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Chapter 366 - 169. When the red light is on!

Chapter 366: 169. When the red light is on!

In the midst of the cheering from the away fans, Zhang Yang made his free throw, tying the score at 126 to 126—the Bobcats caught up!

The cheers of the audience continued to rise, reaching a boiling point!

After the cheering, everyone was shouting "badboy," "Jack."

It had been almost 4 years since Madison Square Garden last witnessed a single game 50+ point performance!

The last time was February 16, 2003, when the Knicks hosted the Lakers. Alan Houston, who had just entered the prime of his career with his first season averaging over 20 points per game, outdueled Kobe 53 to 40, leading the Knicks to a 117-110 victory over the Lakers.

That’s why, with only about 30 seconds left in the game and their team leading by one point, the home crowd was cheering for Zhang Yang, the away player, hoping his free throw would score—they hadn’t seen a single game 50+ point performance in too long, and they felt sorrier for themselves than even the third-year Bobcats fans.

Zhang Yang scoring 50 points satisfied New York fans’ desire to see a single game 50+ point performance, and they were thrilled.

The Knicks players were dumbfounded—were we playing so well, that at this crucial moment, our fans would cheer for the opponent?

The most intolerable for Marbury, born and raised in New York, nicknamed ’The Son of New York’ by Knicks fans when he was traded back to New York, he cherished his deep sense of city pride. Even though he had been harshly criticized over the past two years, he still valued this nickname... It was just a regular season game, maybe he’d put it aside after sleeping on it tonight, but right at this moment, he was furious.

He could no longer pay attention to Isaiah Thomas’s tactical setup; he wanted to shoot!

The timeout ended.

For the crucial defensive possession, Bickerstaff substituted Gerald Wallace and Okafor, who had rested for most of the quarter.

The Knicks put in Marbury, Crawford, the Big Q, Frye, and Eddie Curry.

Marbury received the ball and moved to the right side of the top arc. The Bobcats were ready; with a little over 30 seconds left, the Knicks had enough time to complete a full tactical play; it was a significant test for the Bobcats’ defense.

Marbury broke through!

The Bobcats players began their crucial defensive shifts. Gerald Wallace moved early to cover Frye at the top arc for a shot, Millsap was ready at the edge of the three-second zone to block Marbury’s drive into the paint, and Okafor was prepared to join Millsap in cutting off the space behind and to the side for Marbury’s passes to incoming players... A round of defensive strategy, well improvised by Bickerstaff on the spot.

But as Marbury started his move, Zhang Yang hesitated for a moment, then made a decision, abandoning the defensive strategy, he collapsed!

Joe and the coaching team, seeing Zhang Yang rush towards Marbury, unconsciously stepped forward, their expressions both angry and puzzled—Zhang San, usually so calm, why so impulsive right now, what are you doing... well done!

After Marbury shook off Felton, he stopped abruptly at the free-throw line as if he hadn’t seen Zhang Yang collapsing from the wing and Crawford opening up on the sideline; grabbing the ball, he shot, but even as it left his hand, the diving Zhang Yang slapped it down!

To cut off the wing and baseline, Okafor quickly moved to intercept, grabbing the defensive rebound before the Big Q could get to it from the left side!

The Big Q stuck close to Okafor trying for the steal, but Okafor decisively held the ball up, shouting for a timeout towards the referee.

The referee blew the whistle, entering a timeout.

Felton and Gerald Wallace, both with outgoing personalities, excitedly rushed up to Zhang Yang and jumped to bump chests in celebration.

The teammates also crowded around, giving high-fives and hugs, lavishing praise.

In that critical offensive and defensive play with 22 seconds remaining, Zhang Yang seized the initiative in the final moments!

After a brief celebration, the Bobcats players returned to the bench to hear the plan for the crucial ball.

Bickerstaff substituted Rondo for Okafor, and Felton, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, and Millsap all moved up a position, setting up a lineup poised for a drive and shoot strategy.

The tactic was simple: Rondo would break through and decide whether to pass to Zhang Yang or Felton.

This tactic surprised Joe again; the old man really had an ace up his sleeve that no one could expect.

Bickerstaff’s substitution and tactical setup took just over ten seconds; during the ongoing timeout, Zhang Yang grabbed a cup of water, wet his mouth, then spat it out—couldn’t afford to drink water at this time, to avoid stomach activity depleting his already scarce energy, just a wet mouth to fool the brain was enough.

Felton came over to Zhang Yang, curious, and asked, "Jack, how did you predict that Marbury would definitely shoot it himself instead of passing? He’s not the kind of player who insists on shooting by himself."

Zhang Yang replied, "He broke too early. When the Knicks were previously playing with team coordination, before Marbury initiated the attack, the wing had to execute a cover move in preparation for Frye to wrap around the top arc. Frye and Big Q’s off-ball coverage hadn’t even finished before Marbury broke through; I gambled that because I hit 50 points, he’d be frustrated enough to choose to shoot himself."

Felton: "So it was like that. I hadn’t noticed any of this at all. You’re the smart one."

Zhang Yang: "It’s not your fault, boss. You were always guarding Marbury or Crawford with the ball, without any chance to pay attention to those things. Crawford is just a scarecrow when he doesn’t have the ball, standing there motionless, which allowed me to get distracted and watch the opposing tactics..."

Whether or not Felton believed him, he nodded his head indicating that he did.

The timeout ended, and both teams’ players took to the court.

The Knicks Team fielded a lineup of Marbury, Big Q, Malik Rose, David Lee, and Cato—Thomas had put his best defenders and rebounders on the floor.

Just like Jordan, Thomas saw the opposing coach had put Rondo up... The old coach’s intentions were really hard to figure out.

But it didn’t matter, his defensive target was clear, whoever carried the ball it was all the same.

The Bobcats chose to inbound the ball in the backcourt. Rondo slowly advanced, and upon reaching the frontcourt began to waste time.

The original strategy was to initiate the attack when there were 10 seconds left on the attack clock, to still have a chance for a rebound if the shot missed, but Rondo, watching the defensive matchups and the positioning of the opposing players, looked set to penetrate and leave the outside shooters open... He didn’t initiate the attack split but instead waved to Zhang Yang.

Rondo passed the ball to the approaching Zhang Yang, then turned and cut in from the middle lane, with Big Q closely following.

Marbury pressed up against Zhang Yang the moment he received the ball. With 8 seconds left, Zhang Yang guarded the ball, adjusted his breathing to calm himself down, and strived to get his body rhythm to the optimal state.

At that moment, an extremely focused Zhang Yang felt as if the world had quieted down, leaving only the heavy breathing and muttering of Marbury and the sound of his own heartbeat.

Three seconds later, Zhang Yang made his move, dribbling assertively towards Marbury.

Marbury, having got a read on Zhang Yang’s tempo-driven breakthroughs, didn’t confront him but chose to step back to his left, anticipating Zhang Yang’s turn and drive.

But Zhang Yang didn’t turn. His press wasn’t fast and he didn’t exert much force. As Marbury stepped back, Zhang Yang pulled the ball with his right hand, dribbled behind his back to the left, took a step, and blew past Marbury!

A certain player, wearing jersey number 13 who doesn’t want to be named, excitedly jumped off the couch as he saw this move.

It was a tempo-driven breakthrough he had used several times on the night his teammate was beaten up!

This kid really learned it! The move was still a bit raw, but to dare to use such a tactic in the final 5 seconds...shows great guts! Although Marbury was clearly unable to keep up the pace and could only rely on anticipation to move defensively, it could also be said that this kid had high basketball IQ and strong defensive reading ability, of course, it still required tremendous courage.

Zhang Yang drove through the middle to the free-throw line, faced by Kevin Cato, who lunged out from the no-charge zone arc, Zhang Yang pulled up and jumped, releasing a jump shot from the free-throw line!

The tempo-driven breakthrough initiation, encountering no resistance, the pull-up and jump were perfectly timed...

At the moment the buzzer sounded, the ball traced a parabola through the air and dropped into the net!

The crowd erupted into cheers again, chanting "Jack" and "Bad Boy," as the Bobcats’ players rushed onto the court immediately, surrounding Zhang Yang, who still held up his right hand, excitedly celebrating their victory.

Reporters also immediately flooded the court, and cameramen lifted their cameras to capture the Bobcats players celebrating, clicking away as Zhang Yang stood up straight, chest out, right hand high maintaining his follow-through, and calmly watching his teammates celebrate excitedly.

In fact, once the ball had gone through the hoop, the tension Zhang Yang had been holding evaporated, and the fatigue from the 45-minute game flooded his body, leaving him feeling too weak to even walk...but in front of the cameras, he had to maintain his demeanor!

The head referee finally squeezed out from the crowd and confirmed with the scorer’s table that the basket was good.

Zhang Yang made 21 of 37 shots, including 1 of 3 three-point attempts, plus 9 of 11 free throws, scoring a total of 52 points.

Felton made 12 of 23 shots, including 3 of 7 three-pointers, along with 3 of 5 free throws, achieving 30 points and 10 assists.

Together, they scored 82 points. Thanks to Zhang Yang’s buzzer-beater, the Bobcats narrowly defeated the Knicks Team 128 to 126, securing the final game victory of 2006!

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Updating a shorter Chapter first, to make up for the 3000 words missed the day before yesterday, and I’ll make up the 3000 missed yesterday tomorrow. I’m not staying up late to write, so it doesn’t affect the update tomorrow... asking for some votes to motivate Xiao Feng, thank you!