Chapter 220 219. The finals begin!
"Someone has to win, why can't it be me?"

Upon hearing these words, countless fans in front of TVs at home cheered.

After the 'Houston building collapse incident', except for alternative media reports such as the Shock Department, which were still outrageous, most media reports became more realistic, allowing fans to understand the actual situation in the NBA. They lowered their expectations of domestic players playing in the United States, mainly because Yao Ming no longer had unnecessary expectations. It also allowed domestic fans to truly understand how outstanding Yao Ming's performance was and how difficult it was to achieve such a record. Zhang Yang and Yi Jianlian, who is about to enter the NBA, also benefited from this.

But "opening your eyes and seeing the world" also has its disadvantages. Domestic basketball fans feel very frustrated that the best players in the country are so far away from the championship in the NBA.

The statement that "the Rockets are a championship contender" confuses American fans and seems ridiculous, but so many people in China believe it. The core reason is that Chinese people want to be the best in everything.

At this time, Zhang Yang stood up and he really stood in front of the championship trophy!

Hearing Zhang Yang say this in front of fans across the country, domestic fans, whether they like him or not, felt their blood boiling!

Compared with Yao Ming, Zhang Yang is more controversial. Many people dislike him very much and think that he is too casual. He accepts interviews when he is happy and refuses when he is unhappy. He says whatever he wants to say. Sometimes he is crazy and even violent. But people who like him like him even more. They think that he is more free and easy, unlike Yao Ming who has the "idol burden", and he is more ruthless than Yao Ming. If he is fouled, he will beat him back directly.

At the scene, Jordan and Bickerstaff were waiting for the pre-match interview. They were very satisfied when they heard Zhang Yang's answer translated by the Chinese-speaking press officer Kyle. "Young man, how can you succeed if you don't even have this much ambition?"

Carlisle, who was eavesdropping on the side, sighed in his heart: Regardless of whether we can win this year, Jack's words will become a classic in basketball history... No! We must win!

The head coach and the star players only have victory in their eyes. How could he, a consultant to the coaching staff who is about to take over as the head coach, even think about losing!
On the other half of the court, Duncan was standing under the basket holding a basketball. When a teammate made a practice shot, he reached out and caught the ball and passed it back to his teammate.

Seeing that the other team had a TV interview before the game, he was envious...

Ginobili rushed into the inside and practiced a Eurostep. The ball fell into the basket. Duncan caught the ball and handed it to Ginobili.

Ginobili said: "I didn't expect that Jack would make it to the finals."

Duncan: “What a surprise.”

Ginobili: "And it's very difficult to play against them. It's more difficult to play against them than against the Pistons."

Parker leaned over and said, "Didn't the media say that the Bobcats beat the Pistons unexpectedly? Didn't we take advantage?"

Duncan had a blank expression on his face and Ginobili kept his mouth shut.

Barry saw that the game was getting cold, so he interrupted and said, "It was indeed a surprise that the Bobcats beat the Pistons. When I saw the Eastern Conference Finals matchup, I thought the Pistons had a good chance of sweeping the Bobcats. I didn't expect that the legendary coach would wear the Pistons out in that way. But it also shows that the Bobcats have no other choice but to gamble on their luck and fight a war of attrition.

But this doesn't mean that it's easier for us to play against the Bobcats than the Pistons. If we play against the Pistons, you and Tim can beat them by taking turns in singles. Okafor can score 15+10 every game, and Rondo, a rookie, can get a triple-double. You and Tim can beat them in the interior until they lose their dreams of basketball.

The Bobcats have the deepest frontcourt in the league, and the perimeter combination of James and Hughes has a shooting percentage of less than 40% when facing the two of them. "

Although Barry made Parker less embarrassed, the topic still became dull and the conversation did not continue.

Parker was a little frustrated. How could he not know what Barry said? He just wanted to find a way to talk to the two of them more, and the only thing he could think of was to pretend that he didn't understand and ask questions... He judged others by himself. He liked to teach others and thought that others were the same.

Little did they know that the more he acted like this, the less patient Duncan and Ginobili were to talk to him. They both liked teammates who could understand half of what they said, and they didn't like fools...

...

The pre-match preparation time ended and the starting lineups of both teams came onto the court.

Okafor and Duncan came to the center circle, looked at each other...no other action.

Zhang Yang was originally going to the middle circle, but he deliberately went around and ran to the other side of the middle circle. As a result, the two of them stood there like two stone statues, not moving at all.

Zhang Yang finally understood why Roaring Heavenly Master became more and more violent during the Eastern Finals.

When the Pistons were in the lead, Okafor played steadily and didn't seem to have any emotional fluctuations.

The Pistons were falling behind like crazy, but Okafor remained steady and never took any risks.

It would be strange if Tianzun, who is good at playing passionate ball, was not irritable. Finley followed Zhang Yang to stand on the other side of the center line.

Zhang Yang looked at the early Jordan successor in front of him and asked, "Michael, is this your first time playing in the finals?"

What kind of greeting is this? Finley was confused for a moment and replied, "Yes."

Zhang Yang: "What a coincidence, me too."

Finley: “…”

For some reason, he felt his fist tighten... No! This guy is the Pro version of Lambiel, he has to hold back.

Seeing that the other party stopped talking, Zhang Yang felt that the Spurs were really boring. Everyone was so boring. Even the Yaodao who was friendly to him was the type who couldn't say a word after three sentences.

But the game is about to start, so it doesn't matter if it's boring! Playing the finals with the troika!
Gerald Wallace and Bowen stood on both sides of the center line on the other side of the circle, while Felton, Muhammad, Parker and Argentine center Fabricio Oberto stood on the free throw lines in their respective backcourts.

At 9 o'clock in the evening, the referee blew the whistle to start the game and threw the ball into the air. Okafor jumped up and touched the ball before Duncan and pushed the ball backwards.

The game starts, the Bobcats attack first!
Zhang Yang rushed to the front court like an arrow. Finley failed to confront him immediately and was thrown away by Zhang Yang!
But after Duncan failed the jump ball, he quickly retreated and moved to the right side of the top arc to block Zhang Yang. When Zhang Yang bypassed Duncan and entered the three-point line, Oberto was already standing between him and the basket, and Finley also caught up from behind.

Zhang Yang stopped his fast pace and brought Finley to the baseline. The fast break at the beginning was fruitless, so he just treated it as a running warm-up. He didn't have much hope in the first place. Even if he created an opportunity, Felton might not pass it to him. The fat guy was very cautious in handling the ball... It would be a good idea to let Duncan speed up and move a few more steps.

When Felton advanced to the three-point line, Zhang Yang immediately cut to the basket and slipped to the baseline.

Felton launched an attack with a single play, Parker closely defended the three-pointer, Felton pulled the ball and crushed Parker to break through from the right side!
Zhang Yang slipped from the baseline to the left side of the three-second zone and moved upwards. Okafor blocked Finley's pursuit and Zhang Yang broke free from the pursuit and threw the ball to the high position. Duncan did not switch defense to block him, but moved to the right side of the three-second zone to defend Felton. Felton broke through to close range and passed the ball back to the high position.

Zhang Yang received the ball and turned around...and was blocked by Parker!
Parker stopped chasing Felton after he entered the free throw line. He stayed at the free throw line, waiting to block whoever received the ball in the high position.

Parker is fast and sticks close to Zhang Yang. If Zhang Yang turns around and shoots directly after receiving the ball, his jump will definitely be affected.

But Zhang Yang didn't shoot directly. He turned around again, knocked Parker back with one step, turned around again, and shot a mid-range shot...

After being knocked back, Parker immediately pressed forward again with a very fast starting speed. Coupled with Zhang Yang's "Frank Hamblen-style" step-back mid-range shot, with a low jump height and the shot while falling, rather than stepping back and then jumping up to shoot, when Zhang Yang shot, Parker was almost close to Zhang Yang's face.

But Zhang Yang ignored Parker who was close to his face and took a steady mid-range shot...and it went in!
Zhang Weiping in the commentary booth exclaimed, "What a daring shot!", "Hey, it actually went in!", "This is so thrilling"...

In fact, for Zhang Yang, there is no difference whether Parker comes back or not.

With such a huge difference in height and wingspan, all he needs to do is to fully jump and make the shooting motion. In his eyes, Parker's defense is just a gun for aiming!
However, this ball was indeed very spectacular and thrilling to watch. When his teammates saw Zhang Yang make the shot, they excitedly high-fived Zhang Yang in celebration as they retreated.

Popovich also frowned on the sidelines. Last season, he felt that Zhang Yang was very restrained against them, but at that time he thought that Zhang Yang was only 17 years old and there was no need to be afraid. By the time this rookie grew up, their Spurs team might have already started rebuilding.

I didn’t expect Zhang Yang to make it to the finals at the age of 19!

In fact, most players who are accurate in mid-range shooting do not pose much threat to the Spurs. Generally speaking, those who are accurate in mid-range shooting are off-ball shooters or spot shooters. For example, Duncan's mid-range shooting has improved in the past two years, but he only shoots when receiving the ball at a fixed spot and rarely plays one-on-one.

Popovich is not afraid of those who can shoot accurately after receiving the ball. Their rotation defense can immediately restrict the opponent's jumping shot. For example, the Knicks led by the previous generation of mid-range shooting king Alan Houston were almost swept by them in the finals; the contemporary mid-range shooting king Hamilton was defended to only 05% shooting rate in the 38 Finals. The Spurs were able to win the seventh game in that finals thanks to three things - Duncan's stable average of 3+ per game, the rampage of the demon sword, and Hamilton's mid-range shooting was locked.

But it’s different when you’re shooting from the mid-range when holding the ball. It’s useless even if you stick to it!
Because the best player in their area of ​​defense is Parker, Popovich began to feel disgusted again. If only Kidd could be traded back then...

In the offense-defense transition, Parker advanced to the frontcourt and saw Gerald Wallace on the wing, Okafor and Muhammad on both sides of the three-second zone. He passed the ball to Duncan who was in the low post.

Standing behind Duncan was his former teammate Muhammad. Duncan turned around and went to the basket with one step. Okafor double-teamed him immediately. Duncan seized the opportunity, raised the ball high and made a lob shot...and it went in!
……

……

I wrote until 3: last night, and slept until the afternoon today. I was in a daze all day, so I will update a short chapter first.

(End of this chapter)