One Year Left to Play

The new core of the Hornets, Little Anthony Mason, is quite friendly to the Lakers, mainly because the Lakers thrashed the New York Knicks in the season opener.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two teams made their final preparations before the game.

When the schedule was announced in September, the Lakers initially thought that apart from the game against the New York Knicks, the next four or five games would be relatively easy until they faced the Rockets.

However, who knew that after losing Larry Johnson, the Hornets would perform so fiercely!

The Hornets traded Larry Johnson to the New York Knicks in exchange for Little Anthony Mason. For the New York Knicks, getting a superstar power forward who averages 20+10 in exchange for Little Anthony Mason was like getting a bargain with no cost at all.

Little Anthony Mason is indeed inferior to Larry Johnson in scoring ability, rebounding ability, and even at being three years younger, making it seem like the New York Knicks robbed the Hornets in this trade. The Hornets couldn’t afford Larry Johnson’s million-dollar salary starting from the 97-98 season, but Little Anthony Mason was a better fit for the Hornets, who had so many shooters.

After acquiring Little Anthony Mason, it was as if the Hornets came back to life!

In the opening three games, which were part of a four-game stretch in five days, the Hornets surprisingly had a 3-0 start!

29-year-old Glenn Rice scored a total of 100 points in the first three games, hitting 15 three-pointers, averaging five made threes per game.

Zhang Hao’s future memories don’t hold too many impressions of this Hornets team; he just knows that Dale Curry will eventually become the Hornets’ all-time leading scorer. Seeing this past year’s trades, he understood one thing—building a team is not just about the strength of the players; on a certain foundation, the right fit is more important.

Last season, the Hornets made a big splash by acquiring Kenny Anderson, but it turned out to be a poor fit.

And for years, Larry Johnson had been carrying the Hornets forward, but it turned out that the Hornets didn’t need a low-post beast that much. Instead, with a running shooter like Glenn Rice, a facilitating inside player was more suitable for this team.

During the offseason, it seemed like the Hornets got the short end of the stick by trading for the undersized inside combination of Little Anthony Mason and Clifford Robinson, yet they delivered an outstanding performance.

Even though this was the Hornets’ fourth game in five days, with the new season just starting, fatigue shouldn’t be a big issue. Given the Hornets’ shooting performance at the beginning, the Lakers weren’t taking any chances.

"Tini Boggs, 32 years old, 160 cm, 65 kg, ability rating 78, offense 81, defense 52, passing 91, speed 96, strength 75, flexibility 99... He’s back! Averaging 10.3 points and 9.3 assists per game in the first three games, slightly tricky..."

"Glenn Rice, 29 years old, 203 cm, 103 kg, ability rating 90, offense 96, defense 79, three-point shooting 96, mid-range shooting 92, layup 91... There’s gotta be something up with his shooting, given he’s averaging 33.3 points at the start, with sixty percent three-point shooting—it’s just ridiculous!"

"Dale Curry, 32 years old, 193 cm, 93 kg, ability rating 83, offense 88, defense 79, three-point shooting 91, mid-range shooting 89, layup 93... That’s more like it! But Old Curry’s performance this year is even better than last year! Seems like Auntie really wasn’t right for this team. Once he left, everyone was liberated!"

"Clifford Robinson, 30 years old, 208 cm, 102 kg, ability rating 87, offense 83, defense 90, three-point shooting 86...

Little Anthony Mason, 30 years old, 201 cm, 113 kg, ability rating 87, offense 81, defense 91, passing 87...

Matt Geiger, 27 years old, 213 cm, 110 kg, ability rating 69..."

The three big inside players of the Hornets, Zhang Hao feels they are really odd but quite effective.

The Hornets picked up a bargain this summer. During the offseason, the Blazers brought in Rashid Wallace and let go of Clifford Robinson in his prime, mainly due to unsuccessful contract extension talks—Clifford Robinson wanted an average annual contract of 7 million for seven years, which the Blazers were not willing to offer. Not wanting to see Clifford Robinson leave for nothing the next summer, the Hornets traded a 13th pick draft right to get him back. It was a huge steal.

The Hornets are still a team that relies on a six-player rotation, but they are still not to be underestimated. The Heat, a team known for defense even better than the New York Knicks, was outshot by the Hornets’ army of shooters yesterday!

Boggs, Glenn Rice, Clifford Robinson, and Dale Curry—all four players had a three-point shooting percentage of over forty percent in the opening games!

At 5:58 PM, the game was about to begin.

The starting lineup for the Lakers that night remained the same: Kenny Anderson, Doug Christie, George Lynch, Barkley, and Zhang Hao.

The Hornets sent out the combination of Boggs, Glenn Rice, Clifford Robinson, Little Anthony Mason, and Matt Geiger.

Zhang Hao walked onto the court amidst the cheers of the local fans.

Yes, not yet twenty years old and currently a sophomore, Zhang Hao was quite popular in Charlotte!

The reason is that the new star of Duke, a rival of North Carolina, Kobe Bryant, publicly stated that Zhang Hao is the opponent in his mind.

Then, Carter publicly stated that Kobe was not as good as Zhang Hao.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, hence gaining some points.

The local fans turned their support, and that was not all; even last year when Zhang Hao, still a rookie, came here for the preseason games, he managed to sway the fans, something that the Hornets players accepted.

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