Chapter 1208: Chapter 492: Fortune Favors the Bold, Cowards Go Hungry
He did alright, hitting 3 out of 7 shots, including 1 out of 1 for three-pointers. No free throws, scored 7 points, not too bad, but couldn’t get more tries, the double-team was too fierce.
The reason the double-team was fierce was because his teammates at the wings couldn’t hit any shots. Pierce and Joe Johnson from the other side, even substitutes like Morris Evans and Ronald Murray ca up to the top arc to join in the double team on him!
The highest scorer among his teammates was Pietrus, thanks to Carlisle’s tily adaptation. Seeing the wing role players left open for shots, he subbed in the powerful Pietrus, who cut and attacked the basket, making 2 out of 4 shots plus 2 out of 3 free throws for 6 points.
Besides their 13 points, only Okafor scored 2 points, and Felton took advantage of a rare opportunity to hit a corner three. The whole team scored 18 points in the quarter!
On the other side, the Hawks steadily secured 23 points in the third quarter.
After three quarters, the Hawks expanded their lead to 10 points, leading the Bobcats 84 to 74!
In the final quarter, the Bobcats’ offensive firepower finally revived a bit, scoring 24 points in the quarter, and fought like mad on defense, limiting the fatigued Hawks to just 19 points in the quarter, but unfortunately, they lost too much in the second and third quarters…
Zhang Yang 35 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, Felton 12 points, 7 assists, Okafor 14 points, 12 rebounds, Pietrus 15 points, Millsap 8 points, 11 rebounds… unable to beat Joe Johnson’s 31 points, Pierce’s 22 points, Morris Evans’ 16 points, Bibby’s 13 points, 14 assists.
103 to 98, the Hawks defeated the Bobcats on the road to even the score to 1-1!
…
“Ask him for , was tonight’s ga interesting?”
The next morning, Zhang Yang saw a clip of last night’s post-ga interview with Pierce in the news.
Zhang San: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Got showed up by Pierce!
However, after last night’s ga, Zhang Yang felt a true sense of crisis for the first ti this playoffs!
After breakfast, before 9 o’clock, he took his little pals to the Tuhang Stadium to study last night’s ga footage.
In the afternoon’s post-ga review eting and team training, he also felt the crisis from his teammates, which actually settled his heart quite a bit. Losing ho advantage ant it had to be seized back!
After two days of rest, at 6:40 PM on May 13, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the Philips Arena. The away ga started.
Carlisle went all out tonight, dispatching Felton, Zhang Yang, Hill, Okafor, and Perkins as the starting lineup… activating the at grinder mode!
Learning from Bikstaff’s ‘if it seems doable, go big’ approach, Coach went for bold adjustnts, catching the Hawks off guard.
End of the first quarter, score: 22 to 18, Bobcats lead the Hawks by 4 points!
Though the gap was only 4 points, the Bobcats held the Hawks to their lowest scoring quarter in 3 gas!
Pierce and Joe Johnson were both 2 out of 6, Bibby only 2 out of 5; if not for Morris Evans, who carried over his good form from the last ga, making both a long two and a three for 5 points, the Hawks’ score would be lower.
Yet relying solely on this defense to suppress the Hawks’ three stars is impossible to maintain, and they regained their touch in the second quarter, as any of the three could be a key player on any strong team.
The trio combined for 16 points in the second quarter, Bibby scored 4 points, Pierce scored 5 points, Joe Johnson scored 7 points, plus Horford and Darius Songaila each scored 2 points, and Morris Evans made a three-pointer; the Hawks scored 23 points.
Fortunately, the Bobcats’ offensive firepower also improved slightly!
Since Okafor’s offensive presence was weak in the first two gas, and he ended up scoreless in the first quarter tonight as well, the Hawks seed to ignore him during the break, whether unintentionally or intentionally.
Little Duncan, ever-focused, seized the opportunity to strike a harsh blow to the Hawks, playing 8 minutes, making 3 out of 4 shots, plus 3 for 3 on free throws, scoring 9 points! Led the Bobcats to score 25 points in the quarter!
47 to 41, Bobcats lead the Hawks by 6 points at halfti!
During the half-ti break, Coach made bold adjustnts again, so aggressive that Zhang San thought Bikstaff the gambling dog was back…
After the second half began, as Carlisle analyzed, they couldn’t suppress the Hawks’ offense. In the third quarter, all four Hawks stars scored over 5 points, leading the team to 28 points!
But the Bobcats soared even higher, their focus at half-ti was on offensive adjustnts, Okafor scored 5, Zhang Yang 9, Felton 8, plus 9 from teammates, the whole team unleashed 31 points in the quarter.
The fully fired-up Hawks not only failed to close the gap, but were further widened by 3 points!
78 to 59, Bobcats lead the Hawks by 9 points going into the final quarter!
Fortune favors the bold, famine the timid!
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