On the 10th, Zhou Quan and Da Ben flew to Washington.
Big Ben was an undrafted draft pick before joining the SuperSonics. Now he has been selected as an All-Star. Although he is only a substitute, he is also very happy. He keeps asking questions about the All-Stars on the road and talks ten times more than usual. , Zhou Quan was annoyed by the question.
For this All-Star appearance, Ben specially gave himself a beautiful afro to make him look taller.
In this All-Star Game, the Western Conference All-Stars ultimately won.
Zhou Quan didn't want to perform, but he couldn't help but was too strong. He played casually and scored 20 points and 20 assists. After 7 years, he won AMVP for the third time.
After the All-Star Game, the schedule continues.
…
"Iron Fist, I'm getting married."
"I know. One day, please give me an invitation."
"Iron Fist King, I'm sorry, there are no invitations, because time is a bit tight and no one can help me do these things, but I hope you can attend my wedding with Vanessa."
The regular season came to an end, and on April 15th, Zhou Quan suddenly received a call from Kobe Bryant.
It turned out that Kobe was getting married on April 19th and the regular season ended on the 18th. Kobe invited him to the wedding.
"Kobe, are you crazy or stupid? How can I have time in such a hurry? Why not wait until after the playoffs?" Zhou Quan cursed.
"I can not wait anymore."
Kobe said irritably, and then added: "Iron Fist, I've calculated it. You have time. Your last game will be against the Kings away from home."
Zhou Quan thought for a while and said, "Okay, but the time is so unlucky that I can only come here alone. My wife can't spare the time."
"It doesn't matter, I wish you could come." Kobe said happily.
…
On April 18, the regular season ends.
In the last away game against the Kings, the Sonics won and tied with the Kings with three wins and one loss.
The SuperSonics once again reached 70 wins, this time with 71 wins and 11 losses, one more win than in the 1995/96 season.
Zhou Quan played in 82 games, starting 82 games, averaging 40.5 minutes per game, 34.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 15.5 assists, 3.4 steals, 1.5 blocks, 1.8 turnovers and 1.8 fouls per game.
The shooting percentage was 54.5%, the three-point shooting percentage was 42.5%, and the assist-to-turnover ratio was 7.5, which were all significantly higher than last season.
This season, he ranks first on the team in playing time, first in shots, first in points, first in steals, first in assists, first in defensive efficiency, first in personal plus-minus, and first in field goal percentage.
In addition, his assists per game set a new career high, previously averaging 14.8 per game in the 1994/95 season.
This season's regular season and career points scored 2805/18871 points; rebounds 361/3022, assists 1271/8579, steals 279/2775, blocks 123/938.
Not surprisingly, next season he will score 20,000 points, 3,000 steals and 1,000 blocks and other career data.
However, the system probably has no rewards. When the rebounds reached 3,000 a few days ago, there was no movement in the system.
He won the scoring title for the 4th time, the assists title for the 7th time, and the steals title for the 7th time.
After the game, in the visiting team's locker room, Zhou Quan, who came out of the shower, took one look at his own data and put it away. He doesn't pay much attention to these now.
McMillan said: "Iron Fist King, your field goal percentage this season is already the highest in your career, surpassing Jordan's career-high season field goal percentage.
In addition, your number of assists has also set a new league history record. Since the record of assists king, 15.5 assists is the highest record. "
"I'm in good shape this season."
Zhou Quan smiled, turned around and asked, "Ben, how many rebounds do you have?"
"13.3." Ben Wallace said with regret.
McMillan said: "Ben is really a bit regretful. The rebounding leader is Mutombo, with 13.5. If Ben only grabs 17 more rebounds, he will be the rebounding leader."
"Keep working hard next season." Zhou Quan encouraged.
"The leader in blocked shots is Ratliff, with 3.7," McMillan said.
Zhou Quan said with a smile: "The Philadelphia Digital Team is playing well in the Eastern Conference, with Allen Iverson on the outside, Ratliff, the shot-blocking leader, and Mutombo, the rebounding leader, inside.
However, Theo Ratliff was reimbursed for the season and could not play in the playoffs. He lost a general inside and was not very lucky. "
McMillan took out a piece of paper and said: "Let me talk about the playoff situation..."
The top eight teams in the Eastern Conference playoffs are the Digital Team, Bucks, Heat, Knicks, Raptors, Hornets, Magic, and Pacers.
The top eight teams in the Western Conference playoffs are SuperSonics, Spurs, Lakers, Kings, Mavericks, Jazz, Suns, and Trail Blazers.
In the first round of the Eastern Conference, the Digital Team faced the Pacers, the Knicks faced the Raptors, the Bucks faced the Magic, and the Heat faced the Hornets.
In the first round of the Western Conference, the SuperSonics faced the Trail Blazers, the Kings faced the Mavericks, the Spurs faced the Suns, and the Lakers faced the Jazz.
After reading the list, McMillan said with emotion: "Our competition in the West is really strong now, much better than in the East. There are only three teams in the East with more than 50 wins, and the top eight teams in the West all have more than 50 wins."
When Ewing heard this, his face suddenly turned bitter.
He recalled the time when the Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, and Bulls were strong, but the Knicks were struggling in the Eastern Conference and struggling to get ahead.
At this time, the head coach said: "It's hard to say for us in the second round. The Kings and Mavericks are close in strength. Their two teams tied two to two in the regular season."
McMillan said: "Paul, whether it's the Kings or the Mavericks, I think there's no problem."
Paul West nodded, then shook his head and said, "Don't be careless. We have three wins and one loss against the Kings, and four wins against the Mavericks. We will be more confident against the Mavericks."
After Ewing came to the SuperSonics, he seldom spoke in the locker room, and his personality became increasingly dull and very inactive. As he played better and better in the regular season, and firmly ranked first in the league, his mood became better and better. , although he still doesn’t speak much, it can be seen that he is in a good mood.
At this time, he said: "You really can't be careless. If the King's offensive system goes crazy and our state is average, it may capsize."
Zhou Quan nodded and said: "We must go all out at any time, okay?"
"OK." A neat response came from the locker room immediately.
McMillan further analyzed: "In the Western Conference Finals, our opponents are hard to say. The Spurs and Lakers are both very strong. This season we have three wins and one loss against the Spurs, as well as against the Lakers."
"Our real opponent is only one of these two teams. If we reach the finals, no matter who it is in the Eastern Conference, they will not be our opponent. So just like last season, the Western Conference Finals will be our finals. Westphal nodded.
After discussing the playoff situation for a while, Zhou Quan went to attend the press conference.
The host handed the first question to Zhang Lili. He took the microphone and said happily: "Zhou Quan, congratulations, you once again won the scoring champion, assist champion, steal champion, triple crown honors."
"Thanks!"
"MVP should be fine, too. You have been number one in the rankings this season and have never been down." Zhang Lili added.
"It's hard to say, it only counts when the results come out." Zhou Quan shook his head and said with a smile.
"It's definitely no problem to play the Trail Blazers in the first round. In the second round, do you want to play the Kings or the Mavericks?" Zhang Lili asked.
"Brother Zhang, who do you want to hit?" Zhou Quan asked with a smile.
"Of course I hope to beat the Mavericks, haha!" Zhang Lili said with a smile.
"Then hope to beat Mavericks."
Zhou Quan smiled and said: "The Mavericks traded Christian Laettner. Now I have more opportunities with the Mavericks than before, and my performance is better than at the beginning. I also hope to play a series with him."
…
The regular season ends, and the first round starts on the 21st and 22nd. The SuperSonics start on the 21st. There is not much time to rest. The team has two days off, and training is scheduled on the 21st.
On the morning of the 19th, Zhou Quan took the earliest flight, a 600-kilometer flight, and arrived in Los Angeles at ten o'clock.
"Where are your guests? Kobe, where is your family?"
It took him an hour to get to the church where Kobe's wedding was held, but he found that there was no guest, not even Kobe's family showed up, and no one from the Lakers showed up, only Vanessa's family. What was going on? Marry in secret?
The most important thing is that none of Kobe's family members showed up and had no family blessings. According to American tradition, a marriage will not be happy without the blessings of family members. This is the biggest regret for Kobe and Vanessa, and it is also a defect.
"..."
Kobe's face was very ugly, and Vanessa's face was also ashen, her eyes were slightly red, and she had obviously cried.
Even the pastor who presided over the wedding had a compassionate expression on his face.
"Am I the only one who co-wrote it?"
Zhou Quan was a little worried that the two of them wouldn't be able to bear it, and said regretfully: "If I had known earlier, I would have arranged for my wife to fly over, so we can have more guests."
He thought for a moment and asked, "When is the wedding?"
"There's still half an hour." Kobe said through gritted teeth.
"Wait a little longer, maybe your family will come." Zhou Quan comforted.
"They have already said that they will not attend my wedding." Kobe said with a livid face.
Zhou Quan shook his head. Originally, he wanted to help Kobe invite a few guests over, but after thinking about it, he decided not to do it because the most important thing was Kobe's family. If his family didn't come, even if there were a few guests, it would be meaningless.
In the end, Kobe’s family still didn’t show up.
…
On the 19th, the league announced the ownership of a series of honors including five data kings and DPOY.
Paul Westphal led the team to 71 wins and won the best coach, Mutombo won the DPOY, best rookie Mike Miller and so on.
On the 20th, the Trail Blazers arrived in Seattle.
Many media predict that the SuperSonics will be stronger than last season. They won the playoffs last season with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss. This season they have a chance to defend the title with a complete victory record.
That afternoon, Roger Philip came over to Zhou Quan's home.
Zhou Quan's lawsuits have all been concluded, and he won all 11 of them. Excluding the high fees for the legal team, he received a total of US$1.2625 billion in compensation, with an average of US$114 million per lawsuit.
"Zhou, now the yachts bought by the wealthy people in the yacht association are getting bigger and bigger. They are already thousands of tons, similar to frigates, and cost tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. Do you have any ideas?" Philip asked with a smile.
Zhou Quan really has the idea of changing to a yacht. In the past two years, his Iron Fist has been unable to keep up with the situation. Those large yachts can also travel around the world, which is very attractive to him.
He has no interest in luxury cars or private jets. He just likes yachts.
Now that I have so much cash on hand, I will use some of it to continue investing in jazz coffee in China. The remaining money will be enough to buy several large yachts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Roger, please help me collect some information first."
"OK. So is this one going to be sold?"
"Of course not. Even if you book it now, it will take nearly two years to get it. Let's sell this boat next year."
"OK."
…
On the 21st, the SuperSonics' first-round series begins.
Before the game started, Zhou Quan received the trophies for three individual data kings.
On the 25th, the SuperSonics completed a sweep of the Trail Blazers on the road and took the lead in advancing to the second round.
The Kings and Mavericks battled to a score of two to one, with the Kings temporarily taking the lead.
In the East, the Philadelphia Digital team leads the Pacers 2-1, and the Knicks lead the Raptors 2-1.
On the 28th, little Zhou Yuan turned one year old. The Zhou family held a Zhou Chou Ceremony at home, but there were no guests, only family members.
Little Zhou Yuan was able to walk when he was nine and a half months old, but he still mainly crawled. When he was eleven months old, he started walking mainly. Now he can walk quite steadily.
In terms of physical fitness, his arms and legs are not short, his reactions are quick, his movements are very sensitive, and his coordination is good. His static and dynamic talents are basically inherited from Zhou Quan. As for how much he has inherited, he can't say yet.
In terms of speaking, I can speak simple repeated words, such as mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, etc., but I can't speak complex ones, let alone long sentences.
His household registration had already been registered in Changsha when he returned to China last time. Now, like Zhou Quan and others, he takes his passport to apply for a visa and renews it regularly.
After that, the first round continued. In the end, the Kings eliminated the Mavericks 3-2, the Spurs eliminated the Suns 3-1, and the Lakers eliminated the Jazz 3-1.
In the Eastern Conference, the Digital Team eliminated the Pacers 3-1, the Knicks eliminated the Raptors 3-1, the Bucks eliminated the Magic 3-1, and the Hornets defeated the Heat in six games.
In this way, by May 4, 2001, the first round was over.
In the second round, in the Eastern Conference, the Digital Team faced the Knicks, and the Bucks faced the Hornets; in the Western Conference, the SuperSonics faced the Kings, and the Spurs faced the Lakers.
The second round series starts on the 5th. There is only one game on the 5th, the SuperSonics vs. the Kings, and the remaining three groups are all on the 6th.
The league has no choice in arranging the schedule this way, because whoever wants to play on the same day as the SuperSonics, even the Lakers game, will be seriously affected.
The SuperSonics ended the first round on the 25th, and the second round didn't start until the 5th. There was no game for 9 days, so the team took a 5-day holiday, and then resumed training on May 1st to recover.
(End of chapter)
