One Year Left to Play

Chapter 562 - 172: Deciding Season Two

The Lakers originally thought the last game of their five-game road trip would be the hardest, but they actually won pretty steadily. However, Anfernee Hardaway was really impressive. Sometimes a superstar can have a game-changing performance, and the Lakers almost became just the backdrop.

But they won in the end, going 3 wins and 2 losses. Overall, they did okay on this five-game road trip.

At this stage, the probability of strong teams losing has actually increased; there are more matchups between strong teams, and those teams on the brink of the playoffs are putting up a fight.

Even the Bulls have lost two of their last five games.

On April 1st, the morning after finishing their five-game road trip, Zhang Hao returned to Los Angeles with the team.

After getting home, Zhang Hao closed the door and had a "fight" with Aprile Clark. From 10:30 in the morning until after lunch, you could hear Aprile Clark’s shouting.

Ten days without seeing each other, it was quite intense.

In the end, it was Zhang Hao’s low shout that announced the winner of this match...

As Aprile Clark complained about Zhang Hao’s relentlessness and twisted her way to prepare a late lunch, Zhang Hao remembered something, got up, opened his computer, and logged onto the NBA’s official website.

Since the release of the win95 advanced edition, known domestically as win97, there has been a significant improvement in the internet. The homepage of the NBA website now has images!

Finally, it’s no longer like browsing a newspaper online!

Though still quite basic, it at least looks like a proper website, unlike before when it seemed like images were being blocked.

The headline was last month’s Players of the Month Awards.

"Boss Qiao misses out on Player of the Month, MVP achievement at 5/6... No wonder he was last season’s MVP! If it weren’t for Jordan and the Bulls being too strong, the Admiral might have won two in a row?

With Jordan’s return, is the Admiral the most unfortunate? It’s bad enough being labeled weak in the playoffs, and now he can’t even compete for regular season awards during his peak year..."

Sure enough, the Spurs’ star player David Robinson, who defeated the Bulls head-on without losing a game, won last month’s Player of the Month Award.

As for Rookie of the Month, there was no suspense as Zhang Hao claimed it for the fifth consecutive month.

This time, Zhang Hao made history; since the introduction of the Rookie of the Month award in the 1979-1980 season, only Larry Bird and David Robinson have won it more than three times, and both won it four times.

Zhang Hao became the first player in NBA history to win Rookie of the Month five times in his rookie season.

But this didn’t cause much of a stir. Firstly, it’s just a Rookie of the Month Award, and secondly, Zhang Hao had been far ahead of his peers from the beginning. The 1995 rookie class was generally more about potential than immediate impact, and while many rookies from ’95 have recognized potential, there’s no second player like Zhang Hao leading as the top scorer on a strong team to victories.

Winning Rookie of the Month for five consecutive months, or even sweeping Rookie of the Month in a single season, was something media and fans had anticipated.

The Lakers’ playoff prospects being underestimated and Zhang Hao’s scoring style outside the three-second zone questioned... But nobody has ever doubted Zhang Hao’s individual performance in his rookie season. His stats and achievements are concrete, historically significant for a rookie.

Although not sensational, it’s a topic that will surely be discussed, as Zhang Hao saw when he turned on the TV to watch sports programs and saw a host on the American Cable TV Station passionately praising Mr. Zhang’s rookie season as comparable to Jordan, Olajuwon, and David Robinson.

The hottest topic, of course, remained Jordan finishing second in the Player of the Month voting for five consecutive months, and the Bulls’ 63-9 record...

At two in the afternoon, after having breakfast and taking a shower, Zhang Hao dragged Aprile Clark out, heading straight to the TV station for some work that had been scheduled a month ago.

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As April arrived, it signified that the NBA regular season was nearing its end.

This is the time when each regular season garners the most attention.

The battle for playoff spots, ranking battles, playoff matchup predictions, and so on... These are what fans most enjoy seeing.

Currently, the most followed news is almost all about the Bulls and Jordan.

The Bulls are currently 63-9, with ten games left to play. Can they become the first and only team in NBA history to lose fewer than ten games in a single season?

As things stand, the Lakers’ historically best 69-13 record is basically outdated.

There is also the matter of Jordan finishing second in Player of the Month voting for five consecutive months.

Jordan now feels pain mixed with joy.

The pain is from not winning Player of the Month again; he doesn’t know what more he needs to do, as this season his performance has been among the best in NBA history. Yet, every month, someone manages to outdo him by just a tiny bit.

The joy comes from finally dominating the headlines!

On April 1st, the Bulls didn’t have a game. They won yesterday, avoiding consecutive losses, making them the only team this season to not have suffered back-to-back losses, which was gratifying.

"If that kid could just lose a few in a row..."

The Lakers had a losing streak at the start of the season, but since Zhang Hao joined the Lakers, they haven’t had a losing streak.

Actually, Zhang Hao did experience a losing streak with the Brooklyn Nets, but both the media and fans are inclined to view his time with the Nets as a "transition period," and regard the period after his trade to the Lakers as the true start of his NBA career.

Slept in this morning, and by noon, Jordan was glued to the TV, flipping through a big stack of newspapers brought to him by his servant. As expected, he didn’t win Player of the Month, but no matter which channel’s sports show or news he watched, the biggest segments were all about the Bulls and himself.