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Chapter 456 - 205. Genius Kidd dances alone, Bad Boys Legion advances strongly!_5

Chapter 456: 205. Genius Kidd dances alone, Bad Boys Legion advances strongly!_5

Roy, in his rookie season, averaged 16.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4 assists a game, securing 99 of the 100 first-place votes and easily winning the Rookie of the Year award.

Among the other rookies, only Rondo received one first-place vote, ranking second with a score percentage of 14.3% in averages of 5+5+6+1, beating out Morrison, Guy, and Bargnani.

When Zhang Yang saw the news of the award announcement, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Best Sixth Man, the Rookie of the Year, and things like that had nothing to do with their team.

Rondo ranking second among the rookies might seem close to the Rookie of the Year, but in reality, he was far from it. In terms of rookie performance, Roy was in a league of his own, everyone else being random.

In the first two months, Adam Morrison could have contested Roy, but after a complete season, his average score had fallen to 11.8 points... still slightly higher than the top pick Bargnani, who averaged 11.6 points.

Bargnani had underperformed in the first two and a half months. It wasn’t until mid-January that he began to improve, raising his average score in February and March, but he couldn’t continue to overtake Morrison after April due to lack of follow-through.

What comforted Zhang Yang was that he hadn’t won the Most Improved Player award.

Occult beliefs are sometimes worth believing.

Moreover, the Most Improved Player can be considered the least useful award among individual player achievements, no one really cares about winning it, even the Sportsmanship Award sounds more prestigious.

Having rested all morning, in the afternoon, Zhang Yang watched the video clips from the first three games of the series twice, aiming to utilize all possible advantages in the next game.

That evening, Zhang Yang watched two live games.

What was expected finally arrived.

In the previous day’s G2, Yao and McGrady continued their explosive performance, with McGrady scoring 34 points and 5 assists, and Yao Ming 29 points and 9 rebounds, leading the Rockets to a 93-86 victory over the Jazz Team, taking a 2-0 lead in the series.

However, tonight, Yao and McGrady were unable to continue dominating the opposition’s inside and outside lines, and the Rockets suffered a terrible defeat.

It was a real disaster; tonight, Yao only made 6 of 14 shots, and McGrady only 9 of 23, as the Rockets lost to the Jazz Team by 14 points, 67 to 81, once again treading the path they took two years ago.

This trend could not be altered. Both Yao and McGrady had to play desperately well for their team to win, but neither had the stamina to sustain such performances throughout a series.

As for managing minutes and shot consistency from G1 and G2? If that had been the approach, the situation now would likely have been a 1-2 deficit rather than a 2-1 lead.

Zhang Yang felt an instant of regret for Yao; after the commercial break, the second game’s live broadcast started, and Zhang Yang immediately put Yao out of his mind and continued watching the game.

A dip in performance from Yao and McGrady was inevitable given the team’s situation, but the next game was even more interesting.

The Mavericks vs. the Warriors series initially only had the opening game televised, but after G1, the rest of the series was also broadcast... and here it is, tonight fans watching the live broadcast scored again.

Last night, the Mavericks defended their second home game, but tonight they couldn’t regain the home-court advantage they’d lost in G1, losing badly, 91 to 109...

Dunk King scored 12 out of 19 shots, Ellis 6 out of 11, Baron Davis 9 out of 18, Biedrins 4 out of 5... tonight, the four highest scorers for the Warriors had explosive shooting percentages.

For the Mavericks, the highest shooting percentage came from Dampier, 1 of 2, with few others exceeding 40%: Nowitzki 7 of 16, Terry and Harris both 4 of 11, Stackhouse 3 of 9... the team’s shooting percentage was 38%.

After watching the live broadcast, Zhang Yang browsed the forums online for a while and encountered an interesting topic.

A fan stated, "I joined in on posts joking about the Mavericks and Bobcats facing a ’Black Eight’ upset just for fun; I honestly thought it was impossible. The Bobcats in G3 showed G2 was just a fluke, but to my surprise, the Mavericks are seriously heading towards a ’Black Eight’ upset!

The post analyzed why the Mavericks won G2, which was similar to why the Nets won G2.

In G2, the Mavericks’ mid-range shots were too accurate. If you look closely at the G2 game report, you’d know the Warriors defended well; the Mavericks were restricted to only 1 of 16 from the three-point line, yet Terry and Nowitzki managed to sink mid-range shots despite being defensively challenged. Between them, they scored 20 high mid-range shots and created perfect opportunities for Josh Howard, Devin Harris, and Stackhouse to drive to the basket, getting 25 free throw attempts among the three of them.

Tonight, the Mavericks’ mid-range shooting lost the accuracy of G2, and their offense collapsed completely...

After resting for a night, April 28, the day of Game 4 in the series between the Bobcats and the Nets arrived.

Today, Zhang Yang no longer cared about the situation between the Mavericks and the Warriors. The Warriors had fully seized the advantage, and without an outbreak of long-range shooting, the Mavericks had no way to win, making the rest of the series less interesting as a Warriors ’Black Eight’ upset was just a matter of time.

At 9 p.m., Game 4 between the Bobcats and the Nets began.

The Bobcats’ morale soared after G3, reaching even higher than after G1, while the Nets’ morale and players’ confidence plummeted.

Tonight, the Nets faltered in both offense and defense.

Kidd played 29 minutes, making only 4 of 12 shots, including 0 of 4 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 10 points, grabbing 7 rebounds, and delivering 11 assists.

Carter made 8 of 23 shots, including 3 of 10 three-pointers, and 4 of 6 free throws, scoring 23 points.

Richard Jefferson made 4 of 10 shots, including 2 of 7 three-pointers, with no free throws, scoring 10 points, grabbing 4 rebounds, and blocking 1 shot.