Legendary star

Chapter 457 The end of the regular season

"Boss, come out, come out!" On April 2003, 4, after the Pacers' 21 regular season games in the 02-03 season were over, the Pacers owner Simon Brothers contracted the Indianapolis Hilton Hotel. The banquet hall on the second floor of the Pacers invited all the famous players in the history of the Pacers, all the members of the Pacers this season, and some management personnel of the team. It is also the first regular season first in the history of the Pacers.Just as Meng Xu was talking with Mel Daniels, the greatest star in the history of the Pacers, Jamal Tinsley ran over in a panic and pulled Meng Xu's arm excitedly.

"Jamal, what's going on, I think you're excited." Seeing Jamal Tinsley's excited look, Meng Xu was a little puzzled for a moment. Could it be the regular season MVP selection?But probably not so early.

"It was the game between the Spurs and the Magic. The Magic lost to the Spurs by more than 20 points at home. Tracy only scored 18 points in this game, so you are now the scoring leader again!"

"Meng, congratulations!" Mel Daniels on the side heard Jamal Tinsley's words, and immediately raised his wine glass in greeting to Meng Xu.

"Thank you, thank you!" After clinking glasses with Mel Daniels, and knowing that Meng Xu had overtaken McGrady to win this season's scoring title in the last round of the game, more and more people at the scene held their wine glasses towards him. Meng Xu gathered around here. Among all the honors in the regular season, the scoring champion is second only to the regular season MVP. Therefore, no matter when you can win the scoring champion, it is something worth celebrating, not to mention It is still in such a fierce competition this season.

In fact, after the last game of the Pacers yesterday, Meng Xu gave up hope for the scoring title. In the final game of the Pacers' regular season, Meng Xu surrendered 26 shots in the face of the Pistons' crazy encirclement. The data in 8 finally ranked second in the scoring list with an average score of 34.2 points per game, which is less than 0.1 point away from McGrady, who is at the top of the list.Although the Magic still has a game against the Spurs, as long as McGrady does not play, or as long as McGrady scores more than 27 points, then McGrady's scoring champion will be firmly in hand.

But in order to gain home court advantage against the Pistons in the playoffs, the Magic, which is half a game behind the Pistons, not only cannot relax in the final round against the Spurs, but must go all out.The same is true for the Spurs. In order to gain home court advantage over the Lakers in the playoffs, the Spurs cannot give up in this last game.

In the end, under the boos of the fans, Tim Duncan scored 34 points, 18 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots to help the Spurs beat the Magic 106 to 83 in the away game. Under the care of Ginobili and Bowen, the audience only made 21 of 6 shots and scored only 18 points. Not only did the Magic fail to win the home court advantage, even Tracy McGrady almost got the scoring champion.

After the game between the Magic and the Spurs, all the games in the final round of the 02-03 NBA regular season were over. In the end, the Pacers ranked first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses, which is also the best record in the league. In the East this season, it can be said that the Pacers are thriving. The Nets, which can still pose a certain threat to the Pacers before and after the All-Star Game, played the longest 18-game winning streak in the Pacers' history, and they lost consecutively to the Western Conference. After that, he completely lost the ability to threaten the Pacers.After all the games in the regular season, the Nets ranked second in the Eastern Conference with a record of 54 wins and 28 losses. Except for the Pacers and the Nets, the remaining six teams in the Eastern Conference that entered the playoffs even scored 50 games. There are no winning teams. On the other hand, the Timberwolves, the sixth in the West, have a record of 50 wins and 32 losses. It can also be seen from this that there is a huge gap in the overall strength of the Eastern and Western teams.

After the Nets, the Celtics ranked third in the Eastern Conference with a record of 49 wins and 33 losses. The fish belly that can't be touched in the gate of the game has re-joined the ranks of the eastern powers. It has been two consecutive seasons and has reached the top four in the eastern part.The Pistons, which reached the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, had a rough start this season. Not only did the signings during the offseason fail, but after the start of the regular season, they were caught in various trading turmoil. Detroit often The media broke the news that the Pistons were going to send away the team's outside core Jerry Stackhouse. Therefore, in the first half of the regular season, the Pistons' record has been unstable. Fortunately, after the All-Star Game, the Pistons gradually recovered. In order to stabilize, in the last round of home victory over the Pacers, and the Magic lost to the Spurs, the Pistons locked in the fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 48 wins and 34 losses.

After the Pistons, the Magic ranked fifth in the East with a record of 47 wins and 35 losses. The remaining three teams entering the playoffs are the 44ers with 38 wins and 76 losses, the Hornets with 42 wins and 40 losses, and the Hornets with 41 wins and 41 losses. stag. The 76ers and the Bucks can be regarded as a pair of troubled brothers. The 76ers and Raptors who once won the top two in the Eastern Conference and joined the Finals may have used up the good luck they had accumulated for many years in that season. At the same time, they were in trouble, internal strife, blame, rumors of disagreement, filled with these two teams, accompanied by trades and injuries, leaving the drama of betrayal, two teams that were considered to dominate the Eastern Conference for several years, just like that Falling apart.

Compared with the Eastern Conference, the record of each team in the Western Conference is obviously much stronger, and the competition for the top few in the Western Conference is also more intense. The Kings, Spurs, and Mavericks lead alternately in the regular season. The Mavericks had the last laugh. Although they lost the number one position in the league, the Mavericks still ranked first in the Western Conference with a record of 60 wins and 22 losses.The most beautiful team in the West this season is undoubtedly the Mavericks. Last season, the Mavericks ranked fourth in the West. The Pacers still have a gap of 7 wins, but they can stand out from the competition with the Spurs, Lakers, and Kings. The Mavericks this season are also good enough.

After the Mavericks, there is the Spurs with 59 wins and 23 losses. The Spurs' record this season can be said to be somewhat unexpected. After David Robinson is one year older and Riff LaFrentz is robbed by the Mavericks , The Spurs' record has risen instead of falling, and they almost got a record of 60 wins. The stable and efficient Duncan is one of the reasons, and there is another very important reason, Parker's progress, and Ginobili's joining, Tony Parker, who averaged only 9 points and 4 assists per game last season, has scored 15.5 points and 5.3 assists this season. Ginobili, who has just entered the league, has also shown very strong adaptability. In 20 minutes of playing time, he can average 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists per game. At the end of the regular season, he scored more than 10+ in 15 consecutive games and 5+ in 20 consecutive games. He is still at the peak. Duncan now has a good helper again. It can be said that the Spurs are still very much looking forward to this season's playoffs.

The Lakers this season are undoubtedly the most disappointing team. After trading Payton and Malone in the offseason, the Lakers, which formed an unprecedentedly luxurious Big Four, not only did not perform as expected before the start of the season , swept the entire league and broke the Bulls' winning streak, but in the end they didn't even get a record of 60 wins.The Lakers, who ranked third in the West with a record of 58 wins and 24 losses, disappointed all the fans who had expectations of the Lakers. However, the Lakers obviously didn't care about the ranking in the regular season. Time boasted that even if we enter the playoffs as the eighth in the West, we can still win the championship this season.Perhaps it is true, as O'Neal said, no matter what the ranking is, the championship will belong to the Lakers. Therefore, in the final stage of the regular season, the rest of the teams began to make the final sprint for the ranking of the playoffs and home court advantage. At that time, the Lakers actually played a rotation. In every game, the Big Four had to rest at least two times. Otherwise, the Lakers' record this season would definitely be even better.

Ranked fourth in the Western Conference after the Lakers is the King with the same record as the Lakers. Since the Lakers are at a slight disadvantage in the record this season, the Kings can only be inferior to the Lakers and rank fourth in the Western Conference. Location.The Trail Blazers, who were once one of the top three in the Western Conference, have also improved their record after changing the head coach this season. Relying on a wave of 6 consecutive victories in the final stage of the regular season, they successfully overtook the Timberwolves, with 52 wins and 30 losses. The record ranks fifth in the West.As for the Timberwolves, who once rose to third place in the West after the All-Star Game, after experiencing an inexplicable losing streak at the end of the regular season, they fell from third place in the West to sixth place in the West.The remaining two places in the West to enter the playoffs are the Warriors with 46 wins and 36 losses and the Grizzlies with 44 wins and 38 losses. Gasol averaged 21 points and 10.3 rebounds per game this season, becoming one of the few insiders in the entire league who can contribute 20+10. Al Harrington, who was established by the Grizzlies as the core, averaged With the data of 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5 assists, after the Grizzlies gave the Pacers the first-round pick and became the No. After Dunton played All-Star-level data this season, the remarks that the Grizzlies lost immediately disappeared, and it turned into a loss for the Pacers.

After all the games in the regular season are over and the final rankings are determined, the official website of the NBA will then announce the matchup table and schedule for the playoffs of this season. The Bucks, the second-ranked Nets in the Eastern Conference played against the seventh-ranked Hornets in the Eastern Conference, the third-ranked Celtics played against the sixth-ranked 76ers in the Eastern Conference, and the fourth-ranked Pistons played against the fifth-ranked Magic in the Eastern Conference.The No. [-] Mavericks in the West played against the No. [-] Grizzlies in the West, the No. [-] Spurs in the West versus the No. [-] Warriors in the West, and the master-apprentice duel between Popovich and Mike Budenholzer also became a series of this round. The biggest highlight of the game is the Lakers, third in the West, against the Timberwolves, sixth in the West, the Kings, fourth in the West, and the Trail Blazers, fifth in the West.Among all the eight matchups, except the Pistons and the Magic, which seemed to be an evenly matched matchup, the others were all of great disparity in strength and weakness. Although Black N Miracle has always been the most exciting drama in the first round of the playoffs, but Under the circumstances of this season, I am afraid that it will become more and more difficult to see.

Different from the playoffs of previous years, the NBA has adjusted the playoff system this season. The biggest change is that the first round of the playoffs has been increased from 5 games to 7 games. After the increase in the number of games, whether it is For the league, or for each team entering the playoffs, this will be a considerable amount of income, and with the increase in the number of games, it will relatively reduce the chance of a weak team being upset.There are many strong teams in the league. After the ranking is basically determined, they will adjust the team's state before the start of the playoffs, arrange some players to reduce their playing time, and even take turns to rest. Therefore, there will be many teams playing off. In this situation, after the start of the playoffs, the team's state has not been adjusted, and the result is a black seven or a black eight. As the number of games increases, even if they accidentally play off, But after the increase in the number of games, they will have more adjustments and opportunities to regain their status.After the announcement of the new competition system, most teams in the league expressed their support for Mr. Stern's wise decision. After all, one more game will bring more ticket revenue, and the league's broadcast fees will also be higher. Can't get through the money?However, those who are in favor will be opposed. After the league announced the new competition system, some NBA celebrities sarcastically said that in the future, the playoffs should be changed to 9 games and 5 wins. The 82-game regular season schedule itself is enough. It is dense enough, and the number of games in the playoffs will increase. The income of the league and the team has increased, but those players are even more tired, and the probability of injury has also increased greatly.

Just when all eyes were on the new competition system, on April 2003, 4, 22-time All-Star, 10 assists, 9 steals, John Stowe, who played for the Utah Jazz for 19 seasons Keton, after the game between the Jazz and the Trail Blazers, officially announced his retirement. There was no grand farewell game like Jordan, and various farewell performances. Even the management of the Jazz heard that John Stockton retired. After the news, they all looked compelled. Perhaps in their hearts, Stockton will continue to play for the Jazz.

For a while, even the limelight of the playoffs was overshadowed by the news of John Stockton's retirement. After Stockton announced his retirement, Malone, who had fought alongside Stockton for 17 seasons, also A brief statement in Los Angeles: "I had a coach who always taught me that a good NBA player should be able to make his teammates All-Stars, and Stockton is one of those guys. For his upcoming The news of retirement, I don't want to make any comments, but this news really surprised me."

But to Malone's embarrassment, when the reporter conveyed Malone's words to John Stockton, John Stockton said without looking back: "Who is Malone? Do I know him? "

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(End of this chapter)