Chapter 382 381. The only unlucky person who was defeated

When Zhang Yang learned that the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round, he also felt that King was very unlucky. In the past two years, he had faced the Bobcats, with Felton as the top and Perkins as the rim guarding, as well as Okafor, Millsap and others double-teaming. This time, he faced Nelson as the top and Howard as the rim guarding, and the performance was even more miserable. Although he was not swept, the evaluation he received was worse than being swept.

James averaged 5 points, 26.8 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 7.2 steals and 2.2 blocks in 1.2 games. He looks versatile and powerful, but he made 22.1 of 7.9 shots per game, with a hit rate of 35.5%. His performance of 25+ points per game was achieved by taking 13 free throws per game, making 9.8 of them, and his free throw percentage was just over 75%.

The 43% three-point shooting percentage looks good, but with only 3 three-point shots per game and 1.3 three-pointers made, the improvement in overall scoring performance is minimal. The hit number is actually not bad, but the percentage of shots is too low.

However, James actually made it to the second round last year, but when the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round, most mainstream media, including ESPN, ignored this fact. Those who mentioned it said that the Cavaliers’ advancement to the second round last year was the same as not making it, as they were swept by the Bobcats.

Some fans came out to refute, saying that James was different from McGrady and Garnett, and that he entered the second round in his fourth grade, but they were ridiculed by the crowd.

The familiar local fan’s comment “Your mother told you” made Zhang Yang like it with his second account – “Thanks to James for leading the Cavaliers into the second round last season and helping us create a break in the series, otherwise it would be difficult for us to beat the Pistons.”

Zhang Yang and his teammates enjoyed the boos from the fans for a while before being sent back to the locker room by the coaches. The fans were about to riot.

Kabal: These bastards, do you think this is Cleveland? The fans there are used to losing, but this is the first time the fans here have lost to us in the playoffs.

Although they are both in the Southeast, the fans in Atlanta are very different from those in Orlando and Miami, Florida.

Miami fans started to leave when they saw they were going to lose. Orlando fans were even more interesting. When the media launched a vote on “Is O’Neal worth 100 million?”, most fans actually voted “no”. Lakers fans joked that those who voted were paid by the logo man. Of course, what’s even more interesting is that the Magic actually used the fans’ vote as an excuse to negotiate a low-salary contract extension with O’Neal…

Atlanta’s fans are much more ordinary, and they have money.

Last summer, after team owner Steven Price poached Danny Ferry from the Spurs management and appointed him general manager and delegated power to the general manager, the Hawks made ends meet and had hope of becoming a strong team. The old fans who had been driven to despair by Steven Price’s ridiculous operations for several consecutive years came back one after another, bringing their families to support the team. When the team returned to the home court with a 0-2 deficit, countless fans supported them. When the team went on the road with a 1-3 deficit, thousands of fans went to the Turkish Airlines Arena to support them.

Atlanta is not particularly far from Charlotte. The highway between the two cities is about 400 kilometers. Including other roads, it only takes an afternoon to drive there. If you step on the accelerator a little deeper, you can go even faster.

The next day, Zhang Yang, who returned to Charlotte with the team, watched the award announcement on TV and said with a sad heart: “The Lakers are so unlucky this year…”

Kobe received 110 of the 61 first-place votes, accounting for 32.7% of the total points, defeating Paul, who received 39 first-place votes and accounted for 29.5% of the total points, to win the regular season MVP.

The number of votes was very close, even smaller than what Zhang Yang remembered. He remembered that the difference between the two first-place votes seemed to be two-thirds, but here it was less than half.

He guessed it might be because Kobe here had Kidd and Garnett as his teammates, so he was not seen as leading the team alone. In the original 07-08 season, in the first half of the season, Kobe led Odom and Bynum to the top of the Western Conference. Gasol was traded after Bynum was injured, and the Grizzlies had been in a slump for a year and a half before Gasol came. Except for a coach with a sharp vision who broke the defense, most people did not think Gasol could play the role of Bynum in low-post offense and rim protection. Kobe also had to adapt to the changes in his teammates, and the content of leading the team alone was higher.

数据也有差距，原本的科比好像是场均28+6+5+2的数据，这里只有场均27.6分5板3.8助攻1.5抢断，不过出场时间也只有场均36分钟，命中率还达到了生涯新高的48.1%，之前最高是01-02赛季的46.9%；三分命中率也是生涯第二高的37.9%，最高是02-03赛季的38.3%。

Paul was really unlucky to meet Kobe, who had the most reasonable year in his career. He averaged 21 points, 4 rebounds, 11.8 assists and 2.7 steals per game and failed to win the MVP.

Zhang Yang remembers that this was the year when Paul’s personal performance and team record were at their peak.

Paul’s personal performance will be better next season, but the team’s record will decline because opponents have already understood the Hornets’ style of play, Peja’s form has collapsed, and the highly anticipated Chandler has not made any progress, etc.

After that, Paul suffered two consecutive years of serious injuries, both of his knees were broken, and he completely switched to floor play…

Even though Zhang Yang had a good relationship with Paul, he couldn’t provide much help with his injury. It was purely a problem of playing style, similar to the situations of Hill and Rose. Later, he changed to floor play and became healthy.

But Zhang Yang felt it would be offensive to tell others that Paul, who now relies heavily on running and jumping to score, should change to a floor-based scoring style.

Paul relies on his top-notch speed, superb change of direction ability, and explosive bounce speed. His shooting performance this season is 61.2%, which is average for a top guard at the basket, but it reaches an astonishing 52.4% at close range!

What does this close-range performance mean… This season, he ranks second among all the main outside players in the league. The first is Kobe’s 54.4%, and the third is Parker’s 51.6%.

Wade’s close-range shooting has been very aggressive in the past two years, with hit rates of 48.5% and 51.1%. This season, due to injury, his rate has dropped a lot, to only 44%, but 44% is already very high.

Ginobili, who is at the peak of his career this season, has a close-range shooting percentage of just 45%.

James’ close-range shooting percentage this season is 42.6%, a career high. In the first two years, it was just over 40%, and in his freshman and sophomore years it was less than 40%.

This area is a high-difficulty scoring area for both inside and outside players. The center can make up for it and the mid-range defensive players can also double-team.

Nowitzki and Nash are considered the ceiling of active inside and outside shooting ability. Nowitzki’s close-range shooting percentage this season is 42%, the second highest in his career. Before 04, he had never had a season with a percentage exceeding 40%. Nash had a terrifying 55% close-range shooting performance last season, but this season he was heavily defended. His percentage dropped to 50% in the first and middle stages of the season, but this was a reasonable decline. After O’Neal came, he was completely useless, with only 43.4% left at the end of the season.

But if the shooting in this area is accurate, it will be of great help to the players in the interior and the scorers on the same side of the side.

Kobe, Paul, Parker, Wade, Ginobili, and Nash’s outstanding close-range shooting percentages correspond exactly to their ability to pass the ball to the inside.

On the Bobcats side, the player with the best close-range shooting percentage is Felton, with 48.1%, a top close-range scorer. Although he is not as good as Kobe, Paul, Parker, a healthy Wade, and Nash without O’Neal, he is far ahead of others. This also corresponds to the main distribution of his assists, which are basically passed to the baseline and teammates on the same side of the sideline.

Zhang Yang’s close-range hit rate is 44.6%, which is not top-notch, but can be considered first-class.

Paul’s amazing close-range shooting performance is mostly based on his athletic ability, which allows him to easily complete the task of feeding the ball to Chandler, Peja and others. Unless he can’t do it, such as being injured, he will not give up. If he says, “I think you will get hurt if you play like this,” it will be regarded as a curse by the opponent.

After all, Paul looks extremely healthy now, unlike Yao Ming who has been injured continuously in the past two years.

Zhang Yang thought that if Paul was really injured in the future, he could mention it when visiting or calling him. If the other party listened, it would be fine, but if not, there was nothing he could do.

Put Paul’s issue aside, respect other people’s fate, and Paul will play well in the future and will be in the first team for many years, so he doesn’t need to worry about it.

What made him happy was that his name was also on the MVP ranking list, third!
It received 7 first-place votes, accounting for 13.37% of the total score.

Fourth is James, with one first-place vote and a total score of 1%.

Fifth, Yao Ming, with 2 first-place votes, accounting for 7.19% of the total score.

Yao Ming’s vote count was indeed low, but this was the highest he had ever received. Even in the first five years of his career, he only received two votes combined. He has always been disliked by the media in this regard.

For example, last season, he averaged 25 points in 48 games and only received one third-place vote, while O’Neal, who played only 1 games and averaged 40 points and 17 rebounds per game, received two second-place votes.

However, when it comes to voting for the best team and centers are singled out for votes, the media can’t vote for Yao Ming no matter how much they don’t want to. The MVP voting puts the best performers in the league together, so it’s understandable not to vote for Yao Ming. But when there are only a few centers, you’ll be criticized for not voting.

So Yao Ming also became an outlier – he was selected to the All-NBA Team three times in the first five years of his career, but only received two MVP votes.

No one else got first place votes outside of the top five. Zhang Yang watched Nash go from being the third favorite for MVP in the early season, to the second favorite for MVP in the middle of the season, to not even getting a first place vote at the end of the season, and only accounting for 1% of the total points. He was also very sad…

For the best defensive player, Garnett received 110 of the 95 first-place votes, accounting for 44.8% of the total points, winning the best defensive player award with an absolute advantage.

Camby in second, Ben Wallace in third, Paul in fourth, Howard in fifth, Duncan in sixth, Okafor in seventh, Kobe in eighth, James in ninth, and Rasheed Wallace in tenth, their combined total points are 1% less than Garnett’s.

Garnett’s defensive performance this season is really amazing. When he is on the court, the opponent can only score 100 points per 92 possessions. In comparison, Duncan is 95, Ben Wallace is 94, and Yao Ming is 95.

That is to say, the Lakers do not focus on defense in the regular season and Garnett only plays 31 minutes per game on average. Otherwise, the Lakers have the conditions to drive their opponents crazy like the Spurs. But if they play like that, the Lakers’ offense will inevitably be greatly affected and there will be hidden dangers of injuries. The Big Three of the Lakers were all bullied too much in the previous few years, so the Zen Master attaches great importance to his health.

Zhang San was jealous when he saw the Lakers dominating the two most prestigious awards in the regular season, but fortunately he had Xiao Pao to keep him company.

After turning off the TV, Zhang Yang went to the study to read the news. He ignored the news about MVP and best defensive player, as he was jealous and read the news related to the playoffs themselves.

The Bobcats advanced relatively late. Only the Hornets and Warriors’ first rounds have not yet ended. Four series ended early with scores of 4-4 or 0-4; and two other series advanced with the Bobcats last night.

There was only one series sweep this year, with the Bulls eliminating the Raptors 1-4.

This series has the biggest record gap, and the Raptors’ style of play hit the Bulls’ defense. In 4 games, the Raptors averaged 82 to 90.5. The score difference was not huge, but it looked miserable.

The Spurs eliminated the Mavericks 4-1. Nowitzki played well against Duncan, averaging 26.8 points and 7 rebounds per game with a shooting percentage of 47%, which is not bad. But Josh Howard averaged 12 points with a shooting percentage of 30%, Harris averaged 8.6 points, and Terry didn’t perform well, averaging 38 points with a shooting percentage of 16%… and the little general Johnson couldn’t command the players.

Avery Johnson’s poor ability to control the team was fully exposed this season. Josh Howard wanted to usurp power, but as the head coach he did not make any statement, but also did not provide support, which offended both Nowitzki and Josh Howard, two All-Stars.

Seeing Ginobili’s amazing power as a substitute, in the middle of the season, Avery Johnson followed Popovich’s example and sent Terry to the bench, which offended Terry as well.

The only good move by Avery Johnson this season was to keep Terry on the bench, forcing Terry to accept this arrangement, which paved the way for the Mavericks to create a more reasonable lineup rotation arrangement in the future. However, the day before yesterday, after the No. 3 Mavericks were eliminated 1-4, Avery Johnson was fired by Cuban, paving the way for his successor.

The Magic beat the Cavaliers 4-1. The tank point guard Nelson and the rim protector Howard are the natural counters to James’ current style of play. The only game they won was when James went crazy and scored 35 points and made a buzzer-beating three-pointer with 1.2 seconds on the top arc. They won 96-95. The Cavaliers didn’t struggle much in the other four games. The Pistons beat the Wizards 4-4, but there was nothing to watch. There was only one game in the entire series that was broadcast live nationwide. Only Jamison made 1 of 1 three-pointers and scored 7 points in the game, setting a new personal playoff scoring record. The Wizards went crazy and won 5-38.

The Jazz also defeated the Suns 4-1, and the Suns were eliminated in the first round.

Since Nash joined the Suns, he has never played so badly in a series – averaging 16.2 points and 7 assists per game.

Deron was extremely impressive in this series, averaging 29.6 points and 11 assists per game.

The Lakers and the Nuggets played to Game 6. The Lakers encountered the same situation as the Bobcats. The three opposing superstars were all outside players. At the moment, the Lakers encountered the situation earlier. If Iverson was still on the 76ers, he could average 30+ points per game. Ray Allen and Anthony both had the ability to average 25+ points per game. The three of them ran and played, making Kidd very tired. The Lakers had a clear strength advantage, but the three Nuggets took turns to explode and won two games.

In the end, the Lakers relied on their overall strength to drag the Nuggets to death in 6 games.

Paul’s side is the most difficult. The first 6 games are tied 3-3, and tonight is the seventh game.

保罗6场比赛场均23.5分10.7助攻3抢断，场均打44分钟，血C表现。

但对面巴郎-戴维斯场均14.7分6助攻、埃利斯场均18分4助攻、阿泰斯特场均15.6分7.3板3.7助攻1.5抢断1盖帽、斯蒂芬-杰克逊场均20.7分……

Artest is as good as a bull in offense and even better in defense. From James Posey to Peja to David West, anyone who meets him will be defeated at positions 2-4. Sometimes he even has to defend Paul and Chandler.

Baron Davis and Ellis also scored sharply in breakthroughs. Paul, a defensive favorite and fourth in the vote for Defensive Player of the Year, was in a situation where no one could defend him.

The one who benefited the most was Wusheng Jackson, who shot from the wing and left open space everywhere.

Paul was indeed very strong. Facing these four guys, as well as the Warriors team which had quality role players like Al Harrington, Biedrins, Azubuike, Matt Barnes, etc., he managed to lead the team to the seventh game.

Zhang Yang has made an appointment with Felton to watch the live broadcast together tonight to see if Paul can hold on.

However, Zhang Yang felt it was a pity when he saw the performance of the Warriors. When the mad scientist built the team, he was only thinking about how to take revenge on the Mavericks. Without considering it, the lineup was distorted and it was not suitable to play anything other than running.

Now that the revenge is complete, the mad scientist returns to the role of old Nelson and wants to further improve the team, but it is difficult to start. Trading the Slam Dunk King for the Beast is a good deal, but it only solves the defects of insufficient offensive ability and strength of the front line, and there are still a lot of problems.

The last wave of team changes during the golden period of the careers of those who entered the NBA in the late 90s has passed. The top players who entered the NBA in the 21st century have either signed long-term contracts or are still the new generation. It is difficult for old Nelson to deal with him. He has a lot of chips, but it is difficult to accomplish a top-level operation like Artest.

Zhang Yang also read the news after the series between their Bobcats and the Hawks ended.

Although the Hawks were eliminated in the first round, they received high praise. Although their lower limit is low, such as G6, their upper limit is also surprisingly high, such as G2G3G5. They are predicted to be the most favored team by free agents, especially inside free agents, this summer.

…

In the evening, Zhang Yang visited Felton’s home and watched the live broadcast together after dinner.

More than two hours later, at 10:24 p.m., Zhang Yang and Felton both sighed with regret.

保罗7场比赛第2次单场30+，但和上一次拿到31分的时候一样，助攻又只有6个。

保罗24投11中，其中三分球9中3，加上10中9的罚球，拿到34分7板6助攻2抢断，黄蜂队以92比104不敌勇士队，3比4出局！

Felton spoke up for Paul: “Chris is so unlucky.”

Zhang Yang: “It was really unlucky. Among the Suns, Mavericks, Warriors and Nuggets, he just happened to meet the strongest team in the lower half of the Western Conference.”

On the TV screen, the commentator was also talking about this, but he didn’t say good things like Felton did. Instead, he stated the actual situation – the Hornets were the only one among the eight top-half teams in the first round this year that was defeated.

Losing is the original sin. It is difficult for Paul’s performance to be better. If we compare individual players, he may be the one with the best individual performance in the entire first round, averaging 25 points and 10 assists per game.

But there are definitely some flaws to find, for example, in the decisive game of Game 5, he failed to defend Artest, allowing Artest to receive the ball and force a buzzer beater, and then he turned around and made a buzzer beater. In the beginning of the final quarter of Game 3, he competed with Ellis and was defeated…

Hearing the commentator’s criticism, Felton complained: “If Chris can really do all these, how can he not get the MVP? He can get 25 points and 10 assists at the same time. Even Nash can’t do this!”

Zhang Yang: “When those reporters want to attack a player, they always find a way to do it. They will compare your scoring with Jordan, your assists with Magic, your defense with Payton, and if you are an inside player, they will compare you with O’Neal and Yao, such as Howard.”

Felton: “Should we call Chris?”

Zhang Yang: “You went to laugh at him for being eliminated? Beat him!”

“…”

Felton was speechless for a moment, then immediately picked up the phone and dialed Paul’s number.

A minute later, a burst of cursing was heard from the home team’s locker room at the New Orleans Arena, and the staff revealed it to reporters…

That night, Paul’s crazy cursing after being eliminated was hotly discussed by the media and fans. Some fans felt that he could not afford to lose, but some fans praised him for his strong competitive spirit.

On the next day, May 5, the Pistons, who had rested for three days, arrived in Charlotte. After resting for one day, the Bobcats also began their preparations.

After a busy morning, the training burden was much heavier than the first round. It can be said that it was the most arduous preparation for the playoffs in three years. Felton was excited: “I still like to play against such familiar opponents. Rick is really good. I feel that he has considered every detail.”

Zhang Yang responded: “He is a perfectionist who wants to do everything to the best of his ability. When necessary, we don’t need to worry about these things, but he really misses the Pistons!”

Felton: “Hmm? What do you mean?”

Hill on the side said, “You forgot that Rick’s first head coaching job was with the Detroit Pistons. He just turned the Pistons from a team that couldn’t even make the playoffs into a strong team in the Eastern Conference Finals. He spent two years building the system, but he was fired. The year after he was fired, the Pistons won the championship based on his system.”

Felton: “Oh, yes, I remember it, but it’s been so many years, and he still remembers it!”

Zhang Yang: “Perfectionists are usually paranoid. People may remember something for several years, which others would forget after a few days. The Pistons changed coaches twice, but neither Larry Brown nor Philip Saunders changed the foundation of the Pistons’ defensive system. They were all improving the defensive system left by Rick. I guess he would remember what happened back then whenever he saw the Pistons’ games.

And that was your first time. Your first time doesn’t leave a deep impression on you?”

Felton: “The first time, it was many years ago. It was a social event in the 10th grade. We drew playing cards to randomly choose our partners. If we drew the same number, we would go to the corresponding room. The small room was dark. I don’t remember it very well. Do you still remember it?”

Zhang Yang: “You guys are really good at playing. As for me, that was a pretty mixed-race girl. I was deeply impressed.”

Hill’s frustrated white stubble said: “Although it has been almost 20 years, the impression is still very deep. My first love is a beautiful black pearl. First love is always beautiful but full of regrets.”

Okafor is crazy, why did Hill also follow the topic and go off topic? Are they not resisting? Or are they just joining in when they can’t beat them?
No, I have to bring the topic back. Okafor said, “Let’s talk business. The second round will be played tomorrow. The coaching staff is so well prepared this time. In addition to Rick being a perfectionist, I think it has something to do with the strength of the Pistons. When we played against them in the regular season, I could feel that they were stronger than last year.”

Just when he was about to ask Zhang Yang and Hill how they played for the first time, he had already told them everything, and what they said was as good as nothing.

But after being interrupted by Okafor, he had to give up and get down to business, responding, “Yes, the Pistons have a much better lineup depth this year. I remember the guy named Noah, the center of the Florida Gators. I played against him in my junior year. He was a freshman and seemed to be in the top 100 high school students in the United States. He made beautiful passes. My college coach praised him as good as Sabonis.”

Hill got back to square one and responded, “Noah averaged 2.4 assists per game in the regular season. As a rookie, he averaged 20 minutes per game, which is a very good performance. I remember seeing a list at the end of the regular season, and he was called the best player of the new generation in terms of assist talent.”

Felton: “Yes, in ESPN’s Rising Stars column, Paul and Horford of the Hawks were also selected. In the list of rising star centers, Noah ranked first in organizing offense, Horford ranked second, and Paul ranked third. Noah’s rebounding is also good, he can get 20 rebounds in 6.7 minutes, and he has 1.4 blocks. His defense is on point, and the quality of his wing screens is also very high when he competes.”

Zhang Yang continued, “However, his flaws are also obvious. He can hardly score by himself. He is prone to mistakes when he receives the ball but cannot pass it. However, his positioning sense is very good. We can pay attention to this, but don’t take it too seriously. Just defend him normally.”

Felton: “Dudley is also very good. As a rookie, he has a 44% long two-point shooting percentage and 1.8 assists. However, he has not yet adapted to the distance of the NBA three-point line. But he basically does not shoot three-pointers and focuses on long two-pointers. He is very smart.”

Hill: “It’s hard to deal with such role players. They are not very capable, but they don’t make mistakes. And they got Murray from the Raptors. He is fast, good at defense, excellent at cutting into the basket, and can pass the ball. Their backup forward Maxiell has also made great progress this season. He has strong impact, tenacious defense, and can follow up on fast breaks. This is the year with the best lineup depth since 05!”

Zhang Yang agreed: “Yes, I think so too. After 05, their role players have aged and there is little fresh blood to supplement them. In the past three seasons, they have lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. The biggest reason is that the second lineup is weak. This year is different.

Their core lineup is solid. Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Wallace, and McDyess are still able to play. They are one of the best starting five in the league. Their tactical system is complete and mature, and it is very difficult to deal with them…”

Seeing his three teammates finally talking about business seriously, Duncan Jr. became proud: This team really can’t do without me!

(End of this chapter)