In the West, the Suns, relying on their run-and-gun tactics, achieved the best record in the West.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Suns' dominance continued, sweeping the Rockets led by McGrady out of the playoffs with a 4-0 victory.
The Suns' Big Three: Stoudemire averaged 22.8 points and 9 rebounds, Marion averaged 21.3 points and 12.5 rebounds, Joe Johnson averaged 20 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, and Nash averaged 15 points and 11.3 assists. This offensive firepower was too much for most teams to handle, let alone a Rockets team led solely by McGrady.
The Spurs swept the Grizzlies 4-0!
Led by Gasol, the Grizzlies finally made it to the playoffs, but they were no match for the defending champions, the Spurs. Especially the Grizzlies' defense, which was their lifeline, proved too immature and fragile against the Spurs' defense.
The SuperSonics defeated the Nuggets 4-1!
Ray Allen and Lewis combined their firepower, overwhelming the young Nuggets.
Although Anthony showed his talent and led the Nuggets, who hadn't made the playoffs in years, to the postseason, his task was considered complete.
The Mavericks defeated the Kings 4-1!
After clearing out Webber, the Kings had effectively announced the start of their rebuilding phase.
The peak Kings, who once competed with the Lakers and Spurs, were thus disbanded.
Although Peja and Bibby were still on the Kings, the team's overall strength was only at the level of a first-round playoff team in the West. It was very difficult to advance further.
The first round of the playoffs saw the defeat of the weaker teams and the advancement of the stronger ones.
Before the semifinals officially began, the regular season awards needed to be decided!
The competition for this season's most prestigious award, the regular season MVP, was primarily between Nash and He Xi Meng!
Following Payton and Kidd, another top point guard finally emerged to contend with He Xi Meng for the title of the league's best point guard!
In the first half of this season, thanks to Pierce's injury, He Xi Meng's scoring average even soared to nearly 30 points! This was accompanied by a decrease in his assist average.
In the latter half of the season, with the arrival of Carter, He Xi Meng's scoring burden began to decrease. Furthermore, He Xi Meng deliberately gave up some offensive possessions to develop the rookies, so his scoring average dropped from 30 points to around 25 points!
Correspondingly, He Xi Meng's assist average increased from 8.5 at the beginning of the season to 10.9, and finally settled at 11.1!
An average of 11.1 assists is definitely the standard for a top point guard!
But this season's Nash was extraordinary, averaging 11.5 assists!
Since the 1999-2000 season, He Xi Meng had monopolized the assist king title for 5 consecutive seasons, but this year it was officially passed on!
With the assist king's reign broken, He Xi Meng still maintained strong competitiveness on the scoring end!
An average of 25.6 points was slightly inferior to Iverson's 30.7 points, Kobe's 27.6 points, and James's 27.2 points.
However, it was at least at the same level as Nowitzki's 16.1 points, Stoudemire's 26 points, and McGrady's 25.7 points this season!
It was slightly better than Arenas, Carter, Wade, and Ray Allen, ranking seventh in the league!
Second in assists in the league, seventh in scoring in the league!
Only three players had both these stats in the league's top ten!
Besides He Xi Meng, the other two were Iverson and James!
Iverson averaged 30.7 points and 7.9 assists this season, ranking first in scoring and fifth in assists in the league!
James averaged 27.2 points and 7.2 assists this season, ranking third in scoring and sixth in assists in the league!
If not for their teams' poor records, Iverson and James would have been strong contenders for the regular season MVP!
Nash led the league in assists, but his scoring was somewhat low, averaging 15.5 points, which only ranked fiftieth in the league, truly unremarkable.
However, he couldn't overcome the Suns' league-leading record this season, which is why Nash became a strong contender for the regular season MVP!
The question was, the Celtics' record improvement was also considerable!
After all, last season the Celtics were a team hovering at the doorstep of the Eastern Conference playoffs, and now they had surged to second place in the East!
Moreover, it was evident that they had held back in the regular season and had not fully displayed the team's potential...
The final competition between the two was very fierce. Ultimately, He Xi Meng, with a slim margin of 1 vote, defeated Nash to be crowned the regular season MVP for the 2004-2005 season!
This was He Xi Meng's second regular season MVP trophy, brought home two seasons later.
This season's Defensive Player of the Year award went to Ben Wallace of the Pistons.
This season's Most Improved Player award went to Boris Diaw of the Suns.
This season's Sixth Man of the Year award went to Mike Miller of the Grizzlies.
This season's Rookie of the Year award went to Emeka Okafor of the Bobcats.
This season's Coach of the Year award went to Mike D'Antoni of the Suns, not to Doc Rivers of the Celtics!
This could be considered a form of balance from the league!
Since He Xi Meng defeated Nash to win the regular season MVP, D'Antoni could only win Coach of the Year by defeating Rivers. You couldn't let one team take all the benefits, could you?
Among the individual statistical leaders, Iverson, with 30.7 points, reclaimed the scoring title from McGrady!
However, there seemed to be a curse in the league: teams whose players won the scoring title generally did not have good records.
This was the case for McGrady's former team, the Magic, and it was also true for Iverson's 76ers.
Garnett was crowned the rebounding king with 13.5 rebounds!
Nash was crowned the assist king with 11.5 assists!
Camby was crowned the block king with 3.3 blocks!
Larry Hughes was crowned the steal king with 2.9 steals!
In the subsequent All-NBA selections, He Xi Meng and Nash, together, were selected to the All-NBA First Team!
In addition to them, the other three members of the All-NBA First Team were O'Neal, Duncan, and Nowitzki.
O'Neal, defeating Yao Ming, was once again selected to the First Team.
Yao Ming was relegated to the Second Team, where he was joined by Garnett, James, Kobe, and Iverson.
Carter was relegated to the Third Team, where he was joined by Ben Wallace, Stoudemire, McGrady, and Ray Allen.
With three core players from the Celtics selected to the All-NBA teams, they had a more impressive showing than the defending champion Spurs!
However, when it came to the All-Defensive teams, the Celtics were far inferior to the defending champion Spurs!
Two Spurs players were selected to the All-Defensive First Team: Duncan and Bowen!
One player was selected to the All-Defensive Second Team: Prince!
With three players on the All-Defensive teams, this configuration was truly remarkable!
Even though the Spurs' regular season performance was not as flashy as the Suns', when it came to the playoffs, it was hard to say who would dominate whom...
The final list for the All-Defensive First Team: Bowen, Duncan, Ben Wallace, Garnett, Larry Hughes.
The final list for the All-Defensive Second Team: Billups, Prince, Camby, Kirilenko, Wade.