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Chapter 450 - 204. Before the Curtain Falls on the Kidd Era Part 2
Chapter 450: 204. Before the Curtain Falls on the Kidd Era Part 2
When Zhang Yang was playing one-on-one with Carter, the home fans were somewhat concerned. It wouldn’t matter much if their bad boy lost the one-on-one, after all, at 18 years old, even if he was shut out, it wouldn’t be a shame. But that player who switched to a number 24 jersey who was still missing buzzer-beater threes at his age... If it affected the outcome of the game, that would be a problem.
As it turned out, Zhang Yang completely dominated Carter in the one-on-one!
And even dunked on Carter, the dunking god, to take the lead!
The crowd went wild!
Wouldn’t such loud cheering upset Carter, a player considered one of their own? Well, if so, then just don’t consider Carter one of their own...
After resting for three minutes of game time, Kidd took off his warm-up suit again.
He hadn’t had high hopes for Carter; Kidd had experienced Carter’s proud and sore-loser nature firsthand in the first round of ’05. The demi-god who could score 100 points with 90 percentage effort in the playoffs, when he first entered the NBA, was long gone. Now the Carter of the playoffs would be doing well if he could play up to 80 percent of his 90 percent ability.
But he didn’t expect Carter to be defeated so quickly!
And his defensive habits were quite bad too. When chasing a counterattack, if you’ve already made a mistake in judgment, you should just jump out of bounds! Instead, he stopped in his tracks and turned his head for a look, and yeah, not only did he fail to prevent the shot, but he also got dunked on!
Kidd thought about the many bad habits Carter had when defending against shooting.
When too far away to be a threat, he still insisted on pressing forward and reaching out his hand, touching the opponent after they landed, lightly bumping them. His aggression was unquestionable, but if Carter wasn’t a popular star, he’d get called for a few more defensive fouls a game.
Starting off by catching the opponents off guard with a three-pointer, revving up the whole team, fighting for the initiative on the court... This plan had failed.
Getting Carter to play star basketball, using his abilities to open up the game, imposing himself like Kobe... That too had failed.
Seeing the Bobcats players on the other side getting overly excited by Zhang Yang’s dunk over Carter, Kidd was now completely out of options.
But he didn’t give up. As long as the game wasn’t over, there was still hope. What if the shooters found their rhythm? What if the other side suddenly went cold?
Though Kidd had deficiencies in scoring ability and a strong ball hog attribute, no one could fault his attitude toward the game. He was as obsessive as Kobe, as cold as Duncan, and as proud as O’Neal; everyone heaped praise on Kidd.
He believed that as long as you didn’t give up, there was a chance. You could only seize it if you were ready when the opportunity came!
...
Kidd persisted, and under his leadership, the Nets also persisted, but the opportunity never came.
The Bobcats came from behind to overtake and lead the score, with Zhang Yang’s one-on-one victory over Carter being key, especially that dunk over him, giving the Bobcats even more momentum than at the start of the game!
In the last two and a half minutes of the first quarter, Jumaine Jones made a three-pointer, Muhammad came off the bench to receive the ball and made a 2+1 with a raise-and-shoot, Zhang Yang cut in for a layup after taking a pass from Rondo... ending at 8 to 4.
By the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats led the Nets by 6 points, 31 to 25!
Carter made 4 out of 10 shots in the first quarter, including 1 out of 3 three-pointers, along with 2 free throws for a total of 11 points.
Zhang Yang scored 12 points in the first quarter with 5 out of 9 shots, plus 2 out of 3 free throws.
Having gained the advantage in the first quarter, the Bobcats fully controlled the initiative.
Kidd kept trying to lead the team to rally, betting on shooting streaks, betting on the other side’s poor hand, but to no avail.
In the second quarter, the Bobcats led by 24 to 20, in the third quarter by 22 to 19, and in the final quarter by 28 to 30...
After starting off hot in the first quarter, Zhang Yang couldn’t stop shooting!
He played 7 minutes in the second quarter, going 2 for 5, including 1 for 3 on three-pointers, plus 3 out of 4 free throws for 8 points; in the third quarter, he played 8 minutes, scoring 6 points on 3 for 6 shooting; in the final quarter, he played 9 minutes, going 3 for 7, including 2 for 4 on three-pointers, plus 1 free throw...
Playing 36 minutes, Zhang Yang scored 35 points with 13 for 27 shooting, including 3 for 7 three-pointers, plus 6 out of 8 free throws, with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals!
With Okafor’s 17 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks, Felton’s 14 points and 5 assists, Gerald Wallace’s 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks, Rondo’s 4 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists, Muhammad’s 6 points and 10 rebounds, Millsap’s 5 points and 4 rebounds, Jumaine Jones’s 6 points, Jarett Jack’s 3 points and 3 assists... the Bobcats breezed past the Nets 105 to 94, taking the first win of the playoff series!
Carter scored the second-highest 26 points of the game, along with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block, but only made 10 of 26 shots, including 2 for 10 three-pointers, plus 4 free throws.
Richard Jefferson scored 22 points with 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Kidd tonight made 8 out of 14 shots, including 4 out of 6 three-pointers, and 1 out of 2 free throws, scoring 21 points, along with 10 rebounds and 12 assists.
With Kidd’s style of play, such performance would’ve made a difference with the roster from 02 to 04 years, even against the O.K. duo, he could’ve blasted the opponents.
But now, aside from the three of them, the Nets didn’t have a single player scoring in double digits, only Eddie House had more than 5 points with two three-pointers and a layup for 8 points, and the highest score for the rest was only 5.
Before the game, Kidd was full of ambition, looking forward to an upset. During the game, he refused to easily give up, fighting hard, but after the loss... his emotions weren’t as volatile as in the past two years.
After watching the opponent’s young players celebrate for a while, Kidd turned and headed toward the players’ tunnel; he had already begun to ponder how to possibly take advantage in the next game.
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