First in scoring

Chapter 547 546. The most exciting finals!
After the Bobcats swept the Bucks, some media said it was because the Bucks were too weak.

After the Bobcats swept the Bulls, the hottest topic was Luol Deng's poor performance. Some said he was not worthy of being compared with a genius like Granger and did not have the potential to become a star outside player.

But they won four straight games, beat the double first-team and DPOY center Howard to death, and swept three consecutive rounds to advance to the finals, surpassing the Lakers' historical record of 1988 consecutive wins in the playoffs in the 1989-2000 season and the 2001-11 season to advance to the finals...

People suddenly realized that they had underestimated the defending champions.

82场全勤，场均15.1分10.5板2助攻0.5抢断2盖帽的全明星球员奥卡福，表现持续稳定；

Felton played in 70 games, averaging 14.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. Although his statistics declined compared to last season, his actual performance has steadily improved. His 45.9% shooting percentage and 39% three-point shooting percentage both set new career highs. The biggest impact of the decline in statistics is that his playing time has dropped from 33 minutes per game last season to 30 minutes. Especially after he was suspended before the All-Star Weekend and was injured and missed several games after the All-Star Weekend, his average playing time was reduced to about 28 minutes.

The rookie Collison, who has excellent combat effectiveness, is stronger than the previous backup point guard Jarrett Jack, so Felton can rest for a longer time.

Afflalo and Millsap have made significant progress and are now able to shoulder some of the burden on their own. Although they have stayed in the second lineup for a long time since the second round, they have played a greater role than in last season's playoffs.

Perkins is still excellent in the low post. Although he doesn't play a big role in the regular season, in the playoffs, his annual salary of 400 million is really worth it.

Zhang Yang averaged 31.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.9 steals and 0.8 blocks in the regular season. His shooting percentage was 49.1%, which dropped in the middle of the season and then rebounded at the end of the season. His three-point shooting percentage was 41%, and he averaged 3.5 three-pointers per game, the strongest since the establishment of the three-point line.

The young core lineup is stronger than last season. What is really "underestimated" about the Bobcats is their almost completely replaced substitute lineup.

The Bobcats' own fans still can't forget Jack, Pietrus, the Big White Bear, the regular season three-point daddy Mike Miller and others.

The team was founded in 04, the big four was formed in 05, and by 09, the team had won two championships in five years. That group of players laid the foundation for the Bobcats' fan base in the Carolina area. Whenever local fans mention the Bobcats, they still think of that group of people. The filter is too deep.

Some other fans are simply not optimistic about the major roster changes of role players.

Some people hope that the Bobcats' recruitment will fail.

But Collison, Cunningham, Marion, O'Neal and others have proved with their strength that they are better and stronger than the previous group of role players!

Of course, the legacy left by the old players is also a big part of the success.

The old lineup spent two seasons building a complete offensive and defensive system, letting the management and coaching staff know what kind of players they need and in which direction to adjust the new players. The framework is there, and all they have to do is put the right players in it. Even adjustments for new players are made much simpler.

And because the group of veteran players won 70 games last season, the Bobcats almost never had to think about the performance this season. After all, it wasn't that bad, so they could focus on adjusting and polishing the details. They only started thinking about improving the rankings in April.

In order to help Marion regain his form, wait for O'Neal to be motivated to lose weight, and polish Collison's temper, almost the entire regular season was spent!

For example, during the Christmas game, when Collison saw Hinrich, he wanted to confront him head-on. In the playoffs, he knew that what he should do was to use his cutting speed to take Hinrich away from Zhang Yang to prevent Zhang Yang from being double-teamed. He also made better use of his mature and solid defensive basics. When it came to the defensive stage, Carlisle was more willing to send a combination of Collison, Afflalo, Zhang Yang, Okafor, and Perkins (O'Neal).

The only newcomer who was praised from beginning to end was Dante Cunningham.

Those championship-contending teams that had the last pick in the first round of the 09 draft regretted missing out on this player. If they were to sign a player like this in the free market, they would have to pay him a guaranteed middle-class salary.

That is, they have excellent combat effectiveness, stable performance, and stable emotions.

Even if he only plays for 10 minutes, he can complete the tasks assigned to him, as long as you don't expect him to "explode".

While he is emotionally stable, he is also passionate about the game. When you watch him play, you can clearly feel his love for the game.

The most important thing is that his defensive performance has steadily improved in the playoffs!
He's like a poor man's version of Tayshaun Prince. Opponents don't expect him to make mistakes, and for a player like Prince, who makes tens of millions a year, it would be absolutely worth it to cut the poor man's version in half.

The Bobcats' dominant performance in the playoffs, Zhang Yang's blowout of the Bulls' outside line in the second round and his crushing of the old flying man in the Eastern Conference Finals all refreshed people's evaluation of them!

Before, people still regarded them as "representatives of emerging strong teams". After all, the core lineup has only been formed for 5 years, and the oldest of the three young players will only turn 28 this summer.

After the Eastern Conference playoffs ended, people began to look at them as they did those classic strong teams - their overall performance and record in the regular season could not be used to predict their strength in the playoffs.

A more fashionable adjective, Lao Qian?

Like the three recent dynasty teams, the Bulls of the double dynasty won 3 championships, but only finished as the regular season leader 6 times, and the OK dynasty only finished as the regular season leader once, and the other two championships were not even first in the Western Conference.

Even at this time, there are still some discordant voices emerging, but no one cares...

...

In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bobcats' scoring soared only after they defeated the Magic.

In the Western Conference Finals, just like the previous two rounds, the offense was booming.

G1湖人队就在客场以118比109击败小牛队抢走主场优势；G2小牛队以112比106守住第二个主场后，回到主场的湖人队以104比97力克小牛队，没给小牛队起势的机会；到了G4，湖人队通过加时赛以110比106强势击败小牛队，价格大比分打成3比1！

尽管回到主场的小牛队在G5以122比99屠杀了湖人队一场，但湖人队在回到主场的G6，以111比108将小牛队淘汰出局！

诺维斯基在G6第四节8投5中、其中三分球2中1，加上6中6的罚球，狂轰17分，率领前三节以69比80落后的小牛队在11分55秒钟时间里打出了39比28的比分，将11分的劣势抹平，他的三节24分也提升到了单场41分。

But in the last 5 seconds, Kobe, who had played for 41 minutes and made 25 of 12 shots, including 5 of 2 three-pointers and 11 of 10 free throws to score 37 points, received a long pass from Kidd while running, received the ball at a 45-degree angle on the right, turned around and hit a three-pointer against Artest's pursuit, increasing his personal score to 40 points and completing a near-game-winning shot, refusing to play overtime and ending the Western Conference Finals!

'King of the Western Conference Finals', this nickname that has been frequently mentioned since the 08 Western Conference Finals, has once again resounded throughout the NBA!

After a popular team wins, there will always be people who will find reasons for the losing team's defeat, and the Lakers were no exception after they eliminated the Mavericks.

But this time these people really found the right reason - the Mavericks' center position has serious lack of mobility.

Gasol, who currently weighs 125 kilograms, certainly cannot be said to be mobile, which is why he is not as much of a drag as he was last season.

But when facing Dampier, even Gasol Jr. seemed agile!

In the second round, the Mavericks almost lost at the center. Philip Saunders had to use Nowitzki as the center and Artest as the forward to minimize the speed disadvantage when facing Frye. Nowitzki was exhausted as he had to withstand pressure and play singles, as well as protect the rim. The key was that he couldn't even protect it!

Backup center Brendan Haywood also made the Mavericks suffer.

Last summer, the Mavericks signed Drew Gooden at a relatively low price as he was unwilling to stay in Boston. The 02 center actually played very well for the Mavericks.

But the Wizards continued to tear the team apart, first the stars and then the role players, showing an attitude of playing in a bad way to the end.

After the regular season began, Cuban continued to make moves. Once Gooden's "free agent transaction clarification period" was over and Gooden no longer had the power to refuse a trade, he traded Gooden for Brendan Haywood in a three-way trade with the Bucks and Wizards.

There were several conditions that facilitated the deal. One was that Gooden's tonnage was indeed a little lacking. It was not obvious when he partnered with 130 kg Al Jefferson and 221 cm Big Z, but it was not enough when he partnered with Nowitzki and Artest.

Haywood has the standard physique of a center, 213 cm and 122 kg.

In addition, Haywood has been partnered with Jamison for many years and is compatible with outside shooting power forwards such as Nowitzki.

In the 10 games at the beginning of the season when Gooden was still in the "free agent trade clarification period," Haywood averaged 33 points and 10.8 rebounds in 10.8 minutes per game.

But the Mavericks just traded Haywood back, and in the first game they found out that this blue-collar center from the 01 class was so slow. He was the slowest player on the team except for Dampier. Even Nowitzki, who was not known for his speed and was already 31 years old, was faster than him!
Looking back, in the 10 games at the beginning of the season when Haywood averaged a double-double, his shooting percentage was 42.2%. I actually noticed this before the trade, but at the time I thought the Wizards had no stars, and it was normal for a blue-collar center to see a decline in his shooting percentage.

Later I found out that the 10.8 points per game were achieved by the Wizards team who were in a slump and had an average of 9 shots per game!
The Mavericks wanted to get something for nothing, but ended up losing the big picture! The 30-year-old Haywood's athletic ability has dropped drastically, from a sports blue-collar player to a pure standing center.

But it's not that Haywood is unusable. After Philip Saunders found out that he was being cheated, he chose to think positively and let two pure rim-protecting centers, Dampier and Haywood, rotate, which at least ensures a unified style of play throughout the game.

Philip Saunders has demonstrated his ability to make top-level performances with different lineups in multiple teams, making whatever dishes he wants with the ingredients he has.

During the regular season and the first round of the playoffs, Dampier and Haywood did not lag behind. The combined salary of these two is almost 2000 million. Their contracts are a bit rubbish, but at least they are very good at standing and protecting the rim. In this respect, they are comparable to the Bobcats' combination of Perkins and O'Neal, and are several million cheaper than the 2400 million combined of the two.

But in the second round against the Suns, problems arose. Gentry focused on Dampier and Haywood, forcing Nowitzki to play center. In the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers followed suit, using the driving force of Garnett and Gasol Jr. and the athletic ability of Kwame Brown to deal with Dampier and Haywood.

It is predictable that when facing the Spurs, the center position will most likely be targeted.

Facing those real championship-level opponents, such an obvious flaw is too fatal.

And there is Kidd... Although Kidd is old, he still has the restraint over Billups.

However, although the Mavericks were unfortunately eliminated in the Western Conference Finals, Nowitzki proved himself again in this playoffs!

In the 6 games against the Suns, Nowitzki averaged 26.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists, beating Stoudemire who averaged 25 points. In the 6 games against the Lakers, Nowitzki beat Garnett one-on-one and scored higher than in the second round, averaging 28.5 points. Even if we put aside the series-high 41 points, he still averaged 5 points in the first 26 games.

Three years have passed since being eliminated in the playoffs. When Nowitzki became the focus of the playoffs again, he has become a perfect piece of the championship puzzle, a pure scorer with no flaws whether he has the ball or not!
...

The Bobcats and Lakers meet again in the finals, and the happiest fan group is California basketball fans.

What they want most, of course, is to see the Lakers win the championship, but if the Lakers are really that miserable and recreate the classic scene from decades ago, then... they can still see Zhang Yang win the championship!
For California fans, this is a finals game where you will definitely not lose money by buying tickets or watching the live broadcast!
The Lakers players were also very excited. In fact, no matter whether it was the Bobcats or the Bulls, they would be very excited no matter who they met. They all wanted to get revenge!
The Bobcats are also very excited. The retirement of Iverson, one of the three MVPs of the 96 class, has made the other two MVPs even more important in the hearts of the young players.

Those three are the youth of countless football fans, and they are also the youth of young players in the league.

And it's not just Kobe, there's also Kidd from the 94th class and Garnett from the 95th class!
The Bobcats players were very excited to play against the Lakers in the finals when Kidd still had some energy left, Garnett was still at the end of his peak, and Kobe was in his prime.

The one who was most active in participating in coaching staff discussions and leading teammates in training was... the Big Shark!

O'Neal wanted more than anyone else to defeat the Lakers in the finals, to lift the championship trophy in front of the Buss family, and most importantly, in front of Kobe!
After the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers got three days to prepare. On June 3th, at 6 p.m., at the Charlotte Turkish Airlines Arena, the Bobcats and the Lakers competed for the championship for two consecutive years.

Both teams started the game on defense and showed strong defense, but neither of them could stop it!
Kobe! Zhang Yang!
科比前半节5投3中，加上2中1的罚球，拿到7分；张杨这边也是5投3中，但其中三分球3中2，加上2中2的罚球，拿到10分！
Led by Zhang Yang, the Bobcats led the Lakers 15 to 13 at halftime!
Although they were leading, neither Carlisle nor Zhang Yang felt relieved when the official timeout came.

After two rounds of battles with the Spurs and the Mavericks, the Lakers' offensive state has reached its best. The three-day preparation time is just right, which allows the three old men to get enough rest and maintain their competitive state. If they hadn't been well prepared, and had done a good job of cutting off Kidd's wing pass and shooting, and limiting the passing and cutting cooperation of Gasol as the axis and Garnett as the attacker, the Lakers' offense would have exploded at the beginning!

However, this defensive strategy also allowed Ariza to score 4 points in the first half of the quarter, and Kobe's wing singles conditions and Gasol's shooting opportunities also improved.

There are gains and losses. In order to block Garnett, who can score 20 points with a hit rate of over 2.5% if given enough shooting rights in the playoffs, and to block Kidd, who averaged three-pointers per game in this year's playoffs, there will inevitably be flaws in some aspects. It is better to let Gasol, who can only stand and shoot, and Ariza, who just eats the ball, score than to let Garnett shoot freely.

But the question now is, how long can this suppression last? Millsap and Okafor's twin towers will always enter the rotation stage, when their mobility will not be so good.

After discussing with Zhang Yang, Carlisle made the decision. Instead of passively waiting for that moment to come, it would be better to take the initiative!

After the timeout, Carlisle sent out the combination of Felton, Zhang Yang, Hill, Millsap and O'Neal.

Zhang Yang came to the court and looked at the other side. The combination of Fisher, Kobe, Ariza, Garnett, and Gasol only replaced Kidd to rest. As they expected, the Lakers continued to attack! When Garnett and Gasol were both on the court, Kidd went to rest, and his ability to organize the offense was still sufficient. The Lakers were still able to maintain fierce firepower. Fisher's ability to receive shots in open positions was no worse than Kidd's!
Kobe was a little surprised to see O'Neal being substituted in early. In this year's playoffs, O'Neal rarely played in the first quarter. He was usually used to hammer the opponent's second lineup center in the second and third quarters, and protect the rim with Okafor in the last moments of the fourth quarter.

But after Kobe was surprised, he was ecstatic! He had dreamed of this day for a long time! He thought it was hopeless. O'Neal couldn't even make the playoffs with the Suns. He didn't expect that he would be traded to the Bobcats. He was very mad about this last summer, but now... Why can't the snakes on the West Coast swallow sharks?

At the beginning of the second half of the game, the Lakers continued to launch a triangle offense with Garnett or Gasol Jr. as the axis.

Due to the slower movement speed of the center position, the Bobcats were not able to defend Garnett's jump shots from the elbows on both wings so well, and the defense could only sink. In addition, with Fisher at the far end of the weak side corner, Gasol's supporting ability was not inferior to his brother, and he did an excellent job of intermediate passes... Kobe's one-on-one conditions were better than at the beginning.

Marion couldn't defend it, and neither could Hill.

But the Bobcats' offense was even more explosive than at the start, and the tactic they played... was also a triangle offense!
The purpose of substituting Hill is to enhance the containment of long-range mid-range shots on both sides, which is something that Marion cannot replace at present; Millsap is responsible for assisting; Felton is as fish-like as Kidd, but what makes him better than the other two is that he has excellent off-ball close-range assisting and impacting capabilities.

The key singles players in the triangle offense are naturally Zhang Yang and O'Neal's high and low post singles!
In the second half of the first quarter, the Lakers scored 17 points, Kobe scored 9 points alone, and scored 16 points in a single quarter!
Zhang Yang did not score as much as Kobe in the second half, only getting 7 points, but he had 10 points in the first half, 17 points in a single quarter, the highest in the game!
而且低位还有条半节3投2中外加2中2罚球拿到6分1板1盖帽的大鲨鱼！

张杨+奥尼尔半节合砍13分，率领山猫队以19比17强压湖人队一头，34比30，山猫队把分差扩大到4分进入节间休息！
The team was suppressed and Kobe was very angry.

But what annoyed him even more was the playing style of the two opponents. Zhang Yang took a lot of shots to score, attracted double-teaming and then passed the ball to Millsap, who was responsible for the offensive battle. When the team needed to stabilize one player, O'Neal dropped to the low post to cut in... Isn't this the way he and O'Neal played back then?

Being ridden on the face is so hard!

In the second quarter, the furious Kobe continued to fire at full speed and led the team to attack fiercely.

Zhang Yang was unwilling to be outdone, so he led his team to confront the opponent.

In the second quarter, the Lakers scored 28 points, narrowly defeating the Bobcats who scored 26 points, and narrowed the gap to two points at halftime. However, in the third quarter, the Bobcats earned back the two points they had lost and beat the Lakers 30 to 28!
After three quarters, the Bobcats led the Lakers by 90 points, 86 to 4!
In the final quarter, the most crucial shot of the night came... Zhang Yang, who was defending Kobe alone, rushed forward when Kobe received the ball and knocked the ball away!
Felton rushed forward to grab the ball and passed it to Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang rushed to the opposite side, facing the interference of Kobe who retreated and rushed over again, and hit a three-pointer, making the score 93 to 86 and expanding the lead to 7 points!
This gave the Bobcats absolute initiative in the subsequent tug-of-war.

Although the Lakers scored 32 points in the latter period, the Bobcats also scored 29 points!
At 10:21 pm, the final whistle sounded.

The Lakers made 92 of 47 shots tonight, with a hit rate of 51%, including 21 of 9 three-pointers, a 42.9% three-point shooting rate which is also quite good. Combined with 20 of 15 free throws, the team scored 118 points with super high offensive efficiency.

但对面山猫队，90投48中，命中率更高！53.3%！其中三分球22投12中，三分命中率高达54.5%！其中张杨一个人就干了个9中6！18中14的罚球，没有湖人队多，但当奥尼尔都6罚5中的时候，山猫队进攻几乎没有破绽了……

29投15中，其中三分球9中6，外加7中7的罚球，张杨以超高效率狂轰43分！
In mid-range, Zhang Yang made 15 of 6 shots, a 40% hit rate, which is just a passing performance for a superstar. It was not as outstanding as Kobe's 47.3% mid-range hit rate and 19 of 9 shots, but relying on high-quality three-pointers, he overcame Kobe who made 30 of 15 shots, including 6 of 2 three-pointers, and 10 of 9 free throws to get 41 points!

加上奥尼尔10投7中、外加6中5的罚球拿到19分6板2盖帽；奥卡福的12分9板3盖帽；费尔顿的15分5助攻；米尔萨普的4分10板11助攻；替补上场把基德和费舍尔冲了个够呛的科里森的17分……

122 to 118, the Bobcats overwhelmed the Lakers at home and took a 1-0 lead!

...

Seeing the Bobcats and the Lakers meet again in the finals, even fans who don’t like these two teams feel that this will definitely be an intense and highly entertaining finals.

The two teams did not disappoint people and played a peak showdown right from the start!

There is no need to say much about the performances of Zhang Yang and Kobe. O'Neal also went crazy tonight. People did not expect that one day they would feel sorry for O'Neal's missed free throw. After all, even in the playoffs, it is rare to see O'Neal's 1% free throw rate in ten years. And just that 20 point away, O'Neal would have scored points in a single game in the playoffs again.

Among the three young players of the Bobcats, Zhang Yang performed wildly, and the other two also performed steadily. The Bobcats' draft once again made people's eyes shine - Collison's 17 points were indeed beautiful. His cut-in attack provided 5 assists to Millsap alone, helping Millsap to surpass Kidd with 11 assists with 10 assists.

The other two giants of the Lakers also performed very well. Although Kidd did not get the most assists in the game, he had 10, Gasol Jr. had 6, and Garnett had 5. The team had 27 assists, which was higher than the Bobcats' 25!
基德16分5板10助攻、加内特18分11板5助攻，还有阿里扎的13分、小加索尔的10分7板6助攻……湖人队全队表现也非常好。

It's really a matter of millimeters to decide victory or defeat!

One day later, on June 6, the much-anticipated second game of the finals began.

This time, neither Zhang Yang nor Kobe could perform well. Both sides strengthened their defense against these two people, and would rather sacrifice the defense of other positions to limit these two people.

Although they played so well in the first game, they only won by 4 points in the end and were almost overturned. Carlisle couldn't allow Kobe to continue shooting on both sides of the free throw line with his over 45% mid-range shooting percentage. Kobe was too stable in that area. Once their offense stagnated, the opponent would have the advantage.

Carlisle felt that Kobe's large number of shots would make the game out of control, and the Zen Master had the same opinion about Zhang Yang. His three-pointer was so strong that he was more accurate than an open shooter with the ball!
When the two were under tight defense, the others had their chance.

Okafor, Felton, O'Neal, Collison, as well as Millsap and Afflalo, all actively took on the scoring responsibility.

On the other side, Kobe wanted to revel in it, but Kidd and Garnett wouldn't let him. He had been runner-up for two consecutive years and was over 30 years old. Mainly because his two teammates were of higher status, Kobe finally chose to cooperate with his teammates, attracting double-teaming and pushing the team's offense.

At this time, the home advantage was reflected. Amid the cheers of the fans, the other players of the Bobcats collectively went wild!
张杨出手数比上一场少了三分之一，命中率也下滑了，20投8中、其中三分球5中2、加上5中4的罚球，只拿到22分，但有4板7助攻！

奥卡福和费尔顿，扛起了进攻大旗，奥卡福15投9中，外加6中5的罚球，拿到全队最高的23分，外加9板1助攻2盖帽；费尔顿13投6中，其中三分球7中4，加上4中4的罚球，拿到20分2板4助攻2抢断！

加上6投4中外加5中3的罚球拿到11分6板的奥尼尔、8投4中外加2中2的罚球拿到10分7板4助攻的米尔萨普、替补上场拿到14分的阿弗拉罗……

116比106，山猫队以10分优势强势击败湖人队，大比分2比0领先！

Young army is a mentality. At the beginning of last year's season, the Bobcats players saw that their average age ranked fifth lowest in the league and just had fun. It was not until this year's playoffs that people regarded them as the "beginning of a strong old team." But after experiencing four years of playoffs and winning two championships, they have long felt that they are no longer a young team.

But after a year of media and fans shouting, when people started to see them as 'old', their own mentality became younger instead.

今晚他们就像一支真正的青年军那样，气势打出来了，一鼓作气干翻了对面拿到21分6板5助攻的科比、13分9板13助攻的基德、24分8板3助攻的加内特！

...

Before the finals started, the Bobcats fans started chanting 'fofofofo'. They've already 'fofofo', so why not 'fo' again?

At that time, even people in Los Angeles were shouting "fofofofo", which made the Big Three angry.

However, the volume was not loud at that time. The dominance shown by the Lakers in the Western Conference was obvious to all, and their performance was not inferior to that of the Bobcats.

But now the Bobcats are leading 2-0, with 14 consecutive wins continuing to refresh the playoff winning streak record. They are only two games away from winning the championship, and the followers are coming.

The loudest roars were from…Boston fans.

The Bobcats are only the second most hated team by Lakers fans. Many Lakers fans like Zhang Yang, but they really hate the Bobcats. However, the most hated team is still the Celtics.

The same goes for Celtics fans. No matter how time changes, the Lakers will always be a piece of shit in their hearts, and no amount of weathering can cover up the stench of the Lakers in their eyes.

But the Lakers are not the 01ers of 76...

On June 6th, after two rest days, the Lakers faced the Bobcats in Game 13 of the Finals at home, defeating the Bobcats 3-107, setting the Bobcats' playoff winning streak at 99 games!
科比22分13板7助攻、基德8分10板9助攻、加内特拿到全队最高的25分！
Kwame Brown scored 16 points, Ariza and Gasol Jr. each scored 11 points, and the Lakers' offense and defense performed collectively well!
The Bobcats' performance was actually not bad, but they were still heavily suppressed by the Lakers who returned to their home court.

In Game 15 on the 4th, the Lakers continued their hot offense from the first three games.

当基德三分8中6、全场14投8中，无罚球拿到22分11板11助攻的三双的时候，湖人队无敌了。

科比16投9中拿到23分、加内特15投9中拿到22分，三巨头人均20+，率队以111比106力克山猫队，扳平大比分！
In the decisive battle on the 17th, both teams shot like crazy tonight. In the end, the Lakers scored 121 points and defeated the Bobcats who scored 115 points at home, and they went from being behind 0-2 to leading 3-2!

不过20号回到主场的山猫队，拒绝被逆转式横扫，张杨单场投进6个三分爆砍全场最高的37分、奥卡福25分、费尔顿16分，力压拿到27分的科比、23分的加内特、13分9助攻的基德，山猫队以114比106守住主场，将大比分扳成3比3平！
...

They really couldn't beat the Lakers on the road, but they also didn't let the Lakers make any waves at home, and fought with the Lakers until a Game 6... After winning Game , the Bobcats players all lamented how great it was to be back at home.

This road trip was undoubtedly the most torturous one for the Bobcats in the past two years. Before that, they played against the team they hated the most - the Pistons.

The Pistons are probably an opponent that the three young Bobcats will never forget in their lives. They disbanded after they beat them for the second time, leaving them no chance for revenge!

Zhang Yang didn't care about his teammates falling into "home court dependence" and didn't ask Felton to correct anything. If there was such an internal atmosphere in an away game, then they would definitely have to be reminded, but the final tiebreaker was played at home, so "home court dependence" was actually a good thing.

In fact, he was very nervous during those three away games.

After playing against the Lakers twice in the regular season, he imagined that it might be difficult to play against the Lakers in the finals, and it turned out as he expected.

This opponent has the same lower limit of strength as the Bulls, but also has the ability to raise its upper limit like the Hawks!
When playing in the finals against the Lakers, you can't relax in any round. Sometimes one round can decide the final victory or defeat!
For example, at the beginning of the last quarter of Game 1, Kobe made a mistake, which allowed Zhang San to steal the ball and counterattack with a three-pointer. The Lakers' efforts throughout the game were ruined by Kobe's mistake.

In the third quarter of Game 4, Kidd had already made 6 of 4 three-pointers. When the Bobcats made defensive choices, they still chose to leave him open. That was the weakest link in the Lakers' offense. They could only hope that Kidd would miss the next shot, but Kidd made another three-pointer and a similar shot in the last quarter. Of course, even if the Bobcats went to make up for Kidd, Kidd might still give assists to his teammates, but in the end the score difference was 5 points, and Kidd's two wide-open three-pointers scored 6 points...

There is no need to dwell on the past, but the lessons learned must be summarized.

Another rest day has passed, and it is June 6nd US time and June 22rd Beijing time.

On this morning, even the sports fans in the country who were cheering for the World Cup got up early and sat in front of the TV.

On the TV screen, players from both teams have entered the court, and the seventh game of the finals is about to begin!
It is rare for a finals to be tense and go to a Game 7, but it does happen; it is also common for a finals to be exciting and fierce, and the finals of the past two years have been very exciting; but looking back, there has been no precedent for a finals that has been so highly entertaining until a Game 7, not only for domestic fans, but even American fans can't think of it!

And when fans think of a Game 05 in the Finals, what comes to their minds is the 94 Spurs and Pistons fighting to a Game , and the Knicks and Rockets fighting to a Game . The scenes of those two Finals are simply unbearable to watch!
Like this year's finals, there seems to be no precedent!
(End of this chapter)