Beijing time on April 12, 2018.

The 17-18 NBA regular season, which lasted 176 days, came to an end on this day.

1/

The last spot?

In a thrilling clash of youth talents, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who dominated their home court and had not made the playoffs for 13 years, finally got their wish and defeated the Denver Nuggets 112-106 in overtime to steal the last playoff spot in the entire league.

Sitting on the new little "Big Three" of Carl Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Jimmy Butler, supplemented by experienced veterans such as Jamal Crawford, Jeff Teague, and Ty Gibson, plus Coach Thibodeau, who is known for his defense and discipline, the Timberwolves once touched the third height in the West. But just when everyone thought it was only a matter of time before they were safe in the playoffs, the plummeting Timberwolves were forced to face the dilemma of fighting for their lives against the younger Nuggets in a win-or-lose game.

At one point, it led by eight points at halftime, and was tied in the final 2 minutes, Nikola Jokic's chance to kill was missed, and the Timberwolves, who turned around, failed in their 1-second offensive tactics, and Jeff Teague was forced to shoot a midcourt three-pointer, and the two sides went into overtime.

Fortunately, Butler, the oldest and calmest of the "Little Three", took over the game. It was his comeback in the final three games that kept the playoff hopes of the free-falling Wolves alive and the hope of a city that had not been nourished by playoff rain and dew for 13 years.

13 years ago, the name of the wolf king belonged to Kevin Garnett, who did not have a championship...

The clock lights up, and a bared of color falls from the center of the target in Minneapolis.

Some fans cried tears of joy.

The whole city was as excited as if it had won the championship.

Even if the playoffs are against the Rockets, who are the No. 1 in the league and have won all four games this season, so what?

Live in the moment. Future? As long as we keep hope, we can still look forward to the future.

2/

Full matchup?

Top Half of the East: Toronto Raptors (1) vs Washington Wizards (8); Cleveland Cavaliers (4) vs. Indiana Pacers (5).

Bottom half of the East: Philadelphia 76ers (3) vs. Miami Heat (6); Boston Celtics (2) vs Milwaukee Bucks (7).

Top half of the West: Houston Rockets (1) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (8); Oklahoma City Thunder (4) vs Utah Jazz (5).

Bottom half of the West: Portland Trail Blazers (3) vs. New Orleans Pelicans (6); Golden State Warriors (2) vs San Antonio Spurs (7).

Worth mentioning in the first-round series are the Cavaliers and Pacers in the Eastern Conference, who met in the playoffs for the second year in a row. Whether it is the turbulent "thirty-year-old man" James, or the rapidly rising "Black Panther" Oladipo, this round of the series is quite interesting.

The Celtics and Spurs are probably the most disadvantaged traditional powerhouses in the past few years. The former lost Hayward in the first game of the season, and at the end of the season, it was announced that Kyrie Irving was completely out of season, although he ranked second in the East, but he really didn't know how far he could go in the strangulation with "Brother Alphabet". As for the Spurs, after losing the record of 50+ wins in 19 consecutive seasons, their core Leonard has no "comeback", even if the Warriors do not have Curry, the old Spurs may be more than lucky.

The most promising matchup to win below?

The Thunder Triumvirate, who may be strong in attack and weak in defense, will have a good experience of the Jazz's life-seeking defense!

3/

The finale of Team Rockets?

Unlike LeBron James, who was busy writing his first 82-game regular-season attendance record on the final day, and Russell Westbrook who was busy picking up rebounds under the protection of his teammates to achieve a season-average triple-double, the Rockets chose to take a break and put a number of key players, including MVP candidate Harden, in the stands.

Gerald Green, PJ Tucker, Yang Yiming, Joe Johnson, and Derrick Rose are the starting lineups that the Rockets are coming out to challenge the Kings.

After the whimsical idea of pushing Yang Yiming to the point guard in the last game, this time Coach Mike D'Antoni continued to open his brain, pushing the 2.08-meter-tall Yang Yiming to the starting center, and then doing crazy tactical experiments!

Yang Yiming's first point in the NBA was scored by the Kings. Today's journey to the end of the first season of the regular season with the Kings is echoed before and after, with a beginning and an end -

It's just that today's Yang Yiming, after a whole season of tempering, is no longer the young rookie at the beginning of the season!

From the No. 1 position to the No. 5 position, from the rookie game to the All-Star, from playing in the Development League to the Rockets starter, there have been out-of-the-box performances with blocks and offensive rebounds, Yang Yiming, who played in the 82nd regular season (78th game of the individual), stood in the dark blue paint area of the Kings, and was really like the name of the home team, dominating the world!

He can face the bags of the Black Bears Zach Randolph and Willy Cauleystein on the inside, easily point out the frontcourt rebounds, and hit strong shots.

He can eat big and small, back to Daron Fox, who is also a rookie in this year, and score with a slow and fast hook.

He can build the Chinese Twin Towers with Zhou Qi, Zhou Qi sends hot pot, and he gives the opponent an assist when attacking.

He can also renew the connection with Bogdanovic at the All-Star Rookie Game with the International United: Bogdanovic made a three-point shot, Yang Yiming picked up the rebound, and threw a full-court pass that flew over the opponent's head to ensure that Rose was quick to go to the basket.

He can also give 41-year-old Vince Carter a hot pot and slap the old flyer's basket into the audience. Carter, who was capped, giggled, leaned over to Yang Yiming and bumped him on the waist, teaching him how to ride a motorcycle...

A debriefing performance after a fledgling is honed by the NBA.

A final pre-playoffs of fun.

A finale in which the experiment is more important than the victory.

Yang Yiming, who was regarded as a center "experiment", played 28 minutes in the end, although the substitute-based Rockets unexpectedly lost the game, but he personally still lived up to the value of training, scoring 15 points, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal, and swiped 17 rebounds, almost getting a triple-double.

After this battle, Yang Yiming's rookie season was completed in all 82 games. He started 6 of his 78 appearances, averaging 27.1 minutes of play, averaging 1.7 blocks per game, the most of any rookie, and averaging 14.0 points per game, helping him surpass his "lifelong enemy" Jayson Tatum in the final moments to rank sixth; 6.4 rebounds, ranked fifth, and 2.1 offensive rebounds, ranked second. 0.9 steals per game.

316 three-point shots, 123 of which were shot, a 39.0% three-point shooting rate; 77.2% free throw shooting; Shooting 46.3% from the field. The top non-interior player in this statistic is Ben Simmons at 54.5 percent (no three-point shooting), rookie scoring champion Donovan Mitchell at 43.7 percent, Kyle Kuzma and Jayson Tatum at 45 percent and 47.5 percent, respectively.

In terms of efficiency, Ben Simmons topped the list with 23.8, and Yang Yiming beat Donovan Mitchell with the advantage of shooting percentage and ranked second with 16.9!

(For all detailed statistics, please refer to the player profiles and statistics under "Works Related")

The dust is gone.

All the gains and losses have turned into cold numbers on the statistical table overnight.

However, the regular season is over, and the more popular playoffs are about to start in two days!

What is the fate of the protagonist Yang Yiming and the Houston Rockets?

In the next month, stay tuned!