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Chapter 356 - 167. Fire at will

Chapter 356: 167. Fire at will

On the afternoon of December 30, aboard a noisy bus traversing Manhattan Island in New York.

Last year, when they visited New York for an away game, Zhang Yang thought it was the excitement of his first time playing at the basketball mecca that led him to chant slogans with his teammates.

However, today, after leaving New York International Airport and boarding the bus to Madison Square Garden, Muhammad and Rodney White, two veterans who know how to stir up the atmosphere, started leading chants of "Take down New York," "Refuse the 11th loss," "Eastern number one," with the whole team joining in, and even throwing in a couple of songs as they chanted.

With a record of two wins and one loss in three consecutive home games, their record reached 20 wins and 10 losses. On the Pistons’ end, after consecutive home battles against the Texas powerhouses on the 26th, 28th, and 29th, they only won against the Spurs with a last-second three from Billups, losing the other two games, which also brought their record to 20 wins and 10 losses.

The Pistons had finished their December games. If the Bobcats won against the Knicks tomorrow, they would regain the temporary lead in the Eastern Conference by half a game advantage.

The current scene reminded Zhang Yang of his two years in high school; they sometimes went to away games like this, so embarrassing.

He was chanting along as well... It was hard to resist such an atmosphere; men’s happiness is so simple.

The Bobcats team arrived in New York today and went straight to Madison Square Garden instead of the hotel because of a fan meeting arranged by the league at the end of the year.

Having a fan meeting for the visiting team instead of the home team was something that could only happen in New York, quite an absurd event.

Mid-season, apart from the Christmas Day games, there are two more popular game dates: December 31st’s end-of-year battle and January 1st’s New Year’s game, which also feature highlighted matchups.

With five or six games scheduled for both the 31st and 1st, there’s only one hot-ticket game each day: on the 31st, the Bobcats face the Knicks away, and on the 1st, the Knight plays the Nuggets away.

Both games were clearly promoting young stars.

Knight versus Nuggets, James versus Anthony, the hottest new generation star showdown in recent years.

Bobcats versus Knicks, this game was arranged by the league to specifically promote Zhang Yang.

The Knicks have high visibility; whether they’re veteran stars, stars of the middle generation, or newcomers, games at Madison Square Garden always attract a lot of attention. Moreover, during his rookie season when he scored over 40 points in a game, it was against the Knicks.

But the league originally didn’t plan to push these two games. This year’s Bobcats end-of-year fan meeting almost didn’t happen either, if not for the fact that New York’s NBA partner stores had already given out the tickets.

The reason—out of the four teams, three had been involved in brawls within the past month.

The Bobcats’ incident was comparatively minor, but the Knicks and Nuggets’ brawl was almost as severe as the Auburn Hills Palace incident.

The winning side lacked sportsmanship, and the losing side couldn’t handle their defeat. The situation with the Nuggets turned organized and disciplined like a gang fight... The main problem was with the Nuggets; one could imagine how infuriating their behavior must have been to their opponents, continuing to slaughter during garbage time, enough to get even the indifferent veterans of New York riled up to a losing mentality.

Stern had already announced a new rule, starting from January 1st, 2007: during on-court conflicts, bench players were prohibited from entering the court; those who did would be immediately ejected and suspended for one game, and those involved in brawls would receive the maximum penalty.

Some media exposed that Stern had called Anthony to the NBA headquarters in New York the day after the brawl, telling him, "The NBA is not a place for you hooligans to wreak havoc," and then recited the names of the New York gang members Anthony knew. Afterward, Anthony didn’t even appeal his 15-game suspension, laid low for almost half a month, and hasn’t shown his face in public since.

Despite this, the promotion of the two games, as well as the Bobcats’ year-end fan meeting, went on as planned from the start of the season.

Since the OK battle was immensely popular, this year’s Christmas battle was limited to just the Lakers and the Miami Heat, but Kobe and O’Neal were both sidelined due to injuries, and in addition to that, both teams had mediocre records—the Lakers were barely in the lower half of the Western playoffs, and the Miami Heat’s performance was even worse, with O’Neal playing only 10 games in two months and Wade missing seven, resulting in a win rate of less than fifty percent... The enthusiasm was pitiful, and on the 26th, the Lakers and Miami Heat’s post-game heat didn’t even surpass the debate "Who would make the All-Star starting lineup, Okafor or Gerald Wallace."

The league had to promote these two games. Once these holidays were over, it would be hard to generate discussion in the following month, with the NFL regular season drawing to a close and playoffs about to start. Until the Super Bowl ended in early February, North American sports were dominated by football.

Last season, the NBA managed to steal the NFL’s thunder in January, all thanks to a certain player going on a scoring spree and setting a bad example for the kids.

The Bobcats’ fan meeting was very lively; Zhang Yang felt that even if they held a fan meeting back in Charlotte, the fans wouldn’t be this enthusiastic.

However, during the Q&A session, the college students attending the meeting weren’t so polite. The first question was directed at Zhang Yang about his altercation with Raja Bell, asking whether he regretted his actions on the court.

Zhang Yang responded, "I do regret it... I should have kicked him; my hands hurt from hitting."

This answer caused an uproar on site, and the Bobcats’ PR official nearly fell on the spot.

In the NBA headquarters’ president’s office, David Stern looked at the live broadcast from New York state on American Cable Television and slapped his hand on the desk.