On April 16, the Rockets visited North Shore Garden for their final game to challenge the Celtics.
This is a game that does not attract much attention, because the strength of the two teams is very different, and no matter the victory or defeat, it will not affect the playoff pattern.
In comparison, other life-and-death battles for playoff spots will be more intense and exciting.
For example, if the Lakers play against the Nuggets, if the Lakers lose and the Clippers win, the Lakers will finish ninth and the Clippers will finish eighth and enter the playoffs.
Since the Lakers played against the Rockets, the Lakers have entered the state of Kobe Bryant losing by high scores, kneeling all the way, to the point where they are now not even guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.
During this process, many Lakers fans hated Zhang Zhiyuan and hated him for being a Laker.
There are also some Lakers fans who are complaining about the management and Kobe, feeling that Zhang Zhiyuan's departure is their responsibility.
Whether it is hatred or nostalgia, this cannot change the current situation of the Lakers.
North Shore Gardens.
Rockets vs. Celtics, there are no major TV stations in North America live broadcast, only local stations in Boston and Houston live broadcast.
When the game started, Celtics general manager Angie and his assistants sat in the box watching the game.
"How about this Zhang?"
Angie asked.
He is now planning a deal that will shock the league and is preparing to form a true Big Three team.
Originally, his plan was to trade Garnett and Ray Allen, but the emergence of Zhang Zhiyuan gave him other thoughts, wondering whether he could replace Ray Allen with Zhang Zhiyuan.
In comparison, Zhang Zhiyuan is much cheaper than Ray Allen.
According to the maximum salary rules, even if Zhang Zhiyuan is given a maximum salary, the starting salary is only 12 million, with an annual increase of 5%, which is about 51 million in four years.
Ray Allen's current annual salary is 16 million, an increase of 8%, which will be almost 72 million in four years.
What's more, Zhang Zhiyuan's maximum salary is just a joke. Anji believes that as long as he extends an olive branch and throws out a middle-class contract, Zhang Zhiyuan will come over.
No one can refuse to come to Boston, and no one can refuse the temptation of a wealthy team.
The only question before Anji now is whether Zhang Zhiyuan can replace Ray Allen.
After the first half of the game, Anji shook his head and felt that it was not good.
Zhang Zhiyuan made 3 of 6 shots in the first half and only scored 7 points.
Ray Allen is averaging 26.1 points per game this season, and the gap is not as big as that.
"How about signing him as a backup for Allen and Paul? He can play the second and third positions, and one person can play two roles."
The assistant made a suggestion.
“Too expensive.”
Anji said helplessly.
If they really form a Big Three, the salary of these three players alone will be 56 million, which exceeds the salary cap. Among other players, they can only have one middle-class player at most, and the rest must have basic salaries.
Afterwards, Anji left the box. There was no need for him to watch the game anymore. The defeat was already decided.
In the first half, the Rockets led by 17 points, 55-38. In the second half, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady simply stopped playing to recharge their batteries for the playoffs.
Zhang Zhiyuan went on the field to train with the substitutes. Anyway, he is young and energetic.
Without Yao Mai, Zhang Zhiyuan has a lot of power to take action.
The Rockets' first attack in the second half was launched by Zhang Zhiyuan. His defender was Ryan Gomez, a 2.03cm tall forward who mainly played the 3rd and 4th positions.
However, at this time he was pushed to the No. 2 position.
There is no way, the current Celtics lineup is very deformed, full of small forwards and power forwards, lacking guards and centers.
This kind of lineup, at first glance, doesn’t want to win.
Gomez suffered from speed when he played the 3rd position, and now he has to guard against Zhang Zhiyuan, which is even more difficult.
Zhang Zhiyuan's own speed is already much better than Gomez, and now he has received some bonuses from Rondo.
Easily passing Gomez, Zhang Zhiyuan went to the basket. Rondo also wanted to cover up the defense, but was squeezed away by Zhang Zhiyuan.
Scored, point difference 2.
"If you are not strong enough, don't imitate others' defense. It will easily become a backdrop."
Zhang Zhiyuan mocked Rondo.
It is difficult to anger players like Duncan, Ginobili, and Nash, so Zhang Zhiyuan is too lazy to talk trash to those guys.
There are also some players who, although they have a hot temper, are very poor in ability and are not the targets of Zhang Zhiyuan's anger.
Rondo is just right.
This guy has a bad temper and is a powder keg, and can easily gain hatred points. At the same time, this guy's speed and passing are both good, so he can be exploited.
"Fake Squid, you piece of trash will even be eliminated from the draft."
Rondo was not polite to Zhang Zhiyuan and directly responded.
"I, an undrafted player, am now averaging 17 points per game. How about you, do you have as many single digits as me?"
Zhang Zhiyuan smiled.
Rondo's scoring average this season is just over 6 points per game, which is much worse than Zhang Zhiyuan.
The two of them were cursing, but it didn't stop them from playing.
The Celtics were attacking, and Zhang Zhiyuan very willfully asked Hyde to switch defenses with him so that he could guard against Rondo.
"Does this guy have a grudge against Rondo?"
Battier asked Yao Ming off the court.
"I don't know, but the two of them participated in the draft in the same year, so they may have had some unpleasant experiences during the process."
Yao Ming said.
On the court, Zhang Zhiyuan continuously prevented Rondo's breakthroughs. Rondo could only temporarily control the ball on the outside to observe his teammates. He was about to pass the ball.
Zhang Zhiyuan deliberately took two steps back, pointed at his own basket, and mocked: "Shoot, I won't guard. This is care for the weak."
This was so insulting that Rondo couldn't stand it for a while and directly shot a three-pointer.
This season he took a total of 30 three-pointers and hit 6, which was just 20%.
Zhang Zhiyuan was not so unlucky. Rondo missed another shot this time, and his shooting rate fell below 20%.
Zhang Zhiyuan couldn't help but covered his mouth and laughed, and Rondo's hatred level also increased.
Most of the time, he takes the initiative to offend others. Unexpectedly, someone took the initiative to offend him today.
Rondo secretly vowed to make Zhang Zhiyuan look good.
"Hahaha......"
Although I don’t know why Zhang Zhiyuan targeted Rondo, his teammates still laughed very cooperatively. Of course, it is also possible that they simply thought it was funny that Rondo was being humiliated.
The Rockets attack, Zhang Zhiyuan holds the ball from the outside.
He said directly to Gomez: "Go away and let Rondo, the most rubbish guy on your team, guard me."
After saying this, Rondo felt uncomfortable all over.
If you don't go up to guard, it seems like he's scared. If you go up, it seems like he admits that he is trash.
However, he still chose to switch defenses with Gomez, and he couldn't wait to regain his face.
At the three-point line, the two are one-on-one.
Fans who originally didn't care much about the game suddenly became interested. Although they didn't know what the grudge was between the two, the grudge showdown was always fun to watch.
"Let me teach you how to shoot."
Zhang Zhiyuan said and pulled out his hand.
Rondo obviously didn't expect Zhang Zhiyuan to be so simple and rude, and his reaction was a little slow.
When he took off, Zhang Zhiyuan had already thrown the ball.
The ball goes in.
Zhang Zhiyuan is quite confident in this three-point sneak attack.
"See, this is the gap."
Zhang Zhiyuan said.
Rondo was angry and anxious.
He wanted to hit Zhang Zhiyuan immediately and regain his face, but unfortunately he didn't have the strength.
It was the Celtics' turn to attack, and Rondo chose to pass the ball.
Although he has a hot temper, he actually has a high IQ and is not stupid.
He knew that shooting with Zhang Zhiyuan would be humiliating himself, so he chose to play to his strengths.
As long as he gets a few more assists and organizes the team's offense well, he may not be rated lower than a scorer.
Two-time MVP Nash explains this principle very well.
Gomez caught the ball and went directly to the basket. Rutherhead's physique was like that of a high school student in front of this guy, and he was helpless.
Gomez scored.
This goal belongs to Zhang Zhiyuan, who messed up the team's defense.
However, Van Gundy did not reprimand or call a timeout.
Where there are people, there are people and sophistication. Zhang Zhiyuan has paid a lot for the team, and it is acceptable to be messy occasionally.
Of course, it was mainly Zhang Zhiyuan's previous performance that reassured Van Gundy.
Zhang Zhiyuan is not the kind of player who has no brains.
Sure enough, in the next round, Zhang Zhiyuan returned to his position on the defensive end.
However, when he and Rutherhead switched defenses, he did not forget to say to Rondo: "I leave this garbage to you. It is a waste for me to defend him."
This is also due to the fact that Rondo is still a rookie, has no championship bonus, and is humble in the low position and dare not make mistakes.
Whenever his reputation is low, he will have a fight with Zhang Zhiyuan to vent his anger.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhiyuan's words made Lutherhead unhappy. What is rubbish? I am indeed a little rubbish compared to the core, but as a teammate, I can't say it.
"I don't guard against garbage either."
Hyde complained.
"Then ignore that trash, he's not a threat anyway."
Zhang Zhiyuan said.
The conversation between the two of them made Rondo go berserk. It was too much.
He rushed forward to hit someone, but it was Lutherhead who was unlucky because Lutherhead was close to Londo.
Rutherhead quickly dodged, and the referee intervened in time to prevent the conflict.
"Stop talking nonsense and play seriously."
The referee warned the instigator Zhang Zhiyuan.
Although trash talk is not prohibited on the court, the referee still has to take control when the trash talk escalates to the point of causing a fight.
Zhang Zhiyuan was only warned, but Rondo was miserable and was directly called a technical offender.
This is because of the favoritism of the home team. Otherwise, he could be expelled because of his beating behavior.
Rondo gritted his teeth and felt infinitely aggrieved after being accused of being a technical offender.
The Rockets attacked, Zhang Zhiyuan broke through for a layup, but was blocked by Jefferson.
But it's not a big problem. He would be embarrassed to call himself a star unless he was over-capped.
Let’s break down the ten players who have been blocked the most, and they are all stars.
For example, Duncan, Anthony, Randolph, Raheem, Iverson, Kobe, Pierce...
The offense and defense transitioned, and Jefferson scored with a strong attack from the basket.
Looking back, Zhang Zhiyuan returned the favor and hit a mid-range jumper.
Next time, Zhang Zhiyuan broke through and scored the ball, and Mutombo scored a layup.
The Celtics immediately changed their defensive strategy and began to focus on defending Zhang Zhiyuan. As soon as he caught the ball, someone would double-team him.
"I find that the media has misunderstood you."
Zhang Zhiyuan suddenly said to Rondo.
These words made Rondo a little confused, and he didn't understand why these words were not 'rubbish' enough.
But he soon understood.
Zhang Zhiyuan continued: "The media all said that you deliberately acted badly, but I can see that you want to win now and are working hard for it, but it's just because you are so bad that you can't win."
The score difference between the two teams is already 24 points. The Celtics are still trying so hard to double-team defense. There is really no sign of deliberate failure.
"Fuck Squid, don't you want to leave Boston alive?"
Gomez also joined in the fight. Zhang Zhiyuan's trash talk just now was a group mocking skill, which offended the entire Celtics team.
"Oh, you fucking scared me to death."
Zhang Zhiyuan said indifferently.
The game continued, although the Celtics players all wanted to beat up Zhang Zhiyuan.
However, considering the consequences, no one took action.
"It seems that Xiao Zhang is also a thorn in his side."
Sun Zhengping said with a smile.
Although thorns are a bit derogatory, basketball is a hand-to-hand game, and it is not a bad thing to be a little bloody.
"This is actually not necessary. The opponent is just a rookie. If there is a conflict and is sent off, Xiao Zhang will still suffer the loss."
Zhang Lili said.
"It's true that the competition in the playoffs will be more intense. I hope Xiao Zhang can control his emotions by then."
Sun Zhengping said.
Unlike them, the fans do not reject such heated conflicts at all.
"Fuck him, don't be afraid."
"Who the hell is that rookie No. 9? Just mess with him."
The fans encouraged him from a distance, but unfortunately Zhang Zhiyuan couldn't hear him.
The game continued, and thanks to Zhang Zhiyuan's outstanding performance, the score difference between the two teams continued to widen.
It's useless for the Celtics to change the starting lineup. Not every player wants to win, and some players' minds are no longer on the court.
Coupled with the flaws in the lineup, the Celtics' starting lineup failed to save the situation.
As the game came to an end, as the defensive actions of the Celtics players became more and more intense, Van Gundy replaced Zhang Zhiyuan, even Luther Head, Juwan Howard and others, and replaced them with five water dispenser managers.
Coco Snyder, Novak, Lucas III...
Without Zhang Lili introducing them, many fans would not know their names at all.
The Celtics caught these guys and beat them up, and then, the game was over.
108 to 99, the Celtics didn't lose much.
But anyone with a discerning eye knows why.
In terms of statistics, Pierce scored 20 points, Jefferson scored 20 points, and the others were all in single digits.
Rondo made 2 of 7 shots and scored 4 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, which doesn't seem particularly bad for a rookie.
But compared with Zhang Zhiyuan, he looks extremely shabby.
Because Yao Mai played for a short time, Zhang Zhiyuan scored the highest score in the game.
He made 12 of 23 shots, 4 of 9 three-pointers, and 3 of 6 free throws, scoring 31 points.
Yao Ming only scored 14 points and Tracy McGrady scored 18 points.
The Rockets played a total of 12 players, and all of them scored points.
Juwan Howard scored 10 points and Alston scored 11 points. A total of five players scored in double figures.
After Anji left, Anji's assistant stayed and watched the game.
He had a vague feeling in his heart that Anji might be wrong this time.
Although Zhang Zhiyuan is not as good as Ray Allen, he may not be much worse. If he can sign with a mid-level contract, he will definitely make a profit.
