In the evening, Zhang Yang sent Emma Roberts onto a flight to New York, and he himself boarded the team charter to fly back to Charlotte. They agreed to et again at the MVP award ceremony... The first rest day before the playoffs just went by like that.
The next day, on the morning of the 22nd, Zhang Yang attended the team’s preparation eting, participated in the fan appreciation event hosted by the team in the afternoon, and celebrated with the whole team in the evening.
The schedule was tight. Originally, the fan appreciation event and team celebration were supposed to happen yesterday; they should have flown back early in the morning to get busy with these activities. But there was no way around it; Zhang San called out ’partyti,’ and Boss Qiao, who always liked to show off, naturally had to make arrangents, so they delayed for a day.
However, it’s not too bad. Although the first day of the playoffs is on the 24th, the Bobcats are ranked first in the league, so they start the playoffs on the second matchday. Zhang Yang tasted the privilege of being first in the league for the first ti.
On the 23rd, the Bobcats began intensive preparation training. Zhang Yang trained very focused, knowing his importance to the team. He had to be the best in training and set a good example, also to be able to adjust his play instantly whenever the team switched tactics.
However, it wasn’t long before he found out that the imaginary opponents in training weren’t just the first-round opponents... No, to be precise, targeted training for first-round opponents was scarce. Most of the tactical training content was still about ’deep adjustnts.’
He had a satisfying feeling of not considering the first-round opponents as significant...
He also liked the primary response thod for the first round — give the ball to the Double Guns.
Vaguely felt that Coach was being lazy.
The ti reached noon on the 24th, a day and a half of intense training ended, and the final preparation work before the Bobcats’ playoffs ended. Afternoon was a rest period.
Most of his teammates left, but Zhang Yang planned to add more training for half an afternoon. This preparation training wasn’t difficult for him since most of the tactics were designed around his characteristics. Even the dual Millers’ double coordination tactics were aid at his positioning and containnt style. The difficulty of learning tactics actually lay with the teammates.
During lunchti after a nutrient al, Zhang Yang browsed so news.
The topic trend after this year’s regular season ended was sowhat special.
In past years, after the regular season ended, fans of major popular stars would argue fiercely, debating who was stronger, who perford better this season, and who led their team the best. The dia also loved to guide such topics, but there was none this year.
Regarding the teams, even though the Spurs amazed everyone starting mid-season and once surpassed the Bobcats before the 19-ga winning streak in terms of hype, in the two days after the regular season ended, their performance didn’t garner much discussion.
At this mont, just like the impression in Zhang Yang’s mind of monts back then, in his mory of the 15-16 season, Duncan, in his farewell season, shone again in his role as a supporting veteran. In his retirent season, he delivered a performance efficiency nearly equivalent to his rookie season, assisting Leonard in leading the team to 67 wins and breaking the team’s best record in history... yet after the season ended, no one discussed how they achieved what could be ranked as the fourth-best historical achievent.
Because the first was too dazzling, stealing all the spotlight.
Regarding players, as the star of the first-place team, though his personal performance wasn’t necessarily the best, in terms of influence on the team, Howard could be considered as the league’s unrivaled choice this season; in terms of ga efficiency, Jas was the strongest; regarding individual victory contribution rate, Paul was the best, Wade second... but considering team performance, statistics, and awards, he, Zhang San, was the undisputed first.
Besides that, he had another matter attracting attention. Although as the new Three-Point King he averaged 3.2 three-pointers made per ga, his three-point shooting percentage of 40.6% wasn’t very notable. He refreshed many fans’ inherent impressions of three-point shooting styles. There were players who took wild long shots before, but in fans’ eyes, he’s no longer wild but crazy.
Zhang Yang and the Bobcats stole all the spotlight at the end of the regular season, but he felt they were actually affected.
The dia unanimously praised him, with few opposing voices. When the discussion reached an extre, it couldn’t continue to rise. In practical terms, the discussion was not as high as when the Bulls claid ’I am the first, second, and third in history’ after reaching 68 wins last year.
The topic shift ca quickly. dia and fans’ attention turned to several popular first-round matchups starting the third day after the regular season ended.
The first-round indeed had a lot of highlights this year. In the West, starting the playoffs with 50 wins, every group has sothing to watch.
Spurs VS Jazz Team, a tactical battle between two of the top three coaches in the West.
Lakers VS Mavericks, Kidd is considered Billups’ psychological shadow, and Nowitzki vs. Garnett is worth watching. But Kobe can only be reduced to comparing with Terry.
Nuggets Team VS Hornets, Iverson VS Paul, a duel between four major No. 3 stars.
Trail Blazers VS Grizzlies, Roy, Aldridge, Oden, against Parker, Gerald Wallace, Gasol, Trail Blazers have more money and better roster depth, Grizzlies stars are more mature, and their lineup structure is better albeit not as strong in depth compared to the opponent. Both teams are considered unlucky to be in the West, adding 3-5 wins would easily achieve a 55-win record.
In the East, only the Cavaliers and 76ers series seed without suspense and lacked highlights, as Iguodala couldn’t hold up the box office, and the broadcast relied heavily on Jas.
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