No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 837 - 359. Breaking new waves!

At 6:40 in the evening, at Orlando Amway Center, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the arena amidst the frenzied boos of the live fans.

When the home team entered, Zhang Yang could hear and see the enthusiastic atmosphere from the fans and the confident demeanor of the home team players.

The reason... their Bobcats had lost both of their previous two encounters with the Magic Team this season.

This opponent certainly was quite a headache for them.

With the league’s top rebounder Howard, combined with the elite organizational and playmaking ability of Turkoglu, and the league’s strongest shooters led by Lewis, the Magic Team averages 10.4 three-pointers per game, ranking first in the league, surpassing the Warriors who average 9.3 three-pointers.

Adding in key plays resolved by Nelson and Arroyo during critical moments... averaging 104 points per game, conceding 99 points per game, currently holding a 46-win, 29-loss record, they are striving for their first 50-win season after O’Neal’s departure.

After the entrance ceremony, Felton gathered his teammates for a pep talk: "Tonight, we want revenge, we need to regain the face lost from those previous defeats! Moreover, it’s not just about face, this game is crucial for us to reach 60 wins..."

Teammates knew the importance of today’s match and the upcoming game against the Magic Team on the 8th.

They needed to win 4 out of the last 7 games to secure 60 wins.

The last 5 games were at home against the Spurs, Hornets, Kings, Lakers, all opponents they hadn’t beaten this season, and lastly, the Bulls, who were first in the league. If they pinned hopes for reaching 60 wins on the last 5 games, it was truly daunting... Those Jewish guys are ruthless!

This season, the Jewish management really treated their defending champion team like beasts, arranging a wild and aggressive schedule in the middle of the season, and another one at the end.

So they had to win against the Magic Team, preferably all the games, or else the pressure would be intensified.

Knowing Carlisle, if the results of these two games were bad, he might give up on chasing 60 wins...

From the team’s perspective, it was undoubtedly the right choice, as they only needed one more win to set a new team record, and Carlisle no longer felt pressured about regular season results.

But us players weren’t happy, reaching 60 wins might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a player!

Although every year there are teams reaching 60 wins, it seemed not very difficult, but if you examine closely, you’ll find that over the past 10 years, the teams achieving 60 wins are always the same ones, and the players who reach 60 wins are always the same.

After Felton finished his speech, ’Hill the Deputy Boss’ acted as a hype man, shouting loudly "60 wins!"

Teammates followed in unison, shouting "60 wins!"

Seeing Felton successfully arouse enthusiasm among teammates and elevate the fighting spirit of the entire team, Carlisle complained to Vincent: "Raymond’s Boss status is unexpectedly stable..."

At 7 in the evening, Howard defeated Okafor to win the jump ball, the game began, Magic Team attacked first.

Bobcats starting lineup: Felton, Zhang Yang, Mike Miller, Okafor, Brad Miller.

Magic Team starting lineup: Nelson, Morris Evans, Turkoglu, Lewis, Howard.

Nelson took the first attack, single-playing Felton, breaking through, stopping abruptly for a long two-pointer...

Nelson couldn’t shake off Felton, severely interfered, missed!

However, Magic Team’s shooting usually exhibited confident decisiveness, because they had Howard!

Howard moved to the position of the rebound immediately after Nelson’s shot, Brad Miller also positioned himself well, holding Howard at bay.

Howard did not give up, assessing the distance, the height of the ball bounce, the opponent’s jumping ability... he waited to grab the rebound when the opponent jumped, taking it from above their head.

But Okafor also moved up, completely blocking Howard’s space for rebounding!

The duo of Brad Miller and Okafor surrounded Howard for the rebound, it was just a matter of a second, Howard momentarily baffled, seeing a swift figure rushing in from the baseline...

Two rebounding forwards positioned, Zhang Yang seized the defensive rebound, launching a counterattack!

Howard cursed internally as he sprinted towards the backcourt without stopping.

Magic Team’s retreat defense was excellent, when Zhang Yang crossed the mid-circle, four opponents on the perimeter were already in place.

The two on the wings positioned themselves on the follow-up lanes of Felton and Mike Miller, Morris Evans and Turkoglu defended within the semicircle outside the free throw line to block the fast break advance.

Lewis, Turkoglu retreated in the direction of the top arc immediately after Nelson’s shot, if Howard grabbed the offensive rebound, they could then catch the ball for a three-pointer from a farther distance, reducing Howard’s passing errors, if not, they could retreat immediately.

Howard arrived outside the three-point line almost simultaneously with Zhang Yang, he didn’t care about Zhang Yang, headed straight for the basket area, leaving the perimeter to his teammates, handling Felton, Okafor’s penetration, the teammates outside the free throw line might not block Zhang Yang’s advance, but could still limit his speed, handling Zhang Yang’s drive as well, handling everything under the basket by himself.

Magic Team’s counterattack defense strategy was good and executed, but then... Zhang Yang paused at the top arc, grabbed the ball, jumped, shot a three-pointer!

Turkoglu and Morris Evans outside the free throw line were too late to rush in, both were dumbfounded: just like that, he shot?

Howard crashlanded just under the basket, his head knocked by the ball, he exclaimed "Ouch" as he watched the ball bounce out of bounds from above him... What’s going on?

Zhang Yang opened with good form, catching a trailing three-pointer cleanly through the net!

The unified and high-pitched "Defense" from the live fans was silenced for a second by this shot, then they rallied to boo loudly in confusion.

Howard turned around to look behind, the opponent was already retreating, several teammates were running to the frontcourt, he still didn’t know what happened, just that the opponent seemed to have scored, the big screen didn’t replay the guest team’s first basket, he didn’t have time to ask, the referee was counting the 5 seconds for inbounding, he picked up the ball and passed it to Nelson, running to the frontcourt.

Nelson advanced to the frontcourt, gesturing, wanting to single-play again!

In previous years, when he played against the Bobcats, his competitiveness targeted only Felton.

Both short and strong point guards, Felton rated better than him publicly, he begrudged that, believing Felton simply benefited from Zhang Yang.

This season, Magic Team acquired Stan Van Gundy smoothly leading to a rise, now likely reaching 50 wins, a bright future ahead, seen as a top team contender, Nelson’s confidence soared along with them, playing against the Bobcats he targeted not only Felton but also included Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang just sank an incredibly audacious three-pointer, Nelson wanted to retort with another!

Nelson single-played Felton, feigned a break, stepping back...

With point guards like them, meeting each other meant mutually shutting each other down, their solo plays beyond the three-point arc revolved around fake breaks, using their strong bodies to retract a step back, waiting until the opponent’s balance destabilized, took a step back or abruptly pulled up for a jumper.

Nelson’s move worked against most point guards, even the defensive ace Paul, but not against Felton, who defended him closely after stepping back.

But he didn’t care, aggressively stepped back for the three-point shot...

Missed again!

This outcome, Howard expected, this classmate’s style had been consistent, he was accustomed to it, actively scrambling for the rebound... again surrounded by Brad Miller and Okafor!

Leveraging the help of the two rebounding forwards again, Zhang Yang seized another defensive rebound, launching into a counterattack!

Howard retreated immediately, when crossing the three-point line from the backcourt, he glanced back... he immediately understood what happened in the previous possession.

Zhang Yang paused at the top arc, shot right as Morris Evans and Turkoglu’s defense was about to arrive, sinking another trailing three-pointer... scored again!

Howard: What kind of playstyle is this?

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