Chapter 138 137. The underdogs overthrow the superiors! Sweep through and advance!

After the timeout, the Cavaliers sent out a combination of Damon Jones, Pavlovic, Hughes, James, and Donyell Marshall.

The Bobcats sent out a combination of Felton, Alan Anderson, Keith Bogans, Gerald Wallace and Okafor to strengthen the defense and replace Zhang Yang.

The Cavaliers were on offense, and Damon Jones faced Alan Anderson's defense and threw an outrageous three-pointer from the outside, but it hit the rim and didn't go in.

The Bobcats grabbed the rebound, and Felton advanced to the frontcourt but did not attack. With more than 20 seconds left and a 7-point difference, the Cavaliers did not choose to foul. It was possible that the ball could have gone in, but if it hadn't, they would have had to give up.

Soon, the countdown for the game returned to zero.

詹姆斯今晚22投9中，其中三分球4中1，加上23中17的罚球，拿到36分15板8助攻2抢断1盖帽，依旧无力阻止大比分变成0比3。

费尔顿13分6助攻、杰拉德-华莱士22分8板3助攻2抢断2盖帽、奥卡福18分14板2盖帽、张杨21分7板3助攻1抢断1盖帽……山猫队全队齐心，以89比82力克骑士队，大比分3比0，一只脚踏入第二轮！
After the final whistle, the fans at the scene burst into wild cheers again. A player on the opposing team made 21 free throws in three quarters, but they finally won!
The Bobcats players were also celebrating wildly.

Reporters flooded into the stadium. Felton was exhausted as he had played for 44 minutes and spent most of the time defending James. But when he saw the microphone, he instantly perked up. He straightened his body, raised his head, chest and butt, and was about to start scolding the camera... a boiled egg rushed in front of him and blocked the camera.

Felton was very unhappy, and Zhang Yang, who was competing with the fat boss for the camera, was also unhappy.

The two looked at each other: What happened to the boss? What happened to the senior? Can he steal his spotlight? We must take it back!
But immediately, they both swallowed their saliva, the senior is awesome! The boss is awesome!

Zhang Yang: "The boss scolded me so harshly, is that okay?"

Felton: "No... no problem... right? He is the god of basketball."

Zhang Yang: "That's right. He dared to scold the referee when he was playing. There should be no problem...right?"

Jordan spitted at several cameras and microphones: "Please ask the referees for me, are their mouths farts? They kept making noises all night long, and when they should have farted, they made no sound at all. Gerrard's nose was bleeding, but their farts didn't move at all. The sweat on the other side was rubbed off, and they kept making noises. Are their farts equipped with remote controls? Is it their boss who pressed the remote control? Or did they mistake the ball that guy held up for their boss's head, and the hand that guy held up the ball for a scepter with their boss's head installed..."

...

The Bobcats lead the Cavaliers 3-0 and are about to sweep the Cavaliers!
This was expected by most fans. After the first two games, most fans felt that the Cavaliers had no hope this year. Only the Cavaliers fans felt that they were just unlucky and that they should be leading 2-0.

Even after falling behind 0-3, Cavaliers fans still felt that they should have won and that the referee's calls were unfair - there were 21 free throws in the first three quarters and only two in the final quarter. The referee controlled the game at the critical moment, which led to James' loss.

As for the fact that James had many free throws in the first three quarters, ESPN analyzed every time James was fouled. According to the rules, it was the opponent who committed the foul.

Compared with the outcome of the game, Jordan's post-match criticism of the referee and Stern was more popular.

The fans of the Cavaliers broke down and started to curse Jordan crazily. They went to look up the statistics and try to find something to criticize... Got it!
In the first three years of Jordan's career, he was eliminated in the first round three times and was swept twice. He was never able to beat the Pistons afterwards... As for the period after that, they chose to ignore it at first.

But when the news of James' interview came out the next morning, the Cavaliers fans had their own way of criticizing Jordan in the 90s - Jordan relied on good teammates to win in the playoffs...

The Bobcats had a defensive training session on the afternoon of their day off.

Be prepared in advance for another foul crisis in the interior in G4.

Training content: If you encounter a whistle like last night again, you should play melee on the outside, interference on the inside + shrinking and double-teaming defense, and strive for offense from the very beginning.

It was really dangerous last night. If it weren't for the accurate shooting of the wing shooter in the first half, the fierce attack of Gerald Wallace and Okafor in the second half, and Zhang Yang's key shot, they would have lost. And none of them can be missing.

We have to make full preparations this time. As for whether we can win by fighting on offense, we will talk about it when the time comes. We should first prepare to reduce the number of fouls.

Their inside players received 15 shooting fouls and regular fouls on James, enough to send 2.5 inside players off.

Bickerstaff felt that trading Brevin Knight, who averaged 10 points and 10 assists per game, for a blue-collar high school student was totally worth it after this game.

If Perkins is not there, the only one who can block the shot is Okafor. If Okafor gets into foul trouble, their inside offense will be paralyzed.

Zhang Yang created very good conditions for Okafor and Gerald Wallace to attack the basket in the mid-range. Conversely, it was precisely because of Okafor's close-range restraint that Zhang Yang was able to have the conditions for high-post shooting, and when he broke into the inside, he dared to block it only when he got close to the basket and the opposing inside player.

Without considering these, just look at Okafor's performance in G3, 18 points and 14 rebounds. In the playoffs, there are only a handful of centers who can perform like this.

The opposing Big Z is a very intuitive comparison object, averaging 3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 6.3 blocks in the first three games.

After the training, the four members of the rookie team gathered together in front of the computer to watch the news.

"When your team only has one All-Star and the opponent has three All-Stars, it's hard to win..."

Felton read out what James said in the interview that morning in response to the 0-3 deficit, and then fell silent.

Zhang Yang and Okafor didn't speak, and Alan Anderson spoke the least.

Felton looked left and right and asked, "I remember James said before the start of the playoffs that our team's two All-Stars were selected because of the large number of people in your country, Jack. Am I right?"

Zhang Yang nodded: "Yes, I also thanked the reporter for his understanding of our country."

Felton, Okafor and Alan Anderson all laughed when they heard this.

After laughing, Felton complained: "If there are three All-Stars, they should have three, James, Hughes, Ilgauskas..."

Okafor: "Hughes never made an All-Star team."

Felton thought for a moment and said, "It seems he didn't make the All-Star roster last year."

Zhang Yang: "I remember he averaged 22 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.9 steals per game last season, right? He was selected as a first-team defensive player and made it to the second round of the playoffs, but he didn't make it. Is the competition in the Eastern Conference so fierce?"

Okafor: "It's not that he doesn't qualify. In the first two months of last season, Hughes was a favorite for the All-Star Game, but he was injured in January and didn't play for three weeks. When the coaches voted, he had three fewer votes than Arenas and was not selected as an All-Star." Zhang Yang: "Then he was really unlucky. He didn't make the All-Star Game in his best year. It seems that he will have no chance in the future."

Felton: "Emeka, I remember you only got two votes less than Ilgauskas in your rookie season. What a pity. You played better than him last season... No wonder you played as hard as Primoz against the Cavaliers and remembered the All-Star roster so clearly."

Okafor: "I don't care!"

Felton: "Yes, yes, you didn't care. By the way, Jack, what did you say... Oh, by the way, why were you so loud... Ouch."

Okafor: “…”

Originally they had heard that the boss was scolded very badly by James' fans, so they came to check the news to see how the boss was doing, but the topic turned in a strange direction.

This time Okafor didn't dwell on why the topic had gone off track again. He also didn't want to continue talking about the interview because he felt annoyed.

...

At 4 p.m. on April 30, the Bobcats will face the Cavaliers in Game 8 of their series at home.

What the Bobcats were worried about did not happen. They were down 0-3 and there was no way they could turn the tables. If they really did turn the tables, the NBA would have to shut down. There would be no point in winning one or two games to save face.

But even if there was a whistle, it would be useless. Most of the Cavaliers players had lost their spirit tonight.

The team was trailing 0-3; the boss was restrained by the opponent in normal offense without a whistle, and it was better to play without the ball to be more efficient; the stars who were brought back with high salaries were not used to the local environment, and their playing style was hindered by the boss; the core inside player who was selected as an All-Star last season and then took a pay cut to renew his contract was said by the boss that he was not an All-Star...

Winning can cover up all contradictions, but when you lose, all old accounts will be brought up. When one person starts to pass the buck, everyone will do the same.

In the pre-match interview, Big Z complained that he had no low-post offensive space, Hughes complained that he became a blue-collar worker when he came here, which was different from what the Cavaliers said when they recruited him, and Gooden said that he was ready to test the free market after the season and had no intention of renewing his contract for the time being...

The Cavaliers' playing style tonight was that James and Hughes took turns breaking through, while the others formed a circle and shot. Their shots were sloppy and their defense was not aggressive.

It is worth mentioning that when Hughes broke through, James was very proactive in cutting in and shooting in the right position...but his shooting was inaccurate, and he missed all 5 three-pointers.

The Bobcats played very focused and did not let down their guard just because the opponent was slacking off.

At 10:24 pm, the final whistle sounded.

詹姆斯打了39分钟，19投8中，其中三分球5中0，外加11中8的罚球，拿到24分9板6助攻2抢断；拉里-休斯14投6中加上6中5的罚球拿到17分4板6助攻。

达蒙-琼斯14分、唐耶尔-马绍尔13分、大Z10分、瓦莱乔3分、帕夫洛维奇8分……骑士队全队拿到87分。

山猫队这边，奥卡福19分18板、张杨替补上场拿到15分5板1助攻1抢断1盖帽、杰拉德-华莱士18分5板3助攻3抢断1盖帽、费尔顿9分7助攻、布雷泽克10分6板……

102 to 87, the Bobcats easily defeated the Cavaliers and swept 4 to 0 to advance to the second round!
...

A new month has arrived. On May 5, the day after the Bobcats swept to the next round, the headlines of major sports media were all related to the Bobcats.

Although most people who followed this series thought the Bobcats were doomed to advance as early as Game 2, they thought the Cavaliers were going to be swept after Game 3.

But when the Bobcats really swept the Cavaliers, it still shocked the entire basketball world.

Before, people just thought that the four new stars of the Bobcats were talented and had a bright future.

But having good talent does not mean you will definitely be able to perform well. Even if it looks like you can perform well in the first two years, you may still fail for various reasons. The Warriors are the best example. The Warriors in the early 90s were extremely talented, and the players seemed extremely suitable. They even won 93 games in the 94-50 season... and then collapsed in the next two or three years due to various internal problems. At the turn of the century, the Warriors selected a bunch of extremely talented players and seemed to be thriving... and then due to various problems, they let go of potential new stars one by one, and supported half of the league.

Unexpectedly, after Okafor's return, the Bobcats ushered in a qualitative improvement and rushed into the playoffs in one fell swoop, and even ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, they even swept the Cavaliers!

Averaging 19 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.2 steals per game with a shooting percentage of 46.1%, Zhang Yang's performance in the first round was not very impressive, but as a rookie, and a 17-year-old rookie, it was different. He became the focus of discussion among the media and fans.

Okafor's stability in scoring, rebounding, and defense has been highly praised, and he has even been given the nickname "Little Stone Buddha" in China.

Gerald Wallace showed his versatility on the defensive end on a bigger stage. Felton's scoring performance was not very good, but his passing stability was praised. He and Perkins' defense on James was the most eye-catching.

Brezec's performance in this series was also praised. Some media found that he was always active when playing against European inside players, and joked that Western championship contenders could consider signing him because the best European inside players are in the West.

Matt Carroll, Jumaine Jones, Alan Anderson, Melvin Eli, Keith Bogans and others also showed up in this playoffs.

Just when the Bobcats players were enjoying the joy of reaching the second round, someone else emerged to steal the limelight.

It was none other than the one they had just swept away...

In the afternoon, the rookie group gathered in the gym's lounge. Several of them frowned as they watched the ESPN column that sparked public opinion in the morning.

"KING's Destined Rival"

The article roughly says that the Bobcats are to James what the Pistons are to Jordan, and James will one day surpass this opponent.

Zhang Yang started to complain: "Comparing us with the Pistons, I don't know whether to say ESPN is thick-skinned or we are honored."

Felton: "Have we become the villains? Have we become the bad boy army?"

Zhang Yang: "No, boss, you are the villain. Look at what is written in it. I should be Dumas, Gerald is Rodman, Emeka is the rich second-generation Laimbeer, and boss, you should be Thomas, the assassin that Goat hates the most..."

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(End of this chapter)