But after one afternoon had passed, the Bobcats players were on the verge of collapse.
Many of the questions from reporters during interviews were sharp and could even be described as deliberately provocative, along with various attempts to sow discord.
For instance, they repeatedly grilled Felton about 'shooting less often than Zhang Yang', 'earning less from endorsements than Zhang Yang', 'being drafted lower than Deron who he lost to in the NCAA finals', 'not performing as well as Paul'... and so on, hounding him until he was exasperated.
By the morning of the 28th, Jordan had outright declared the venue off-limits to interviews, wanting them to focus solely on preparing for the evening's game.
With no reporters around, the arena became a refuge for the Bobcats players, where they felt the world finally quiet down.
Before the morning pre-game meeting began, Felton complained to Zhang Yang sitting beside him, "James's fans are all insane, I don't even dare go online now."
