On June 1st, Zhang Yang and his teammates had already spent two days in Inglewood, Los Angeles, preparing for the finals. Today marked the first game day of the finals.
Over the past two days, including today's pre-game preparation phase, they hadn't stopped being interviewed, and the media hype was intense. But having played in the finals 'so many times,' Zhang Yang was more than adept at handling it all.
At 7:40 PM, at the Great Western Forum Arena, the entrance ceremony began. Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the court amidst boos... and intermixed cheers.
After the ceremony, Zhang Yang looked around and saw nearly twenty thousand people, about two or three in ten were wearing Knicks' number 34 jerseys!
As a Chinese player, Zhang Yang had a fan base in California, and even among some minorities in Texas and Florida.
But most of the people he saw wearing his jersey were not minorities.
