First in scoring

Chapter 443 442. Yellow Mamba, the Second Point Guard in the West

The announcement of the first phase of votes left the two top high school draft picks in the Eastern Conference one silent and the other angry.

east:

Center: Yao Ming ranked first with 81 votes, Howard ranked second with 73 votes, and Perkins ranked third with 50 votes...

前锋：詹姆斯98万票第一、奥卡福62万票第二、波什55万票第三、皮尔斯53万票第四、大卫-李49万票第五……

后卫：张杨178万票第一、韦德62万票第二、费尔顿48万票第三、卡特45万票第四、哈登43万票第五、乔-约翰逊……

west:

Center: O'Neal ranked first with 90 votes, Bynum ranked second with 61 votes, Oden ranked third with 33 votes, Okur ranked fourth with 31 votes...

前锋：加内特77万票第一、邓肯69万票第二、易建联59万票第三、安东尼58万票第四、杰拉德-华莱士55万票第五、阿泰斯特55万票第六、斯塔德迈尔……

后卫：科比95万票第一、艾弗森78万票第二、保罗65万票第三、罗伊61万票第四、帕克55万票第五……

James looked at the votes for the Eastern Conference guards and found that Zhang Yang's votes were too focused. It can be seen this way - those who voted for Wade, Carter, Arenas, Harden and others all voted for Zhang Yang, but those who voted for Zhang Yang were not fans of those people. They voted for Felton, who had a good relationship with Zhang Yang, and the rookie from New York.

He also discovered another thing from the number of votes this time - unlike previous years when the Eastern Conference backcourt was significantly stronger than the Western Conference backcourt, with the intensification of the migration of stars to the West, even the Eastern Conference backcourt is not as good as the Western Conference. Except for Zhang Yang, Wade, and Joe Johnson, there are no true All-Star guards in the East. Apart from these three, the strongest are Felton, Mo Williams, Harris and others, while the Western Conference All-Star guards are also as crowded as the All-Star forwards.

Among the centers in the Western Conference, it seems that Bynum is the only one who has the potential to maintain an All-Star level all year round!

Moreover, no one in the West has more votes than King...

James silently analyzed the vote situation based on his own interests.

Howard didn't think too much about it, he was very angry!
Beast: That old guy Shaq can start for the All-Stars when he goes to the West? Do I have to compete with the Little Giant? That damn No. 2 pick is in the starting lineup again, I don't accept it!

The high school student who received the highest number of votes in the first stage in history looked at the number of votes, felt happy for a while, and then didn't care about it anymore.

Last year, he also ranked first in the number of votes in the first stage, but was almost surpassed later. It was purely because after Garnett moved from the small fishing village of Minneapolis to the City of Angels Los Angeles, his popularity accumulated over the years exploded, allowing him to surpass him in the second stage. Moreover, the gap in votes between him and the second place in the first stage was not very large.

The advantage in the first stage this year is so huge that even if the fans of James, Yao Ming, Kobe and others make an effort later and his fans' voting enthusiasm fades, it will be difficult for them to be surpassed. It's a sure thing!
In the evening, Zhang Yang scored 27 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. At the critical moment when Carter led the team to narrow the gap to only two points, he passed the ball directly to the basket and assisted Hill who cut in to seal the victory, leading the Bobcats to a narrow victory over the Nets 93-89.

The next day, on the 11th, the Bobcats faced the Knicks back-to-back at home. Although they still failed to defend the Knicks this time, they at least curbed the firepower of the opponent's outside group and prevented the opponent from surging like last time, and defeated the opponent steadily with a score of 112 to 104.

Zhang Yang made 28 of 15 shots tonight, including 6 of 2 three-pointers, plus 11 of 11 free throws, scoring 43 points, making Harden once again feel the dangers of this world.

Harden actually played OK. He started the game and played for 28 minutes. He made 13 of 6 shots, including 1 of 0 three-pointers, plus 4 of 4 free throws, and got 16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal... and 5 fouls. His defensive enthusiasm was much stronger than last time, and he gave Zhang Yang 8 free throws...

Zhang Yang played very well in this game, but it was a bit regrettable that McGrady was unable to play in the game due to knee and back injuries.

Although McGrady can no longer average 25+ points per game like he did in the first half of last season, this is an opponent that we will lose every time we play against him…

With three consecutive wins, the Bobcats are on a roll, with a record of 3 wins and 29 losses, catching up with the Pistons in the 7-05 season. Only the Lakers in the 06-99 season and last season's Bulls have a better record than them after playing the same number of games.

The good record is due not only to Carlisle's good coaching and the players' good playing, but also to another reason - 36 of the first 22 games were at home.

Carlisle said in an interview that the league's schedule for them in the past two seasons was a coincidence.

Last season, they needed a lot of games to adjust their offensive system after the All-Star Weekend. It just so happened that they had many away games before the All-Star Weekend, and a series of consecutive home games after the All-Star Weekend gave them time to adjust, and finally they reached more than 60 wins.

This season they needed a lot of continuous games and training to make adjustments at the beginning, and there happened to be a lot of games in the early stage of the season.

抛开那个5连客和最近的3连主，他们前28场比赛，19主9客！
However, you have to pay for what you have done, and the same goes for the schedule. Now that they have played 8 more games at home than away, they will have to "pay back" next, and most of the games before the All-Star Weekend will be away games.

After three consecutive home games, the Bobcats rested for two days and on the 3th, they defeated the Cavaliers 14-102 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, starting a four-game road trip.

16号和17号，山猫队客场背靠背挑战费城76人队和华盛顿奇才队，先是以87比94憾负76人队，4连胜终结，接着在背靠背和奇才队的比赛中以112比87屠杀泄愤。

The Wizards are completely finished. It is true that the "gun-pulling incident" was exposed at the end of December, but the incident happened on December 12th. Since then, the Wizards have only won two games, from 12 wins and 19 losses to 10 wins and 14 losses after this game, posing a huge threat to the Bucks, Knicks and Pistons.

According to reports, Caron Butler and Jamison had already applied for a trade after the "gun-pulling incident" occurred but before it was exposed.

The Wizards started rebuilding in 03 after Jordan retired and they signed Arenas. They have worked hard for 6 years and paid taxes for 3 years, but it was all in vain and they have passively entered the slump mode.

On the 19th, the Bobcats defeated the Pistons 4-102 in their last game of their four-game road trip.

The Bobcats actually played very poorly in this game, mainly because of the poor operation of Pistons head coach Michael Curry, who did not give his team any chance to turn the tables.

汉密尔顿15投8中，其中三分球1中1，加上5中5的罚球，高效看下22分，只得到30分钟出场时间。

反而是12投4中拿到12分10板的诺阿，打了全队最多的38分钟。

Michael Curry, 40 years old, started playing in the NBA in the mid-90s and played for 11 years. He retired in 05. This is his first time as a head coach. He always manages to interrupt his team's momentum before it gets going, effectively controlling his team's performance and successfully bringing the record to second from the bottom in the Eastern Conference. From another perspective, it can be said that his on-the-spot reaction is very sharp.

对新人的培养做得也尚可，诺阿这赛季进步明显，场均9.7分10板1抢断1.2盖帽，比起上赛季新秀年的6分7板有了巨大进步。

But his first year as coach was a slump, and Michael Curry's subsequent development path was blocked.

4连客，张杨分别拿到33分、25分、37分、31分，打了40场比赛后，他场均得分又一次和韦德打平了！韦德那边刚好也是31.5分，只是比他少打了4场比赛。

Zhang Yang finally caught up with Wade and was very happy. He liked this kind of fierce competition.

When Wade was caught up, his cheeks grew another millimeter bigger when he saw the news.

Big Cheeks: Is it so difficult to win the scoring title? So this is what it felt like for King to compete for the scoring title last year! The scoring title is the award that can most directly reflect scoring ability and has always been the most watched statistic. The two entered the competition from the first month of the competition, taking turns to lead and fight back and forth, which naturally attracted the attention of fans, and the discussion about this aspect has never stopped.

For Zhang Yang, whose team is in a very good situation and who has already won the scoring title and fundamentally does not need this award to prove himself, and who simply wants it, such attention has no negative impact on him at all, but instead can arouse his fighting spirit.

But it’s different for Wade!
The Heat may not even make it to the playoffs this year. They got the No. 5 pick by playing badly but ended up selecting the least capable player among the top five picks. In terms of ability, Beasley may be second only to Mayo at the moment, but he is too ambitious. Not to mention compared with the hardworking Mayo, the naturally competitive Rose and Westbrook and others, even compared with Harden who looks silly in the Big Apple, Beasley can't compare.

The other four in the top five were all positive and eager to become stronger, but Beasley started to live a decadent life after withdrawing 5 million US dollars in advance, as if he wanted to enjoy the life that he had not enjoyed in the previous 4 years all at once.

The O'Neal-Marion trade, which was originally seen as a robbery-style trade, also "turned over" this year. O'Neal played an All-Star performance in the Suns, while Marion continued to be in a slump and had no fighting spirit...

Therefore, Wade needs the scoring title award to prove himself. Zhang Yang's pursuit and media attention have brought him endless pressure.

There is another person who is unwilling...

King: After Christmas, I have 11 wins and 2 losses. The damn Zhang San also has 11 wins and 2 losses. He has to be better than me, right?
...

On the 21st, the Bobcats returned to their home court to face the challenge of the Trail Blazers.

Roy and Aldridge, the two third-year talented new stars, have both put in All-Star performances this season.

After Oden returned from injury, his performance in his rookie season, which came a year late, was also remarkable. He averaged 21 points, 9 rebounds and 7 blocks in 1.2 minutes per game, with a shooting percentage of 57%, which was better than Bynum's performance of the same age.

At present, Oden is indeed worthy of the title of "epic genius", and the Trail Blazers are also doing their best to protect and cultivate this genius.

The three core players performed well, with the steady and big-hearted point guard Steve Blake, the athletically gifted high school student of the 03 class Travis Outlaw, the Spanish golden generation forward-guard swingman Rudy Fernandez who can run, shoot and dunk, the blue-collar center Przybila, the French rookie Nicolas Batum with outstanding potential, and the shooting center Channing Frye...

The powerful Trail Blazers have achieved a record of 25 wins and 15 losses so far and are competing with the Nuggets for the top spot in the Northwest Division.

After the game started at 8 pm, the Bobcats scored 26 to 18 in the first quarter, but in the second quarter, the Bobcats' strategy of attrition, which had been successful in the past month, did not work this time.

Roy scored 7 points and 4 assists in a single quarter, and Blake made two open three-pointers, which boosted the Trail Blazers' offense. They scored 26 to 20 in a single quarter and narrowed the gap to two points.

第三节张杨单节11分，率领山猫队打出了26比22的比分，率领山猫队以72比66领先开拓者队6分进入末节。

In the final quarter, Roy led the team to a score of 24 to 18 despite a very unfavorable situation!
With Perkins missing both free throws with 1.8 seconds left and Blake's three-pointer going into timeout, the game was dragged into overtime by the Trail Blazers.

Why was it Perkins who took the free throw in the final moments...because the two teams played too fiercely tonight.

Okafor, Oden, Aldridge and Pietrus were fouled out with six fouls. In the 48 minutes of regular time, the Trail Blazers had 27 fouls and the Bobcats had 25 fouls.

Roy and Zhang Yang also had 5 and 4 fouls respectively.

In overtime, Roy, who scored 27 points and 7 assists and forced the game into overtime, received his sixth foul when he was defending Felton's breakthrough at the beginning of the game and was sent off.

Felton started with a 2+1, and then hit a three-pointer against Blake, beating the Trail Blazers 6-0 on his own, laying the foundation for the Bobcats to win.

4 minutes and 25 seconds into overtime, Zhang Yang received the ball and made a three-pointer. The overtime score came to 12 to 4. In half a minute, the score difference was 8 points. Zhang Yang's three-pointer secured the victory for the Bobcats!

Neither side scored in the last 35 seconds, and the game ended at 10:36 pm.

张杨31分11板、费尔顿22分6助攻、米尔萨普10分6板7助攻、奥卡福15分8板……山猫队以102比94险胜开拓者队！

After fighting for the entire game, the team received 28 fouls. One of the three core players was fouled out with 6 fouls, one with 5 fouls, and another with 3 fouls. In the end, we won. It was a wonderful feeling. After the game, the entire Bobcats team celebrated like it was New Year's Day.

24 hours later, at the Portland Rose Garden, the team that cheered and celebrated turned to the Trail Blazers.

靠着罗伊的25分7助攻、布雷克的14分4助攻、奥登的14分14板8盖帽，开拓者队在背靠背第二战中以88比81复仇山猫队，送给山猫队本赛季第9场失利！
The Bobcats defended Aldridge very well tonight, but Oden broke out and almost got a triple-double with blocks.

However, the key to the Trail Blazers' narrow victory was Roy! He was almost not at a disadvantage in the two matches against Zhang Yang!
In this back-to-back home and away games, Zhang Yang felt the value of the two titles "the second best shooting guard in the West" and "the Yellow Mamba". Roy really has the same strong competitive spirit as Kobe, and he has the ability to convert his competitive spirit into real game performance.

Zhang Yang also felt the obvious difference between Roy and Kobe. Kobe would only play reasonably under certain conditions, but Roy always played reasonably.

Roy made a lot of key shots tonight, when the Trail Blazers were about to collapse, when the Bobcats were about to gain momentum, when the scoring offensive was about to be interrupted, when the Bobcats' momentum was interrupted... He was almost always seen scoring goals, but after a game, he only scored 25 points. He always made good use of his threat and made the most beneficial choice for the whole team.

From a certain perspective, Zhang Yang feels that Roy is a more difficult player to deal with than Kobe. What makes him fortunate and regretful is that Roy has a qualitative gap with Kobe in terms of pure personal ability.

On the 24th, the Bobcats came to the Bradley Center in Milwaukee to challenge the Bucks away.

This may be the last time that Zhang Yang comes to this stadium to play. After another failed reconstruction, Jane Pettit, the owner of the Bucks, feels that this stadium conflicts with the aura of her team and is ready to change the stadium. For this reason, she is even willing to sell part of her equity, even the market operation rights, the title of owner, etc., in exchange for more funds, to change to a larger and more advanced stadium, invest more money in the lineup, and continue to pursue her father Harry Pettit's basketball dream.

The owner of the Bucks is considered one of the "high-quality owners" in the NBA. Stern is reluctant to see the team move to a new city, especially a team in a small city, but he has taken the initiative to suggest that the Bucks move to a bigger city. He admitted this in an interview. He believes that an owner like Pettit deserves a bigger market... But Pettit refused. She wanted to see her late father's beloved team win the championship in her hometown.

Putting luck aside, just looking at the Bucks' team-building ideas, plans, and execution, they have always done a good job. This time is no exception. If they are going to give up, they will do it thoroughly. If other teams had not offered too low an offer to Reed and Bogut, they would have planned to trade even these two.

Zhang Yang played for 15 minutes tonight, 8 minutes in the first quarter, 7 minutes in the second quarter, and clocked out at halftime. He made 10 of 7 shots, including 2 of 2 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 16 points, because the halftime score was 57 to 28...

The score in the second half was 55 to 50. Carlisle did not let the three young players play in the second half. Hill played as point guard. In the end, the Bobcats slaughtered the Bucks 112 to 78 and improved their record to 34 wins and 9 losses!
The Bobcats played three games in four days this time. Mainly because the back-to-back games were difficult, they almost lost both games. Zhang Yang's scoring also dropped significantly due to various reasons. After three games, his average points per game was only 4.

This made the two brothers from Class 03 who were staring at him even more annoyed.

Wade also played very anxiously in the last three games. Zhang Yang was okay, scoring 3 points in one game and more than 31 points in another. Wade scored less than 20 points in all three games, and his average points per game dropped to 3!

Wade didn't care much about this at first, but when he saw that Zhang Yang's scoring was also declining, his mentality collapsed. He actually failed to seize this precious opportunity to gain a leading advantage!
As for James, he was very happy to see the Bobcats lose back-to-back games to the Trail Blazers at home and away, but two hours later he was upset by the Rockets on the road, and a day later he lost to the Spurs... Texas had 1 consecutive away games with 3 win and 1 losses!
Not only did they fail to seize the opportunity to catch up with the Bobcats' record, but their disadvantage also widened by 1 win!
If he had been behind, James wouldn't have been so upset, like in the previous seasons, but this season he was always in the first place throughout the early stage, but after the first game of the mid-term, which was the Christmas game, he never returned to the first place...

As for Zhang Yang, after playing two consecutive away games, he returned to Charlotte with the team on the afternoon of the 25th. After his teammates left, he stayed at the airport for a while, picked up his little bitch, and went home for the New Year!

(End of this chapter)