Chapter 1140: Chapter 1140
At 6:40 in the evening, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the court. As the first to enter, he received more boos than when he played here as a visitor before, which was expected.
After defeating the Hawks team two days ago, the Magic Team’s record reached 39 wins and 14 losses, ranking third in the league. Their style is not only strong in the regular season but also very suitable for the playoffs, making them an absolute championship contender.
On the Bobcats side, with a record of 44 wins and 9 losses, they are first in the league. Their attacking prowess led to a thrilling back-and-forth match against the Nuggets Team, winning narrowly 125 to 122; their defense led to a close battle against the Bulls, winning narrowly by 6 points; they fought bloodily against the Lakers in triple overtime and won. This ongoing 11-game winning streak made them shine, delivering many shocking matches and surely becoming a thorn in the side of Magic Team fans.
But this is secondary. The regular season and playoffs are different; when it comes to fighting a series, it’s certainly different from facing different opponents every day in the regular season.
Zhang Yang reckons that the real reason why Magic Team fans are hostile to him personally—MVP race.
At the end of the mid-season, all major media conducted MVP predictions. The top five on the list were the same—Kobe, Duncan, James, Howard, Zhang Yang.
Kobe and Duncan, regardless of their team’s needs or personal performance, have not shown the willingness to compete for MVP unless the Lakers and Spurs make a super-long winning streak with a record surpassing the top three in the East and being far ahead, they might have a chance to win the award. Otherwise, their overall performance so far doesn’t offer a true chance to win the award.
So far, the true MVP candidates are the star players of the top three in the East.
Howard was ranked third at that time but had no real gap with second-ranked James. It’s hard to differentiate their personal performances, and media votes will likely be influenced by the record. The Magic Team is only two wins behind the Cavaliers, and might catch up in the later stages of the regular season.
Moreover, Howard is still the top favorite for the best defensive player of the year, showcasing performance this season that could earn both MVP and DPOY, but the MVP prediction leaderboard’s first is Zhang Yang!
It’s hard to directly compare Howard’s performance with Zhang Yang’s. Howard averages 21 points, 14 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 3 blocks per game, whereas Zhang Yang averages 31.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. However, there’s a sizable difference in their team’s records, with a gap of 5 wins.
Magic Team fans’ hostility towards Zhang Yang understandably skyrocketed.
Yet in the eyes of Magic Team fans, they’re not without hope. If they can win both games in this back-to-back against the Bobcats, the gap can be reduced to 3 wins! Howard still has a chance!
Not only do Magic Team fans think so, but the media also considers this a key point for Howard in the MVP race, hence the live broadcast added to this back-to-back.
Pre-game preparations were over, and the starting line-up for both teams came to the court.
The Bobcats’ starting lineup remained unchanged, while Magic Team’s starting lineup differed from when they last played against the Bobcats two months prior, with Alston as the starting Point Guard, followed by Courtney Lee, Turkoglu, Lewis, and Howard.
Nelson suffered a severe injury in mid-January, with a recovery period of 8-12 weeks, so factoring in rehabilitation training time, the regular season is basically written off. Latest content publıshed on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝘯𝘦𝘵
However, Magic Team quickly traded veteran shooter Keith Bogans to acquire streetball king Alston who had lost his position with the Rockets Team.
Sometimes, it’s not about being stronger that contributes more to the team. Alston at nearly 33 certainly isn’t as good as 27-year-old Nelson in his peak, but since Alston joined as a substitute, Magic Team’s winning percentage didn’t drop—it’s almost catching up with the Cavaliers’ record.
Although Alston is nearly 33 years old, he still has an advantage in speed compared to Nelson. His fast break enhances Howard’s speed advantage; defensively, his tendency to double-team is more pronounced, maximizing Howard’s solo basket protection while others focus on outside double-teaming; another important aspect—Alston’s ball-handling doesn’t need screens, making Howard, who dislikes screens, and Lewis, who isn’t good at screens, play more comfortably.
Of course, Alston lacks in many areas compared to Nelson, such as in isolation scoring. Nelson’s scoring methods are comprehensive, with threes, mid-range shots, and attacks at the basket all above standard. In his prime, Alston was a very inefficient scorer, and now apart from scoring on fast breaks and long-range threes, he’s inferior in other areas.
It’s just that most of the time, Alston fits better with the Magic Team’s lineup and style than Nelson.
At 7 PM, the nationally televised back-to-back battle between Bobcats and Magic Team began.
Howard defeated Okafor to win the jump ball, and Magic Team attacked first!
Alston advanced to the frontcourt and passed to Turkoglu at the high post, Howard cut in timely, attracting a contraction, Turkoglu passed to Courtney Lee at the wing, who caught and made a three-point shot!
Then Turkoglu and Lewis each hit a three-pointer, and Magic Team started off with a three-point rain!
During this, the Bobcats only had Felton take a step back from Howard’s extreme defensive position to make a jump shot from close range.
Magic Team led the Bobcats 9 to 2, ahead by 7 points!
Now it’s Bobcats’ turn to attack. Both their ball-handling and off-ball players found it difficult to shake off defenders, Okafor took the initiative to go low for a post-play, turned to face Howard’s defense and made a bank shot from a 45-degree angle, helping Bobcats stop the bleeding and preventing the opponent from pulling the lead to double digits in one shot.
On defense, Okafor called on teammates to strengthen their blocks on the outside.