Yang Jing: "So despicable..."
Zhang Yang: "Yeah, those who study psychology are all dirty..."
The final score was 104 to 98. The Suns defeated the Spurs by 6 points, regaining the home court advantage. However, Zhang Yang knew that the Suns’ playoff run was over after Stoudemire and Diaw threw punches at Duncan like raindrops, making the next game impossible.
He figured Duncan definitely didn’t have the intention to foul intentionally; otherwise, being in the paint, he had every opportunity to play dirty, even dirtier than Malone. But after this incident, Duncan very calmly made the decision that maximized his benefits...
In another series, the matchup between the Warriors, the creators of the "Black Eight" miracle, and the Jazz Team initially attracted a lot of attention, but after two games, it was no longer suspenseful.
In Game 1, the Jazz Team won against the Warriors 116 to 112. In Game 2, they won again, 127 to 117. Although the Warriors managed to take one game back in Game 3, winning 125 to 105, the Jazz Team secured the series in Game 4 with a score of 115 to 101, making it 3-1.
The Warriors’ frontcourt defense was only suitable for defending Nowitzki; they couldn’t stop Boozer at all, who averaged over 60% shooting with 14 shots and 9 makes per game in these four games.
Okur, after being dominated by Yao Ming in the first round, stepped up this round, averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds with a shooting accuracy of 51.7%.
Against Yao Ming in the first round, Okur shot only 35% from the field and 27% from three, which led to him being labeled as "Turkish soft egg" by the American media, who even made a "European soft eggs lineup" with Okur and Nowitzki as the starting twin towers.
But facing the Warriors’ frontcourt, Okur was totally the boss, exploding on offense and completely owning Biedrins under the basket on defense.
Seeing the first-round series stats of Yao Ming averaging 25.3 points, and Okur averaging 11 points and 8 rebounds, Zhang Yang couldn’t understand how some people in his country could say Yao Ming was restrained by Okur?
If even Yao Ming was restrained, then why would Jazz Team need to come back from 0-2 against the Rockets? Whether Jazz could win depended on the stamina and shooting accuracy of Yao and McGrady; if those two were fine, Jazz had no way out; but if they had problems and missed shots, Rockets had no way out either.
After resting for a day, on May 18, the Bobcats began preparing for the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the West, the Bobcats’ coaching staff and players couldn’t do much but watch the fun and curse at Horry and Popovich. In the East, it was clear their opponent would be the Pistons; they were sure the Chicago Bulls didn’t have the capability to beat the Pistons three games in a row.
Not just the Chicago Bulls, even if they were 1 to 3 down against the Pistons, they could only go and fight desperately with despair.
By noon, the Bobcats received good news—several players had won awards!
The league announced the best lineups.
Nash, Kobe, Nowitzki, Duncan, Stoudemire.
Zhang Yang, McGrady, James, Bosh, Yao Ming made the Second Team.
Wade, Arenas, Anthony, Garnett, Okafor made the Third Team.
All-Defensive First Team:
Kobe, Raja Bell, Bowen, Duncan, Camby.
Hinrich, Kidd, Gerald Wallace, Garnett, Ben Wallace made the Second Team.
All-Rookie First Team:
Rondo, Roy, Rudy Guy, Aldridge, Garbajosa, Bargnani (Garbajosa and Aldridge tied).
Randy Foye, Craig Smith, Millsap, Adam Morrison, Terrence Thomas made the Second Team.
Zhang Yang was somewhat surprised when he saw the award list.
His selection to an All-NBA team was certain, but he did not expect to make the Second Team.
Given Wade’s many absences and his team just making it to the playoffs, Zhang Yang’s inclusion was not a problem. Arenas played 74 games, averaging 29 points, 4.6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1.6 steals. Record of the team still significantly mattered, and Arenas’ individual performance wasn’t to the level of Kobe’s, where record can be ignored, and he couldn’t be defended when Kobe surged from third in scoring to first between March and April.
This meant Zhang Yang could surpass the Great General and make the Second Team, partly thanks to the help of his fellow ironworker... Thanks, bro!
Okafor being placed at the center position was a bit of a lift by the league; he probably couldn’t compete with Anthony and Garnett, Nowitzki, Duncan, James, Bosh as a forward, only as a center did he have a chance as Ben Wallace aged.
It’s not that Okafor wasn’t outstanding; rather, it was a golden era for forwards.
Gerald Wallace made the Second Defensive Team despite playing only 60 games because his defensive performance was highly recognized.
However, if we talk about exaggeration, Yao Ming’s case really stood out—playing only 48 games, averaging 25 points, and making the Second Team was historic!
In NBA history, even in the 1950s when the total number of season games was only 72, there had never been a player selected to an All-NBA team who played fewer than 50 games.
The closest was "Pistol" Pete Maravich who played 50 games in the 1977-78 season and made the Second Team.
That night, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, and Okafor treated their teammates to dinner.
However, Zhang Yang only covered one third of the bill for his teammates. Felton dropped him off at his doorstep and left him with the words, "You can’t drink anyway, it’s no fun bringing you along..."