Capítulo 1200: Chapter 490: Milestone or Millstone?

Soon, the second quarter began, and the Hawks team began their offense… but committed a turnover right away!

Hill, with his rich experience, anticipated Pierce’s passing direction, pressed forward, and slapped the ball just as it left Pierce’s fingertips!

Both of them pounced toward the ball but didn’t grab it. Pierce swatted the ball toward the baseline in the scramble.

If you can’t get it, slap the ball toward the opponent’s baseline; it effectively reduces the likelihood of counterattacks, taught by his boss Kenny Anderson.

But with perfect timing, Zhang Yang, who was guarding Morris Evans at the corner, rushed forward… He bent down to pick up the ball, dribbled and dodged the charging Darius Songaila, and initiated a counterattack!

He reached a step outside the right arc of the three-point line, calculating quickly as Horford and Asi Lao rushed toward him, knowing they couldn’t block his shot, he suddenly stopped, grabbed the ball, jumped, and shot…

Horford, jumping and trying to block, couldn’t hit the ball, watching helplessly as he got closer to Zhang Yang in the air, he tried to stop himself but couldn’t undo Newton’s laws, brushing against Zhang Yang instead.

Meanwhile, Ibaka, sprinting from the side to grab the offensive rebound, saw the ball’s direction and immediately braked, turning around to raise his arms in celebration; the referee running from the other side saw Horford hit Zhang Yang who had just released the ball, blew the whistle, and signaled a shooting foul…

Horford collided with Zhang Yang, Ibaka turned ahead to celebrate, and the referee’s whistle blew, capturing the moment on the sidelines, oh, and the scene also included Asi Lao stepping on the three-point line looking at Horford and Zhang Yang in the air.

As the whistle blew, the ball plunged into the hoop.

The other referee crossing the midcourt confirmed that the shot point was outside the three-point line, the chief referee confirmed with the technical table that Zhang Yang’s basket was valid, and he also earned a free throw.

Just 20 seconds into the second quarter, both teams’ coaches dramatically changed their emotions!

Coach Woodson: No way, it happened again! Zhang San, can you follow some basic rules!

Coach Carlisle: Double digits now! Hahaha, the lead is going to double digits! My teacher was right, the problem you can’t solve should be postponed, you never know, it might solve itself… Long live Third Bro!

Listening to the deafening cheers from the audience and watching Zhang Yang and his teammates celebrate… Cook: This is the youngest MVP in history, the leader of the new era’s playing style, the king of talent since the birth of basketball… Zhang San, right?

Zhang Yang walked to the free-throw line, took a deep breath.

When executing the chasing shot, he had no other distractions, proactively pushed the difficulty to the maximum, confirmed it wouldn’t be blocked, shot with determination… When developing the chasing three, he firstly focused on building his mindset.

Now that he scored, he truly felt… thrilled!

As for any lingering fear? That’s non-existent.

The additional free throw was taken, and it hit! 30 to 20, Bobcats lead extended to double digits!

After being counterattacked and taking a 3+1, Pierce was once irate, but as he received a pass advanced by Asi Lao, he calmed down and started attacking with more caution.

Although his personality made him somewhat egotistical and envious, his competitiveness on the court was extremely strong, and with excellent teammates around him, he no longer had to carry the team alone, and his leadership ability began to show.

Under Pierce’s guidance, the Hawks team players didn’t panic even though the point difference reached double digits, they stabilized defensively and dragged the Bobcats back into defensive trenches.

On the offensive end, Pierce and Horford, followed by Bibby and Joe Johnson who replaced them a few minutes later, played more ‘independent’ compared to the first quarter, where their scoring concentrated on the outside trio, it was passive. Under Bibby’s suggestion, they proactively adopted the ‘all-inclusive’ mode.

Bibby’s strategic capability was relatively lacking, unable to help Woodson build an offensive system, but his on-the-spot adaptability and judgment had his father’s demeanor, even Pierce’s “I am number two” accepted his command willingly.

Bibby’s adjustment was effective, the four stars proactively focusing on shooting rights, scored a combined 20 points in a single quarter, coupled with a responding three-pointer from Morris Evans, the Hawks team raised their second-quarter points to 23, without relying on high-difficulty shots from the first period middle-stage 2+1 by Pierce and late-quarter three-pointer by Bibby to shrink the point gap!

However, it wasn’t just the four-star who proactively concentrated shooting rights, Zhang Yang’s shooting rights were also more focused, and the rotation presences of Felton, Okafor, and Brad Miller executed offensive coordination effectively, leading to a significantly enhanced offensive power for the Bobcats compared to the first quarter!

Near the end of the regular season, Carlisle arranged Felton to pair with Millsap for dual-core coordination, and it was arranged similarly in the first quarter during the matchup with the Miami Heat, exhausting Felton but providing enough training.

Now, after switching the coordination core to Brad Miller, Felton initiated the pick-and-roll offense with Okafor, and it worked noticeably better than after the All-Star weekend.

With Millsap as a partner, Felton had to consider his younger partner’s capability issues more, requiring better timing in passing decisions, which not only honed Millsap but also witnessed Felton’s growth in several aspects during that period.

Brad Miller benefited from this, Felton’s timing in passing improved, and the conditions for Miller to coordinate and execute shots also became better.

Following Zhang Yang’s chasing 3+1 at the start, the Bobcats scored 24 points in the next 11 minutes and 40 seconds, outscoring the Hawks team by 1 point!