Chapter 534: Playoff Matchups

The 2014-15 regular season has finally come to an end.

The standings for the Eastern and Western Conference teams have been finalized...

Eastern Conference Top Eight:

- Atlanta Hawks: 60 wins, 22 losses

- Chicago Bulls: 53 wins, 29 losses

- Toronto Raptors: 51 wins, 31 losses

- Washington Wizards: 47 wins, 35 losses

- Indiana Pacers: 46 wins, 36 losses

- Milwaukee Bucks: 43 wins, 39 losses

- Miami Heat: 41 wins, 41 losses

- Boston Celtics: 40 wins, 42 losses

Western Conference Top Eight:

- Phoenix Suns: 80 wins, 2 losses

- Los Angeles Lakers: 59 wins, 23 losses

- Houston Rockets: 56 wins, 26 losses

- Portland Trail Blazers: 53 wins, 29 losses

- Memphis Grizzlies: 51 wins, 31 losses

- San Antonio Spurs: 47 wins, 35 losses

- Golden State Warriors: 45 wins, 37 losses

- Dallas Mavericks: 40 wins, 42 losses

Among these sixteen teams, if there is one team that stands out, it is undoubtedly the Phoenix Suns.

80 wins and 2 losses!

Such a record could only happen in this context.

It is enough to make the entire league tremble. Because of the Suns' terrifying record, no other Western team had more than 60 wins; after all, for most Western teams, just meeting the Suns meant certain defeat. Thus, their win totals had to be adjusted downwards.

The playoff matchups have also been announced.

Western Conference First Round Matches:

- Suns vs. Mavericks

- Lakers vs. Warriors

- Rockets vs. Spurs

- Trail Blazers vs. Grizzlies

Eastern Conference First Round Matches:

- Hawks vs. Celtics

- Bulls vs. Heat

- Raptors vs. Bucks

- Wizards vs. Pacers

As for the various statistical rankings this season, I won't go into detail but will simply list the top three...

Scoring Leaders:

- Wade Dong: 33.7 points

- LeBron James: 29.3 points

- Russell Westbrook: 28.1 points

Rebounding Leaders:

- DeAndre Jordan: 15.0 rebounds

- Andre Drummond: 13.7 rebounds

- Wade Dong: 13.3 rebounds

Assists Leaders:

- Wade Dong: 12.9 assists

- Chris Paul: 10.1 assists

- John Wall: 10.0 assists

Steals Leaders:

- Wade Dong: 4.9 steals

- Kawhi Leonard: 2.7 steals

- Russell Westbrook: 2.5 steals

Blocks Leaders:

- Wade Dong: 4.3 blocks

- Anthony Davis: 2.9 blocks

- Serge Ibaka: 2.4 blocks

From these rankings, it can be seen that Wade Dong is not just a scorer; aside from rebounding where he ranks third, his scoring lead is the narrowest compared to the second place. In terms of steals and blocks, even if Leonard and Davis were given an extra hand, they might still not catch up to Wade Dong.

.....

As the sixteen teams made their final preparations for the playoffs, Wade Dong had quietly returned to China.

Given the strength of the Suns, he wasn't worried about losing in the first round of playoffs or even in the finals... If they were to lose, Durant and Curry wouldn't need to be in the league anymore.

This Suns team could field any player and still be a top-tier team in the league.

Li Jiajia's belly had grown quite large; her hands and feet were slightly swollen—these were normal symptoms in late pregnancy.

Now, the Wei family could be considered a prominent family; however, Li Jiajia was not overly pampered. Besides regular check-ups, she did not trouble anyone; even when Professor Yuan wanted to arrange two family doctors for her, she politely declined.

"Wow, Jiajia your little face is so cute and round..."

As soon as Wade Dong entered the house, he noticed Li Jiajia's face was a bit rounder than before and couldn't help but pinch her cheek.

"Stop it!"

Qi Juan rushed over to swat Wade's hand away when she saw his action. "You're so strong; don't hurt Jiajia!"

"Mom..."

Wade Dong's tone was somewhat dissatisfied. "Am I not your biological son?"

"Hmph~!"

Qi Juan said proudly, "Whether you are my biological son or not doesn't matter anymore; I just want my biological grandson."

Wade Dong was left speechless.

If there was anyone in this world who could make Wade feel restrained, it had to be Qi Juan—this was bloodline suppression.

During his time back in China, Wade Dong didn't have much to do.

The chores like laundry and cooking were all taken care of by others; what he could do was accompany Li Jiajia for walks morning and evening—especially at night since walking helped with labor preparation; thus this hour-long stroll was essential.

During other times, Li Jiajia would sit quietly in the yard reading while Wade sat across from her quietly watching her.

Why wasn't Wade reading?

Because... Li Jiajia was much more beautiful than any book.

During his time back home, Guo Zifeng and Zhang Yang had both visited; Wang Xingya also frequently came over to chat with Li Jiajia since she had given birth before and aimed to alleviate Li Jiajia's pre-birth fears.

The day before playoffs began,

Zhang Yang and Guo Zifeng had lunch at Wade's house; the four of them sat on the villa's rooftop drinking tea and chatting.

Zhang Yang and Wade sat at the edge of the rooftop where they could see Li Jiajia and Wang Xingya holding hands and chatting in the yard. Zhang Yang lit a cigarette and said, "Dong Ge, I think you should start planning your idea sooner."

"What do you mean?" 

Wade looked at Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang continued, "You want to donate to establish a comprehensive sports university; this is a very meaningful endeavor so I think there's no need to keep delaying it."

"I think so too."

Wade nodded in agreement. "The sooner we start construction and open admissions, the more we can contribute to national sports development."

"There are many sports in our country that rank among the world's best; however, there are also many that fall short—like soccer—and also..."

Zhang Yang paused before continuing his thought. "Also basketball; we can't think that just because we've won Olympic gold medals or World Cup championships that Chinese men's basketball has risen—it's because of your presence that we've achieved this success; without you here our overall strength still lags behind strong countries like America and Europe."

Wade replied, "My idea is to donate towards establishing a multi-level school covering high school and university levels where some outstanding kids can be selected starting from middle school—these selection criteria would include not only sports but also academic performance."

"That makes sense."

After finishing a cigarette, Zhang Yang said, "So let's get started on this now—it's only about five hundred billion yuan! The three of us can pool together enough!"

This was indeed Zhang Yang's main point.

Wade's primary enterprise was Wei Dong Group; with its development he might still need two or three years to gather five hundred billion yuan but charitable endeavors should ideally not be delayed...

"Okay..."

Wade looked at Zhang Yang with a smile on his face as he said, "I think it's feasible; after I retire I'll go work as an ordinary teacher at that school."

Regarding this university project, Wade discussed some key points with Guo Zifeng as well.

With Wade's influence in the league he could easily facilitate students from this school entering NBA drafts or even form a team from this school to join NCAA competitions—this could definitely be arranged.

This way some domestic players would have opportunities to compete against American players during their college years.