The time has come to April, and the NBA is entering the final stretch.
The Eastern Conference situation has gradually become clear, with the Boston Celtics standing out in the entire East District.
They are the fastest team to reach 60 wins in the league, and on April 2nd, the Celtics defeated the New Jersey Nets in a strong matchup within the Eastern Conference, raising their record to 60 wins and 15 losses.
At this time, the second-placed Nets haven't even reached 50 wins, and the core trio of Duncan-Nash-Pierce is becoming increasingly mature.
The teams behind them, only the Nets pose some threat to the Celtics, while others like the Pacers, Heat, Bucks, and Hornets can't pose a substantial threat to the Celtics.
The situation in the Western Conference is much more complex.
The records of the top four teams remain intertwined, tightly holding onto each other.
It's not because of fierce competition; it's really that the top position is just too hot to handle, no one dares to take it.
Whether the Western Conference strong teams want to take the first place actually depends on the face of the eighth place in the Western Conference.
Currently, the Glory Team is neck and neck with the San Antonio Spurs in record.
They have opened a three-game lead over the sixth-placed Seattle SuperSonics.
So, the Glory Team is either seventh or eighth, and of course, the best scenario is to drop to ninth, so everyone is at ease.
Because everyone has their calculations, the situation in the Western Conference is extremely complex, even the Vegas analysts can't make sense of it.
Because you don't know what each team is really thinking, every game outcome has a different impact.
This Western Conference situation is sure to be revealed only in the last two games of the regular season, or even the final game.
Now, teams in different segments have different mindsets facing Glory.
If the top four Western Conference teams encounter Glory, it's neither a win nor a loss.
If they win, they rank higher and beat Ah Gan, if the eighth meets the first, they are bound to get beaten up.
Even if they win the playoffs, they're likely to be exhausted.
If they lose, Glory rises to seventh, they fall to second, it doesn't feel good either.
It's like this that you can only play blindly.
On March 29th, the Mavericks went all out in the game against Glory, regardless and just played.
After defeating Glory, they ranked first in the Western Conference, Glory dropped to eighth, which made Dallas fans quite anxious.
But Old Nelson said after the game, when you don't know whether to lose or to win, just win.
Because later, losing is easier than wanting to win.
The bottom teams in the western standings don't need to be mentioned, they just want to send Glory up, it's fun to have the top eight.
The same mindset is held by the upper Eastern Conference teams, Glory played one game against the Heat and another against the Celtics, and surprisingly won both quite easily.
Especially the Celtics, they've secured the first place in the Eastern Conference, just hoping Glory acts as the disruptor in the Western Conference.
Before the game, Bobby Berman cited injuries to Duncan's hip and Nash's finger as reasons for these two key players to miss the game.
The Celtics lost to Glory in the game on April 4th, the Heat wasn't as blatant as the Celtics.
In the game on April 6th, they played with Glory until the final stages.
But Riley in possession of two timeouts, trailing by 3 points, didn't call a timeout and let the players play by themselves.
Rashid Wallace tried an outside shot, missed the three-pointer, Brad Miller grabbed the rebound, Heat committed tactical fouls, and the gap widened to 5 points, costing them the victory.
But at the end of the game, Riley didn't look upset, instead, he hugged Gan Guoyang.
This victory helped the Glory Team solidify their position in the top eight of the Western Conference and opened up a gap with the ninth-placed Jazz.
Glory tied with the Spurs, both having the same win-loss relationships but the Spurs have a higher win rate against divisional opponents, ranking seventh.
At this time, the Western Conference top four, Los Angeles Lakers overtook the Dallas Mavericks to rank first, third is the Portland Trail Blazers, the Kings due to divisional reasons are ranked fourth.
This situation makes many teams happy, especially Riley.
Not that he wants to see his old team lose, but he's focused on Shaquille O'Neal.
Riley still has connections within the Lakers team, as he knows that O'Neal doesn't have a good relationship with Tracy McGrady and Jackson.
Though not to the point of being utterly incompatible, they simply don't see eye to eye, actually O'Neal and McGrady's personalities aren't too different, but they don't click.
Moreover, this season, O'Neal is pushing hard, wanting to win another championship and MVP to prove his status as the number one center and demonstrate to Los Angeles who the king of Los Angeles is.
But most of the flashlights in the City of Angels are directed at McGrady, this trendy player is thriving under Hollywood's lights and is very popular among young fans.
His No. 1 jersey sells well in the market, with sales far exceeding O'Neal's No. 34 jersey.
McGrady's shoe sales aren't even comparable to O'Neal's, ever since joining the team, McGrady didn't consider O'Neal the big brother of the team.
The reason is simple, because the Lakers had Jide at that time, McGrady followed Jide, thinking of O'Neal as a mercenary who joined midway unlike those who came through the draft.
Later Jide didn't want to stay in Los Angeles any longer, got traded, went to New Jersey, bringing back Pippen and Richmond.
McGrady has a good relationship with Pippen, gaining the support of the veteran and becoming even more estranged from O'Neal.
After all, O'Neal privately is a rather nasty teammate, when you don't treat him as the boss, many of his pranks and petty behaviors make it hard for people to like him.