Chapter 164 163. The Last Truth - Iverson

After a night's rest, on December 12, the Bobcats came to the Verizon Center to challenge the Wizards away.

The Wizards currently have 8 wins and 8 losses, ranking seventh in the Eastern Conference.

Although their record is average, with an average of 105 points per game and an average of 105.5 points conceded per game, and their defense is extremely poor, it is still a headache for anyone who meets them.

Last week, they played away against the Suns and Mavericks in two consecutive games. They defeated the Suns 144-139 in overtime, with Arenas scoring 54 points. Against the Mavericks, Arenas scored 35 points and a career-high 16 assists, Jamison and Butler both scored 20+ points, and they upset the Mavericks 124-118, which seemed like they got stronger when facing a stronger team.

When Zhang Yang watched the video of the Wizards' game against the Mavericks, he saw that the Mavericks wanted to defend well at the beginning, but after Arenas missed a few shots, they entered an unreasonable scoring mode. The Mavericks began to double-team Arenas frantically, and the Wizards' offense was completely opened up.

Of course, the Mavericks’ reaction is of relatively little reference value, and the group of people under the Silver Horn King probably have PTSD.

That game was quite exciting. After watching it, Zhang Yang didn't have time to watch other videos. After all, it was just a regular season game, and it was difficult to be as well prepared as in the playoffs.

However, the Bobcats did nothing wrong in preparing to compete with the Wizards for points, and tonight the Bobcats and Wizards really started to compete with each other.

Arenas used his league-leading pull-up jump shot to blow up Felton, Rondo, Alan Anderson, and Gerald Wallace in turn. Bickerstaff had no choice but to use Zhang Yang to defend, but the effect was similar.

Arenas has been really undefended in the past two years, not to mention Gerald Wallace who was the second defender. Even Kobe, Bowen, and Artest who were the first defenders were undefended.

However, the Bobcats also played very well on offense. In the early stages of the game, Zhang Yang started to attack directly and made consecutive singles.

Arenas and Butler's defense is worse than the other. Arenas has problems with attitude and physical strength. He plays 40 minutes per game and is always on the attack, which consumes a lot of energy. When Larry Hughes was still there, his defense was actually okay. After Larry Hughes left, his defense collapsed completely.

Caron Butler's defense is similar to Nash's, he has a good attitude, but no one can defend him.

No matter which of the two players defended Zhang Yang, he just kept swinging. Although his touch tonight was not as hot as that against the Jazz, it was still good. After a few rounds, the players defending him started to shoot close to him, and he broke through...the whole team's offense opened up.

He just scored 53 points. If he played against a different opponent, he might be calmer, but for a team like the Wizards with such poor defense, they would just double-team him.

The Wizards also have a good perimeter defender, DeShawn Stevenson, but he has to defend Gerald Wallace.

If Caron Butler is asked to defend Gerald Wallace, Jamison and Haywood in the interior will be beaten to tears.

首节30比31、第二节33比32，半场打完，两队打成63平。

In the third quarter, Arenas made 4 of 3 shots and 4 of 4 free throws, scoring 10 points and 5 assists, 4 of which were three-point assists to Jamison.

Jamison didn't score any other goals in the third quarter, and didn't even go in to shoot. If we really talk about the strength of the opponent's frontcourt, he feels that only Okafor can be compared with him, and the others are just average. But that group of people are too tough, and he was worried about being hit to death. However, he did have a good touch tonight, making 6 of 4 three-pointers in a single quarter and scoring 12 points!
两人携手带领奇才队在第三节打出了36比31的比分，三节打完以99比94取得5分领先优势。

However, in the final quarter, the Wizards players except Arenas had a very cold shooting feeling.

The Bobcats players' shooting touch has also cooled, but their long-range shooting percentage is not high to begin with, and if they miss shots from the outside, they can still go inside. The Wizards are not in that position. Arenas, who averages 29 points per game, Jamison, who averages 20 points per game, and Butler, who averages 19 points per game, all score from the outside, and their points outside the three-second zone account for more than 6%. Their long-range shots are useless once their shooting touch cools off.

阿里纳斯末节玩儿命投，11投5中，其中三分球6中2，加上2中2的罚球拿到14分，但奇才队全队只拿到22分。

Okafor and Felton attacked the inside in the final quarter, scoring a combined 23 points and leading the Bobcats to a final score of 35 to 22.

张杨今晚打了35分钟，17投9中，其中三分球2中1，加上5中4的罚球，拿到23分3板8助攻1抢断。

费尔顿32分4板4助攻、奥卡福23分15板、杰拉德-华莱士14分7板5助攻1抢断1盖帽。

四人合砍92分，率领山猫队以129比121逆转奇才队，将战绩提升到13胜4负！
Zhang Yang set a new personal record for assists in a single game, feeling very happy.

He was astonished by the scoring ability of the opposing three musketeers, Arenas 36 points, Jamison 25 points, Butler 20 points. This was in the final quarter when Jamison and Butler were weak. They were indeed a super scoring combination that could crush the Mavericks.

It's just that the defense is too bad. Once the offense weakens, this team can't even beat the Celtics.

The Mavericks have a sieve like that and they need to buy so many centers to fill the gap, but the Wizards are so good that they stockpiled three at once.

Zhang Yang was secretly criticizing the three musketeers on the opposite side, and someone was also secretly criticizing him.

Bickerstaff was definitely very happy when he saw Zhang Yang's performance of 8 assists. He thought his worries were unnecessary. Zhang Yang did not play recklessly just because he scored 53 points. He was as calm as before.

But he is also very annoying. In some attacks, Zhang Yang passes the ball a little slower or holds the ball a little longer, and his teammates can directly shoot or attack the basket. His assists are definitely more than 8.

It’s just that being slower might lead to missing more opportunities...but with a few more possessions and a couple more assists, wouldn’t that be 20+10?

Bickerstaff would never have thought this way before, but after watching Brevin Knight and other players who are particularly obsessed with data play too much, he unconsciously thought this way...

...

The next day, December 12, the Bobcats came to Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to play the Pacers in a back-to-back away game.

Finally, Harrington found a chance to kill Zhang Yang.

Taking advantage of the Bobcats' weakness in back-to-back games, the Pacers, led by Harrington, defeated the Bobcats 106-99 in an upset, handing the Bobcats their fifth loss of the season.

哈灵顿15投7中，其中三分球3中2，加上4中4的罚球，拿到20分9板5助攻3抢断1盖帽。

Stephen Jackson 20 points, O'Neal 18 points, Danny Granger 16 points...

山猫队这边，张杨21投9中，拿到23分6板6助攻2抢断，奥卡福19投8中拿到19分13板。

费尔顿和杰拉德-华莱士今晚拉了，前者11投4中只拿到10分7助攻，后者6投2中加上6中4的罚球只拿到8分7板。

Rondo made 5 of 3 shots and 4 of 2 free throws, scoring 8 points and 7 rebounds, but he only had two assists and his teammates on the outside just couldn't make the shot.

This time, Zhang Yang didn't even need to whisper in Bickerstaff's ear, as Bickerstaff himself was telling his son Bernie Jr. how great Carlisle was.

Carlisle managed to make the most of the Pacers' poor front line lineup!

Zhang Yang thought about the future when the Mavericks were really out of players, so they signed a bunch of role players and guards, and Carlisle found a way to get them into the playoffs... It turns out that replacing a bunch of forwards would work!

Speaking of which, if Carlisle goes to the Hawks and leads those 206cm players, can he make something of himself? Josh Smith has been played silly by Mike Woodson in the past two years.

Of course, it's just a thought. If he can get Carlisle, he definitely won't want to miss it.

Now it depends on when Carlisle and Bird will completely break up. There are two possible outcomes. One is that Bird directly fires Carlisle; the other is that Bird dismantles the lineup as Zhang Yang remembers, sends the players to the mad scientist, concentrates on training Granger, whose talent has begun to be realized this season, and plays badly to fight for draft picks. Carlisle, who has never been successful, resigns voluntarily.

After playing against the Pacers, the Bobcats' record is 13 wins and 5 losses.

On December 12, the Bobcats came to the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia to challenge the 5ers away.

The main theme of tonight's game is that Iverson will challenge the four great talents of the Bobcats alone.

Perhaps Iverson already knew that his time with the team was running out, so he played very freely in some games this season.

The 76ers had played against the Heat twice before. Iverson faced Wade's defense and scored 46 points and 41 points respectively. He threw the ball more than 30 times in both games. In one game, Wade held on, making 18 of 10 shots and scoring 30 points and 13 assists, leading the Heat to victory. In the other game, he failed to hold on, making only 21 of 8 shots, scoring only 20 points and 4 assists, and was overturned by Iverson.

Both games were among the most talked-about after-games last month.

When playing against the Suns, Iverson made 27 of 13 shots and scored 39 points and 8 assists, challenging another MVP of the same class. Nash also responded by making 23 of 13 shots, including 9 of 5 three-pointers, plus 3 of 3 free throws, for 34 points and 6 assists. The Suns relied on their overall strength advantage to narrowly beat the 5ers by 76 points.

Iverson has averaged 32.1 points per game since the start of this season, topping the scoring list ahead of Kobe who averaged 30.5 points per game. His performance has been talked about by fans. It's a pity that Iverson missed the game between the Lakers and the 76ers due to injury.

Iverson was happy with the way he played, the fans were happy, the 76ers owner was happy, the ticket revenue was high, and the only one who was injured was third-year player Andre Iguodala.

What did he do to offend anyone? If a scorer from outside comes, he will be beaten up.

Although he has great defensive talent, at the age of 22, he can only accomplish the task of "preventing Kobe from scoring 50 points"... When Kobe came to Philadelphia for an away game this season, he saw that Iverson was injured. The frustrated blacksmith pressed him with a hammer and scored 46 points, his highest personal single-game score so far this season.

When Iverson is here, the opposing scorers want to beat him up. When Iverson is not here, the opposing scorers are even more irritable...

But he can't let Iverson defend the opposing scorer by himself, right?
What makes Iguodala collapse the most is facing opponents like the Wizards and Bobcats who have multiple outside scorers...

Zhang Yang, Felton, Gerald Wallace, and even Rondo, under the provocation of Iverson, all started playing singles. A certain player No. 3 who did not want to be named played a trick. Originally, point guard Willie Green was defending him, but he took the initiative to wave at Iguodala to increase the difficulty. His teammates followed suit and took the initiative to look for Iguodala when playing singles.

Iguodala: Destroy this world!
Iverson made 31 of 14 shots and scored 39 points and 5 assists.

张杨18投8中加上6中5的罚球拿到21分、杰拉德-华莱士13投7中拿到19分、费尔顿15投7中拿到18分、隆多8投4中拿到10分……加上奥卡福的17分10板，山猫队以102比95击败76人队，将战绩提升到14胜5负。

Iverson played very well tonight, and the young players on the opposing team gave him a lot of respect.

Zhang Yang also played happily. His hit rate was a little low, two percentage points lower than his season average of 46.5%. I don't know what happened to Iguodala. He defended like a mad dog. They took the initiative to find difficulty. This is a respect for the opponent's strongest perimeter defense player. The Iverson in front of him is still the original AI. The next time I meet Iverson, it should be the golden double gun AI.

Although Iverson of the Nuggets has played at the highest efficiency of his career in one and a half seasons, with a hit rate of over 45% and an average of more than 7 assists per game, he is no longer the real Iverson.

Zhang Yang has always felt that all basketball stars have to be the same, that they must be part of a team, must have good shooting choices, must create a good image... What's the point of such a basketball world?
What makes the NBA so fascinating now is that every star is different.

Nash, with superb skills but terrible defense and a somewhat soft temper; Kidd, with unparalleled ability to lead a team but also has many shortcomings, such as looking down on coaches who are less capable than him; Kobe, paranoid to the extreme and superstitious about shooting; James, with many flaws in his playing style but extraordinary talent; McGrady, with an elegant style of play and full of talent, but arrogant and proud... Each of today's stars has very obvious shortcomings, but also has particularly outstanding characteristics.

Zhang Yang doesn't know whether he will become the same as other players in the future as the NBA changes, and become a member of the three-point army that everyone enjoys, but at least at this moment, he is enjoying basketball now.

Everyone is happy... No, Iguodala is the only one injured tonight...

...

After playing three games in four days, the Bobcats got two days of rest. The next four games will be more intense - home games against the Lakers, Suns, Spurs and Mavericks!

The good news is there are no back-to-backs, and there are two rest days between Games 3 and 4.

After returning to Charlotte at noon, Zhang Yang came to the gym in the afternoon and practiced long passes with the help of player development coach England. He finally had time. In this wave of consecutive home games, he planned to use his "long-distance passing foundation" and lay a good foundation for long passes.

England's salary increased. In the summer of 05, Jordan gave him a two-year, $2 million contract to serve as a shooting coach. On November 300, Jordan renewed his contract with him for four years and $11 million.

Jordan spent a lot of money this time. The head coaches of those bad teams may not be paid as much as Engelland.

The main reason is England's strong ability. During the off-season special training period, legendary trainer Tim Grove praised England more than once, saying that he is better than Frank Hamblen.

Frank Hamblen is only good at coaching players with shooting talent. Simply put, he can make players with good shooting skills better.

England is different. With Gerald Wallace's shooting talent, he can think of ways to help him improve his shooting. This season, Gerald Wallace averaged 32 three-pointers per game with a hit rate of 0.5%. Although it is still lagging, at least he will not be completely left open by the opponent on the outside like Kirilenko. The opponent will always pay attention to him.

Gerald Wallace's three-pointer is not England's biggest achievement this summer, free throws are. Gerald Wallace's free throw percentage was only 55% in the early part of last season, which increased to 61% at the end of the season. In the first month of this season, it reached 12% in 73 games.

With Zhang Yang in hand, England is a very important part of Jordan's long-term plan, so he spent a lot of money to renew his contract.

Okafor and Rondo also came to practice together today.

Coaching these two people is definitely the most challenging and difficult job for England since entering the NBA.

Rondo came to practice three-pointers and free throws, and Okafor practiced free throws.

Okafor has a 38% hit rate on half court shots, a 41.4% hit rate on close range shots, and a 67% hit rate at the basket, for a combined shooting percentage of 51%, which is pretty good.

But when it comes to the free throw line, he can't shoot accurately, and his free throw percentage this season is only a pitiful 58%.

The regular season has been played for more than a month, and the improvement training of the two's shooting hand shape, force habits, posture, etc. has been on track. However, since the season is in progress, the two will still shoot according to the old habits during the game, which has affected the training progress and the effect is not so obvious. Fortunately, both of them are willing to work hard and have not slacked off because they can't see the results for the time being.

When flying back from Philadelphia this morning, Okafor and Rondo made an appointment with England to train earlier than Zhang Yang, and arrived at the training ground earlier than Zhang Yang in the afternoon to start training.

When Englander saw Zhang Yang arrive at the stadium on time at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, his originally serious face broke into a smile.

It's not that he thinks coaching Rondo and Okafor is troublesome. He appreciates their efforts, but Rondo's shooting talent and Okafor's free throw talent do make him feel that the job is too difficult.

Of course he was happy to have an easy job that could help him regulate his mood.

Zhang Yang trained for two hours, and the 'Long Pass Basics' took effect. He quickly learned the trick of finding the landing point for the long pass.

The learning speed was ridiculously fast, but England had gotten used to it. When Zhang Yang told him in the morning that he wanted to practice long passes, he was mentally prepared and full of expectations... Jack did not disappoint him!

After hearing Zhang Yang say that his arms were tired and he wanted to train his waist and abdomen, England could only end the passing training with regret and arranged for a trainer to go to the gym to help Zhang Yang train with the equipment... and continued to enjoy the torture of Rondo and Okafor... and scolded Rondo.

Rondo had been observing Zhang Yang practicing long passes during training. He felt really bad when he saw that Zhang Yang was able to accurately pass the ball to the designed landing point without any confrontation or time limit in just a short while, and he quickly mastered the control of strength, arc of the lob, and direction of the straight pass.

He felt that Zhang San was trying to steal his job!

Can't you just shoot the ball? Can't I, Xiao Longzi, pass the ball to you?
He was in a hurry to shoot quickly, and his practice was a mess, so he was scolded...

Okafor laughed when he saw Rondo's reaction. He was used to it.

...

On December 12, the Bobcats faced the Suns, their first opponent in four consecutive home games.

In order to cooperate with the live broadcast of the court TV station, the game started later than usual and started at 9 pm.

At 8:40 p.m., players from both teams entered the stadium.

After entering, Nash took the initiative to find Zhang Yang and gave him some advice.

Zhang Yang felt something was wrong. His relationship with Nash wasn't so good that he would need Nash to take the initiative to give him guidance as a 'teacher', right?
But he felt that what Nash said about his shortcomings was very correct. For example, in terms of his rhythm and flow, he would always take the initiative to confront the opponent before breaking through. This was very effective when playing against opponents who were tough on defense but lacked skills, such as facing James and the third-year Iguodala. But when encountering experienced and skilled opponents like Bowen and Snow, he always failed to break through. There was a similar situation when playing against Fisher.

Although it felt strange, Zhang Yang still listened obediently and humbly.

Nash benefited a lot from it, gave some pointers, made an appointment to train together if there was a chance, and then returned to the Suns bench with satisfaction.

Since the first time he fought with Zhang Yang, he wanted to teach Zhang Yang a few moves through "live demonstration", but there was never a good opportunity.

Whenever he saw news about Zhang Yang, he would think of this matter, and occasionally when he watched the Bobcats live broadcast, he would watch it with an "observation" mentality... As he thought about it, he really put himself in the position of a "good teacher and helpful friend". In his heart, he and Zhang Yang, who had a similar playing style, were already very familiar with each other, but in fact this was the first time he had talked so much with Zhang Yang, so it gave Zhang Yang that awkward feeling.

However, with a start, Zhang Yang accepted Nash's enthusiasm and initiative, and their personal relationship made a qualitative leap.

As for Zhang Yang, after returning to the bench, he focused on preparing for the game. Tonight's opponent must try his best to have any hope of winning.

The Suns have played 18 games so far, with 13 wins and 5 losses, and their record is half a win behind the Bobcats.

但他们5场失利里，有4场是前6场吃下的，那时候斯塔德迈尔刚刚复出，6场比赛得分全部低于15分，有3场低于10分，分别是6分、5分、2分。

During that period, the media were all hyping up that Stoudemire was useless, saying that his impact had declined, his rebound speed had slowed down, his confrontation had weakened, and he was no longer capable of anything.

他那份4+2的6年1.03亿的合同要烂在太阳队手里了，还拿姚明的5年7500万的续约合同来嘲笑太阳队老板是傻子。

But after starting with 2 wins and 4 losses, the Suns had a record of 11 wins and 1 loss. After Stoudemire found his rhythm, he scored 12+ points in 10 of 20 games, found a more suitable way to attack the basket, and also shot 45% of his mid-range shots, averaging 2.6 shots per game from close range to long two-pointers, which almost slapped the media in the face. Some people used to say that he was a rough guy who could do nothing but dunk, but he actually practiced his mid-range shot in the year when he was reimbursed!

It doesn't matter that Stadler has improved, Zhang Yang already knew that.

But it's outrageous that Nash has also improved this season.

Teacher Na, you will be 33 years old in less than two months!
So far this season, Nash has averaged 18.5 points and 11.5 assists per game, which are similar to last season, but his shooting percentage is 52%, a career high, and his three-point shooting percentage is 44%, a career high. His free throw shooting percentage of 88% is a drag.

After playing for more than a month, Nowitzki's shooting percentage has returned to around 50% and has been fluctuating back and forth. As for Nash, his shooting percentage has been rising since the beginning, from 48%, and there seems to be no end in sight!
Is this because he was stimulated by his old friend's MVP-level performance?

If we were to say who least wanted this generation of Mavericks stars to win the MVP, it would probably be Nash. When he was 30 years old, he asked for 4 million for 4000 years, thinking that he should retire after completing the new contract. However, Cuban rejected him, thinking that he was too old and not worth tens of millions of dollars a year, and sold him to Dampier for 7 years and 7300 million. For him, it was not just a simple rejection, but a pure humiliation.

Zhang Yang reasonably suspects that Mr. Na is playing so hard this season just to grab the MVP.

However, it is quite difficult to win three consecutive MVPs. If the Suns have a better record than the Mavericks, there is still a little possibility. But he remembers that the Suns only had a little over 60 wins in the run-and-gun era, and the Mavericks have to soar to more than 65 wins this season. It is estimated that it will be difficult for Mr. Nazaire to win the MVP this time.

At 9 pm, the game between the Bobcats and the Suns starts at home!
The Suns starting lineup: Nash, Raja Bell, Marion, Dio, and Stoudemire.

Bobcats starting lineup: Felton, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Jumaine Jones, Okafor.

Playing against the Suns will definitely require a strong offense, and space is very important. Bickerstaff put spot shooter Jumaine Jones into the starting lineup.

Okafor rarely lost the jump ball, Stoudemire quickly jumped up and pushed the ball backwards, and the Suns attacked first!
Nash and Marion started the attack with a pick-and-roll, passed the ball to Dio, who passed it to the basket. Stoudemire jumped up on the spot and dunked it violently!
Zhang Yang: ???

The bullet speed is supposed to be slower? The explosive power is supposed to be weaker?

　Please recommend monthly tickets!
　　I have updated less frequently recently, with a daily update limit of 10,000 words at most. I hope you will bear with me.

　　I don't know what happened recently. I hope I have the flu again. The hospital doesn't check it anymore. I keep coughing, have a fever occasionally, and my cold never gets better. Could it be the weather change? I will add more chapters to the rest of last month when I recover from this period.

　　At present, I owe two chapters for monthly tickets last month, and I updated one chapter less this month. This month’s monthly tickets have reached 1, and there are 2000 chapters... Damn, it’s a bit too much, it’s okay, let’s do it!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)