No.1 in basketball scoring
Chapter 522 - 226. Gambling Dog Bobcat!_3

Chapter 522: 226. Gambling Dog Bobcat!_3

After the game ended, Zhang Yang felt a slight pain on his face, his "5-game championship declaration" after winning G2 backfired!

Win and you can skip the interviews; lose and you can’t.

After the game, when asked about his "5-game championship declaration," Zhang Yang replied, "If not in 5, then in 6. My goal is to win every single game!"

...

The next day, June 17th, an off day, the Big Brother Group arrived at the stadium at 10 a.m. to do their usual post-game analysis.

After winning G2, boasting brought praise.

After losing G3, boasting only attracted ridicule.

Felton, looking at the newspapers and the online mockery directed at Zhang Yang, then at his calm-faced little brother, exclaimed, "Jack, with so much criticism thrown your way, you stay so cool. I couldn’t do that."

Zhang Yang: "Don’t make me read it again; my mood will get even better... It’s just one loss, not like we’ve never lost before. We’ll just come back tomorrow."

Felton: "Easy to say, but we had just managed to win an away game and seize the home-court advantage, only to lose it again right after returning home; it’s a huge mental letdown."

Zhang Yang: "That’s life, always full of ups and downs... downs... downs..."

Rondo, Okafor, Millsap, and the others were initially in low spirits, but listening to the ’comedy duo’ made them lose the mood to brood, and they switched to discussing serious matters.

Rondo: "Our biggest problem last night was shooting too poorly from the three-point line."

They all looked at the stat sheet – last night their team shot 4 for 13 from beyond the arc, with a mere 30.7% shooting percentage.

It wasn’t just that their shooting was off, they also shot too little. Gerald Wallace was 1 for 1, Zhang Yang was 2 for 6; their combined three-point attempts made up more than half of the team’s total. The rest of the players only took six shots and made one of them.

By comparison, the other stat sheets showed that in G1 and G2, Felton had hit four and three three-pointers respectively.

Felton: "Right, last night the players who could shoot threes were completely shut down."

Zhang Yang: "On the bright side, Emeka and Gerald’s inside scoring opportunities improved, and they seized them."

Rondo disagreed: "That’s not a good thing. The combined offensive impact of Emeka and Gerald inside doesn’t measure up to Duncan’s. Without the threat of outside shooters, your high-post shots and drives to the basket were affected, Jack. By the fourth quarter, after our wing three-point shooters were cold, both you and I couldn’t break through. And without the mid-range threat, Emeka and Gerald could score inside, which meant Paul and Alan couldn’t score off outside passes."

Zhang Yang, Okafor, Millsap, and Alan Anderson didn’t react much to these comments because that was just Rondo’s way of speaking, and mainly because what Rondo said was true. Had Rondo been making baseless accusations, they would have definitely argued back.

But there were still some who couldn’t help but complain. Felton grumbled, "Rajon, you’re going to lose friends if you talk like that."

Rondo: "Jack told me to be myself, to actively share my views. The strong don’t need friends!"

Felton: "If Jack said it, then it must be right. Keep going."

Okafor, Millsap, Alan Anderson, and Rondo: "..."

Taking a deep breath, Rondo continued, "We now face two choices: First, to exploit the space provided by their focus on guarding the perimeter by driving hard to the basket – the Spurs lost Nazr and Nesterovic, leaving Elson, Oberto, and Brezec who can only play adequate defense alongside Duncan; second, to find a way to hit the three-pointers, as we did in the first two games, linking up the inside and outside scoring."

Okafor spoke up: "Both choices seem like dead ends. Rajon, you’re right, combined together, myself and Gerald don’t have the same impact inside as Duncan. Despite his lack of good support, his combined offensive and defensive abilities are the best in the league. Elson and Oberto only need to play basic defense to back up Duncan, and the Spurs’ capacity to defend the three is also among the best in the league."

Zhang Yang: "A dead end is still better than having no path at all."

Okafor nodded: "True, it’s better than having no options at all. You’re really optimistic though, Jack. Even though I also know we’ve done well to get this far, I can’t help feeling anxious. I need to learn that from you."

Zhang Yang: "No need, everyone has their own way of behaving and thinking. It’s not possible for everyone to be the same. We’re very different in terms of our personalities, and you might end up feeling worse trying to be like me."

Okafor thought of the remarkable stories about Zhang Yang and the realization that anything he said could end up criticized...yeah, if he were in Zhang Yang’s public situation, he’d likely end up crying in his bed at home.

Rondo snorted, exasperated. How did even Okafor get sidetracked? Where did the topic go?

No! He, Coach Rondo, couldn’t be led astray! He must stay true to himself!

Rondo forcefully steered the conversation back: "Threes or attacking the basket?"

Zhang Yang promptly answered: "Threes!"

Rondo: "Why?"

Zhang Yang: "A great man once said, the more the enemy opposes you, the more you must persevere!"

...

June 18th, the fourth game day of the finals arrived.

At 8:40 p.m., players from both teams entered the court.

The Bobcats team faced a chorus of skepticism after losing G3.

But the fans on the scene were still enthusiastic, which invigorated Zhang Yang. While there might be the occasional case of one loyal supporter outweighing ten critics, possibly a vast number of such cases, the presence of a group of fans who supported them no matter the circumstances gave him plenty of motivation!

In the playoffs, teams easily develop grudges, and before the game, there was absolutely no interaction between the two teams.