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Chapter 330 - 159. How difficult is it to take first place?

Chapter 330: 159. How difficult is it to take first place?

The 82-game regular season, aside from the All-Star weekend, covered 23 weeks in total, averaging more than 3.5 games per week, which gave all the team’s coaches headaches, even revulsion.

But sometimes, the coaches felt that a tight schedule could be advantageous.

Last night, after seeing his team’s seven-game winning streak end and the players erupt emotionally, Bickerstaff left Charlotte today to start a four-game road trip, with the team members having managed their emotions... The next opponent was due tomorrow, at most two days away, sometimes even back-to-back, so there was hardly any time to dwell on the loss.

On the 18th, the Bobcats arrived in Orlando, rested for a night, and on the 19th, they went to the Amway Center to challenge the Magic.

After the entrance ceremony, as usual, Zhang Yang went to take a photo with Hill.

So far this season, Hill had not missed any of the 11 games, playing all 11 consecutively, setting a new personal record for consecutive appearances at the Magic!

Many people thought Hill got healthy only after moving to the Suns, but in fact, his last season with the Magic had already seen him receiving effective treatment.

In February, just before last season’s All-Star weekend, Zhang Yang saw the news that Hill went to the NASA Medical Center in Washington to be examined by orthopedic expert, sports medicine specialist Thomas Carter, and then underwent treatment for eight months at the Merritt Island base in Florida.

Zhang Yang could not find any report on what the treatment entailed, but this season Hill’s performance in both preseason and regular season was very good.

So far this season he averaged 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists per game, all career-lows, but his shooting percentage was a career-high at 52%.

When Zhang Yang looked at scouting reports and game footage, he noticed that Hill’s style of play had completely changed this season, greatly reducing ball-handling. His scoring came mainly from off-ball cuts, catch-and-shoot mid-ranges, and fast break follow-ups.

In terms of passing, Hill had also completely changed, no longer relying on isolations to draw double teams and distribute the ball, but instead utilizing his over 40% shooting accuracy from outside the paint and inside the three-point line for distributing the ball from mid-range.

However, Hill wasn’t quite adapted to this passing style yet, averaging two assists but also 2.4 turnovers per game.

From the available information, Zhang Yang deduced that Hill didn’t just get lucky by joining the Suns and suddenly becoming healthy; rather, seeing Thomas Carter’s treatment truly work, he chose to join the Suns, where Carter served as the team doctor, to facilitate ongoing treatment. Next season, Hill would be 35 and the championship-caliber Suns would also be the ideal team for someone his age.

After the photo with Hill, Zhang Yang looked over the other players on the opposite team.

Howard continued to improve, averaging 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks so far this season.

Playing as a backup to Howard and Tony Battie, Milicic got 22 minutes per game, contributing 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks.

Last Christmas, Milicic, who had been held back for two and a half years with the Pistons, was sent to the Magic where he immediately displayed his defensive talent. Last season, in the 30 games with the Magic, he averaged 20 minutes, 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game, but after playing for more than two months, his body gave out in early March due to a stress-related injury, sidelining him.

Zhang Yang felt it was truly a pity for this second overall draft pick, who had played only 71 games in his first two years with an average of just 5 minutes per game, which was even worse than Kwame Brown.

Milicic was a waste of talent and had completely lost his confidence. At the start of last season, Zhang Yang read a news report that after Philip Saunders joined the Pistons, he gave Milicic 12 minutes of playtime in the first half of the opening game to see if he was still worth developing.

But by halftime, Milicic told Philip Saunders not to let him play anymore because he couldn’t play basketball and was just a tall Eastern European farmer, leaving Philip Saunders speechless.

Later, in the early season, Philip Saunders still gave Milicic playing time in every game, letting him play for several consecutive minutes within a quarter to find his rhythm, marking Milicic’s first continuous game appearances in the NBA, but he had no intention of seizing the opportunity and just wanted to leave that sad place...

Zhang Yang became even more determined not to let his old classmate join their team, or maybe they could grab Van Gundy!

However, Van Gundy still had a contract with the Miami Heat, and it seemed that the Magic had traded a first-round pick to get Van Gundy back, a move that would be quite costly for their Bobcats, who valued their first-round picks for adding new players through drafts.

For the other players in the Magic, Zhang Yang, in his scouting reports, saw Jameer Nelson, Ariza, Arroyo, Turkoglu... and other young players all improved compared to last season, with the media generally praising the Magic players’ performances.

With such a promising lineup and unprecedented good health conditions, the Magic had only a 5-6 record, far below expectations.

After watching two game recordings, Zhang Yang understood the reason.

The star Howard had a simplistic single-play capability, only forcefully dunking the ball without Yao Ming’s strong one-on-one ability. His effective ways of scoring were still limited to put-backs and second-chance points, failing to capitalize on shooting opportunities.

Jameer Nelson and Turkoglu’s roles as primary ball-handlers were unclear, leading to alternate ball-handling situations. The lack of clarity on primary and secondary roles was a major issue for a team, and while core players could manage, role players really struggled with changing the style of play every few possessions, especially since the ball-handling styles of both players were completely different.