points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal. Although there were 4 turnovers and a shooting rate of only 8 out of 20, the TV commentator said Zhang Hao played very well in the game against the Spurs.

Of the 23 points, 15 were scored through fast breaks!

However, the key to winning was Van Exel. After the All-Star weekend, the team adjusted Van Exel’s role, and he performed significantly better after the weekend than before, even during the 20 wins and 1 loss period, his performance wasn’t as good as post-weekend.

Van Exel managed to score 20 points steadily in rough confrontations, mostly in set plays, which from a winning perspective, was even more useful than Zhang Hao’s 23 points.

Zhang Hao lifts the team’s ceiling with counterattacks, the unpredictable offense, while Van Exel’s 20 points and 6 assists ensured stable output for the team.

After the Lakers’ game against the Spurs, Zhang Hao returned to the hotel and saw a piece of news, the Bulls lost! Their 11th defeat of the season!

...

Originally, the Bulls had 3 games left, even with a back-to-back, Zhang Hao thought they’d win all, hitting 72 wins to enter the playoffs.

But unexpectedly, after beating the Bulls once earlier in the season, the Pacers, who lost the last two matches against the Bulls by more than 15 points each, managed to defeat the Bulls 103-100, relying on Reggie Miller’s last-second buzzer-beater three-pointer at home, preventing the Bulls from going into overtime!

Jordan’s mid-range shot with 4.2 seconds left to tie the game became the most tragic backdrop!

But it wasn’t over yet; on April 19th, as the Lakers arrived in Sacramento, the capital of California, to rest ahead of their game against the Kings the next day, the Bulls in their back-to-back against the New York Knicks, despite Jordan’s efforts— shooting 12 out of 23, including 3 out of 5 from three-point range, and adding 10 out of 11 free throws scoring 37 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals—the Bulls as a team were lackluster, with a shooting rate of only 36 percent, 28 out of 76. Conversely, the Knicks shot 43 out of 80, handing them a 72-104 defeat, marking their 12th loss of the season!

The Bulls’ final 9 games were all nationally televised. Zhang Hao watched the game at Madison Square Garden broadcast on American Cable TV Station, listening to the commentators overly praise Jordan, only to see him lose afterwards...

wins, 12 losses now!

The Bulls have one game left to end the regular season!

The Bulls had extremely bad luck hitting a cold streak at the season’s end, while the Lakers had very good luck.

On April 20th, before the first of their back-to-back alternation games against the Kings began, the Lakers received news that the SuperSonics, in their game against the Magic, were overturned by Anfernee Hardaway’s last 8 points.

With O’Neal set to return in the earliest playoff first round, dubbed "Glass Man" by Orlando Media, Anfernee Hardaway resiliently pulled off an individual 8-2 run at the last moments, helping the Magic reverse the SuperSonics 97-94, claiming their 63rd victory, ending the regular season with a 63-19 record, completing a perfect closure.

While the SuperSonics suffered their 18th loss, ending at a 64-18 record!

Upon receiving this news, the Lakers instantly became excited.

Currently holding a 63-17 record, with a better winning percentage than the SuperSonics in the division, winning the 64th game would secure the first place in the West!

The Kings, having managed a 39-42 record, locked in eighth place in the West, were feeling good before facing a bunch of bandits...

31-13, 27-21, by halftime, the Lakers led the Kings by 25 points with a 58-33 score.

Even though the Kings made a 55-44 comeback in the second half while the Lakers indulged in their aristocratic sickness, they were too far behind earlier and could only watch helplessly as the bandits left, ending the season with a 39-43 record.

102-88, the Lakers easily defeated the Kings, secured their fifth consecutive win, improved to 64-17, locking the Western Conference Championship!

...

...

On the evening of April 21st at 6 pm, the Lakers’ regular-season finale against the Blazers began.

Zhang Hao, Magician, and Van Exel sat on the bench dressed in suits.

The three of them are the Lakers’ top three scorers, but none played in the final game, and the home fans weren’t resentful at all; instead, they were quite happy to see them not play the last game.

Since returning, Magician played 53 games, starting in 35, averaging 13.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 8 assists, 0.8 steals.

Van Exel played in 77 games, missing only a few at the beginning of the season. He didn’t miss any others, and after the All-Star weekend sprint, his average scored raised to a career-high of 17.6 points, plus 6.7 assists and 1.2 steals, quite exceptional.

The most outstanding was Zhang Hao!

Joining the Lakers, he played a total of 66 games, included 27 with over 30 points, 6 with over 40 points, and one game with an incredible 60-point performance, totaling 2141 points for the season, averaging 27.1 points.

The last time a Lakers player scored over 2000 points in a single season was during the 80-81 season with Jabbar.

Since then, the Lakers have always been a team-oriented team, so much so that Byron Scott was once the highest average scorer of the Lakers in the ’80s.