Chapter 183 182. 1 point more than the opponent

Everyone likes big centers, especially big centers like the giant Yao, the peak Shark, and the early Buddha.

In the regular season, Bynum was just a defensive center.

But when it comes to the Rookie Challenge, he is a shark!
Thanks to Roy's tactical foul, the rookie team got the opportunity to retreat.

Zhang Yang grabbed the ball and went out of bounds, passing it to Paul.

The two looked at each other and confirmed their gazes.

Originally, the two of them wanted to play more, but after only two rounds, Bynum lost his patience and started tearing the umbrella apart!

Paul advanced to the frontcourt and started the attack with David Lee's pick-and-roll.

Millsap switched defense actively, but Paul was not the floor runner who had injured both knees four years later. He accelerated after the screen and rushed forward at a fast pace. Millsap could not keep up with him at all.
Although the rookies' defensive abilities were not good, they had just graduated from college and their attitudes were generally positive. The wings actively retreated to provide defensive support, and Paul looked for his teammates... He couldn't help laughing after the pass was passed.

Zhang Yang received the ball and made a mid-range shot from the free throw line on the left side of the three-second zone!
“Just hold the ball, I won’t fight for the ball tonight”, “Pay attention to passing the ball, pass it to the wing shooter if you are double-teamed, we have many players who can shoot, don’t be alone, ensure stronger offensive firepower”, “If the opportunity is really bad, throw it to me, I will be there to receive it, maintain your hit rate, and make the data look better, it doesn’t matter if my hit rate is not good”…

Paul remembered what Zhang Yang said during the preparation for the game in the afternoon. At that time, he also felt that this 18-year-old little brother was really selfless. Felton must have been blessed in his lifetime to have such a little brother.

He just remembered now, among the 18 players of the two teams tonight, is there anyone whose off-ball running ability is better than Zhang Yang?
He just broke through with the help of a screen and was faced with a double-team. He took a quick glance and saw that the person in the best position to receive the ball was Zhang Yang!

However, Paul saw through it but did not say anything. He really had no interest in the Rookie Game MVP, and he felt too comfortable partnering with Zhang Yang. When he wanted to pass the ball, Zhang Yang was in a position within his field of vision where he could catch the ball and shoot without any obstruction.

In the following time, the second-year team's shot receiver was Zhang Yang, the counterattack spearhead was Zhang Yang, and the player with the ball was unable to open the ball and the person to blame was still Zhang Yang...

When ball-holding players such as Felton, Deron, and Ellis came on the court, Zhang Yang was also their first choice. They just felt comfortable partnering with Zhang Yang and did not notice anything wrong as keenly as Paul did.

Even Ellis, who was extremely hostile to Zhang Yang, had to admit that Zhang Yang was the most comfortable teammate he had played with in all his years of playing.

Paul, Deron, Ellis and Felton took turns holding the ball to launch the offense. With Zhang Yang taking up a lot of shots, the sophomore team cooperated in an orderly manner and launched an extremely ferocious offense.

After starting with a 6-0 lead, the sophomore team quickly widened the gap to double digits.

At the beginning, the rookie team was able to resist, mainly because of Roy.

Roy is physically fully developed, has perfect skills, a high basketball IQ, and plays calmly... The ferocious performance of the sophomore team has little effect on him.

No matter how strong the opponent was, they were not as strong as the playoff-level teams they encountered in the regular season. He didn't understand why his temporary teammates were so scared. He wanted to lead his teammates to fight back... After playing for a few minutes, he gave up.

Before the game, this group of teammates boasted on the training ground that they would beat the class of 05, proving their talent and strength to everyone, but when they really got on the court, they were as cowardly as a rock.

There are some who are not afraid, such as Rondo and Millsap. Roy secretly sighed that they are worthy of being rookies playing in top teams and have strong psychological qualities, but the flaws of these two are too obvious.

To defend Rondo, just let him shoot. Even if he is passed, the inside players will block Rondo's position for direct shooting in advance, and Rondo will be helpless. On the sophomore team, Bynum, the starter, and Bogut, the substitute, both have good defensive positioning awareness.

Millsap...he can't do anything when Bynum stands under the basket.

Roy: Destroy it!

...

Shoot! Shoot! Shoot again!

Zhang Yang has been shooting since he came on the court tonight.

The shots were too easy, the rookie team's offense had no plan, and the defense was even worse.

He had a great speed advantage when playing against Roy without the ball. The rookie team players were quite active in defense, but they kept their eyes on the ball handler, so he always had opportunities.

Not to mention counterattacks, there are only two people on the court who are faster than him - Rondo and Ellis.

Paul's speed before his serious injury was about the same as his.

Paul and Ellis are teammates, and as for the fastest Rondo...even if Rondo follows Zhang Yang, he can't stop him.

At the beginning, the rookie team, led by Roy, had some good opportunities for outside shooting. As the game progressed, Roy gave up resistance, handed the ball over and started to slack off. The rookie team no longer had good outside shooting opportunities, and could not make shots from the outside. They could only break through the basket and were blocked by Bynum and Bogut.

After Bynum dunked once at the start, he focused on rebounding and blocking shots. He and Bogut had their mission - to prevent the opponent from dunking. A certain player No. 3 who did not want to be named (Paul: Huh? Me again?) said a set of data - in the rookie game last season, the 04 class dunked dozens of times against them, and Iguodala dunked the most, with 11 times.

This data made several inside players of the sophomore team very unhappy. Although they are not familiar with each other, there is still a sense of collective honor among the players of the same class. The two big centers with talent in protecting the rim are ready to lock down the opponent's dunk tonight.

The second-year team had more and more counterattack opportunities, the assists of the players advancing with the ball continued to increase, and Zhang Yang's score also continued to rise...

Randy Brown, the second-year head coach of the team, was initially thinking about how to balance the playing time of the nine players, but then he… who cares, what to balance? He is the coach and he has the final say!

Let Jack play all the time! Too many defenders? Then let Jack play as a small forward.

As for the players who partnered with Zhang Yang, Randy Brown still allocated them according to time at the beginning.

But when I looked at Zhang Yang's data during the halftime break, I found that he only arranged three outside lineups in the second half. When Zhang Yang played as shooting guard, Paul or Deron played as point guard. When Zhang Yang played as small forward, Paul and Felton were sent to the back line.

These three were all willing to pass the ball to Zhang Yang. Ellis was not unwilling to pass the ball. He would still pass the ball when the opportunity was not good. However, what Ellis considered an opportunity was different from what others considered an opportunity...

Moreover, after Paul, Felton, and Deron saw Zhang Yang's data in the first half, they no longer just treated Zhang Yang as a receiving point in the second half. They began to actively create shooting opportunities for Zhang Yang in positional warfare, and only looked for Zhang Yang in counterattacks. Even if Zhang Yang's opportunities were relatively not so good, they would pass the ball to Zhang Yang. They did not shoot themselves until Zhang Yang needed to rest for one or two rounds.

When Zhang Yang played as a shooting guard, Granger would come on the court to create space and quickly move down the court to attract the defense's attention during counterattacks. When Zhang Yang played as a small forward, he would stay on the sidelines.

In the interior, David Lee, Bogut, and Bynum play two by two and just need to grab the rebounds.

As the game went on, every time Zhang Yang received the ball, the fans would start cheering.

After Zhang Yang scored the goal, the fans at the scene started shouting "bad boy" and "Jack".

He pitched harder...

At 18 minutes and 33 seconds into the second half, Zhang Yang made a counter-run, received a pass from Felton and made a layup, causing Millsap to foul!

All the fans at the scene stood up and cheered wildly!

Bald No. 24, who came to the sidelines to watch the game in the second half, also stood up, smiled, shook his head and applauded.

In the first half, the sophomore team took 43 shots, Zhang Yang took 22 shots, scored 15 goals, and got 38 points. Before the second half was over, the sophomore team took 33 shots, Zhang Yang took 24 shots...

Zhang Yang played for 38 minutes and 33 seconds, making 46 of 33 shots, including 10 of 6 three-pointers, plus 10 of 9 free throws... With this layup, his personal score increased to 81 points, and there were free throws!

Zhang Yang forced himself to walk fast, stepped onto the free throw line, took a deep breath amid the cheers and shouts of the fans, and slowly shot the free throw... and it went in!
The cheers of the fans at the scene boiled over again!
With 82 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals, Zhang Yang set a new single-game scoring record in the All-Star Rookie Challenge!
The previous single-game scoring record was held by Suns player Stoudemire. In 2004, Stoudemire scored 36 points in the Rookie Challenge, surpassing Kobe's single-game record of 31 points.

Tonight, Zhang Yang more than doubled the Rookie Challenge scoring record!

Rookie team head coach Dan D'Antoni was very considerate and called a timeout to let Zhang Yang enjoy this moment.

Teammates rushed towards Zhang Yang and gathered together to celebrate.

Paul, Deron, Granger, David Lee, Bogut and other five people were stunned and shot more than 5 times!

Felton thought that the little brother was already very impressive when he threw more than 30 times in a game, but he didn't expect that the little brother would dare to throw more than 40 times in a game...

If it were them, they wouldn't dare to give up even if given so many opportunities to act!
Even for Bynum, who has seen someone throw the ball 46 times in a single game, it still feels crazy. Apart from the one who is jealous of his thick hair, there are actually people who dare to throw like that!
Only Ellis didn't go over, but he also looked at the big screen with his mouth wide open.

He had always thought that he was the player most like that player and was proud of it, but now he found out that there was someone who was more like him than him...

The rookies on the opposing team now have the same idea as Banani: Mom, save me, I want to go home!
...

After the timeout, Randy Brown replaced the exhausted Zhang Yang.

The score was already 135 to 75, and there was no suspense any more. At the end of the first half, Zhang Yang alone had scored 3 points more than the opponent.

In the last minute or so, the sophomore team scored 1 points, and the rookie team made two three-pointers and scored 4 points.

At 10:13 pm, the final whistle sounded and the sophomore team defeated the rookie team 139 to 81!
139 points is not the highest score in the rookie game. In 04, Stoudemire led the Western team to 142 points. 81 points is not the lowest score. In 1994, Webber led the Passionate Team to only 68 points.

However, the sophomore team ranked second in the history of the Rookie Game in terms of scoring and limiting opponents' scoring, creating the largest score difference in the history of the Rookie Game!
But that's not the craziest thing.

Zhang Yang scored 82 points in a single game, 1 point more than the total of all the members of the rookie team!
(End of this chapter)