Chapter 1188: Chapter 486: Go Big or Go Ho!
But the other three groups are all very intriguing.
The Magic vs. the Bulls, featuring the league’s top center who averages over 20 points per ga, first in rebounds, and first in blocks, capable of defending the entire elbow area alone, and also competent at switching to the periter, going up against Yao Ming, who ranks first in scoring and rim protection among centers, is the biggest highlight of the first round; there’s no competition. Great centers always draw attention.
The Hawks vs. the Celtics is about Pierce facing his forr team, a match-up between the contemporary Jordan and Super Jordan is also worth watching.
The Bobcats vs. the Heat is another duel among the four top number 3 stars, a topic that has remained popular for the past three years and is an unforgettable classic matchup for this generation of fans.
However, when Zhang Yang browsed the forum this ti, he found that fans were once again intensely discussing their Bobcats achieving 70 wins. Is it because the playoffs are starting tomorrow?
After reading a few posts, he understood the reason—ESPN followed up on the Bulls fans’ chant of ‘Welco to the 70-win club’ after their final ga and set up sub-pages for ’60-win club,’ ’65-win club,’ and ’70-win club’ on their website.
This creation quickly sparked heated discussions among fans. There are quite a few teams in history that have achieved 60 wins, but only a handful have reached 65, and just two have reached 70.
As one of the only two mbers of the ’70-win club’ and being the most recent addition, the Bobcats once again beca a hot topic, and now they have comparables—69-win Bulls, 69-win Lakers, 72-win Bulls.
This led to more discussion about the Bobcats than in the past two days!
Zhang Yang was quite surprised. Is ESPN starting to support him? No way! It’s heard that King and his team already hold shares in multiple dia outlets, building a comrcial interest group over the past six years.
He read so more posts and paid attention to the discussion topics, realizing the Royal dia had ulterior motives!
ESPN is pretending to praise but actually wants to undermine the impact of 70 wins!
He rembered that just on the evening of the 20th, when the regular season ended, their 70 wins were called a ‘miracle,’ just like the 72 wins were considered an unrepeatable performance.
But after the ’70-win club’ was officially introduced, fans started discussing which team might achieve 70 wins in the future, like that kid in flip-flops launching a missile at the U.S. aircraft carrier after the Eagles’ performance.
Zhang Yang wasn’t too bothered by this. After they got the 70 wins, a 70 win record was no longer unique, and situations like this were bound to happen sooner or later; ESPN just pushed it forward a bit. It’s not a big deal.
After browsing the forum for a bit, he took a half-hour nap and got up to do extra training, receiving good news from Tellem—AJ plans to release the ‘Zhang Yang Fourth Generation 70 Wins Commorative Edition’ sneaker.
He called Tellem back to talk about it, and they both thought it was a good thing. Releasing too many signature shoes in a year might affect average sales, but with more signature shoes nad after his brand, his personal brand’s ‘independence’ becos increasingly evident, which is beneficial for the plan he, Zhang Dad, and Tellem discussed during the Olympics.
…
In the afternoon, Zhang Yang did two hours of extra training. He finished at 4 PM, took a shower and therapy, and returned to his parents’ ho for dinner in the evening. He inquired about which ga they wanted to watch, sent information in advance to the team to reserve tickets, and didn’t forget the ticket connections in Compton for a few friends.
After dinner, Zhang Yang watched the live broadcast of the Bulls and Magic ga with his parents and brother… What a pity for the Beast, ridden by the Little Giant!
Howard played for 43 minutes, made 3 out of 10 shots, and with 5 out of 8 free throws, scored 11 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, made 3 assists, blocked 5 shots, and committed 6 turnovers… He was forced to start coordinating the ball distribution!
Yao Ming made 8 out of 16 shots and 9 out of 9 free throws, scoring 25 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, making 2 assists, getting 1 steal, and blocking 2 shots.
The score was 85 to 78, with the Bulls imdiately taking the ho court advantage.
After watching the live broadcast, Zhang Yang regretfully said: “The strongest Magic team in history will be gone after the first round, with no chance to face them.”
Yang Jing: “It’s alright; if we can’t play them this year, there’s always next year or the year after. Turkoglu, Nelson, Lewis, and Howard are all at their peak. Their peak should be sustainable for three to four years, right?”
Zhang Yang: “Theoretically, yes, but Turkoglu’s contract is up this year, and the Magic might not keep him.”
Yang Jing: “Huh? Are they crazy?”
Zhang Chen chid in: “I read in the news that the Magic and Turkoglu didn’t reach an agreent on an early renewal during February, and haven’t discussed renewing since. Turkoglu wants a six-year long-term contract with a ten million annual salary, but the Magic are only willing to offer a short contract or a lower salary long contract because Turkoglu is already 30.”
Yang Jing: “When renewing contracts with outstanding 30-year-old veterans, an NBA unwritten rule should be to prepare for supporting them in retirent during the last two to three years, right?”
Zhang Yang laughed: “Other teams might have this mutual understanding with players and adhere to those rules, but that’s Orlando. They even hesitated on big contracts for O’Neal, let alone a 30-year-old Turkoglu.”
Yang Jing: “I forgot they are from Florida; that makes sense…”
After finishing the live broadcast, it was already 10:30 PM. Zhang Yang said goodnight to his parents and Little Wukong, then returned to his room to shower and sleep, browsing so news as usual before bed.
Today’s other three series’ first gas went exactly as expected, with the Cavaliers vs. the 76ers being the least suspenseful match, as the Cavaliers crushed the 76ers 94 to 77.
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