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Chapter 411 - 191. Better to believe it exists_3

Chapter 411: 191. Better to believe it exists_3

If Stoudemire isn’t put at the center position, Yao Ming is the top candidate for the starting center position.

Yao Ming recently missed games due to back injury, not a foot injury; his weight is too much and all kinds of injuries that he never worried about when he was thinner have now occurred.

After the interview, Yao Ming didn’t leave immediately; he wanted to have more contact with Zhang Yang and understand more about this fellow countryman whose mindset in playing basketball was completely different from his.

Zhang Yang had some other things to do this afternoon, but he definitely wouldn’t rush Yao Ming away; it wasn’t anything secretive, he was just receiving a delivery.

At 4 p.m., the scheduled delivery finally arrived.

On the 24th, the day of the trade, he had Tellem make a special order for this item in the Bay Area; luckily there was stock available, so it was shipped immediately, but even with the added fee for the ’fastest delivery service’, it took four days to ship from Oakland to Charlotte.

Zhang Yang sometimes regretted why he had been polite when Tellem offered to deliver it personally; he should not have declined it.

In the president’s office of the Bobcats, Yao Ming watched as Zhang Yang carefully adjusted the height of the cabinet, placed the statue of Guan Gong on top, turned on the light... and hesitated to speak.

Seeing Zhang Yang pulling Felton over to light incense...

After Felton left, Yao Ming couldn’t hold back any longer and said, "Jack, is it okay to put Guan Gong in Joe’s office?"

Zhang Yang: "He was very happy when he heard I was giving him a wealth god statue, saying he would offer incense every time he came to the arena."

Yao Ming: "...Are you short of money?"

Zhang Yang: "No, it’s for warding off evil. I pray to the mighty Emperor Guan, the Great Deity of the Three Realms, for protection. With mystical things like this, it’s better to believe they do exist than not."

Yao Ming: "..."

Although he didn’t know what Zhang San was doing, the Lunar and Solar Exalted felt it was very impressive and was somewhat tempted.

He felt that he really needed to change his luck.

Putting it in the boss’s office wasn’t something he could do, but keeping one at home was no problem.

The next day, on March 3 at 9 p.m., the Bobcats faced off against the Rockets on their home court.

This season, the Rockets didn’t collapse due to injuries like they did last season; they have played 59 games so far, with 38 wins and 21 losses, just one win behind the Bobcats.

Because their other core player McGrady is in good health this season and has only missed 9 games so far, his performance might not be as good as before he had back problems, but he’s still a top five guard this season, playing 50 games, averaging 24.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and making 1.8 three-pointers per game.

So far, only Nash and Kobe can consistently outperform McGrady in the guard position; Arenas has a poor record, and Wade’s attendance rate is affected by injuries, so overall, none have performed better than him.

After the game started, the Bobcats fell into a defensive battle orchestrated by the Rockets.

Slowing down, controlling the tempo, and toughing it out with the stars were the Rockets’ winning strategies this season.

On this night, in the first three quarters, the Rockets defense limited the Bobcats to only 18 points, 20 points, 17 points; at the end of the three quarters, the Bobcats had only 55 points.

However, the Rockets haven’t done much better, scoring only 21 points, 19 points, 18 points.

After three quarters, the Bobcats trailed the Rockets by 3 points, with a score of 55 to 58.

In the final quarter, the Rockets could no longer suppress the young players of the Bobcats.

Zhang Yang started the last quarter by using screens to shake off Battier and drive into the paint, avoiding McGrady’s defense with a Eurostep and scoring 2+1 against Mutombo in consecutive possessions, leading the team to overtake the score at 61 to 58.

With Tsakalidis, a 218 cm tall, 130 kg heavy center who has benefited from ’Shaq’s dividends’ for many years; Hayes, a 198 cm player; and the ageless Mutombo using these three centers, Van Gundy has already done his best to make the team play top-notch defense in the first three quarters.

By the final quarter, Van Gundy was out of options.

Hayes lacked height, Tsakalidis could only play just over 10 minutes per game on a 2.9 million salary, and only Mutombo was left to use. When McGrady’s energy declined in the final quarter and he couldn’t cover Zhang Yang’s drives, the Rockets’ defense under the basket crumbled.

If Yao Ming were there, even if he couldn’t move well in the last quarter, just standing under the basket, he would still have a tremendous defensive deterrent.

Even though McGrady managed to pull off 9 points with jump shots in the remaining 11 minutes, leading the team to score 22 points in the quarter, more than in any of the previous three, the opposing side racked up 23 points during this time, led by Zhang Yang, Felton, and Jarett Jack’s drive attacks!

Zhang Yang only scored 8 points in the first three quarters tonight, but in the last quarter, he added 10 points, playing 32 minutes, making 7 of 16 shots, and with perfect free throws, 4 out of 4, achieving 18 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

Okafor had 15 points and 12 rebounds, Felton 14 points and 5 assists, Jarett Jack 12 points and 2 assists, Rondo 4 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists, Muhammad 5 points and 5 rebounds, Perkins 4 points and 4 rebounds, Alan Anderson 6 points...

The Bobcats reversed the game against the Rockets with a 29 to 22 final quarter, winning 84 to 80 and improving their record to 40 wins and 20 losses!

Yao Ming, having watched the game, cursed MMP inwardly but had to maintain a smile for the CCTV live broadcast.

Without Gerald Wallace on the opposing side, Alan Anderson could still hold his own; Rondo couldn’t score on his drives, but Jarett Jack scored in double digits; Millsap couldn’t stand strong, but there was the high school muscle center Perkins; when Okafor rested, there was the reliable veteran Muhammad... When Zhang Yang was not playing well in the first three quarters, he could rest and only play 20 minutes, as his teammates held the ground for him, creating the opportunity for his explosion in the last quarter!

The Bobcats’ role player lineup was actually just above average, lagging behind the Mavericks, Knicks, and the Raptors... but it already made Yao Ming extremely jealous, even envious.

If Okafor and Zhang Yang were replaced with him and McGrady, they would surely soar!

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These past few days, Chapter 2 has been a bit late, but at least I held onto the basic ten thousand words threshold~ Asking for monthly votes at the end of the month!