The casual All-Star weekend holiday is over, and the battle for the closing stage of the regular season is on schedule.
Among the story lines in the closing stage, the most notable is undoubtedly the one where the Lakers sprint to the playoffs. After a big roster shuffle on the trade day, the Lakers became a benefactor if they were unsuccessful.
Thick eyebrows said that "every remaining game must be fought with all your strength", James has said that "he does not have the gene to miss the playoffs for two consecutive years", and if the all-time scoring champion does not make the playoffs, it will indeed become a laughing stock in the eyes of future fans.
Whether the Lakers can grab a playoff ticket will have to wait for time to tell us, but history can provide some reference for fans of the show. In the long river of 75 years of the NBA, there are indeed teams that have turned around the decline in the second half, and have been racing all the way to the playoffs after the All-Star weekend.
Last year's Celtics were the closest example to everyone, languishing in the first half of the regular season, but climbing all the way to the top of the East in the second half, and even almost winning the championship.
However, the Lakers are not good to compare with the Green Army last season, because the problems encountered by the two teams are not the same, and the environment is not the same.
The Nuggets of 2004-05 were perhaps the team most similar to the Lakers, and if you obscure the record of the second half of the season, it's hard to imagine that this is a playoff team just looking at the first half. A 13-15 start led them to sack then-manager Jeff Buzderek, while interim manager Mike Cooper added to the team's record, adding another 4-10 defeat.
However, the arrival of George Carr changed the Nuggets of the Western Conference, and he took over the team with an emphasis on revamping Anthony's style of play and attitude, turning Anthony from a slouchy scorer to a trusted core. At the same time, he tapped into the potential of the Nuggets' bench - the explosion of Nene and Boykins allowed the Nuggets to adjust from top to bottom to compete for playoff spots, completing the transformation from weak team to strong team.
32-8, which is the Nuggets' record after George Carr led the team.
If you count after the All-Star Weekend, they also played 25-4, a whopping 86.21% win rate, which is the 6th highest number in NBA history after the All-Star Weekend.
The Nuggets, who are in a similar situation to the Lakers, can definitely be an object of learning, and coach Hamm should study the ways and methods of George Karl to see how to apply his advantages to his team, such as activating the vitality of the new bench, and how to maximize the power of James and thick eyebrows.
On paper, the Lakers certainly have the capital to replicate the Nuggets' script for the 2004-05 season. After the Lakers traded, Russell, Schroder and Reeves were able to fill the gap in the rotation stage, and Vanderbilt's rebounds and Beasley's range made the Lakers lineup more three-dimensional, and more dominant than James and Davis than Anthony.
Former NBA legend and celebrity Jaylen Rose said: "James and Thick Eyebrows will find a way to lead the Lakers to the playoffs. ”
I don't doubt his opinion that as long as the Lakers' dual core remains healthy, then they will remain a spoiler in the West.
But when we bring the discussion back to reality, there's still a hurdle between the Lakers and the playoff spot, and if the current 45.8% win rate is maintained, it's not enough for them to create magic.
Last season, the No. 8 Clippers in the West had a 42-40 regular season record, and if we use that record as a reference, it would mean that the Lakers would have to play 15-8 in subsequent seasons to send themselves to the playoffs.
Of course, if we lower the bar a bit, if we just take a play-off ticket, then by the standard of 36-46 for the 10th Pelicans in the West last year, the Lakers only need to win 9...
However, the competition situation in the west, which is divided this year, is not as relaxed as last year. If the Lakers just demand themselves from the 9-14 standard, then "take the one who wins" and say goodbye to the playoff tickets.
Lakers fans can take comfort in the fact that coach Hamm has set a goal for the team to be 6th in the West so they don't have to play the playoffs. This requires the Lakers to play 21-2 in the following regular season, which is even more violent than the Nuggets.
If the Lakers were to play at the 6th level in the West last year, then they were required to have a subsequent 91.3% win rate, what is the concept?
One sentence can explain the difficulty of this thing — no team in NBA history has done it after an All-Star Weekend.
The team with the highest post-All-Star weekend win percentage in NBA history was the 2012-13 Heat, who came out on top with a 30-2 win rate of 90.75 percent.
In other words, James, 38, needs to surpass his athletic peak self at age 28. Moreover, he does not have Wade and Bosh, who are also at the same peak, and a championship system by his side.
But isn't the record just something to break? What's more, it was the man who once accomplished impossible tasks in the Finals and recently set an all-time NBA scoring record.
Perhaps, on the final day of the regular season, James and the Lakers will reveal the answer for us.