After the game that night, reports quickly spread to the world.

"Phoenix Suns sank the Clippers, but they will have regrets! 》

"Yao Ming left the scene with an injury, and will bring a follow-up report later!" 》

"Blocking the first shot of his career, Yao Ming saves the Rockets season!" 》

"The Wizards broke the franchise record with 66 wins, and the regular season record is the first in the league"

In the away team's locker room, Hu Qingniu nervously checked Yao Ming's ankle.

In the just-concluded game, Yao Ming hit the last shot in extreme conditions, and finally Yao Ming landed on the ground with his butt to avoid another injury to his left foot.

Due to a foul on Kwame while defending, substitute Glenn Rice made a free throw in place of Yao Ming. The Rockets won the ultimate test of the season and entered the playoffs, and Yao Ming's best rookie should also be stable.

According to Hu Qingniu's diagnosis, Yao Ming's left foot had a mild bone crack, probably because of Heywood's kick, in fact, Yao Ming had already had some reactions at that time, but it did not attract his attention.

"Da Yao, you are good." Hu Qingniu gave a thumbs up and praised.

"Did you win the game?" Yao Ming was sweating profusely in pain.

"Lost!" Hu Qingniu replied.

"Huh?! Alas~ I didn't expect to make the playoffs. Yao Ming said regretfully.

"Eh, I didn't say you didn't make the playoffs, you asked me if I lost, of course I said I lost, it was the Rockets who won, and your on-court spirit deserves to win this victory."

"Huh?!" The world flipped so fast that Yao Ming was caught off guard.

---

Regardless of the outcome, the Wizards are finally over the regular season, and a 66-16 loss in the final game will not affect their ability to sit at the top of the league. The Wizards still have home-court advantage against all teams in the playoffs.

The Eastern Wizards were a late starter, and by the final month, they had come out on top. Second in the East is the Detroit Pistons with 50 wins and 32 losses.

None of the remaining Eastern Conference teams broke 50 wins. From this time on, the pattern of strong west and weak east has been obvious.

In fact, since Jordan announced his second retirement in 98 and the Bulls dynasty team dispersed in a hurry, the East has fallen into a period of slump.

If the East is weak for a year or two, it can be said that it is the reason for the players, such as the strength of the players is not as good, and the players are unwilling to come to the East.

However, the pattern of being strong in the west and weak in the east is not just a year or two, but has continued until the time point of Hu Qingniu's rebirth, and there is still no change in sight. If anything, it's more often that stars from the East are traded to the West.

It's not a player problem anymore, it's definitely a problem with the management of the Eastern Conference team. Both the Bulls and Pacers used to have good hands, but they quickly lost them. The two teams in New York, the Knicks and the Nets, one is constantly staging Hollywood-style farce, and the other is reduced to a laughing stock.

The remaining 3-8 in the East are, Kidd's Nets, Miller Sr.'s Pacers, AI's 76ers, the bearded Davis-led Hornets, the Boston Twins' Celtics, and Ray Allen's Bucks.

The change from history is that the Magic were squeezed into the 9th place and missed the playoffs. But perhaps good news for Maddie, his quote doesn't have to be ridiculed. That's it, if it had been last year, I would have been thinking about the next round.

In order to attract attention, many people only quote the second half of the sentence, and I am already thinking about the next round opponent.

After Maddie said this, the Magic team, which originally led 3:1, was pulled three games in a row by the Pistons, and had no choice but to swallow the game. Maddie's words have also become a stain on his career, nothing is impossible in the NBA, never be too confident, and the victory in hand is stable.

The pattern of the East is that there are many superpowers, and except for the Wizards, the gap between other teams is not large, so it is difficult to say what opponents the Wizards will encounter at the beginning of the second round.

At present, Hu Qingniu's opponents are still the two strong teams of Pacers and Pistons, not because of anything else, but because of the heritage of these two teams. Although their record is much worse, this is a playoff game, and the regular season record is just a number, and it is not a big reference.

What the Pistons and Pacers value most about Hu Qingniu is because only these two teams have a strong team temperament and the soul of the team. The soul of the Pacers is the unruly Reggie Miller, and the soul of the Pistons is the iron-blooded tradition of Motor City. A team with a soul is not easy to collapse and will not choose to give up the game.

If these two teams are matched, it will also be an unpredictable series for the Wizards.

---

The situation after the regular season in the West.

In the end, the top of the Western Conference is still the defense-based Spurs, who have 60 wins and concede an average of 90.4 points per game, second only to the Wizards' 90.1 points, which is also the best result in history.

The Kings are second in the West, with only 59 wins, but the Kings are the champions of the Pacific Division, so they are automatically ahead of the Mavericks. But if the Kings and Mavericks meet in the second round, the Mavericks still have home-court advantage. This rule, which was clearly out of step with the times, was soon to be revised, and after many revisions, it eventually disappeared into the history of the NBA.

The third place was sat by the Mavericks, who had a very different style, and the fierce offensive firepower of the Dallas three Jays accelerated the team to the fastest in the league, averaging 20 three-point shots per game, a cut higher than the league average, and came up with the league's second-place score of 103 points per game, and the first place is still the Wizards. The Dallas Cowboys, who also won 60 wins, can only rank behind the Spurs because of the relationship between wins and losses, and if they want to prove that they are better than the Spurs, they can only meet in the Western Conference Finals.

Because of the two ranking rules, the Mavericks, who are tied for first place in the West, had to be ranked third, and no one was lucky. Sixth in the West is the Trail Blazers, which is a tough nut.

The remaining 4-8 teams in the West are: Garnett's Timberwolves, the Sharks and Kobe's Lakers, Pippen, Rasheed Wallace's Trail Blazers, Utah's Jazz and the Rockets who got on the bus at the last minute.

However, due to Yao Ming's injury, the Rockets have almost no available interior pillars, and backup center Cato is too far behind Yao Ming. The Spurs should have no trouble getting through the first round.

The most explosive matchup in the first round of the West should be the Timberwolves vs Lakers. The comparison between Garnett and Shark is the topic of hype this season, and the Lakers, with their dual-core and luxurious lineup, can't compare to Garnett's record with a group of obscure wolf cubs.

The playoffs are finally coming, the ultimate stage for superstars, and the battlefield for supercoaches' fame.