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The Lakers' 74-8 record in the regular season sounds impressive, but for Wang Chong's fans, they are actually quite used to it. This time, Wang Chong's regular season record has surpassed 70+ for the third time, and for most of his career, he's led his team to more than 60 wins, which really isn't surprising.
At the same time, the record for the highest-scoring champions in the history of the league was also broken.
This season's scoring champion was ultimately Wang Chong, who averaged 32.1 points per game. Westbrook originally had great hopes of winning the scoring title this year, but towards the end of the season, to secure his triple-double stats, Westbrook focused a lot on grabbing rebounds and accumulating assists, which slightly reduced his points per game average. However, he wasn't particularly fixated on the scoring title, so he didn't have a strong desire to compete with Wang Chong.
Even if he wanted to compete, Westbrook knew he couldn't match Wang Chong, as there was a large gap between the two in terms of scoring ability.
However, despite losing the scoring title, Westbrook's MVP call this season was strong.
Don't be fooled by the Lakers' 74 wins; after all, Wang Chong is assisted by Durant, who averages over 28 points per game. On top of that, Westbrook's season-long triple-double performance is impressive enough, making the MVP race heavily skewed in his favor.
However, this doesn't concern Wang Chong. With six regular-season MVPs already under his belt, only Abdul-Jabbar can match him in the MVP field, and Wang Chong can maintain the top of his career for another four or five years, possibly winning another MVP casually. There is absolutely no need to rush.
The top eight teams in the West are the Lakers at 74-8, Spurs at 59-23, Clippers at 55-27, Thunder at 52-30, Jazz at 45-37, Grizzlies at 42-40, Pelicans at 41-41, and Trail Blazers at 40-42.
The top eight teams in the East are the Chicago Bulls (61-21), Toronto Raptors (52-30), Boston Celtics (50-32), Washington Wizards (48-34), Atlanta Hawks (44-38), Milwaukee Bucks (42-40), Indiana Pacers (40-42), and Miami Heat (38-44).
It's clear that the East is completely suppressed by the West in terms of overall record, and only the Bulls can maintain a top-tier intensity.
It's worth mentioning the rise of the Bucks.
By the 2016-17 season, the Greek Monster, Giannis Antetokounmpo, was beginning to show his terrifying talent.
With a physique comparable to Wang Chong and Durant, he developed muscle similar to LeBron James' in just four years in the league, making his drives to the basket extremely lethal, especially his long legs, often requiring just two steps to reach the restricted area from beyond the three-point line. The sight is truly shocking.
This season, Antetokounmpo averaged 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists per game, with 1.6 steals and 1.9 blocks. Like Wang Chong, he can dominate both ends of the floor, and with just 22 years old, he is a promising young player who could easily become a top superstar.
With Kobe, Duncan, Garnett, and other players from the previous generation gradually leaving the league, the players led by Antetokounmpo and Thick Eyebrows (another nickname for a young player) are eagerly waiting for their turn.
Of course, the true stars of the league are still Wang Chong, Durant, James, Curry, and other core players.
The playoffs have begun.
In the first round, the Lakers faced the Portland Trail Blazers, who were ranked eighth in the West.
There isn't much to say about this series. Though Lillard led the Trail Blazers to the playoffs without Aldridge, defeating the Pelicans and Cousins' Kings, facing the Lakers in the first round meant the Trail Blazers' playoff journey was already over.
4:0, with no resistance at all. It was purely a crushing performance.
The Trail Blazers often trailed by a large margin before halftime, losing by almost 20 points per game.
Though the Blazers have two dynamic backcourt players, Lillard and McCollum, who performed well—Lillard averaged 24 points per game and McCollum averaged 21—the team's performance was outshone by Wang Chong, Durant, and Thompson, who all scored over 20 points. Jokic also had a double-double.
It's clear this game had a huge disparity in strength. The Lakers' 4-0 sweep over the Trail Blazers was no surprise to fans; it was expected.
Wang Chong + Durant's lineup, even in the first round, made a 4:0 sweep up to the Western Finals or even the Finals completely unsurprising.
With the Lakers advancing to the second round early, they waited a few days for the conclusion of the first round in both the East and West.
All the top teams in the Western Conference made it, so the second-round matchups are Lakers vs. Thunder and Spurs vs. Clippers.
Before the second round began, the league also announced the best team and the best defensive team of the 2016-17 season.
There was plenty of competition for this year's Team of the Year, with several players who had been consistently in the spotlight for the past few years dropping off the list.
A sudden burst of five players: Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Wang Chong, Leonard, and Anthony Davis.
Curry, James, Durant, and other veterans were relegated to the second tier.
But this wasn't too surprising.
Among these players, Westbrook averaged 30+ triple-doubles per game, Harden also averaged 30 points and 9.2 assists, Leonard's stats were slightly lower but still impressive at 25.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, along with his defensive contributions and the Spurs' impressive record, so it's no surprise he made the team.
The most controversial pick was Anthony Davis. Despite his luxurious stats—28 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.2 blocks—the Pelicans only had the seventh-best record in the West and barely made the playoffs. The winning percentage was just above 50%. No matter how impressive your individual stats are, not being able to carry your team to a better result is a bit questionable.
Meanwhile, Curry, James, and Durant were all moved down to the second tier.
The five members of the second team are Curry, Butler, Durant, James, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The gold content of these two formations is also quite impressive.
The next three teams are led by Lillard, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Marc Gasol Jr.
The Lakers, with their 74 wins, had Wang Chong, Durant, and Thompson selected for the first, second, and third teams, which was well deserved.
As for the best defensive team, the first five players included Paul, Beverley, Wang Chong, Leonard, and Gobert.
The second defense included Danny Green, Klay Thompson, Drummond, Draymond Green, and Antetokounmpo.
The Lakers also had three selections, and their dominance was evident.
In the second round of the playoffs, the Lakers faced the Oklahoma City Thunder, led by Westbrook, who averaged a triple-double per game.
In the first round, the Thunder and Jazz played seven games, with Westbrook carrying the load, averaging 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists per game, leading his team to victory with a triple-double per game.
However, in the playoffs, Westbrook exposed several problems. First, his shooting percentage was low. In the series against the Jazz, he shot only 39%, and although he averaged 10.4 assists per game, he had up to six turnovers, making his assist-to-turnover ratio inconsistent.
And in the second round, when the Thunder faced the Lakers, there was no chance.
The whole game played out similarly to the Trail Blazers' series: 4:0, with the suspense lost after three quarters.
The Lakers didn't even try to focus on Westbrook during the game, letting him get past them.
Westbrook lived up to expectations, averaging 38 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 11.2 assists per game in the four games.
But if you watched the game, you wouldn't have that impression, because often in the second half, the Lakers substituted some of their main players, leaving the bench players on the court.
There was no choice; the point difference was so large that it wasn't interesting to continue having the main players dominate.
And at that moment, Westbrook faced the Lakers' backup guards fiercely, and naturally, his stats rose.
Lose the game, win the stats—that's what Westbrook learned from a certain player whose name is best left unspoken.
And although the Thunder were swept 4-0 by the Lakers, Westbrook gained a lot.
Not only did he have luxurious stats of 38 + 11 + 11 per game, but also, the league announced the 2016-17 regular-season MVP award, and Westbrook earned the historic achievement of averaging a triple-double per game.
As a result, despite the Thunder's miserable elimination in the playoffs, Westbrook gained a lot this season. He not only won the regular-season MVP, but also the All-Star MVP, and now only the Finals MVP remains. Considering Westbrook's playing style, it's likely this FMVP will be difficult to obtain for the rest of his career.
The Lakers eliminated the Thunder, while the Spurs and Clippers had a fierce battle.
Despite the Spurs having a clear advantage in terms of regular season records, it wasn't until the playoffs that they were surprised to find that the Clippers were really not easy to deal with.
While the Harden-Paul duo was difficult, Jordan Jr.'s defensive ability in the restricted area was comparable to Gobert's selection for first defense.
Though Leonard had the ability to carry the game at this point, the Spurs still struggled with the Clippers until a Game 7, only then relying on their better lineup to defeat the Clippers and face the Lakers.
This was the second consecutive year that these two teams faced off in the Western Conference Finals. But unlike last season, where it was hard to determine which side was more dominant, this time almost everyone firmly sided with the Lakers.
The Spurs' lineup hadn't changed much since last year, but Leonard was slightly stronger.
But the Lakers had a Durant this year!
Also, even though the Spurs had an absolute advantage in lineup last year, they were still defeated by Wang Chong alone. This time, with Durant added, could the Spurs possibly win?
Everyone's guess was correct—the Spurs weren't the Lakers' match after all, and lost in the Western Conference Finals.
However, they were a little stronger than the Thunder in the first two rounds. The Trail Blazers weren't swept 4-0, and at their own home court, the Spurs managed to win one very tough game before being finally eliminated 4-1, avoiding the embarrassment of being swept.
The Lakers, who made it to the finals with almost crushing momentum, were now facing the defending champions, the Chicago Bulls, in the final stage.
This outcome was expected by everyone.
Just like the Lakers winning the West, the Bulls' lineup was unbeatable in the East, and the combination of Curry + James was only surpassed by the Lakers' Wang Chong + Durant in terms of league gold content.
Lakers fans had been preparing for this moment.
Wang Chong couldn't do it alone last season, as the Bulls won the championship, but this season, it was his time to return and seek revenge for last season's single blow victory.
On June 2, 2017, Game 1 of the Finals was played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the Lakers.
The first game was a fierce battle, with the two best teams in the league clashing, and it was all about the individual ability of the players.
For the Lakers, Wang Chong scored 41 points, Durant had 29 points, Thompson scored 17 points, and the three combined for 87 points.
For the Bulls, James scored 35 points, Curry had 27 points, and Gasol Jr. added 20 points, with the three combining for 82 points, not falling behind.
But the difference between the other players on the two teams was a bit large.
For the Lakers, besides the three main players, Jokic had 12 points and 8 rebounds, and Green also had 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
The Bulls, on the other hand, couldn't find another player to score in double digits.
In the first game, the Lakers defeated the Bulls 122-109 to win the first game.
Two days later, in the second game, the Lakers continued their momentum and led 2-0.
However, the Bulls were different from other teams and really had the ability to turn things around.
In Game 3 of the Finals, the Bulls returned to their home court, knowing full well that this game could not be lost again. They exploded with strong performance, with Curry and James both scoring over 40 points, helping the Bulls turn things around and secure a victory, bringing the score to 2-1.
However, this game seemed to burn the Bulls' energy. In Game 4 of the Finals, James, who mainly relied on breaking the basket to score, did well, but Curry struggled throughout the game, scoring only 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists.
This led to the Bulls' loss to the Lakers at home, and the final score was 3:1, putting the Lakers one game away from the championship.
Although the Bulls managed to secure another victory in the Lakers' home court with great tenacity, they ultimately fell in Game 6 of the Finals against the Lakers, with the Lakers winning 4-2.
The Lakers defeated the Bulls, avenged last season's Finals, and successfully won the championship in Wang Chong's second season with the team.
End of this chapter
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