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Chapter 212 - 117. All four point guards are petty!_2

Chapter 212: 117. All four point guards are petty!_2

Gerald Wallace was dumbfounded when he received the award notification; starting in the All-Star Game and Player of the Month, this sudden wealth of honors had come out of nowhere...

Zhang Yang and Paul each received the Eastern and Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards, respectively.

In February, Zhang Yang played 27 minutes per game over 10 games, scoring 15.5 points, grabbing 4.8 rebounds, dishing out 2.3 assists, and making 1.1 steals, with a shooting percentage of 43%.

His average points per game exceeded that of last December, mainly because he scored 20+ points in 3 of the 10 games this month, which significantly boosted his average scoring effect compared to 4 times in 15 games last December.

Paul played 8 games, averaging 14.6 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1.8 steals. His performance in February was not as good as in the previous three months, with continuous injuries in the team, and he himself suffered an injury at the end of the month. He missed two games due to injury, left one game early, and pushed through one game with a poor performance while injured, mainly because those two games with injuries pulled down his stats.

But even so, he was still the best-performing rookie in the Western Conference in February, winning Rookie of the Month for four straight months.

Over at Felton’s, seeing his little brother defeat him and win the award, he felt happy for his brother’s performance but also a bit sour; however, he had to maintain his pride when speaking and praised Zhang Yang generously.

Zhang Yang also modestly showed some of the young man’s pride, allowing the slightly chubby leader to enjoy the feeling of being a ’mature player’.

After the noise settled, the season continued. After playing the Knight, the team rested for one day and the Bobcats welcomed their 5th opponent in a six-home-game run, the New Jersey Nets.

Tonight, Carter was fierce!

Facing Zhang Yang who had snatched his starting spot in the All-Star Game, Carter went 8 for 16 tonight, including 2 of 3 from three-point range, and with 8 of 10 free throws made, he efficiently scored 26 points.

Kidd had 11 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, and Richard Jefferson 19 points, 7 rebounds...

Facing Felton who performed exceptionally against James, tonight he was restricted by Kidd to only 3 out of 10 shooting, scoring only 8 points and 5 assists.

Zhang Yang scored a decent 14 points with 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Okafor with 18 points in the frontcourt and Gerald Wallace with 15 points also performed alright, but the rest of the Bobcats were locked down by the Nets’ team defense. Zhang Yang scored his points relying on mid-range stop-and-pop jumpers and mid-range catch-and-shoot.

to 90, the Bobcats lost to the Nets by 9 points, ending their 5-game winning streak.

After securing a victory, the Nets left, but before the Bobcats could lick their wounds and soothe the pain of the winning streak ending, the Lakers arrived...

On March 4th, the Bobcats hosted the Lakers at home.

After the All-Star Game, Kobe said in an interview how impressed he was by Zhang Yang’s talent, how similar it was to his own when he was younger, and how stunning his technical skills were.

However, in the rematch with Zhang Yang, none of that generosity was to be seen as Kobe ruthlessly took it to the Bobcats.

Only playing three quarters, he made 12 of his 19 shots, including 6 of 9 three-pointers, and 5 of 7 free throws, putting up 35 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals before clocking out.

Odom stood out tonight, playing 38 minutes and notching 19 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, blasting out a triple-double.

Under their lead, the Lakers easily took down the Bobcats 108 to 97.

After facing two consecutive losses, the Bobcats’ record dropped to 27 wins and 31 losses.

Zhang Yang worked hard for a 5-game win streak, only for the new month to start and everything to reset; he was about to crack, just destroy it all!

After a mental blowout, Zhang Yang still had to pull himself together. The five-game winning streak was still very impactful; even after this two-game losing streak, they were still in the tenth spot in the Eastern Conference with hopes of entering the playoffs.

Zhang Yang had come to realize that no matter how magnanimous or kind those four famous shooting guards appeared off the court, whether they loved stepping on others or were proudly careless... on the court, all of them were petty!

Iverson, Kobe, ’two-faced,’ and Carter, who was the same inside and out, were not broad-minded.

McGrady had only played against him once, and Zhang Yang guessed that McGrady was probably holding back his energy, waiting to hammer them next season. Because they took advantage of Yao Ming’s absence to hammer McGrady once before.

This was a reasonable speculation, because yesterday, on March 3rd, the Knights played the Rockets at home and lost 83 to 95, with James being heavily guarded by McGrady and Yao Ming, resulting in only 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 8 assists from 7 for 22 shooting.

Although James has fared quite poorly against Yao Ming, averaging only a 40% field goal percentage in their past 5 encounters, it was at least passable, but last night, McGrady’s defense on James was as intense as when facing Kobe or Carter, and together with Yao Ming, they limited James to a mere 31% shooting percentage...

Zhang Yang was certain that McGrady’s ruthless defense was definitely because James had snatched the All-Star MVP from him.

...

On the 5th, the Bobcats went to Milwaukee, facing the Bucks in the second game of a back-to-back set on alternating home and away grounds.

In the second game of the back-to-back, the Bobcats players felt the effects on their stamina and shooting touch to varying degrees, being suppressed by the Bucks in the first half with scores of 22 to 25 in the first quarter, and 25 to 28 in the second, trailing by 6 points at halftime with a score of 47 to 53.

However, the Bobcats players were resilient enough not to become discouraged just because they were being suppressed.

Their two consecutive losses had dealt them a blow, but it also gave them stronger motivation; with 58 games of the regular season already played and only 24 left, they had to fight for every game to have a chance at making the playoffs.

The team, led by Felton and Gerald Wallace, seemed very unique, now with hopes for the playoffs. They were eager to fight, full of motivation, yet without too much pressure, just purely wanting to make the playoffs... That mindset was like playing college basketball, earnestly fighting for victory, for the sake of reaching the finals.

In Bickerstaff’s view, this was like the beginning of a team culture.

He was surprised, since he had ideas about building a team culture, but it was tough to manage; usually, a team would have to win games and gain some tangible honors before a culture began to emerge, and then, maintain a long record of good performance in order for a culture to be established.

On their side, there was already a faint sign of such a culture emerging! It was unbelievable!

Coming back from halftime to the third quarter, Zhang Yang ignited the Bobcats’ counterattack with a steal and a fast-break dunk.

Gerald Wallace and Okafor took charge of the defense, while Felton led the offensive in the set plays, and Zhang Yang initiated fast breaks and mid-range pressure during set plays.

In the third quarter, the Bobcats exploded with 27 points and held the Bucks to only 20, overturning the score to lead by 1 point with 74 to 73.

In the final quarter, the Bobcats continued their aggressive mid-range defense, with Gerald Wallace holding Reed to 2 for 6 shooting. The Bucks had already been 1 for 5 from the three-point line in the third quarter and went 0 for 5 in the final... Managing only 20 points again in the quarter!

The Bobcats finished the quarter with a 25 to 20 lead, ultimately reversing the game against the Bucks with a 99 to 93 victory, ending their two-game losing streak!

Felton scored 19 points along with 8 assists, leading the team in both categories.

Zhang Yang had 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists, Gerald Wallace contributed 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block, Okafor added 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks, Eli finished with 8 points and 7 rebounds, and Brezec with 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks...

The Bucks, currently eighth in the Eastern Conference, fell to 30 wins and 29 losses after losing to the Bobcats, while the Bobcats’ record improved to 28 wins and 31 losses, as the Bobcats directly narrowed the win-loss gap with their playoff competition, reducing the difference to just two games!

Zhang Yang was very excited to defeat the competitors directly, and the next day, after returning to Charlotte and training for an afternoon, he received another piece of good news... He had gathered 180,000 shooting value!

With 80,000 shooting value, he was lucky enough to get a +1 in speed from a random physical talent point!

With 100,000 shooting value, he upgraded Nash’s ball-handling rhythm sense from beginner to intermediate!

This time, the improvement in physical talent was very direct; on the ability assessment panel, his speed increased straight from 92 to 93!

Zhang Yang recalled the finals of the 10th timeline, where his speed was 91, having already improved by 1 point in speed talent... Could it be that at around 90 kilograms, he was at his fastest?

After brainstorming for a while, he decided not to dwell on this for now and would choose how much to increase his weight in the future based on a comprehensive need for speed, strength, and stamina. Moreover, the talent improvements were not yet over.

After closing the Gate of Trials, Zhang Yang spent some time practicing his ball-handling offensive techniques... The improvement in ball-handling rhythm sense felt very subtle!