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Chapter 381 - 178. Is this overpraising to death?

Chapter 381: 178. Is this overpraising to death?

At 18 years and 8 months old, Zhang Yang broke the record held by James for being the youngest to win "Player of the Month," which was set at 19 years and 11 months!

As soon as the award list was announced, it immediately sparked hot debate among the media and fans.

According to current draft rules, American players must be at least 19 years old to enter the draft.

The age requirement is relaxed for international players, who can enter the draft at 18 years old, but they must turn 19 within the draft year (for example, Antetokounmpo, born December 6, 1994, entered the draft in June 2013 at 18 years and 6 months).

If a player were to join the draft this year and turn 19 only on December 31, even if he won "Player of the Month" every month in his rookie season, his age would still be 18 years and 11 months by then.

That means, as long as the draft rules remain unchanged, there’s no possibility for Zhang Yang’s youngest record to be broken!

And even if the rules reverted to their original form, it’s highly unlikely anyone could break it.

Even with the same ability, it’s hard to find a team like the Bobcats, and even if individual and team abilities were the same, only Zhang Yang and Iverson in the modern basketball era have had the guts to throw 25+ shots in 10 consecutive games.

Having set an "iron record," Zhang Yang faced a sad milestone that evening.

Tonight, Felton faced Billups, pulling off an impressive 29 points with 7 assists.

Although Zhang Yang couldn’t handle Hamilton off the ball, he performed well one-on-one against Hamilton, scoring 23 points.

Okafor scored 17 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, Gerald Wallace put up 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, Millsap had 8 points and 4 rebounds, Matt Carroll scored 9 points, Alan Anderson had 8 points, and Rondo added 4 points and 6 assists... Motivated by the "All-Star Starting Five Tour of Vegas," the Bobcats played very well.

They led 28-20 in the first quarter, lost the second quarter by just 1 point with a score of 24-25, widened the gap to 9 points in the third quarter with 27-25, but Billups scored 17 points in the last quarter alone, leading the Pistons to a furious 36-point onslaught, overtaking the Bobcats by 3 points with 106-103 in the remaining 7 seconds.

At the final moments, Zhang Yang was double-teamed off the ball, and Felton, using a screen, hit a step-back three-pointer that sent the game into overtime.

They then played two more overtimes... The Pistons slowly wore down the Bobcats!

The score in the first overtime was 11-11, the second 9-4 in favor of the Pistons, who narrowly beat the Bobcats 126-121, handing the Bobcats their 18th loss of the season.

Being dragged by the Pistons into double overtime took a heavy toll on the Bobcats at this time.

Luckily, the management wasn’t completely inhuman—after 17 games in January, the Bobcats’ final 4 games before the All-Star weekend were at home.

Moreover, the Bobcats hosted the Nets on the 3rd, with the Nets having games on the 30th, 31st, and 2nd, and tonight being their last game in their 4 games over 5 days.

Both teams were tired, but the Bobcats, thanks to better defense, defeated the Nets 92 to 85, improving their record to 32 wins and 18 losses.

Zhang Yang performed well tonight, shooting 10 out of 18, including making 2 of 4 three-point attempts, complemented by making all of his 4 free throws, and achieving 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Kidd also shot well tonight, scoring 25 points from 10 out of 20 shots, plus 14 rebounds and... 3 assists.

Seeing that Kidd only had 3 assists, one could tell without watching the game how poorly the rest of the Nets were shooting.

Carter only managed 4 out of 12 tonight, Richard Jefferson even worse at 2 out of 10.

The worse the Nets shot, the tighter the Bobcats defended, never giving Kidd the chance to help his teammates find their rhythm, letting Kidd shoot, even leaving Kidd wide open...

The day after facing the Nets, the Bobcats received good news—Okafor was selected as an All-Star reserve!

The other six reserves for the Eastern Conference were Arenas, Billups, Hamilton, Joe Johnson, Bosh, and Howard.

Kidd, averaging 14 points, 8.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists, and 1.7 steals per game this season, was once again not selected as an All-Star reserve.

While reading the news, Zhang Yang saw a reporter mention that since the 03-04 season, Kidd had been left out of the All-Star game for three consecutive years.

After the 2004 All-Star weekend, Kidd forced the Nets management to fire Byron Scott, which could have been a big deal or not. If Kidd had kept quiet afterwards, it might have just passed as a disagreement between player and coach, at most pinning him as a troublemaker.

However, when asked in an interview if Scott’s departure was his doing, Kidd replied, "I don’t understand what the purpose of a head coach is."

This statement offended many head coaches.

After the tough games against the Pistons and the Nets, the Bobcats’ fun times finally arrived!

On February 5, the Bobcats hosted the second-worst team in the East, the Bucks, and won easily with a 109-93 score.

The Bobcats had many scoring opportunities, but Zhang Yang’s points were actually fewer than during the games against the Pistons and Nets; he only played 23 minutes, shooting 5 out of 9 and scoring only 14 points, but he had 5 assists.

It wasn’t just him, the other three core players of the Bobcats also saw less playing time and scoring. Expert bomber Matt Carroll nailed 5 three-pointers tonight, scoring a game-high 22 points.

Okafor made 4 out of 6 shots for 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 assists, Millsap scored 15 points with 6 rebounds, Rondo had 8 points and 5 assists, Felton scored 8 points and 8 assists, Alan Anderson had 9 points, and Gerald Wallace contributed 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists...

By halfway through the second quarter, the lead had stretched to 15 points, and the core four chose to give the role players more opportunities.