CHAPTER 1216: CHAPTER 494: I WANT TO PLAY THE JAZZ TOO! (PART 3)

The Bobcats’ defense coordination in this quarter was actually quite poor, the rhythm was already disrupted, but Carlisle had anticipated this, so he didn’t send Felton on the court to control the offensive rhythm, nor did he use the regular lineup for defense coordination. Instead, he sent out the five players who performed the best in individual inside and outside defense tonight. The ones rotating in later were also Pietrus and Millsap, who are relatively better substitute defenders.

In the previous games, Carlisle wouldn’t have made this kind of rotation arrangement, otherwise the three main stars would have single-handedly crushed them.

But tonight, not only the three main stars, even Horford was about to collapse from exhaustion. Among the four main stars of the Hawks, except Joe Johnson, who rested for more than 4 minutes in the second quarter, the other three played full time for the first three quarters. They had been fighting hard since the first quarter, and by the latter part of the third quarter, their offensive efficiency had significantly declined.

In the final quarter, the Bobcats scored only 15 points, but the Hawks scored only 19 points!

Regarding the Hawks continuing to fight in the final quarter, the commentators said it would have been better to give up after the third quarter and save some face. Of course, there were also commentators who praised the Hawks for their spirit of perseverance and not giving up.

At 10:20 PM, the game ended.

points in the first quarter, 9 in the second, 5 in the third, and 6 in the final quarter... Zhang Yang played 45 minutes the entire game and was also on the verge of collapse, yet he still persisted in standing in front of Bibby. Of course, by the end, Bibby couldn’t break through anymore. From hitting 9 out of 15 in the first half, he went to 13 out of 27, with 3 out of 9 from the three-point line, plus 5 out of 6 free throws, getting 34 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block!

Adding Jarett Jack’s 12 points and 5 assists, Felton’s 13 points and 4 assists, Okafor’s 8 points and 10 rebounds, Mike Miller’s 15 points, Hill’s 11 points, Perkins’ 5 points 8 rebounds 5 blocks...

to 92, the Bobcats defeated the Hawks!

The moment the final buzzer sounded, the on-site fans who had been celebrating for an entire quarter went into a frenzy once again.

The pressure-lifted Bobcats players also gathered to celebrate. Even though they led by 21 points after three quarters tonight, they still kept their composure during the final quarter break.

The White Devil + the Truth + the modern Jordan, those three were quite fierce when they swung into action, even if by the end of the third quarter they seemed about to collapse. The Bobcats players still didn’t relax until there were only two or three minutes left with their lead maintained at 15 points, then they started to release their emotions... finally, they won!

In the post-game interview, the reporter was expecting Zhang Yang to passionately take the mic, but Zhang Yang didn’t diss the opponent again after the win. Instead, he said, "This was an unforgettable series, Mike, Paul, Joe, they are the best opponents I’ve faced this year. Right now, my mind is full of thoughts about how to play against them next time. I’m looking forward to meeting them again in the playoffs next year..."

...

...

The Game 7 left Zhang Yang exhausted, and the next day, he slept until noon. When he woke up, the little darling had already flown in from New York and was sitting at his bedside playing with a cell phone.

Zhang San’s first reaction to this scene was: Welcome to the era of head-down.

He remembered that in these two years, smartphone users would exponentially increase and become a global trend, and the era of ’buying a Nokia with the left hand and a Motorola with the right hand’ suddenly came to an end.

Thinking about the function phone era that lasted less than 10 years brought tears to his eyes, giving him the discordant feeling of ’my youth has passed,’ already accustomed to his 20-something identity.

Seeing that the little darling hadn’t noticed he was awake yet, Zhang San suddenly attacked, amidst her cries of surprise, "rip rip rip"... After lunch, he took the sulking little darling into town to buy pretty clothes.

Emma Roberts, though putting on a sulky face, was actually quite satisfied after being fed well. She knew Zhang Yang was exhausted from the last series. They casually bought two pieces of clothing at the mall and then went to a café to rest.

Today, the Bobcats did not arrange any work for the players, it was purely a rest day. Zhang Yang didn’t want to affect the upcoming East Final, which would probably be tough, so after waking up at noon, he didn’t do extra practice. When shopping at the mall, he conveniently bought a new computer to check the news in the café.

As imagined, their Game 7 win disappointed many people.

This time it’s not the case like the narrow win in G1. The ’63-year long-time Hawks fans’ expressing regret after the G2 home-court comeback, Bulls, Jazz, and Lakers fans, all hoped that the Hawks would beat the Bobcats.

The Hawks’ performance in this series was indeed eye-catching, but if there was a choice, those three teams still preferred to see the Hawks advance... Jazz fans are also ’considering the final opponent,’ indeed, the current Jazz team is being compared to the Knicks team of ’99. There are media hype factors in there, but their consecutive underdog victories are really making waves.

After this series, the four Hawks’ main stars truly became a championship-contending combination in the eyes of media, fans, and even players, especially Pierce. Over 7 games, with a 45.9% shooting average, he averaged 27 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3 assists per game, proving his competitiveness in the playoffs, long-touted as the ’blowhard king.’

However, the Bobcats, who were dragged to a narrow win in Game 7, received very high evaluations this series! This was surprising to Zhang Yang, who initially thought coming close to being overturned would cause them to be underestimated.

After looking through some relevant evaluations from fans and media, he understood the reason—70 wins, once leading 3 to 1.