Chapter 422
As Durant gradually adapts to the Bucks' tactics and deepens the tacit understanding with the players, the team's record has also made a qualitative leap compared to previous months.
Throughout March, the Bucks won 13-2 in 15 games, with a single-month winning rate of more than 86%, and their overall record also came to 59-16, leaving only one game left before the cumulative winning percentage of the regular season exceeded 60.
With seven games left in April, Wang Xiao began to gradually arrange for the players to take turns to rest.
The No. 1 position in the league is basically nine out of ten, and Wang Xiao naturally wants to put the preparation for the playoffs first.
Wang Xiao has always attached great importance to the health of players, strictly controlled the playing time of players, and regularly arranged rotations to ensure that the players' physical condition was at a healthy level.
He has no doubts about the quality of his players, but he can't do anything about injuries.
There are too many talents in the NBA who are ruined by injuries, especially in the playoffs, after a season of games, coupled with the high-intensity confrontation in the playoffs, will make the player's body reach a very tired level, and fatigue is a very large inducing factor for players to be injured.
On April 1, the Bucks played at home against the Magic, and Thompson was rested, and the Bucks won the game 113-98.
On April 3, the Bucks played at home against the Bulls, and Durant was rested in rotation, and the team won 109-94.
On April 5, the Bucks played away against the Celtics, and Antetokounmpo and Jokic were both sidelined, and the team lost the game 108-111.
In the two back-to-back games on April 10 and April 11, the Bucks played all the main games, but Durant, who played the most minutes, only played 28 minutes, and the Bucks won one and lost one in these two games.
On April 13, the Bucks played the final game of the regular season at home against the Indiana Pacers.
On the home court, the Bucks also played with all the main players, but this time they played less time, Durant and others were all substituted in the early 20 minutes of the game, and they did not put the main players back on the court until the last five minutes of the game.
By this time, the Bucks were already trailing the Pacers by 13 points.
However, in these 5 minutes, the Bucks showed all the audience what it means to be invincible.
On the offensive end, Durant's brother Thompson took turns to attack, attack the basket, shoot three-pointers, and tear the Pacers' defense to pieces.
On the defensive end, the terrifying defensive radius formed by the Death Five made it difficult for the Pacers to attack.
In the final five minutes, Durant scored six points on 2-of-3 shooting and 2-of-2 free throws, Thompson hit a three-pointer and a basket to score five points, Antetokounmpo hit the basket and scored five points on 3-of-4 free throws.
The trio scored a combined 16 points, and the Pacers scored just 2 points from the free throw line in those 5 minutes! There is no score in the sports battle!
In just 5 minutes, the Bucks showed their terrifying dominance on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends!
In the end, the team won the game 109-108, won 64-18 in 82 games throughout the season, and won the first place in the regular season record in the 15-16 season with a winning rate of 78%!
The NBA regular season has officially come to an end, and the teams in the East and West that have entered the playoffs have also been released.
The Bucks are the first in the East with 64 wins, followed by the Wizards with 57 wins, and although the roster shrank significantly in the summer, leaving only Curry, George, Leonard and a Gobert, the talent of these four alone is enough to make the Wizards stand out.
This season, the Big Three are averaging more than 20 points per game, and Gobert's defensive ability has been further developed, making him an indispensable player for the Wizards.
As the so-called skinny camel is bigger than a horse, even the current Wizards team is still the top three strong teams in the league, and it is still the favorite to win the championship!
The third in the East is the Cavaliers with 55 wins, and the Cavaliers have not made particularly good additions this season, but Howard, Irving and Love have also begun to accept and adapt to their current roles in the Cavaliers.
Whether it's Howard, Irving or Love, the main tactical execution revolves around James on the court.
Wang Xiao doesn't like this kind of tactical arrangement, when a team relies too much on the performance of one player, its ceiling is very limited, but obviously this kind of tactic can maximize James's power.
The fourth is the Nets with 52 wins, and the fifth is the Celtics with 48 wins, both teams have nothing to say, the Nets are still relying on Jeremy Lin to support the record, and the Celtics signed Major General Stevens after signing Thomas Jr. like another time and space, Thomas Jr. showed a strong offensive talent in the Celtics, averaging 24.6 points and 5.6 assists per game this season, shocking many people's jaws.
The rise of Thomas Jr. once again proves how good Wang Xiao is, and even this kind of substitute player has such strong potential and talent.
The sixth-44-win Hawks and seventh-fourth 42-win 76ers skip the talk.
Finishing eighth in the East was the Pistons, who had 41 wins.
There are three teams in contention for eighth place in the East, namely the Pistons, Pacers and Magic, and the three teams have extremely close records, with only one game difference between them.
In the end, the Pistons had the last laugh, the Pacers lost to the Bucks in the final sprint, and the Magic also lost to the Wizards, both teams were 40-42, and the Pistons entered the playoffs by a narrow margin of one more win.
Wang Xiao's two disciples, Cheng Jie and Wang Meng, one in magic and one in the piston, originally Wang Xiao thought that with Cheng Jie's magic would have a better chance of entering the playoffs, but he didn't expect Wang Meng's piston to achieve a reversal.
On the Western side, the Clippers finally secured the first record in the West, with 56 wins, which can be ranked third in the league, but it is enough to rank first in the West.
The second in the West is the back-up force, with a wave of consecutive wins to overtake the Spurs, with 54 wins of the Kings, Harden has begun to get better, after the All-Star weekend he can contribute an average of 33 points and 8 assists per game, the best performance in the league.
Third in the West is the Spurs' 52 wins, without Leonard, the Spurs' record is far inferior to the 67 wins of the same period in another time and space, but due to the early introduction of Bosh, the Spurs have Duncan Bosh's twin tower combination on the inside, even if Duncan is dying, he still continues to maintain a record of 50 consecutive regular season wins.
The fourth place in the West is the 48 wins of the Trail Blazers, without Durant, the Trail Blazers' record inevitably declined in the second half, from the original second in the West to the fourth, but Oladipo and Middleton still gave the Trail Blazers management a big surprise.