Otherwise, even Pat Riley, who has always been generous to shooters, wouldn’t have let go of a shooter who had a 42% three-point shooting percentage and averaged 2.7 three-pointers per game.
Donnell Marshall was getting older and lacked stability. Ronald Murray and Pavlovic were stand-still shooters, and their shooting percentages weren’t high when they were contested.
For the Knights, those players were leftovers picked up by other popular teams, and the Knights spent a lot of money to sign them back.
Mike Miller, Battier, Chalmers, James Jones... Those Miami Heat players, in an era six years later when three-point shooting became ever more critical, were quality shooters coveted by all teams.
The Bobcats managed to regain a 3-point lead by the end of the third quarter.
After the break, Zhang Yang, Felton, Matt Carroll, Jumaine Jones, and Okafor went back on the court.
Zhang Yang was ready to play the entire final quarter; he had played a total of 20 minutes in the first three quarters and should be able to hold on, even if it was tough, he had to endure.
He was going all out tonight; it was no longer just about winning a game— he didn’t want to let the league succeed!
Also, there was James’ attitude towards such calls. When Big Z took the technical free throws, he hesitated and looked uneasy. As for James, he almost instantly decided to make good use of the call...
The main reason for the other Bobcats players’ anger also stemmed from this; in their eyes, even if James looked fierce, he appeared quite smug.
On the other side, James, Damon Jones, Ronald Murray, Donnell Marshall, and Big Z took the court together.
The referee blew the whistle, and the fourth quarter began.
The Bobcats attacked first, Felton lobbed the ball to Brezec in the low post, not rushing to let Brezec make a move, or they might not get another chance.
Brezec was always fierce against Big Z, receiving the ball and making a spin to score with a hook shot!
to 68, the Bobcats led by 5 points!
The Knights attacked, and Damon Jones advanced to the front court, then passed it to James.
James was unusually tired at the start of the fourth quarter. From the third quarter, you could tell from his shooting, which was leaning towards three-pointers, he only made 1 out of 3 from inside.
He took a deep breath, held it in, and drove hard!
He didn’t want to lose, and couldn’t afford to! Losing this game would mean almost losing the playoffs, he could even end up being completely shaved!
If it were against the Pistons or the Miami Heat, that would be one thing, even being hammered by the Nets could be accepted, as the Nets had Kidd and Carter, two superstars.
But his current opponent was the Bobcats!
Zhang Yang, Felton, two rookies, Okafor, who joined the NBA a year later than he did, Gerald Wallace, a player given up by the King, and a group of unwanted scraps from other teams. Losing to this opponent would be a total disgrace!
James drove to the paint, pressing against Felton into the key, and became trapped by the Bobcats defense.
Brezec, as before, hovered over James. James threw a shot, and after releasing the ball, deliberately bumped his arm against Brezec’s... In his view, advantageous conditions should be utilized.
But this time, after James’ arm hit Brezec’s, the referee didn’t blow the whistle!
James’s attention was on drawing fouls and knocking Brezec down; his shot was entirely off, the ball hit the backboard and bounced to the other side!
Jumaine Jones, who cut off James’ pass to the left side of the key, managed to grab the ball!
Jumaine Jones was surprised; why didn’t the referee blow the whistle? Just then he saw Zhang Yang coming up to receive, and quickly passed the ball to him.
Zhang Yang launched a counterattack!
Felton, understanding tacitly, blocked James who was trying to defend. By the time James got around Felton to the foul line, Zhang Yang was already near midcourt, beyond the three-point line.
If Larry Hughes had been there, Zhang Yang wouldn’t have had such an easy counterattack, but tonight, Larry Hughes played 4 minutes in the first quarter and 5 minutes in the second, and hadn’t been on the court for the second half, as his presence restricted James’s offense.
Zhang Yang sprinted to the frontcourt, jumped in front of the charge circle, and slam-dunked the ball with one hand!
The folks at Time Warner Cable Sports were nasty; they split the screen showing Zhang Yang’s dunk and James, who had stopped pursuing and was slapping his arm complaining to the referee why he didn’t get the foul call, obviously displeased.
The gap widened to 7 points, James became desperate, continuously driving into the paint... still not getting the whistle!
Luckily, Big Z bravely rushed in and poked the ball out from Brezec, who had grabbed the rebound, sending it out of bounds and stopping the Bobcats’ counterattack.
Once more James roared at the referee, slapping his arm, saying, "He hit my hand, he hit my hand."
But James’s outcry resulted in a warning from the referee! Seeing this, Mike Brown quickly called a timeout!
Brezec defending twice in a row without being called for a foul was a pleasant surprise for the Bobcats.
During the timeout, Bickerstaff thought for a moment and decided to bring in Gerald Wallace, Okafor, and Perkins early to take a chance!
Zhang Yang also felt it was time to take a chance.
Had the referees received instructions only to give calls in the first three quarters? Or had the allowed limit of free throws been reached? James had already gotten 21 free throws in the first three quarters, even O’Neal didn’t get that many when he was aggressively fouled. The referees dared not call any more?
Regardless of the situation, it was worth betting that the referees’ whistles wouldn’t blow arbitrarily anymore.