Chapter 177 176. NBA has no answer
There has been a saying in the past two years that if a team has two guards who can play one-on-one, one of them will always have a big outbreak when playing against the Lakers.

The Bobcats proved that claim, but it only required sacrificing another guard.

The one who exploded tonight was Felton, and the one who was sacrificed was naturally Zhang San...

The Bobcats performed steadily in the first half, scoring 24 points in the first quarter and 23 points in the second quarter. Felton scored 13 points and 9 points respectively, and they had a great time.

On the Lakers side, Kobe only threw the ball 7 times in the first half, and only scored 7 points with 3 of 2 shots and 2 of 8 free throws. After being caught off guard by the opponent's mindless double-team in the '62 in three quarters', he began to take advantage of this, first holding the ball to attract double-teaming, and then passing the ball to Death God Parker, Left Devil Odom, Bankrupt Pippen and Luke Walton.

This style of play caused him to be overtaken by Arenas on the scoring list, but the Lakers' winning rate has increased during this period, allowing them to gain a slight advantage in the competition with the Warriors, Clippers and Hornets.

In the first quarter tonight, the Lakers played well with the help of Kobe's containment, leading the Bobcats by 27 points with 24 to 3, but the situation took a sharp turn for the worse in the second quarter, where they only scored 15 points. At the end of the half, the Bobcats overtook them by 47 points with 42 to 5.

The most eye-catching players on both sides in the first half were not Felton who scored 22 points in the first half, nor Kobe who had at least two people around him whenever he got the ball, but the group of fierce gangsters in the interior.

Kwame Brown, Bynum, and Perkins, these three high school students weigh more than 120 kilograms. Okafor becomes a long and thin strip in front of them. The most exaggerated one is Bynum, who is 215 cm + 129 kg. Kwame Brown is smaller than him.

In the first half, the Bobcats only used Muhammad to rotate Perkins and did not send out other inside players. The Lakers only used Ronny Turiaf to replace Bynum for a while. Both sides were unwilling to give up the defense under the basket. If one of the twin towers was missing, they might be overwhelmed by the opponent.

Both Odom and Radmanovic, the two inside players, could only shoot from the outside. Once they went in, they were hit to death by a bunch of people. Not to mention them, Gerald Wallace and Kobe did not dare to break into the basket... Only Rondo dared to sneak into the basket to steal rebounds.

Both teams scored mainly through long shots and counterattacks, so the Lakers' score fluctuated so much in the first two quarters.

The Bobcats had Felton, who had a steady shooting performance, and Rondo, who was quick in counterattacks. The Lakers could only pass the ball after Kobe attracted a double team, and his teammates shot from mid-range and long distances.

After the halftime break, Kobe couldn't sit still. He gave up biting Zhang Yang and started to rush and throw the ball wildly. He made 11 of 6 shots in a single quarter, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, plus 3 of 2 free throws, scoring 15 points and leading the Lakers to 28 points in a single quarter!
On the Bobcats side, Felton was unable to play C in the third quarter. He had to double-team Kobe and score. The most difficult game in the middle of the season was over, but his physical reserves were extremely bad because of that period of the schedule. It was okay for Felton to defend alone, but it was a bit difficult for him to attack and double-team at the same time.

At this time, Zhang Yang stood up.

He was defended by Odom, Radmanovic, Vujacic and others. He made 12 of 6 shots in a single quarter, including 5 of 2 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 16 points!
Together with the 8 points scored by his teammates, after three quarters, the Bobcats were leading with a score of 71 to 70, barely holding on to their advantage!

Kobe heard that Zhang Yang had been throwing the ball very aggressively in the past period of time, taking more shots than him. His average number of shots per game so far this season is 21.2.

But the day before yesterday he watched the state live broadcast of the Bobcats and Warriors and felt that the sophomore played reasonably and calmly.

In the first half tonight, Zhang Yang was bitten very hard by him, and he didn't even give Zhang Yang a chance to counterattack. Zhang Yang took 5 shots and all of them were the result of his teammates being unable to make shots and they had to receive the ball and shoot against his defense... He was reasonable, calm, and had the courage to take responsibility.

Where can we find such a good Chinese teammate? His boss also wants it!
Until the third quarter, I saw Zhang Yang throwing the ball wildly... It was a bit annoying! How dare someone be more wasteful than him! He is just as annoying as the third pick of the Pistons!
How did his teammates defend him? A sophomore scored 6 goals in a single quarter!
In the final quarter, Kobe began to take charge of both offense and defense, throwing the ball hard on the offensive end and chasing Zhang Yang on the defensive end.

Alan Anderson and Gerald Wallace took turns defending, Felton and Rondo took turns double-teaming, Zhang Yang and Matt Carroll took turns blocking the wing breakthrough, and four tall towers were crowded together under the basket... Facing such defense and confrontation, Kobe's offensive consumption was very huge, and he also had to take care of defense...

He had an extremely ferocious offensive performance in the third quarter, but he also wilted in the final quarter. He wanted to take care of both ends, but ended up failing on both sides.

末节科比9投3中，其中三分球2中0，加上4中3的罚球拿到9分，湖人队全队只拿到17分。

On the Bobcats side, Zhang Yang created a buffer opportunity for his core teammates in the third quarter. Felton, who only scored two points in the third quarter, scored 10 points in the final quarter. Combined with Rondo's 2 points, Matt Carroll's 3 points, Zhang Yang's two counterattacks, Okafor and Gerald Wallace's 2 points each, the team scored 23 points!
27投12中，其中三分球3中1，加上9中7的罚球，科比拿到32分。

张杨上半场5投1中、下半场16投8中，全场21投9中、其中三分球6中2，加上2中2的罚球，拿到22分4板3助攻1抢断。

Felton scored 22 points in the first half and 12 points in the second half, scoring a game-high 34 points.

The two led the Bobcats to a 94-87 victory over the Lakers, winning their 30th game of the season!
After the final whistle, I saw a group of people on the opposite side gathered together to celebrate, and I saw Felton accept a post-match interview from the court TV station... Kobe this year is much calmer than last season.

Kobe lost both games against the Bobcats. In these two games, Kobe felt the difference between having Zhang Yang and not having Zhang Yang.

Although Zhang Yang's shooting percentage was even worse than his tonight, with his shooting percentage being 44% and Zhang Yang's only 42%, with Zhang Yang around, the other players on the Bobcats can focus on their own things, unlike the chaotic match more than a month ago.

When Felton, Gerald Wallace and Okafor can't score, Zhang Yang can come out and make a splash... O'Neal has been gone for two and a half years, and Kobe finally understood the importance of his teammates this season.

...

From the first anniversary of the "62 points in three quarters" to the first anniversary of the "81 points spirit", for almost a month, Kobe did not score any points, not even a 40+ point, which made many of his fans feel regretful, but at the same time, they felt that he had matured a lot and felt relieved.

It is rumored that veteran superstars such as Garnett and Kidd took the initiative to contact Kobe to discuss the idea of ​​cooperation. They are very interested in working with Kobe, whose number of shots has dropped by 6 times this season, but the progress of the discussion is not very ideal.

Facing three major challenges.

One is that Kobe is very concerned about his reputation. He was the one who "drove away" O'Neal, and now he is begging other stars to come. He has no respect!
Second, there are rumors that Kobe has already begun to consider leaving. If those veteran superstars want to join the Lakers, they must be coming for Kobe. If Kobe doesn't stay, there is no point in them coming.

The third is that the old stars are under contract and will not expire in the short term, so the Lakers need to send enough chips, at least Bynum or Odom, and the Lakers are not very willing to break up the twin towers. But this time, he intuitively felt the difference after the Bobcats had a player averaging 20+ points per game, and No. 24 was shaken... Is it necessary to stick to such a face?
The chain reaction of Charlotte Zhangsan's wings flapping is getting bigger and bigger...

Zhang Yang, whose wings were becoming stronger and stronger, left Los Angeles with the team early the next morning and came to Denver, the last stop of the three-game road trip in the West.

After a night's rest, on January 1, the Bobcats came to the Pepsi Center to challenge the Nuggets away.

Originally, No. 3 vs. No. 3 was also a hot topic in the United States. The duels between Iverson, Wade, Paul, and Zhang Yang were usually broadcast live across the United States. But after Iverson joined the Nuggets, the live broadcast of the game between the 76ers and the Bobcats was cancelled, and the game between the Bobcats and the Nuggets was not broadcast extra.

After the news of Anthony's involvement in organized crime was exposed, the media and fans learned the reason why Anthony was disliked by Stern.

Before trading for Iverson, the Nuggets had a record of 7 wins and 17 losses, third from the bottom in the Western Conference. The slumping SuperSonics almost lost to them.

But in the 21 games after trading for Iverson, the Nuggets have achieved a record of 14 wins and 7 losses. The current record is 21 wins and 24 losses, surpassing the Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, and Kings in a row, and rushed to tenth place in the Western Conference.

With Iverson, George Karl's favorite track and field run-and-gun style of play was finally created!

Players with excellent physical fitness such as Skinny, JR Smith, Nene, Camby, Edondo Najera, Linas Kleiza, Reggie Evans... are rushing forward!
The Nuggets' run-and-gun style is quite different from that of the Suns. For the Bobcats, this opponent's run-and-gun style is very new.

Old Nelson simplified the showtime style of play and came up with a run-and-gun style of play that did not require so many players other than the core players. Based on his "old-fashioned run-and-gun", D'Antoni and George Karl each subdivided and developed their own run-and-gun style of play with their own personal characteristics.

The Suns focus on long shots, making 10 three-pointers per game. The Nuggets do not focus on this. They emphasize defense, offense-defense transition, and attack. They have three-pointers, but not many. They only make 6.5 three-pointers per game, which is less than the Bobcats' average of 7.2 per game.

But the Nuggets ran faster than the Suns and Warriors. The Suns averaged 84.5 shots per game this season, the Warriors averaged 85 shots, and the Nuggets averaged 87 shots per game after acquiring Iverson.

The day before yesterday, when playing against the Lakers, whose role players were in a slump, the Bobcats faced a physical crisis. Tonight, they met the Nuggets, who had a deep lineup of role players and the best offensive rhythm in the league, and were overwhelmed.

Zhang Yang had a lot of scoring opportunities tonight. The Nuggets ran fast. Although they valued defense, they focused on rim protection, rebounding, and counterattacks. He threw 26 times, scored 12 goals, and got 31 points, but his teammates were a bit bleak tonight. Okafor and Gerald Wallace were both withered. Felton got the second highest 16 points. The third to fifth scorers were Matt Carroll with 13 points, Jumaine Jones with 10 points, and Rondo with 10 points...

布雷克0分2板8助攻、安东尼31分、艾弗森23分3板8助攻、JR-史密斯10分2板5助攻、内内16分……掘金队以106比99力克来访的山猫队，送给山猫队本赛季第17场失利。

In addition to the Nuggets' new style of play and the Bobcats' physical problems, the Bobcats had another reason for their loss - Iverson only shot 16 times. Before being traded to the Nuggets, Iverson averaged 24.4 shots per game.

I always feel like he's going to shoot, but he chooses to pass the ball, even to teammates who don't have such a high shooting success rate...

After joining the Nuggets, Iverson averaged 18 shots per game, making 8.5 shots with a hit rate of 47.2%. His average of 24 points per game was the lowest since he first won the scoring title in his junior year, but his average of 8 assists per game was a career high.

This was the first time I met an Iverson like this and I really didn't know how to defend against him.

But Zhang Yang felt it tonight when the fans said that the NBA no longer had an answer and only Iverson was left.

...

After playing against the Nuggets, the Bobcats rushed back to Charlotte and rested for a night. On January 1, they faced their 30th game of the month, against the Warriors, whom they had just played against a few days ago.

3 wins and 2 loss in 1 consecutive away games is acceptable for the Bobcats, which is higher than their season winning rate. The players are not too disappointed and don’t have the time to spare.

On the contrary, it is finally the 17th game of this month, the last game of this month with the most brutal schedule, and it is time to really get through it... All the Bobcats players are standing up!

At 6 pm, the game between the Bobcats and the Warriors started at home.

Old Nelson saw that the Bobcats players were in a slump the day before yesterday, and was ready to take advantage of their weakness tonight to strike back. The Warriors players, who had just lost to the Bobcats a few days ago, were also full of energy, especially Ellis.

Then we encountered the rampaging Bobcats...

Old Nelson: Oh, no, you guys are not playing by the rules!

They looked exhausted when playing against the Nuggets, but they played so hard against us? Do they think we are easy targets?
Well, they are very good.

The defensive system he built specifically for that team didn't work at all against the Bobcats.

The Warriors had seven players score in double figures tonight and played okay, but the opponent scored more.

奥卡福今晚硬起来了，12投9中，加上8中5的罚球，拿到23分18板！
加上杰拉德-华莱士16分6板3助攻2抢断3盖帽、张杨的29分、费尔顿20分7助攻、隆多的7分4板7助攻、米尔萨普的12分……山猫队以126比110大胜来访的勇士队，用一场胜利收官这个最艰难的比赛月！

(End of this chapter)