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Chapter 480 - 212. Eastern Finals Begin! (Seeking votes with a 10,000-word plea)_3

Chapter 480: 212. Eastern Finals Begin! (Seeking votes with a 10,000-word plea)_3

Gerald Wallace pulled back from the mid-range to the interior and lunged forward, poking Prince’s forced shot out of the air!

The ball continued toward the basket but fell short midway.

Perkins grabbed the ball and passed it to Zhang Yang inside the free-throw line, who turned and pushed forward on the counterattack.

Facing Billups who was retreating under the basket, Zhang Yang protected the ball and, using his height advantage, made a successful jumper!

The Pistons called for a timeout!

With 6 minutes and 11 seconds on the clock, Zhang Yang had 6 points and 1 assist, Felton had 6 points and 2 assists, Gerald Wallace had 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, Okafor had 4 points, and the Bobcats led the Pistons by 6 points with 20 to 14!

After the timeout, Bickerstaff subbed in Rondo, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Muhammad, and Okafor for a combination that strengthened the defense.

The Bobcats believed that the Pistons were about to ramp up the intensity, but to their surprise, Saunders brought in Delfino and Webber, while Billups, Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace continued to play.

The game continued, and the Pistons went on the offense.

Webber immediately made a close-range jump shot after receiving the ball in the elbow area.

When the Bobcats had the ball, Rondo at the top of the key suddenly drove into the paint; Webber, who was squatting close by, didn’t have time to react, and Rondo had already finished a layup inside!

Swift as lightning, a Euro step!

In the transition to defense, Webber moved to the left elbow after setting a screen for Hamilton and continued to move; this time, Okafor came up on time from the baseline, standing in front of Webber, who passed the ball behind his head.

Rasheed Wallace caught the ball on the left sideline, immediately raised it above his head, and against the well-positioned Zhang Yang, he shot a straight-armed three-pointer... and made it!

This shooting motion, lifting the ball up, left the opponent with no chance to interfere.

However, the key to this play was not Rasheed Wallace’s shooting range but Webber’s passing vision and timing!

If Webber’s pass had been even slightly delayed, Rasheed Wallace wouldn’t dare to lift the ball in front of a fast guard like Zhang Yang even if he caught it.

In the penultimate game of the regular season, Saunders wanted to play fast but was thwarted by Bickerstaff. Now, in the Eastern Conference Finals, Saunders introduced a new trick.

Webber took on the role of the playmaker, freeing up Rasheed Wallace’s movement and shooting ability; Webber could shoot and pass, and it was foreseeable that he would also create opportunities for cuts from the middle and the wings...

Webber was playing well in the playoffs, averaging 11.6 points and 5 rebounds on a 52% shooting rate in the first 10 games, making him the Pistons’ second leading scorer in the frontcourt. But until now, he had been primarily shooting; now in the Conference Finals, Saunders was making good use of his passing ability!

Zhang Yang had a bad feeling that he couldn’t guard against this, but he didn’t dwell on it.

Continue the attack!

All he needed to do was perform well in his defensive role; in-game adjustments on the defensive end were Bickerstaff’s responsibility.

The two teams continued to exchange blows!

As Zhang Yang predicted, Heavenly Master released from the role of playmaker in the offense, increasing his outside shooting; with Webber’s mid-range cover and passing ability, Hamilton and Delfino’s conditions for driving to the basket improved. The Pistons erupted in the latter half of the quarter, scoring 21 points in less than 6 minutes.

The Bobcats’ offense was also doing well, but not as fierce as the Pistons, scoring 17 points in the second half of the quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, the Pistons closed the gap to 35-37, narrowing the lead to just two points!

Zhang Yang played for 9 minutes and scored 11 points. While Hamilton wasn’t as efficient at scoring as Zhang Yang, he caught up later with better sustainability, playing the entire quarter and scoring 10 points on 4 out of 7 field goals plus making all 3 free throws.

In the second quarter, both teams continued to score fiercely.

One significant reason both teams scored over 35 in the first quarter was little rest for the main scorers. On the Bobcats side, Zhang Yang and Felton rested just 3 minutes each, while Okafor and Gerald Wallace played the whole quarter; on the Pistons side, Billups, Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace played the entire quarter.

In the second quarter, as players started rotating more, scoring efficiency dropped noticeably, but the offensive firepower remained about the same. The Bobcats couldn’t extend their lead farther, and whenever the Pistons briefly took the lead, they were quickly re-overtaken and couldn’t turn the game around for good.

At 11 minutes and 40 seconds, Hamilton ran fast, caught the ball, and made a quick three-pointer, bringing his scoring up to 26 points for the quarter, outscoring the Bobcats’ 25 points and closing the gap to 61-62, just 1 point behind!

When the Bobcats were on offense, the Pistons started pressing and aggressively contesting, suddenly ramping up the confrontation.

Felton didn’t panic, secured the ball, and pushed forward, remaining very calm at this moment.

His little brother once told him—"Great people tell us that whatever our opponents want, we firmly oppose; if they want us to make decisions quickly, we try to drag it out, making good use of our strategic depth."

He looked it up online and found that the great Eastern man indeed said something similar, and he never expected that war strategies could also reflect sports competitions... but as they say, sports are just peaceful wars, no problem there.

No matter how Billups pressed, Felton protected the ball tightly. While Billups was trying to make the Bobcats rush with his pressing defense, it was he who became impatient instead.

The other Pistons did the same; after an active contest for over a dozen seconds with no action from their opponents, they felt like fools.

At that moment, Zhang Yang seized the opportunity and cut along the baseline!

Attentive Felton saw the opportunity right away and passed the ball!

Felton’s pass was the most accurate and stable on the team; Zhang Yang caught the ball on the left side of the three-second area, started a Euro step right away, took two big steps to avoid the help defense of Rasheed Wallace, moved to Max Hill’s left side, and took a jumper... it went in! And he drew a foul from Max Hill!