Chapter 163 162. Envy
Zhang Yang scored 53 points, shocking the basketball world!

After the game, Zhang Yang occupied the headlines of major media and became the focus of heated discussion among fans.

He played for 34 minutes and made 35 of 20 shots, including 25 of 13 mid-range shots. People who didn't watch the live broadcast saw the shooting frequency and the number of mid-range shots and said it was too exaggerated.

Those who watched the live broadcast were even more shocked!

In the first quarter, the Bobcats were dragged into a fierce battle by the Jazz. At that time, many old fans who had watched the Jazz games in the 90s in front of the TV believed that the Bobcats had an % chance of losing.

Regardless of their own score, lower the opponent's score, and then use their rich experience in low-score games to defeat the opponent. This is the Jazz's best style of play. In the 97 Finals, the Bulls were beaten by the Jazz to only 73 points. The most promising thing about the Jazz now is that they have a viable path.

As a result, in the second quarter, Zhang Yang threw the ball 10 times in half a quarter and scored 14 points without any free throws, which directly disrupted Sloan's rotation arrangement and made the Jazz's starting lineup dare not leave the court to rest for two and a half quarters!

Fans who didn't watch the live broadcast and only read the game report cannot feel the visual impact that fans who watched the live broadcast felt. It is not uncommon for stars to be in hot form and score high points. There are a few times every season, but playing like Zhang Yang is still too special and too rare.

When his touch came, he would never pass the ball and would just keep shooting... Apart from Zhang Yang, fans could only think of one person when it came to this style of play - Kobe Bryant!

Of course, the gap is still huge. Even if Zhang Yang has a big outbreak, his shot consumption is far less than Kobe's. After Kobe threw 46 times, fans thought he could throw a dozen more times and score another 20 points. In the end, Zhang Yang couldn't break through and could only throw three-pointers against the defense.

There is a very important reason why "a mere 53 points" can cause the media to report crazily and fans to discuss it so hotly - at the age of 18 years and 182 days, Zhang Yang broke the record of the youngest person to score 50+ in a single game!

The previous record holder was James, 20 years and 80 days old.

James's 'youngest' record has been broken again. James' fans are all numb. Seeing that Zhang Yang is just 18 and a half years old, let's destroy him!
...

The morning after playing against the Jazz, Zhang Yang was at home, resting on his laptop and reading the news.

I had a great time playing last night, but I was also very tired… I didn’t feel anything before I was substituted for the last time. I was completely excited about shooting at that time. I felt that the basket was as wide as the ocean and I could make any shot. But after I was substituted for the last time and knew that I would not play again, I felt very tired. Fortunately, I rested for more than a minute at the end, otherwise he would not be able to keep standing during the post-match interview.

As he thought, the most discussed thing about his 53 points last night was his age.

Many people don't discuss him as a sophomore player, but discuss him together with those who scored 50+ in their rookie season, because even compared with those players who scored 50+ in their rookie year, he is too young.

The media that took the lead in hyping his 53 points as the youngest player to score 50+ in a single game was actually ESPN. He was surprised when he first saw it, but after thinking about it carefully, he was not surprised. All they want is traffic, and it doesn't matter who they hype. Moreover, although ESPN still finds fault with them all the time this season, when it comes to their team strength and player strength, they mostly praise them.

After all, praising them highly would provide a better excuse for the one who lost to them repeatedly.

After browsing the news for two hours and having enough fun, Zhang Yang tried to find a way to calm himself down.

The feeling of my hands being so hot last night is something you can only experience once in a while.

In the future, there will be a guy named Jennings. In his rookie year, he scored 55 points against Curry and never had that kind of touch again. However, Jennings regarded his performance in that game as his strength. His playing style and shooting choices changed, which directly affected his career.

In his previous life, Zhang Yang had checked Jennings' statistics. In the games before he scored 55 points, his number of shots was reasonable and his hit rate was also good. In 6 of the 5 games, his hit rate was above 44%. But after he scored 55 points, his number of shots increased dramatically and his hit rate plummeted to just over 30%... He had no ball to play before he was 30 years old, and his career hit rate was 38%.

The car in front... is not right, the car behind... is not right either. Anyway, Zhang Yang knows that the matter of 53 points must be viewed rationally.

He went to the official website to check his statistics this season. In the 53 games before he scored 10 points, he scored 5+ points in 10 games and 5+ points in 20 games. He has calmed down a lot.

Still not enough, he looked up what happened when James scored 50+ in his sophomore year, uh...

James played against the Raptors, scoring 56 points while protecting the rim against Bosh, but the Cavaliers lost 98-105.

Then James was surrounded and beaten by Yao Ming and Nowitzki, and was defended to 22 of 7 against the Rockets and 17 of 7 against the Mavericks.

Let's check it out. Which other current superstar scored a lot of points in the early stages of his career? Allen Iverson! A player who scored 50+ in his rookie season, uh...

That was one of five consecutive 5+ games at the end of Iverson's rookie season, and he lost all five games.

Zhang Yang's mouth twitched. He wanted to see how badly these two brothers were targeted after they scored 50+, so that he could calm down, keep a normal mind, and see if he could learn any lessons.

But the experiences of these two people were too tragic, and they almost left a trauma on the young boy.

When you think about it, Jennings has really good mental qualities. He plays with such confidence even though his career shooting percentage is 38%.

...

After resting for a morning, Zhang Yang continued training in the afternoon.

It's rare to score high points purely by relying on a burst of shooting, so practice until you have that kind of shooting ability!
It has been two months since he started training with the team. His mid-range shooting has just improved to 84, which is still a long way from the upper limit of 94. He took the initiative to recall that when he was 80 and was even stronger, his mid-range shooting was 23 when he was about to turn 88. There is still a gap, so he will keep on missing shots and keep on practicing!
The next day, December 12, a new month arrived. After the game with the Jazz, the Bobcats got two days of rest. They rested yesterday and left Charlotte early this morning to start a three-game road trip.

The opponents in the three games are the Wizards, Pacers, and 3ers. Their records are average, but they all have difficult points.

Not long after arriving at the hotel in Washington, DC, the Bobcats received a notice from the league that Okafor had won the award!
The four core players had lunch together. Zhang Yang stared at Okafor and said, "I envy you."

Felton nodded: "Yes, I envy you."

After they finished speaking, they looked at Gerald Wallace.

Gerald Wallace hesitated and said, "I took it."

Zhang Yang and Felton pointed at the restaurant door in unison: "Get out!"

Gerard Wallace looked at the two of them speechlessly.

Okafor also smiled, saying, "I thought Jack would win the Player of the Month award, but I didn't expect it would be me."

Zhang Yang responded, "You scored 16 points, 20.5 rebounds, and 11 blocks in 2.3 games last month. You're the best and most stable performer on our team. If you don't take it, who will?"

He may be jealous, but it can't be said that he is jealous. Okafor's performance is indeed good. Without Okafor's close-range support, singles, rebounding and assisting defense, they would not have a record of 12 wins and 4 losses.

The same goes for the other two teammates.

费尔顿16场比赛场均15.7分3.3板6.3助攻1抢断、杰拉德-华莱士12比赛场均14.5分5.5板2.6助攻2.5抢断2盖帽，都是球队不可或缺的一份子。

当然他不会妄自菲薄，首月他场均23.9分4.8板2.3助攻1.3抢断0.5盖帽，不比另外三位核心的作用小。

When Okafor was criticized, he didn't feel angry, he just had no expression on his face. When he was praised... he felt very happy, but felt very embarrassed, so he changed the subject:
"Your Yao from the Flower Farm family is really good, averaging 25.8 points and 10 rebounds per game, and he's a stationary center! The last stationary center who averaged 25 points per game was O'Neal!"

The player who won the Western Conference Player of the Month was Yao Ming.

Zhang Yang: "The little giant is really fierce."

After playing in the NBA, Zhang Yang realized how difficult it is to score high points in the paint.

Even someone as strong as Duncan has only averaged 1+ points per game once so far.

The Little Overlord did average 3 points per game in his third grade, but his playing style was more like an off-ball small forward than an inside player. If you only looked at his offensive play that season, it was no different from Richard Jefferson without long-range shooting.

Players who really play inside cannot consume a lot of shots. Even a talented person like O'Neal said helplessly after joining the Heat, "I don't have enough physical strength to support me taking 20 shots per game."

Felton continued, "I didn't expect that Yao Ming would win the Western Conference Player of the Month award. Before, everyone was saying Nowitzki or Howard would win."

Gerald Wallace: "The Mavericks won 12 games in a row, but lost four games in a row to the Wizards, Warriors, Spurs and Rockets. It was really surprising, but what surprised me even more was that the Rockets' lineup could get 4 wins and 10 losses. Yao and McGrady are too good. To compete with Yao for the Player of the Month, the Mavericks must win at least two more games. Moreover, the Mavericks lost to the Rockets in a direct match..."

Zhang Yang, Felton, and Gerald Wallace began chattering about the Rockets and Yao Ming.

With the Yao-McGrady combination, the Rockets are also a very talked-about team in the United States.

Yao Ming averaged 25+ points per game in the first month and led the team to 10 wins and 5 losses, making him the most talked-about player today.

Before going out to eat, Zhang Yang browsed the domestic websites and saw that domestic fans were also discussing Yao Ming's performance and cursing the Rockets.

No one talked about the Rockets' salary problem before. Now that fans have learned the truth, they discover that the Rockets players' salaries are not as good as those of the Spurs, who have always been mocked by domestic fans for being stingy. Although the Spurs are also evading taxes, they sent away Muhammad, the third center, and reduced his salary to 6500 million, which is 50 below the luxury tax threshold, but the Rockets' salary is even lower, 6300 million.

Whether they are Yao Ming fans or McGrady fans, they all feel that going to the Spurs is better than staying with the Rockets.

Recently, when Zhang Yang occasionally browsed domestic websites, he saw some media talking about how much money the Rockets made thanks to Yao Ming. The Rockets were criticized even more...

Okafor listened to the three people talking about Yao Ming with a blank expression.

You said you would come to help me celebrate the best of the month? Instead, you talked about other best of the month! So angry!
……

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I will update a short and concise chapter first, so that my friends won't have to wait too long. Please vote~
(End of this chapter)