Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 702 - 243: Schrodinger’s Head of the Family, When the Dagger is Revealed

As April arrived, the Warriors, who had been winning consecutively, encountered a minor issue.

Due to a recurrence of an old knee injury during practice, Shaun Livingston will miss the remainder of this season for the Warriors.

Faced with this stroke of bad luck, Livingston was disheartened after seeing the MRI results and lamented, "Why am I always the one getting hurt?"

Why is Livingston always the one getting hurt?

As for this question...

Qin Yue could only reflect that human physiques cannot be generalized.

From last season's intermittent play to this season's end-of-season write-off.

Qin Yue was well aware that under Warriors head coach Ma Long's protective use, if Livingston still couldn't escape misfortune.

It would only prove that Livingston was destined for this ordeal.

As for this, Brown comforted Livingston by saying, "Sean, a championship won by 'winning lying down' is still a championship!"

"..."

Livingston being sidelined for the season left no suspense regarding this year's 14-man playoff roster for the Warriors.

In mid-April, after triumphantly winning their second battle against the Knicks and not letting this minor issue halt their winning pace, the Warriors finished with a 70-12 record, successfully creating the second-best regular season in team history.

Additionally, they also successfully tied the Lakers' record of 33 consecutive wins.

Previously, Barkley had said that each step forward by this Warriors team was adding bricks to their creation of the most dominant dynasty in NBA history.

Why?

Because if the Warriors could win the championship this year, they would become the first team in NBA history to achieve 70 wins twice during a three-peat.

In addition, during this three-peat period, the Warriors also tied the longest regular season winning streak record previously held by the Lakers, which had been untouched for nearly forty years.

Purely in terms of dominance at that point, the Warriors Dynasty would undoubtedly surpass the Lakers Dynasty and both the first and second Bulls Dynasties.

Of course.

To create the most dominant dynasty in NBA history, the Warriors must also become the ultimate winners.

The regular season concluded successfully.

The Warriors' first-round playoff opener will take place on April 18, against the Jazz, who are led by their new head coach Tyrone Corbin.

This season, the West's overall competitiveness still couldn't compare with the East.

The Jazz clinched a playoff spot in the West with just 35 wins in the regular season.

And the East?

This year's eighth seed in the East, led by Westbrook, is the Magic, who tallied 47 wins in the regular season.

Yet, when ESPN conducted a playoff preview, the Warriors, the West's reigning champs, were unchallenged as the number one title favorite.

Indeed, the competition in the East has been fierce over these past two years.

But compared to the West, Eastern teams are still fortunate.

Because with Qin Yue and the Cosmic Warriors in the West, other Western teams face a hellish challenge in securing a Finals berth.

Moreover, with the regular season over, the kings of various 11/12 season stats were announced.

The regular season's scoring champion was Qin Yue, with an average of 36.8 points per game.

During an 11-game streak scoring "50+," Qin Yue's season average briefly soared to 38.9 points.

Regrettably, to prepare for the playoffs, after this record was snapped, Qin Yue chose to relinquish his dominance.

But this did not prevent Qin Yue from delivering another great season of his own.

In the regular season, playing all 82 games for the Warriors, Qin Yue not only averaged 36.8 points per game to win his third consecutive and fifth career scoring title, but with outstanding averages of 14.4 rebounds, 9.4 assists, 3.6 blocks, and 1.6 steals per game, he was chosen as the league's rebounding and blocks champion for the sixth time in his career.

The 11/12 season's assist and steals champions were Paul, who joined the Lakers, with averages of 9.8 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

This season, by abandoning the triangle offense, the Lakers finally broke the curse that often turned Lakers' point guards into mere ball-handling guards. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Additionally, in a bid to break the Warriors' West monopoly, Kobe's personal style transformation allowed Paul to achieve an impressive stat line of 20.5 points, 9.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game.

Indeed, Qin Yue waived his dominance, and Kobe did the same.

For 70 games this regular season, Kobe's averages were just 24.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists as he played for the Lakers.

On the court, Kobe, who "measures carefully," even accepted Mike Brown's suggestion of taking rest once the Lakers secured the second spot in the West.

"Black Bread" Brown's reasoning for convincing Kobe was straightforward.

Given he is already thirty-three this year.

If he wants to lead the Lakers further in the playoffs, he must play "nurturing basketball" as much as possible during the regular season.

Historically, due to failing to defend their title in the 10/11 season.

And then the disastrous chemistry of the "New F4" combination in the 12/13 season.

So at that time, Kobe had no choice.

Because had Kobe not fully engaged during the regular season back then, the Lakers might not even have made the playoffs.

But it's different now.

Thanks to the notoriously low-floor stabilizing talent of Paul in his prime, Kobe faced significantly less pressure during the regular season with Paul leading the team.

Moreover, contrary to many people's speculations that Paul could not coexist with another major perimeter ball handler.

In truth, in Qin Yue's memory, the two playoffs where Paul went the furthest, he had a major perimeter player by his side.