After winning 50 games in a row, everyone happily came to Rose Paradise for a night of partying. This regular season, the most excited fans are undoubtedly the Trail Blazers fans.
After the All-Star Game, it came to the middle of the season. Although the Trail Blazers lost to the Clippers and Spurs one after another, they lost two consecutive games. When the water started to rise, they won two consecutive games and three consecutive games, allowing them to continue to consolidate the league's No. 1 ranking.
First in the league, they became the first 50-win team among the 30 teams in the league.
And all of this is always inseparable from the soul of the Portland Trail Blazers-Wang Zelin!
This season, Wang Zelin, who is only in his second year, has improved a lot in all aspects of his statistics compared to his first year. The responsibility of the team leader has been completely transferred from Aldridge to his shoulders.
In February, because the Trail Blazers lost 5 games and the schedule was slightly bleak compared to other months, Wang Zelin missed the Western Conference Player of the Month in February.
But despite this, when the Trail Blazers defeated Mosaic and the news of reaching 50 wins in the season spread throughout the United States, countless people still couldn't help but be moved by it.
The most direct manifestation is that in the season MVP prediction lists of major sports media, Wang Zelin has always topped the list, and his position has become increasingly unshakable.
50 wins and 11 losses! The Trail Blazers, who have currently played 61 games, seem to be preparing to win 70 games...
ESPN rarely takes the lead in promoting that the Trail Blazers will hit the record of being the second 70-win team in NBA history!
On the morning of the second day after the match against the Mosaic team, Wang Zelin got up from his home and saw the news. He rubbed his groggy eyes in disbelief.
what's the situation?
ESPN has changed its character!
However, this cannot affect Wang Zelin. Even if ESPN appears in front of him and licks him now, he will still have to fight one game at a time in the next games.
However, he never expected that this wave of praise from ESPN was actually a wave of poisonous milk.
…
After the All-Star Weekend, each team began an exciting competition for rankings, and the competition for playoff seats became more intense.
The Grizzlies, after occasionally falling behind at the beginning of the season, still did not give up. Especially one of the team's core players, "Black Bear" Zach Randolph, completed his body management before the middle of the season. The Grizzlies currently sit firmly in the Western Conference.
seventh position and trying to catch up with the Lakers and join the top six.
The battle between the Grizzlies and the Lakers for sixth place in the Western Conference is a highly anticipated competition at the moment.
The Grizzlies, who currently have 35 wins, and the Lakers, who have 36 wins, are very close in record. At the same time, they are not far behind the fifth-place Warriors, who have 38 wins.
The Dallas Mavericks, ranked eighth, defeated the Phoenix Suns in a direct competition two days ago, completed a regular season lead, and successfully ranked among the top eight in the Western Conference with 34 wins.
Although they are only in last place, as soon as they see that the Mavericks, who are eighth in the Western Conference, are away from the Grizzlies, who are seventh, and there is only one win between the two teams, the outside world has to sigh again:
The West is full of devils! If you are not careful, the pattern of 5th to 8th place in the West will be violently shaken.
Of course, despite the extremely fierce competition between these four teams, it is still difficult to catch up with the 50-win Trail Blazers.
Let's just say that after winning 50 games, the outside world instantly had a unified understanding: the Portland Trail Blazers had already obtained a ticket to the playoffs in advance!
You will be at the top of the mountain and have a panoramic view of the mountains!
It’s about the current proud status of the Trail Blazers.
In fact, even the usually steady general manager Nel Orsi began to become arrogant and began to pick opponents for the playoffs early.
On the night of the 7th, the Trail Blazers came to Memphis again to challenge the Grizzlies away from home.
The previous three consecutive victories have given the Trail Blazers a lot of confidence. They are bound to win this game and get 60 regular season wins early.
Only in this way can they hit the super difficult goal of 70 wins in the regular season!
In fact, everyone has some vanity to some extent. Under the overwhelming offensive of flowers and applause from the outside world, the entire Blazers team gradually lost themselves.
In addition, in the two previous contests with the Grizzlies, the Trail Blazers had the last laugh, which made them look at the Grizzlies players with a little contempt.
Facts have once again proved that the Grizzlies' "shit-stirring" attributes are by no means unfounded.
In order to secure the seventh place in the Western Conference and then attack the Lakers who are sixth in the Western Conference, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, the black and white fat guys, also worked hard, and they cooperated with each other in an incomparable tacit understanding on offense and defense!
As soon as they came up, the Blazers launched a storm-like offensive. Everyone could see that the Blazers wanted to use a wave to open up the score early and end the game.
But Wang Zelin and others still underestimated the resilience of the Grizzlies players.
Memphis, a city that was almost abandoned by the Alliance and everyone, has gathered a bunch of abandoned people over the past few years, and tonight it burst out with eye-catching energy.
The main thing was Randolph, who went crazy in the second half today and attacked with all his strength, and his touch was frighteningly hot. He only scored 5 points in the first half, but by the end of the third quarter, his personal scoring statistics had exceeded 26 points.
In other words, this guy scored 21 points individually after playing 12 minutes in the third quarter.
Moreover, this fat black man is also very cunning. He will pass the ball as soon as the opponent is double-teamed. As long as he gets the slightest chance, he will hit the net without hesitation.
On the other hand, look at the Trail Blazers.
After the violent play in the first half did not achieve the desired results, everyone began to feel impetuous.
But in the professional arena, the more impetuous people are, the harder it is to score goals.
After the third quarter, under the leadership of Zach Randolph and his sister-in-law, the Grizzlies defended the Trail Blazers at home and scored only 93 points.
You know, this season, the Trail Blazers wanted to be an offensive team that could score over 110,120 points in a single game, but tonight they failed against the Grizzlies.
Wang Zelin played 37 minutes, but he felt that he was lost in the game. He only scored 4 points in the half. His 11-point performance in the second half was slightly better, but it had little impact on the overall situation.
With half the time left in the fourth quarter and seeing that the game had entered garbage time, he could only sigh and go to rest early.
Did you say the grizzly bear is easy to beat?
Are you able to get what you promised?
This is great, I got slapped in the face again!
…
After losing to Memphis, Wang Zelin returned to Portland with the team overnight. Then, at the request of head coach Terry Stotts, no one was absent the next day, and everyone arrived at his home stadium, Rose Garden, before 9 o'clock.
Yesterday, the Trail Blazers scored 115 points on themselves by a team that was not good at attacking. On the other hand, they only scored 93 points in total.
Lost to the Grizzlies by 22 points, which was unimaginable before!
Therefore, this morning's meeting is destined to be a painful lesson...