On December 13, Beijing time, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Magic 106-94, with a record of 15 wins and 13 losses, rising to the 6th place in the West, temporarily jumping from the play-off area to the playoff area. In this game, James once again played a good performance, contributing 30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to the triple-double data, in addition, the old Zhan's 3 volleyball caps are also memorable. In the past 8 games, James can average 29.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8 assists per game, and it is precisely because of James's top performance in the league that the Lakers' record will steadily rise.
This season, the NBA has experienced 2 less complete seasons, the regular season is going to play 82 games, at present, the schedule has passed a third, the gap in the standings is not obvious, in the past the competition was fierce only in the West, and now, the competition in the East is more difficult to play than the West. Among the Western conference teams, the Suns ranked No. 1 with 21 wins and 4 losses, followed by the Warriors, with a record of 21 wins and 5 losses, the two teams have comparable records, but the attention is a heaven and an underground, Paul led the Suns' low-key siege raid, breaking the team's record of consecutive wins, curry is in the spotlight, surpassing Ray Allen, becoming the NBA's historical three-point king.
According to the law of previous seasons, the ranking of the 4-10 or so in the West often has to be in the last round to have results, and the record of the 9th place in the West can be properly entered into the playoffs in the East, and even ranked around the 5th place. Nowadays, the competition for places in the Western Playoffs is still fierce, the disadvantages in the East have been wiped out, even if the Lakers, which now rank 6th in the West, can only rank 8th in the East, the situation of the West is strong and the East is weak, as James comes to the West, after 3 seasons, it has quietly changed.
It turns out that when James was in the East, people were questioning James's ability, as well as the gold content of the championship, when James joined the Lakers, many Western stars began to join the eastern teams, such as Durant, Harden, DeRozan, etc. After James arrived at the Lakers, they went to the East. Coupled with the growth of some young players in the Eastern Conference, Embiid brought the 76ers to the ranks of the strongest teams, alphabet brother also led the Bucks to win the championship, the strong teams in the East became more and more numerous, the Hornets, ranked 8th in the East, now have the same record as the Lakers. The team in the 9-13th place in the East is still difficult to score, there are strong teams like the Celtics and the Eagles, the same ranking record is better than the team in the West, the Pacers are 12 wins and 16 losses in the East, the Spurs can be ranked 12th in the West with 10 wins and 16 losses.
James's last season in the East, the 2017-18 season, the Nuggets in the West won 46-36 in the regular season, with a win rate of 56.1%, ranking 9th in the West, missing the playoffs, if put in the East at that time, it can be ranked 6th in the West, and the Heat in the 6th place in the East have a record of 44 wins and 38 losses. James has changed the pattern of strong west and weak east to a certain extent, but James, who is already 37 years old, has to take the same age Lakers to struggle for playoff spots, the state of the Lakers fluctuates with James's performance, and now they are only temporarily out of the playoff area, the season is still very long, want to enter the playoffs safely, James needs more helpers to play their own characteristics.