novelraw Chapter 376 - 114: This Was a Great Deal
Chapter 376 - 114: This Was a Great Deal
"What’s happening?"
The Celtics were startled by the increasingly frenzied atmosphere on the scene!
Some Celtics players noticed Zhang Hao looking at them just now with a face as if they were delicious food, seemingly eager to swallow them whole...
"No, we’re the underdogs right now. We should be the ones fighting fiercely, the ones putting all our efforts into making a counterattack. How come they seem to want it more than we do?"
Del Harris’s guidance, combined with the history of the Lakers and Celtics rivalry, brought the Lakers players determination and an impulse to revive their glory.
But Zhang Hao inspired his teammates, bringing them fighting spirit!
The fans could sense Zhang Hao’s immense desire to defeat the Celtics, and as teammates, they felt it even more strongly!
Due to factors such as Zhang Hao never showing this expression when facing other teams, everyone who noticed Zhang Hao felt he wanted to represent the Lakers to defeat the Celtics...
Sensing Zhang Hao’s "love" for the Lakers, Magician came over and patted Zhang Hao’s shoulder: "You definitely should be a Laker, the future is..."
Zhang Hao shivered and quickly said, "No, no, you can’t say that, the future belongs to everyone!"
"Uh... yeah, we all together will create a new era for the Lakers." Magician felt something was odd with his little brother but didn’t think too much of it.
Zhang Hao breathed a sigh of relief, almost hearing something he shouldn’t have, but...
"They seem to have misunderstood something... Whatever!"
...
At 8:30 PM, the Christmas showdown between the Lakers and Celtics began.
Initially, the Celtics were very spirited. Even though they weren’t confident, they had the determination and wanted to defeat the Lakers.
Despite the considerable gap in strength, didn’t someone say?
Basketball is round!
Seems like someone else also said.
Only those who fight will win!
However, feeling the increasingly intense determination of the Lakers before the game, even to the extent of wanting to desperately win, the Celtics players were somewhat bewildered.
Celtics players have a sense of identity and participation because of the basketball history rivalry between the two teams, but they’re not at the point of wanting to fight desperately for the Celtics to win.
Because they’ve always been losing all these years, a losing team finds it hard to have any collective honor.
The desire to win brought by historical rivalry was directly defeated—they’re a team with ordinary strength, and because their team has a clear goal to tank, they’re ranked third from last in the East. Although the coach recently wanted to start winning, trying to make changes after Duncan refused to enter the draft early, the mindset to win isn’t something that can be cultivated in just three to five days.
Fighting spirit is important; why are the Utah Jazz and SuperSonics called the bullies?
Why do bottom teams almost not want to fight back when they encounter them, letting them slaughter?
Because they’ve always put up an image of "playing the weak teams to death," causing the bottom teams to directly lose their fighting spirit upon seeing them and then get crushed.
Tonight’s Celtics were about the same, rare for them to muster fighting spirit against the Lakers, yet their spirit collapsed before the game even began.
While the Lakers were immensely eager to win tonight!
With a fierce assault, the Lakers were already leading by 19 points by halftime, and by the end of the third quarter, the gap was widened to 27 points, leading 85-58, pushing the game into garbage time.
Zhang Hao enjoyed a relaxed three quarters clock-out, playing 28 minutes, shooting 9 of 13, hitting 1 of 1 from three-point range, plus 3 of 3 free throws, easily scoring 22 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks.
to 98, the Lakers easily defeated the Celtics, bringing their record to 20 wins and 8 losses!
Earned 5 days of lifespan!
Zhang Hao originally thought the opposing team would respond fiercely, but they didn’t; they gave up early on.
Not many Celtics players caught Zhang Hao’s attention, just Rick Fox and Eric Williams. Although there were more skilled players, these were the two Zhang Hao focused on.
Rick Fox was noticeable because of his top-of-the-arc playmaking ability, and Eric Williams was notable for being the 14th pick of the same draft class, entering the NBA at 23 and immediately becoming a quality role player. His two freely growing front teeth were hard to ignore... This guy was also a power forward, started off average, but continued playing well.
Zhang Hao didn’t know how to describe this game, a one-sided match. When asked during the post-game interview about his thoughts on his career’s first matchup with the Celtics, Zhang Hao replied, "This is not the Lakers vs. Celtics game in my mind."
...
...
The fiery clash between the yellow and green was lackluster, even though it was a Christmas game, it didn’t spark much excitement, causing many old fans to lament the end of an era.
The Celtics’ intent to tank for Duncan was obvious; this season was a failure. They can only wait for next season to tank again.
But tanking is a technical task; the Celtics have been rotting for several years, seemingly destined to continue their downward spiral.
In contrast, the Lakers’ draft positions have never been too high, but they’ve been picky and precise, patching and repairing, actually assembling several potential All-Star talents, trading two to acquire Zhang Hao, who in less than one-third of his rookie season has scored 40+ four times, showing signs of rising.