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Chapter 627: This season’s weekly best came very early!_3

Chapter 627: This season’s weekly best came very early!_3

Carlisle felt that Randy Brown was quite right, and he also understood Randy Brown’s meaning. He chuckled, "I’m not dissatisfied with the number of shots Jack takes. It’s just that he seems to love shooting more than any other player I’ve seen.

In ’98, when I was an assistant coach for Sloan, we encountered Kobe Bryant in the Western Conference Finals. He played terribly but kept insisting on shooting. That was when I remembered him. Later, he became the player most fond of shooting and who took the most shots in the whole league.

Now that I see Jack, I feel like Kobe Bryant’s label is about to be stolen..."

...

Coming back from the half-time break, Zhang Yang continued to start, while the opponent, Wade, had been substituted out.

This was a regular rotation for Wade, who often rested for half of the third quarter, even if the score was close or they were trailing. Otherwise, he would not have enough energy later on.

The most evident display of Wade’s stamina issues was during a game in the latter half of the ’04-’05 season, where 23-year-old Wade and 30-year-old Iverson had their ’original number 3 showdown’.

In that game, the Miami Heat and the 76ers went into double overtime. Wade played the entirety of both overtimes for a total of 49 minutes on the court, making 18 of 33 shots to score a career-high 48 points to that date.

Meanwhile, Iverson rested for only 3 minutes in the second quarter and played the rest for a total of 55 minutes, scoring 38 points with 16 assists.

The result of the game was a loss for the Heat, as Wade and O’Neal were completely drained by Iverson. Of Wade’s 48 points, 46 were scored during the regular game and the first overtime, but in the second overtime, he only managed 2 points. The entire Heat team scored a measly 2 points; whereas Iverson scored 30 points with 16 assists during the regular game and the first overtime, and alone added 8 points in the second overtime to lead the 76ers to a 6-point victory through double overtime.

Tonight, Wade was even more exhausted than that battle against Iverson. Back then, he had MVP-caliber teammate O’Neal and a bunch of excellent players like Leitner, Kenyon Dooling, Shandon Anderson, who were all third or fourth string rotation players, the tail end of the rotations.

Now...

The third quarter began, and Rondo immediately stole the ball from Reaper Parker, leading the counterattack!

Reaper Parker and Chris Quinn pursued desperately, but Rondo charged to the opposing inside lane, not even turning his head, flung it towards the left at a 45-degree angle.

The ball arrived, the man arrived!

Zhang Yang caught the pass, took a dribble to the left to sidestep the chasing Ricky Davis’s block attempt, jumped, and shot a three-pointer... With the consistency of training, the shot went in smoothly!

to 19, Zhang Yang’s score passed Wade’s, 60 to 49, the Bobcats’ lead reached double digits.

A hint of frustration flashed across Rondo’s poker face: Brother Three, you could’ve faked that shot without dribbling, I believe you could’ve made it even if it was more difficult! Little brother here isn’t desperate for assists, but tonight Brother Three and the boss are both scoring in isolation, and I already have more rebounds than assists!

People are even starting to call me ’C More’!

With Wade out, and even O’Neal not on the court, the Miami Heat, led by Reaper Parker and Ricky Davis, performed disastrously. After a few rounds, the gap was heading towards 20 points.

With 4 minutes and 16 seconds to go, Mike Miller received Rondo’s pass and hit a three-pointer, pushing the score to 73 to 55, with a difference of 18 points!

Wade couldn’t sit still anymore and actively approached Pat Riley to ask to be put back in.

Pat Riley didn’t refuse and substituted Wade in, but his impact wasn’t as strong as in the first half.

Back then, the score was always close, and by the end of the half, it was only an 8-point difference. As long as Wade was on the court, his teammates felt there was hope. Now that the difference was nearly 20 points, even with Wade’s return, it could not dispel the despair in his teammates’ hearts.

The thoughts of the other Heat players became – with Flash scoring 19 points and 7 assists in the first half and they were still 8 points behind, now with an 18-point deficit, even if Flash had another 20 minutes with 19+7, what difference would it make?

The Miami Heat fans at the venue had already started leaving...

One could only say that in terms of scoring, in the hearts of the fans, and in the minds of his teammates, Wade still wasn’t on par with the few top-tier scorers...

After Wade’s return, the Heat managed to close the gap to 13 points at best, but could not get any closer. Whenever Wade slowed down his personal offense, the difference would widen again, just like in the first half. But the frequency of Wade slowing down his offensive drives was clearly higher than before.

With the chase for points hopeless, Pat Riley didn’t take Wade out, allowing him to play for 9 minutes in the final quarter, accumulating 36 minutes of playtime. With 25 shots, he made 12, and including 8 out of 12 free throws, he scored 32 points, 5 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.

On the other side, Carlisle also let Zhang Yang play 9 minutes in the last quarter. When Pat Riley subbed Wade out, that’s when he took Zhang Yang out, allowing Zhang Yang to face off more against Wade, for more practice.

It wasn’t just for practice but also to accrue experience in defending against Wade. In Carlisle’s view, a player like Wade would sooner or later lead a team back to the forefront of the league. Once the Heat got through this period of high salaries, they would surely rebuild a championship contender around Wade. If the Heat did not do so, Wade would certainly leave. He remembered that when Wade renewed his contract early in ’06, he signed a 3+1 contract, which meant 28-year-old Wade could opt out in 2010.

Zhang Yang played 40 minutes, throwing up shots 28 times. With 13 out of 28 shots made, including 3 out of 7 three-pointers, and 7 out of 8 free throws, he scored the highest points of the game, 36, with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks!