At 8 pm on April 20, 2002, the Supersonics challenged the Lakers away. In this game full of stars... there are many stars.

Zhang Hao, Jordan, Cassel, O'Neal, Pierce, and Payton were all wearing suits and sitting on the bench.

There are tacit understanding, both teams have it.

If Zhang Hao gets 40+ against the Clippers, if the two teams need to decide who is the second in the West, if either of these two conditions meets any of them, both teams will do a good job tonight.

However, Zhang Hao only scored 22 points against the Clippers, surpassing Jordan's 37 times 40+, and was unable to become the second player to be able to 40 times a single game in a single season. The Supersonics are currently 60 wins and 21 losses, while the Lakers are 56 wins and 25 losses.

In addition, the first four matches of the season were all won by the Supersonics, and there is no possibility of improving their strengths and weaknesses through this game. Moreover, the two teams have been competing since last season to this season...

No need.

The only All-Star player of the two teams for six seasons this season is Ben Wallace.

The Supersonics are now only Ben Wallace's full attendance in one season.

The Supersonics sent Avery Johnson, Steve Smith, Artest, Anthony Mason Jr. and Ben Wallace.

The Lakers sent Fisher, Lynch Hunter, Rick Fox, Hores Grant and Stanislav Medvedenko.

They are both two and three substitutes.

The two teams are so familiar with each other. When they meet the conditions that the two teams have no requirements for the final game, Doug Collins and Rick Carlisle both guessed that the opponent would send such a lineup, and even the specific list sent by the opponent had guessed.

This game is not useless. Instead, putting aside the fact that you don’t care about winning or losing, it actually has a great effect on making adjustments to the playoff rotation lineup.

The two teams played this way in the curtain call of the regular season... This year, he made money with the Lakers and the Supersonics. David Stern, who has been very excited, can't get too sad anymore.

Very angry!

But what can I do? At most, I will pay a little bit of money.

It is impossible to ban the game. You will never ban those people because of such a thing in your life... Unless there is no way, even if you really can't, you have to shorten the ban to the smallest...

If you don’t care much, only the fans on the scene are there.

Although I spent a lot of money to buy tickets to watch this game on site, Lakers fans didn't care so much. In the past two years, O'Neal has not played in the curtain call.

Lakers fans have long known that when the victory or defeat of this game does not hinder the ranking between their Lakers and their opponent Supersonics, neither team will pay special attention to this curtain call.

Also, the playoffs are about to begin.

After the game started, the players who played in the two teams played very hard, and the coaching teams of the two teams also attached great importance to the performance of the rotation lineup.

But fans don't care much, and the big screen often gives the camera to Zhang Hao, Jordan, O'Neal, Pierce and others sitting on the sidelines.

Cheers or boos sounded from time to time on the scene, but they had nothing to do with the players playing on the field...

In the end, the Lakers narrowly defeated the Supersonics 97-92 and won the curtain call for the regular season.

When the final whistle sounded, a system prompt that unexpectedly came to Zhang Hao.

"Special signing player Zhang Hao completed 15 consecutive games of 40+ achievements in the NBA 2001-2002 season, completed 38 40+ achievements in a single season, and completed 9 50+ achievements in a single season. All of them broke the record of King of Data Wilt Chamberlain or second only to King of Data Wilt Chamberlain. Congratulations to the host for winning Zhang Hao's 2001-2002 season achievement reward: 1 golden draw."

Wow! An unexpected joy!

Zhang Hao immediately stood up.

If I didn't play in the last game, I didn't have the chance to win the 40th 40+, and it has exceeded Jordan's 37th 40+, so there is no need.

And look at the Lakers, the first seven games in April, to be precise, from the game on March 31 to the first seven games in April, O'Neal did not play in 4 games in 8 games. The coaching staff of the Supersonics think that the Lakers may not want to compete for second place after the last matchup.

If the Mavericks hadn't sent Zhu Wan Howard away, the pain was too great and the record could not be raised, the Supersonics coaching staff felt that the Lakers might want to fall to fourth place, and the opponent in the second round would pick the Kings.

Based on various factors, the Supersonics actually don't want to play against the Lakers so early in the playoffs.

Of course, it has been confirmed now. If nothing unexpected happens, in the second round, their Supersonics will play against the Lakers.

Although he didn't play in the last game, Zhang Hao's attention was focused on the game.

It is obvious that the difference in the role player lineup between their Supersonics and Lakers is visible.

This is related to the three teams absent tonight.

In terms of the Supersonics, Kassel, Jordan, and Zhang Hao are the three players with the highest assists per game in the Supersonics.

The substitute lineup has core organizational tasks, namely Avery Johnson, Anthony Mason Jr., Parker and Kirie don't even take on the organizational offensive tasks.

On the contrary, although O'Neal and Pierce had a lot of assists on the Lakers, most of them were settling and singles. Only Payton was the clear offensive organization point for the three major stars.

Among the role players, Lynch Hunter, Fisher, Rick Fox, and Brian Shaw are all very clear tactical starting points.

So when the stars don't play, they seem to be better than the Lakers' role players who are a little weaker than the Supersonics.

Of course, it is also related to Carlisle's coaching ability. Indeed, under Carlisle's coaching, the Lakers' role players have shown their own characteristics well.

After receiving the system reward, Zhang Hao was about to draw a prize to celebrate the end of the regular season and achieved a record of 60 wins and 22 losses, but the reporters directly surrounded him, who was sitting on the bench and did not stand up.

A reporter from the Los Angeles Times asked first: "Aix, why didn't you play the last game? Is it really because the Clippers have broken 40+ consecutively and are depressed and don't want to play?"

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…”

“There is another reason.”

“What’s the reason?”

"If I don't get enough personal scores, the average score per game may drop, so I chose to make a quit."

“F…”

The reporter thought Zhang Hao would answer "had been locked in the second place in the West", "had already got 60+", etc. However, Zhang Hao's answer made the reporter unable to help but spit it out. Fortunately, the sound of "K" was about to be released and shut up in time.

When he was in a good mood, Zhang Hao said a few more words: "Why don't you ask the Lakers why they didn't let O'Neal, Pierce, and Payton play the last game?"

The reporters surrounded him felt from the bottom of his heart that Zhang Hao was too good at speaking. Fortunately, they just surrounded him and were not as impulsive as reporters from the Los Angeles Times with a good relationship with the Clippers.

Watching others interview Zhang Hao is always more interesting than interviewing yourself...

...

...

At 9:24 pm on April 20, 2002, the regular season of the 2001-2002 season officially ended!

That night, the league announced on its official website that it would impose fines of $50,000 and $80,000 respectively on the Supersonics and Lakers.

The reason is that the two teams' behavior of not allowing the stars to play in the curtain call has hurt the relationship between the fans.

The Lakers were fined 30,000 US dollars extra because they were home teams.

The reasons are sufficient and the facts are clear. Both teams said they accepted the league's punishment in an interview the next morning, and both Jerry Bass and Howard Schultz apologized publicly and sincerely.

Fans are watching the fines and apology.

With the end of the regular season, the final record ranking came out.

Fans care about the ranking of the playoff teams, and fans also care about who the worst teams are.

In the East, the Bulls are ranked first with 64-18 wins, the Nets are ranked second with 55-27 losses, the 76ers are ranked third with 53-29 losses, the Cavaliers are ranked fourth with 50-32 losses, the Bucks are ranked fifth with 48-34 losses, the Raptors are ranked sixth with 45-37 losses, the Pacers are ranked seventh with 43-39 losses, and the Hornets are ranked eighth with 42-40 losses.

The Celtics won 41 and lost 41, and were overtaken by the Hornets at the last moment and failed to make the playoffs.

In the West, the Kings are ranked first with 65 wins and 17 losses, the Supersonics are ranked second with 60 wins and 22 losses, the Lakers are ranked third with 57 wins and 25 losses, the Mavericks are ranked fourth with 53 wins and 29 losses, the Trail Blazers are ranked fifth with 51 wins and 31 losses, the Clippers are ranked sixth with 49 wins and 33 losses, the Timberwolves are ranked seventh with 48 wins and 34 losses, and the Suns are ranked eighth with 45 wins and 37 losses.

The Jazz with 43 wins and 29 losses, the Spurs with 41 wins and 41 losses, the Grizzlies with 38 wins and 44 losses, and the Rockets with 36 wins and 46 losses are all very miserable. The record is not completely bad, but it cannot make it to the playoffs.

The Grizzlies and Spurs are fine.

The Grizzlies' four core cores, Damon Stoudemire, Bathir, Gasol and Brand, look very future-proof.

Arenas and Richard Jefferson selected by the Spurs are visible to the naked eye.

The Jazz are in trouble, missing Malone, from the 50-win level, they fell directly to the edge of the playoffs, and they can't get a high pick, so they will continue to grow old.

The Rockets are quite weird. They chose a parallel player in the second pick and selected an All-Star talent in the second round.

With the bad teams, the Pistons won 20 wins and 62 losses, the last place this season, the Warriors ranked second with 21 wins and 61 losses, and the Nuggets ranked third with 23 wins and 59 losses.

These three teams are the three teams with the highest probability of winning the No. 1 pick.

Secondly, the Wizards and the Eagles.

The Knicks are very interesting. They can't win the ball, and they refuse to show off their face...

The Supersonics have the strongest overall offense in the regular season, with an average of 107.3 points per game, and the Kings are the second place, with an average of 106.4 points per game.

The Bulls have the best overall defense, followed by the Cavaliers, Nets, Kings, and Lakers.

The Kings rank second in offensive efficiency and fourth in defensive efficiency. It is the only team that ranks in the top five in offense and defense performance this season, and the regular season champion deserves its reputation.

In addition to offensive efficiency, the Kings' teamwork is also the first in the league, averaging 27.6 assists per game, surpassing the second-place Nets 2.7 times. This season, the only team in the league that averaged more than 25 assists per game.

In terms of the strength rankings of the playoff teams given by major media at the first time, the Supersonics, each media ranked first.

The defending champion, Zhang Hao, played well in the regular season. Although it doesn’t matter if you get slapped in the face, it’s not good to find a game.

The second place is very different from the major media, but it is nothing more than three teams, the Kings, the Bulls, and the Lakers.

Moreover, even if the Kings are not ranked second, they will be ranked third, while the Bulls and Lakers are ranked outside the top three.

The first game day of the playoffs is scheduled for April 23, and each playoff team will get at least two days off for the first round of preparation.
To be continued...