The Warriors' record in March was still stable. Although they lost to strong teams in the league such as the Bulls and Spurs, they also won a lot of games. In April, Wang Feng averaged 42 points, 12.2 rebounds and 10.7 assists per game, ranking third this season.
Elected as Player of the Month for the second time, the Warriors also successfully overtook the SuperSonics at the end of the month and regained the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference.
Although there is only one win gap between the two teams, as the competition enters April and there are only 10 games left, it is not completely impossible to hold on to the top spot in the Western Conference.
In the Warriors' 10 games in April, the only strong opponents were the Rockets and Jazz. The rest were basically teams that had already been eliminated early, such as the Timberwolves, Nuggets, Mavericks, etc.
But what people didn't expect was that at the beginning of April, the Warriors first lost the game against the Rockets, and then lost an upset 98:104 against the Nuggets.
A two-game losing streak has directly caused the Warriors to relinquish their first position in the Western Conference.
The losses in these two games were not entirely a problem on the field.
Anyone who knows a little bit about penalty kicks can see the clues. The Warriors don't seem to have the desire to win, and the rotation time of several main players is not very long, including Wang Feng, who only played about 35 minutes.
35 minutes of playing time may not be too much for other players, but for Wang Feng, who has averaged 42 minutes of playing time per game this season, 35 minutes of playing time may only be regarded as a warm-up.
"It can be seen that the Warriors don't seem to want the No. 1 position in the Western Conference. They have no intention of competing with the SuperSonics. Could it be that they are already preparing for the playoffs?"
"But if it is to prepare for the playoffs, there is only one explanation for the Warriors' behavior. They want to avoid playing a certain team in the playoffs. And assuming that the Warriors are ranked second in the Western Conference, they are avoiding
There's only one team we're fighting against, and that's the Utah Jazz."
"The Utah Jazz are currently ranked fourth in the Western Conference, and are 4 games ahead of the Lakers, who are fifth in the Western Conference. They are also 4 games behind the Spurs, who are third in the Western Conference. Therefore, there is a high probability that they will eventually finish fourth in the Western Conference.
record to enter the playoffs.”
"Assuming that the Warriors are ranked first in the Western Conference, they will meet the Jazz in the second round. If we use this as a premise for reasoning, from the Warriors' perspective, the Jazz is actually more difficult than the Spurs.
A tough opponent? They would actually take the initiative to face the Spurs in order to avoid playing against the Jazz."
"Is this calculation really useful? After all, the Warriors are just a new team rebuilt this season, and their lineup has obvious shortcomings. Even if they choose their own opponents, can they really get what they want?"
…
Wang Feng was a little surprised when he looked at the analysis newspaper published by a certain sports media.
"Good guy, are you a bit skilled?"
What a guess.
This media really got it right. The Warriors' several losses in April were indeed intentional, and the purpose was just as the other party said, to avoid the Jazz.
As a time traveler, Wang Feng's greatest advantage, apart from the system, is his foresight.
Therefore, he knows very well that although the record ranks fourth in the Western Conference, the Jazz are stronger than the Spurs.
According to the original history, these two teams should be ranked second and third in the Western Conference respectively. Therefore, after each team eliminated their opponents in the first round, they met in the second round of the playoffs, which is the Western Conference semifinals.
.
Then the Jazz eliminated the Spurs with a score of 4:2 and successfully advanced to the Western Conference Finals.
During the duel, the Jazz had the upper hand throughout. After 4 games, they already held the match point at 3:1, which was not too easy.
In the subsequent Western Conference Finals, the Jazz also had seven bloody battles with the Western Conference's No. 1 SuperSonics, and regrettably lost the final game 86-90 with a narrow margin of 4 points.
Wang Feng knew how powerful this Jazz team was, so he naturally wanted to avoid the opponent as much as possible and let the Jazz and SuperSonics risk their lives.
Of course, there are no weak teams in the playoffs, and the Spurs are not easy to deal with. But Wang Feng hopes to be as meticulous as possible, because his goal is to compete with Jordan's Bulls in the finals. Before that, he must avoid consumption as much as possible.
Save combat power.
Wang Feng's point of view is completely incomprehensible to all members of the Warriors, including head coach Adelman. After all, in their view, the Spurs are a stronger opponent than the Jazz.
They were eliminated by the Rockets in the first round, but the Spurs made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Moreover, the Spurs have always been ahead of the Jazz in terms of record this season. Why does Wang Fengfeng think the Jazz are more difficult to deal with?
But there's nothing you can do if you don't understand. Wang Feng currently has a transcendent status in the Warriors. No one dares to ignore his suggestions. More importantly, as the engine and steering wheel of the Warriors, Wang Feng's contribution to the team's victory is really important.
To put it bluntly, without Wang Feng, even if the current Warriors were given an All-Star player, it would be difficult for them to reach the top eight in the Western Conference.
Therefore, Wang Feng does not want to win the game, and it is useless no matter how much others want to win, because they simply do not have the ability to lead the team to win.
Therefore, Adelman can only cooperate with Wang Feng to appropriately adjust the rotation and give the players more rest time in the following games.
In the final 10 games in April, the Warriors achieved a record of 6 wins and 4 losses, giving up the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference as expected, while also leading the Spurs by 2 games in record.
60 wins and 24 losses, this is the Warriors' final result.
This is a result that is enough to make everyone in Golden State excited. Although the team failed to win the first place in the Western Conference, only those old fans understand what 60 wins means to the Warriors.
This Warriors team broke the best record in team history!
Looking back at the Warriors' best record, it was the 59-23 record in the 1975-76 season. The Warriors led by Hall of Fame superstar Rick Barry achieved something that even Chamberlain had not helped the Warriors achieve during his tenure.
score,
Who would have thought that exactly twenty years later, the Warriors' best regular season record in team history would actually be refreshed, and this was a Warriors team that had just undergone reconstruction in the summer and was not favored by many people!
The Warriors can break the record in team history, and Wang Feng is indispensable.
This season he successfully recreated the miracle of averaging a triple-double in the future, averaging 38.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 10.8 assists in 41 minutes per game!
For the NBA, two incredible miracles occurred this season. The first was the Bulls who led the team to an unprecedented 72 wins and 10 losses. The other miracle was Wang Feng who averaged 39 11 11 per game.
The former is an incredible miracle replicated by a great team. Before the Bulls, no one could believe that in the long 82-game regular season, a team could only lose 10 games. This Bulls team
Its power refreshed everyone's understanding.
The latter is arguably the greatest one-man show in history.
This data does not look like it could be produced in the NBA. On the contrary, it seems more reasonable when compared to the NBA that had not yet merged decades ago. After all, in that barbaric period, the level of players was uneven. Chamberlain even scored
Averaged 50 points and 25.7 rebounds per game.
Oscar Robertson, another strongman in league history who averaged a triple-double per game, also came from the same year, and even averaged 50.25 per game in the same season as Chamberlain.
After years of development, the NBA has transformed into a professional and high-level competitive arena. Even if Chamberlain at his peak time travels to the present, his average per game statistics will not be much better than O'Neal, Olajuwon and others.
This shows how exaggerated Wang Feng’s data is.
Even if you put aside the data of rebounds and assists, just look at the scoring average, Wang Feng's scoring average of 38.7 points per game is the highest scoring average in the regular season since the league merger, surpassing Jordan's 37.1 points per game average in the 1986-87 season.
As the only offensive core of the Warriors, the defense Wang Feng faced was no worse than Jordan's in the single-core era.
It is worth mentioning that Jordan significantly increased the number of shots he took in the middle of the season, apparently unwilling to lose to Wang Feng in scoring.
As the season ended, Jordan's personal score was fixed at 36.4 points. This score was the second highest score in Jordan's career, second only to the 37.1 points in the 1986-87 season, but it was still not small compared with Wang Feng's 38.7 points.
gap.
It can be clearly seen that this is almost Jordan's limit.
Two years of retirement were a waste of his two peak years. Although Jordan is still in peak condition now, his physical fitness is obviously much worse than a few years ago.
In the 1986-87 season, Jordan could play the entire game lively and average playing time reached 40 minutes per game throughout the season.
But now, it's okay for him to play the entire game occasionally in a few games, but 82 games in the regular season are played according to the 40-minute standard. I'm afraid that Joe will get injured due to excessive fatigue halfway through the schedule.
After all, Jordan, who was born in 1963, is now 33 years old.
Even the reason why Jordan can average 36 points per game this season is thanks to the league's shortened three-point line and Wang Feng Yuzhu's terrifying three-point lethality in front.
These two reasons have led to Jordan taking a large number of three-pointers this season. With the three-point shooting rate maintained at 42%, the three-pointers alone helped Jordan average at least 3 more points per game than before.
about.
Although they failed to surpass Wang Feng in terms of scoring, Jordan and Wang Feng have undoubtedly become the unparalleled twins this season.
Looking at the statistics of the scoring list, Wang Feng ranked first with 38.7 points and won the scoring crown. Jordan was not ashamed to lose with 36.4 points.
Then starting from third place are Olajuwon who averaged 26.9 points per game, O'Neal with 26.6 points per game, Karl Malone with 25.7 points, David Robinson with 25 points, and Charles Barkley with 23.2 points...
The top ten scorers are completely divided into two echelons. Wang Feng and Jordan are far ahead in one echelon, while the others are in the second echelon and can only look up to the former.
Of course, Wang Feng's 11.2 rebounds per game ranked sixth in the rebounding list, his 10.8 assists per game ranked second only to Stockton's 11 assists, and he even ranked in the top three in steals.
These trivial little honors can be completely ignored.
Let’s turn our attention back to the results.
The first place in the Western Conference is the Seattle SuperSonics with 62 wins and 20 losses, followed by the Warriors with 60 wins, the Spurs with 58 wins, the Jazz with 55 wins, the Lakers with 52 wins, the Rockets with 48 wins, the Trail Blazers with 44 wins and the Suns with 41 wins.
As for the Eastern Conference, there is no doubt that the first one is the Bulls with 72 wins and 10 losses.
Wang Feng was quite surprised by this. He didn't expect the Bulls to win 72 games after losing a game to his Warriors. He thought that after one more defeat, the Bulls' victory would eventually become
With 71 wins, it seems that the loss to the Warriors was made up for by other teams that should have lost.
Except for the Bulls, the only team with a better record in the Eastern Conference is the Magic with 60 wins. The Pacers ranked third with 52 wins, the Cavaliers with 47 wins, and last season's championship Knicks with 45 wins.
Fifth in the Eastern Conference, followed by the Pistons, Hawks and Heat.
The Knicks had a really tough season this season. In the middle of the season, they almost fell out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference. However, they managed to win consecutive games at the last moment and returned to fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
But with such a record and team performance, no one is optimistic that they can defend the championship.
In other words, the vast majority of fans who follow the NBA only recognize one championship team at this time, and that is the Bulls.
The record of 72 wins is really shocking. It is far ahead of all other teams in terms of winning odds. If Wang Feng is still in the Knicks, he may be able to compete with the Bulls with Ewing. In addition, other
Teams, including three 60-win teams, the SuperSonics, Warriors and Magic will not be opponents of the Bulls.
…
For Wang Feng, outside predictions and opinions mean nothing to him. If he wants to compete head-on with the Bulls, he must first ensure that the Warriors can break out in the Western Conference.
Therefore, he will not consider other unnecessary issues before this.
The Warriors' opponent in the first round of the playoffs was the Portland Trail Blazers, the team where current head coach Adelman had coached for six years.
The current Trail Blazers team leader is Clifford Robinson, who was Drexler's younger brother. He is not a very good player. He has been selected to the All-Star Game once and to the All-Defensive Team twice in his career.
As an inside player with a height of 2.08 meters, Clifford Robinson's playing style is a bit like Nowitzki, but his shooting is not as stable as King Nowitzki. His best performance in his career was after becoming the team leader this season.
Averaged 21.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
In addition to him, the Trail Blazers also have two main players, namely point guard Rod Strickland, who averaged 18.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 9.6 assists per game in the regular season. He averaged 14.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He is 2.21 meters tall.
Big center Arvydas Sabonis.
Well... how should I put it, if Wang Feng were to evaluate it, they would be just three stooges.
The three main players each have their own shortcomings. Star Clifford Robinson's playing style is soft and his 42% shooting rate as an inside shooter is low. Guard Rod Strickland is not good at three-pointers and is extremely dependent on scoring.
Center Sabonis is too tall and clumsy to break through and attack the frame with the ball. He doesn't have Yao's scoring ability and skills, so he is just a large blue-collar player.
This Trail Blazers is really not a strong team. The reason why they can reach the playoffs is simply because other teams in the Western Conference are worse.