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Chapter 431 - 198. Who hasn’t been a champion before?

Chapter 431: 198. Who hasn’t been a champion before?

In the final quarter, Felton, Zhang Yang, and Okafor didn’t play; they clocked out after the first three quarters, but Rondo, Gerald Wallace, and Perkins, the three core members, played longer. Bosh was then substituted out, and finally all three of them were also taken off.

The score in the final quarter stood at 23 to 24, not giving the Toronto Raptors any chance to retaliate.

to 85, the Bobcats secured the lead they built in the first three quarters, dominating the Raptors and clinching their 53rd victory of the season!

After the game, back at the hotel, the Big Brother Group gathered in Felton’s room to review the game against the Raptors.

Rondo: "Boss, the Knights won back-to-back games, improving their record to 46 wins and 34 losses, while the Chicago Bulls lost to the Pistons, falling to 46 wins and 33 losses."

The formally "defected" Millsap tried to interject earnestly, "The Raptors dropped to fifth?"

Rondo: "No, the Raptors are still fourth."

Millsap: "Why? Aren’t the Raptors at 45 wins?"

Seeing Rondo closing his mouth as if impatient, Felton laughed to catch Millsap’s attention and explained, "Paul, you haven’t looked into the playoff ranking rules, so it’s normal you don’t know. The NBA is divided into Western and Eastern conferences, and you know that the East is divided into three divisions, right? Each division leader in the East must be one of the top four in the conference; the Pistons lead the Central division, we lead the Southeast, and the Raptors lead the Atlantic. So even if the Raptors have worse records than the Bulls and the Knights, they are still fourth, while the Knights and Bulls can only compete for fifth."

Zhang Yang noticed that Little Fatty Boss, aside from other matters, was well-suited to be the leader due to his character—he was willing to manage team relations and had the patience to explain things to newcomers. Mainly because Little Fatty Boss enjoyed being the leader and liked dealing with these meticulous tasks.

Look at Coach Rondo; he’s still a new guy himself yet is impatient in explaining the rules to his class peers.

As for Zhang San, his patience with newcomers also depended on their talent.

In this respect, he was quite pragmatic; if it was a fellow classmate like Alan Anderson, even if not very smart or extraordinarily talented overall, he’d still show patience. If a newcomer had average talent and was not very bright, he’d at best be slightly better than Rondo, not letting his impatience show on his face.

But Little Fatty Boss genuinely enjoyed these matters.

Rondo continued, "Although the Bulls still lead the Knights by half a game and have the head-to-head advantage, the Knights could still potentially overtake the Bulls for third place, so the Raptors could still end up being our second-round opponents."

Millsap nodded, "The Bulls have an advantage over the Knights, the Knights have an advantage against the Raptors, but the Bulls and Raptors are tied at 2 wins each. It’s hard to say who would win, so we can’t rule out the Raptors as our second round hypothetical opponent, and we might also face the tough Bulls."

Rondo unexpectedly glanced at Millsap.

Being a power forward, Millsap lacked skills in wing blocking and needed instruction from point guard Felton, who was good at this.

He couldn’t even predict the fall of defensive rebounds and was only good at positioning, still not as strong as a point guard.

His choices on offensive routes still required hand-holding guidance from Okafor, who, despite hanging around the Crown Prince before, never took the initiative to learn.

Moreover, he wasn’t even clear about the basic NBA rules.

All season long, Rondo thought Millsap was just another muscle-head with poor intellect like Alan Anderson or Jumaine Jones, lacking self-awareness and always needing directions, needing plain talk about their duties without any mincing of words.

Unexpectedly, Millsap had actually understood his points!

It’s good he didn’t directly mock him just then. Having another smart player in the team is rare.

Now looking back, Rondo thought, maybe it wasn’t Millsap’s fault he hadn’t learned much while hanging around the Crown Prince for most of the season; Gerald Wallace was more about fun and games than teaching his teammates how to play ball.

A caring leader like Felton is more of an exception.

With the Raptors, Knights, and Bulls all potential second-round encounters, the Big Brother Group began their animated discussion.

It was past two in the morning when their small group’s discussion finally ended, and teammates headed back to their rooms to sleep; Felton, Zhang Yang, and Okafor stayed back gazing at the sky.

Under the clear night, stars scattered across the sky, surrounding the crescent moon.

Okafor, less talkative during discussions, now found his words, "Last year this time, we had just broken into the top eight, thinking about how to climb to fifth to avoid the Nets, Pistons, and Miami Heat. Now, we’re talking about how to advance past the second round to face the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals.

When I joined the NBA the year before, I was in despair. I’d just won the national championship, but I found myself in one of the worst teams in the league, struggling to secure just 18 wins—a feeling you guys probably can’t relate to."

Felton: "I had also just won the national championship when I entered the NBA."

Okafor: "?Is that what I’m talking about?"

Zhang Yang: "I was a bit less fortunate, the year before I joined the NBA, at 16 I won the California High School championship undefeated."

Okafor: "?Do you guys really think I’m talking about this?"

Winning a state championship at 16 as a core player is quite impressive, right? Well, it is quite impressive; since 2000, only James, Farmar, and Zhang Yang could manage it, with Zhang Yang being the only one undefeated, which is why he was able to enter the draft selections at not even 17, already having first-round final and early second-round draft expectations before even attending tryouts.