No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 174 - 104. When discussing annoying people, you still have to consider the little brother.

Chapter 174: 104. When discussing annoying people, you still have to consider the little brother.

After the game, Zhang Yang watched Felton strut over to Paul and couldn’t help but wish someone would just punch the big guy... It’d make a great meme!

The day after defeating the Hornets, the Bobcats arrived at their last stop in the 5-game road trip: Orlando.

After getting to the hotel, Zhang Yang went online to pass the time and saw that fans were arguing about Paul and Felton!

Previously, regarding which rookie from the 2005 class was the strongest, fans unanimously agreed that Paul led by far.

After this game, fans’ opinions hadn’t changed, 20+7+11+3, this season only Paul had put up such numbers.

The point of contention among the fans—whether Felton had Paul’s number.

Zhang Yang checked the argumentative posts and felt that these fans couldn’t really be considered fans of Paul or Felton yet; they were just interested, definitely biased, but the argument wasn’t really about the players, it was about defending their own viewpoints.

Zhang Yang also saw topics comparing him with JR Smith.

JR Smith was also considered a highly anticipated high school prodigy, but the comparison had no suspense; the fans overwhelmingly favored Zhang Yang.

Some fans joked that even if JR Smith copied Zhang Yang’s brain and combined it with his own, he would still fall short of Zhang Yang.

After resting for a night, the Bobcats faced the Magic as visitors...and lost 92 to 104.

The best thing the Bobcats did tonight was how Gerald Wallace and Perkins defended Howard, holding him to just 5 points and 10 rebounds, but Turkoglu scored 18 points with 7 assists, Nelson scored 19 points, and DeShawn Stevenson scored 21 points...the shooters got hot.

The Bobcats and Hornets just had the conditions and hopes for a rise.

Now, as Nelson, Turkoglu, and Howard together with the two shooters took the court, the Magic had already shown the characteristics of a strong team with a complete team system.

Now they were just waiting for Hill’s contract to expire to trade Francis away.

Francis had already been put on the trading block by the Magic, and even though he was currently the team’s top scorer and assist provider, his style of play had actually diverged from that of the team’s three cores. When he drove with the ball, his teammates either spread out to shoot or cut inside to wait for a pass, without a real strategy—just let him play to his strengths, show off what he could do, and impress his potential new team.

Hill got injured again in mid-December, marking his sixth consecutive season of injuries.

The Bobcats’ three-game winning streak ended, bringing their record to 15 wins and 19 losses.

The five-game road trip ended with a record of 3 wins and 2 losses, which was pretty good for them; they won the games they were supposed to win.

On the 9th at noon, back in Charlotte, Zhang Yang looked at his empty house and felt a bit unaccustomed; his mom had returned to Hidden Mountain the day before he went on the 5-game road trip, now he was living alone...which was awesome!

Living with parents during the holidays was great, but when working, living alone was more comfortable.

Having completed the 5-game road trip, the Bobcats got two days off. The team didn’t schedule any training during the two rest days, and Zhang Yang really took advantage of a rare day and a half off, reading and playing video games to relieve physical and mental fatigue.

Thanks to being young, the passion from the games kept Zhang Yang from feeling tired, believing that a good sleep could fix anything.

But after the momentum of the "5-game road trip" wore off, Zhang Yang felt both psychically and mentally exhausted and decisively chose to put down training and not force it.

After relaxing and recharging, by the morning of the 11th, he felt revived and with renewed enthusiasm, he dove back into training.

He had new motivation—to "brush" his talents and increase his stamina limit!

At the moment, he only played limited minutes in games, usually coming off the bench, and the coach assigned him easier defensive matchups. Offensively, he wasn’t the one under pressure, and with the vitality of youth, he could still manage; but what about a few years from now? Although his stamina talent limit had been raised to 92, he felt it still wasn’t enough!

That evening, the Bobcats narrowly defeated the Toronto Raptors 104 to 101.

With just over 20 seconds left and a three-point lead, Zhang Yang’s pull-up from the free-throw line missed, and he was startled when Mike James threw a three-pointer, relieved when the opponent also missed.

Mike James, a model of a comeback player, undrafted in ’98, entered the NBA in 2000, and after joining the Rockets last season, leveraged Yao Ming’s presence to boost his value...later, due to disharmony with McGrady, he was sent to the Raptors, where he reached the peak of his career, averaging 20 points 3.3 rebounds, and 6 assists this season, very efficiently with a 46% shooting and a 44.1% three-point shooting, making 2.1 three-pointers per game.

Zhang Yang remembered this comeback player, after this season, as the Rockets wanted to welcome him back, McGrady, struggling with injuries due to the lack of support in the backcourt, also participated in recruiting him. Mike James initially pretended to accept his old team’s invitation but after leading the Rockets AND McGrady on for half a month, he turned to join the Timberwolves.

The last time Zhang Yang saw news about Mike James was in 2014, which shocked him, as James had played until the age of 39 and was even starting for the Mavericks at 38 during the 12-13 season.

After defeating the top-pick favored Toronto Raptors, the Bobcats’ record improved to 16 wins and 19 losses, a result that surprised the basketball fans in Charlotte, and then...they faced a 5-game losing streak.

Lost 98 to 104 to the Bucks, crushed 93 to 114 by the Pistons, narrowly defeated 91 to 96 by the Magic, lost 76 to 94 to the Spurs, and the Pacers took revenge with an 88 to 104 defeat, plummeting their record to 16 wins and 24 losses, taking their win rate back to 40%.

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