Capítulo 1372: Chapter 543: The Second Half Drama (Part 5)
As ti passed day by day, in the next 14 gas, the Bobcats achieved an 11-3 record, performing quite well… but they also lost their chance to reach 60 wins this month.
By the end of March, the Bobcats’ record was 49 wins and 23 losses!
In these 14 gas, the hardest battle for the Bobcats wasn’t the away ga where they were defeated 96-108 by the shooting frenzy of the Chicago Bulls, nor was it the double-overti close win of 129-126 against the Magic Team, but rather the ga against those two guys from the ’03 draft class.
Facing the Miami Heat twice, the Bobcats narrowly won 101-95 in one ga and regretfully lost 89-94 in another. Wade scored 41 points in one ga and recorded a 33 10 11 triple-double in another, as if he used up all his saved-up energy to face Zhang Yang.
However, Zhang Yang himself had a blast playing. He scored 25 points with 10 assists in one ga and 48 points in another, basically going head-to-head with Wade.
The other ’03 draft class player who was on a rampage was Bosh, who played against the Bobcats on the road, shooting 16 out of 29, along with 6 out of 8 free throws, racking up 38 points and 14 rebounds, leading the Toronto Raptors to a 113-105 victory over the Bobcats, making headlines.
As usual, Bosh found it too comfortable playing against Okafor, a natural advantage.
Scoring high points wasn’t too difficult for Bosh at that ti. In his career so far, he’s had nine 40 point gas, ranking second among mid-generation inside players, just behind Stoudemire’s 14 tis (historically true).
Conversely, the ga against the first-place Cavaliers in the East was surprisingly easy for the Bobcats. Zhang Yang played 31 minutes, shot 9 of 17, including 3 of 5 three-pointers, and made 8 out of 8 free throws, scoring 29 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals, clocking out early. The Bobcats finally won 110-93 over the Cavaliers, with the largest lead reaching 22 points.
The Bobcats had prepared well for a hard-fought battle because the previous two encounters ended with a near-buzzer-beater and an overti ga. Although they won both, it exhausted them completely, so they didn’t expect that this ti the opponent would crumble at a single push.
Throughout the ga, the Cavaliers seed dispirited. Jas was cursing, and his teammates couldn’t muster any energy. With a 19-ga losing streak in the regular season and a 12-ga losing streak in the playoffs, after being reversed by the Bobcats in overti during the last encounter, not only was Jas’s ntality exploding, but the others’ were crumbling as well.
However, the Cavaliers’ performance in March was indeed disappointing.
Not too bad, but with a 10-6 record, compared to the previous 46-10 that had raised people’s expectations, it fell quite short.
Against the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns whom they had defeated before, they lost all gas. They were also defeated by the Chicago Bulls and the Bobcats, with an 11-ga record against strong teams from both East and West securing only 6 wins and 5 losses.
This month, or rather since the All-Star break, the best-performing team in the East was the Hawks, with a strong performance of 18 wins and 4 losses in 22 gas, aggressively entering the contest for second and third places in the East, ending March by pushing the Bobcats and the Magic Team out of the top four, ranking third with a 50-23 record, just behind the Cavaliers’ 56-16 and the Bulls’ 51-21.
On April 1st, the League announced the new monthly awards.
The winner for the East was… Wade!
The Miami Heat’s 9-7 record didn’t look too impressive, but Wade averaged 31.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 7 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks per month, with a 51% shooting rate. When it ca to the contest for playoff spots, last season’s unrivaled Flash was back again!
As weaker Eastern teams were being harvested as chives for wins by the top six strong teams, he single-handedly resisted the strong teams’ harvest.
He led his team to edge out Granger, DeRozan, and Murphy’s Pacers, and the Knicks led by Harden, David Lee, and Al Harrington, holding firmly onto the eighth spot in the East.
In the West, every month had a new na for the best player, and this month, a new na appeared—Derek Rose!
With Durant maintaining an average of 30 points, Rose, who averaged 17 points and 7 assists in the first four months, exploded with an average of 25.5 points and 5.8 assists in 16 gas during the month, leading the team with Durant to an 11-5 record, strongly pulling down the Paul-less Hornets and the Nuggets, who perford well in the first half but fell back in the latter half, pushing into the top eight in the West… eighth!
In mid-March, after giving everything for a few months, Paul fell on the court.
Averaging 22.4 points, ranking first among point guards; 5 rebounds, fourth among point guards, only trailing behind Westbrook, Evans, and Rondo, with Kidd’s playing ti reduced, lowering his rebounds, though even with Kidd there, Paul would still be in the top five among point guards; Assists, averaging 11.2 per ga, second in the League, only behind Nash’s 11.5; Steals, averaging 2.4 per ga, second in the League, only behind Zhang Yang’s 2.9 steals per ga.
While pulling off an absolutely MVP-level performance personally, he also led the team in the Western playoff race for a long ti. This season, Paul reached the peak of personal performance… but once he fell, the Hornets dropped out of the playoff picture within a week, not even lasting until the end of March.
When Zhang Yang heard that Paul was out for the season due to a knee injury, he could only express regret and acknowledged it was inevitable. Paul’s playing style does not last as long as the Bulls’ Rose; both have imnse pressure on their knees and ankles.
Moreover, the Hornets’ roster has never been impressive. After surprising other teams once in the 07-08 season, they were targeted the following year, and now the Hornets’ owner is going bankrupt, unwilling to invest, even weakening the roster. No matter who leads, they can’t carry this team. Anyway, Zhang San feels that even if he led the Hornets, he wouldn’t achieve better results than Paul.
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