Kobe Bryant's retirement ceremony ended soon.
The game entered the second half.
He still played in the third quarter.
The Timberwolves did not adjust their strategy, but continued their previous play style. Although the Los Angeles Lakers have Kobe Bryant constantly scoring, the overall performance of the Lakers can be said to be a mess.
Except for Kobe, no one else can play a decent offense at all. Even the team's newly supported guard Jordan Clarkson has been suppressed and cannot take up any space against Zach LaVine. Not cheap at all.
call out.
The Lakers replaced Kobe before the fourth quarter.
After the last performance of his career, Kobe also waved to all the fans when he came off the court.
The fans kept cheering and gave Kobe their own applause and blessings.
In the last quarter, without Kobe's restrictions, Zhao Feiyang played a very explosive performance.
He kept shooting three-pointers, kept relying on breakthroughs to get to the basket, and also took advantage of the opportunity to cooperate with Dwight Howard to rush into the Lakers' basket and dunk. All these methods made the Lakers unable to counterattack.
As a result, the game did not wait until the last moment to decide the winner. With more than 3 minutes left in the game, the game basically became garbage time.
In this regard, the Minnesota Timberwolves also chose to relax a little. After all, it is Kobe's retirement day. No matter how hard the Lakers stretch their hips, they cannot make the game too ugly.
Therefore, with the tacit understanding of both parties, the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves ended up with a score of 101 to 109.
Only losing by 8 points made the result of the game look less ugly.
After the game, the scene was filled with cheers. When Zhao Feiyang was about to leave the field, Kobe also took the initiative to stop him and walked in front of him.
"Zhao, if possible, I hope you can return to Los Angeles one day... If you want to chase the championship, you can get more help here... including but not limited to more salary. , stronger team configuration, and a broader market..."
"In Minneapolis, you can only be a regional star. But in Los Angeles, you can be a superstar that the whole league is paying attention to...The exposure here is Minneapolis." Incomparable..."
"Remember Jeremy Lin? If he was playing in a small place like Minneapolis, there would be no 'Linsanity' at all, just because he was in a place like New York, in this kind of place. Only big cities can get enough attention..."
"Of course, I'm not forcing you, I just hope you can consider it... If you are willing, the Lakers can pay any price to get you..."
Regarding Kobe's recruitment, Zhao Feiyang did not refuse or have an answer. He just expressed his gratitude to him.
The two soon separated.
After the game, the Timberwolves also headed back to Minneapolis that night.
Kobe's retirement has attracted the attention of the entire league. Many people have sent their blessings to him. Many stars have expressed their gratitude to him. Even President Adam Silver has stood up and publicly expressed his gratitude.
Everything is settled.
Various clubs are finally ushering in the playoffs after a busy period.
In the final stage of the regular season, most teams' records have been determined, and there will basically not be any big changes in rankings.
In the East, the most anticipated team is undoubtedly the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This Eastern Conference Super Team, led by LeBron James, has been one of the teams most likely to win the championship in the league since last season, and in the end, as fans expected, they did make it all the way to the finals.
It's a pity that he finally fell to the Golden State Warriors.
They are making a comeback this season and are carrying out a series of reinforcement activities for this purpose. For the Cavaliers, there is only one goal, and that is to defeat the Golden State Warriors and win the championship.
Of course, the premise is that they can still successfully make it out of the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Golden State Warriors can also successfully meet them in the Eastern Conference Finals.
In addition to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat are also the two most threatening teams. They finished second and third in the Eastern Conference respectively.
The Raptors have two brothers, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. The combination of these two helped them open up the situation in the Eastern Conference and once became one of the teams most likely to compete for the championship in the Eastern Conference.
They have a good record this season, and the gap in wins with the Cavaliers is not big. For the Cavaliers, the Raptors will definitely be a stumbling block on the road to the Eastern Conference finals.
Compared with the first two teams, the Heat's record is neither better nor worse. After LeBron James left Miami, the Heat's first season was quite chaotic. They couldn't even make the playoffs.
This season, the team has been reintegrated. Under the leadership of the two giants, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the team's record has been successfully improved to third in the Eastern Conference.
For many Miami fans, their goal is not only to reach the Finals again, but also to stop the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
LeBron's departure was unacceptable to many Heat fans. They burned LeBron's jerseys, continued to insult LeBron on the Internet, and many people taunted him wildly when LeBron played away games.
Seeing the Cavaliers led by LeBron win first place in the Eastern Conference, the mentality of these fans can be described as extremely uncomfortable.
Therefore, they hope that the Heat led by Wade and Bosh can rush into the Eastern Conference Finals, so that once they win the Cavaliers, they can slap LeBron in the face and mock his dream of the Finals.
The battle in the east was like this, and the intensity in the west was even worse.
The Golden State Warriors performed better than last season, shocking the entire league with 73 wins.
This record is so good that many people in the league believe that the Warriors will definitely win the championship this season.
Not surprisingly, they firmly occupy the first place in the Western Conference.
For all Western Conference playoff teams, the Warriors are the biggest threat, bar none.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are ranked one lower than them. Although there were many situations along the way, the Minnesota Timberwolves still won 65 games.
Such results are also very good. If the Warriors weren't so dazzling, they would have attracted much attention.
The third-ranked team in the Western Conference is the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder are led by the Thunder's two young masters, and the team's lineup is naturally not weak. They are also here for the championship.
Ranked fourth in the Western Conference is the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Clippers players led by Chris Paul want to touch the floor of the Western Conference Finals more than anyone else!
In the first round of the playoffs, according to rankings, the Minnesota Timberwolves' opponent will be the Houston Rockets.
