One Year Left to Play-Chapter 281 - 98: This College Student Is Incredibly Popular

You just need to remember to develop your technique around your shooting; this must be your first priority.

Remember, you are a scorer."

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Since the retirement of Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, the Celtics completely fell from grace.

Last season, the Celtics unexpectedly acquired Dominique Wilkins. Under his leadership, the Celtics achieved 35 wins and made it to the playoffs as the eighth seed in the East.

However, this season, as they were unwilling to give Dominique Wilkins a retirement contract, this former superstar chose to retire.

This left the Celtics in a mediocre state, unable to make the playoffs. But last season, Dominique Wilkins brought out Rick Fox, an organizer-type forward, and under Wilkins' guidance, Croatian center Dino Radja played up to his value. After the lockout ended, he signed a large contract starting at 5.36 million US Dollars, totaling 16.12 million US Dollars over three years, effective from the '96-'97 season.

In the media's eyes, with these two players, plus point guard David Wesley getting more playing time after Dominique Wilkins retired, and signing last season's NBA top stat-padder former 76ers player Dana Barros, the Celtics are not considered bottom-tier, and still have a chance to pursue 30 wins…

However, the Celtics opened the season playing 11 games, currently 2 wins and 9 losses, ranking second to last in the East, just slightly better than the 76ers.

Looking at the opposing players, Zhang Hao recalled the information about the Celtics he learned before the game with Jason Williams.

Zhang Hao had not realized that Jason Williams possessed such skills, excelling at investigating opponent information and analyzing opposing players.

But since Jason Williams is a blue-collar player, with a sluggish appearance, he gives the impression of a typical clumsy, slow-witted black blue-collar player. After getting to know him better, Zhang Hao realized that any player who survives long in the NBA will have their own specialties.

This teammate's specialty is analyzing opponents' shooting and investigating opponent information.

"Our team really has some hidden talents…"

Zhang Hao looked at the opposing Dana Barros, who last season averaged 20 points and 7.5 assists, leading the 76ers to secure a third overall draft pick, with an ability score of 80… truly capable of amassing stats!

Thinking about how this season the 76ers are letting Starkhouse chuck up 19 shots per game at below 40% shooting, averaging 19.5 points per game… it's enviable, jealous, and maddening!

It's obvious the Celtics are tanking, firing head coach Chris Ford, who led the team to the playoffs four times in the past five seasons, to replace him with M-L-Kael from the team's logistics department, clearly looking for a scapegoat.

Even though Zhang Hao remembers that the Celtics don't have that bad of a record this season, at the moment, it appears the Celtics are tanking to get the number one draft pick Bo Duncan.

The Cardinal even admitted that their plan is to compete for Duncan.

On the evening of November 24th at 7 PM, the Brooklyn Nets' away game against the Celtics began.

From the start, the game entered an offensive mode. Zhang Hao's targeting has noticeably intensified recently, but luckily the Celtics' defense isn't as strong as the Utah Jazz's, who are good at defending against passing and cutting, giving him passing opportunities. Under Rick Fox's chase defense, and whenever he received the ball, Celtics players would double-team him, he could pass out the ball.

The biggest beneficiaries were Kenny Anderson, who received his return passes, and PJ Brown, who cut in under the basket, as well as substitutes Edwards and Vaughn Fleming.

When a non-ball-handling power forward plays 25 minutes over three quarters and gets 7 assists, it signifies that the team's offense has taken off!

After three quarters, with Kenny Anderson scoring a season-high 31 points, Edwards with 18 points, PJ Brown with 16 points, and Almon Gilliam with 14 points, the Brooklyn Nets led the Celtics 97 to 91.

In such a game, Dana Barros, who impressed Zhang Hao as a major stat-padder, played 22 minutes and shot 15-for-8, scoring 20 points… indeed, a good hand at accumulating stats.

However, in the fourth quarter, Zhang Hao's opportunity arose, having only scored 4 points in the first three quarters!

With the Celtics' outside shooting cooling down, Jason Williams and Almon Gilliam secured the rebounds, Zhang Hao went on the counterattack, with a long pass from Chales…

When the Celtics charged headlong into the inside, Zhang Hao seized the opportunity to make two blocks in half a quarter. Without any strong breakthrough players, Zhang Hao did a great job protecting the rim for the Celtics.

In half a quarter, Zhang Hao scored 14 points, combined with 7 points in set plays, allowing the Brooklyn Nets to widen their lead to 19 points with a 21-to-8 half-quarter score!

Ultimately, with Zhang Hao's excellent assist-to-turnover ratio of 21 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, and 2 turnovers for the entire game, Kenny Anderson's 35 points and 6 assists, and Chales' 5 points and 10 assists, the Brooklyn Nets defeated the Celtics 135 to 121.

With 6 wins and 5 losses, the Brooklyn Nets maintained at least a .500 win percentage!

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The morning after playing the Celtics, Zhang Hao traveled with the team to the West. On the 26th, they will face the last game of a four-game road trip against the Los Angeles Lakers.

After last night's game against the Celtics, Zhang Hao chose not to review the game as it had little value as a reference. The opposing coach likely didn't emphasize defense at all, seemingly allowing a free-for-all approach. As observed from Celtics players playing recklessly after missing outside shots in the fourth quarter, such a game held little value for a detailed review.