At last, Kobe and the Lakers Team were swept out of the playoffs by the Supersonics with a 0-4 defeat in the first round.
Unintentionally, Kobe created a humiliating record: over the past few years, he had been eliminated by Yu Fei-led teams in the first round, the semifinals, the conference finals, and the finals.
Just before the semifinals began, the League announced the winners of the regular season's major awards.
Yu Fei, Wade, Durant, James, and Yao Ming were selected for the first team of the best line-up.
At this time, Yao Ming had completely transformed from a traditional center to a space-oriented center. Although this might not have been Yao Ming's peak form, it certainly was the most abstract. The "abstract" aspect of this version of Yao Ming lay in the fact that if the young Yao Ming saw his current self, he probably couldn't help but criticize: "Damn, aside from shooting threes what else can you do? You've totally disgraced me!"
