Chapter 210 209. The Rogue Cat is Born, the Second Round Without Suspense

Making money, making money...Jordan was at home looking at the financial reports of the regular season and the first round, smiling from ear to ear.

He felt that he was the strongest owner in the NBA. He turned the team from loss to profit in the first year after buying it, and made a lot of money in the second year. In another two or three years, he would be able to pay back all the money he borrowed to buy the team!
After having fun for a while, he went to the gym to watch the players prepare for the game.

Today, May 5th, is the second rest day for the Bobcats after Game 10. Normally, there is only one day of rest between two home games, but today happens to be the day for the draft lottery, which has been scheduled long ago. The league does not schedule any games, so they and the Cavaliers both have one extra day of rest.

Their three main players only played for three quarters in G1. It wouldn't matter if they didn't have this one-day rest, but it would certainly be better with it.

When they arrived at the stadium and passed by the main entrance, Jordan saw a crowd of people in the square outside the gate and said, "Linda, stop for a moment. Why are there so many people gathered here?"

The secretary, who was the driver during the day and the chauffeur at night, stopped the car and replied uncertainly, "They may be fans from out of town who are going to watch tomorrow's game. They came to the stadium to take a look today."

"Then why are they blocking the square? The stadium should be open today... Go park your car and wait for me in the office."

After Jordan finished speaking, he thought for a while, changed into the Bobcats' No. 23 jersey, put on a baseball cap, got out of the car and went to watch the fun.

Coming to the outskirts of the crowd, Jordan took advantage of his vision and saw...their team's mascot Rufus, who was surrounded by the crowd?

what's the situation?
Do fans hate their mascot so much that they want to beat him up?

He cursed inwardly, hadn't he already ordered yesterday that Bobby, who played Rufus, be given paid leave?

Local fans don't like Rufus as a mascot so much, and he is a person who listens to advice and is really considering changing the mascot.

After being annoyed for a while, Jordan realized something was wrong!
People didn't look like they were about to beat up the mascot, but rather they were... lining up to get flyers?

And the way Rufus was handing out flyers... he was leaning against the wall in a sloppy manner, so carefree.

The boy who took the flyer was cheerful and came forward as if wanting to take a photo. Rufus reluctantly moved closer and took a photo with the boy.

Jordan shook his head and looked again. It was true. He really could see disgust from the mascot's body movements!

But the boys who took the photo and the people watching couldn't stop laughing.

Then a pretty girl came forward to get the flyer, and Rufus' attitude changed immediately. He handed the flyer to her with both hands, and then took the initiative to put his arm around her shoulder and take a photo with her... Oh my god, Jordan actually felt the temperament of SP from a mascot!
When it came to a little girl of a few years old, Rufus immediately became serious. He showed no disgust nor made any unnecessary movements. He took a photo with the little girl like a gentle... ugly cat.

People came up one after another to get flyers and take photos. Jordan was disheveled in the wind... What was going on?
After a while of downtime, Jordan came to his senses and saw a banner hung on the wall where Rufus was leaning. He had not noticed it because his attention was drawn to the mascot.

After a closer look...he wanted to curse!

"Poor Miao Miao was kicked out of the stadium by the unscrupulous boss and is facing unemployment. He can only come here part-time to distribute flyers and provide photo services. One photo costs 1 yuan. You pay voluntarily. I can't do anything if you don't pay."

Looking at the cardboard box next to me filled with $1 bills, I remembered that the little girl had just unzipped her bag and seemed to be trying to take out the money, but was stopped by Rufus...

Jordan cursed in a low voice: "Fake Bobby, when did I kick you out of the stadium? When did I say I was going to fire you? Don't you understand the phrase paid vacation? Even if it's a change of mascot, isn't it just a change of jacket? How dare you come out to ruin my reputation!"

At this time, a wronged voice came from the side: "Boss, that's not me!"

Jordan was startled and turned around... and when he looked down, he saw Bobby, the mascot of their team.

At first, Bobby didn't realize that the pot-bellied black man next to him, wearing the No. 23 jersey, was the boss.

Just as Barkley said, if Jordan didn't have basketball talent, he would be no different from an ordinary tall black man on the street. With his bad personality, he might not be as successful as most black people.

Hearing the familiar swearing, Bobby realized that his boss was next to him.

Jordan watched as Bobby's computer crashed again, then turned to look toward the main door. Rufus was there... and the actor Bobby was here...

He didn't notice it just now, but now he looked carefully at Rufus who was taking a photo with the girl. The girl was tall, at least 1.7 meters tall, but a head shorter than Rufus. It was obviously abnormal. Bobby was only about 1.8 meters tall at most.

Moreover, there are obvious signs of modification on the doll set, which are very obvious, like scars, but Rufus doesn’t look like a good cat to begin with, so it doesn’t look out of place.

A figure appeared in Jordan's mind. He didn't ask Bobby and squeezed into the crowd. After a while, he squeezed out of the crowd and stood in front of the mascot.

Rufus waved impatiently at the big-bellied man in front of him who was wearing a No. 23 jersey and a baseball cap, signaling him to line up.

Jordan raised his chin and looked at Rufus with murderous eyes, and said in a low voice: "Jack, what are you doing!"

Zhang Yang looked up suddenly when he heard that, and saw Jordan's murderous expression through the hood... He made a prompt decision, reached out and grabbed Jordan's baseball cap, then held Jordan's shoulders and forced him to turn 180 degrees.

The onlookers were already unhappy to see a low-quality man cutting in line, and they were even more upset when they saw that the man who cut in line seemed to be bullying Rufus. A few passionate young men were ready to step forward to help Rufus...but suddenly they saw the 'low-quality man' transform into Jordan!
Soon, screams and cheers filled the square.

Jordan was stunned by Zhang Yang's sudden attack. When he came to his senses, he heard everyone screaming and cheering his name.

Although he has retired for several years, his professionalism is still there. He smiled and waved to the people, then took the opportunity to turn around and take a look...the guy was gone!
No, just run away if you want, but take the cash box!
Luckily, Bobby appeared next to the cash box at this time...

...

In the evening, after the Bobcats finished their preparations for the game, Jordan, Bickerstaff, Bobby, and the team's press officer and vice president of logistics, Kyle, gathered in the president's office to watch the news video.

The video content is exactly the scene of Rufus' "paid photo taking". The last part is that Jordan's hat was taken off and he was forced to turn around and do business.

After the video was played, Jordan said, "Bobby, explain this."

Bobby: "Boss, you know that's not me in there."

Jordan: “No, it’s you.”

Bobby: "Boss, it really wasn't me. I was right next to you at the time!"

Jordan: “It has to be you.”

Bobby: “…”

So you're in a bad mood because your hat was taken off, so you have to find a reason to fire me?
Kyle patted Bobby on the shoulder and said, "What the boss means is that the mascot that is so popular today is you, and you will continue to play Rufus in the future."

Bobby looked at his boss when he heard this. Jordan was rolling his eyes... His first reaction was that he was a little stupid, but he immediately blamed his boss in his heart for pretending to be profound and not just saying what he wanted to say.

But he still had a wry smile on his face and said, "I see... Here's what happened. Yesterday, I was informed of my leave and was about to go back. Jack found me and asked me to borrow the doll set, saying that he wanted to find a way to make the fans like Rufus. I was going to refuse, but he said that if I was fired for this, he would hire me to be the mascot of his restaurant, paying me the same salary, and I would not be unemployed..."

Bickerstaff said, "Jack is a good person. He didn't use his influence in the team to put you at risk."

Jordan knew what Bickerstaff meant and told him not to pursue Zhang Yang.

It was good that the old man said that. It gave him a way out. Otherwise, he would have to find a way out himself.

Bickerstaff was actually very curious. Other players become more mature the longer they play in the NBA, even players with personalities like Jordan and Kobe.

As for Zhang Yang, he was overly mature when he first entered the NBA at the age of 17, but as he grew older, his style of doing things became more... individual.

Jordan also noticed this, but he focused on it from a different angle - as Zhang Yang's strength improved, his attitude towards things he cared about gradually became tougher. This situation occasionally made him feel annoyed, but as a former player, he could understand Zhang Yang's change of mentality and thought it was very good, as being too soft in character would easily lead to disadvantages when playing basketball.

Because of this, he paid more attention to Zhang Yang's attitude and likes and dislikes when making some decisions related to Zhang Yang. For example, when changing the head coach, he originally had a definite candidate, but now he no longer considers the old senior.

The one he burns incense to every day is just the God of Wealth in mythology, but his junior brother is the living God of Wealth to him.

Jordan said: "I won't mention this. I didn't expect that Rufus, who was hated by the whole network yesterday, has become the most popular mascot in the NBA today. All basketball forums are discussing Rufus. Jack is really talented in marketing. If he wants to enter management after retirement... Why am I talking about this? I don't know how many years it will take for him to retire."

Kyle responded, "Actually, Rufus is not really hated by the entire internet. I wanted to say this yesterday. I looked through those posts, and apart from those extreme Cavaliers fans, most of the replies were just joining in the fun. There were also many posts from the same account, with dozens of pages of replies from the same person. They must have used code... that is, computer programs to post comments. Although some of our local fans think Rufus is ugly, most of them don't mind Rufus. Instead, they like to use the animated picture of James being scared away by Rufus when arguing with Cavaliers fans."

After hearing this, Jordan realized that his decision to change the mascot was too hasty and he almost missed this wave of traffic.

But he would not admit it, and continued to ask, "In other words, Rufus, a mascot that originally had no presence, became popular because of the Cavaliers fans' building incident? This is not important. Since Jack successfully used this attention to make Rufus popular, then this marketing will continue.

Bobby and Kyle, you are responsible for this. Activities like posting advertisements and taking group photos can continue... Remember that there is a charge for taking group photos, of course only for adults, not children.

I will customize the doll's clothes, and I will use this one first."

Kyle was very tired as he had to take on another job, but luckily his boss already had a plan to hire a professional logistics manager.

The Bobcats are only in their third year. When the team was first established, many employees had multiple duties. Originally, Kyle was in charge of the training team. Later, when Randy Brown and Engelland came, his part of the work was divided out.

The main reason is that they have developed too fast in the past two years, so they can only take care of important things first, and the details have to be dealt with slowly... Of course, as a veteran of the team, Kyle is happy with this situation.

Kyle nodded in agreement, and Bobby had a conflicted expression.

Jordan asked, "Bobby, you don't want to be the mascot of Jack's restaurant anymore?"

Bobby: "Ah? No, of course not! God can guarantee my loyalty to the team! What I want to say is that Jack asked a tailor to modify the doll cover yesterday, which cost more than 200 yuan. If he needs it tomorrow, the price of changing it back will probably be about the same. This money..."

Jordan wanted to curse, "Isn't that box of money this morning enough?", but he held back, as if to show how stingy he was. He gritted his teeth and said, "Reimburse me!"...

On May 5, the Bobcats faced the Cavaliers in the second game of the series at home.

The Cavaliers changed their playing style today. Mike Brown decisively gave up the team's offense and defense. He was no longer hesitant like last season and went straight to defense.

The previous game had already proved that the 'James-Hugo connection' that they had high expectations for was no match for the opponent at all. The best stage of their performance was the time when they were fighting hard on defense.

The Cavaliers played like this, and the Bobcats had no choice but to accept the challenge and fight the Cavaliers on defense.

Unless the offensive firepower is as strong as that of the Suns, Warriors, and the Knicks before their collapse, they will have no choice but to take on opponents with stubborn defense in the playoffs.

James played very hard tonight. Very hard.

He was very unwilling and felt very humiliated!
In order to reduce the impact of his consecutive losses to the Bobcats, the team has even spent money to buy press releases to hype up topics related to the Bobcats mascot... The key point is that the press releases bought with his money have made the Bobcats mascot popular!

Not only did it fail to drive Rufus out of the NBA, but it also made Rufus the most famous NBA mascot!
Led by Hughes and Snow, the Cavaliers played a terrifying defense in the first quarter. Mike Brown's defensive skills were fully demonstrated. By the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats were only able to score 13 points.

However, the Bobcats' defense is no pushover. In the playoffs, their tough frontcourt group is even more effective than in the regular season.

At 11 minutes and 27 seconds, although the Bobcats started the bloody battle passively, they still led the Cavaliers by 13 point with 12 to 1 and had possession of the ball!
When the Bobcats attacked, Zhang Yang received the ball in the frontcourt and played one-on-one.

In the first quarter, Zhang Yang played for 4 minutes before being substituted in for rest and was replaced with 3 minutes left.

Bickerstaff had a very good grasp of the rhythm of substitutions. Since he had to deal with defense, he let Zhang Yang take a swing before the effect of the confrontation became apparent, and then let Zhang Yang come on the court after the most brutal five or six minutes of the confrontation.

Zhang Yang played against James alone, broke through to the free throw line and stopped suddenly...then quickly got up and continued to break through!

Zhang Yang's burst speed is not as fast as James, but his sense of rhythm is so good that James jumped up due to the shaking.

Zhang Yang made a layup in the paint and caused Gooden to foul! He also made the free throw, and the score came to 16 to 12, with the Bobcats leading by 4 points!
When the Cavaliers attacked, Zhang Yang made another contribution!

James suddenly passed the ball, Zhang Yang predicted it accurately, rushed forward to steal the ball, and directly launched a counterattack.

When Zhang Yang rushed into the other side's three-point line, Hughes, James, and Gooden had already retreated to their positions. He continued to rush in, all the way to the bottom line, and jumped up to pass the ball...

After Felton followed up and stood still on the left sideline, he received a pass from his younger brother and took a three-point shot... and made it!
05双骄在首节最后33秒打了骑士队一个6比0，首节打完，山猫队19比12领先骑士队7分！
Mike Brown saw Zhang Yang explode at the last moment and had no way to stop him.

He was too powerless to face this type of opponent.

He encountered this situation frequently when he was a defensive assistant coach with the Spurs a few years ago.

What impressed him most was Game 2001 of the Western Conference Finals in 2, when he and Popovich developed a perfect defensive plan, fighting the Lakers on defense and relying on Duncan for offense.

Duncan's performance that night was also perfect. He scored 40 points on the offensive end, and on the defensive end, he worked with the Admiral to prevent O'Neal from making only 21 of 8 shots and scoring only 19 points.

其他位置也防得很好，三节67比60领先湖人队7分……然后，前三节14投4中只拿到13分的科比，在末节10投7中拿到15分，率领湖人队在末节打出28比14的比分完成逆转。

That game completely destroyed the Spurs' morale. They lost in G3 and G4 by 39 and 29 points respectively and were swept.

There is a gap between Zhang Yang tonight and Kobe in the Western Conference Finals, a very obvious gap, but the ability to score unreasonably and break the game even when the defense is at its best is so similar!
In the second quarter, the Cavaliers' desperate momentum declined a lot, and their defensive performance also declined. The Bobcats scored 24 to 20. At the end of the half, the Bobcats led the Cavaliers by 43 points, 32 to 11.

After returning from the halftime break, the Cavaliers players, led by James, regained their enthusiasm and fought hard with the Bobcats.

Image marketing still works. In the minds of the Cavaliers players, James is indeed their support. As long as James doesn't give up, they won't give up.

Moreover, compared to James's image in previous years, which was very arrogant and condescending, after being beaten by the Bobcats for two years, his image has become more down-to-earth.

James' image in this series was 'the indomitable fight against the unmatched new Bad Boys', and he really played hard on offense and defense, which was very motivating for his teammates.

In the third quarter, the Cavaliers fought back defensively, scoring 24 to 17 in a single quarter. At the end of the third quarter, the gap was narrowed to 4 points, trailing the Bobcats 56 to 60.

The Cavaliers players saw hope!
But at the beginning of the final quarter, after Zhang Yang received the pass from Rondo, he saw James take a step away from defense and jumped up to shoot a three-pointer... The shot was decisive and fast, and James immediately rushed over but failed to successfully interfere.

Zhang Yang made a three-pointer, 63 to 56, and the Bobcats' lead expanded to 7 points!
Then James crushed Rondo and broke into the inside. He was in a hurry and shot too hastily, and was slapped down by Gerald Wallace who came back to chase him.

Rondo grabbed the ball and counterattacked on his own. Facing James' pursuit, Rondo made a counterattack layup and caused James to foul!
Rondo was lucky in the free throw. The ball bounced off the rim and fell into the frame. The score was 66 to 56, and the Bobcats regained their lead to double digits!

In the next 11 minutes, the Cavaliers continued to fight back and scored 20 to 14, but when James faced Felton's three-pointer and narrowed the gap to 4 points, there were only 1.2 seconds left in the game.

As soon as the Bobcats released the ball, the final whistle sounded.

张杨20投8中，其中三分球7中2，加上5中4的罚球，拿到22分6板3助攻1抢断1盖帽；奥卡福11投4中，加上10中6的罚球，拿到14分14板；费尔顿10投4中，其中三分球5中2，拿到10分4板2助攻；杰拉德-华莱士7投4中，加上5中5的罚球，拿到13分8板3助攻7盖帽……

The Bobcats' team shooting percentage was 39.8%, while the Cavaliers' was even lower at 37.6%.

詹姆斯16投6中，其中三分球7中1，加上10中6的罚球，拿到19分12板3助攻；拉里-休斯12投4中拿到13分8板6助攻；大Z5投3中加上4中4的罚球拿到10分8板5盖帽；达蒙-琼斯三分球12投4中加上3中2的罚球拿到14分……

80 to 76, the Bobcats beat the Cavaliers by 4 points in a fierce battle, leading 2 to 0 and firmly maintaining their home advantage!
...

Playing a conventional team positional offense and defense, the Cavaliers were beaten badly.

They fought hard on defense and in an iron-blooded battle, which greatly narrowed the overall strength gap between them and the Bobcats, and they were able to fight back and forth.

But after the bloody battle, Mike Brown, James and others felt more desperate than after G1.

The bloody battle was a complete loss of 800 of our own while injuring 1,000 of the enemy.

If the strength is equal, then there is no problem in fighting like that.

But the key is that after the Bobcats' strength dropped to -1000, they were still stronger than when they were -800!

When playing team offense and defense, they can still see hope of a comeback when their pitchers pitch well.

But when they fought hard on defense, they seemed to have only lost 4 points in the end, but their actual experience was that they saw no hope at all and no so-called opportunities at all throughout the whole process.

Except for the first round of the game where they took the lead by stealing the ball and scoring a counterattack, they did not take the lead once in the next 47 minutes and 40 seconds!

They had narrowed the gap to the point where they could have overtaken by one or two goals many times, but after completing such a counterattack, they were exhausted and entered a period of weakness. Whenever they were weak, Zhang Yang would always stand up and hit them, and no one on their team could respond.

The feeling of despair once again spread within the Cavaliers team...

Two days later, at 5 p.m. on May 14, the Bobcats started the third game of the series against the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena, switching home and away games.

Mike Brown won the 03 championship with Duncan. Although he had almost no on-the-spot tactical response, he had a lot of experience in choosing playing styles and understanding the status of his players.

Although a bloody battle is not as good as a regular offense and defense to test the pitchers' touch, he still chose to fight a bloody battle this time.

After G2, their morale was completely destroyed and they didn't think they could win at all. Betting on their touch with this mentality is tantamount to suicide. It would be more reliable to stick to defense and bet that the opponent will have a bad touch.

The Cavaliers played decent defense in the first half, 14 to 18, 16 to 23, and didn’t let the Bobcats open up their offense, but they were 11 points behind at halftime… What a coincidence, the score difference was the same as the previous game, and the extreme despair that came when the final whistle sounded in the previous game came again…

第三节骑士队防守崩了，张杨单节9分、奥卡福8分、阿兰-安德森3分、杰拉德-华莱士3分、米尔萨普4分、帕金斯吃饼2+1拿到3分、费尔顿进了个三分球……山猫队单节打出34比22的比分，将领先优势扩大到23分！
After the intermission, Bickerstaff replaced all the starters. Rondo, Alan Anderson, Herman, Millsap and Muhammad served as the main players, while Jarrett Jack and Jumaine Jones rotated to play the entire quarter.

The Cavaliers had no motivation to turn the game around in the final quarter and only scored 25 to 17.

首节5分、第二节5分、第三节9分，张杨10投5中，其中三分球1中0，加上10中9的罚球拿到19分3板1助攻2抢断；奥卡福10投5中拿到15分9板；杰拉德-华莱士11分6板1助攻1抢断2盖帽；隆多13分7板5助攻2抢断……

The Bobcats had a good overall shooting percentage of 45%, while the Cavaliers only reached 40%. The team made 71 of 29 shots. The best performance was James, who made 22 of 8 shots and scored 22 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists.

92 to 77, the Bobcats defeated the Cavaliers again and took a 3-0 lead!

After a day of rest, on May 5, the Bobcats played the Cavaliers away in the fourth game of the series.

In this game, the Cavaliers didn't struggle at all and were easily bullied.

0比3落后，怎么打都赢不了，连詹姆斯今晚都没了斗志，打了30分钟，只有11投4中加上6中5的罚球拿到13分5板2助攻，三节打完后末节没上了，因为三节结束时比分已经来到56比83……

The first half of the first quarter was actually okay, with the Bobcats leading by 15 points at 10 to 5. But after Rondo came off the bench, he made consecutive steals and counterattacks. He scored 11 points in half a quarter and led the team to a 19 to 5 half-quarter score. They ruined the game in the first quarter and led 34 to 15.

In these two games, Zhang Yang has actually been worried about one thing - will there be a 58 formation?

But this time his worries were completely unnecessary. The Jewish guy did have some vision. The Cavaliers' hope of winning this year is slimmer than last year. The Bobcats may not be stable against the Raptors, but against the Cavaliers, it was a complete crushing game. James was completely defeated, and Hughes was also restrained very badly. Neither of their two strongest players could play well... There is no need to praise them too much. Not only is it basically impossible to praise them, but it may also offend Chinese fans.

张杨今晚打了21分钟就下去了，7投4中，其中三分球4中2，加上2中1的罚球，拿到11分3板。

首节半节11分的隆多，成了今晚主攻点，全场打了33分钟，13投7中、加上11中7的罚球，拿到21分5板5助攻，率领山猫队以109比86屠杀已经放弃抵抗的骑士队，4比0横扫晋级东决！

(End of this chapter)