Because the schedule was short, and there were few encounters between teams from the East and West, the gap in their records was not large.
The first-placed Heat had 39 wins, the Hawks had 36, and the third and fourth places had respectively 33 wins each.
In the West, the Spurs and Jazz both had 37 wins, the Trail Blazers had 35, and the Lakers had 31.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Hawks easily dealt with the Milwaukee Bucks.
This was Roger's first time encountering a team led by the '96 generation in the playoffs. Ray Allen began to show his edge, producing a nearly perfect personal performance with an average of 22.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game. His shooting percentage was 53.2%, and his three-point shooting percentage was 47.4%.
But surprisingly, Gentleman Ray's free-throw shooting percentage was only 61.5%.
