One Guard

From March 1st to April 15th, there is still a full month and a half before the regular season of the 14-15 season will end.

As usual, this year the competition in the regular season has become more intense after the All-Star break. Especially the West, which has always been a arena where strong teams fight.

The ranking from third in the West to seventh in the West changes almost every day. The Clippers, currently ranked third, only have two more wins than the seventh-ranked Pelicans. In the Western Conference, the final order of the playoffs is often not officially confirmed until the last day.

Of course, there are two Western Conference teams outside of that box this year. Not only did they book the top two spots in the Western Conference early, but their advantage was almost unshakable.

One team is the Warriors with 45 wins and 11 losses. They are five games ahead of the Clippers and other teams in the Western Conference. With the regular season about to end in one and a half months, the five-win gap is almost irreversible.

As for the other team that occupies the top spot in the Western Conference, it is the Dallas Mavericks led by Yiyang. Even if the Mavericks announced a month and a half in advance that they would make the playoffs as the top seed in the Western Conference for the second straight year, no one would object.

The Warriors' current record of 45 wins and 11 losses is already very scary, leaving teams at the bottom of the Western Conference behind. The Mavericks' current record of 57 wins can only be described as dreamy.

Although the Mavericks have played five more games than the Warriors due to their more intensive early-season schedule. But even if those five games are put aside, the Mavericks' record is still 52 wins, which is still much better than the Warriors.

It can be said that the Mavericks exited the competition for the Western Conference rankings early. Everyone can grab everything, except the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference!

Therefore, fans' focus on the Mavericks is no longer the ranking in the Western Conference, but whether they can break the single-season regular season record of 72 wins set by the legendary Jordan and his Bulls under good circumstances!

Even though the Mavericks' record is so good now, people still think that it is indeed very difficult for the Mavericks to break the record.

Including Bulls coach "Zen Master" Phil Jackson, who personally created the myth of 72 wins, believes that it is difficult for a team to win 72 games. This is not just a matter of team strength. First of all, in the long 82-game regular season, it is a difficult task to ensure that the main players are not troubled by injuries. But today's Mavericks are doing very well. Although Dirk, Wade and Iguodala have just missed the game, they are all minor injuries and have now returned. In Carlisle's rotation plan, the Mavericks rarely have anyone playing 40 minutes. What's more important is that the Mavericks players, including superstars such as Dirk and Wade, have put aside personal data and regard team unity as the first priority.

However, relying on these alone is not enough. Sometimes you also need to rely on luck. No one knows what will happen in such a long regular season. Even though there is only one and a half months left in the regular season, there are still many emergencies that may happen. Secondly, how to maintain the condition of the players. Judging from the current situation, the Mavericks are indeed the best in the league, but people always get tired. They cannot win back-to-back games after double overtime every time. At that time, my physical strength was good but my thinking was confused. And this kind of thing will not happen in the same game at the same time. Maybe these people are tired this time, and others are tired in the next game. At this time, once they encounter the opponent Zhengwang, it is inevitable to lose. Therefore, it is difficult to break the 72-win record based on superficial strength alone. It must meet various conditions. And some conditions are beyond the control of coaches and players.

"It is true that we cannot control everything. After all, we are players, not God. But what we have to do is to do our best in all the things we can control." When being interviewed by reporters, Yiyang looked relaxed, It seems that he is not overwhelmed by the record of 72 wins at all.

It would be nice to break the record, but the Mavericks have nothing to lose if they don't. so,

Why should there be pressure?

So in the first game in March, the Mavericks easily defeated the New Orleans Pelicans.

When Anthony Davis is around, the Pelicans can always cause a lot of trouble to the Mavericks. But it is a pity that today, Davis had to sit on the sidelines due to injury.

Since entering the league, Anthony Davis, the extremely talented No. 1 pick, has never played a full game.

Last season, Davis played only 67 games. In early December 2013, he missed 7 consecutive games due to a fracture in his left hand, and at the end of January 2014, he took another 1 game due to a finger injury. He missed two games in March due to upper respiratory tract infection and left ankle discomfort. In April, back cramps caused him to be reimbursed for the season ahead of schedule and did not play the last 5 games.

This season, Davis's personal data is even better, but he still can't escape the curse of stop-and-go. In December 2014, he took one game off because of a hit to his chest. In January, he sprained his left toe and had soreness in his groin. He took a total of four games off. Last month, he rested intermittently for 7 games due to a strained right shoulder. In March, he had to miss 2 games due to left ankle sprain.

Although Davis failed to catch up with the Mavericks, the Pelicans are thankful that Davis is not reimbursed for the season this time, and the Pelicans still have hope of making the playoffs.

Without Anthony Davis, the entire Pelicans team seems to have little perseverance to win. The Mavericks once again had six players score in double figures, defeating the Pelicans for the third time this season.

With 58 wins and 5 losses, the Mavericks seem to be getting closer and closer to their record of 72 wins. But as "Zen Master" Phil Jackson said, breaking the 72-win record is not that simple.

On the 5th and 6th, the Mavericks will first face the Trail Blazers away from home, and then fly to Oakland to challenge the Warriors. However, this set of back-to-back results cast a shadow over the Mavericks' goal of 72 wins.

In the game against the Trail Blazers, although the Trail Blazers were playing at home, their performance was not satisfactory. Aldrie made just 7 of 16 shots and scored only 17 points. Frenchman Batum scored 15 points and Lillard scored 14 points. Under Yiyang's defense, the No. 0 guard's shooting percentage almost fell below 30%.

The results of it? As a result, the Trail Blazers were stunned to win the game at home.

"We didn't play well. This is something everyone must pay attention to. The reason why we won today is because the Mavericks' performance was so abnormal." After the game, former Carlisle assistant and current Trail Blazers coach Te Lee Stotts admitted frankly that the Trail Blazers won not because they did better, but because the Mavericks did worse.

To use one word to describe the Mavericks' performance today, it is inexplicable.

Inexplicable 20 turnovers, inexplicable strikes, inexplicable missed shots. Among the starting five, only center Gobert has a shooting percentage of more than 50%. Even Yiyang shot a season-low 38% today.

The Mavericks shot 36% overall and only 12% from three-point range. If the Blazers can't win it, it's really unreasonable.

The players are collectively out of shape, and this is the kind of situation Carlisle could not foresee. And this is why "Zen Master" believes that 72 wins is difficult to break.

"We are very helpless after losing this game. We will play the Warriors in the next back-to-back away game. I hope we can recover." After the game, Yiyang, who only scored 20 points and 8 assists, shook his head. During the regular season, there are always one or two games where things get a bit crazy.

The next day, March 7, the Mavericks met the Warriors again. As the two most shocking teams in the Western Conference this year, the Mavericks and Warriors are destined to have fierce sparks every time they meet.

Today, the Mavericks performed normally. But Curry and Thompson fired a nasty shot from beyond the three-point line. Last month, Yiyang took away the three-point title from the "Splash Brothers" in the three-point contest. Today, Curry and Thompson showed their reward with 62% and 44% three-point shooting rates respectively.

The Mavericks performed normally, but the Warriors performed beyond normal. In the last two minutes of the game, the Warriors made four consecutive three-pointers. This wave of offensive allowed the Warriors to finally win the game.

Although at the last moment, Yiyang bravely chased eight points in a row, which shocked Cole who was sitting off the court and broke into a sweat. But in the end, the Warriors maintained their most precious four-point advantage until the end.

100 to 104, the Mavericks lost back-to-back games. Although Yiyang scored 28 points and 11 assists, the Mavericks still failed to withstand the pressure in the face of the Warriors' three-point attack.

3\u003e2, this is a simple mathematical relationship. Even a math-savvy author at the kindergarten level can't get it wrong.

A week ago, the Mavericks had considerable hope of breaking the Bulls' single-season record of 72 wins. But in the past two games, the Mavericks have lost two games, and their performance is worrying.

After losing these two planned wins, the Mavericks have lost seven games this season. They must ensure that they lose no more than two games in the last month of the regular season in order to break the 72-win record. You must not lose more than three games to tie the record. There is no doubt that the difficulty has suddenly increased a lot.

However, after this month, the Mavericks' games will not be easy. Cavaliers, Clippers, Thunder, Grizzlies... none of the opponents are easy to mess with. Therefore, the 72-win record is indeed one of the most difficult records to break in this league.

The day after the Mavericks lost to the Warriors, the Chicago Tribune published a column by Sam Smith. Of course, the content is not about saying good things about the Mavericks.

"From the beginning of the season to the All-Star Weekend, players are often energetic and high-spirited at this stage. In the three weeks before the All-Star Game, most players will slack off to a certain extent. After the All-Star Game, the players will regain energy, but This can only last about 1-3 weeks. After that, by the end of the regular season, the players will become a little lazy again. They will not pick up their energy again until the playoffs begin. So, stop talking about the Mavericks It's ridiculous to be able to break the 72-win record, because it's simply impossible. The Mavericks are already slacking off."

The article is sharply worded and does not appear to be a spiel of nonsense.

After all, Sam Smith is already a 68-year-old old-school basketball reporter. His level is still higher than those cats and dogs. The story between Smith and Jordan began after Jordan was drafted by the Bulls in 1984 and came to Chicago. Just like Mu Ran was to Yiyang, Sam Smith was Jordan's royal reporter at that time, and he was also Jordan's spear against the media.

Two books about Jordan, "The Jordan Rules" and "The Second Coming", were both written by Sam Smith. Such a guy naturally wants to maintain Jordan's record and status. And what he said also carries a certain weight in the basketball circle.

So the next day, during the media opening period in the training center, many reporters naturally asked Yiyang what he thought of Sam Smith's article.

Faced with this question and this respected reporter, Yiyang instead of being nervous, actually shrugged.

"He's just a writer, and he can't send a jersey to stop me in person, so why should I listen to his unrealistic nonsense?"

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