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Chapter 503 - 217. Tie-breaker battle!_3

Chapter 503: 217. Tie-breaker battle!_3

Key Reason—Rasheed Wallace pulled out!

In the first half, he made 3 out of 4 shots, including one three-pointer, scored 7 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, had 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block, looking even better than Duncan or Garnett. But in the second half, he missed a three-pointer and a mid-range shot, could not grab any rebounds, and failed to keep up defensively.

Although Rasheed Wallace was not the tactical core, his role in tactics was irreplaceable. He could protect the rim like Duncan and shoot mid-range and pass like Garnett, although not as well, but his impact was very critical. Larry Brown leading the Pistons to the championship in the 03-04 season was directly related to acquiring Rasheed Wallace, whom other teams had discarded for free.

In the second half, only 3 players scored for the Pistons: Webber with 4 points, Hamilton with 4 points, and Billups, who drew a three-point foul and went to the free-throw line, scoring 11 points with three successful free throws.

By the end of the first quarter, relying on Hamilton’s 10 points, Rasheed Wallace’s 7 points, Webber’s 4 points, Billups’s 3 points, and McDyess’s 3 points, the Pistons led the Bobcats by 6 points, 27 to 21, going into the halftime break.

Although they still had a 6-point lead, Saunders didn’t know how to adjust now.

Starting aggressively on both offense and defense, he tried to seize the victory and widen the gap, but his strategy was easily broken by the opponent’s rugged lineup.

He knew the success rate was very low, but he had to fight. By Game 6, the Pistons were already on the defensive; the battle was prolonged, and they were more passive tonight. They had to take big risks; continuing to grind it out in regular fashion was no longer a match for the young guys on the other side.

Saunders’s adjustments during the halftime break were very routine, with Lynch Hunter and Hamilton entering the game, along with Delfino, Webber, and McDyess.

This lineup could attack and defend, making it a very good rotation, but with Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, and Okafor all on for the other side, it just wasn’t enough.

Hamilton once again blasted out 10 points in the second quarter, along with Webber’s 6 points and Billups’s rotational 5 points. There were no more points; in the second quarter, only those three scored, managing only 21 points!

The Bobcats showcased their advantages on both offense and defense in the second quarter, with Rondo playing 8 minutes, scoring 2 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists, helping Gerald Wallace score 4 points and Okafor 5 points. The rotational players Felton and Millsap each scored 2 points, and... Zhang Yang played just over 6 minutes, shot 4 out of 6, including 2 out of 2 three-pointers plus 2 out of 2 free throws, scoring 12 points in half a quarter!

With 27 points to 21 this quarter, by halftime, the Bobcats had caught up, tying the game at 48 each with the Pistons and entering the mid-game break.

After the break, Saunders was forced to switch to a purely defensive lineup, hoping Billups and Hamilton would score.

The Pistons played quite well in the third quarter, the players were desperate; they would be out if they lost tonight. Although they only scored 18 points, they held the Bobcats to 19 points. At the end of the third quarter, the Pistons were biting at the score, trailing 66 to 67.

At this point, a commentator criticized Saunders’s second-quarter lineup rotation, claiming if Saunders had started playing defensively in the second quarter, they could have slowly exhausted the Bobcats, leveraging the 6-point first-quarter lead.

But that was quickly proven wrong... at the start of the last quarter, Zhang Yang successively scored on drives against Hamilton, scoring 3 out of 4 shots in two and a half minutes, plus feeding Muhammad for a basket, the Bobcats launched an 8 to 2 run, stretching the lead to 75-68, expanding their lead to 7 points!

The Pistons called a timeout!

Saunders didn’t want to start grinding defensively early, but he was fine through the first 4 games. By Game 5, they were already unable to cope defensively, and to play defensively, they needed to maintain a lead into the final quarter like in Game 5. Tonight, under these circumstances, grinding defensively from the second quarter would lead to a direct collapse; they couldn’t have even lasted till now.

Sure enough, after grinding out one quarter defensively, during the first two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, they didn’t score a single field goal, only relying on Billups, who drew a foul on a drive and made both free throws, scoring two points.

Saunders’s timeout call also didn’t have much effect. After the timeout, Rondo stole the ball from Billups on a drive attempt, Zhang Yang took it on a counter-attack, and scoring a layup against the retreating Hamilton, he again scored double digits in a single quarter!

With 4 points in the first quarter, 12 points in the second, 4 points in the third, and with this basket, Zhang Yang’s score rose to 28 points, surpassing Hamilton’s 10 points in the first quarter, 10 in the second, and 7 in the third, becoming the top scorer of the game!

As the Pistons took possession, Billups received the ball and advanced with a focused, serious expression, controlling the pace.

Facing a 9-point deficit, they still wanted to turn the tide; they were the ones who initially seized the home-court advantage! They couldn’t accept such a defeat!

But as his teammates found their spots, Billups, seeing the defense across him, didn’t know whether to pass or take it himself.

Zhang Yang and Rondo were double-teaming Hamilton, Okafor was close by guarding against cuts, Perkins was squatting under the basket, and Rasheed Wallace, Prince, and McDyess were left unguarded far from the action by the Bobcats!

Billups tried passing the ball to Rasheed Wallace, who upon receiving it didn’t hesitate and shot a three-pointer facing Zhang Yang rushing from afar... It missed!

This time the Pistons quickly fell back on defense, preventing the Bobcats from executing a fast break, and held down the Bobcats’ set offense, but it was the Pistons’ turn to attack again, and Billups still seemed lost, wondering who to pass to?