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Chapter 435 - 199. The crucial battle!

Chapter 435: 199. The crucial battle!

But if they lost to the Pistons tonight, their record would be tied, both standing at 54 wins and 27 losses.

Because of the head-to-head results, they would drop back to second place, rendering all the efforts of the latter half of the season fruitless.

With Gerald Wallace sidelined for a month due to injury, they fought in every game to keep up with the Pistons and not fall behind, wasn’t it all just for the sake of clinching the first place?

Otherwise, with a record of 34 wins and 18 losses at the midpoint, they only needed to win half of their next 30 games to securely hold on to the second spot, 16 wins would have given them 50 victories.

Of course, they could still hope for the 76ers to beat the Pistons in the closing game... but let’s not talk about how the 76ers would win, as Zhang Yang felt uncomfortable just thinking about placing hopes on another team.

At 9 a.m., the Bobcats began preparing for tonight’s game.

Zhang Yang felt his teammates’ spirits were high, extremely excited.

As Gerald Wallace said during an interview, "Who doesn’t want to be first?"

However, apart from the ambition to be first, there were also external influences.

Responding to requests from various major media outlets, Jordan opened up today’s training phase for filming and interviews!

Yesterday’s hottest matchup was Mavericks vs. Warriors, today it was the Bobcats’ turn to face the Pistons!

Moreover, the Mavericks versus Warriors game’s highlight was just whether the Mavericks could tie the Lakers’ 99-00 season record for the best of the new century, and if they had a chance to match the Celtics’ historic third-best record, the fans were just onlookers.

The Bobcats and Pistons game was viewed as a ’prelude to the Eastern Conference Finals.’

While watching the news, Zhang Yang saw media and fans analyzing the Jazz versus Rockets matchup, discussing how likely it was for the Jazz to pull off an upset... Although the Rockets were fifth in the West, they had a better record than the Jazz, giving them the home court advantage.

Analyzing the Suns against the Lakers matchup, discussing how likely it was for the Lakers to pull off a ’black seven victory’. Last year, the Lakers were at one point leading the Suns 3-1, sparking many hopes. However, most felt that the Lakers stood no chance this year. Last year the Suns lacked ’King James,’ a player who could match Kobe in scoring, but this year the Suns had fixed that shortcoming, allowing them to dominate the Mavericks, who had been brutal up until February.

Analyzing the Spurs against the Nuggets matchup, discussing how many games the Nuggets could win. Not many believed the Nuggets stood a chance; Duncan was back at his peak...

In the summer of 2005, Duncan finally rid himself of the aggravation of plantar fasciitis through surgery, but his mobility also significantly declined, causing his average score last season to plummet to a career-low of 18.6 points, missing the first team for the first time and only making the second team and all-defensive second team.

However, after adjusting for a year, adapting to his new physical conditions and modifying his playstyle, Duncan had managed to perform at a 20+10 level this year, with a career-high shooting percentage at one point reaching 55%, and now holding a second-best career shooting percentage of 54.6%.

Moreover, his 43.4% shooting percentage from mid-range and 47.8% from close range both reached new highs, with a commendable 38% on long two-pointers.

The only goal that failed was developing his three-point shot. Duncan, in the first three games, attempted five three-pointers, none of which went in, and he gave up after that.

The Mavericks and Warriors face-off was also seen as likely to be an exciting shootout.

On the Eastern side, having advanced past the first and second rounds, media and fans were discussing which of the two teams could make it to the finals...

Both the Cavaliers and the Miami Heat had their share of public interest, but the talk was primarily about whether they could make it to the second round.

Apart from that, during a break in the preparations, Zhang Yang was repeatedly asked about the ’Bad Boys Legion’; the ’Old Bad Boys Legion’ was indeed a part of the Pistons’ team history...

...

At 5:40 in the evening, at Tuhang Stadium, the Pistons and Bobcats successively entered the court, and the live broadcast had already begun.

While it was still daylight in the U.S., the broadcast had started, and back in China, where it was still not dawn, the broadcast had also begun, with the Imperial Court and Guangdong Sports Channels both broadcasting the game.

Stern deeply regretted not scheduling the game for a later time, since it was one of the regular season’s final matchups.

Before the season began, who could have predicted that the Bobcats would be topping the East?

Moreover, last season’s second-round matchup between the Bobcats and the Pistons hadn’t generated much buzz in China, the hot topics were about the Bobcats making it to the second round, which the Rockets had twice failed to achieve in their postseason appearances. The Chinese media hadn’t even hyped the possibility of the Bobcats winning.

Stern had thought the last few games of the regular season would be a contest for the first place in the East between the Miami Heat and the Pistons. The ’New Bad Boys Legion’ had all the key matchups scheduled between late March and early April, vying for attention against the NCAA.

As he sat in his office watching the dismal viewership rate at the start of the game coming from the Imperial Court, he felt deeply frustrated, knowing that 90% of the main audience in China probably hadn’t even woken up yet...

On the court, after the entry ceremony, the players from both teams appeared very cordial before the game commenced.

Despite the fact that every matchup between the two teams seemed ready to break out into a brawl, they actually got along quite well.

Rasheed Wallace and McDyess were both decent and good-natured people.

Hamilton came from a family with a strong sports background, well-off and well-educated, and he was particularly close to Okafor... both hailing from Connecticut, both leading their teams to a championship in their final college year and earning the MOP title.

Most importantly, Hamilton had completed his studies in 2005 and obtained his degree.