Chapter 128 127. The final push for the playoffs!
The game between the Bobcats and the Timberwolves starts at 7 pm.

The Bobcats were well prepared for this game.

In the last 7 regular season games, the management and coaching staff held a meeting after the game against the Bulls to discuss how to play the last 7 games. They unanimously decided to eliminate any possibility of mistakes and not consider the ranking or who to play in the first round. When playing against weak teams, they should do their best to win, and when playing against strong teams, they should win if possible and fight for every game.

Garnett was besieged by the Bobcats. He was uncomfortable with the impact of Gerald Wallace on the outside, and was double-teamed by Gerald Wallace and Okafor inside, and sometimes Perkins was also there.

上半场打完时，打了22分钟的加内特7投2中，加上2中1的罚球，只拿到5分3板1助攻1盖帽，森林狼队全队也只拿到37分。

But the Bobcats only scored 41 points in the first half and only had a 4-point lead at halftime.

Garnett single-handedly held up the Timberwolves' defense!

Garnett's steals and blocks this season are at a new low since he secured the starting position in his sophomore year, but at the age of 29, his personal defensive ability has reached its peak. His defense has long surpassed the stage where it needs to be measured by steals and blocks.

With few of his teammates being good at defense, Garnett led his team to play the seventh-best defense in the league. With the Timberwolves ranking in the bottom five in offense, the team still has a record of 31 wins and 43 losses, all thanks to the defense led by Garnett.

Zhang Yang, who mainly scores from mid-range, encountered great restrictions in his positional offense tonight. Garnett is a rare defensive master who can cover the mid-range by himself.

Zhang Yang played to his strengths and avoided his weaknesses. After playing two rounds after coming on the court, he chose to focus his offense on defensive counterattacks. He relied on the connection between defensive counterattacks and offense-defense transitions in the first half to get 4 points and 2 assists. In addition, he made a layup in the positional battle and made two free throws after being fouled in the mid-range, scoring 8 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. His performance was not bad.

The Bobcats players did not get impatient because they could not widen the score gap. After all, the opponent was a 30-win team, and their strength was similar to that before Okafor's comeback. They would most likely not be able to beat an ordinary playoff team, but at least they could fight.

The game was very tiring, but being in the Eastern Conference, the Bobcats players were already used to it and played very patiently, so they could slowly wear down the opponent.

But in the third quarter, the situation suddenly changed!
Garnett went berserk!

In terms of shooting, Garnett still did very poorly. He took 5 shots in a single quarter, and only made 1 goal by a tip-in, and only got two points, but he got 6 offensive rebounds in a single quarter!

Although only one tip-in was successful out of six offensive rebounds and two were blocked, three of them were converted into assists!
When the Timberwolves players saw how aggressively Garnett grabbed offensive rebounds, their confidence soared and they shot wildly from beyond the three-point line. Although their hit rate was not high, they shot a lot and got a lot of offensive rebounds... The Timberwolves scored 21 points in the third quarter!
At the same time, led by Garnett, the Timberwolves held the Bobcats to just 17 points.

After three quarters, the Timberwolves tied the score at 58 to 58!

In the third quarter, Garnett had 6 offensive rebounds in a single quarter, and the person most affected was Zhang Yang.

Positional warfare was difficult to fight, so he relied on advancing the counterattack. If he couldn't protect the defensive rebounds, he would have no chance of counterattack. In order to curb Garnett's rush, he had to shrink, and his chances of counterattack were even less... In the third quarter, Zhang Yang only got 2 points and 1 rebound, and he blocked Garnett from behind when he grabbed the rebound and got up again.

In the final quarter, Zhang Yang changed his positional offensive style.

In the 18 minutes he played in the first three quarters, he avoided Garnett in positional battles. This time, he took the initiative to run to the high mid-range shooting area, received the ball to attract Garnett out, and then passed the ball to his teammates on both wings.

No more points, just a distraction!

Now it was Garnett's turn to feel uncomfortable. If he didn't follow up, this rookie really dared to shoot. Even if he missed several shots in a row, he wouldn't blink an eye the next time. If the mid-range shot was missed, it was over. If he followed up, his teammates did a very poor job of blocking on the wing, and Mark Blount under the basket would be impossible to defend.

This rookie is quick to react and not afraid of trouble!

Garnett's evaluation of Zhang Yang is higher than that of most of the new generation of outside talents. Those people are trying to avoid his interference in shooting. The more they can't avoid it, the more they want to avoid it. They only think about how to get a better shooting opportunity. They don't even think about actively attracting defense. Those who have this awareness can't even gather one hand, such as Hinrich, Paul...

Garnett was actually very surprised by this. From what he saw at the All-Star Game and on the news, he thought Zhang Yang was a young, talented player who loved scoring and seemed to only have the basket in his eyes. But now he realized that this is a player who puts the team first.

His teammates didn't defend well on the wings and under the basket, so Garnett didn't worry about it and just blocked the rookie.

We can’t let the rookie score points in our own defensive area!

Zhang Yang opened a breakthrough for the Bobcats' offense. Gerald Wallace seized the opportunity and scored consecutively by cutting in from the wing. After attracting the center's double-team, Brezek and Okafor also had more opportunities.

The Bobcats' offensive efficiency has greatly increased, while the Timberwolves still rely on their enthusiasm to score and their efficiency is not high. As the game goes on, the Timberwolves players' enthusiasm for rushing and defending has decreased.

Garnett grabbed 6 offensive rebounds in the third quarter, with the help of teammates such as Mark Madsen, Mark Blount and Ricky Davis. These teammates distracted the Bobcats' attention from positioning, and their enthusiasm declined, and his successful number of offensive rebounds also decreased.

Garnett had no way to deal with this, but he was not anxious either, as he had played many worse games this season.

When the Timberwolves' enthusiasm for offensive rebounding and defensive retreat declined, Zhang Yang's chance came back!

In the final quarter, he scored 6 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist!

山猫队在末节打出了27比18的比分，晚上9点23分，终场哨声响起，山猫队以85比76击败森林狼队，战绩提升到40胜36负！
张杨今晚打了30分钟，20投7中，其中三分球2中0，加上6中4的罚球，拿到18分5板3助攻1抢断1盖帽。

杰拉德-华莱士17分7板3助攻3抢断4盖帽、奥卡福14分10板、费尔顿8分2板6助攻……

Matt Carroll made great contributions in the first three quarters, making 9 of 5 shots, including 7 of 4 three-pointers. Without his long-range shooting, the Bobcats' offensive space would have been even worse in the first three quarters.

加内特今晚被针对得很惨，15投5中，加上5中3的罚球只拿到13分，但还有21板6助攻2抢断2盖帽。

Gerald Wallace and Okafor didn't feel very satisfied. They didn't know whether their goal against Garnett was achieved or not.

Garnett's personal ability is too strong, and he is always trying to find ways to break the difficulties. If he can't score, he will defend, rush, and organize the offense... until he is completely out of tricks.

Putting aside his character, Garnett's strength and his spirit of not giving up easily are admirable.

...

The Bobcats won 40 games for the first time in their history! The Bobcats won 40 games in their second year, breaking all the records of new NBA teams in the past 20 years, which triggered a series of discussions.

This time, the Kings and Adelman were dragged out by the media and fans. If they had given Gerald Wallace some opportunities, developed the potential of this genius, and paired him with the newly traded Artest...

A day later, on the 9th, the Bobcats came to the Air Canada Center in Toronto to challenge the Raptors away.

The Raptors are currently 24-52, second from the bottom in the Eastern Conference. They want to be first, but they just can't get past the Knicks.

今晚猛龙队只有两名球员得分上双，迈克-詹姆斯25投10中，其中三分球12中5，加上10中7的罚球爆砍32分；波什13投6中拿到14分9板2助攻1抢断1盖帽。

The Bobcats chose to block other players, with Mike James, Felton and Kareem Rush going to single-handedly defend. Although Mike James scored 32 points, the Bobcats held the Raptors to only 88 points.

费尔顿19分10助攻、奥卡福17分11板6盖帽、杰拉德-华莱士11分8板6助攻2抢断1盖帽、朱梅因-琼斯11分、马特-卡罗尔14分、张杨21分6板2助攻2抢断……

104 to 88, the Bobcats easily defeated the Raptors, improving their record to 41 wins and 36 losses, locking in a % winning rate in advance!

Zhang Yang finally got his first 20+ point performance in a single game in the new month. It wasn’t easy!

The next day, April 4, the Bobcats returned to Charlotte to play the 10-47 Grizzlies in a back-to-back away and home game.

今晚张杨和费尔顿打得都很好，张杨17投10中，其中三分球2中1，加上5中5的罚球，高效拿到26分5板2助攻1抢断。

费尔顿14投6中、其中三分球6中3，加上4中2的罚球拿到17分7助攻，也好于赛季平均表现。

But the teammates didn't perform very well tonight. It was the second game of a back-to-back and their physical strength was affected. Also, the Grizzlies were much more prepared tonight than the last time they met, and they did a good job of shrinking the basket and blocking on both wings.

奥卡福11投5中拿到14分9板，杰拉德-华莱士9投仅2中，靠着10中7的罚球，才拿到11分8板3助攻。

But these are not a big deal. Among the four cores, two perform well and one performs just averagely, which is already pretty good.

The worst thing is that the three-point performance of the wing shooters combined is not as good as that of Zhang Yang and Felton. The two brothers made 6 of 3 three-pointers combined, while their teammates made 12 of 2 combined. They had a lot of three-point opportunities, but just couldn't make them. The more they couldn't make them, the harder the Grizzlies tightened their defense.

Apart from the four of them, the Bobcats' highest scoring player was Brezec, who scored 6 points, and the role players only scored 19 points in total.

对面，加索尔16分7板5助攻2盖帽、巴蒂尔14分、阿特金斯12分6助攻、埃迪-琼斯17分、迈克-米勒14分、鲍比-杰克逊10分，6人得分上双！
87 to 96, the Bobcats lost at home, and their record came to 41 wins and 37 losses.

The Bobcats players were disappointed that their idea of ​​winning streak until the end of the season was shattered, but the next day, they cheered themselves up and flew to the away game with excitement.

Next opponent, the Cavaliers!
At 4:12 p.m. on April 5, the Bobcats players stepped onto the Quicken Loans Arena court in high spirits amid boos.

At the entrance of the home team's players' tunnel, James saw the 'arrogant' appearance of the opposing players and was furious but helpless.

In fact, the Bobcats players are just full of energy and spirit, and because there is a national live broadcast tonight, they seem to be more excited.

But in James' eyes, these people just had bad intentions and wanted to target him.

Well, he actually guessed correctly...

The Cavaliers' current record is 47 wins and 31 losses, while the fifth-placed Wizards have a record of 44 wins and 35 losses. If they win all three of their remaining games, they will only have 3 wins. The two teams have played against each other four times this season, and the Cavaliers have won all four games, so the Cavaliers have already secured a top four spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavaliers and the Pistons are in the same division, and fourth in the Eastern Conference is the highest ranking they can get. The Cavaliers are no longer under pressure in terms of ranking, and they only have to strive for the goal of 50 wins.

Winning 4 out of 3 games is still very stressful for the Cavaliers.

The greatest pressure comes from the opponent in front of me...

The game starts at 6pm.

James, there is currently no way to break the Bobcats' defense. Your skills and basic skills are not in place, and you cannot solve the problem just by thinking of ways.

But the Bobcats can do better in defending against James by optimizing tactics!

In the first quarter, the Bobcats scored 23 to 13, silencing the fans at the scene!

In the second quarter, the Bobcats continued to suppress the Cavaliers, scoring 22 to 20 and leading the Cavaliers by 45 points 33 to 12 at halftime!
James had 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block in the first half, and was forced to rush for rebounds.

In the first two encounters, the Bobcats limited James' scoring efficiency very well, but failed to limit James' number of shots and points, giving James more than 30 shooting opportunities in each game. Tonight, the Bobcats did a good job in this regard!

In order to limit James' counterattack scoring, the Bobcats would rather sacrifice their own counterattack opportunities, slow down, suppress the rhythm, and retreat quickly...

In the second half, the Cavaliers still did not improve. After one and a half months, the Bobcats made tremendous progress, as can be seen from their record of 26 wins and 29 losses to 41 wins and 37 losses. Mike Brown actually made preparations, mainly on the defensive end, and he did a really good job, dragging down the Bobcats' score. On the offensive end, Mike Brown had no tricks at all.

The score in the third quarter was 24 to 15, and in the final quarter it was 17 to 26. The Bobcats widened the gap to 21 points at most. After James was replaced in the final quarter, the Bobcats' defense began to relax.

詹姆斯今晚15投5中，其中三分球5中1，加上6中4的罚球，拿到15分12板4助攻2盖帽，他在努力应变，减少出手、减少持球……然后球队进攻整个废了。

Okafor and Felton both focused on defense tonight and did not score in double digits, but Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace and Brezek had good scoring performances.

张杨反击没打出几次，投篮延续了过去两场的表现，16投9中，其中三分球3中1，加上3中3的罚球，拿到22分5板2助攻1抢断。

杰拉德-华莱士17分8板3助攻、布雷泽克15分9板。

86 to 74, the Bobcats defeated the Cavaliers steadily, improving their record to 42 wins and 37 losses, making their playoff spot more secure.

The Cavaliers have a more difficult road to 50 wins. They must win all three of their remaining games. However, as a favorite, the Cavaliers' last three regular season games are against strong playoff teams...

The Bobcats locked down James once again, and once again attracted attention.

张杨连续3场20+，本赛季20+次数来到18次，还剩3场比赛，有望成为05届新秀里第二个新秀赛季20+次数超过20次的球员，也引发了媒体和球迷对他得分天赋的讨论。

But the Bobcats and Zhang Yang himself had no time to pay attention to these things.

The day after playing against the Cavaliers, the Bobcats returned to Charlotte. There was no training scheduled in the afternoon, but at the strong request of several core players, Bickerstaff convened a team meeting to discuss tomorrow's opponent, the 76ers.

It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. What matters is that as long as they win tomorrow’s game, they will lock in the playoffs two games in advance!
While the Bobcats defeated the Cavaliers, the ninth-ranked Bucks in the Eastern Conference lost the game, and their record became 40 wins and 39 losses. The Bobcats have the advantage in direct confrontation with the Bucks. As long as the Bobcats win tomorrow's game, even if the Bucks win their last three games, the Bobcats will still rank ahead of the Bucks.

From a bottom-ranked team, to a team capable of winning 30 games, to one step away from the playoffs... the Bobcats players can't wait and want to secure a playoff spot immediately!
……

……

I forgot I had to go to work today. I was late and my salary was deducted. Damn, I was late for the update too, which made me even sadder... Please give some votes to comfort poor Xiaofeng. Thank you for your support! Keep writing~
(End of this chapter)