Chapter 124 123. Big Cheeks' Obsession
Zhang Yang did not continue to guide him, but finished his words in one breath.

He took a sip of water. He was so tired!

After listening to Zhang Yang, Felton was no longer so anxious.

They were all talking about the 50% winning rate. When he said it, he felt that the 50% winning rate was terrible, but after listening to Zhang Yang, he felt that the 50% winning rate was amazing!

He himself realized that he was being too obsessed with something. If you think about it carefully, they were predicted to win 20 games before the start of the season, and now they have won more than 30 games. What is there to be anxious about?
Felton sighed: "Jack, I really envy you for always being so calm."

Zhang Yang: "You are different. You are the boss. You should always be at the front and pass on positive energy to your teammates. If everyone is calm, who will lead the team?"

After hearing this, Felton stood up and said, "Yes, he is the different one!"

As for Zhang Yang, he is not really that calm and composed.

His mental quality is good, but not so good that nothing can shake him.

The fat boss is reckless and the crown prince is hot-blooded, neither of them is calm.

Okafor is calm, but he only learned the calmness, composure and stability from his idol, but did not learn to pass on these excellent qualities to his teammates like his idol.

The others are all role players and bench players, and there are no experienced veterans in the team. Who else can help him when faced with the fat boss's uncalm advice?

And it was indeed the Fatty was too impatient. He recalled that some of his teammates had similar emotions after losing the second game of the back-to-back against the Wizards.

In the beginning, people didn’t really care about the winning rate, they just fought hard in every game.

But people's thoughts change as things change. When they really enter the playoff competition, no matter what they thought before, they start to care about it.

Zhang Yang thinks this is a good thing, but they should not be under too much pressure because they should understand that they are already doing a great job.

Now that the fat boss has been enlightened, it is almost equivalent to the whole team being enlightened!
...

In the afternoon, Zhang Yang saw his teammates coming to the gym to train. At about 2:00 a.m., all the teammates were there! Even Voskuhl, who could only guard the water dispenser after Okafor's return, came.

He found that some things did not need to be worried about and would be solved naturally.

For example, worrying about the continuity of teammates' motivation.

After Brevin Knight was traded, some teammates fought hard for fear of being abandoned and wanted to get more playing opportunities through their performance. However, with the addition of Perkins, Gerald Wallace's improved health, Okafor's return, and Alan Anderson starting to enter the rotation with his defense and three-point shooting, it has been confirmed that those teammates will find it difficult to get more playing time.

But before those teammates became discouraged, they relied on the efforts of the whole team and gradually came into the public eye. Those teammates who felt the crisis found that not only the management of their team could see them, but other teams might also begin to see them. The reasons for their efforts were shifted and continued.

Whoever said it is right, when the team starts winning, you will find that everything is moving in a good direction.

After all the teammates arrived, Felton called them together and told them "We have done very well, we are excellent". As he was speaking, he suddenly shouted the slogan "Defend the winning rate".

Zhang Yang was secretly wondering why Americans like to shout slogans so much... and then he saw his teammates started shouting along!

What's going on? Aren't there still quite a few teammates who don't understand?

At this moment, he remembered that it seemed to be the same during the preparation meeting before playing against the Cavaliers. Felton spoke for several minutes, but many teammates still didn't understand. Felton yelled "beat James", and everyone suddenly understood what to do.

Zhang Yang learned a lot. He realized that not every teammate can understand what others say like the fat guy. For that kind of teammates, it is better to set a goal and work together instead of communicating with them slowly. The slogan is the goal.

Of course, communication is still necessary, as there are smart people in the team, but this matter can be left to the fat boss, and he doesn't have to worry about it.

The next day, March 3, was the Bobcats' 25th game day of the season, when they faced the Magic at home.

Today was a public interview day that had been scheduled long ago, but Zhang Yang was surprised by the number of media that came.

I don't think there was any notification that there would be a nationwide live broadcast?

The matchup between Okafor and Howard has attracted a certain amount of attention.

But with the Magic falling out of the playoff race, the matchup between the two teams has become much less interesting.

After Felton learned of Zhang Yang's surprise, he said, "Jack, didn't you watch the news?"

Zhang Yang: "I haven't watched it since yesterday. I was busy with training. What happened?"

Felton: "Duke was also eliminated last night, and was upset by Louisiana State University, which was ranked 11th in their group..."

So that's how it is. Zhang Yang understood it as soon as he heard it.

After the crazy three-pointer on the 17th, local fans paid less attention to their Bobcats, and there were some open seats in the game against the Pistons.

But when they played the Wizards at home on the 22nd, the stadium was packed because North Carolina was upset in the 21-to-32 game on the 16st.

Now that Duke has been eliminated, local fans can only focus on them, right? Now they are also a rising potential team.

Zhang Yang looked carefully and found that most of the media were from cities in the Carolina area, and there were not many national media.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the Bobcats' home game against the Magic started.

Howard beat Okafor to win the jump ball... and then it was miserable.

The starting center sent out by Bickerstaff tonight is Perkins.

As soon as Howard ran to the frontcourt, he was targeted by Perkins.

Perkins completely ignored everything else. Okafor was pulled back in the middle, and Gerald Wallace was on the strong side wing. He was between Howard and the basket the whole time.

Nelson's first attack at the start of the game missed a long shot under Felton's close defense. Howard's first rush to steal the ball was also blocked by Perkins, and he watched Okafor come in and grab the defensive rebound.

Howard has been like this ever since. His only means of one-on-one play is to force the ball out, but he cannot break through Perkins, who is bigger than him. He cannot cut in to score or grab offensive rebounds. He has gone from being a potential super center with a strong playing style to a blue-collar inside player with explosive physical fitness.

After a few rounds, Okafor's obsession completely dissipated.

It turns out that only Perkins is needed to hold off Howard.

He was glad that he listened to Zhang Yang and lost weight in time. In fact, in the early stage of weight loss, he had a hard time losing weight because his weight was too heavy. He didn't even dare to increase his training volume. 128 kilograms put too much pressure on his ankles and knees. At that time, he was sure that Zhang Yang was right. Fortunately, he had strong willpower and persisted. He also completed the work on the weight loss and fitness schedule nearly a month ahead of schedule and returned to the team, helping the team seize the opportunity of the 1 home and 11 away schedule, and raising the team's winning rate to 1%.

Moreover, Howard's mobility, offensive rebounding judgment, and cutting line selection, combined with his physical fitness, made Okafor certain that this No. 1 pick in the same year would be a nightmare for most inside players in the future.

Okafor now understands that if he wants to compete with Howard in the future, he must maintain his current mobility, enrich his offensive means, and learn to better partner with big centers. If he becomes a slow-moving standing center, he will definitely not be able to compete, even if he is not injured.

The twin towers of Okafor and Perkins did a great job of locking down Howard.

The progress of the game...was also smoother than the Bobcats expected!

Logically speaking, the twin towers of Perkins and Okafor are their best inside combination in protecting the rim, but their offense is not as good as that of Blazek and Okafor. Perkins sometimes lags behind because of poor positioning, limiting the attacking space of Gerald Wallace and Felton. Although the Bobcats players think they have a strength advantage against the Magic, considering the inside offensive space, the advantage will not be too great.

The actual situation was that the Bobcats beat the Magic 14 to 6 in half a quarter!

Hasty shooting, idealistic passing, uncalm defense... After playing with the Magic for half a quarter, Felton understood why his younger brother said that the Magic were too impetuous.

Not long after the start of this season, some media said that Francis and Hill were holding the Magic back.

This is indeed the case. In the first two months, when both of them were not on the court, the Magic's second lineup played better than the starting lineup.

In January, after Hill was injured again, the Magic's record improved instead of declining, confirming this statement.

Before the trade deadline, the Magic successfully traded Francis for Arroyo, Milicic and others. The Magic players, who had long been convinced that Francis and Hill were holding them back, suddenly became confident and felt that they were about to take off. When interviewed, they directly skipped over their playoff opponents and compared themselves with the Heat, Nets, Cavaliers... and then went on a 2-8 streak.

Yesterday, Zhang Yang analyzed this to Felton. Felton didn’t quite understand it at the time, but after fighting with him personally, he suddenly understood it all.

The recent losing streak has not only failed to calm the Magic players, but has made them more impetuous.

Hearing his teammates expressing their surprise at how badly the Magic played, Felton leaned over, raised his round head, and said, "They are too impetuous..."

After the official timeout, Zhang Yang was substituted in, and the Bobcats' outside offensive firepower was strengthened. The Bobcats scored 17 to 8 in the second half.

After the first quarter, the Bobcats led the Magic by 31 points with 14 to 17!
In the second quarter, after the Bobcats sent out more rotation players, their lead did not continue to widen. After all, the players in their rotation lineup each had their own flaws, and they were all relatively obvious. The score difference hovered around 15 points. The Bobcats failed to widen the gap, and the Magic found it difficult to narrow the gap to within 10 points. They finally made a comeback and narrowed the gap to 9 and 8 points, but after the climax, the Bobcats widened the gap to double digits again.

However, the Bobcats have maintained their defense against Howard. As long as Howard is on the court, Bickerstaff will keep Perkins on the court to keep an eye on Howard.

Howard had a fast break opportunity, but there was nothing he could do because Okafor couldn't run as fast as Howard.

But the positional battle didn't give Howard any chance at all.

Bickerstaff also knows Okafor's obsession. In order to prevent Okafor from gaining weight irrationally again, he can only target Howard.

Anyway, the two teams only play against each other four times in a regular season, and this is the last time, so let Okafor enjoy it first.

晚上9点21分，终场哨声响起，山猫队以108比92轻取魔术队，将战绩提升到35胜34负!
The Magic were impatient on defense, and the one who benefited the most was Zhang Yang, who was good at seizing opportunities.

张杨打了25分钟，12投7中，拿到21分3板1助攻1抢断，本赛季第13次20+！

In this game, he had as many as 7 opportunities for open mid-range shots, and he made 7 of 4 efficient mid-range shots.

Gerald Wallace and Okafor both scored 17 points, Matt Carroll scored 16 points, and Alan Anderson, who has performed well recently, scored 12 points.

Felton met Nelson, and the two players were fighting each other. Both sides had terrible shooting percentages. Felton made 12 of 4 shots and scored 11 points, but he also had 11 assists, and his performance was not bad.

The Magic's pitchers were terribly accurate in their outside shooting tonight, taking 24 three-pointers and making only 7 of them, for a hit rate of 29.1%.

霍华德打出了本赛季第3差的表现，拿到10投3中加上4中1的罚球拿到7分8板。

The previous performances that were worse than this were against the Lakers, where they faced the high school twin towers, and against the Rockets, where they faced Yao Ming...

……

There was a reason why Okafor had always had his eyes on Howard. When he entered the NBA, he thought he would become the No. 1 pick like his idol.

At that time, the media and fans unanimously believed that he would be the No. 4 pick. Howard's predicted pick was not that high. If the Magic had not selected Howard, Howard would most likely have fallen into the hands of the Clippers at No. 6 or the Hawks at No. 5. As for why it was not No. 5... the No. pick was the Wizards.

As a result, the Magic selected Howard, and Okafor's path to follow in his idol's footsteps was disrupted from the first second he entered the NBA.

That's why he chose to gain weight because he did not do a good job defending Howard several times in his rookie season.

However, after this game, Okafor completely shifted his focus away from Howard and turned his attention to the entire league.

On the 27th, the Bobcats came to the FedEx Center in Memphis to challenge the Grizzlies away.

Okafor has a very advantageous matchup against Gasol. In his rookie season last season, although Okafor lost both games against each other, he suppressed Gasol. In the first matchup, Okafor scored 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Gasol was defended to only 17 points and 6 rebounds with 19 of 5 shots. In the second matchup, Okafor scored 19 points and 18 rebounds, and Gasol's shooting was okay this time, scoring 10 points with 5 of 16 shots, but he only got 4 rebounds.

Gasol's performance did not improve tonight. He made 11 of 7 shots and 4 of 3 free throws to get 17 points. His offense was good, but his rebounding was sluggish again. He averaged 8.9 rebounds per game this season, but he only got 5 rebounds tonight.

Although Okafor only scored 13 points, he had 21 rebounds.

The difference in the number of rebounds between the two was exactly the same as the difference in the number of rebounds between the two teams. The Bobcats got 55 rebounds in the game, while the Grizzlies only got 39.

The rebounds were guaranteed, and with the Grizzlies doing a good job of team defense, a certain player No. 3 chose to shoot wildly in singles.

Zhang Yang played for 31 minutes, made 20 of 8 shots, including 7 of 2 three-pointers, and 3 of 3 free throws, scoring 21 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block. His shooting percentage was a bit low, but he was the sixth man, and it was enough for him to score when he played.

Having the courage to take possession of the ball is also part of ability.

He has scored 20+ points in a single game 5 times this month, surpassing the 12 times in December last year, setting a new record!

Zhang Yang's crazy shooting brought the Grizzlies' defense to the area above the free throw line, giving his teammates on the wings more open opportunities.

Matt Carroll had a big breakout tonight, making 9 of 6 three-pointers. Although he made 2 of 0 other shots, he was fouled on a three-point shot and made 3 of 2 free throws, scoring 20 points, the second highest on the team!
Plus Gerald Wallace's 15 points, Felton's 6 points and 12 assists...

92 to 85, the Bobcats defeated the Grizzlies, winning two consecutive games and improving their record to 36 wins and 34 losses!
The next day, on the 28th, the Bobcats came to the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami to play the Heat back-to-back. This time it was the Heat's turn to rest and wait.

As the saying goes, enemies become jealous when they meet. The two teams were extremely unfriendly from the moment they entered the stadium. The little friendship they had during the All-Star Game was destroyed by the two No. 3s in the last match.

Although O'Neal admires Zhang Yang very much, Wade is the owner of his brother's fruits.

O'Neal, who is in good physical condition tonight, helped his younger brother to attack the opponent's inside line!
Back-to-back, Gerald Wallace performed weakly, scoring only 10 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 blocks on 2 of 2 shots. Okafor also only scored 7 points and 11 rebounds. He played against Gasol for 44 minutes last night and couldn't hold on today.

As soon as Zhang Yang came on the court, he encountered Wade's close defense, but he was quite active. He played when he had the ball, and actively took Wade away from the double-team when he didn't have the ball. He made 10 of 4 shots, including 1 of 0 three-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws, scoring 12 points and 6 rebounds. He didn't make any mistakes, but he didn't make any mistakes either.

Zhang Yang's biggest role was to give Felton more opportunities to play singles against Old Payton and White Chocolate. The fat guy played really well, making 18 of 9 shots, including 8 of 4 three-pointers, plus 3 of 2 free throws, scoring 24 points, but unfortunately he only had 3 assists...

韦德拿到22分7板4助攻、奥尼尔25分17板，两人携手带队以93比81暴揍山猫队，报了上次失利的一箭之仇。

However, even though Wade crushed Zhang Yang with 22 points and 7 rebounds this time, who had 12 points and 6 rebounds, the public feedback he expected did not appear.

After the game, Wade saw that the fans were all regretting that the No. 3 on the other side didn't explode tonight. Most people were still saying that the No. 3 on the other side was only 17 years old and was still a little immature. What will happen in the future...

The future, the future, the future, and waiting for the future. He defeated James, and the media said that James' future will be better. He defeated Zhang Yang, and the fans also said that Zhang Yang's future will be better.

Is it because his big cheeks are not high enough? Those two are very talented, but can they really reach his current level in the future?

Wade refused to accept it! His obsession was born, he wanted to beat these two people up one by one!
When is the next match? He checked the schedule... Wow! All four matches against the two teams this season have been played!
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(End of this chapter)