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Chapter 430 - 197. God of Basketball: Targeted! (Seeking Monthly Votes!)_3

Chapter 430: 197. God of Basketball: Targeted! (Seeking Monthly Votes!)_3

At 8 PM, the Charlotte Bobcats clashed with the Chicago Bulls in a fierce battle.

Two hours and twenty minutes later, the game ended.

The Bobcats had five players scoring in double digits, but none scored very high—Gerald Wallace 14 points and 10 rebounds, Okafor 9 points and 11 rebounds, Felton 13 points and 3 assists, Alan Anderson 10 points, Millsap 10 points and 6 rebounds...

Zhang Yang shot only 3 out of 13, including zero out of four three-point attempts, plus made 5 out of 6 free throws, scoring 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Ben Gordon scored 20 points with 4 assists, Hinrich 18 points and 8 assists while holding Zhang Yang to only 3 of 13 shots, Luol Deng 14 points and 6 rebounds, Ben Wallace 5 points and 18 rebounds... 89 to 84, the Chicago Bulls narrowly defeated the Charlotte Bobcats, ending their three-game winning streak!

Zhang Yang didn’t catch fire during the critical moments tonight, which was a reason the Bobcats lost... A commentator from the royal court station defended him, "This shows the importance of Yangyang to the Bobcats. Against strong teams, whether he plays well determines if the Bobcats can win..."

On his part, Zhang Yang played terribly tonight, completely frustrated; the rim seemed as if it had a lid on it... During an interview, he took responsibility and said to the reporters, "The loss is on me."

But back in the locker room, he had to shift the blame; having seen so many blame-shifting tactics in a past life, he felt suffocated not using them.

Zhang Yang approached Jordan, and seeing Jordan’s sour expression, his mood brightened considerably.

He said to Jordan, "Boss, if we face the Bulls in the playoffs, maybe you should just watch the game from home."

Jordan had barely managed to refrain from cursing tonight, but now he couldn’t hold back anymore. After a bout of cursing, he furiously asked, "It’s my team’s game. Why shouldn’t I be there to watch it?"

The teammates, seeing troublemaker Jack and the boss God of Basketball squabble, gathered around to watch the drama... These two occasionally fought, and they were used to it. After a loss, they always needed to find some fun.

Zhang Yang: "In the past two years, we played 4 games here, and you were with us for each one. We lost 3 of those times. Have you ever considered that it might be your fault?"

Jordan laughed bitterly in frustration, "You guys play poorly, can’t guard Hinrich or Gordon, and can’t shoot, and you blame me?"

Zhang Yang: "Who else to blame if not Michael Jordan? When you were at the United Center, the Bulls were unbeatable."

Jordan was at a loss for words; he had no comeback!

Seeing Zhang Yang’s previously furrowed brows now relaxed, Jordan realized—he was just using him as a punching bag for his frustrations after the loss!

As the God of Basketball, when had heever faced such insults?

Jordan, furious beyond measure, shouted to Bickerstaff, "Bernie, have you decided on the coach? I want to change the head coach!"

Onlooker Bickerstaff: Huh?

...

Used as a vent for emotions, Jordan was not pleased. But what could he do? Of course, he chose to forgive him!

He couldn’t afford to hold a grudge against money, after all.

Mainly, he was used to it. Just recalling the summer of last year, when he had worked hard to shed weight and then stepped onto the court to guide Zhang Yang, he had discovered the real character hidden behind the seemingly obedient face of the naughty kid.

As an owner, he was frustrated Zhang Yang wasn’t as easy to control as Yao Ming.

But as a former player, and the greatest at that, he admired the defiance in Zhang Yang’s bones.

However, it didn’t matter what kind of player he liked. He liked Kobe Bryant too, and he couldn’t join either; having Jack was quite a coup. There were 28 teams in the league who would envy him for that.

Moreover, Yao Ming wasn’t that easy to manage anymore either; after the business lies of the Rockets were exposed, Yao showed tendencies of staging a coup.

Jordan remarked that there were no top players who were completely compliant. Even Duncan had thoughts of switching teams, and if it hadn’t been for Popovich’s momentary brain lapse, the Spurs might have been a one-hit wonder with a single championship.

The next morning, the Bobcats’ coaching staff and players took Jordan’s private jet to Toronto, while Jordan bought a ticket himself to travel to another city.

As the season was drawing to a close, Jordan wanted to make the journey more comfortable for the players; his private jet was definitely a lot nicer than a chartered flight.

He himself went to meet with potential coaches, to talk things over.

On April 11th, the Bobcats arrived at the Air Canada Centre to face the Toronto Raptors.

Last night, it was the Bobcats’ turn to run riot.

After losing to the Chicago Bulls, their record had fallen to 52 wins and 26 losses, with four games remaining. Achieving 55 wins was now in jeopardy!

Gerald Wallace, Millsap, and Okafor, the big three, teamed up to give Bosh a tough time tonight, holding him to just 2 points and 2 rebounds on 1 of 6 shooting in the first quarter!

to 16, the Bobcats finished the first quarter with an 11-point lead!

In the second quarter, the Toronto Raptors perked up, tying the game with the Bobcats at 26.

But by the third quarter, Bosh was targeted again and suffered heavily, shooting just 3 times, hitting 1, and scoring 2 points. He ended up focusing on setting up plays, earning 3 assists, but the Raptors needed him to score... The Raptors managed only 19 points in the quarter.

The Bobcats continued their offensive firepower from the first half, scoring 27 points in the quarter.

Zhang Yang played 29 minutes in the first three quarters, hitting 9 of 13 shots, including 1 of 1 from three-point range, and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line, scoring 22 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, giving 1 assist, and blocking 1 shot.

Okafor played the entire three quarters, making 8 of 13 shots without free throws, scoring 16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, and 1 block.

Together with Gerald Wallace’s 9 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, Felton’s 8 points and 6 assists, and Rondo’s counter-attack yielding 10 points... After three quarters, the Bobcats led the Raptors by 19 points at 80 to 61!

During the intermission, Gerald Wallace returned to the bench only to receive a small punch in the chest from the coach.

Bickerstaff: "Oh, Gerald, I knew it, as soon as you came back, you’d lock down Bosh!"

Bickerstaff, easily excited, couldn’t control his iron fist, causing Gerald Wallace’s chest to throb with pain.

But a prince remains a prince, he held back from grimacing, instead flexing his biceps and showing off his muscles, saying, "Paul’s top defense and Emeka’s rim protection are the keys, I’m just plugging the leaks, it’s not just me who’s stopping him, it’s us three."

Bickerstaff nodded, "As long as you three are together, we don’t have to worry about facing the Raptors in the playoffs. Tonight we’ll win the game, the Raptors will fall two games behind the Chicago Bulls and definitely can’t catch up. As long as we secure the first seed in the East, we won’t have to worry about our second-round opponents... Jack, why do you look worried? Are you concerned that we can’t secure the first seed in the East?"

Zhang Yang, wiping sweat on the side, shook his head, "No, I’m not worried about that, we must get the first seed, it’s just..."

Bickerstaff: "Just what?"

Zhang Yang: "If the Raptors end up fourth, they might not even get past the first round, they don’t have anyone who can handle James and Hughes."

Bickerstaff: "..."

He felt that his lengthy analysis had just gone to waste.

Felton: "So all our hard effort in this game is helping James?"

Okafor: "Yes, the Knight team won against the Bulls just once this season when the Defensive Player of the Year was injured, and they scored 3 wins against 1 loss versus the Raptors, who only won once when Bosh scored 41 points. We might be unwittingly helping the Knight team advance to the second round."

Felton: "Isn’t that even better?"

The Bobcats players chuckled sinisterly at this, even Okafor smiled.

With Gerald Wallace back, they had an advantage against the Raptors but not overwhelmingly so. Zhang Yang and Okafor might not always have such good shooting performances against the Raptors, whose roster structure is actually quite strong and has a mature offensive and defensive system. It’s just that Bosh and Ford are too young, only being in their fourth year and lacking enough strength. They could win in the playoffs, likely by 4-1 or 4-2, and though not impossible, overturning was unlikely if the Raptors were eliminated in the first round...

Tonight they must win! No blunders allowed in the final quarter!

Bickerstaff called a halt to the players’ wistful thoughts he had sparked, bringing back Rondo, Alan Anderson, Gerald Wallace, Muhammad, and Perkins to prevent a Raptors comeback.

The Bobcats’ coaching staff and players were excited due to the playoff situation, while Michael Jordan in front of the TV was going crazy... he certainly didn’t want the team to lose, but why did the players play so dominantly without him? What did that mean?

Especially that number 3 jersey player, when he was on, this bad boy shot 3 out of 13, and without him, 9 out of 13! Was it aimed at him?

...

...

I didn’t want to stay up late, but it feels like a waste of the weekend not to stay up late on a big weekend... asking for monthly passes for the new month!