Bishop of the Devil

In the next two games in which Richard was suspended, the Trail Blazers had a record of one win and one loss.

Judging from the lineup of the Trail Blazers in these two games, the absence of Ben and Kobe does have an impact, but the impact is not fatal.

Under Richard's arrangement, Laimbeer used Warrior Jackson as the point guard and Bowen as the shooting guard in these two games.

As for Big Ben's power forward position, Rashid was temporarily assigned to it, while Robinson was assigned to the small forward position.

With such a lineup, the defense is still extremely strong. Although it is not as good as when Ben was there, it is enough to cope with most teams in the league...

…

When Richard returned, his first game was against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Blazers won this game quite cleanly. The young Wolf King did not get any advantage in front of Rashid, and was even slightly at a disadvantage.

When the game ended, Rasheed scored 25 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, while Garnett only scored 18 points. The performance of the young Wolf King on the court was really not outstanding.

Now the Trail Blazers' record is only one win away from the SuperSonics, so it's not that difficult to catch up.

The Jazz are definitely doomed. In the next month's schedule, they may not even be able to achieve a 50% winning rate!

…

In the blink of an eye, it’s late January!

The NBA schedule is truly over halfway. After Kobe and Ben returned, the Trail Blazers became even more powerful. After winning against the Atlanta Hawks on the night of January 27, they completely topped the Western Conference record list!

Richard himself couldn't believe that he was able to lead his team to the best record in the Western Conference in his second year in the NBA!

In 52 games, the Trail Blazers won a total of 39 of them, catching up with the SuperSonics with a 75% winning rate and successfully sitting on the throne of the Western Conference!

In just one month's schedule, the Trail Blazers showed quite terrifying combat power, or in other words, hard work on the court.

The storm and waves have come through, and their team, which has gone through many hardships, is now targeting the playoffs and the championship!

As for the Jazz, what was originally a good game was due to the complete absence of the Utah duo during this month. As a result, they only had a record of 5 wins and 9 losses in the entire January schedule...

The original ranking of No. 1 in the Western Conference was also overtaken by latecomers.

Using a roller coaster to describe the Jazz's decline in the rankings is quite appropriate...

Originally this season, the competition in the Western Conference was quite fierce. Although there was one missing Rocket, there were two more powerful teams, the Suns and Spurs.

By the time the schedule ends in January, the Jazz have fallen to sixth place in the Western Conference, behind the Spurs!

What makes Sloan even more desperate is that although Malone will come back in the near future, Stockton's comeback is far away, and it will not come back until at least March. Under such circumstances, in the next two months' schedule, they will still Quite uncomfortable...

Wanting to return to the top spot in the Western Conference is already a luxury and completely impossible.

Even rushing back to the top half of the Western Conference playoffs will be difficult for the Jazz!

…

Richard successfully led the team to the summit. Yes, it was indeed the summit!

Their Blazers are now not only the top of the Western Conference record list, but also the top of the league record list!

Because Pippen has been injured and absent, the Chicago Bulls are currently two games behind the Trail Blazers in terms of wins...

With the powerful strength currently displayed by the Trail Blazers, unless the Bulls sprint with all their strength regardless of the cost, it will be difficult to catch up!

For a team like the Bulls, the regular season record is of little significance!

They have already won 72 wins, what else can prove their strength better than this!

…

After the previous Jazz incident was safely over, fans around the world suddenly discovered that this Trail Blazers team could no longer be described as a new team.

Although the average age of the players on their team is still the youngest in the league, and although most of their main starters are second- and third-year rookies, their mature performance on the field is completely comparable to that of a strong veteran team!

If before the start of this season, someone said that the Trail Blazers could sit at the top of the league's record list, I'm afraid no one would believe it!

Even Richard would not believe it...

But now they have really done it. After going through so many hardships, this devilish team seems to have not been affected at all. Not only has its record not declined, but it has skyrocketed!

Others don't know why, but Richard knows it very well.

These players in the team now have been really matured by Richard. They have seen so many big scenes, and almost everyone has been cultivated with a big heart...

Cultivated the character of perseverance and unwillingness to admit defeat!

…

At the end of January, the voting results for the NBA All-Stars are already out!

What shocked everyone was that the 19-year-old inside player Jermaine O'Neal of the Trail Blazers actually squeezed out the young leader of the Timberwolves, Kevin Garnett, and was successfully elected as the starting power forward of this year's All-Stars!

The starting center is O'Neal, and the starting power forward is O'Neal!

Such a voting result directly shocked the entire league. If O'Neal Jr. is a Lakers player, then this matter is acceptable. After all, being in a wealthy team like the Lakers, he is born with a large number of fans' attention. With O's statistics and performance, it is not difficult to get an All-Star starter...

After all, Kobe only played one start in the entire season, and his per-game statistics were completely inferior to that of O'Brien, so he was elected as an All-Star starter.

The key problem now is that Xiao Ou is not a player for a wealthy team like the Lakers at all, he is just a Trail Blazers player!

A Trail Blazers player, not even a star, with no advantage in statistics, actually became an All-Star starter? !

If you think about the Trail Blazers' current record and their actions that have always been popular, it is not difficult to explain why Ou was selected as the starter.

In terms of personal data, although O'Brien is not as good as Garnett, the player with the third most votes at the forward position, there is basically no gap.

The key is that the Trail Blazers' record is beating the Timberwolves...

Not to mention that Xiao Ao is younger than the Wolf King!

For various reasons, O'Brien was successfully elected as the starting forward for the Western Conference All-Stars this season!

Although Kobe has been suspended, it has not affected his popularity. There are not many fans in the league who dislike Stockton...

Kobe vented his anger for them, so naturally they will not be stingy with their votes!

As a result, Kobe was also selected as an All-Star, although he was only a substitute...

Last season, the Trail Blazers failed to win anything in the All-Star Game, and no player was qualified to participate in the All-Star Game. But this season, the situation is very good, at least two people have been selected!

As for Ben and Rashid, these two people sadly lost the election...

This was probably because of the style of play and the fierce competition. You should know that Duncan is only a substitute for the All-Stars.

As for Rasheed, he definitely has some strength. After all, he can get a good advantage in the head-to-head dialogue with Garnett...

As for why not many fans voted for him, only God knows.

Maybe it's because of his looks, maybe his playing style, maybe even his temper...

…

The loss of Ben and Rasheed undoubtedly made Richard regretful, but the young O'Brien and Kobe Bryant were selected as All-Stars, which made up for Richard's regret.

Richard naturally wants his players to be selected as All-Stars as many as possible...

Because of this year's All-Stars, Richard will appear as the coach of the Western Conference team!

The Trail Blazers currently rank first in the Western Conference record list, so Richard naturally becomes the head coach of the Western Conference All-Stars!