Chapter 110 109. Scoring a goal is the kingly way!

The purpose of coming here is to score!

Even Kirilenko can't scare me!
This is Sloan’s interpretation of Zhang Yang’s move this time.

When the Jazz attacked, Deron played against Felton alone. He failed to get rid of Felton's entanglement after a change of direction breakthrough, and broke into the inside, where he was sandwiched by Zhang Yang who came in from the baseline.

Facing two players from the same class, Deron did not force his way through, but passed the ball steadily...

Deron's advantages in playing basketball are truly visible to the naked eye.

However, Zhang Yang is also a calm defender and will not retreat mindlessly.

When Devin Brown received the ball in a wide open space in the corner, his first reaction was not to shoot, but to see if there were teammates in other positions.

When Zhang Yang moved out again and got in front of Devin Brown, Devin Brown couldn't find a teammate to receive the ball. Seeing Zhang Yang rushing towards him, Devin Brown made a panicked shot... and missed!
Perkins got into position and Felton protected the defensive rebound.

Sloan turned his head and sighed. Devin Brown was their most unsuccessful signing last summer.

Only a fool would pay a player like this 250 million U.S. dollars. With that amount of money, he could have snatched Jason Hart, who averaged 9 points and 5 assists per game for the Bobcats last season.

Others didn't like watching the finals between the Spurs and the Pistons last season, but Sloan watched it with great gusto. In a game where the Spurs narrowly defeated the Pistons, Devin Brown made 3 of 2 three-pointers, which played a crucial role in the Spurs' final victory. In the offseason, he suggested that the management take action to sign this player. It was heard that the Lakers also wanted to introduce Devin Brown, and the Jazz management directly offered him a one-year, $1 million offer. The Spurs did not match, and the Lakers gave up the competition... Later they found out that both the Spurs and the Lakers only offered him a one-year minimum salary, and they were taken advantage of.

In the transition from offense to defense, the Bobcats continued with Perkins' continuous high-post screens, Felton's breakthroughs with the help of screens, and Zhang Yang's circling the post to receive the ball outside the free throw line.

Deron is full of talent on the offensive end, but he still has flaws. His defensive talent is not that good. He is slow in switching defense and has poor awareness of chasing after running players. He was easily thrown off by Zhang Yang during the switching defense.

Facing Kirilenko who was expanding from the inside, Zhang Yang did not hesitate and shot decisively... and hit it again!
Sloan looked at Kirilenko's defense and had a bad feeling about the future.

Of course, he is very satisfied with Kirilenko, who is his favorite player in the team. However, Kirilenko's defense after growing up is very different from what he initially expected!

Watching Kirilenko's games, you will find that although he has often been compared with Garnett and Gerald Wallace in the past two years, his defense is fundamentally different from these two.

The common feature of three-man defense is that they can connect the inside and outside defenses, and they can fill in defensive players around the three of them to create a good team defense, but their respective defensive methods are completely different.

Gerald Wallace is a serious small forward who plays pressure defense on the outside, double-teams the inside, and blocks cuts from the wing.

Kirilenko prefers to stay in the low post like an inside player. Although he is not strong, he is very tough when defending inside players. He is good at filling in from the inside to the outside. He is not good at intercepting passes. It can be seen from the data that his number of steals is similar to Garnett's, far less than Gerald Wallace, but the number of blocks is higher than both Garnett and Gerald Wallace. When defending outside players alone, he is considered poor compared to outside defensive players of the same level.

Garnett's defense is completely different from that of mainstream power forwards. He is between Gerald Wallace and Kirilenko. He is not good at one-on-one defense in the interior. His defense style is not strong, nor can he be called tough... Of course, he was very tough when facing Nowitzki, Webber, and Rasheed Wallace, but when facing power forwards such as Barkley, Larry Johnson, Duncan, Kemp, and Vin Baker, he would not match up if he could, but focused on assisting in double-teaming and cutting off passes.

In terms of mid-range protection, Gerald Wallace directly faces the mid-range scorer, and Garnett's defensive style also greatly restricts the mid-range scorer. Kirilenko is better at protecting the rim than these two, but his mid-range protection is much worse than these two.

Seeing that Zhang Yang, a rookie, dared to ignore Kirilenko's consecutive shots, Sloan couldn't imagine how difficult it would be for their Jazz to win the championship in the future if the Lakers rise again in the next few years... Curse the Lakers to never recover!
Zhang Yang scored two goals in a row, helping the Bobcats to widen the gap to 5 points.

Deron couldn't keep calm anymore, he wanted to do it himself! He singled out Felton, rushed to the free throw line, and took a mid-range shot while being blocked... and missed!
Perkins got stuck in position, Gerald Wallace moved in to grab the ball, Felton moved inward to prepare to pass the ball, and Zhang Yang made a quick run from the left mid-range... After watching this scene, Sloan felt that the game was going to be over again tonight...

At this moment, Matt Harpring rushed into the inside, threw himself into the air, confronted Gerald Wallace, touched the ball first...bang, lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Although the referee blew the whistle in time and called a foul on Gerald Wallace who jumped forward to grab the rebound, Matt Harpring helped the Jazz win the ball, but his fall was so painful that even the Bobcats players felt the pain!
Too hard!
When I stepped onto the court, I knew I had to move forward, be strong, and never back down, only then could I have my place - Matt Harpring's declaration when he participated in the draft.

Although Matt Harpring only joined the Jazz in 2002, when the Jazz had already passed their peak, he only partnered with the duo for a short year. However, when one of the duo left for Los Angeles and the other retired sadly, he, who had only been with the team for a short year, became the man with the most "Jazz spirit" in the team.

Seeing Matt Harpring stand up, pat his butt and prepare to continue the attack, Zhang Yang who ran back said "Oh" and shook his head. When he turned around to see when the ball was coming, he happened to see the man nicknamed "football player" throwing himself into the air.

The opposing players were all inspired by Matt Harpring's desperate spirit. Zhang Yang felt that the pressure of this game became greater, but at the same time he felt very excited. It was his honor to play against an opponent like Matt Harpring!

The Jazz resumed their attack, and Deron asked Matt Harpring to initiate a pick-and-roll attack... It wasn't a good play.

Fortunately, the other players of the Jazz moved more actively. Deron saw the opportunity and passed the ball... Okur went around the right elbow area, received the ball and made a mid-range shot!

Although the ball went in, the pick-and-roll made Sloan shake his head.

Now Deron is not good at initiating offense with pick-and-roll. It’s not that he has no talent, but that he is just starting to learn.

When he was in college, he was like Felton, much stronger than other guards, so he could just push forward and didn't need any pick-and-roll at all.

After being selected by the Jazz, he didn't want to try the pick-and-roll. He didn't like Stockton's soft offense. He preferred the one-on-one offense of crushing Paul. Sloan arranged for Stockton to teach him the pick-and-roll, but he refused.

Another reason why Sloan suppressed Deron was that Deron refused to listen to his instructions.

However, Sloan never tried to have a good chat with Deron, and never considered using a more tactful way to let Deron know that he is suitable for pick-and-roll and can get better through pick-and-roll... Although Deron finally gave in to get playing time and a chance to start, and started to learn pick-and-roll, and as Sloan expected, he understood the benefits of pick-and-roll and learned to be more proactive, but...

Anyway, Sloan is now dissatisfied with Deron because he was willing to learn the pick-and-roll only in January, and now his pick-and-roll is not as good as the fat boy on the opposite side.

Zhang Yang's two consecutive mid-range shots helped the Bobcats stop the decline, regain the initiative, and boost the morale of his teammates. Matt Harpring also stepped up to reignite the team's fighting spirit.

The two teams started a tug of war.

Felton initiated the offense with a pick-and-roll, Gerald Wallace cut in from the weak side to respond and keep Okur contained, and Matt Carroll, the Bobcats' best three-point shooter with a 41.6% three-point shooting percentage, contained the defense on the strong sideline.

When Zhang Yang made a threatening shot from the high post, Kirilenko was forced to move up on defense, and the space for Gerald Wallace and Felton to attack the basket immediately opened up.

The Bobcats showed that they are stronger than the Jazz - the completeness of their playing style and the degree of tactical coordination among the players.

The Jazz cannot compare with the Bobcats in these aspects, mainly at the point guard position. Deron's talent is obviously better than Felton's, and his physical condition is enhanced, but his technical maturity is a little worse. His early attitude of "resistance and disobedience" affected his growth in the first half of the season and also affected his cooperation with his teammates.

Felton cooperates very skillfully with Gerald Wallace and Zhang Yang, and they trust and rely on each other.

The cooperation between Deron and Kirilenko was very poor. Deron also failed to utilize Kirilenko's supporting ability. To be precise, the two of them had no cooperation and just played their own games.

Just look at Kirilenko's assists, 4+ assists per game, which is too many. He holds the ball for too long. His supporting method is similar to that of Pau Gasol and Duncan. Theoretically, 2-3 assists per game are normal. They are better at passing the ball to the right teammates in the high position, getting the ball out as soon as possible and getting the ball moving, rather than holding the ball and waiting for teammates to run into open space. That is not called supporting, it is called singles passing.

But the Jazz also have their advantages - lineup!
Even if Boozer is injured, the Jazz's lineup is better than the Bobcats. Just look at the salaries. Minus Boozer's $1100 million, the Jazz still has $4600 million in salary, while the Bobcats only have $2700 million if they remove Okafor.

Especially Okur, a top big man pitcher, whose strength is obviously one level beyond the Bobcats' inside line.

Deron and Kirilenko did not cooperate well, but both of them cooperated well with Okur.

Who said that if you have money you can do whatever you want? The Jazz's performance tonight proved this statement very well. Relying on a more expensive lineup, they fought back and forth with the Bobcats.

In the first quarter, the Bobcats led 28-24, and the Jazz responded with a score of 27-22 in the second quarter, overtaking the Bobcats by one point at halftime. In the first half of the third quarter, the Jazz had a 1-13 advantage, and in the second half, Felton made two consecutive three-pointers to help the Bobcats overtake the score... The two teams took turns leading, and in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Jazz led the Bobcats by two points, 9-92!
When the Bobcats attacked, Felton sneaked in from the top of the arc and passed the ball directly to the basket, but Kirilenko hit it out of bounds. Bickerstaff took advantage of the dead ball and replaced Zhang Yang, who had rested for more than half a quarter.

The Bobcats continued to attack, Zhang Yang came on, Felton switched his style of play, and started the attack with Jumaine Jones' pick-and-roll. After breaking into the inside, Felton passed the ball back to the free throw line.

Kirilenko moved out faster this time. When Zhang Yang received the ball, Kirilenko had already pounced in front of him.

Zhang Yang was not afraid and took the initiative to meet him. At the moment of contact, he suddenly turned right, bypassed Kirilenko, and broke through the middle!

Kirilenko braked and turned around, but it was too late to defend. He could only watch Zhang Yang shoot the ball into the basket before Okur could get into position.

Kirilenko: I have a face as ferocious as a serial killer, but it can't scare this rookie. Is this fair?

At this time, Kirilenko saw Perkins clapping passionately on the sidelines... Well, there is a player on their team who looks more ferocious than him, so he may have gotten used to it.

When the Jazz attacked, the little brother showed his power. Felton was unwilling to fall behind. When defending Deron's breakthrough, Felton was quick to cut off the ball!

Felton and Deron both rushed towards the ball and scrambled for it.

Zhang Yang, who joined from the side, used his speed advantage to get the ball before Matt Harpring. Seeing this, Gerald Wallace immediately attacked. Zhang Yang pushed for a counterattack and passed the ball to Gerald Wallace on the move. After Gerald Wallace entered the three-point line, he passed the ball back to Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang trotted into the basket and made a layup!
94 to 92, the Bobcats took the lead!

It was the Jazz's turn to attack again. Deron was anxious and chose to act recklessly, taking a step sideways and shooting a three-pointer!
At this time, Deron's first choice to solve problems is not to break through, but to shoot three-pointers. He is the best three-point performer among the 05 players, with a three-point shooting percentage of 43%!

However, Deron failed to break free from Felton's close defense, and his shooting power was affected, so the ball was short!
Zhang Yang received the ball, jumped up to grab it, and poked the ball at the same time as Matt Harpring who was actively rushing for it. Neither of them could control the ball, but Zhang Yang bounced up immediately after landing and grabbed the rebound first.

Matt Harpring: This high school student doesn’t jump very high, but he can jump a lot!
The American football player didn’t know why he thought of the fat guy in Portland. Once he and the fat guy were fighting for a rebound, and the same thing happened…

Kirilenko led the team to retreat, and Zhang Yang saw that there was no chance, so he did not force a fast break, but protected the ball and pushed forward.

When he came to the frontcourt, Zhang Yang wanted to pass the ball to Felton, but he saw Matt Harpring switched to Felton, Devin Brown switched to Jumaine Jones, and the one guarding in front of him was Deron!

Deron didn't want to defend players who were taller and faster than him, but he couldn't defend Gerald Wallace and Jumaine Jones, right? Seeing Zhang Yang outside the three-point line, he could only bite the bullet and press forward, trying to use physical combat to restrict Zhang Yang's start and shooting.

Zhang Yang decisively started to break through, shook his shoulder to divert Deron's center of gravity, crossed steps and changed direction to pass Deron, and rushed from the right side!

Matt Harpring on the wing came up to make up for it, and Zhang Yang passed the ball...

Felton received the ball on the right sideline. When the defense target was Felton, Deron seemed to have a higher defensive IQ and faster footsteps. He rushed in front of Felton when Felton received the ball. When Felton raised his hand, Deron jumped...

Felton patted the ball, took a step to the left to avoid Deron's block, grabbed the ball and jumped, took a three-point shot... and made it!
张杨和费尔顿携手打出一波7比0，率队以97比92取得5分领先优势！
Zhang Yang celebrated by high-fiving Felton when he retreated. When facing these two opponents, the fat boss can always burst out with amazing fighting power!

Although he didn't get an assist because of Felton's technical moves while dribbling the ball, who cares? Scoring a goal is the most important thing!

When the Jazz attacked, the situation was critical and there was not much time left in the game. Okur took the initiative to step forward and asked Brezek for the ball at close range for a one-on-one shot.

If he wants to attack Perkins, Okur certainly can't do it, but attacking the soft Brezek is a viable option.

But Brezek was a little different tonight than usual, the Turkish center...the European Championship opponent!

Okur turned around and made a jump shot from the baseline, but Brezek, who was trying hard to block the shot, tipped the ball to him!
The ball still flew towards the basket, but the place where it landed was still far away from the basket. Brezek turned around and grabbed the defensive rebound!

In the offense-defense transition, rookies Zhang Yang and Felton just scored 7 points together, and encountered the Jazz's key defense. Gerald Wallace took over the offensive banner and broke through with the ball!

Kirilenko did a good job in this one-on-one defense, sticking closely to Gerald Wallace.

Gerald Wallace failed to get in and wanted to pass the ball to Zhang Yang who was on the same side. However, when he saw Brezek squeezed into a good position under the basket and struggled to carry Okur, he immediately changed the pass target.

Brezek received the ball and, relying on his 218cm height and 221cm wingspan, slammed the ball into the basket over Okur!

The referee blew the whistle, the goal was valid, and a penalty was added!

Facing Okur, who can barely be considered an Eastern European center, Brezek toughened up again, beating his chest and roaring in celebration!

This shot not only widened the score gap to 7 points, but also shattered the morale of the Jazz players!

Although most of the players on the Jazz are young, they cannot be considered a 'young team'. Their lineup structure, player system, playing philosophy... and even their own concepts are all continuations of the 'Utah Duo'. Deron Williams and Boozer are their future dual cores.

This has many benefits for the Jazz. For example, they have a very clear development direction. Training young players step by step and optimizing the lineup structure will allow them to become a championship-contending team in the future. As long as they don't encounter opponents like Jordan, they will not be afraid of anyone in the future.

But there are some problems too – the mentality is very old.

They are not lacking in resilience, but they do not have the courage of the Bobcats to fight hard no matter what the situation is or how strong the opponent is!

With Brezec's free throw, the score difference reached 8 points and the Bobcats secured the victory!

At 10:24 pm, the final whistle sounded.

费尔顿19分7助攻、杰拉德-华莱士20分6板4助攻3抢断2盖帽、张杨19分6板2助攻2抢断、布雷泽克16分……105比96，山猫队9分优势击败爵士队！

For the Jazz, Okur scored a game-high 22 points, Kirilenko also performed well with 14 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks, and Matt Harpring came off the bench to score 17 points, his performance not inferior to Zhang Yang.

德隆15分4板4助攻，看着还行，但投篮只有15投6中，还被费尔顿投出了6中4的三分球……

The game was not broadcast live nationwide, but was broadcast live by a local TV station in Salt Lake City.

Post-match interview... I can only say that the Salt Lake City media understands what the fans want to see. They found Deron, who was suppressed by two opposing guards of the same class throughout the entire game.

When Deron was asked about his performance tonight not being as good as Zhang Yang and Felton, he said unwillingly: "It's just like when I was in college. I won't lose to Felton one-on-one, let alone to that high school student, but they have better helpers..."

Teammates next to me: ???
Listen to what you are saying? Are we not as good as those marginal players on the other team?

Zhang Yang, who sneaked over to show his handsome face in front of the camera, was also stunned. What kind of outrageous answer was this?
Zhang Yang remembered that in 2010, after the Jazz were defeated by Kobe in the playoffs for the third consecutive year, Deron was asked why he could never beat Kobe. Deron's answer was "Kobe has a lot of good teammates, such as Gasol, Bynum, Odom... If I had such good teammates, I could also win the championship."

It was these words that triggered the internal conflict within the Jazz.

Boozer directly refused to renew his contract with the Jazz that summer. Such a money-loving person would rather give up the higher salary increase of the Bird Rights renewal and take a few million dollars less to switch to the Bulls. In the following season, Sloan retired, Deron was sent away, and the Jazz rebuilt... The era of the two evil spirits that lasted for more than 30 years collapsed in one summer, and the speed of the collapse was jaw-dropping.

……

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(End of this chapter)