Chapter 884: 379. Little Fatty: Although sothing seems off, it looks like a big win with no loss!
Evening approached, and at Charlotte’s Tuhang Stadium, the referee notified both teams’ starters to take the court. The second ga of the series between the Bobcats and the Hawks was about to begin.
Pierce gathered his teammates together. Standing in the middle with Bibby, Joe Johnson, Horford, and Pachulia, he delivered a motivational speech before shouting, “Take down the Bad Boys Legion.”
The words Pierce spoke earlier might not have been fully absorbed by his teammates, but his final shout rallied everyone, even Bibby joined in with a shout.
On the other side, Felton observed the strong montum of the opposing team. They hadn’t lost their fighting spirit despite the 23-point blowout in the first ga, and instead seed angrier due to the crushing defeat.
Take Pierce for example; before Ga 1, he was all smiles with his fellow star teammates. This ti, he barely exchanged pleasantries and was devoid of any smile.
Realizing their own montum seed weaker, Felton decided to step up too.
He called his teammates together and offered so motivational words. But when he tried to deliver the final shout, he froze. Just then, a handso face appeared beside him, saying, “Jas is the strongest small forward.” Instinctively, Felton shouted it out, and the teammates waiting for a rallying cry echoed it without thinking.
But right after the shout, the teammates looked at their leader in bewildernt.
Felton was stunned too. How did he shout that? It seed he heard the voice of his little brother just now?
Before he could figure it out, he felt a gaze sharp enough to cut through him. Looking over, he saw Pierce gritting his teeth, glaring at him.
Four months ago, Pierce didn’t care about the new generation of stars at all. He only felt motivated when facing players like Iverson, Kobe, Ray Allen, Marbury, McGrady, Baron Davis… who entered the NBA in the sa era as him. Playing against others didn’t matter to him.
Even early this season, when he was competing with Ainge, leading his team to win tirelessly to sabotage the managent’s tanking plans, he didn’t specifically target anyone.
But after joining the Hawks and regaining his passion, things were different — he wanted to compete with everyone.
Originally, he just looked down on Jas, but after hitting a ga-winning shot during a match against the Cavaliers, helping the Hawks beat them 115 to 113, only to be cursed by so extre fans… he started to hate Jas.
Those fans are a classic example of one fan ruining the reputation for ten haters.
Reviewing Pierce’s confrontational news after joining the Hawks, eight out of ten tis, he was dissing Jas.
At the end of the regular season, when the dia predicted the best in teams, Jas, second in the scoring list, who led his team to fifth in the East and showed significant defensive improvent compared to previous years, again beca a hot favorite for the first team (Best teams cover defensive performance).
Before the playoffs, Pierce took the initiative in an interview, declaring that a player who couldn’t even pass the first round didn’t deserve to be in the first team.
Upon hearing this, McGrady’s fans reacted even more intensely than Jas’s fans, of course, Jas’s fans also reacted strongly…
So, when Pierce heard Felton shouting “Jas is the first small forward,” he gritted his teeth in anger.
Felton, not yet fully understanding the situation, heard the referee urging both teams to send their starters to the court; the live broadcast ti was approaching. He had no choice but to quickly follow Zhang Yang onto the court, with the other three starters being Mike Miller, Okafor, and Brad Miller.
Felton hurried to Zhang Yang’s side and demanded, “Why did you make shout that?”
Zhang Yang replied, “I just said sothing casually, I didn’t make you shout it… Cough, Boss, you don’t need to feel embarrassed about saying that. Think about it, Jas is the top small forward, but he’s never beaten us. We have a 20-ga winning streak against the Cavaliers. Praising him is like praising ourselves, and it also provokes Pierce.”
Felton looked over at Pierce again, who continued glaring at him viciously. Though he felt sothing was off, he found his little brother’s words so sensible!
Self-praise while also provoking Pierce—why does it feel like a win-win situation?
No matter, he adjusted his previous thinking—what he wanted was for Pierce to be angry and irrational. If Pierce played recklessly out of anger, that would be perfect. He had his little brother with him!
…
At 7 PM, as Okafor once again beat Horford to win the jump ball, the ga began, and the Bobcats had the first attack!
Zhang Yang received the ball in the frontcourt.
In the last ga, Carlisle had Zhang Yang start without the ball to see how the Hawks would defend against their team offense.
After confirming their opponents had no defensive system at all and even their basic defense was poor, there was no need for Zhang Yang to start without the ball this ti. They went all out with a strong attack from the start, aiming to establish an early advantage!
Zhang Yang launched a solo attack. Pierce understood he couldn’t cover both drives and shots, so he focused on defending the shot and relied on his teammates for the back defense, opting for a double team.
Zhang Yang successfully penetrated the interior, passed back the ball… Brad Miller, timing it perfectly, moved to the high post, caught the ball on the left side of the free-throw line for a mid-range shot… Scored!
Switching defense, Pierce initiated the Hawks’ first attack.
He forcefully drove past Zhang Yang into the paint, drawing a double team, then passed to the left side… After Horford screened for Joe Johnson, he pulled away, and both Mike Miller and Okafor went chasing Joe Johnson, allowing Horford to receive the ball one step outside the elbow area for a mid-range jumper and scored!
Pierce played very aggressively, yet his choices were highly calculated.
Zhang Yang wasn’t surprised; this guy tends to thrive more under pressure in the playoffs, and the greater the adversity, the better he withstands it.
The trash talk before the ga was useful at best, and irrelevant at worst, as it was just a bit of mouthing off from the Boss anyway. Besides, its ineffectiveness tonight doesn’t an it would be ineffective later. Even if Pierce can bear pressure, he has his limits.
Putting that aside, Zhang Yang ran across the court, fully imrsing himself in the offensive duel.
After a few rounds, the Bobcats called a tiout with the teams tied at 11 to 13 in the opening.
Both teams had the sa number of field goals to start with, both going 4 out of 7 for an over 50% shooting start, and free throws were identical, with both hitting 3 out of 4.
However, on the Hawks’ side, Bibby made a responsive three-pointer, and Joe Johnson hit a long-distance catch-and-shoot three beyond the arc, putting the Hawks two points ahead of the Bobcats going into the tiout!
Just as the trio analyzed yesterday, the crushing defeat in the first ga didn’t make the three big stars on the opposing side lose their fighting spirit; rather, they played even more furiously tonight.
Nonetheless, even though they were trailing behind, Carlisle wasn’t angry; instead, he was glad that he had Zhang Yang initiate the offense at the start, utilizing Zhang Yang’s threat to produce better team coordination at the start. Their shooting touch tonight wasn’t as fiery as the last ga, and if Felton and Okafor had been the primary attackers at the start like in the last ga, the trailing gap would likely have been bigger.
The tiout was called not for anything else, but simply because it was lineup rotation ti, with an added emphasis on so tactical details.
After the tiout, Carlisle substituted Mike Miller and Brad Miller off the court and brought in Hill and Muhammad.
On the Hawks’ side, there was also a rotation, substituting just one player, with Othella Harrington replacing Pachulia.
Except for Pachulia, the other four starters for the Hawks all played over 35 minutes, especially Pierce and Joe Johnson, each playing over 40 minutes.
After the tiout, the Hawks continued a fierce attack under the leadership of the three big stars, trying to capitalize on the montum at the start to further widen the lead… but they failed.
After the Bobcats made lineup rotations, their offensive firepower did not diminish. Instead, with enhanced mobility in the paint, they were better at contesting, withstanding the Hawks’ ferocious firepower!
After the Bobcats’ tiout, Zhang Yang continued to initiate the primary offensive plays. Carlisle’s adjustnt further reduced Millsap’s playmaking pressure, allowing Zhang Yang to maximize attention from the defense.
The teams entered a stalemate, and at 9:11 of the first quarter, Hill received the ball and executed a fake pass before making a drive, culminating in a floater in the paint, making the score 24 to 25, reducing the Hawks’ lead to just one point!
Seeing it approach the end of the period without establishing a significant lead, Bibby prepared to take action with the two teammates and make a push at the end of the period to establish an advantage.
However, they hadn’t started before the other side did!
Bibby missed a long two from a step back on a single play, only to have Felton overpower him on the other end, penetrating for a close-range floater to turn the score over for the Bobcats! 26 to 25!
During the next Bobcats’ offensive play, Okafor, having rested for a few minutes, posted up low against Horford, spun into the basket for a one-handed slam, scoring two points.
For the first 9-plus minutes, Zhang Yang initiated the majority of the offensive plays. Okafor played for more than three minutes before Carlisle called a tiout to substitute him, all for now!
Under Felton and Okafor’s lead with single plays, the Bobcats scored 9 points in the final 2 minutes and 49 seconds of the first quarter.
On the Hawks’ side, Bibby wanted to lead a fierce attack, but they fought hard from the very start. By the mid-first quarter, with a 2-point advantage, they began going all out. By the end of the quarter, Bibby wanted to pick up the pace, but they had already entered a downturn following their earlier high, and his aggressive signals only made his teammates more anxious, getting just 5 points in the last two-plus minutes.
By the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats turned the ga around with a 33 to 30 lead over the Hawks, going into the break with a 3-point lead!
Woodson saw the back-to-back single-basket successes by Felton and Okafor and recognized Carlisle’s strategic intentions for the Bobcats.
During the early and mid-first quarter, he truly didn’t expect that the opponent would be willing to have Zhang Yang do the hard, grueling work to preserve stamina for Felton and Okafor.
The main surprise was that Zhang Yang didn’t resist this arrangent; instead, he firmly executed it!
Although Woodson felt envy, jealousy, and resentnt towards Carlisle, he had to acknowledge the fellow competitor, who played in the NBA during the sa era, served as an assistant coach during the sa ti, and also started his head coaching career around the sa ti, really had the courage to think and act boldly.
Regarding Zhang Yang, Woodson developed a newfound admiration—he is the Scoring King, yet he willingly played the supportive role!
After seeing through the opponent’s ga strategy tonight, Woodson still couldn’t prevent it; he couldn’t not double-team that Bad Boy, right? Even their best defender, Pierce, couldn’t stop him!
In the current situation, he could only trust his players and leave the offense to the three big stars; what he could do was manage the lineup combinations and control the rotation tis nicely!
Reviews
All reviews (0)