Chapter 173 172. Come on, let’s hurt each other!

Zhang Yang was teased as soon as he returned to the bench.

Gerard Wallace: "Jack, it's all because of your popularity. Look across here, everyone is looking at us viciously."

Zhang Yang: "Emeka will definitely be selected as an All-Star starter."

Gerard Wallace: "NO! You can't go tell the fans to vote for Emeka, give us a fair chance to compete!"

Zhang Yang shook his head proudly: "That depends on my mood."

Gerard Wallace laughed and cursed a few times, but he knew Zhang Yang would definitely not take sides.

Zhang Yang was previously asked by the media who he thought was more worthy of an All-Star starter between him and Okafor. Zhang Yang’s answer was – We win every time we play against the Cavaliers, and both of our forwards should be selected as All-Star starters.

In fact, Okafor was originally far ahead, averaging 20+11 in the first month and 19+11 before Christmas. He was far ahead in the Eastern Conference center position. When the first round of votes came out on the 10th, he ranked second among Eastern Conference forwards with 79 votes, second only to James' 101 million votes, 18 votes higher than Gerald Wallace, and even tens of thousands more than Duncan and Garnett in the West.

But after entering the middle of the season, his performance declined a lot, and he played too much like Duncan.

He looks dull, with no expression or emotion, but he fights for every ball. Even with the reduction of his playing time, his efficiency is still declining. After all, he is just playing like Duncan, and there is a gap in his physical fitness and skills. After playing 15 games in the middle of the season, his season stats have dropped to 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, and his shooting percentage has also dropped to 50.6%. His performance has been overtaken by Howard, who has stronger physical fitness and better stamina.

Although Gerald Wallace was affected by injuries and his playing time was reduced, his performance did not decline significantly. Moreover, his playing style was explosive and his games were more entertaining to watch. Although he was injured for a few more games, his vote count increased instead of decreased. When the second round of votes came out on the 21st, he ranked third with more than 139 million votes, less than 144 votes away from Okafor's more than 5 million votes.

The final result is hard to say.

Bosh, who ranked fourth among Eastern Conference forwards, received only 61 votes, less than half of Gerald Wallace. The second starting forward in the Eastern Conference will definitely be between the two of them.

Stern was right to put Okafor at the forward position. O'Neal's dominance plummeted, and his votes also plummeted. The Heat have played 42 games this season, and O'Neal has only played in 20 games, with an attendance rate of less than 50%. His performance has plummeted. Although his data is still that of a star center, it is far worse than his previous performance. He is not even among the top three centers in the East ranked by the media. In the second round of votes, he relied on his remaining popularity to lead Howard with 140 million votes with 98 votes and Eddy Curry with 77 votes.

Okafor received more votes than O'Neal even with competition from his teammates. He would have to fight like crazy if he were to move to the center position.

At 7:58 p.m., Zhang Yang took the court with Felton, Gerald Wallace, Jumaine Jones and Okafor. He looked across and saw Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington and Biedrins also on the court.

Jason Richardson and Mickael Pietrus were relegated to the bench tonight.

Except for Baron Davis and Al Harrington, two tactical cores who are fixed starters, the rest of the Warriors players are mad scientists who arrange the lineup according to the starting lineup requirements and are very flexible.

Although the Warriors have a low salary, more than $50 less than the Rockets, they have accumulated a lot of talent over the years. They have all the types of players Nelson wants. Even the three players they used to trade for Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson, Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, and Ike Diogu, were all marginalized players in the early stages of this season. That's why the media commented that they got two starters for nothing.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Bobcats' away game against the Warriors will start!
Biedrins beats Okafor to win the jump ball, and the Warriors attack first!
Baron Davis advanced to the frontcourt to launch an attack.

He has top-notch ball control, a strong body of 95 kg, skilled breakthrough skills, and a quick first step... His breakthroughs are difficult to defend, and as long as he is given a little space, he can push forward and squeeze his opponents to break into the inside.

But he failed in his first attack tonight. Facing Felton's defense, he was out of position, but couldn't squeeze through!

Felton is 185cm + 93kg, and his effective tonnage is greater than Baron Davis who is 191cm + 95kg!
Baron Davis squeezed Felton and broke into the elbow area, but he didn't rush. Breaking into the basket or making a quick jump shot were not good options. He turned his back and passed the ball to Ellis who ran to the high post to receive the ball.

Gerald Wallace did not lose his position and followed Ellis as soon as he received the ball.

Ellis breaks through from beyond the three-point line!
Gerald Wallace couldn't stop Ellis's breakthrough and could only chase behind him to defend his pull-up jump shot, but he couldn't keep up after he passed the free throw line.

Ellis' shots within close range accounted for as high as 53%, his shots at the basket accounted for as high as 40%, and his hit rate at the basket was the top 67%, making him the guard with the highest hit rate at the basket after Parker and Nash. Okafor immediately retreated from close range to block the defense.

When Okafor came back, Biedrins followed Okafor to cut to the basket, Ellis lobbed the ball... Biedrins slammed the ball into the basket and scored two points!
After Nelson took over, Biedrins, who had been idle for two years, was activated and became one of the best receiving centers in the league. His talent for catching dunks was developed, and he could also follow up on fast breaks like a forward, averaging 9+9 points per game.

Zhang Yang returned to the inside to receive the serve and advance. Although he was a little fed up with Ellis, he had to admit that this older high school student's breakthrough was really sharp. He rushed forward like a flash of lightning. Seeing Ellis' breakthrough, he felt that only Coach Long on the sidelines could keep up with Ellis.

Zhang Yang came to the frontcourt and wanted to pass the ball to Felton. Felton fought with Baron Davis, gave up catching the ball, and ran to the bottom corner.

Bearded:
Zhang Yang could only do it by himself. He pushed forward to the three-point line, and Ellis pressed out of the three-point line to fight and defend. Zhang Yang leaned sideways to protect the ball, feeling the weak fighting of the 191 cm + 84 kg Ellis on the opposite side, and was confused. What kind of new defense method was this?

Let's take one first! Zhang Yang leaned against Ellis, switched to his left hand to pull the ball, turned around, and rushed forward!
Ellis fought hard, but couldn't hold on. When he wanted to retreat, Zhang Yang bypassed him.

Harrington retreated from the wing to provide backup defense. Zhang Yang grabbed the ball and took a step forward to the left, avoiding Harrington's backup defense.

Bedrins, who had returned to the basket, was about to press forward, but when he saw Zhang Yang taking the European step, he immediately moved to the point where he predicted Zhang Yang would land next.

But Zhang Yang didn’t use the European step, but instead took a step forward and made a close-range jump shot...and it went in!
Zhang Weiping, the commentator of Chaoting TV, commented: "The Warriors' defense is really bad. There is no coordination at all when they defend three against one. Isn't Yang Yang just playing casually? However, the worse the Warriors' defense is, the better their offense is. This game is going to be interesting..."

On the court, the bearded man transformed into a former Lakers point guard, advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to the shooting guard, and then continued to fight with Felton, hurting each other.

Ellis received the ball and broke through, but this time Okafor and Jumaine Jones both recovered it.

Okafor did not press upwards, but stepped on the arc of the reasonable collision zone. Jumaine Jones covered him, intercepted the pass to the sideline, and interfered with Ellis's quick stop jump shot. This time the defensive cooperation was very good.

But Harrington is not a static figure. He has excellent ability to read defense and quickly gets to the free throw line. Ellis is trapped in a triple-team and jumps up to pass the ball back to Harrington.

Harrington received the ball while running and dribbled to the left elbow area. Zhang Yang moved back in time to block Harrington. Harrington did not shoot against the defense, but passed the ball to the left corner. Stephen Jackson took a three-point shot... and missed.

Okafor overpowers Biedrins to secure the defensive rebound!

However, this shot was a miss, but the opportunity came up, a wide-open three-point opportunity, Zhang Yang had to step back to block Harrington's advance, Biedrins and Ellis attracted the three Bobcats' frontcourt players to the right sideline of the three-second zone, Harrington received the ball, went around the elbow area, and rushed in to dunk, and Okafor's position made up for it and he was going to become Duncan again.

If it’s hard to defend, then shoot!
Felton also turned into a fish, received the pass from Okafor and advanced to the frontcourt to pass it to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang easily passed Ellis and rushed into the inside. This time, Harrington moved in instead of blocking him. Instead, he blocked the space for the jump shot. Zhang Yang stopped suddenly, stepped back to the dotted semicircle inside the free throw line, and took a mid-range shot... and made it again!
As Zhang Weiping judged, the two teams quickly launched a fierce offensive battle.

The two defenders hurt each other, and Ellis and Zhang Yang took over the main attack.

Ellis has the jack-of-all-trades Harrington as his assistant. He just needs to take the ball and do it. If the opportunity is not good, throw it to Harrington.

Although Ellis had become conceited at this time, his playing style was not as unique as it would be two or three years later when he averaged 25+ points per game. He just threw the ball when he should and passed it when he should.

Stephen Jackson was responsible for receiving and containing long shots from the sideline, while Biedrins seized the opportunity to cut in and score and compress the defense. The Warriors' offense played very well.

Zhang Yang's side... throw!

If you get tired of throwing, let Gerald Wallace or Okafor dig it.

Biedrins is fast, has good jumping ability, excellent blocking awareness, and good positioning... His performance in help defense is often said to be like Kenyon Martin, but his one-on-one defense is also like Kenyon Martin, but a weakened version. He has a tall and thin body, fast movement and strong explosive power, but his static confrontation is too poor, and Okafor can score with one shot.

When Gerald Wallace broke through, Biedrins could not hold on unless he moved to provide backup defense in advance. The Warriors rarely double-teamed Gerald Wallace when he broke through, so his success rate in singles was very high.

At 4 minutes and 04 seconds into the first quarter, Ellis missed a mid-range shot, and Biedrins rushed for a tip-in and scored two points, making the score 13 to 12, and the Warriors overtook by 1 point.

Zhang Yang pulled back to receive the serve and felt something was wrong.

The game went as they expected, undefended and in a head-on attack, but he just felt something was wrong.

He had just received the ball when he saw the fat guy moving his body aggressively and preparing to go to the front court to continue fighting with the bearded guy... So that's what it was.

Zhang Yang called out to Felton: "Boss, come and attack!"

(End of this chapter)