No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 890 - 381. The only unlucky one overthrown by the lower ranks

Upon learning that the Cavaliers were knocked out in the first round, Zhang Yang felt bad for his buddy King, who seemed unlucky. In the past two years, he faced their Bobcats team with Felton topping and Perkins protecting the rim, alongside the likes of Okafor and Millsap. This time he faced Nelson topping and Howard protecting the rim, and his performance was even more tragic. Though not a sweep, the evaluation he received was worse than a sweep.

James averaged 26.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.2 blocks over five games. He appeared versatile and strong, but his average of 22.1 shot attempts yielded just 7.9 baskets at a 35.5% shooting rate. His performance with a 25+ average was largely reliant on his average of 13 free throw attempts, making 9.8, with a free throw shooting rate of just over 75%.

Moreover, his 43% three-point shooting rate seemed decent, but he only averaged three attempts per game, making 1.3 three-pointers. The boost to his overall scoring performance was minimal. This conversion rate wasn’t bad, but the proportion of attempts was truly low.

Despite James reaching the second round last year, when the Cavaliers were eliminated in the first round, mainstream media, including ESPN, largely ignored this fact. Those mentioning it said that the Cavaliers reaching the second round last year was like not reaching at all, as they were swept by the Bobcats.

Some fans came out to argue, claiming James was different from McGrady and Garnett, having reached the second round in his fourth year, but they were ridiculed.

A familiar local fan "Your Mom Told You" commented, which prompted Zhang Yang to like it with a side account – "Thanks to last season, James led the Cavaliers to the second round, providing us with a rest period in the series, otherwise, we would’ve struggled against the Pistons."

Zhang Yang and his teammates enjoyed the boos from the home crowd momentarily, but were soon sent back to the locker room by the coaches, as the crowd was on the verge of rioting.

Coach: These little rascals, do they think this is Cleveland? The fans there are accustomed to losing, but here, the fans are losing to us for the first time in the playoffs.

Although both regions are in the Southeast, Atlanta’s fans differ significantly from the fans in Orlando, Florida, and Miami.

Miami fans start leaving when their team is about to lose. Orlando fans are even more interesting: during the media poll "Is O’Neal Worth a Billion?", most fans voted against it. Lakers fans mocked that those voting were hired by the logo man. What’s even more intriguing, though, is that the Magic team actually used the fan poll outcome as a reason to negotiate a low-paying renewal with O’Neal...

Atlanta fans are more ordinary, but they have money.

Last summer, team owner Steven Price recruited Danny Ferry from the Spurs management team to appoint him as General Manager and gave him operational authority. After this, the Hawks exchanged small change for bills, with the hope of becoming a strong team. Long-time fans who were disillusioned with Steven Price’s absurd operations over consecutive years returned with their families to support the team. When down 0 to 2 and back at home, countless fans showed support. When down 1 to 3 and away, thousands of fans went to Tuhang Stadium for support.

Atlanta isn’t particularly far from Charlotte, with only about 400 kilometers of highway separating the two cities. Including other roads, it takes about an afternoon of driving. Step on the pedal a little deeper, and it’s even faster.

The next day, Zhang Yang returned to Charlotte with the team and watched the awards on television, feeling a pang of jealousy: "The Lakers have had a big win this year..."

Kobe received 61 out of 110 first-place votes, winning the regular season MVP with 32.7% of the total score share, defeating Paul, who received 39 first-place votes with 29.5% of the total score share.

These vote counts were very close, smaller than Zhang Yang’s impression. He remembered the difference in first-place votes being about two-thirds, but here is less than half.

He suspected it might be because Kobe had Kidd and Garnett on his team here, not viewed as leading the team solo. Whereas in the original 07-08 season, half a season was Kobe leading Odom and Bynum to first in the West, with Gasol coming in only after Bynum’s dismissal. Before Gasol joined, the Grizzlies had already been tanking for a year and a half. Apart from one insightful coach breaking down, most did not believe Gasol could fulfill Bynum’s role with strength in low-post offense and rim protection, so Kobe had to adapt to changing teammates, increasing the weight of leading the team single-handedly.

The stats differed as well; originally, Kobe seemed to average around 28+6+5+2, but here it’s only an average of 27.6 points, 5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.5 steals, albeit playing only 36 minutes on average with a career-high shooting rate of 48.1%, previously his highest was 46.9% in the 01-02 season; his three-point shooting rate was also the second-highest of his career at 37.9%, the highest being 38.3% in the 02-03 season.

In encountering Kobe in his most reasoned year, Paul was indeed unlucky, averaging 21 points, 4 rebounds, 11.8 assists, and 2.7 steals, yet unable to get the MVP.

Zhang Yang remembered this as Paul’s peak year, performance-wise and in team achievements.

Next season, Paul’s individual performance will be better, but the team’s record will decline due to opponents understanding the Hornets’ strategies, Peja’s collapse, and the highly anticipated Chandler still lacking progress.

Afterward, Paul suffered years of severe injuries, with both knees ruined, completely transitioning into a floor play...

No matter how good the relationship was, Zhang Yang couldn’t offer any help with Paul’s injuries, pure play-style issues, similar to Hill and Rose situations, which eventually settled with adapting to floor plays.

Suggesting to Paul, who heavily relies on speed and jumping for scoring, to switch to floor play, Zhang Yang imagines even saying it would offend him.

Paul relied on top-notch speed, powerful directional changes, explosive jump speed, this season’s shooting performance, though not ideal behind a top guard with a standard 61.2% under the basket, achieved a stunning 52.4% at close range!

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