novelraw Chapter 369 - 112: I Never Said I’d Enter the Draft Next Year!
Chapter 369 - 112: I Never Said I’d Enter the Draft Next Year!
As for face or no face... who would refuse money?
After a day of preparation, by 5 p.m., the game between the Lakers and the Bucks had begun.
No one enjoys playing against the Bucks these past two years.
Even when winning easily, no team wants to play against the Bucks; it’s always hard to get motivated.
Because the Bucks don’t resemble a professional team; their strongest player, Glenn Robinson, is the type who just scores 20 points each night and clocks out. The personality of the team leader easily influences others, and everyone just wants to pad their own stats, without any will to win.
This leaves their opponents with no real game experience; it’s not like playing a bad chess player will lead to a satisfying win.
Occasionally, when opponents face the Bucks reluctantly, they end up losing... some media jokingly call this the Bucks’ winning strategy.
Luckily, the Lakers had just beaten Jordan, and were roaring with excitement, playing quite actively; you could see their stamina had a big impact.
But in the game against the Bucks, Glenn Robinson and Vin Shell didn’t explode; even if both smoothly scored 20 points, as long as the opponent doesn’t get careless and plays earnestly, the Bucks are hard-pressed to win.
to 92, the Lakers scored 106 points, just their average for the season so far, but the points conceded were low, so they easily took the game.
...
On December 19, the Lakers arrived in Indianapolis.
Zhang Hao had 588 days left; yesterday, besides gaining 5 days by playing against the Bucks, Wang Zhizhi contributed 2 more days, though Georgetown University sadly lost.
After resting for a night, by 6:30 p.m. on December 20, the Lakers started their last game of a six-game road trip, facing the Pacers.
As a fellow shooter, Reggie Miller admired Zhang Hao.
Zhang Hao "played against Jordan," and Reggie Miller’s admiration for Zhang Hao grew.
However, this season, Reggie Miller lost twice against teams Zhang Hao was in, which was quite annoying!
But their Pacers team was really restrained by players like Sibaros; as long as Sibaros was in good form, had someone feeding him the ball, and shooters performed, Sibaros posed an unsolvable problem for the Pacers.
Finally, this time, the Pacers seized an opportunity!
With the Lakers’ players’ stamina predictably reaching its limit, the Pacers fiercely defended and attacked with full force tonight!
There are always such situations, getting ambushed at the last moment of a long road trip, and Del Harris had no solution.
What puzzled Del Harris was that even if the Magician was just returning after back-to-back games, and his stamina was still decent—better even than during the game against the Bulls—there was no problem; he just reacclimated quickly to the game rhythm.
But theoretically, the one who should be the most tired, who might hit the rookie wall and even worried Del Harris a bit, why did this rookie have better stamina and mental state than those who barely played?
Not just his mental state, but his physical condition too?
"Why can’t we worry about this guy at all... just let him shoot more!"
With Del Harris’s decision, Zhang Hao played 37 minutes in the game against the Pacers, scoring 13 out of 29 shots, including 3 of 9 three-pointers, plus 7 of 7 free throws, scoring 36 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists... unfortunately, the Lakers’ overall shooting accuracy wasn’t even as high as Zhang Hao’s not-so-high shooting percentage; the team only scored 86 points.
In the end, the Lakers lost 86 to 100 against the Pacers, ending their 4-game winning streak and falling to an 18-8 record, losing their position as the third seed in the West to the Utah Jazz!
...
...
The winter on the West Coast has its own unique chill; around 11 a.m. on December 21, the Lakers team returned to Los Angeles.
At this time, many people were even wearing short sleeves; the sunlight was still warm, but when the wind blew, it was quite chilly.
As Zhang Hao stepped out towards the parking lot, feeling a chill from the breeze, he instantly woke up from the flight-induced daze!
The side of Zhang Hao’s adolescent personality came through, and he shouted, "City of Angels, we’re back!"
The teammates were startled, but some found it amusing and echoed, "City of Angels, we’re back!"
Then, the team felt a shared camaraderie, and even the recently joined Magician found it fun, so they all shouted together, "City of Angels, we’re back!"
The people around stopped to watch the suddenly childish Lakers players, causing the group to blush in embarrassment.
At that moment, though they wanted to find a hole to crawl into, they were more curious about Zhang Hao’s expression...
"Eh?"
Where did Zhang Hao go?
Scanning around, Zhang Hao had already distanced himself from them, and instead of heading to the parking lot, it seemed like he was trying to avoid them!
That wasn’t all; they saw a beautiful girl running towards Zhang Hao, who also approached her, and they embraced each other...
In a flash, this group of Lakers players started cursing at the scene!
First, the adolescent act embarrassed them, and coming back from an away game, he had a beautiful girl picking him up! Not to mention such a fresh and attractive one!
...
While Zhang Hao was on the six-game road trip, the University of Southern California had already started their winter break, ending the first semester, with a break until January 15, roughly a month, after which the second semester starts, ending around the end of March to early April, just as March Madness concludes, and the final semester is from late April to mid-June. Different universities have different schedules, but the University of Southern California follows this arrangement.
The University of Kansas was also about to have their break; Zhang Hao had talked with Pierce on the phone, planning to return to Los Angeles at noon on the 24th to watch the Christmas game.
Zhang Hao called Pierce to ask when he would return, and although they exchanged just a few words, the call lasted nearly two and a half hours.
Pierce was more excited about Zhang Hao joining the Lakers, and he eventually questioned why Zhang Hao hadn’t called him sooner.
Zhang Hao hesitated for a while and then confessed—he forgot.
Evidently, Mrs. Pierce regularly contacted her son, telling Pierce about the latest situations, definitely including invited visits to watch several Lakers games, sitting in the first few rows or even front row.
So when Zhang Hao admitted he "forgot," Pierce angrily hung up the phone with a "slam."
He felt let down after all!
But hearing that Pierce was still so talkative, Zhang Hao wasn’t worried about being hung up on; he should be doing well.
The University of Kansas, a traditional powerhouse, had Pierce frequently in the news, along with a teammate like Billups...
"Aix, hurry up and help me hang this up..."
Hearing the call, Zhang Hao went downstairs to the living room, where Aprile Clark was decorating for the upcoming Christmas, and he immediately stepped in to help with the higher places.
"Christmas is coming..."
"Is the Christmas game against the Celtics? If Pierce gets drafted by the Celtics in the future, what expression would he have when coming to Los Angeles for a Christmas game?"