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Chapter 238 - 125. The top three teams in the East have all won!_4

Chapter 238: 125. The top three teams in the East have all won!_4

The media was all hyping it up—the list of teams the top three in the East didn’t want to face in the first round had got longer.

But this time, the hype really hit the nail on the head for the coaches of those three teams...

There was another bout of limelight, but Zhang Yang and the others couldn’t stop to bask in the joy of having a "winning rate over 50%". The day after playing the Nets, they left Jersey City early in the morning and flew to Atlanta. There was one final game left in their four-game road trip, thankfully not a back-to-back this time.

On the plane, Zhang Yang looked out at the clouds and reminisced about last night’s game.

The strong teams were starting to take them seriously now!

He felt the pressure, but it was incredibly exhilarating!

Before, at this level, even if the opponents didn’t take them seriously and played their most standard tactics without needing to adapt on the spot, they could easily defeat them.

During that period, Zhang Yang played more relaxed, without any pressure, just going up there to find opportunities to score.

But it was not satisfying to play like that.

Now, his team finally had the fighting power!

Although he still had to rely on tactics and his teammates to distract opponents, being able to utilize them was his skill, and his ability to drive counterattacks was still very impressive. Last night, Kidd even came to the locker room to exchange contact information with him and praised his talent for pushing the counterattack.

When they arrived at the hotel in Atlanta, Zhang Yang spent the afternoon leisurely reading and playing games. Atlanta’s security had been poor in recent years, so Felton didn’t go out and instead came to Zhang Yang’s place to play PS2.

The first time Felton saw the younger brother bringing a game console on an away game, he had scoffingly called him "just a kid". Yet during away game periods, it turned out to be him who used the gaming console more.

The night passed without incident, and before they knew it, it was April 1st, a new month had begun.

In the morning, Zhang Yang joined Felton, Gerald Wallace, and the big brothers’ cronies to pull a prank on Okafor... The prank was successful, but Okafor’s "you guys are really boring" expression made them sheepishly retreat, killing the mood.

By 10 a.m., the Hornets had arrived at the Philips Arena, preparing for their evening game against the Hawks team.

By noon, the league announced the latest Player of the Month awards.

Player of the Month... this time it was out of reach for the Hornets.

A record of 10 wins and 6 losses was impressive, but not as good as February’s 7 wins and 3 losses.

James had been on a tear in March, seeking to wash away the humiliation, and indeed playing exceptionally well, averaging 32 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals per game, leading his team to a 12-4 record.

But his shooting percentage dropped quite a bit from before, to just 44%. The Hornets’ "reference answer", although not every team could copy it, still provided a tool that some could use to at least affect James’ mindset.

But the Knight’s end-of-season schedule was really kind. Not just at the end, their November schedule was also easy, with most of the difficult games concentrated between December and February.

A certain player from the Hornets, having just finished a brutal stretch of eight games, didn’t want to comment on this at all.

Over in the West, Anthony had stepped up this month, averaging 29.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, leading his team to an 11-5 record and pushing their win rate to... over 50%.

Although the Nuggets Team was ranked third in the West, teams ranked fourth to eighth all had better records than them. After the All-Star break, they suffered a five-game losing streak that dropped their win rate below 50%, only remaining atop their division and third in the West because the Jazz Team, Timberwolves, and Trail Blazers had even worse records.

Because of this, in early March, the Nuggets Team was ridiculed by the media and fans; even two consecutive defeats of James by the Hornets couldn’t save Anthony.

Given their situation at the time, the Nuggets Team looked like they were going to be a third-place team in the West with a win rate under 50%.

The media and fans’ criticism finally woke Anthony up; in March, he went on a tear, averaging 29.9 points—not as high as his old rival on the other side, but his shooting percentage had increased nearly 10 percentage points to 53.1%!

Anthony reclaimed his reputation with his performance... but, the Nuggets Team’s win rate was still not looking good, still below that of the eighth-ranked King team in the West.

However, the Jazz Team, after Boozer returned from injury, had been on the rise, surpassing the Hornets and Rockets to reach ninth in the West, currently holding a 34-38 record, presenting a certain threat to the 38-34 Nuggets Team.

As for Rookie of the Month in the West, Paul took the title for the fifth consecutive time, with 15 games averaging 15.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2 steals, a shooting percentage of 44%, and a three-point shooting percentage of 25%... utterly excellent! Seeing his actual impact on the court, he was almost on par with Anthony from the 2003 cohort.

However, this month, quite a few people didn’t think Paul was the rookie with the best performance.

Zhang Yang played 16 games, achieving 20+ points in 6 of them, including two 30+ games, scoring 33 points against the Nets, pushing his average to 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game, and claiming the title of Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month!

Zhang Yang became the first player from the 2005 cohort to average over 20 points per game in a single month, at the age of 17 years, 9 months, and 24 days—the youngest record for player number 23 just got younger...

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Today, I’ll definitely finish at least 10,000 words. I’ll update another Chapter before midnight to make up for missing yesterday, and I’ll write as much as I can. Hope you guys don’t mind~

Requesting monthly tickets, requesting recommendation tickets!