With 2:17 left in regulation time, the battle for the pinnacle of East and West has lost its meaning. Although the Pistons only led by 12 points, the Lakers have not been able to close the gap to single digits for a long time, which has greatly damaged their morale, and it would be good if they were not allowed to continue to be stretched by the Pistons in the last two minutes or so.

This situation made the Zen master have no heart to continue to command the team, and after replacing all the starters, he was silent watching the real-time statistics made by the Lakers staff. Bryant and O'Neal certainly played at a normal level, one of them contributed 25 points, five rebounds and three assists, the other chipped in a big double-double of 29 points and 13 rebounds, and even Szzczebiak finished with 14 points and five rebounds on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the three-point line, playing the role of a three-point shooter perfectly.

But the Zen master's gaze only swept over their data, and then fell on the two lines of Peyton and Malone. As a surviving veteran, their performance in this game was substandard, and Malone was relatively better, he suppressed Thomas in the first quarter, but then fell into a constant turnaround run, scoring only 16 points and 7 rebounds in the game.

Payton has become a cup in the constant running of the Pistons guards, he is completely unable to keep up with the pace of the opponent in his age, and he is also completely blown up in one-on-one defense, whether it is the average speed Billups or the impact Wade, he is like a stake, and it is not at all obvious that he is the only point guard in NBA history who has won the best defensive player.

What's more, neither man played much, with Malone having 24 minutes and Payton only 19. Of course, the situation of them sitting on the bench for a long time is still different from the previous game, when the Zen master tried to reduce their consumption to cope with the game, and now they have to rest on the bench for a few more minutes due to physical exhaustion.

This made the Zen master feel a little worried, after all, the intensity of the playoffs is still above the regular season, and if the veterans can't hold on, then the team's strength will drop at least a notch. The only way now is to ask the players to try to gain enough in the first half to win the game even if they are mediocre in the last two quarters.

For the rest of the regular season, the Zen master still had the opportunity to put this idea into practice, but this game was impossible. In the end, the Pistons defeated the Lakers 101-92 at home, further widening the difference between the two sides. While this game isn't yet the title to be a championship, at least the Pistons have proven that they are the strongest team in the regular season.

The Pistons' resilience in this game has also been a wake-up call for other championship-hungry teams, and several teams in the East are even more frustrated, as they all seem to have seen a bleak prospect of the playoffs. With the current dominance of the Pistons, other teams trying to break out of the East are basically tantamount to wishful thinking, and the Raptors players led by Maddy and Carter still want to fight.

However, whether they can beat the Pistons in the playoffs, their record in the regular season is definitely not comparable to this perverted team, the current Pistons are far ahead of other teams with a record of 52 wins and 14 losses, not to mention the Lakers who have been stretched to 2.5 wins, and the Raptors, who are second in the East, are also 7 wins behind them.

But the Pistons players were not complacent about this, and even the two rookies were infected by the atmosphere of the team, only knowing to work the training court every day, and doing their best to do what Brown asked them to do in the official game. Of course, what they do also gives them more playing time, and Brown likes players who are disciplined like that.

Now the Pistons can be said to sit back and watch the tigers, they just need to keep winning games, and the opponents in the playoffs don't need to think too much. The rest of the teams in the East are fighting for the remaining seven playoff spots, and of course no one wants to fall to eighth place in the East, which is almost equivalent to being swept out of the first round. But for some teams, making the playoffs is a win, and who cares if they will be swept or not, eighth and ninth mean very different things to them.

Soon the Raptors also locked a playoff spot, followed by the Pacers, 76ers, Nets, Hornets, Knicks and Celtics, but the teams ranked sixth to eighth cannot be taken lightly, the Heat in ninth place and the Cavaliers in tenth place are chasing very closely, and there is only a two-win gap between sixth and tenth places, and the situation can change at any time.

Chang Wei does not want the Cavaliers to occupy the eighth place in the East, and although James is still just a rookie and has not reached his peak for the time being, he will put a lot of pressure on the Pistons' wings. If he could, Chang would rather face any of the other teams from sixth through tenth with the Pistons than against the James-led Cavaliers.

But he quickly relented, and the Cavaliers' other main player, Ricky Davis, injured his knee during the game and was out for at least 3-4 weeks, which meant that he basically missed the final stage of the regular season. After losing Davis, the young James looked a little bit alone, and after a wave of four straight losses, they were all but out of contention for a playoff spot.

Chang Wei didn't have much mercy for the Cavaliers' plight, and if nothing else, they will be the Pistons' strongest opponent in the East in a few seasons. In fact, it was the Heat that began to rise at this time, but after Chang Wei preemptively helped the Pistons win Wade, the Heat could only survive, and it was almost their limit to be ranked ninth in the East.

The playoff race for the West is also chaotic, with the Jazz and Trail Blazers still pursuing a playoff opportunity. What worries Chang Wei is that it is the Rockets who are now temporarily ranked seventh in the West, with only 1.5 wins between them and the Jazz, and it is entirely possible that they will be squeezed out by their opponents. Although the Rockets did make the playoffs this season in the previous life, it is not good to say now, in case the Jazz or the Trail Blazers suddenly make a move, it will be difficult for the Rockets to keep their playoff spot.

Generally speaking, the ninth place in the East and West is the hardest, they can not make the playoffs, and the draft picks they get are very average, and it is no wonder that every team wants to show their faces on the playoff stage, at least so that it can be called a strong team, rather than taking a mid-first round pick and picking a random person in the draft to flesh out the roster.