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Chapter 204 - 115. Fierce Battle!

Chapter 204: 115. Fierce Battle!

At 5:40 PM at the Charlotte Sports Arena, the visiting Knights team entered the court.

Zhang Yang stood at the entrance of the players’ tunnel, watching as the fans on-site sent deafening jeers to the visiting James.

Newspapers, television, the internet... With few media resources on their side, they were being dominated by the opposition.

From his teammates, he felt the helplessness of those who were in the enemy camp of King James, whose media and fan base were too vast, whether responding or not, they couldn’t turn the tide of public opinion.

Their voices were drowned out, ridiculously dissed by the opposing fans, and if they didn’t respond, they were mocked.

He could view public opinion calmly because he had seen the even more brutal public opinion environments faced by James’s opponents, who would become the league’s top player in the future.

But then again, what goes around comes around. After James ages, it will be a different world.

This time, however, their Bobcats team had benefited from the adversity; the overwhelming external public attacks brought the local fans of the Carolina region together in solidarity.

Zhang Yang saw on the local fans’ forum that supporters from North Carolina and Duke and other colleges said: "The Bobcats are our local team no matter what, and we can’t watch them get bullied by others."

Zhang Yang knew that the local fans were willing to support them, partly because of him and partly because of their recent performances, which gave the local fans hope for their rise.

How much attention from local fans they could retain depended on their performance this time.

In truth, although he was calm, he was just as angry and annoyed as Felton; it’s just that he could think about how to deal with the problem from a rational perspective.

In short, they had to win tonight! He alone couldn’t fight against all, but he had his teammates. They were a team!

...

At 7:58 PM, both teams’ starters came onto the court.

The Knights’ starters: Snow, Ronald Murray, James, Gooden, Big Z.

The Bobcats’ starters: Felton, Keith Bogans, Gerald Wallace, Okafor, Perkins.

James looked at the opposing starters... So ruthless! They put Perkins in the starting lineup just to handle him, and they added Okafor too!

Bickerstaff crossed his arms, standing on the sideline. The boss had given a strict order that they had to win this game; although there was no punishment for losing, he wanted to win as well.

With the answer from their last encounter right there, of course he would use it. He wasn’t a rookie point guard who needed someone to remind him to copy the correct answer.

At 8:00 PM, the game began.

Okafor won the jump ball against Big Z, and the Bobcats attacked first!

Felton used a pick and roll with Okafor, stepped back after rounding the pick and shot a three-pointer... It’s good!

The Bobcats scored first! Cheers thundered through the arena!

James watched Felton’s raised fists enjoying the cheers as he ran back to the defense, and felt the pressure increase.

Twenty minutes earlier, when the opposing players entered, he noticed that, contrary to his expectations, public opinion hadn’t crushed them; instead, their fighting spirit rose even higher.

Felton shot even more resolutely than last time they faced off; the media attack had backfired.

It was the Knights’ turn to attack; Snow carried the ball up to the frontcourt and passed it to James.

James used his elbow to hold off Gerald Wallace’s up-close defense. He initially wanted to return the favor with a three-pointer, but unexpectedly, they didn’t use Felton to guard him!

Bickerstaff wasn’t a foolish coach. As the true spirit of the Nuggets team from the ’94 Black Eight Supersonics, he knew James had decent three-point ability. At the season’s start when Arenas initially guarded James, James hit three three-pointers right off the bat...

James stepped back, changed direction, and drove!

Gerald Wallace couldn’t withstand James’s strong and quick drive; James drove to the edge of the three-second area, faced Perkins’s help defense, grabbed the ball, and took three steps to lay it up. On the second step, he jumped again.

Gerald Wallace anticipated James’s jump step, dashed beneath the basket to defend, and as James jumped beneath the basket, Wallace leaned in to cover him. However, James didn’t jump directly after landing but instead took another step forward with his right foot. Then, taking off from both feet behind and under the basket, he tossed the ball backward... It’s good!

Gerald Wallace looked at the referee with confusion, but the referee ignored him.

On the sidelines, Zhang Yang recalled a phrase in his mind — "Disaster is always one step behind me."

This move by James, Zhang Yang thought, surprisingly complied with the rules!

It allows three steps for a layup; after the two steps upon landing, one more step is allowed before taking off. When James took the jump step and landed, he stepped forward while the other foot did not leave the ground, jumping together, which, under current rules, was legitimate. It’s just that others wouldn’t learn it easily... Thinking this, Zhang Yang was startled; he had already accepted, already gotten used to seeing someone attack like this.

It seemed that teammates, opponents, the media, and fans, including James himself... seemed to accept this as a normal thing, wondering if this could be considered sad for basketball.

Zhang Yang shook his head, discarding this thought. If James started moving his feet like that, it couldn’t be defended, and that was an established fact that couldn’t be changed. The focus of the defense needed to be preventing James from executing those moves.

Under NHC rules, you can’t use hands to stop an opponent from driving high in the area; you have to rely purely on speed to keep up.