Chapter 127 126. Season End Focus (Update)
No one was surprised that Zhang Yang won the award this time, and Felton didn't even feel jealous.

In Felton's opinion, this is what the younger brother deserves. Not only did he play well in the game, but as a teammate who he spent every day with, he saw much more.

The little brother plays hard on the court, and off the court, he spends the most time watching videos and practicing positioning in preparation for the game. He insists on doing physical therapy, and takes more rest time than anyone else... No one on the team is more self-disciplined than the little brother, not even Okafor.

Felton chose to learn from his younger brother, who said something Confucius said - When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher, and I will choose the good one and follow him.

Is there anything wrong with learning from excellent teammates? Of course not! There is even less problem in learning from excellent younger brothers.

In fact, Felton and Zhang Yang don’t care about the Rookie of the Month award anymore. Anyway, the Eastern Conference is definitely dominated by the two brothers.

During the break after lunch, the two of them were looking at the standings and schedules on their laptops in the lounge, feeling very stressed.

Felton: "Jack, it seems that just maintaining a 50% winning rate is not enough! Fortunately, we beat the Nets, otherwise we would have been squeezed out by the Bulls!

The Wizards have 41 wins, surpassing the Pacers with 40 wins! The Bucks have 39 wins, and only the Bulls have 36 wins, which is exactly 50% of the winning rate... Oh, Jack, your Iverson has also fallen behind, with 34 wins and 10 games left. It is probably impossible to catch up, unless they win 9 or 10 games in a row.

Jack, what do you think of their situation? They had a winning rate of just over 50% before, but they have suddenly become very strong recently. We have a record of 10 wins and 6 losses in a single month, but we still can't surpass them."

Zhang Yang: "Maybe they didn't have pressure and motivation before. You see, before our winning rate reached 50%, no team in the East could threaten their playoff spot. Although the 76ers and Magic looked promising before, their winning rates were below 50% for a long time and they never really made it. The Pistons, Heat, Nets, and Cavaliers, they couldn't catch up, and they didn't have to worry about the record. Now that we are here, they have a sense of urgency and must play better... Potential is like water in a sponge, there is always some if you squeeze it.

But it's not that difficult for us next time. You see, we have to play the Hawks twice, the Timberwolves once, the Knicks once, the Raptors once, and the Cavaliers once. We are sure of winning 1 out of 1 games, boss, relax!"

Felton: "If you squeeze it, it will appear. Isn't it the breasts?"

Zhang Yang: "Uh, well, some people can't even squeeze in, right? Look at those bodybuilding ladies who have trained themselves into skinny bodies."

Felton: "Hiss...yes! It seems that I lack knowledge. I need to read as many books as you..."

Okafor on the side: ???

Aren't we discussing how difficult the upcoming schedule will be? How did we end up talking about that?

Also, is reading a book to understand these things?

Alan Anderson signaled with his eyes: Boss in the inside, please get used to it.

He didn't know whether Okafor could understand this look, but he was already used to it.

...

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the Bobcats started their first game of the season-ending sprint, playing away against the Hawks.

Sometimes I have to admire the creativity of Larry Brown's coaches.

Larry Brown pioneered the use of Iverson, who claimed to be 183 cm tall, as a shooting guard, which fully unleashed Iverson's scoring ability.

Popovich put Ginobili on the bench, truly allowing the "sixth man" to assume the core identity of the team for the first time.

Mike Woodson is also very creative here.

He moved Joe Johnson to play point guard, a move that was so cool that he was criticized for several months.

In March, he changed it, putting Joe Johnson back at shooting guard and small forward, and then abandoned Tyronn Lue.

That’s right, the team’s only serious point guard was abandoned and he was not given any playing time.

He put Al Harrington directly at the point guard position and let Josh Smith play as the sixth man. He was the first candidate for the substitute at the point guard position. When Al Harrington was on the court, Josh Smith played as power forward. When Al Harrington was replaced, Josh Smith played as point guard.

The pioneering creation of the PF/PG swingman!
Although there have been players like Magic Johnson and Odom who claim to be able to play five positions and can indeed play five positions, they only have the ability but do not really have to play five positions. Odom played point guard when he was with the Heat and small forward when he was with the Lakers. Magic Johnson always played point guard. There was no situation like Josh Smith who switched back and forth between power forward and point guard in a game.

I have to say that Josh Smith is really talented. After adapting to a few games, he really got used to playing like this. In the last 10 games, he averaged 10.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.4 blocks. He can do everything! Although the assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.1 to 3.6 is a bit eye-catching, his talent has been sought after more because of this.

Mike Woodson's move was not only cool, but also really worked, and the Eagles' offense was revitalized!

The opponent used point guards to defend Harrington and Josh Smith, which was a direct mismatch. The two brothers crushed them and used inside defense. Joe Johnson could still match up with the opponent's point guard, but he didn't have to organize the offense. He only had to be responsible for singles, and the opponent's inside defense immediately became weak...

However, the Eagles' defense has become even worse, giving up an average of 115 points per game in the last dozen games.

Tonight, Felton ushered in his spring!
Harrington and Josh Smith are fast and flexible at the power forward position, but they are like turtles on the defensive end at the point guard position.

Mike Woodson also told the two to learn to defend the opposing point guard, otherwise the position adjustment would be meaningless, and Joe Johnson would have to defend the guard, but even a talented player like Josh Smith couldn't learn to defend the guard...

Felton's repeated step-back long shots and continuous close-range attacks broke the Eagles' defense!
25投16中，其中三分球6中4，加上7中5的罚球，费尔顿狂轰41分2板4助攻！拿下05届新秀首个单场40+！

杰拉德-华莱士14分6板7助攻3抢断2盖帽、奥卡福14分11板2助攻1盖帽、马特-卡罗尔9分、朱梅因-琼斯8分……

Zhang Yang scored 6 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals. He received passes in the high post and got several assists.

Although Harrington and Josh Smith can no longer mindlessly surround Zhang Yang, they can help defend him! And they found that their help defense is even better than their pursuit defense. Sometimes they can't keep up with the pursuit defense, but when they help defend, they only need to judge the direction and intention of Zhang Yang's movement, and then the opponent can only pass the ball. Sometimes they can get a block if they grasp the timing well!
Thus, for the first time in Zhang Yang's career, his assists exceeded his points... The two brothers were very proud of this.

As for the fact that they can easily judge the opponent's players' moving intentions and seize the opportunity to defend, they don't seem to think deeply about it.

Josh Smith, in particular, gave people the feeling that even if God wanted to pry open his mouth and pour food into it, he couldn't get any food in.

老鹰队进攻打得也很好，8人轮换，8人都有得分，乔-约翰逊拿到35分、约什-史密斯10分14板8助攻、哈灵顿22分4板6助攻、柴尔德里斯20分、马文-威廉姆斯16分……但他们得分多，丢分更多。

125 to 117, the Bobcats narrowly defeated the Hawks by 8 points and won this offensive battle!

…The Bobcats’ record is now 38-35, a good start to the playoff race!

As April approaches, the Bobcats have received more attention.

Because they are the only team this season that has a real chance of making it from the lottery to the playoffs.

The performance of each team this season has gradually solidified and divided into three levels after the Kings and Pacers exchanged their strongest players to revitalize each other.

The East and West are similar, divided into playoff teams, 30-win teams, and teams competing for the No. pick.

Moreover, each level is clearly distinguished. The bottom level is the bottom level, and the 30-win level is the 30-win level.

The 76ers, Magic, and Rockets, who had great hopes of making a comeback and advancing to the playoffs in the early and mid-term, have now lost hope.

After Boozer's comeback, the Jazz had a very good record in March and seemed to be about to surpass the Nuggets. However, the Nuggets exploded even more fiercely in March, and now it seems that there is only hope left.

Currently in the Western Conference, the Spurs, Suns, Nuggets, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Clippers, Lakers, and Kings have basically secured their playoff spots. Only the Clippers, Lakers, and Kings in the Pacific Division are still competing for the rankings.

In the Eastern Conference, the upper and lower halves were originally fixed until Okafor returned. The Bobcats broke the solidified pattern of this season and rushed into the playoffs from a 40-win team with a winning rate of just over 30%!
Therefore, at the end of the regular season, the only thing left to watch in the fight for a playoff spot is whether the Bobcats can gain a foothold in the top eight in the Eastern Conference and which of the four teams in the bottom half will be the unlucky one to be squeezed out by the Bobcats at the end of the season.

In this matter, the Bobcats became the 'protagonist' at the end of the regular season.

At this time, Felton scored 41 points in a single game, and his influence was greater than ever before!

Felton finally enjoyed the feeling of being a popular rookie, and he felt like he was walking with the wind.

He comforted his jealous little brother and said that he would give the opportunity to score points against the Knicks as originally agreed upon to his little brother.

Felton just said that, and Zhang Yang immediately agreed. He regretted it instantly.

Coming out of his boastful mood, Felton remembered that his little brother could be really a bitch sometimes!
But the words have been spoken, and as a boss, there is no way I can take them back...

Zhang Yang was really jealous this time. The two high school students from the Eagles were not human! They had to be marked as stars in the notebook!
However, he was still very happy for the Fatty Bone. After one season, the Fatty Bone had basically adjusted his playing style, and many bad habits had been corrected through the long regular season.

Focusing on training in those shooting hot spots, although Felton's scoring area has become much narrower, his one-on-one long-range shots are concentrated on the top arc three-pointers and long two-pointers, his attacks on the basket are concentrated on the distance from the three-second zone, and his catch-and-shoot shots are concentrated outside the three-point line on both wings. This seems to have restricted Felton's "ceiling", and his scoring methods are no longer as comprehensive as in college.

But Felton does not have the talent to be a player with all the skills. If he spreads out his training time, he will only become a player who can do everything but is not excellent in anything.

Zhang Yang had seen Felton like that in his previous life. After each season, he was evaluated for his poor shooting, unstable finishing ability in the paint, and unwise shooting choices... The only thing he was praised for was his stable passing and control. It was like this every year, and there seemed to be no improvement at all.

After being traded to the Mavericks in 2014, Felton's shot selection and finishing ability improved under the correction of Carlisle, but he was already 30 years old at that time, and it was already too late.

Felton is no longer as comprehensive as before, but the heights that his main scoring methods can reach are definitely higher than before.

Besides, it’s only his rookie season, so it’s not impossible to practice what he’s good at to the best of his ability first, and then try to expand his scoring methods later.

Zhang Yang thought of the little steel cannon Lowry. When Felton entered the NBA, he was stronger than Lowry, had a higher starting point than Lowry, and had more opportunities than Lowry... If things continue to develop like this, it's hard to say who of these two will reach a higher height in the end!
After returning to Charlotte to rest for a night, the Bobcats faced the Hawks again in their first back-to-back home game on April 4.

The two teams had another scoring battle.

哈灵顿17分10板8助攻、约什-史密斯12分7板4助攻，乔-约翰逊再度拿到35分。

On the Bobcats side, no one scored more points than Joe Johnson this time. Gerald Wallace scored the highest points on the team, with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

Zhang Yang continued to be targeted by two high school students, and his little notebook was about to smoke from writing.

Felton was also closely guarded tonight, and the Hawks didn't want to be outscored back-to-back by a rookie.

靠着杰拉德-华莱士的27分、奥卡福的22分、马特-卡罗尔的18分、朱梅因-琼斯的16分，山猫队以116比109再胜老鹰队，战绩提升到39胜35负！
The next day, April 4, the Bobcats' three-game winning streak was ended as they lost 4-3 to the Bulls at home, suffering their 87th loss of the season.

The Bobcats' offense didn't get going tonight and their defense wasn't good either.

As a young team, they still don't have good control over the rhythm and were led astray by the Hawks in the past two games.

After the game, Jordan ran to the locker room and scolded his players.

After Jordan left, Felton stepped forward and urged the players to practice hard and get the rhythm back up during the next two rest days.

Gerald Wallace was very upset. He was one step slower than Felton. He also wanted to stand up and lead his teammates, but he was one step slower every time...

On April 4, the NBA was suspended for one day. Zhang Yang rested in the morning, practiced in the afternoon, and watched the live broadcast of the Mad Three Finals in the evening.

Florida State beat UCLA 73-57, and Joakim Noah won the MOP in the semi-finals.

Zhang Yang remembered that this player would eventually be selected by the Bulls using the draft pick they got from the Knicks. That draft pick was a bonus when Eddy Curry was sent to New York... In other words, the Bulls selected a player in 01, and he eventually became the future All-Defensive Player of the Year?
The Knicks during this period were truly the benefactors of the NBA, taking on junk contracts and even giving away lottery picks.

By the way, could it be that Dolan feels embarrassed about making too much money and wants to find a different way to provide benefits to the teams?

After two days of rest, on April 4, the Bobcats will face the Timberwolves at home.

As soon as the players' entrance ceremony ended, Garnett felt two forces of malice.

He turned and took a step back, looking at the opposite side with iron eyes... Gerald Wallace and Okafor.

The last time the two teams met was in the middle of the month 5 months ago. Gerald Wallace and Okafor were both absent due to injuries. Garnett scored 28 points, 22 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks, and made the two rookies run away in panic...

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(End of this chapter)