First in scoring

Chapter 544. The Second Half

After the All-Star Game, at noon the next day, the three young players of the Bobcats, Hill who went to join in the fun, and Tyronn Lue flew back to Charlotte together.

The reason I rushed back was because today is Boss Joe's birthday. Boss Joe has no property in Dallas, and he is relatively not that popular there. Texas is the world of American football, so the birthday party was held in Charlotte.

But Jordan was not so happy on his birthday in the middle of the day.

All major media outlets just put his birthday on the headlines, replacing Zhang Yang with the AMVP news, but within an hour, it was removed and replaced with new news, because Iverson retired...

At 2010 noon on February 2, 17, Iverson held a press conference in Dallas and announced his retirement.

"Coming back to the 76ers feels like coming home to me. Everyone loves me and everyone is expressing their love for me. You have to believe that this love is mutual and I love you too.

But I have to admit that I am holding everyone back, and I hate this feeling. I keep trying to prove myself, but I fail.

Yesterday, a group of young players told me that they would help me win the MVP. I once again plucked up my courage and tried my best to fight for it, but the fact proved that I am no longer the same person I used to be, so I chose to let go.

But I didn't feel any pain because I tried my best.

I once thought that leaving the NBA would be a tragedy for me. I never imagined such a day, but when this day really came, what I felt was happiness and pride in everything in the past. I will not regret any decision I have made, including now.

This season, I have felt more powerless than ever before on the court. I know that basketball is telling me that it is time to say goodbye.

In fact, I had heard what basketball told me earlier, but I wanted to wait and play another game with those young men. It is my honor to be on par with the three of them. Thanks to the fans for fulfilling my wish.

Every great player will say something to warn the younger generation when they retire. I think I am probably a great player, so I will also say something to warn the younger generation.

Don’t follow my example.”

As for Zhang Yang, after returning to Charlotte's home and putting down his luggage, he went to the study to watch the news.

After watching the speech clips of Iverson's retirement press conference, he inexplicably felt a sense of loss in his heart.

At the airport, when Felton told him that Iverson had retired, his first reaction was not surprise, but just surprise.

You were happily playing in the All-Star Game yesterday, passing the ball when you couldn't win, and now you're retiring today?

After the loss, the feeling that a symbol of youth was missing lingered in Zhang Yang's heart, and melancholy replaced the loss.

However, the last sentence of Zhang Yang's retirement speech video felt very Iverson.

As for the fact that he was not able to follow through on helping Iverson win the MVP last night, and that he simply forgot about Iverson towards the end of the game, Zhang Yang did not feel any regret or remorse about this. Someone has to win, and since Iverson can't win, then he will do it.

Pushing Iverson, who is already unable to move, to compete against those killer stars in the West, making Iverson get beaten to a pulp and still lose in the end, would make him regret it.

He did not try to suppress his sentimental and melancholy emotions, which would have made him feel even more uncomfortable. Instead, he went to Jordan's house to attend a party and joined his teammates in the discussion about Iverson's retirement.

It was his birthday, but the team members were talking about others, and Boss Joe was furious!
...

The next day, Zhang Yang slept until noon. The heat of Iverson's retirement was still continuing today, but he did not feel sentimental or entangled anymore.

The answer's basketball career has already been written. Maybe he will go somewhere to seek gold in the future, or maybe he will appear in the public eye again with all kinds of negative news about money...

And Zhang San's basketball career is in progress!
Enjoying the game with his current opponents and trying his best to defeat them is what he wants to do most now.

The team was supposed to have training in the afternoon, but when Zhang Yang arrived at the Turkish Airlines Arena and had just finished his nutritious lunch, he received a notice that the training was cancelled.

He remembered that many people seemed to have drunk too much last night. Although he was very restrained and did not drink too much, he still played until very late, so he slept until noon.

This is not a big deal for him. Since the team training was cancelled, he practiced shooting more. Becoming the first historical three-point shooter is his current important goal in terms of basic skills!

The reason for setting this goal is not only because Nowitzki and Kobe are already in the later stages of their careers and will not be at their peak for a few years, but also because his three-point talent has improved to 98 after his last training. Currently, his three-point talent is 94, so there is plenty of room for improvement!
Of course, he will not neglect the mid-range shot and its related techniques. He still has to practice them. The difficulty of improving them is higher than the three-point shot, and his talent is lower. The speed of improvement will definitely be slower. There is no point in being anxious, he can only grind slowly.

Improving his free throw shooting also became his goal. He didn't think he was bad at free throws before. He had an 80%+ hit rate since his sophomore year and 85+% in his junior year. These were actually very high. It was very difficult to make further progress. It was difficult to get high output with a large investment, so starting from the junior season, it became maintenance training.

But he wants to improve this season. Although his current shooting percentage has dropped to 48.9%, before January, he maintained a shooting percentage of over 1% in the first two game months. His three-point shooting percentage is still 41%. He has hope of becoming a member of the 180 Club!

180俱乐部不是三个命中率加起来180，而是硬条件50+40+90。

Another day passed, and on February 2th, the Bobcats' first game day of the second half of the season arrived.

After a day of rest after all the fun, the teammates seemed to be in good condition this morning, mainly because no one was late. As for the competitive state... they will always come back after a good rest. Anyway, Zhang Yang felt that there was no problem at all.

In the evening, the Bobcats faced the challenge of the Bulls at home.

The two teams played like... a bunch of weaklings fighting each other.

The Bobcats are in bad shape, and the Bulls are not much better!
After the All-Star Weekend, Yao Ming did not leave Texas, but went to Houston to meet up with his teammates. Maybe it was because the All-Star Weekend was held in Texas. The league arranged for the Bulls to play the Rockets in the first game of the second half of the season. Could they sell more sentiments in the Chinese market? It was during the Spring Festival.

The Rockets have 25 wins and 27 losses. They just surpassed the Kings before the All-Star Weekend and moved up to th in the Western Conference. They are not strong, but they are not weak either. The defensive iron bucket formation built by Thibodeau around the frontcourt group consisting of Lopez, Yi Jianlian, Scola, Battier, Hayes, Landry... is both weak and hard.

No other Bulls player was selected for the All-Star Game this year. Iverson's selection as a starter did not really affect Wade. Wade was selected as he should have been, but Hinrich was squeezed out of the All-Star reserve list.

In the frontcourt, Luol Deng was unable to compete with Bosh, Pierce, Okafor, Granger, etc.

Luol Deng once averaged 20+ points per game in the early stage of the season, but by the middle of the season, he did not continue to rise like Granger and directly enter the ranks of top scorers. He could not even maintain his position as a first-class scorer with an average of 20 points per game. Before the All-Star Weekend, he fell to 19.1 points per game, so he did not catch the eyes of coaches of various teams.

In terms of offensive talent, there is still a big gap between Luol Deng and Granger, two talented small forwards of similar age and size who entered the NBA only one year apart.

Maybe it was because they had rested for too long, the Bulls' overall performance was not good last night. Yao Ming continued his good form in the second half of the All-Star Weekend, scoring 37 points against his old team, setting a season high, and narrowly beat the Rockets 92-86.

The Bulls played the 'China Derby Regular Edition' last night and came to Charlotte today to play the 'China Derby Deluxe Edition'. Their form continued to be sluggish, and even Yao Ming's performance was very poor.

But the Bobcats' performance was also sluggish. Only Zhang Yang and Okafor maintained their normal state, scoring the ball one by one.

最终，张杨34投16中、其中三分球5中2、加上10中8的罚球拿到42分9板2助攻；奥卡福20投8中，加上7中5的罚球，拿到21分13板，两人携手率队以83比78险胜公牛队，拿下后半程开门红，将战绩提升到36胜17负！
After the game, Zhang Yang looked at himself and saw that he almost missed 3 consecutive 20 shots. He was already sweating profusely from exhaustion, and he was even more shocked.

He and Okafor have scored 63 points combined, while the whole team has only 83 points... However, as the two of them are the face of the team inside and outside, it is only right for them to carry the team when their teammates are not in good shape.

The Bulls suffered back-to-back losses, and the next day, the Bobcats suffered the same loss, losing 114-119 in a back-to-back game against the Mavericks.

Zhang Yang originally thought that his teammates would continue to be in a slump after playing back-to-back games, but he didn't expect that most of the main players would actually adjust back today.

他被小牛队的无限夹击搞得14投仅6中，其中三分球7中2，加上6中6的罚球，只拿到20分，外加7板7助攻。

奥卡福10投6中，稳稳拿到15分10板2助攻2盖帽。

费尔顿16分4板5助攻、奥尼尔11分8板、米尔萨普10分6板5助攻、科里森9分3助攻、马里昂10分7板、希尔7分、马修斯10分、阿弗拉罗6分……

Perkins and Ibaka did not play tonight due to injuries last night. The remaining 11 main rotation players all took the court. Only Cunningham made 3 of 0 shots and scored no points. The others scored more than 5 points, making good use of Zhang Yang's restraining power and launching a violent offense.

But Nowitzki only made 23 of 12 shots under the rotation defense of Hill, Millsap and Marion, including 2 of 0 three-pointers, plus 3 of 3 free throws... Without making any three-pointers and not many free throws, he still scored 27 points!
阿泰斯特22分6板、特里20分5助攻、比卢普斯15分7助攻、巴特勒18分……内线头号得分手和外线球星群全投开了！
After the game, Zhang Yang reviewed the loss and felt that their condition was not as good as the scoring looked. The offense was so strong mainly because he scored 3+ points three times in a row against three strong playoff teams: Bucks, Lakers and Bulls. Of course, his teammates were able to seize the opportunities and their condition was indeed much better than last night, but the defense was still affected.

This is really Boss Joe's fault. Why did his birthday have to be on February 2th? If it happened to be during the All-Star Weekend, it wouldn't be a big deal, but this time it was after the All-Star Weekend, and most of the players had just returned from vacation. Because of that party, they didn't have time to fully prepare for the game, which led to their defeat tonight despite their good offensive form.

If the Bulls hadn't been in poor form, they would have lost two games in a row since returning.

By putting the blame on Jordan, Zhang Yang's mood instantly improved, and his dissatisfaction with his teammates' defensive performance due to the loss was diverted.

As expected of the God of Basketball, the court plays a huge role!
However, the impression Nowitzki left on Zhang Yang during this match was much stronger than the last time they played away to Texas for three consecutive games.

He failed to defend the Mavericks' perimeter because his teammates were slow in defense. He could only guard one player at most, and was often distracted by the Mavericks' penetrating running tactics, resulting in his defensive targets getting open shooting opportunities.

Hill, Millsap, and Marion did a good job defending Nowitzki, but Nowitzki relied on the back-to-back jumper he developed in the past two years to make 39 mid-range shots in 10 minutes of playing time!
I just tasted the old blacksmith's back-leaning dance a dozen days ago, and today I tasted the Silver Horn King's Golden Rooster Stand.

It is worth mentioning that in one round when Zhang Yang was unlucky and had to switch to defend Nowitzki, he found that his arm span was almost the same as Nowitzki's... After the game, he checked the official data, and found that Nowitzki was 212 cm barefoot and had a arm span of 215 cm, which was 1 cm shorter than Zhang San. Tsk, he also had short arms.

After the back-to-back games, the Bobcats rested for two days, then went to the Atlantic Division, playing three consecutive away games on the 23rd, 25th, and 27th, and achieved a record of 2 wins and 1 loss, which is not bad. The key is that the teammates' condition has really improved during this period. The only game they lost was to the Celtics. Al Jefferson made 13 of 9 shots and 11 of 9 free throws, scoring 27 points, giving them a defeat.

After February, the Bobcats had a record of 2 wins and 38 losses.

In 20 days and 11 games, the Bobcats have performed well this month, with a record of 3 wins and 7 losses, most of their opponents being playoff-level teams, 4 championship contenders, and two back-to-back games.

Zhang Yang's personal performance was also outstanding, with 3 games of 40+ points and one game of 37 points.

But I still couldn't compete with that person for the monthly best award.

After three consecutive away games, the Bobcats took a day off. On March 3st, a new month arrived.

The Morning Alliance announced the new Player of the Month awards.

9胜1负、场均27.2分8.2板8.7助攻1.4抢断1盖帽的詹姆斯，拿下本赛季第3次东部月最佳。

The Cavaliers lost only one game in February, to the Bobcats, on the 2st. After that, they won 1 consecutive games, tying the longest winning streak of the season held by the Spurs. Their record is now 1 wins and 9 losses. The probability of getting 46 wins is not high. In March this year, the league's main player to compete with the Mad March for ratings is none other than James, the "black representative" with the official slogan. The Cavaliers have 10 games in March, 70 of which are against the top nine teams in the West and the top six teams in the East.

But judging from the current situation, apart from the Spurs and the Mavericks, no other team has the hope of competing with the Cavaliers for the top spot in the league.

The Spurs don't have a player who performs at an 'MVP level';

Nowitzki of the Mavericks is back to his peak this season, with a shooting percentage of 50.7%, a career high, surpassing the 06-07 season, and averaging 25.5 points per game, nearly 1 point higher than his MVP season. The team's record is also good, currently third in the league and one of only three teams expected to reach 3 wins...but there is almost no call for MVP, or in other words, when the media and experts talk about MVP candidates, no one mentions Nowitzki's name.

In response to this, Cuban has already fired direct shots at the All-Star Weekend, but the redneck areas are just like the Rust Belt, no matter how loud their voices are, it is useless and will not be as effective as the voices of rural Tennessee.

Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace blasted that their team didn't even have a single All-Star. Parker, Gerald Wallace and Gasol were all eliminated. It wasn't because of these three players, but it was a shame for the head coaches who voted.

After Chris Wallace opened fire, well-known coaches such as Spurs head coach Popovich, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, and Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni all responded, roughly saying that they all thought everyone would vote for these three people and that they had no shortage of votes, but they did not expect that the three people would actually lose the election.

Almost no one paid attention to Cuban's words. Of course, in addition to the geographical location, the main reason was that the pit three years ago was too big. If Nowitzki did not prove himself again in the playoffs, he would always be looked down upon.

The Western Conference Player of the Month for February was Donovan, who exploded after being eliminated from the All-Star Game. While Zhang Yang only scored more than 2 points in the last four games of the month, Kuku scored a lot of points and rushed to the top of the scoring list. The Nuggets also had a good record in February, with 4 wins and 20 losses, the same as the Bobcats. The Western Conference Player of the Month for the first four months was Stoudemire, Kobe, Paul, and Anthony. The competition for the regular season weekly and monthly awards in the Western Conference was too fierce, and as in previous years, it was difficult to focus on individual players.

In addition, James has performed really well this season, even with a 40% three-point shooting rate and 1.6 shots per game, with a shooting rate of 51%+40%+...76%. He has good statistics and a good record. He won the MVP award three times in the first four months and won it this year. His MVP call is already very high.

On Zhang Yang's side, in the evening, they faced the challenge of the Lakers at home. The first major game of the NBA in March was between the defending champion and the runner-up.

After a fierce offensive and defensive battle, the Lakers relied on Fisher's three-pointer at the last moment and Vujacic's two key free throws, and finally defeated the Bobcats 99-95, avenging their defeat before the All-Star Weekend!
Tonight, Zhang Yang and Kobe were mainly responsible for missing shots.

Kobe, Ariza and Kidd took turns to defend Zhang Yang from making only 17 of 6 three-pointers. In fact, looking at the 35.3% three-point shooting percentage, it is not that bad, and is similar to the shooting percentage of Curry, who is known as the "No. 09 three-point talent among rookies in ."

张杨29投13中、进了6个三分、加上5次罚球命中，拿到37分，表现并不算差。

Kobe only shot 30 of 12 under the rotation defense of Zhang Yang, Afflalo, Matthews and Hill, which was not as good as the last time they met.

But the Lakers made 20 of 9 three-pointers from the wing tonight!
今晚三分8投4中、合计拿到17分，外加7板11助攻的基德，与进了3个三分拿到11分的费舍尔，成了关键胜负手，两人力压拿到19分5助攻的费尔顿和6分的达伦-科里森。

12投4中拿到12分14板的奥卡福，也被13投6中拿到15分14板的加内特压了一头。

Millsap and Gasol Jr. were evenly matched tonight, with one getting 6 assists and the other getting 5 assists but two more rebounds.

Although Zhang Yang scored the highest points in the game and surpassed Kobe who scored 31 points, he was eventually avenged by the opponent.

The two encounters were generally evenly matched.

In regular time, either the teams relied on stars or the teams played together. Both attempts were difficult to determine the winner even though both teams were in good shape. Both teams fought to the end relying on key balls.

Last time, Zhang Yang defeated the Lakers with two three-pointers at a critical moment, but this time the Bobcats were defeated by Fisher who was left in the corner.

The Bobcats' regular season matchups with the Western Conference's top four teams this season have all come to an end. They had a record of 1 win and 1 loss against the Suns, Spurs, and Lakers, and lost both games against the Mavericks.

The Cavaliers, Magic, Bulls, and Hawks, when facing the Western Conference Final Four, the best performances are... the Magic and the Hawks. The Magic have played against the Western Conference Final Four 7 times, with 5 wins and 2 losses. They are the only one that suppressed the opponents, always raining three-pointers to directly overwhelm the opponents; the Hawks have played against them 8 times, with 4 wins and 4 losses.

The Cavaliers have played against each other 6 times, currently with 2 wins and 4 losses, having won 1 game against the Suns and the Lakers. There are two games left, both in March, so a tie is expected.

The Bulls have also completed their 8 encounters, with the same record of 3 wins and 5 losses as the Bobcats, having won against the Mavericks, Spurs, and Suns respectively.

Two seasons later since the 06-07 season, in the regular season, the top teams in the West have begun to suppress the top teams in the East again. The leaders, like in the 06-07 season, are still Horse-Bull Day!
Duncan, Nowitzki and Nash, three veterans in their thirties, have demonstrated what it means to be your uncle.

...

March started off badly, with the Bobcats' record dropping to 3 wins and 38 losses, dropping to fifth in the Eastern Conference.

On the bright side, fifth in the Eastern Conference is not bad. Although the ranking is low, the record is better than that of the fourth-placed Celtics. There is still home-court advantage in the first round, and the Cavaliers can play in the second round, directly avoiding the possibility of playing against the Bulls or Hawks in the first two rounds.

However, neither Carlisle nor Zhang Yang likes the idea of ​​"picking opponents". After seeing the tragedy of the Mavericks picking opponents, they all firmly believe that the best ranking that they strive for with all their strength is the most appropriate ranking.

If you have the conditions to fight but don't, and choose to fight an opponent you think is weak, it will ruin your character.

After the All-Stars Weekend, the team has 4 wins and 3 losses. This run is really bad, almost as bad as the three-game road trip to Texas in early December. But there are some good things!
In these 7 games, Marion played in all of them, averaging 17 minutes per game, scoring 8.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1 steal and 0.7 blocks. In 4 of the games, he scored in double digits!
In the game defending Nowitzki, Marion's condition started to improve, but the opponent was too strong and he failed to defend him.

In the game against the Lakers, Marion switched defense to Kobe for two rounds, and his performance was no worse than Hill and Afflalo. Only Zhang Yang's defensive effect was better.

Carlisle is not in a hurry and plans to observe a few more games. If Marion can maintain his current performance, he is ready to adjust the lineup even if there is no improvement in the future.

However, the plan is not to let Marion replace Hill as the starting player, but to let Zhang Yang play as small forward, and promote Afflalo as the starting shooting guard, so that Afflalo can defend those technical guards and reduce Zhang Yang's consumption on the defensive end.

Zhang Yang's small arms and legs, weighing only 95 or 96 kilograms, can actually defeat those impact-type small forwards!

After Zhang Yang showed such ability this season, Carlisle found it quite incredible at first. The only players of similar physique he had seen who were as good as or better than Zhang Yang were Kobe and Jordan, but after playing for four or five years, those two also became stronger than Zhang Yang.

Wade is also okay, he is even smaller, but Wade weighs over 100 kg, the same as Kobe during his Malone period and Jordan in his second peak period.

As for O'Neal, Carlisle was about to burst into tears!

On the last day of last month, after returning from three consecutive away games, O'Neal finally told head trainer Jarrett Young that he wanted to do fat-loss training!

Carlisle admires the Zen Master even more. O'Neal is only a backup center now. If he were the core center, he would have been furious long ago. Even though he has matured after experiencing the trials of the Pistons and Pacers, he cannot withstand O'Neal's tossing.

After a day of rest, the Bobcats left Charlotte and started a home and away game on the 4th.

Since this season was not promoted by the league, the Bobcats experienced three months of difficult schedule from December to February. The schedule in March was much easier, with only 12 games and only one back-to-back.

As time went by, in the next 14 games, the Bobcats achieved a record of 11 wins and 3 losses, which was a very good performance...but they also lost the opportunity to get 60 wins this month.

After March, the Bobcats' record is 3 wins and 49 losses!
In these 14 games, the toughest game for the Bobcats was not the 96-108 defeat by the shooting-crazy Bulls on the road, nor the 129-126 double-overtime win over the Magic on the road, but the game against the two brothers from the 03 class.

和热火队两次交手，山猫队分别以101比95险胜、89比94憾负，韦德一场41分、一场33+10+11的三双，感觉把平时攒起来的劲儿，全用来打张杨了。

However, Zhang Yang himself played very well. He scored 25 points and 10 assists in one game and 48 points in another, which was a tie with Wade.

Another guy from the 03 class who went on a rampage was Bosh, who went south. When he played against the Bobcats away from home, he made 29 of 16 shots, plus 8 of 6 free throws, and scored 38 points and 14 rebounds, leading the Raptors to beat the Bobcats 113-105, which made headlines.

As always, Bosh was too comfortable playing against Okafor, and was a natural nemesis for him.

Scoring high points was not a difficult thing for Bosh at that time. He had scored 9+ points in a single game 40 times in his career, ranking second among the Mesozoic inside players, second only to Stoudemire who scored 14+ points 40 times (historical fact).

On the contrary, in the game against the No. 31 Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference, the Bobcats won unexpectedly easily. Zhang Yang played for 17 minutes, made 9 of 5 shots, including 3 of 8 three-pointers, and 8 of 29 free throws. He scored 3 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 110 steals in three quarters, and clocked out. The Bobcats eventually won the Cavaliers by 93 points with a score of 17 to 22, and the biggest difference reached points.

In that game, the Bobcats were fully prepared to fight to the end, because in the previous two encounters, although they won once with a near-game-winning shot and once into overtime, they were both very tired. They never expected that this time the opponent would fall down with just a push.

Throughout the game, the Cavaliers seemed to have no fighting spirit. James cursed and his teammates were not motivated. They lost 19 games in a row in the regular season and 12 games in the playoffs. The last time they met, they were reversed by the Bobcats in overtime. Not only did James' mentality explode, but the mentality of others also collapsed.

However, the Cavaliers' performance in March was indeed disappointing.

To be honest, it's not that bad, with 10 wins and 6 losses, but compared with the expectations brought by the previous 46 wins and 10 losses, it is a bit far.

They lost all the games against the Lakers and Suns, teams they had beaten before. They also lost all the games against the Bulls and Bobcats. In 11 games against strong teams in the East and West, they only had 6 wins and 5 losses.

This month, no, it can be said that the best performing team in the Eastern Conference after the All-Star Weekend is the Hawks, with 22 wins and 18 losses in 4 games, and they have strongly rushed into the competition for the second and third places in the Eastern Conference. At the end of March, they drove both the Bobcats and the Magic out of the top four, ranking third with a record of 3 wins and 50 losses, second only to the Cavaliers with 23 wins and 56 losses and the Bulls with 16 wins and 51 losses.

On April 4, the league announced the new monthly best awards.

The winner of the Eastern Conference is... Wade!
热火队9胜7负的战绩看着不咋滴，但韦德单月场均31.5分5.5板7助攻1.5抢断1.5盖帽，51%的命中率，到了争季后赛席位的时候，上赛季那个个人能力无双的闪电侠又回来了！
When other weak teams in the Eastern Conference were being exploited by the top six teams, he single-handedly held off the strong teams from being harvested.

He led his team to defeat the Pacers led by Granger, DeRozan and Murphy, and the Knicks led by Harden, David Lee and Al Harrington, and firmly held the eighth position in the Eastern Conference.

In the West, there are new names for the Player of the Month every month, and this month there is a new name - Derrick Rose!

在杜兰特保持场均30分的基础上，前面4个月场均17分7助攻的罗斯，单月16场比赛轰出了场均25.5分5.8助攻的表现，与杜兰特一同率队打出了11胜5负的战绩，强势将失去了保罗的黄蜂队、前半个月表现不错但后半个月也拉了的掘金队拉下马，以43胜29负挺进西部前八……第八！
In mid-March, Paul, who had been fighting hard for several months, collapsed on the court.

He averaged 22.4 points per game, ranking first among point guards; he averaged 5 rebounds per game, ranking fourth among point guards, only lower than Westbrook, Evans and Rondo. Kidd had less playing time, so his rebounds dropped, but even with Kidd, Paul would still be among the top five point guards; in assists, he averaged 11.2 per game, ranking second in the league, only behind Nash who averaged 11.5; in steals, he averaged 2.4 per game, ranking second in the league, only behind Zhang Yang who averaged 2.9 per game.

Paul reached the peak of his personal performance this season, not only putting on an absolute MVP-level performance but also leading the team to compete in the Western Conference playoffs for a long time... But as soon as he fell, the Hornets fell out of the playoffs from sixth place in just one week and did not even make it to the end of March.

When Zhang Yang learned that Paul was out due to a knee injury, he could only sigh in regret. It was a matter of time. Paul's playing style was not as durable as that of the Bulls and Rose, and both put tremendous pressure on the knees and ankles.

Moreover, the Hornets' lineup has never been that good. After amazed other teams in the 07-08 season, they started to be targeted in various ways in the second year. The Hornets' owner was going bankrupt again and was reluctant to invest. He also weakened the lineup, and no one could lead the team. Anyway, Zhang San felt that it was unlikely that he would perform better than Paul if he went to the Hornets.

Zhang Yang discovered that the other three of the "four major No. 3 superstars", Iverson, Wade, and Paul, all had times when they fought to their death. Iverson fought until he retired, Wade fought for two years after O'Neal left and finally gave up this season, and Paul collapsed on the road to fighting.

In fact, in the eyes of others, Zhang Yang is similar to those three brothers. In the 07-08 season, he worked hard, won 60 games, and made a breakthrough, which surprised many people. However, the increase in his fans that season was not as great as when he won the FMVP in his sophomore year and played against the Dream Team in the Olympics.

Thanks to his amazing performance in March, Rose was nicknamed "Blooming Rose". His momentum surpassed Harden and Mayo of the same class, and he won the Player of the Month award, beating his teammate Durant. It should be noted that Durant has not won the Player of the Month award yet...

Judging from his progress after his rookie period, Rose is indeed much faster than others in the same class.

...

Entering April, the Bobcats began their journey to the end-of-season ranking sprint.

On the 2nd, in the first sprint game, Zhang Yang got 28 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals, his second triple-double of the season, and led the team to a 109-100 head-on victory over the rival Hawks, pulling them down from third place, and the Bobcats themselves took third place.

On the 4th, Bobcats No. , Afflalo, and Collison gathered at Okafor's house and watched the NCAA finals live. Duke won the championship, and the MOP of the semi-finals was Kyle Singler.

After watching the finals, Zhang Yang remembered that the future 'King of Thunder', another 'Little Bird', had solid basic skills, accurate shooting, good back-to-the-basket play, excellent off-ball movement, and high basketball IQ... but only in college.

On the 5th, after two days of rest, the Bobcats continued their journey towards the end of the season.

They are competing fiercely for the second and third places in the Eastern Conference with the Magic, Hawks, and the Bulls, whose record has dropped after two consecutive losses at the start of April.

时间来到4月18号，山猫队在麦迪逊广场花园客场以99比95送给尼克斯队赛季第42场失利，将战绩提升到57胜24负！
算上击败老鹰队那场，山猫队4月份前9场比赛取得了8胜1负的战绩，反超56胜25负的公牛队，冲到东部第二！

老鹰队2月下旬和3月狂冲了一波后，后劲不足，4月份前8场比赛4胜4负，目前54胜27负，已经掉出前四竞争行列。

The Magic's performance in April was okay, with 4 wins and 7 losses, but they were a little worse before, with only 2 wins and 48 losses. They are currently 24 wins and 55 losses, and they have not been able to compete with the Bobcats and the Bulls. Whether they can now stay in fifth place and play against the Celtics depends on their last game against the Cavaliers and the Hawks' last game against the Heat.

As for the Bobcats, after playing the Knicks away, they returned to Charlotte on the 20th and rested for a day. On the 21st, they faced the final game of the regular season at home.

Last Christmas, the Bobcats played a Christmas game on the road for the first time. Now, it is the first time in three years that they play the final regular season game at home. The opponent, of course, is the Bulls.

If nothing unexpected happens, the era of bad boys vs. little giants will be a regular feature of the NBA.

However, the two have been competing for the third year, and the audience of "Reserve Program" is no longer limited to the Chinese market, but also has a great influence in North America.

This game will also determine who will be the final second in the Eastern Conference. The Bobcats are currently only leading by 1 win, and have 3 win and 1 losses in the first 2 matches against the Bulls. If the Bobcats lose, with the same record, they will be ranked third due to the disadvantage in head-to-head matches, and will face the Hawks again in the first round, which means they will play against the Hawks for 3 consecutive years!

(End of this chapter)