But rookie Kirk Hinrich, spirited Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Chris Duhon, and high school newcomer Tyson Chandler, who was labeled as a bust and fragile during his first three years and only began to play satisfactorily in the last two, all set their sights on Zhang Yang.
In the set offense, they strengthened cutting off Zhang Yang’s receiving routes and the speed of defensive help whenever he got the ball. When defending the fast break, they also focused on Zhang Yang, the rookie who had been praised by Iverson for his counterattacks.
Of course, they didn’t defend chaotically like the Hawks team, maintaining a focused tilt within their defensive system.
However, this had already impacted their defense.
Every position on the Chicago Bulls had good defenders, and their team defense was no worse than the Rockets, but they didn’t have a Yao Ming who could single-handedly guard the entire paint.
Gerald Wallace seized the opportunity, leading Felton, Okafor, and Voskuhl to continuously attack the inside and score, unleashing a climax in the final three minutes of the first quarter and the first four minutes of the second quarter. The Bobcats turned a 4-point deficit into a 3-point lead, gaining 7 points in 7 minutes!
During the timeout, Hinrich realized that Zhang Yang, who had been defended into shooting 1 for 3, was happily high-fiving his teammates to celebrate. He understood that they had been fooled by the rookie!
He had thought before that Zhang Yang’s words might’ve been a slip of the tongue, simply praising Jordan’s greatness and accidentally offending them... Of course, an accidental offense was still an offense, so he and a few young teammates targeted Zhang Yang.
Now he realized it was not a 17-year-old high school student accidentally offending them, but it was deliberate!
Hinrich saw that his teammates didn’t seem to realize the rookie’s "malicious intentions" and he didn’t bother to point it out, as there wasn’t time for that. He immediately ordered them not to focus solely on Zhang Yang anymore. As the team’s absolute leader, his word was followed by his teammates.
But it was too late. The Bobcats had launched an 18 to 11 run and had gained momentum, playing tit-for-tat with the Bulls in the following time.
Zhang Yang played another 14 minutes in the remaining three quarters. Though he couldn’t influence the opponent’s defense as he had at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second, he didn’t hold the team back. In the set offense, he shot 2 for 5 and scored 4 points, pushed the counterattack after grabbing the rebounds himself and drew a foul, making both free throws. In those 14 minutes, he scored 6 points and grabbed 3 boards, serving as a shooter without the ball and as a spearhead on the counterattacks, without making any defensive errors.
In the final moments, Hinrich stepped up, hitting a three-pointer that helped the Bulls to a 99-97 lead over the Bobcats.
With no one daring to take the crucial shot, Bickerstaff called a timeout and brought Zhang Yang in!
This time, Zhang Yang did not get an opportunity to shoot. Just days after making a game-winner, the Bulls were watching him closely.
Gerald Wallace, who scored a game-high 20 points tonight, was also the target of the Bobcats’ defense.
With both of them tightly guarded, the Bobcats still had someone daring to shoot!
Felton took the chance to break to the right side of the lane, spun, and tossed a short jumper... swish!
99-99. The Bobcats dragged the game into overtime!
But come overtime, the difference in the lineup still showed.
Okafor’s stamina had severely declined this season; after playing 36 minutes in regulation time, he couldn’t hold up in overtime, and his defense suffered.
Gerald Wallace and Felton were brave in overtime, the former scoring 4 points and the latter making a three-pointer, but the Bobcats only had those two scoring.
Zhang Yang played 21 minutes in regulation time and wasn’t subbed in during overtime.
On the other side, Jordan Ben Gordon scored 7 points alone in overtime for the Bulls, plus a three-pointer from Hinrich, a put-back from Chandler...
Overtime ended 11 to 7, with a final score of 110 to 106. The Bulls narrowly defeated the Bobcats by 4 points!
The loss came down to the depth of the lineup. The Bobcats players were frustrated yet helpless; the other side had an 11-man rotation, with every player being capable. Although they had a 12-man rotation, why was it 12-man? Wasn’t it because, apart from a few starters, the rest were of various degrees of poor ability?
However, against the Bulls when they were in form, the Bobcats managed to take the game into overtime, which was already quite a performance. Joe, at courtside, wasn’t serious but was laughing happily, clearly satisfied with their performance.
Zhang Yang tonight shot 3 for 8, including 0 for 1 from beyond the three-point line, and 2 for 2 on free throws, scoring 8 points, grabbing 5 boards, and getting 1 assist and 1 steal. It was the first time he didn’t score in double digits, which was a bit hard to take...
Little did he know, he was in for more discomfort. Kirk Hinrich, who would later be rated as the number one narrow-minded player of the ’03 class, had already set his sights on this humble high school rookie.
The Bobcats didn’t have time to lament over the narrow loss in overtime. The very next day, November 5th, after just returning to Charlotte, they faced another back-to-back game in the evening, this time against the Celtics.
This was a weak opposing team, predicted to have strength similar to that of the Bobcats.
In the summer of ’03 when the Celtics traded away one of their star duo, Anthony Walker, they had become weak.
But the Bobcats started the season with 2 wins and 1 loss, playing quite well, whereas the Celtics were true weaklings, having started with three straight losses.
Both teams were on the second game of a back-to-back, and both had just arrived in Charlotte from another city at noon that day. When the game started at 7 p.m., both teams played awful defense, ending the first three quarters with a score of 81-81, averaging 27 points per quarter!
However, in the fourth quarter, the Bobcats found their defensive rhythm as Gerald Wallace and Okafor stood out.