth in the Western Conference is the Seattle SuperSonics.

After two strong seasons, the SuperSonics also encountered the natural law that "strong teams slowly disappear after failing to achieve results."

The main reason is that they were studied, and the main players who originally played supporting roles left, so the team's combat effectiveness naturally declined.

Sixth in the Western Conference is the Portland Trail Blazers.

They encountered some injury problems this season, but they overcame these problems in the second half of the season. It can be said that they are the strongest team in the second half of the season, and many media believe that they are one of the most difficult opponents in the top four of the Western Conference.

However, the top three teams in the Western Conference have very strong foundations, and they are not teams that Portland can easily "overcome".

Seventh in the Western Conference is the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Ray Allen's departure made Kevin Garnett feel like he was alone, which was particularly evident in the regular season.

It is worth mentioning that the Timberwolves were originally ranked sixth in the Western Conference, but when they saw that they would face Ray Allen in the playoffs, Kevin Garnett quickly took a rest, allowing the team to smoothly drop to seventh place.

Anyway, for the Timberwolves, the situation of playing against the Warriors and the Suns is similar, both are the result of being stepped on. But for Kevin Garnett, the meaning is very different. He would rather be eliminated by the Warriors than be eliminated by the Suns. It would be embarrassing to be stepped on by his former teammates. And Ray Allen wanted to leave because the Timberwolves were unwilling to give him a sincere enough salary, but gave Kevin Garnett such a high salary.

In other words, Ray Allen felt that Kevin Garnett did not deserve such a high salary.

If he really stepped on the head, it would really confirm Ray Allen's attitude.

Kevin Garnett really doesn't deserve it!

The eighth in the Western Conference is the Utah Jazz.

It can be said to be fate, or it can be said to be a coincidence. Anyway, when the outside media saw that the Utah Jazz finally fell to the eighth place in the Western Conference, they only said one sentence:

"The last dance of the Utah Jazz will once again be beaten badly by Meng Lang!" (End of this chapter)