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Chapter 239 - 126. End of Season Focus (Additional Update)

Chapter 239: 126. End of Season Focus (Additional Update)

Zhang Yang winning the award this time wasn’t a surprise to anyone; Felton didn’t even bother to feel bitter.

In Felton’s view, it was well-deserved for the "little brother," not only because he played well in the game but also because being teammates who spent all their time together, he saw much more.

The "little brother" worked hard on the court and off it, spending the most time on preparing by watching videos and practicing positioning, consistently undergoing physiotherapy and resting more solidly than anyone else... No one on the team was more disciplined than the "little brother," not even Okafor.

Felton chose to learn from the "little brother," who once mentioned a saying by Confucius - When walking in a company of three, I can always be sure of learning from one of them. I will pick out the good points of the one ahead and follow them.

What’s wrong with learning from an excellent teammate? Absolutely nothing! Learning from an excellent "little brother" is even better.

Besides, Felton and Zhang Yang actually didn’t care about being Rookie of the Month anymore; after all, in the Eastern Conference, it was definitely cornered by the two of them.

After lunch, during their break, the two were in the lounge, looking at the standings and the schedule on their laptops, feeling a great deal of pressure.

Felton, "Jack, it looks like just maintaining a 50% win rate isn’t enough! Thank goodness we beat the Nets, or we would have been pushed down by the Bulls!

The Wizards have actually won 41 games, surpassing the Pacers who won 40! The Bucks also now have 39 wins, only the Bulls are at 36 wins which is just a 50% win rate... oops, Jack, your buddy Iverson is also falling behind, at 34 wins with only 10 games left. They probably can’t catch up unless they go on a 9 or 10-game winning streak."

Jack, "What’s going on with them? They were slightly above a 50% win rate previously, and now suddenly they’ve gotten better. We posted a record of 10 wins and 6 losses in a single month and still couldn’t surpass them."

Zhang Yang, "Maybe it’s because they had no pressure before, lacking motivation. Look, before our win rate reached 50%, no team in the East could threaten their playoff spot. Teams like the 76ers and the Magic looked hopeful at times, but with a win rate mostly below 50%, they never really broke through. Teams like the Pistons, Heat, Nets, and Cavaliers couldn’t catch up, so they didn’t worry about their record. Now that we’ve arrived, they feel the pressure and must play better... Potential is like water in a sponge; it’s always there when you squeeze it."

"But our upcoming schedule isn’t that tough; look, we have to play the Hawks twice, the Timberwolves once, the Knicks once, the Raptors once, and oh, also the Cavaliers once. There are six games out of the ten we are confident about, big guy, relax!"

Felton, "Squeeze it out, huh? Isn’t that what they say about the chest?"

Zhang Yang, "Uh, that, well, some people no matter how you squeeze there’s nothing right? Look at those bodybuilders who train themselves down to just bones."

Felton, "Yikes... right! Looks like I’m lacking in knowledge; I need to read more books like you..."

Meanwhile, Okafor: ???

Weren’t they just discussing how tough the upcoming schedule was? How did the conversation turn to that topic?

And, are books really for learning such things?

Alan Anderson with a knowing look: Big guy inside, you’ll get used to it.

He didn’t know if Okafor could understand that look, but he had gotten used to it anyway.

...

At 7 pm, the Bobcats began their end-of-season sprint with the first game, an away match against the Hawks.

Sometimes one can’t help but marvel at the creativity of coaches from the Larry Brown school.

Larry Brown creatively used the self-proclaimed 183 cm tall Iverson as a shooting guard, maximizing Iverson’s scoring capabilities.

Popovich put Ginobili on the bench, truly letting the ’sixth man’ take on the role of the team’s core for the first time.

Mike Woodson was also quite creative here.

He had Joe Johnson play point guard, a move so quirky that it got him criticized for several months.

By March, he changed it, moving Joe Johnson back to positions of shooting guard and small forward, then sidelined Tyronn Lue.

Yes, he sidelined the only real point guard on the team, straight up not giving him any playtime.

He positioned Al Harrington directly at point guard while letting Josh Smith play as the sixth man and the first choice point guard replacement. When Al Harrington was on the court, Josh Smith played as power forward; when Al Harrington was subbed out, Josh Smith played point guard.

He innovatively created a PF/PG swingman!

While there have been players like Magic Johnson and Odom who could and did indeed play all five positions, they only had the capability; they didn’t actually play all the positions in games. Odom played point guard during his time with the Heat and small forward with the Lakers, and Magic was always a point guard, unlike Josh Smith who switched between point guard and power forward in a single game.

Not to mention Josh Smith’s talent was really good; he adapted after a few games and truly got used to this style of play. Recently over 10 games, he’s averaged 10.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.2 steals, and 2.4 blocks per game, capable of doing it all! Although an assist to turnover ratio of 3.1 to 3.6 is quite troubling, his talent has gotten even more recognition because of it.

Mike Woodson’s move wasn’t just quirky; it actually had an effect, revitalizing the Hawks’ offense!

Opponents using their point guards to defend Harrington and Josh Smith were mismatched; these two were overpowering. When defenders switched to using their big men, Joe Johnson could still match up against the opponent’s point guard, but didn’t need to handle the ball, just focusing on one-on-one plays, and it immediately weakened the opponents’ interior defense...

However, the defense of the Hawks got worse, and over the last dozen games, they conceded an average of 115 points.