All-Star Weekend was a watershed in the season, with some teams starting to work for the playoffs and even championships, and some teams starting to focus on draft picks. There are teams that have counterattacked and teams that have sunk, such as this season, a young team has averaged 123 points per game after All-Star Weekend, which is expected to set a record.
After All-Star Weekend, multiple dark horses magically stopped. There have been a number of dark horses this season, but after All-Star Weekend, in addition to the Grizzlies still making a 12-4 record since All-Star Weekend, the Bulls, who were once at number one in the East for a long time, have only a 5-11 record since All-Star Weekend, and the Cavaliers have now slipped to seventh in the Eastern Conference after 7-10 after All-Star Weekend.
A number of strong teams also didn't fare as well after All-Star Weekend. The Warriors, who were once in the league's top two for a long time this season, have only 6 wins and 11 losses since the end of the league weekend, and before the start of the season, the Nets, which were considered by many to be bound to book this season's championship, only had an 8-8 record after All-Star Weekend, and the ranking in the East has slipped to 8th place, behind the rebuilding team Raptors by 4 wins, and the Lakers with the Big Three have only 4 wins and 12 losses after All-Star Weekend, and even the qualification for the playoffs is probably not guaranteed!
However, there were also surprises after the All-Star Weekend, such as the Celtics playing the best 13-3 record in the league for the same period, and the Grizzlies still strongly ranked third in the league with a record of 12 wins and 4 losses. The Celtics and Grizzlies didn't come as a surprise, though, as they both had a great base for a good record, and the Timberwolves' counterattack after All-Star Weekend surprised me.
After All-Star Weekend, the Timberwolves played a 12-5 record in 17 regular-season games, one of only five teams in the league to have a winning percentage of at least 70.0 percent in the same period, better than the 76ers with the "Touch Porcelain Brothers." During this time, the Timberwolves averaged a high of 123.1 points per game from 30 teams in the same period in the league with 48.7 percent shooting and 38.6 percent from three-point range, and averaged 15.8 three-pointers per game, the most of any team in the league for the same period!
Since the NBA officially began to have All-Star statistics in 1996-97, there have only been two times before that teams have averaged 120+ points per game in the regular season after All-Star Weekend, namely the Bucks in the 2018-19 season and the Bucks in the 2020-21 season, of which the Bucks averaged 121.4 points per game after Last Season's All-Star Weekend, which was the highest in NBA history in the past 25 years. If the Timberwolves can continue the season's all-Star post-season performance until the end of the season, it will break the NBA record held by the Bucks for nearly 25 years!
Since this season's All-Star Weekend, seven Timberwolves players have averaged in double figures per game, and The oldest of the seven players, Taureen Prince, is only 28 years old, while the Timberwolves are under the age of 26. The Timberwolves are also a young team, and as of now the Timberwolves are seventh in the West with a record of 43 wins and 33 losses this season, winning 12 more games than the Lakers, and they are hopeful of taking the playoff stage for the second time in nearly 17 years!