The key was that the old man’s strategy really worked!
Saunders knew that with this lineup, the interior scoring was basically gone, the inside-outside game disappeared, and the ability to spread the floor from the inside diminished as well. But he had no choice but to make this rotation, he could only hope that Hamilton and Billups would step up in the second quarter.
Soon, the second quarter began.
The Pistons started the offense, Billups isolated for a pass... Rondo, who was defending against Hamilton, intercepted Billups’ pass, initiated a fast break, charged to the opposite basket and then passed back to the top of the arc, Zhang Yang followed up to catch and released a trailing three-pointer... it’s good!
to 24, the Bobcats extended their lead to 11 points!
Now it was the Pistons’ turn to attack, and Hamilton received a pass in the elbow area from a double-teamed Billups, turned around for a mid-range jumper... and it hit.
On the other end, Rondo’s drive was fruitless, so he dished it to Zhang Yang, who took the ball and with a behind-the-back dribble stepped aside, avoiding Billups’ defensive recovery, and shot a mid-ranger... that also went in!
Zhang Yang, who had only scored 4 points in the first quarter, took advantage of the opponent’s defense sinking inside, and came up to score 5 points consecutively in the second quarter!
In the second quarter, the Pistons’ defensive lineup of Max Hill, Rasheed Wallace, McDyess, and Dale Davis rotated their big men, with Prince playing the entire period, completely shutting down the Bobcats’ interior scoring in their half-court offense.
The first quarter’s restless performers Gerald Wallace, Alan Anderson, and Millsap wilted in the second period, with even Okafor only able to pull up for jumpers or attempt to crash the boards. But Zhang Yang exploded!
At 3:11 in the second quarter, Zhang Yang hit another three-pointer; at 5:35, he drew a foul on the fast break and made both free throws; after the official timeout and back at 6:11, he hit a jump shot from the high post; at 9:13, using a screen and Felton’s pass, he made a mid-range jumper; at 11:56, he faced a double-team from Billups and Hamilton and hit a long two-point shot...
Starting from the 8 points he scored in the first three and a half minutes, Zhang Yang’s receptions and shots became more difficult, but this time he did not force it. Instead, he calmly sought better shooting opportunities, waiting patiently if the chance didn’t come and decisively striking when it did.
With the tacit support of Rondo and Felton, Zhang Yang shot 7 times in the second quarter, made 6 shots, was fouled once, and made all of his 6 successful shots, including 2 for 2 from the three-point line, as well as 2 for 2 from the free-throw line, scoring 16 points in a perfect quarter!
Together with a three-pointer from Alan Anderson, a fast-break layup from Rondo, a mid-range shot from Okafor for two points, and a putback-and-one from Gerald Wallace... The Bobcats scored 26 points in the second quarter!
points might not seem like a lot, but it had allowed the Bobcats to extend the lead to 17 points... because the Pistons had scored only 17 points in the second quarter!
Billups and Hamilton played okay, with the former scoring 5 points and the latter scoring 7, but their teammates only managed 5 points from 10 attempts in the entire quarter!
At halftime, the Bobcats were leading the Pistons by 17 points with a score of 58 to 41!
The Pistons used a purely defensive interior lineup and completely locked down the Bobcats’ inside scoring, with only Gerald Wallace managing to score a putback. However, this move by the Pistons was somewhat self-damaging. Not only did they lose their interior scoring, they also lost their ability to create mid-to-long distance shots through the inside-out game and had to rely solely on their "twin guns" isolating.
At the Time Warner Sports commentary, Bill Walton remarked, "Saunders’ adjustment here was terrible, worse than just continuing as they did in the first quarter, gambling on offensive rhythm. With their individual skills, trying to compete with the Bobcats purely in terms of defense is not working, as proven in Game 2."
Hubie Brown shook his head, saying, "No, his choice wasn’t wrong. After the official timeout in the first quarter, he already tried to bolster the offense, but the lead widened from 5 to 8 points. He had no choice but to increase the intensity of the interior defense.
And, in fact, his strategy worked. The Bobcats had so much space on the exterior in the second quarter, but the wings only made one three-pointer. Billups’ defense on Felton, and Prince’s defense on the wing shooters were good, but he didn’t expect that Jack, who only had 4 points in the first quarter, would erupt for 16 points in a single period. That’s just crazy, Jack killed the game!"
Down by 17 points at the half, the Pistons had one foot being pulled toward Charlotte by the Bobcats.
But Saunders didn’t give up, and neither did the Pistons’ players!
Coming back from the halftime break, Saunders continued with a defensive frontcourt, banking their comeback hopes on Billups and Hamilton.
Into the third quarter, Billups and Hamilton shot furiously, with the entire team successfully shooting 21 times, the duo taking 16 of those attempts!
Billups played the entire third quarter, going 4 for 8, including 3 out of 6 three-pointers, and 1 out of 2 free throws, scoring 12 points with 3 assists.
Hamilton, 4 out of 7 from the field plus 3 out of 4 free throws, contributed 11 points and 1 assist.
With Webber converting an and-one, Rasheed Wallace hitting a deep three, the Pistons rallied to score 31 points in the quarter!
That quarter, the Pistons delivered the kind of offensive performance Saunders had hoped for when making adjustments in the second quarter, with accurate shooting from the outside and good protection of the basket.
However, the Bobcats withstood the Pistons’ comeback!
No matter how great Hamilton’s stamina or energy was, there were limits. Concentrating on running to score while actively blocking the perimeter cuts, he could not restrict Zhang Yang’s shooting as well as he did in the second quarter.
Zhang Yang couldn’t maintain his perfect shooting from the second quarter, but he shot even more, throwing 10 shots in 9 minutes of play!