While no reinforcements were made before the trade deadline, the Pistons continued to go strong. When it was about to catch up with the 76ers, the latter decisively changed the head coach. No way, Els' level is really terrible, and the reason why they are still ranked first in the East is entirely because of their strong overall strength. After All-Star Weekend, the 76ers' record can only rank 8th in the league at the same time, what else can management do if they don't fire Els?

The 76ers then selected former Clippers head coach Chris Ford, who has been at home for two seasons. This brother actually has some connections with Chang Wei, Ford studied at Villanova University in college, but it was the sixties and seventies of the last century, and he entered the NBA with the fourth pick in the second round in 1972, averaging only 9.2 points, 3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in his career, fortunately he won the championship with the Celtics in the penultimate season of his career, which more or less added a touch of color to his lackluster career.

Perhaps because of his connection with the Green Shirts, Ford also started his coaching career in Boston, but that season was also the pinnacle of his coaching, leading Bird, Parish, and McHale to a 56-26 record at the end of his career, but his record in charge of the team has been getting worse and worse since then. Chang Wei doesn't know why the 76ers management would poach such a guy to be the head coach, is it because his two beards are better-looking?

However, there is a saying that a change of coach is like a change of knife, and after Ford became the owner of the 76ers, he did not get used to Iverson as unprincipledly as Els, and the 76ers also played overall basketball under his command for a long time. Because of this, the Pistons failed to catch up with the 76ers in the closing stages, but Brown was already very satisfied, and he was able to lead the team to a 59-23 record in the first season after changing teams, which is not something that any head coach can do, and the players have completely completed the run-in.

For the Pistons, every game win must be fought for, which is not only related to their ranking, but also related to the recognition of others for them. Interestingly, in the final game of the regular season, the Pistons comfortably defeated the Wizards led by Stackhouse and Jordan 108-92 and kicked them out of the top eight in the East.

It was this time that Jordan made up his mind to retire completely and give up the position of team boss to Starkerhouse. But the latter is a bit of a bitter force, because the loss to the former club caused the current club to miss the playoffs, which is tragic no matter how you look at it. If Stackhouse had been with the Pistons, he would have had every chance of making the playoffs with the team, but that was only if, and from the moment the deal was made, everything was in the past.

Letting the Wizards miss the playoffs and causing Jordan to retire did not make the entire Pistons feel guilty, the NBA is to some extent a gladiatorial arena of the jungle, if the Wizards have saved enough wins before, how can they miss the playoffs because of the loss to the Pistons? So it comes down to their own problems. Anyway, the regular season of the 02-03 season is over, and the Pistons only need to focus on the playoffs.

The top three in the East are still the 76ers, Pistons and Raptors, but the 76ers no longer have the dominance of the past two seasons, and they are only one win ahead of the Pistons in the end. The Raptors led by Maddie and Carter showed great fighting power, but it was not so much the overall strength of the team as the amazing strength of the twin stars, with Maddy and Carter all in the top 10 in the league in total playing time.

The remaining five spots in the Eastern Conference playoffs are occupied by the Nets, Hornets, Celtics, Bucks and Magic. Interestingly, the Hornets moved from Charlotte to New Orleans last offseason, but they were still considered an Eastern team, and it wasn't until the end of the 03-04 season that the Hornets fully joined the West, and it wasn't until the Bobcats were established that Charlotte had a team again.

At the top of the Western Conference is the Spurs, who reached the Finals last year, and the combination of Duncan and Parker has played a huge role under Popovich's tutelage, while new entrant Ginobili has become the favorite to be the sixth man of the season. With an already up-and-coming GDP portfolio, the Spurs' record of winning first place in the West is completely expected.

What is surprising is that the Lakers' record this season is not even up to the top four in the West, of course, this cannot be blamed for their being too weak, it can only be said that several strong teams in the West are too perverted. The second through fourth places in the West are the Kings, Mavericks and Timberwolves, but most insiders believe that this is the last glory of the Kings, and if they don't make a breakthrough this season, the gorgeous team is about to fall apart. On the contrary, the performance of the Mavericks and Timberwolves has been impressive, especially their two power forwards, Nowitzki and Garnett, who are both considered to have what it takes to become top stars.

Behind the Lakers are the Trail Blazers led by Rasheed Wallace and Bunch Wells, with Jordan's old partner Pippen also making important contributions. However, after learning that Jordan chose to retire, Pippen also announced that he would consider whether to retire after the season, but for now he will still focus on the playoffs.

The final two playoff spots in the West went to the Jazz and Suns, respectively. But like the Kings, the Jazz are considered a great example of what to do without success, and the Utah duo are too old to be too old for Kirilenko to make the team younger. Diametrically opposed to them is the eighth-place Suns, excluding the "penny" Hardaway who has entered the twilight years, the combination of Marbury, Marion and Stoudemire can be said to be quite young, with their potential can be the cornerstone of the Suns, in addition to Joe Johnson is also on the bench at any time, this is the future "Eagle King" figure.

However, only Chang Wei in the whole league knows that the Suns will not play many seasons with this lineup, and in their previous life, they did not get their own on-court commander Nash from the Mavericks until 2004, and under the command of D'Antoni, they started the "seven-second offense" run-and-gun era. Although this lineup did not allow the Suns to win the championship, their tactical thinking was carried forward by the Warriors in the future, and directly ushered in a new era of NBA emphasis on three-point shooting, pass-and-cut coordination, and fast offense.