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Chapter 440 - 200. First in the East!_3

Chapter 440: 200. First in the East!_3

Zhang Yang didn’t make the decision for Felton, for considering it himself would also leave him troubled.

It was a good choice to let the players calmly look at tonight’s thrashing of the Pistons, but it also had its benefits to greatly boost confidence with this game.

However, you can’t have both the fish and the bear’s paw... so let Big Fatty make his own decision, and Zhang San will just stay out of it for once.

...

By the next day, April 16th, the Charlotte Bobcats dominated sports newspapers and websites.

Their big win over the Pistons made them extremely popular, being hailed by the media as the most surprising team.

In terms of shocking records, the Mavericks were certainly first, with hopes to surpass the 99-00 Lakers’ season to claim the best record of the new century, but they gave up on that themselves.

But when it comes to surprise, the Bobcats are a bit higher.

The Mavericks were already a 60-win team. In the last four seasons, they had two with 60 wins, one with 58 wins, and only in 03-04 did they slightly crumble with Cuban putting together Nowitzki, Walker, and Jamison as the ’Big Three Shooters,’ ending with 52 wins plus a 4-1 blowout in the first round of the playoffs.

Defeating the Pistons for the number one spot in the East, the Chicago media commented—the Bobcats took half of the ’Bad Boys Legion’ title, with the other half depending on the Bobcats’ head-to-head victory over the Pistons in the playoffs.

Even the Detroit media didn’t refute this notion; Pistons General Manager Joe Dumars said in an interview, "I’m happy and honored for them that the ’Bad Boys Legion’ title has appeared again in the NBA, but we won’t let them take it easily."

Fans were also hotly debating the Bobcats’ performance—45 wins and a playoff appearance in their second year, 55 wins and the number one spot in the East in their third year... One dramatic leap forward each year, it was insane.

In China, the media weren’t too keen on the ’Bad Boys Legion’ nickname; they preferred to ’centralize’ the credit. Zhang Yang, Felton, Gerald Wallace, and Okafor had been collectively dubbed ’The Four Young Masters of the Bobcats.’

The hottest topic among Chinese fans now was—who is the King of the Cats?

Felton was recognized as the leader of the Bobcats, always first in strategy meetings, team training, public interviews...

Zhang Yang was the team’s scoring king and acknowledged as the most talented player on the team.

Okafor was the strongest on the Bobcats, the only one to make it to the All-Star reserves on sheer strength.

Gerald Wallace was the charging arrowhead, with plenty of personal charm.

Chinese fans’ ’partiality’ towards Zhang Yang wasn’t very strong; the support ratio for each of the ’Four Young Masters’ was quite even, and the debates were intense.

By noon that day, the Bobcats had flown to the Big Apple, ready to face the Knicks in their last game of the regular season tomorrow.

In the afternoon, the Bobcats arrived at Madison Square Garden for interviews, and when Felton was asked about ’becoming insanely popular overnight after defeating the Pistons and taking the top spot in the East,’ he replied, "Last night’s victory was very important for us. We confirmed that we have the ability to defeat them, and to win decisively, but taking the top spot in the East didn’t solely rely on that game. Last night’s game was just an ordinary one along the path to becoming the top in the East. Every victory this season, every loss and the lessons learned, they are all very important. We became who we are today through the accumulation of these games."

"Being the top in the East, I’m proud of my teammates, but this is not the end for us, it’s just a new beginning."

Beside him, Zhang San started clapping enthusiastically.

After two seasons, Big Fatty’s leadership had grown stronger, a wonderful thing to celebrate!

It allowed him to better focus on his own scoring! Shooting was the happiest...

Rondo, standing beside him, didn’t understand why Zhang Yang was so keen on clapping but joined in anyway.

He also thought Felton’s words were good, affirming the importance of last night’s victory while emphasizing the ’process,’ and also putting a period on becoming the top in the East, looking forward to the future...

With two teammates leading the applause, the rest of the team followed suit.

Actually, some teammates couldn’t understand Felton’s words as quickly as Rondo did, but that was alright, as his words were meant for the journalists, who would help interpret them.

Indeed, by the next day, the teammates understood Felton’s message after reading the reports: We defeated the Pistons, it felt great, we reached number one, we’re proud, the playoffs are starting, and we aim to pursue more honors...

...

On the night of April 17th, 2007 at 7 PM, the Bobcats began their game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Tonight, Zhang Yang didn’t go on a scoring spree, and neither did Felton, Gerald Wallace, nor Okafor play aggressively, leaving the opportunity to the role players to show off at the basketball Mecca.

It was mainly because the game was too predictable to interest them.

Marbury had thrown in the towel on his final game, with only an average of 9.5 points and 4.4 assists over his last 18 games. In the 7 games of April, he scored 8, 8, 18, 3, 2, 0, and 7 points respectively, and didn’t show up tonight.

Eddie Curry, after the team’s collapse, had lost his drive again. He was still active in isolation plays but couldn’t be bothered to push for offensive rebounds when he wasn’t passed the ball. His average points had climbed to 21.9 but had dropped to 19.8 over a month, and he looked rounder than he did at the beginning of March.

Francis and Crawford started as the backcourt duo, with Francis’s performance plummeting severely this season. After the brawl in December and the subsequent suspension, he was benched for a while, only getting playing time again after the Knicks collapsed in March. Before this evening, he played 30 games, averaging a career-low of 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists with a 38% shooting rate.