No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 896 - 382. A big shot from the Bobcats’ All-NBA First Team! _3

He couldn’t help but feel a slight regret—had he actively resigned to join the Bobcats back then, he wouldn’t have been ousted from the fridge.

In 2004, after being invited by Jordan to become the Bobcats’ general manager, Bickerstaff originally had no intention of being the head coach. He recruited candidates for the job, but since the Bobcats were newly formed, lacking everything and bound to tank, no excellent coach was willing to go. He didn’t think much of coaches who were fine with tanking either, so he had to step up himself.

Regret won’t help now. Philip Saunders knew he had no chance anymore. In his view, Carlisle was not inferior to him, considering the defensive foundation Carlisle left for the Pistons, even he might not be able to build it as well.

Both teams seem to have low scores because they are playing slow-paced half-court offensive strategies, and both are doing well in counterattacks. The Bobcats only had Zhang Yang open with a strong counterattack, but in the following few minutes, there were two counterattack opportunities that didn’t succeed, while the Pistons didn’t score in half a quarter’s counterattack.

During the official timeout, Carlisle deployed a combination of Tyronn Lue, Zhang Yang, Mike Miller, Millsap, and Okafor.

Questioning Van Gundy, understanding Van Gundy, becoming Van Gundy... When facing real strong foes in the playoffs, Carlisle would rather use Coach Lue than dare to use the almighty Jack.

Last year, as an advisor watching the Bobcats play in the East Final and Finals, he saw Jarett Jack come on and felt headaches. This master of chaotic battles could only serve as a spot-up shooter when playing off-ball, which was too detrimental to the completeness of the tactics. Against the defenses of the Pistons and Spurs, his barely above thirty percent shooting was truly moving.

It would be better to let Tyronn Lue take a shot, give Felton a few minutes of rest. After all, both tend to miss more shots, but at least Tyronn Lue doesn’t drag down tactical execution. He passes better and has certain court command abilities, sharing some of the command pressure with Zhang Yang, who is the tactical core tonight.

On the other side, Philip Saunders sent in a lineup with Billups, Ronald Murray, Prince, McDyess, and Noah.

After the timeout, the Bobcats launched an offensive, trying to gain the upper hand, but it yielded no results.

Last season’s reversal against the Pistons relied on two points: stamina warfare and seizing the advantage when Rashid Wallace went off during the rotation phase.

But now the Pistons have Noah. Current Noah doesn’t match up to Rashid Wallace, but he’s more than enough for the second lineup. The Pistons have the interior defense continuity that they lacked in the past two seasons!

Additionally, the Bobcats’ interior attacking power has declined. Although Zhang Yang and Millsap have improved their attacking skills compared to last season, they are still far inferior to Gerald Wallace, who is the top in the league in terms of aggressive forwards.

The Pistons firmly held onto the score, severely dampening the Bobcats’ momentum. Toward the end of the first quarter, newly playing Hamilton and Billups scored three consecutive baskets, including a three-pointer, while Felton, who returned to the court together with Alan Anderson, also scored a three-pointer during this period. But nobody else scored, and the Bobcats were hit 7 to 3 by the Pistons’ Double Guns at the end of the quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, the Pistons overtook the Bobcats by 4 points, leading 31 to 27 into the break!

After the interval, the Bobcats regrouped, launched another offensive, and as a whole, did not consider adjusting from the defensive end—they didn’t have the conditions right now, attacking was their only option!

Zhang Yang started the second quarter with a solo play, facing the Pistons’ substitute small forward Jarvis Hayes’ defense at the top arc, moved sideways to force a three-point shot, scored, raising his personal tally to 10 points while keeping the score at 30 to 31, maintaining the gap.

Zhang Yang increased his shooting ratio, whether through solo plays or moving to catch passes, he leaned more towards shooting. His recent form has been steadily improving, and this adjustment provided an immediate boost to the Bobcats’ offense. Though both teams experienced an overall downturn in scoring due to the confrontation and stamina consumption in the second quarter, the Bobcats’ scores were not significantly impacted, largely due to Zhang Yang’s increased attempts.

This autonomous adjustment made Carlisle quite satisfied—it’s not the time to think about what’s next—deal with what’s in front of you first.

As they played into the last moments of the first half, the score reached 53 to 55, with the Bobcats trailing by 2 points, and they won this quarter by a narrow margin of 26 to 24!

As it returned to the Pistons’ offense, Max Hill received the ball, went for a layup, only to be swatted away by Okafor, who caught up from the free-throw line. Turning back, Felton took on the heavy lifting in the last seconds, scoring a stepping-back three-pointer!

With the first half finished, the Bobcats overtook the Pistons, leading by 1 point, 56 to 55!

Zhang Yang played the entire second quarter, making 3 of 6 shots, with 1 of 2 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 from free throws, tallying 9 points, and in total for the half, 17 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 steal!

Felton played 19 minutes in the first half, hitting 3 of 8 shots, including 2 of 5 three-point attempts, showing a less satisfactory overall shooting performance. However, both three-point shots were crucial—one at the end of the first quarter prevented the Bobcats from trailing by more than 5 points, the other at the end of the second quarter helped the Bobcats to overtake the score!

But after the halftime interval, the Pistons immediately took a 12 to 6 run in the third quarter, overturning the Bobcats by 5 points, leading 67 to 62, stopping the Bobcats!

During this time, the Bobcats attempted 5 shots and made two baskets, one three-pointer, and one 2+1, which was not bad. But Hamilton, Prince, and Rashid Wallace scored consecutively—two three-pointers, three long two-pointers—hitting five in a row, giving the Bobcats a harsh blow.

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