No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 835 - 357. Don’t block the road.

Randy Brown told Zhang Yang that the Pistons lost, and a few teammates heard it too.

Hill said, "We’re 1-3 against the Pistons, we need a better record than them to surpass them."

Felton: "It’s going to be tough. In our next 9 games, we’ll face the Lakers, Spurs, Hornets, Magic Team, Bulls, and play 6 games against these 5 teams. The Raptors are still in the playoffs race and will definitely push hard, the 76ers are ninth in the East, and even the Kings, with Rajon, Richardson, and Martin, aren’t easy to play against."

Just feeling excited about catching up with the Pistons, Zhang Yang’s joy was instantly subdued, and he complained: "I know our final month is a devil’s schedule, Boss, can you not say it out loud? Really a buzzkill!"

Felton: "Jack, we have to stay calm and focused now, we can’t be complacent. We need to do a lot of things, get proficient in coordinating around your offense, aim for second in the East, and establish an advantage when facing direct competitors..."

Zhang Yang: "Boss, have you noticed you’re becoming more like Rick? Who was the one complaining Rick was too strict back then?"

Felton: "Hmm? Really?"

Zhang Yang: "Huh? What do you mean really?"

Felton: "Do I really resemble Rick? He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever seen, and my career plan is to become a coach after retirement, starting as a scout, trainer, assistant coach. I’ll definitely retire earlier than you, maybe by then I can be your trainer or squeeze into your team as an assistant coach."

Zhang Yang: "That would be great, we can still fight for the championship together at that time."

Felton: "Exactly, that’s what I’m thinking too, and I can help solve some things that you don’t want to handle."

Zhang Yang: "Absolutely... By the way, did James and the team win?"

Felton: "Don’t know, didn’t you ask the staff to keep an eye out?"

Zhang Yang: "They’re busy cleaning the arena after the match; it’s not polite to bother them. Let’s hurry and check."

Hill, Okafor, Alan Anderson, Brad Miller and others looked speechless.

We were just talking so seriously, and suddenly the topic shifted to... at least things 10 years down the road?

Brad Miller had been here for a few months and gradually became familiar with the team’s style.

It was nothing like the other teams he’d been with.

But he really enjoyed the atmosphere of this young player-centered team...

A few minutes later, cheers came from the home team’s locker room from the Boss and Nick. The teammates knew, for sure, it was North Carolina going to the finals.

Alan Anderson, who had gone to watch Curry’s match, regretted: "I really wanted to see Curry win the championship."

Okafor: "For the Davidson Wildcats to beat the Kansas Hawks was already a very low probability event. The Hawks had a terrible game that day; if a few of their backup shooters had hit a long shot, Curry wouldn’t have had the chance for a buzzer-beater."

Hill: "Yeah, the gap between the lineups was too big. The four core players of North Carolina Blue Devils aren’t any worse than Raymond’s championship team. If any of the four cores played normally, Curry wouldn’t have the chance. Reaching the Final Four, Curry created a miracle."

On Zhang Yang’s side, after celebrating his school team making it to the finals with Felton, he also felt a bit regretful. Although he knew Curry’s underdog journey had reached its end, and hoping for North Carolina to win.

He also thought Curry was quite tragic... Like the previous 4 rounds, tonight North Carolina had a dominant game again, crushing Davidson College 92 to 65. Since their first qualifying match loss in early February, Harden, Ellington, Hansbrough, Lawson, Tatum had been holding a grudge till now, tonight as if facing someone who blocked their financial path, they played with furious intensity.

But reaching the Final Four would definitely be better; Curry’s sophomore season’s wild journey attracted NBA team attention much more than originally expected. Next year, besides the Warriors and Knicks, there might be more teams competing for him.

Zhang Yang and Felton made plans to watch the live game together on the 5th; NBA would be on a break that day, and on the 6th, they’d play against the Magic Team away in Orlando, enjoying fruit while watching Harden and Rose face off...

...

After resting for 1 day on the 2nd, on the 3rd, the Bobcats faced their first opponent in a home back-to-back series: the Raptors.

Before the game, Zhang Yang looked at the Raptors’ record, 36 wins and 37 losses, and sighed: "Before the trade, the Raptors were hopeful to become the fifth 50-win team in the East, now they’re nearly dropping to eighth, the Hawks won again last night, already at 35 wins."

Felton: "Yeah, back then I’d still argue with Emeka whether the Raptors or Magic Team were stronger."

Zhang Yang: "Arguing about that? Do you think the Magic Team is stronger?"

Felton: "Huh? I thought the Raptors were more powerful, Emeka was the one who believed the Magic Team was stronger, he thought Howard was far superior to Bosh."

Zhang Yang: "Oh..."

Felton: "Turns out the Raptors traded and slid all the way to where they don’t even have a 50% win rate anymore, while the Magic Team has already won 45 games... I’ve seen a lot of news saying Colangelo Jr. owes his Best Coach reputation to his father’s connections, but looking at the strategies of the Suns and Raptors since his departure, I think he’s actually quite good."

Hill interjected, "That statement is correct, but he can leverage his dad’s connections and withstand the pressure from the Suns and Raptors’ owners. That itself is a form of ability."

Felton: "Then why is he always getting fired?"

Hill: "I’m also puzzled. With the combination of him and his dad’s connections, normally, a team should choose to hold on to him long-term."

Zhang Yang: "I was curious about this before too. I researched little Colangelo’s work history and thought maybe he completed his tasks too swiftly and too well."

Felton: "Huh? Doing a good job is also a reason to be fired?"

Hill appeared thoughtful.

Zhang Yang: "You could say he did things too thoroughly.

He joined the Suns in ’04, and that summer, he assembled the lineup. By summer ’05, he had basically perfected the championship-contending lineup.

In ’06, he joined the Raptors, and through trades and signings, crafted a lineup aiming for 50 wins just in the summer he joined. The Raptors had just gotten the top pick the previous season. His moves that summer were not inferior to those that built the run-and-gun lineup for the Suns.

But this left him with no room for further maneuvers and no resources to continue operating.

The Suns were fine—they had Stoudemire and Marion, added Nash, and complemented with suitable role players, immediately raising them to regular-season top and conference finals level, capable of contending for the title.

The Raptors only had Bosh as an All-Star level player. Little Colangelo wanted to build a complete lineup from the start but couldn’t obtain sufficiently talented players, so he opted for replacements or downgraded signings. Though the lineup and the system were built, the strength was definitely much less than initially anticipated.

But every link was filled already, and the salary cap was exhausted. Unable to sign, and with the lineup complete one link after another, if one broke during a trade, the whole would collapse.

Just like trading Ford for O’Neal this time, missing the fast-break initiator and the team’s top breakthrough player, with Bosh dragging behind.

The playoffs ended in failure, and when asked for off-season enhancement plans, he couldn’t deliver. Other teams wouldn’t accept substitutes for original targets unless the team-building strategy was changed... getting fired seemed normal.

Hill nodded: "That explanation makes sense, but it is a bit too business-minded. There must be other reasons.

I heard he has a rather arrogant personality and a narrow-mindedness, often having conflicts with players due to personal issues. I’ve seen reports exposing that he badmouthed players to friends in private."

Zhang Yang: "Surely that’s a reason too, multiple causes leading to one effect..."

The two teammates kept chatting, but Felton started to get lost in their conversation. It didn’t matter, though, as no matter what they were saying, he just needed to nod along, saying, "yeah, yeah, right."

He’s the boss, just responsible for leading the teammates and doesn’t need to know everything, letting everyone serve their roles, finding happiness in diversity.

At 7 PM, the Bobcats faced off against the Raptors.

Compared to their match just after the All-Star weekend, the Raptors played much more methodically tonight.

A veteran with knee injuries joined, forcing coach Sam Mitchell to abandon the successful approach from the first half of the season and have players cooperate with little O’Neal for a slow-paced offense.

Though they still lost more than they won, at least they weren’t in complete disarray like they were right after the trade.

hours and 23 minutes later, the game ended, and the Raptors... couldn’t compete at all.

When they attempted a fast-paced, light attack, they still had some capacity to contest the rhythm with the Bobcats. Originally, their lineup—with Ford pushing, Bosh and Bargnani following as bigs, and a wing shooter paired with an attacker—held a speed advantage, creating misalignment opportunities in the Bobcats’ not-so-great rotations during transition.

Now resorting to pure half-court play meant completely falling into the Bobcats’ rhythm.

Bosh experienced another night of despair, throwing long twos and cutting from the wings.

Mid-range space and the low post were completely occupied by little O’Neal.

By the end, Bosh even began tossing threes!

To his credit, his three-point talent emerged, going 6 for 2. Playing 35 minutes, shooting 21 times with 10 successes, plus 2 for 2 in free throws, he got 24 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.

Bosh desperately threw threes, primarily because he ceded the middle-range space. In return, little O’Neal played 19 minutes in the first half, going 9 for 3 shots, finishing with 16 shots, 7 successes, and 4-for-3 free throws, securing 17 points, 6 boards, 1 assist, and 2 blocks.

The rebounding comparison between the teams was 34 to 54...

The Raptors did have their highlights tonight, doing a great job enclosing Zhang Yang’s mid-range shots. Despite going 7 for 3 on three-pointers, Zhang Yang had a shooting rate of only 40% with 25 shots and 10 hits. Adding 7-for-7 free throws, he barely reached 30 points, plus 7 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals.

Alongside Felton’s 15 points and 4 assists, Okafor’s 15 points and 14 boards, Brad Miller’s 14 points and 10 boards, and Hill’s 15 points and 6 boards, the Bobcats had five players scoring in double digits, easily defeating the Raptors 110 to 98, achieving their 55th win of the season!

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