Chapter 205 204. The End of Kidd Era
After the official timeout, the Bobcats sent out a combination of Rondo, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Jumaine Jones, and Perkins; the Nets sent out a combination of Eddie House, Carter, Richard Jefferson, Clifford Robinson, and Mickey Moore.

The Nets attack.

Carter faced the defense of Gerald Wallace, changed direction and broke through, then made a quick stop and fade away jump shot!

When the Bobcats attacked, Zhang Yang also chose to break through facing Richard Jefferson's defense.

Richard Jefferson moved quickly and did not lose his position. He blocked Zhang Yang's direct route and forced Zhang Yang to go off the line.

Zhang Yang rushed to the right side of the free throw line and took the initiative to press towards Richard Jefferson.

Richard Jefferson quickly accelerated and retreated to defend Zhang Yang by turning around.

Zhang Yang stopped, stepped back, and shot a mid-range shot facing Richard Jefferson who was rushing back... and it went in!
Although both were goals, both the fans watching on TV and the fans at the scene could see the difference.

Theoretically speaking, it is definitely easier for Carter to play against Gerald Wallace than for Zhang Yang to play against Richard Jefferson.

Gerald Wallace is much better than Richard Jefferson in help defense, and the difference in one-on-one defense is not much. When confrontation is needed, Gerald Wallace is better in one-on-one defense, but Richard Jefferson is better in one-on-one defense skills. Gerald Wallace is impulsive, while Richard Jefferson is calmer in defense.

But the fans felt that Carter played nervously and hesitantly!

If Carter had played more decisively in the attack just now and had made a quick stop and shot more cleanly, he would not have been interfered by Gerald Wallace and would not have been forced to lean back. The ball would have gone in purely by relying on his touch.

Zhang Yang, on the other hand, played more casually and confidently, actively seeking change, and decisively shot the moment the opportunity arose...

In the studio of Chaoting TV, commentator Wei Ping Bryant commented: "Yang Yang's offense this time is elegant and graceful. He has the shadow of the previous era. Kobe, Iverson, Carter, McGrady, and Allen all played like this six or seven years ago... Carter makes me feel that the OK era is really over..."

Zhang Weiping was more reserved, while Bill Walton, the commentator for Time Warner Cable Sports, was more direct: "Carter's mental quality is too poor. Every move he makes reveals how nervous he is. He is afraid that he will miss the shot. I don't understand. He is only 30 years old and at his best. Why would he be timid in front of a group of young players? It was the same when he played against Wade in 05. He only shot 36%, not as accurate as Kidd."

Hubie Brown continued: "Carter is like this precisely because the opponents are all young players. If he faces Bryant, Iverson and others, he may play better. He won't lose face if he loses to them. But the one who is competing with him is Jack, who is not yet 19 years old. He is afraid of losing.

Bill, not everyone is as strong as you. After being out for four consecutive years, you still have the courage to step onto the NBA court again at the age of 4. "

Walton: "Oh my God, this is incredible, Hubie, you actually praised me..."

Walton led the Trail Blazers to the championship in the 76-77 season and was named Finals MVP. His regular season performance improved further in the 77-78 season and he won the regular season MVP. However, he was seriously injured after playing two games in the playoffs. In the next four seasons from 78 to 82, he only played 4 games in total.

In the summer of 82, Walton, who was about to turn 30, was ready to retire, but he returned to the court under the encouragement of Lakers legend Elgin Baylor... and finally won another championship with the Celtics.

On the court, just as the commentators commented, Carter played really nervously. He wanted to do his best in every move, but often missed the best time to shoot, making it even more difficult to shoot in the end.

As for Zhang Yang, he mainly dares to throw the ball. He shoots decisively when he sees an opportunity. If he misses the ball, he will try again for the next one... and he will play even better!
After a few rounds, Carter's shooting performance of 3 of 2 in the first half of the quarter turned into 8 of 4.

而张杨这期间4投2中外加2中1的罚球拿到5分，山猫队以21比21追平篮网队！
The Nets' turn to attack again, Carter was anxious, and he faked a breakthrough and took a three-pointer... and missed!
The hit rate fell below 50%!
Zhang Yang, who was defending Richard Jefferson's cut in from the wing, looked back at the midfield, turned his head and started, rushing towards the opposite side without looking back.

Before Richard Jefferson could react, Zhang Yang had already rushed out of the three-point line. Richard Jefferson turned his head to look inside, and Rondo grabbed the defensive rebound and pushed the ball forward!
Carter chased after Zhang Yang, trying to intercept him from receiving the ball, but Rondo's timing of the lob was perfect, and Carter failed to steal the ball. Zhang Yang successfully received the ball when he entered the free throw line.

Carter did not give up. When Zhang Yang took a step forward after receiving the ball, he jumped up with all his might...but missed!
Zhang Yang took a step forward to the left!
Carter fell to the basket and just stood firm. Zhang Yang changed direction in the second step and stepped to the left front of Carter. He jumped up, knocked Carter to the ground, and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands!
23 to 21, the Bobcats overtook the Nets by two points! The Nets called a timeout again!

The fans at the scene cheered wildly!

This season, Carter has returned to the ranks of players averaging 25+ scorers per game. In the eyes of fans in the Carolina area, he is still a star on the same level as Kobe Bryant, or at least on the same level as Ray Allen... After all, he came from North Carolina and has the nickname of "New Flying Man", so he can barely be considered half a family member. Carter is more highly regarded by basketball fans in this area than in other areas.

When Zhang Yang and Carter were dueling one-on-one, the fans at the scene were somewhat worried. It didn't matter if their bad boy lost the one-on-one. At the age of 18, it wasn't shameful even if he got zero points in the one-on-one. But the player who changed into the No. 24 jersey was still missing three buzzer-beaters at this age... but it would be bad if it affected the outcome of the game.

As a result, Zhang Yang defeated Carter in the duel!
He even dunked over Carter, the dunk god, to overtake the score!
The fans at the scene were going wild!
Would the loud cheers upset Carter, who is half a family member? Then just stop treating Carter as a family member...

After a 3-minute break, Kidd took off his training suit again.

Although he didn't have high expectations for Carter, he had already seen Carter's proud, conceited and inability to lose character in the first round of 05. The demigod who could play 90 points in the playoffs with 100 points when he first entered the NBA is long gone. Now Carter is lucky if he can play 90 points with 80 points in the playoffs.

But I didn't expect Carter to be defeated so quickly!

And his defensive habits were too poor. Since he had made a misjudgment when chasing and counterattacking, he should have just jumped out of the baseline! He even stopped and turned his head to take a look. Well, not only did he fail to defend, he was also dunked!

Kidd thought of Carter's many bad habits when defending shots.

When the defensive distance is too far, even though he can't interfere, he still has to press forward and reach out, touching and bumping into the opponent after the opponent falls. It is very active, there is nothing to say about that, but if Carter was not a popular star, he would have committed two more defensive fouls in each game.

At the beginning of the game, he took advantage of the opponent's unpreparedness, made a three-point attack, led the whole team, and fought for the initiative on the court... This plan failed.

Let Carter play star basketball, use his personal ability to open up the situation, and be intimidating like Kobe...this also failed.

Seeing the Bobcats players who were so excited because Zhang Yang dunked over Carter, Kidd was now completely helpless.

But he didn't give up. As long as the game wasn't over, there was still hope. What if the pitchers started to shoot well? What if the opponent suddenly lost touch?

Although Kidd has defects in scoring ability and is a strong ball-hogging player, his attitude towards playing is impeccable. People as paranoid as Kobe, as cold as Duncan, and as proud as O'Neal all praise Kidd when they mention him.

He firmly believes that as long as he doesn't give up, there will be opportunities, and only by not giving up can he seize the opportunity when it comes!

...Kidd persisted, and under his leadership, the Nets persisted, but the opportunity did not come.

The Bobcats fell behind at the beginning, but they caught up and surpassed the score. Zhang Yang defeated Carter in a one-on-one duel and more importantly, he dunked on Carter. The Bobcats were more motivated than at the beginning of the game!
In the last two and a half minutes of the first quarter, Jumaine Jones made a three-pointer, Muhammad, who came on as a substitute, received the ball and shot high to make a 2+1, and Zhang Yang received a pass from Rondo and made a layup...it ended with 8 to 4.

After the first quarter, the Bobcats led the Nets by 31 points with 25 to 6!
卡特首节10投4中，其中三分球3中1，加上2中2的罚球拿到11分。

张杨首节9投5中，外加3中2的罚球拿到12分。

After taking the lead in the first quarter, the Bobcats took complete control of the initiative.

Kidd kept trying to lead the team to counterattack, betting on his touch and betting that the opponent would have a bad touch, but he failed every time.

第二节山猫队24比20领先、第三节山猫队22比19领先、末节山猫队28比30……

After Zhang Yang started shooting in the first quarter, he couldn't stop, shooting, shooting!

第二节打了7分钟，5投2中，其中三分球3中1，加上4中3的罚球，拿到8分；第三节打了8分钟，6中3拿到6分；末节打了9分钟，7投3中，其中三分球4中2，加上1中1的罚球……

出场36分钟，27投13中，其中三分球7中3，加上8中6的罚球，张杨拿到35分4板3助攻2抢断！

加上奥卡福的17分14板2助攻2盖帽、费尔顿的14分5助攻、杰拉德-华莱士13分9板2助攻1抢断3盖帽、隆多4分7板7助攻、穆罕穆德6分10板、米尔萨普5分4板、朱梅因-琼斯6分、贾莱特-杰克3分3助攻……山猫队以105比94轻取篮网队，拿下系列赛首胜！
卡特拿到全场第二高的26分和5板4助攻1抢断1盖帽，但26投仅10中，其中三分球10中2，外加4中4的罚球。

Richard Jefferson had 22 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

基德今晚14投8中，其中三分球6中4，加上2中1的罚球，拿到21分，外加10板12助攻。

With Kidd's playing style, if he had played like this, if it was the lineup from 02 to 04, with the OK combination, he would have been able to defeat the opponent.

But now, apart from these three brothers, the Nets have no player scoring in double digits. The only role player who scored more than 5 points was Eddie House, who made two three-pointers and a layup to get 8 points. The highest score of others was only 5 points.

Before the game, Kidd was ambitious and looking forward to a black eight. During the game, he did not give up easily and fought hard, but after losing... his mood was not as irritable as in the past two years.

After watching the young players on the opposing team celebrate for a while, Kidd turned and walked towards the player tunnel. He had already started thinking about how to play the next game in order to gain an advantage.

The situation was extremely unfavorable, with a difference of 17 wins, which was the third largest difference in the first round of this season... But he would never give up until the last moment!

...

The Bobcats won their first victory in the series, which surprised neither the media nor the fans.

The Nets have Kidd, which is exciting, but people think it is normal for the Nets to lose, so there are not many TV stations in the United States that broadcast the game live and the ratings are average. Most people went to watch the 03 generation matchup between the Cavaliers and the Raptors that was taking place at the same time.

There was more news after the game about the confrontation between James and Bosh.

詹姆斯21投11中，其中三分球4中2，加上6中4的罚球，拿到28分5板5助攻，加上拉里-休斯的17分7板6助攻、古登的16分10板、大Z的9分7板3盖帽，骑士队以96比91险胜猛龙队。

波什15投8中，加上6中6的罚球拿到22分10板3助攻1盖帽，表现在线。

Calderon came off the bench and played for 33 minutes, with both point guard and shooting guard playing part of the time. He made 13 of 8 shots, including 9 of 6 three-pointers, and scored 22 points and 6 assists, a good performance.

But Ford, who took the most shots, made 20 of 5 shots and scored 14 points and 5 assists, which was seriously lagging behind.

Regarding Ford's poor performance, the media reported in a very strange direction - they did not say how badly Ford played, but praised how well the No. 23 player who defended Ford defended...

At noon the next day, Zhang Yang, Felton, and Jarrett Jack were in the lounge, checking the news on the computer.

Felton looked at the news about the Cavaliers and complained, "Is it worth praising him so much for defending Ford's long-range shots? Jack, you can defend better than him..."

Zhang Yang: "I watched the highlights. James defended Ford very well. He didn't rush blindly like he did in the playoffs last season. He defended calmly and his defensive habits have improved a lot. Although the praise was a bit too harsh, the media didn't make random praises this time."

Felton: "That's right, Jack, you're really weird. I see you don't really like James, but you always speak up for him. But I just like that about you. Let's talk about the facts... Hey, Kidd's triple-double is not as popular as Ford's 20-for-5 shooting. Those fans are too much. Are they starting to forget Kidd?"

Jarrett Jack: "Yeah, Kidd was once known as the Eastern Conference King of the new century, and it's only been a few years!"

Zhang Yang: "Superstars who didn't win a championship are like this. Ten years ago, the Utah Jazz were in great form and made it to the finals twice. After Jordan retired, the Jazz still received a lot of attention, but as time went by, fans talked less and less about them. After the Lakers won three consecutive championships, no one talked about the Jazz anymore. If Malone hadn't gone to the Lakers to curry favor, people might not have remembered them again until the news of the Jazz's retirement came out, just like Barkley... Kidd's era in the East is over."

As fans of Kidd, Felton and Jarrett Jack felt sad when they heard this.

Zhang Yang continued, "It's fine if Kidd's triple-double is not popular, but my 35 points are not as popular as James defending Ford. He is the youngest player in history to score 30 points in a single playoff game! I was more popular when I scored 20 points in my first playoff game last year... Boss, you must beat James in the second round!"

Felton: “…”

Jarrett Jack: “…”

As a teammate, I can’t stand this double standard statement!

(End of this chapter)