Nash was also looking forward to this game, hoping to provide some live instruction, but it was not to be. His back injury needed to be managed carefully, so he couldn’t push it. He might only have to make a brief appearance during the upcoming All-Star weekend.
Aside from that, Nash was full of worry for tonight’s game.
Last season, the Suns had a 62-20 record. Nash played in 75 games, leading to a 60-15 record. In other words, last season when Nash was absent, the Suns only had a 2-5 record.
This season, with Stoudemire out, Nash’s importance to the Suns had become even greater. So far, the Suns had played 51 games with a 33-18 record. Nash played in 47 of them, leading to 33 wins and 14 losses. In the 4 games without Nash, the Suns were completely defeated!
Nash’s worries soon became a reality.
The Bobcats came out strong in the first quarter and after playing through it, the score was 31-18...
Felton played the entire first quarter, making 4 out of 6 shots, including a perfect 2 for 2 from three-point range, and 1 for 2 from the free-throw line for a total of 11 points and 3 assists.
Zhang Yang played for 5 minutes in the first quarter, hitting 3 out of 5 shots and sinking one free throw for 7 points.
Both players were fired up!
In the second quarter, the Suns’ offense also caught fire. Without Gerald Wallace, the Bobcats could still manage to defend against teams like the Clippers that hammered the ball inside, but they didn’t have much of an answer for teams like the Nuggets or the Suns that ran the court quickly. This quarter the Suns scored a furious 37 points... but the Bobcats also got 37 points!
At halftime, the Bobcats were ahead 68-55, still maintaining a 13-point lead over the Suns!
In the third quarter, the Suns scored 28 points while the Bobcats continued their strong performance, racking up 35 points!
103-83, by the end of the third quarter, the game had entered garbage time.
In the final quarter, Zhang Yang and Felton sat on the bench, watching Bernard Robinson and Alan Anderson partner up to play during the garbage time. This feeling was new to them; they were used to going in to pad their scores and assists against strong teams during garbage time, but this was the first time they had decimated such a good opponent.
Felton played the entire first three quarters and shot 12 out of 20, including 4 for 6 from three-point range, and 3 for 4 from the free-throw line, achieving a career-high of 31 points—a record for the highest single-game score among the 2005 draft class, alongside 3 rebounds and 7 assists.
After Zhang Yang entered the game for the last 5 minutes of the first quarter, he didn’t leave the court again. He made 8 out of 13 shots, including 2 for 4 from three-point range and a perfect 3 for 3 from the line, ending up with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists, and 1 steal. He charged for fast breaks smoothly, achieving his first 20+10, adding two more entries to the "youngest records" list.
But now, despite Felton’s goofy happiness, Zhang Yang still felt a bit of regret. There were only two opportunities a year to go head-to-head with Nash, and now that he had missed this one, he would have to wait until next season.
On the other side, Nash was at a loss for words.
Without him, the team lost... It seemed like it had become the norm. In one and a half seasons, he had missed over ten games and only won twice.
Thinking of Zhang Yang pushing the fast break, an idea flashed into Nash’s mind...
He turned to D’Antoni and asked, "Before I retire in four years, do you think we have a chance of signing that high schooler?"
At the age of 32, on the 7th, Nash was already contemplating retirement. He even felt that he might not be able to finish his current contract, which would end in 2010, when he would be 36. Little did he know that he would play until he was 40, still averaging 12+10 at 38 and leading his team into the playoffs, outlasting many superstars who were just reaching their prime at 25 or 26.
The current Nash was truly considering the future of the Suns, who had given him a chance.
D’Antoni had no objections to Nash’s statement about retiring in four years.
As for Nash’s hopeful expectations... D’Antoni didn’t want to shatter his pupil’s dreams: "Who knows what the future holds? He’s only 17; anything is possible."
131-119, the Bobcats easily beat the Nash-less Suns, finishing the first half of the season with a victory.
After the game, Nash went over to the rookies to express his admiration. Since it was late, they didn’t chat much, but they exchanged phone numbers and emails before ending the conversation.
In a few days, it would be the All-Star weekend, and there would be plenty of opportunities.
On Zhang Yang’s end, after finishing his physical therapy, he went back to the hotel and fell straight to sleep on the bed. He didn’t set the alarm and only woke up around noon, having slept for nearly 11 hours.
After playing 52 regular-season games and with a week’s rest in theory, the tension he’d been holding finally eased. The moment he relaxed, he crashed out.
The bed next door was already empty... no, it seemed like it hadn’t been touched. When he came back to the hotel around midnight, it was still the same as when the hotel staff had made it during the day. Then he remembered, last night Felton, Anderson, Karim Rush, Jumaine Jones... a group of them had gone out to the nightclub and might have spent the night there, probably at the hotel where the nightclub girls were staying as stand-ins.
Even the selfish Big Baby wouldn’t have the heart to bring back a nightclub girl and do adult activities right in front of him.
Big Baby would surely bring back two.
Zhang Yang got up, called the front desk to order some dishes for lunch, and opened his laptop to check his email.
The team had already sent his plane ticket and hotel reservation to his email; all he had to do was print them at the front desk.
He had an evening flight from Phoenix City to Houston. This year’s All-Star weekend was being hosted by the Rockets, and tomorrow, on Valentine’s Day afternoon, his work for the All-Star weekend would begin.
Tellem told him on the phone yesterday that they had taken care of his parents’ plane tickets, hotel, driver, etc., so he didn’t need to worry about his parents and brother going to Houston to watch the games and sightsee, allowing him to focus on his work.