NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 623 The 4th Scoring Champion

The Clippers' 19-game winning streak was snapped, but for the players, it feels like a distant memory. It's as if that 19-game winning streak was a long, long time ago, almost like last season...

Moreover, based on the previous season's progress, this time of year should be the off-season, with everyone busy fishing and dating. Even if there are games, they are international events like the Olympics. It's truly the first time that they're still playing the NBA regular season.

Despite the Clippers' loss, Jia Fei did not lose confidence in winning the championship. He believed that their poor performance in this game did not mean anything. Everyone had not played basketball for several months, and they needed to gradually find their rhythm. He thought that losing the game could help them get back into shape more quickly, which he thought might actually be a good thing.

On January 2, the Clippers will host the Pelicans.

Because the game is played in the bubble, even Clippers home team owner Steve Ballmer and team executives, including the man in the logo, are not allowed to attend the game.

In addition, Lin Ning is also unable to attend games in person, so she now watches Clippers games online. In her words, she's back to how things were before.

Even without Lin Ning, the Clippers' influence remained strong, easily defeating the Pelicans at home and avoiding a two-game losing streak.

On August 5th, the Clippers defeated the Suns at home, securing their second consecutive win. With this victory, their record stands at 60 wins and 7 losses, marking their fourth consecutive season with 60+ wins.

Two days later, they defeated the Mavericks on the road, achieving a three-game winning streak.

In the past few days, the Clippers players have gradually found their rhythm and are in increasingly better form. Losing to the Lakers hasn't broken their confidence; on the contrary, it has made them more united.

On August 9, the Clippers narrowly defeated the Trail Blazers on the road, achieving their fourth consecutive victory.

A day later, the Clippers defeated the Nets in a back-to-back game at home, achieving their fifth consecutive victory.

On August 13, the Clippers narrowly defeated the Nuggets on the road, achieving their sixth consecutive victory.

On August 15, in the final game of the season, the Clippers hosted the Thunder.

With key players like Jia Fei resting, the Clippers fielded their young players for this game. The Clippers' young players performed exceptionally well, narrowly defeating the Thunder at home and securing their seventh consecutive win.

The Clippers finished their regular season in the bubble with a seven-game winning streak, ultimately finishing with a record of 65 wins and 7 losses.

With a record of 65 wins and 7 losses, the Clippers retained their top spot in the regular season standings. However, it's a pity that although they have home-court advantage for all playoff games, these advantages will be meaningless since the games are played in the bubble.

With the regular season over, the rankings for both the Eastern and Western Conferences have been released.

In the Western Conference, the top 8 teams are ranked as follows: Clippers, Lakers, Nuggets, Rockets, Mavericks, Jazz, Thunder, and Trail Blazers.

According to the matchup rules, the first round of the Western Conference playoffs will be Clippers vs. Trail Blazers, Lakers vs. Thunder, Nuggets vs. Jazz, and Rockets vs. Mavericks.

This differs somewhat from Jia Fei's previous life, but overall the differences are not significant.

This NBA regular season only has 72 games, 10 fewer than the previous 82 games, and the season lasts longer, which is a considerable challenge for the players.

The season has ended, and all the statistics have been released.

2019-20赛季，贾飞的第9个赛季，他一共出场了70场比赛，首发70场。在场均36.4分钟的上场时间里，他场均得到37.5分9.1个篮板9.3次助攻3.6次抢断1.5个盖帽，投篮命中率为57.1%，3分球命中为42.8%，罚球命中率为93.2%。

This season, Jia Fei did not set a new personal high in points per game, but he did set new highs in rebounds, assists, and steals per game, and continues to break through his own limits.

Compared to last season, his average playing time has increased this season, mainly because Paul George and Danilo Gallinari were affected by injuries in the early stages of the season, which led to him playing more minutes. Throughout the season, the Clippers' coaching staff has maintained strict control over his playing time, preventing him from playing more than 40 minutes at a time.

This season, Jia Fei played 70 games, missing two: one for Kobe Bryant and the other as a rest in the final game. Even so, his attendance rate remains excellent and will not affect his candidacy for the season's major awards.

Jia Fei won the scoring title this season with an average of 37.5 points per game. This is his fourth scoring title in the NBA, which has tied him with his idol Allen Iverson.

In addition to his four scoring titles, he leads the league in steals with an average of 3.6 steals per game, making him the league's steals leader this season. This is his fifth steals title in the NBA, ranking first among active players.

As for awards such as the regular season MVP, they haven't been announced yet, but it's clear that Jia Fei will win a lot. Even if the NBA wants to promote a newcomer, they can't just do whatever they want; indeed, no one can compete with Jia Fei for certain awards—his lead is too large.

The Clippers' first-round playoff opponent is the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers are currently ranked 8th in the Western Conference, and with their dynamic duo, they've reached a crossroads in their team building. If they still can't effectively break through this season (which is unlikely), then breaking up their dynamic duo might be the most probable outcome.

In NBA history, it's not uncommon for teams to win a championship with a backcourt duo as their core, but they are very rare. If you consider the Warriors as a team that won a championship with the Splash Brothers as its core, then they are the most recent one.

But in fact, the Warriors' championship win wasn't entirely due to the Splash Brothers; Durant and Green's contributions were arguably no less significant than the Splash Brothers'.

The main reason why teams built around their backcourt rarely win championships is due to defense. A team typically has two star players in the backcourt, but backcourt players are generally weak defensively, and truly all-around defensive players are rare. This means they need three strong forwards who can also contribute defensively; otherwise, the starting defense is simply unplayable. However, if the forwards are primarily defensive players, you can't expect much from their offense, because the salary cap is essentially filled by the two star backcourt players, leaving insufficient salary space to pay the salaries of all-around offensive and defensive forwards.

The Trail Blazers' current predicament stems from this... They've changed their frontcourt players time and again, but they've consistently failed to break through the team's ceiling. Their salary cap is expanding, but their talent hasn't kept pace. Their backcourt duo's defense is weak; they might be able to cover for one player, but to cover for two, you'd need a Defensive Player of the Year in your three frontcourts. Clearly, they lack that resource, which is why their defense has consistently faltered.

The Clippers are completely different. Jia Fei and Paul George are both forwards, and both are two-way players. This makes roster building much easier; they just need to add some 3-and-D players and utility players. They can even field a stretch five who is weaker defensively to play outside.