Chapter 245 244. Unprecedented Competition Experience

Sefolosha is calm, stable and tough in defense. A 201 cm tall guard with both size and speed, he can even sink to the point guard position to defend smaller guards like Paul and Lawson, but his ability in pressure defense is a bit weak.

The 09-10 season was the peak year for Sefrosa's defensive performance. At the age of 26, he was selected for the second defense... and then he was beaten in the playoffs by Kobe, who was strong and had amazing shooting.

Later, the Thunder were forced to use Durant to defend Kobe, and the effect was good. The Thunder won two games in a row to tie the score. Then Durant was exhausted by Kobe. In the decisive battle, Durant was exhausted and made 14 of 5 shots. The Thunder lost 87 to 111... The three years from 08 to 10 were the three years with the smallest gap in strength between the Western Conference playoff teams. In 10, although the Lakers and Thunder ranked first and eighth in the Western Conference, the gap between the two teams was only 7 games, while the gap between the second-placed Magic and the third-placed Hawks in the East was as high as 6 games.

The strength gap was 7 wins, but the score difference was 24 points. That series proved a saying well - physical strength is the top talent.

After watching several videos of the Thunder's regular season games at the end of this season the day before yesterday, Zhang Yang arrived in Oklahoma City yesterday and asked the editor for 10 years of videos of Kobe playing against the Thunder to determine his playing style.

His physical fitness has undergone a "second development" in the past year, and his strength is particularly outstanding at the small forward position, not to mention the back line.

Facing Sefolosha's defense, he relied on his strength advantage to easily create the conditions for completing a complete move.

Zhang Yang jumped fully and shot with complete motion. Sefrosa could only watch the ball fly over his head and fall into the basket!

Harden felt a lot of pressure but also extremely excited when he saw Zhang Yang easily defeat Sefolosha.

When the Thunder attacked, Harden advanced to the frontcourt and faced Zhang Yang's defense. He restrained his impulse, followed the procedure, and passed the ball to the boss.

Harden and Zhang Yang played together for three years in high school and were classmates and teammates for two years in college. He learned an "internal fighting" strategy from Zhang Yang - make friends with those far away and attack those nearby.

When facing teammates with conflicts in position or role, strike hard and compete proactively; when facing teammates in different positions, build good relationships and win their support.

Harden did the same thing after entering the NBA. He was able to squeeze out Westbrook, who entered the NBA a year earlier than him and was well-loved by local fans, thanks to Durant's support.

Durant faced Earl Clark in the high post, relying on his height advantage to make a pull-up shot!
When Zhang Yang saw this scene, the corner of his mouth twitched - the 206-centimeter Durant, facing the 208-centimeter Earl Clark, was able to rely on his height advantage to make a strong shot. It was truly a magical world of basketball.

In the offense-defense transition, Nash continued to move forward, passing the ball to Zhang Yang in the frontcourt and then moving away.

Nash came to the wing and saw Sefrosa pressing towards Zhang Yang and sticking to him. He immediately waved to Earl Clark who was moving to the left mid-range...

Ibaka, seeing Sefrosa's defensive changes, also prepared for defense...

Zhang Yang back-to-backed Sefrosa from a high position, and feeling the change in the opponent's defense, he took a step back, stepped forward, and then turned around and rushed forward!
Offensive leader Nash and defensive leader Ibaka both correctly judged how Zhang Yang would play.

Nash moved up from the left sideline and ran toward the top arc with the help of Earl Clark's screen.

Even though Nash is 39 years old, he accelerated in a short period of time, and Durant, who switched defense, was unable to block the passing line between Nash and Zhang Yang in the first time.

Earl Clark cut in after breaking through the defense, but Harden was a little short of defending the pick-and-roll and failed to stop him.

But Ibaka moved into position and blocked Earl Clark outside the three-second zone.

After blocking Earl Clark, Ibaka looked to the top of the arc. Durant switched to defend Nash. He still had the ball in his hands... Eh? Why didn't Nash have the ball? Eh? What were the fans screaming about?

At this time, there was a sound of hitting the basket from behind. Ibaka turned his head to look at the basket and saw Zhang Yang falling from the air!
Nash, Earl Clark, Harden, Durant and Ibaka had a lot of fun playing offense and defense.

What the fans at the scene saw was that Zhang Yang turned around in a high position, passed Sefrosa and went straight to the basket. Facing Perkins who was blocking him, he used the European step, took two steps and jumped to the right rear of Perkins, jumped up on the spot, and slammed the ball into the basket with one hand!

The teamwork that Nash wanted and the teamwork that Ibaka predicted from the opponent were both the "correct" ways of playing, but Zhang Yang had no intention of fighting the opponent normally tonight.

With an overall strength gap of nearly 20 wins, Zhang Yang knew that there was almost no chance of winning by playing normally, and he had to play more extremely. He was one of the few people with an advantage in the starting lineup, and he had to play to his strengths.

In a one-on-one situation, you must shoot; in a one-on-two situation, if the opponent is not double-teaming, but using this kind of conventional front-and-back defense, you must also shoot!

When it was the Thunder's turn to attack, Harden came on his own, excitedly lowered his center of gravity and quickly passed the ball to Zhang Yang, who was also excitedly guarding at the top arc.

Harden suddenly accelerated to the left, and his explosive starting speed was very fast, but Zhang Yang predicted the direction of Harden's first step and moved sideways in time to block him.

Harden, who weighs 100 kilograms and has excellent strength, maintained his balance in the confrontation, quickly changed direction, and rushed to the right!

Zhang Yang quickly turned around and caught up, keeping up with Harden's footsteps. The line between him and Harden remained parallel to the baseline and he did not completely lose his position.

Metta World Peace came in from the wing, and Gasol also moved to the right side of the arc of the reasonable collision zone, and the momentum of the three-person encirclement was formed.

Harden did not double-team and pass the ball to Ibaka who was pulling away on the right side. Instead, he stopped suddenly, stepped back, received the ball, and took a step back from the free throw line to shoot a mid-range shot... but it missed due to the interference of Zhang Yang!
Harden's unexpected step-back mid-range shot was successfully predicted by Zhang Yang!
Zhang Yang concluded that Harden would not pass the ball, but he certainly would not shoot under the double-team of him, Metta World Peace and Gasol, nor would he make a quick stop jump shot facing him. So Harden had only one choice!
Gasol protected the defensive rebound and quickly passed the ball to Nash. After Zhang Yang completed the shot interference, he turned around and saw Gasol in a favorable rebounding position and immediately hurried down.

But unfortunately, the opposing players at positions 1-4 are either young and fast or defensive stalwarts at their peak, and Nash is not able to maintain his advantage in long-distance sprints like he did in the past, so the fast break failed to materialize.

Nash did not force a 7-second offense. He slowed down and protected the ball. After his teammates caught up and got into position, he passed the ball to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang played against Frosha in singles. He continued to advance in the face of close defense. Perkins grasped the timing of shrinking and defending very well, but such defense was not much different from "two-stage one-on-one" for Zhang Yang.

Facing the charging Zhang Yang, Perkins didn't even give him a chance to confront him with his regular backup defense. After Zhang Yang took a step, he changed his second step into a jump step, avoiding Ibaka who hurriedly entered the basket, and he jumped up and made a layup!

Zhang Yang scored three goals in a row, and the Lakers took a 3-6 lead over the Thunder at the start!
Nash watched Zhang Yang make a shot in a one-on-three situation and clapped his hands. His movement in the last round was ineffective. He still moved diligently in this round, but didn't get the ball again... But he will continue to move next time. Opportunities are given to those who are prepared.

Zhang Yang scored the goal, so both attacks were good.

But why did this student's playing style suddenly become so wild?
He thought of the conversation he had with Zhang Yang the morning before yesterday... No, he thought Zhang Yang was just saying it, but he didn't expect Zhang Yang to really do it!

Given this student's personality and his understanding of him, Nash seemed to see a pot hanging over his head, ready to fall at any moment...

Although he was suppressed at the beginning, Harden did not panic. He received the serve and advanced to the frontcourt, and calmly chose to look for Ibaka for a pick-and-roll.

I can't beat you, Zhang San, in a one-on-one match, so let's not fight one-on-one.

Harden used Ibaka's screen to get rid of Zhang Yang. Facing the switched defense of Metta World Peace, Harden accelerated and rushed straight to the basket. The 33-year-old Metta World Peace could not keep up with Harden even after losing weight, and failed to form an effective double-team with Gasol who was protecting the rim. Harden made a layup against Gasol's defense!
The fans at the scene cheered wildly, and Harden finally responded to Zhang Yang's one-on-one!
At the beginning of the season, Harden was booed as soon as he stepped onto the court, and as the season progressed, the boos became louder.

As for Westbrook, he averaged 26 points, 8.6 rebounds and 9.2 assists in the first month, with 15 triple-doubles in 5 games, the most among active players. The whole league is crazy about him, saying that Westbrook is a combination of Iverson and Kidd, the modern Big O.

But as the season progressed, while fans of other teams were still going crazy about Westbrook's performance, Thunder fans calmed down and began to appreciate Harden's performance.

Although Turtle’s statistics look good, he can’t win the game!
Jeremy Lin and Parsons became spot shooters, and Asik and Patterson had to block Westbrook so that Westbrook could grab the ball and counterattack...

As for Harden, his breakthrough to the basket does not look that fierce, but in fact, his efficiency is much higher than Westbrook. His hit rate at the basket is 10 percentage points higher. And he just does not look fierce. In fact, most of his shots in the paint are directly shot against the paint, and he encounters more confrontations than Westbrook.

If Westbrook were to face off against Zhang Yang, he would have no choice but to continue to fight against Zhang Yang after being blocked for one goal, and then be blocked to death... This was the case in the Western Conference Finals last season. Westbrook averaged 18 shots per game against Zhang Yang's defense and scored 17 points, with a shooting percentage of only a pitiful 35%.

Durant averaged 18 points on 27 shots per game, and Harden averaged 16 points on 21 shots per game, but neither of them could fill the hole dug by Westbrook, after all, the opponent was a luxury version of the Spurs.

It was the Lakers' turn to attack. Zhang Yang continued to receive the ball and play one-on-one. The Thunder didn't dare to defend one-on-one anymore.

This is the player who could score 40+ points in a single game in the Western Conference Finals before his 'evolution' last year. This year he has made great progress. If Zhang Yang continues to play like this, I'm afraid it won't be just 40 points.

Zhang Yang broke into the inside, Ibaka moved into position in advance, Zhang Yang passed the ball immediately and passed it back to the top arc. Nash received the ball and threw it to the left side of the basket without stopping. Earl Clark cut in and dunked to get two points!
At this moment, Nash understood the smart student's intention - after completely making the threat, teamwork would be more effective!
If they start to cooperate after the first round, they can indeed create opportunities for Earl Clark, but Earl Clark will also have to face Perkins' backup defense when he cuts into the basket, so scoring will still be difficult, but relatively small.

But after Zhang Yang made the threat, Earl Clark could just eat the ball!
If Perkins focuses on protecting the rim, Nash can also pass the ball to Gasol who is moving to the right baseline, and the triangle offense will have more passing options!
The Lakers' team offense started, and as for the Thunder... Harden and Durant took turns to lead the offense.

Zhang Yang's overall scoring ability is stronger than both Durant and Haaland.

He is better at breaking through than Durant. Although his shooting is a little worse, the difference is not big. The main difference is the ability to force shots. When Durant has enough energy, his ability to force shots against the defense is unstoppable. However, the shooting performance after creating opportunities is similar between the two.

He is better at shooting than Harden. Although his success rate in attacking the basket is slightly lower than Harden's, the gap is not big. Moreover, he has more tricks in attacking the basket, and his speed is faster and the impact is stronger.

The fact that the Lakers sent Howard, who was known as the "one-on-James" player, to get him back is the best proof of his ability. He is unstoppable in a one-on-one match.

And the way he played one-on-one tonight was very different from what the Thunder expected!
No matter whether the opportunity is good or bad, as long as there are singles conditions, he will definitely shoot. He is very reckless, but the key is that he is very accurate!
He launched an attack, and the Thunder could only move in advance to double-team him. Nash and Gasol, whoever had better support, would provide support. In the next few rounds, the Lakers continued to suppress the Thunder, and at one point they scored 14 to 9, with the difference widening to 5 points at most.

But when Zhang Yang needed to slow down and was no longer the initiator of the offense, and the offense was initiated by Nash and Earl Clark's pick-and-roll or Gasol's low-post singles, the Lakers' offensive efficiency plummeted!
The Lakers' offensive efficiency declined, and Harden, Durant, Sefolosha and Ibaka were able to launch multi-line counterattacks.

In just over two minutes, the Thunder returned an 8-4 run to the Lakers. At the official timeout at 6:22 in the first quarter, the Thunder chased the score to 17-18, narrowing the gap to 1 point.

After the official timeout, Zhang Yang took over the ball again and launched an attack. The Lakers scored 3 to 10 in the next 8 minutes, but the Thunder returned a 6 to 3 wave in the next two minutes. The Lakers' defense in these rounds was quite satisfactory. After Jordan Hill replaced Metta World Peace, the inside defense was good, but the offense only relied on Blake to score a three-pointer...

31 to 31, the Thunder tied the score! At 11 minutes and 42 seconds in the first quarter, the Lakers attacked, Zhang Yang received the ball in the high position and played against Sefrosa, turned around and dribbled the ball behind his back, took a step to the free throw line, jumped up, and hit a mid-range shot against Ibaka, Zhang Yang's score in this quarter increased to 14 points!
With 6 seconds left in the first quarter, the Lakers lead the Thunder by two points, 33 to 31!
The Thunder quickly served the ball, Harden rushed to the front court in a fast break, Blake couldn't keep up, Zhang Yang and Earl Clark retreated and blocked Harden at the free throw line, Harden passed the ball back to the top arc, Durant received the ball and shot a three-pointer...

As soon as the ball left Durant's hand, a long whistle sounded, and the ball went straight into the frame as if it was equipped with a positioning guide... 34 to 33, Durant hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer, helping the Thunder team to overtake by 1 point and enter the intermission!
Howard, who is said to be able to be traded for James alone, can make the Lakers willing to send Howard as a bargaining chip. Zhang Yang must have played a superb performance in the first half of this season, even the top performance of the same age in NBA history.

14 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal in a single quarter, with a hit rate of in a single game at the end of the quarter. How can we still fall behind!

Zhang Yang has been fighting for so long, but this is the first time he has encountered such a situation.

On the other side, Durant, who scored 10 points in the first quarter, and Harden, who scored 6 points and 3 assists, were also amazed.

8投5中，三分球1中1，加上3中3的罚球，单节14分……

Not only did he play well on offense, but Zhang Yang also performed very strongly on the defensive end. The outside players of both teams had the best defensive performance.

Durant's physical strength is just enough. Harden did not play Money Ball. He continued his offensive and defensive style of the first three years of his career. He worked hard in one-on-one defense and was also active in shrinking and blocking when defending on the wing.

None of them can throw the ball 10 times in a quarter while taking care of both offense and defense like Zhang Yang.

Durant: I was undrafted! I had no ball to play in my rookie year! After my rookie season, the Suns refused to pay me $300 million a year, so I had to return to the Bay Area, where Chinese people live, to play... But after four years, I'm better than me!

Harden was not shocked by Zhang Yang's performance, but he was very unwilling.

They played basketball together in college, and when they left college, their abilities were actually similar. It was just that Sun Yue, known as the Chinese magician, performed too poorly that season. It just so happened that the year Zhang Yang participated in the draft was the year Sun Yue played in the NBA, so he was dragged down and lost the draft. No team was willing to give him a chance, and he was finally accepted by the Suns, the team in the city where the University of Arizona is located.

When the Suns played against the Spurs in the playoffs, Zhang Yang's performance was actually slightly better than his performance against the Lakers.

Harden knew Zhang Yang's talent. He had known Zhang Yang, who was 14 years old, since he was 15 years old. At that time, Zhang Yang had just started playing basketball and caught up with him in one or two years. From then on, he had a goal - to surpass Zhang Yang.

But after four years in the NBA, not only did he fail to defeat Zhang Yang, but he was suppressed by him...

However, Zhang San said that being able to make good use of the strength of teammates is also a part of his own ability. Erha adjusted his mentality and went on the court to fight Zhang San!
His Erha teammate is stronger than him. He has advantages like Shubao Du and Erba Ka, even absolute advantages. If he cannot beat Zhang San individually, he will take advantage of the fact that the old blacksmith is dead and use the team to bully Zhang San!

Harden rested for a few dozen seconds to catch his breath, called his teammates together, and instructed them on the details of cooperation.

Their head coach Scott Brooks is very good at training players. He has trained almost every talented new star selected by the Thunder in recent years. As a student of George Karl, he has strong coaching ability in defense and counterattack, but he is basically nonexistent in positional warfare offense, and just lets the two young players take turns.

Although he beat the Lakers by 1 point in the first quarter thanks to his personal ability, it was too unsafe. Harden hoped that his teammates could better cooperate with him and Durant in singles.

As the boss, Durant was struggling over whether he should tell his teammates something, such as don't be afraid of Zhang Yang, but he didn't know how to say it, nor did he know how to give orders on the spot. Seeing his strongest younger brother take the initiative to gather his teammates together, and listening to his strongest younger brother encouraging his teammates and emphasizing the details of cooperation, Durant felt relaxed - it feels so good to have younger brothers doing everything!

...

After the intermission, Zhang Yang calmed himself down, stepped back onto the court and continued playing!
Similar to the situation in the first quarter, the Lakers had the upper hand when Zhang Yang was attacking, but once the ball was out of his hands, the offensive efficiency immediately dropped sharply. Not only that, his advantage was much smaller when he was attacking. The Thunder's coordination on both offense and defense was better than in the first quarter!
Zhang Yang's playing skills and shooting points are not much different from what the Thunder analyzed during preparation, but his shooting habits in the first quarter are very different from what the Thunder analyzed during preparation. His steady style of play during the regular season is all gone, catching the Thunder off guard.

During the intermission, not only did Harden call his teammates together to emphasize the issue of receiving the ball, but Scott Brooks also adjusted the defensive coordination. When double-teaming Zhang Yang, he did a better job of interfering with the Lakers' passing lines. The defense had a clear focus - mainly defending against cutting into the basket and long-range shots by role players on the wing.

Scott Brooks accurately grasped the pain point of the Lakers - although there are many three-point shooters, the most stable ones are the two point guards who are good at shooting in the top arc area. The hit rates of Jamison, Metta World Peace, Meeks and others can only be said to be okay, all in the range of 35 or 36, which is not top-notch.

In the first quarter, the Thunder were chasing points for a long time, but in the second quarter, when Zhang Yang was the main attacker, they were only slightly behind. Once Zhang Yang slowed down, they were able to quickly reverse the score. In the second half of the quarter, it was Zhang Yang who led the team to chase points!
第二节张杨单节9分1板1助攻1盖帽，率领湖人队拿到28分，而雷霆队拿到31分。

At the end of the first half, the Thunder led the Lakers by 65 points, 61 to 4!
In the third quarter, the Thunder continued to expand their advantage. In the star offensive stage, Durant and Zhang Yang were evenly matched, but in conventional offense, Harden played better than Nash. The Thunder led 27 to 24 in a single quarter and led the Lakers by 7 points after three quarters.

At the beginning of the last quarter, Zhang Yang was placed on the bench to rest for a while. He had to play the entire first three quarters, attacking and defending at the same time, which was a bit overwhelming.

But in just 4 minutes, the Thunder scored 12 to 5...

By the time Zhang Yang came on the court, the score had reached 89 to 103, 14 points behind!

This time, Zhang Yang didn't care about teamwork or not, he just started swinging at medium and long distances!
He played one-on-one in this area, and Ibaka and Perkins had little effect on him. The three Thunder players on the perimeter took turns defending him, but they were unable to limit his shots.

Durant is not as fast as him; Sefolosha is not as strong as him; Harden has both mobility and strength, but he is not as good as Durant in interfering with shots, his defensive basics are not as good as Sefolosha, and his basketball IQ in defense can only be said to be okay... none of them can limit Zhang Yang from shooting the ball.

In the middle of the final quarter, Zhang Yang made 5 of 3 shots, plus 3 of 3 free throws to score 9 points in a row, helping the team to play a 13-8 wave and narrow the gap to 9 points. However, after the fierce attack, he was unable to support it. In the last 3 minutes, he only made 3 of 1 shots...

At 11:22 pm, the final whistle sounded.

张杨首节14分、第二节9分、第三节10分、末节11分，31投15中，其中三分球5中2，加上12中12的罚球，狂砍44分6板5助攻2抢断1盖帽，湖人队依旧不敌雷霆队！
杜兰特22投11中，其中三分球4中2，加上16中13的罚球，拿到全场第二高的37分。

哈登20投9中，其中三分球6中3，加上8中8的罚球，拿到29分7板9助攻。

Plus Ibaka's 14 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocks...

116 to 107, the Thunder defeated the Lakers and defended their first home court!
...

The next morning, he woke up from a deep sleep.

I checked the news and saw the headlines were related to him - what a sad story.

Last night he scored 44 points in a single game, breaking his personal playoff scoring record of 41 points in a single game in the Western Conference Finals last year, but he lost the game.

The news used words like "new king of the Lakers" and Zhang Yang felt that this reporter had a grudge against him... As expected, it was the Royal Media again.

He's in such a tragic situation, and it's not enough to ridicule him, but you also want to stir up internal strife among them?
I'll show the news to the old blacksmith later!

Looking back at last night's game, he felt very uncomfortable.

He actually played quite well offensively, and his teammates did a good job in containing the defense, supporting the defense, and cooperating with him.

But the course of the game...

On the 80 timeline, with Bird backing him up, he went up and won the game.

10 timeline, during the time with the Suns, he was a supporting role; during the two playoff trips of the Spurs, there was a troika to back them up, and he went up to win the game.

On his own, whether playing against the Pistons or the Spurs, it was his teammates who held up the situation and he went on to win the game.

But last night, he became the one supporting the team!
When he doesn't launch the main attack, only Gasol, Jordan Hill, Blake, and Meeks can compete with the opponent.

If only Nash and Blake are on the court and Gasol is not there, the ball must pass through Zhang San's hands, otherwise the game will be as ugly as it can be.

Not only do you have to provide a safety net, but you also have to play the key ball... It's not easy to be an old blacksmith!
The main reason is that their opponent is too strong - the Thunder, which is second in the league and first in the Western Conference.

Last night's game made Zhang Yang understand why fans of other stars are saying that Kobe and Wade are lucky. These two are really lucky. When they entered the NBA, they had the Big Shaq as their teammate, and they had a lot of fun playing in the early days.

Most talented rookies have to shoulder the burden of the team when they enter the NBA, but most of the talented rookies simply cannot shoulder the burden when they first enter the NBA, and are eventually crushed by the pressure and become mediocre.

"If I had known there were optional tasks, I would have chosen the lowest-level one. I hope I don't get nothing from this training..."

Muttering something, Zhang Yang went to the bathroom to wash up and think of a solution.

Although they lost the game last night, it was not completely without gain. He paid close attention to his teammates' playing styles on both offense and defense, and actually cooperated with them once, so he learned more.

After washing up and returning to the room, Zhang Yang saw that it was almost 11 o'clock. He called the front desk to ask for his teammate's room number, came to Mr. World Peace's room, knocked on the door, and immediately heard a voice asking.

After finishing the game at 11: last night, and finishing interviews, physical therapy and other things, it was already o'clock when we returned to the hotel. Zhang Yang thought Metta World Peace was still sleeping, but he didn't expect that he was already up.

Zhang Yang responded, and soon the door opened. He entered the room at the invitation of Metta World Peace... The TV was playing the recording of last night's game!
Metta World Peace poured a cup of black tea for Zhang Yang and asked, "Jack, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Zhang Yang got straight to the point: "Metta, defend Durant, I think you have to do it!"

……

……

I was a little busy during the day today, and I only had time to write when I got home in the evening. I'll update one chapter first, and then continue writing right away, trying to be brief and concise before 12 o'clock~Please give me your monthly vote at the end of the month!
(End of this chapter)