The situation has become clear since the season.

The first tier, the Bulls with 52 wins and 7 losses, won the fastest 50 wins in NBA history, and the highest winning rate in the same number of games surpassed the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1971-1972 season. It is worth mentioning that Baylor played 9 games at the start of the Lakers that year, with 4 wins and 5 losses.

After 9 games, Baylor retired. The Lakers won all the next 33 games since Baylor retired, and finally got a record of 69 wins and 13 losses. The Lakers finally defeated the Knicks 4-1 in the finals to win the championship.

For that season, the biggest regret of many fans was why Baylor did not retire early...

The second tier, the Lakers with 47 wins and 12 losses, the Magic and Supersonics with 47 wins and 13 losses, and the Spurs with 45 wins and 14 losses.

The third tier, the Jazz with 40 wins and 20 losses, the Pacers with 37 wins and 23 losses, the Rockets with 34 wins and 26 losses, and the Knicks with 35 wins and 24 losses.

These 9 teams, except for the Lakers, are considered candidates for championships.

In the media description and fans' perceptions, the Lakers are similar to the Hawks and Bucks, which will win the regular season first in the Eastern Conference in the future... Even Lakers fans are just yelling at the "Lakes Championship" and making a lot of fun.

Of course, this cannot cover up Zhang Hao's performance as the top rookie since modern basketball, averaging 26.7 points per game.

In addition to the 5th team in the West and 4th team in the East, there are also teams in the playoff competition, the Trail Blazers, Suns, Kings, and the Warriors who have solved some of the conflicts through robbery transactions. These four teams compete for three other playoff spots in the West.

The East is a little more complicated. Six teams including the Cavaliers, Pistons, Eagles, Heats, Hornets, and Bullets are competing for 4 playoff spots.

47 wins and 12 losses, 47 wins and 13 losses, 45 wins and 14 losses, which are the top three in the West, belonging to the Lakers, Supersonics and Spurs respectively.

With such a close record, the ranking competition is naturally extremely fierce. Coincidentally, the three teams will face each other twice in the match from March to April.

Two of these six games were originally broadcast in the United States, but now all six games have become broadcast in the United States.

At this time, with 6 weeks left before the end of the regular season, the predictions of major awards became lively.

The predictions of MVP are very unified. Regarding this aspect, the hottest topic at present is - Can Jordan, who has not won the best of the month in four months, get the best of the month in the last two months?

The best rookie is no suspense early on, and after Zhang Hao won the best player of the month, there is no suspense at all.

The predictions of the best defensive player are very interesting. Payton is first, Jordan is second, Pippen is third, Mutombo is fourth, Rodman is fifth, David Robinson is sixth, Olajuwon is seventh, O'Neal is eighth, Mooning is ninth, and Camp is tenth. The Bulls team has three players in the top five in the best defensive player prediction!

...

On March 7, the Lakers came to Seattle.

There are three consecutive days off the road, and the next game will be played on the 10th. This schedule is indeed quite strange.

But the Lakers did not return to Los Angeles, but came directly to Seattle.

The biggest favorite of the Best Rookie, after arriving in Seattle, he went to make an appointment with a girl and strolled around a commercial district in Seattle with her girl in her arms.

"Lelin, the climate here is very good! The greening is so good..."

"Of course, Seattle is the best city in the world! My brother comes here and there is something delicious!"

"Eat and eat, you will know what to do if you become a fat man in the future?"

Having said that, Zhang Hao still carried the little loli to the dessert shop he pointed to and put it down.

The little loli's expression was so enjoyable when eating delicious food. Just by looking, Zhang Hao could guess how delicious that snack was.

Enjoying the delicious food, the little loli suddenly asked, "Don't your brother like fat girls?"

"What do you want to ask about this?"

"You're curious, tell Lelin, what kind of girl does your brother like? For example, body shape."

"Uh..." Zhang Hao originally wanted to be perfunctory, but when he thought that these American girls were so popular that they were in their teens, they were so fat that they were so fat in their 20s. He immediately said, "Yes, I like to be thin."

Think about Britney in the future, and then look at the little loli in front of you... On Britney's side, Zhang Hao knew that Britney would be fat in the future. He had also seen her fat appearance, which was desperate, but the little loli couldn't gain weight!

Hearing this answer, the little loli suddenly felt that the annual ring cake on the plate was no longer delicious...

I had a happy afternoon with the little loli, and after eating something but not finishing it, I watched the circus performance, Zhang Hao spent the first off-season easily and returned the little loli borrowed from Schultz's house in the evening.

Not only Zhang Hao, but the rest of the Lakers also had a good rest today, and the next day, the morning was also resting. On the afternoon of the 8th, the Lakers came to the Key Arena to prepare for the game against the Supersonics the day after tomorrow, that is, the 10th day after tomorrow.

Seattle, the pearl of the northwest of the United States, has envied the living environment and comfort of the people in Los Angeles.

The Lakers did not return to Los Angeles during the three-day break, but came here just to let the players relax.

As for how to relax, everyone has their own way of playing.

Like the magician, I listened to the bishop's teachings at St James' Catholic Church yesterday afternoon and this morning.

During this period, the Lakers coaching staff also summarized the previously analyzed data, reanalyzed it based on the current situation and the situation of the opponent Supersonics, proposed tactical plans, simulated the specific process of the game, analyzed what specific situations may occur to make targeted tactical preparations... and other preparation time.

This is more specific than before considering how to deal with the Rockets, and it means that the Lakers are beginning to truly prepare for the playoffs.

Although the Lakers, from the start of this season, from management to coaching staff to players, have never regarded winning the championship as their goal this season... until now, even though they are currently the number one in the Western Conference, they have all played to this point, so of course they have to prepare for what they should do.

So, at the beginning of the tactical meeting before the preparation this afternoon, Del Harris said to the players: "Our goal is to win the first place in the West, and the Supersonics are second. We will most likely meet them in the Western Conference Finals. The next game with them, and the next match we will fight with them after we return to Los Angeles, is equivalent to the Western Conference Finals preview..."

After saying that this pile of things almost does not have a positive effect on the day after tomorrow's game, but will add pressure, Del Harris began to talk about the strategic plan, tactical arrangements, and training plans for today and tomorrow's game against the Supersonics.

After the meeting, Zhang Hao thought about the words Del Harris said at the beginning of the tactical meeting, and couldn't figure out why the old fox, a spirit, said such things at this time.

If you don’t understand, you ask, the subject is of course the Smiling Brother Magician.

The magician answered quickly: "The coach is cultivating our championship culture and let us start the journey of getting used to the championship."

"oh?"

"We can all strive for the No. 1 in the West, and we have been ranked first in the West for so long. Our future goal is definitely the championship... We will start to compete this year, and we will start to compete immediately. Only by adjusting our mentality to the state of the championship team can we truly become the championship team."

I understood... Zhang Hao thought for a while and asked, "Mr. Johnson, you just told me the goal that the head coach wanted to achieve, right?"

"Haha, you are so smart, you will definitely see it soon."

...

After the afternoon training, Zhang Hao did not go back to the hotel with the team, and Schultz treated her to dinner tonight.

When leaving the employee channel, Zhang Hao happened to meet the supersonics player who came out of the home team's training ground.

I was not familiar with it, so I didn't even call him, and no one on both sides paid attention to each other.

Zhang Hao wanted to take the initiative to get to know Payton, but the other party did not have any good attitude towards him because of his meeting in the All-Star Game. He pretended that he had not seen him, Zhang, so he did not take the initiative to say hello.

Payton is famous for bullying newcomers.

Somehow, when Zhang Hao was about to pass by the employee parking lot, Payton, who was talking to Kemp, became louder: "Shawn, I just went to pick up the car in the morning. Come on, let's go for a ride, and compare driving skills!"

"Wow, Gary, your car is so cool! It's actually a Ferrari! Is this the latest F355? So cool!"

Zhang Hao glanced at the supersonic duo whose voices were louder than each other... and then left.

"Does superstars speak so loudly?"

...

On March 10, a very high-profile game started playing at 7:30 pm

The two sides against the Lakers and the Supersonics. The Lakers started to rest for 3 days on the 7th. After the Supersonics played against the Hornets in the evening, the 8th and 9th also rested. Both teams had plenty of time to prepare for this game.

This is the third time the two teams have played against each other this season. Both sides won one in the first two matches. In the first match, the Lakers were beaten 103-79 by the Supersonics. Only Campbell scored 29 points for the Lakers, Cebaros scored 21 points, and the others only had 29 points in total.

In the second match, the Lakers won the game with a three-pointer of Sedale Sreet in the last 4 seconds.

Zhang Hao had not yet arrived at the Lakers in those two matches.

Tonight is Zhang Hao's first time in his career, and he met the super power forward Sean Kemp, who has won the second team in the past two years.

Zhang Hao VS Kemp is one of the hot topics in which the Lakers and the Supersonics fight.

Both of them are high school rookies. After Zhang Hao plays out, he will naturally be compared with this top power forward in the league.

During the game, Zhang Hao was beaten...

How great is Sean Kemp this year?

Average of 2.3 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, which doesn't seem to be particularly outstanding, but looking at higher-level data, when he was on the court, the Supersonics scored 111 points per 100 rounds and lost only 97 points per 100 rounds. They contributed top on offensive end and defensive contributions, ranking first in power forward, which is even better than Rodman's limit of his opponent's 98 points per 100 rounds.

So, Zhang Hao, who stepped onto the court with full enthusiasm and positive attitude, played for 33 minutes in the whole game, made only 7 shots in 18 shots, and failed to score in 3 three-point shots. The free throw was OK, and 3 free throws were made, but he only scored 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal in 18 shots.

And Kemp made 6 of 8 shots, 6 of 7 free throws, scoring 18 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks!

Although Van Exel scored 26 points, his assists were limited to only 3 by Payton, and the Magicians had only 7 assists. Except for Zhang Hao, Van Exel, Magicians, the others in the Lakers had only 3 assists in total, and the team had only 16 assists!

The Lakers are the highest in the league in assists per game this season!

In this game, the Lakers' offense was broken by the Supersonics and turned into countless singles!

Van Exel and the Magicians had 10 assists, three of which were passed by Zhang Hao when he counterattacked, which was a regular organizational attack, and they only got 7 in total.

In this case, although Van Exel scored 26 points, Zhang Hao scored 17 points, Doug Christie scored 21 points, 1 assist and 2 steals in a single, Jason Williams scored 10 points and 8 rebounds with 4 offensive rebounds... But the team only scored 93 points!

On the other hand, the Lakers' defense is actually pretty good. Del Harris's targeting arrangements are very good, reducing the number of shots of the core players of the Supersonics, but Peyton made 7 of 12 shots and 6 of 6 free throws to score 23 points, and Kemp scored 6 of 8 shots and 18 points.

In the end, the score was frozen at 90-97, and the Lakers lost to the Supersonics by 7 points.

With 47 wins and 13 losses, the Lakers who lost directly to the Supersonics team, were overtaken by the Supersonics team with 48 wins and 13 losses!

...

...

"Oh, it's so amazing... Damn, I should throw this place away. I made a mistake in vain. I didn't see it here... It's because their defense is too good. We obviously feel good, but we were forced to turn into many strong shots... and this... Oh..."

In the early morning of the second day after losing to the Supersonics, Zhang Hao reviewed the game with the Supersonics and couldn't help but sigh at the strength of the Supersonics.
To be continued...