Exactly, he just added another aspect to his persona—passionately in love with basketball, so focused on the game that he forgets to eat and even his birthday.
Yang Jing teased, "Yangyang, you eat more than anyone else and sleep longer than anyone else. Forget to eat? Really?"
Zhang Yang mentally took back his previous praise for his mom and retorted fiercely, "I’m not the one who eats the most, Okafor is!"
Over the years, his appetite had increased year by year, and since joining the NBA, he slept 2-3 hours more than in high school. But so what if he ate a lot? So what if he slept a lot? If athletes didn’t eat and sleep plenty, they’d probably drop dead on the court.
After a cheerful and pleasant day, June 8th, the seventh game day of the Eastern Conference Finals, arrived.
The Bobcats were all laughs yesterday, but this morning’s pre-game meeting was more focused and serious than ever before.
They had finally turned the situation around, and now was not the time to slip up.
Tonight, a game that would decide victory or defeat!
The day of preparation swiftly passed, and at 9 PM, the Bobcats’ home court battle against the Pistons for the decisive seventh game in the Eastern Conference Finals began!
Rasheed Wallace won the jump ball against Okafor, giving the Pistons the first possession!
The Pistons’ starting lineup: Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Rasheed Wallace, McDyess.
The Bobcats’ starting lineup: Felton, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Millsap, Okafor.
Billups advanced to the frontcourt, and before Gerald could close in on him, he took a quick three-point shot... miss!
But Rasheed Wallace rushed in and grabbed the offensive rebound, tossed it out, Hamilton caught the ball for a mid-range shot... hit!
On the change of offense, Zhang Yang took the inbound and pushed it to the frontcourt.
The opposing offense had started with full momentum, and now they were also stepping up their defensive intensity... The tenacious Pistons team was not so easily taken down. Tonight they were fighting even harder than in previous games.
Zhang Yang was excited at the prospect of playing one-on-one... "Jack, give me the ball."
Felton signaled for the ball.
Zhang Yang passed it to him and, puffing out his cheeks, ran toward the baseline.
Felton and Millsap started their offense with a pick-and-roll, Okafor seized the chance to move up, Felton got close but was blocked, tossed it to Okafor who was at a high position, Okafor received the ball, Prince moved into position to defend, Okafor attempted a shot leveraging his height advantage... but was disturbed by Prince’s long arms and missed!
McDyess secured the defensive rebound and passed it to Billups, who ignited the counterattack, with Hamilton and Prince fast on the wings.
Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, and Millsap got back in defense quickly, Okafor and Felton also quickly retreated inside the three-point line, stopping Billups’ fast break.
Even though they contained the Pistons’ fast-break, mismatches had already been created.
Billups isolated against Millsap and drove inside. Amid the Bobcats’ shrinking defense, he found an opening and passed the ball to Rasheed Wallace at the left side of the free-throw line, who took the mid-range shot... and scored!
The Pistons were off to a 4-0 start!
On the next change of possession, Felton still didn’t let Zhang Yang attack, but had him run a decoy play to prepare for a potential catch-and-shoot opportunity, while he lobbed the ball to Okafor who was backing down Rasheed Wallace.
Zhang San ran to the corner, feeling a bit restless, but he knew that the decision made by their leader, Felton, was correct. He honestly spread out, waiting for the right moment.
The opposition had started off fiercely, so they should counter with players who had harder playing styles and higher efficiency in the shoot range.
Zhang Yang inwardly marveled: Felton’s game reading ability had grown stronger, and in such games, he was even more calm and selfless than Zhang San himself.
Sometimes giving the ball to someone else isn’t the only way to be selfless; Felton’s current ball-handling style was also a form of selflessness.
Facing the Pistons, who had started off aggressively, hard counterattacks were necessary, which would undoubtedly consume a lot of energy and might not be very efficient.
After playing for over 3 minutes, the Pistons had a 10-6 lead, and Bickerstaff, taking advantage of a dead ball moment, went along with Felton’s on-the-fly adjustments and subbed out Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, and Millsap for Rondo, Alan Anderson, and Muhammad to ensure defense and to try to use Rondo for sneak attacks and counterattacks.
This adjustment proved effective. Over the next 3 minutes, even though Rondo’s sneak attacks and counterattacks didn’t materialize and they only scored 4 points themselves, they managed to suppress the Pistons’ scoring to 6 points.
With half the first quarter over, the Pistons were leading the Bobcats by 6 points, 16-10, going into the official timeout.
Bickerstaff made another lineup change, putting in the combination of Rondo, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Millsap, and Perkins.
On the Pistons’ side, Saunders also made some changes, subbing in Delfino and Webber, while Billups, Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace continued to play.
After the timeout, the Bobcats in offense, Rondo pushed to the frontcourt and directed Zhang Yang to go high... then suddenly charged forward!
Billups was caught off guard and couldn’t stop Rondo’s rush into the paint, Rasheed Wallace was late in collapse, Rondo, facing Webber’s block, launched a floater... and scored!
This successful shot pumped up Rondo, Rasheed Wallace, and Millsap. In the following 5 minutes, the Bobcats launched a fierce attack inside, forcing the Pistons to shrink their defense.
Zhang Yang patiently waited for his turns and, in the last two-plus minutes, got four shooting opportunities, scoring twice for 4 points.
Together with Rondo’s 2 points, Gerald Wallace’s 3 points, and Millsap’s put-back for two points, the Bobcats scored 11 points in the last 5 minutes and 16 seconds of the half!
On the Pistons’ side, after subbing in a lineup theoretically better at team offense coordination in the second half, they struggled offensively compared to the first half.