Carlisle, observing from a close distance, felt both relieved and regretful.
He was relieved because Hamilton’s ability to seize opportunities was still outstanding, knowing how to utilize his physical advantage.
Back when Carlisle was with the Pistons, it was he who advocated for trading Stackhouse, who had averaged 29.8 points per game in the 00-01 season, for Hamilton, a player who averaged only 20 points and had an assist to turnover ratio of 1 to 1 and was not good at ball handling, in the summer of ’02.
Although the Pistons had just signed Billups at that time, Billups had only averaged 12 points and 5 assists as the sixth man in the previous season. Trading away the team’s best ball handler for a shooter required courage.
The decision proved to be right as they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in their first year together.
But now, Carlisle belonged to the Bobcats, and seeing his team being overtaken was painful. It was just a few seconds of slump that Hamilton had seized to turn the scoreboard around.
Zhang Yang played 14 minutes in the first half, scoring 13 points with 2 assists; Felton scored 9 points with 3 assists; Rondo scored 6 points with 2 assists; Gerald Wallace scored 8 points; Okafor scored 12 points, performing very well.
Zhang Yang’s high post shooting and driving, Rondo’s steals and fast breaks, Felton’s three-pointers, Gerald Wallace’s drive attacks, Okafor positioning near the basket or backing down... they exploited all five of the opposing team’s weak points, yet they still lost the lead, which was painful.
However, despite being down by two points at halftime, Carlisle was once more amazed by Bickerstaff’s insight—he precisely predicted the opponent’s tactics!
Though the old man hadn’t figured out a way to restrain the opponent’s offense, Carlisle hadn’t either.
Being able to compete back and forth and have a chance to win, despite a big gap in both roster structure and experience, was already quite impressive.
Now they could really only rely on the players’ performance. All the coaching staff could do was to manage the rotations well and call for timeouts at critical moments to set up effective single-play tactics.
In the third quarter, Zhang Yang unleashed his fury, scoring 10 points in 9 minutes without any free throws or three-pointers, making 3 out of 5 from mid-range along with two fast-break drives, leading the Bobcats to score 26 points in the quarter!
The Pistons had a poor third quarter, with Billups going 0 for 5 and scoring zero points; Hamilton scored 8 points, Rasheed Wallace 5 points, Webber 3 points, Max Hill 4 points, and McDyess 2 points, totaling only 22 points.
By the end of the third quarter, the Bobcats had regained a two-point lead with a score of 82 to 80. The middle two quarters ended in a tie!
In the final quarter, Billups, who had a slump in the third, stepped up, shooting 6 times in the first half and making 4 baskets, including hitting 2 out of 2 three-pointers. He scored 10 points and added 3 assists, leading his team to score 18 points in the half!
Saunders quickly made substitutions after Billups scored two consecutive baskets, maximizing defensive intensity and holding the Bobcats to only 8 points in the half!
Billups’s wild shooting plus iron-blooded defense, the tactics that once overran the Lakers’ F4 in the 2004 Finals, showed their prowess again!
to 90, the Pistons overturned the Bobcats by 8 points!
In the latter half of the quarter, the Bobcats tried to counterattack. Although they successfully pulled down the Pistons’ scoring, they could not surge themselves, only managing a 12 to 9 score.
Hamilton scored 23 points, Billups 23 points, Rasheed Wallace 16 points, Webber 15 points, Max Hill 9 more... The Pistons played to a 27 to 20 score in the final quarter, beating the Bobcats 107 to 102 and defending their home court.
Zhang Yang shot 11 from 23 and added 8 of 10 free throws, scoring 30 points with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Felton scored 14 points with 7 assists, Rondo had 12 points with 4 assists, Okafor scored 20 points, and Gerald Wallace 14 points. Combined, these five scored 90 points but still could not snatch the home court advantage in their first away game.
The Bobcats’ coaching staff and players were frustrated by the lost game, and during the post-game team meeting for review, Zhang Yang, Felton, and Gerald Wallace all mentioned the rounds they didn’t play well and the shots they missed.
Rondo and Okafor didn’t speak, but their expressions were far from pleasant.
Tonight, Rondo made only 2 of 6 free throws. He made only 1 of 4 in the first half of the last quarter. Though it seemed like only 3 points, in such a game, it really let his teammates down.
Okafor did not defend the basket well, letting Rasheed Wallace, Webber, and Max Hill score more than 20 points inside, which made him very upset.
Seeing this scene, Carlisle was very emotional. It wasn’t when he was with the Pacers.
From the oldest, Reggie Miller, to the youngest, Harrington, losing a game was all about complaining about others.
When their record was good, these complaints didn’t matter much. But once the performance dipped, conflicts escalated directly.
In the Bobcats, both the oldest and the youngest were competing to take the blame.
Not just privately. During post-game interviews, they were competing to take the blame as well, seemingly proud of who got scolded the worst by the media and fans after losing a game...
Carlisle was moved, but then he thought of another problem—what would it be like after two or three years, when Okafor, Felton, and Gerald Wallace reached their peak?
As this thought surfaced, he immediately dismissed it. Let the future handle the future. Even if he took over as the main coach of the Bobcats, he didn’t know how long he could stay.
At the Pistons, he was fired after just two years, and at the Pacers, he actually only had one effective season of coaching. The following three seasons were marred by complex internal conflicts.
As the Bobcats reviewed the game and self-reflected, externally, the game once again ignited discussions among the fans.