Chapter 249 248. This is retribution!

After the game, Harden fled back home, had a good sleep, and felt much less guilty.

The first thing he does after getting up is to go online and read the news.

After watching for a while, he became unhappy - no one scolded me!

Of course Harden doesn't like to be scolded, it's just his basketball philosophy. If he loses the game, he deserves to be scolded. There is only one reason why he was not scolded - he doesn't deserve it.

Look, the negative news he saw about their team was all about Durant starting strong but ending weakly, and Brooks' poor response...

He, Erha and Erba Ka are just 'other players of the Thunder'.

Especially when he saw Zhang San dominating the major websites, Harden was in an even worse mood.

《40+ is not enough? Then 50+! 》

Zhang Yang's words after the game were extremely arrogant, as if he could just score 50+ in the playoffs.

But he just scored 50+, so there's no way to refute that.

You have to know that the NBA has been established for nearly 60 years, and there are less than 50 people who have scored 20+ in the playoffs.

Before Zhang Yang, there were only a handful of active players who had scored 50+ points in a single game - Kobe, Carter, Nowitzki, Ray Allen, and Zhang Yang is the fifth active player.

In the star-studded history of the Lakers, Zhang Yang is only the fourth person. Only Baylor, West, and Kobe have scored 4+ in a single playoff game.

This one game alone is enough to make Zhang Yang famous in basketball history. When looking through the NBA playoff statistics list, even after ten or twenty years, his name still cannot be ignored.

Harden's unwillingness spread wildly.

Thinking back to the first time he met Zhang Yang 10 years ago, a year later, Zhang Yang's strength caught up with his. Since then, he has been competitive and has been competing with Zhang Yang, from the high school league to the same team in college...

Harden did not restrain his envy and jealousy, nor did he suppress his resentment. This was one of the important driving forces for his continuous progress in the past nine years.

As his mood gradually calmed down, Harden began to rethink last night's game.

He opened Durant's data sheet for the past two years and found one thing - when he, he and Westbrook had more ball possession, Durant played better!
In games where Durant takes more than 20 consecutive shots and scores more than 30 points, his performance is often struggling and the team's winning percentage is not high.

But when Durant took 16 or 17 shots and scored 25 or 26 points, his efficiency was close to Jordan! He could shoot a key shot when needed, averaging 27 or 28 points per game, which was enough to compete for the scoring title, and his efficiency was still high.

Last season's scoring leader Kobe averaged 27.9 points per game, and this season's scoring leader Anthony averaged 28.7 points per game.

Harden recalled the years of partnering with Durant. When he and Westbrook were still weaker, Durant always frowned on the court. But last season, he and Westbrook competed fiercely and took away a lot of the ball from Durant. Durant only shot 17 times per game and his assists dropped to 2.5 times per game. Instead, he was cheerful and looked comfortable and at ease.

This season he averaged 20 shots per game, while Durant only averaged 18 shots per game, but Durant was still happier than when he shot 20 times.

Although there doesn't seem to be much difference between 20 shots and 20 or shots, this is a very special dividing line. When O'Neal describes whether he is old or not, he always uses the phrase "I could shoot times a night back then."

In the playoffs, if Durant maintains his shooting efficiency, his number of shots will definitely not be as high as that of peak O'Neal.

After some analysis, Harden had a direction - I have to play more myself!
With this idea in mind, he immediately took action, changed into casual clothes, went to Durant's house, and told Durant his idea directly.

This is another reason why Harden is more popular with Durant than Westbrook.

Westbrook is a typical snake player. If he has something to tell his teammates, he won't say it. He speaks with his actions, thinking that if his teammates are smart enough, they can understand him. This is arrogance, but also a test of his teammates' ability to understand.

This often makes his teammates unhappy. If he were the boss, his teammates could accept it, but Turtle is not the boss of the Thunder.

Even Durant, who doesn't have a bossy mentality, would be unhappy with his teammates' behavior.

Harden is different. He is happy to speak his mind directly and tell others why he does what he does, which is very much to Durant's liking.

For the first time, the two discussed what kind of partnership they should have on the court and how the ball and shots should be distributed.

Durant can easily compromise and accept this kind of thing...

As they chatted, the two began to become dissatisfied with Brooks.

If the coach is capable and experienced, he would have already considered this kind of thing and sorted it out for them, like Zen Master did to OK.

But Brooks didn't pay any attention to this problem at all, and the two of them could only gain experience by suffering losses.

Not only that, in last night's game, the two also felt the gap between Brooks and Bickerstaff's on-the-spot command capabilities.

Bickerstaff was full of on-the-spot responses, and Brooks' pre-match arrangements were fairly adequate, but whenever he encountered problems on the court, he would look for Durant. When Durant couldn't move anymore, he would look for Harden, and he continued to rely on Durant. There was no third way.

In fact, Brooks has his advantage - the ability to train new players.

But everyone in the team has become accustomed to this advantage of his and takes it for granted. They can't remember his good points, but only remember that he is a drag in on-the-spot command and offensive tactical reserves.

...

In addition to Zhang Yang's 50 points in a single game to lead the team to an upset victory over the Western Conference leader, Durant's strong start but poor performance, and Brooks' on-the-spot command ability being beaten by Bickerstaff, there is another hot topic today.

A columnist for the Los Angeles Times commented: Bickerstaff showed us the correct way to play with Kobe + Gasol + Nash. If Hill is replaced by Howard, I can't imagine how terrible the Lakers will be this season. This is not disrespectful to Jack. I say this to prove that in my mind, he is as good as Kobe.

The comment resonated with fans.

Fans also felt that last night's game was the best game played by the Lakers this season in terms of teamwork.

When four superstars, Nash, Kobe, Gasol and Howard, come together, everyone has to make trade-offs based on their abilities. Mike Brown and D'Antoni are also doing this, but they are doing it very poorly.

Gasol didn't have the ball to be a shooter, and he had to go out to do help defense, which he was not good at, even though he was older and more suitable for squatting under the basket to protect the rim;

Howard didn't play pick-and-roll but played low-post singles, and didn't go out to help defend but squatted under the basket;
Nash is still asked to organize the offense in a halfcourt game without a pick-and-roll executor at his age;
Kobe was supposed to be a pure scorer, but he had the highest assists per game in his career...

The situation changed after Zhang Yang and Howard exchanged teams, but the core structure of the play did not change much. After all, 52 games have been played. Zhang Yang had to participate in the game immediately after coming to the Lakers, and the adjustments could only change the details. Zhang Yang's play in the second half of the season was just a reasonable offensive version + enhanced defensive version of Kobe's play.

It wasn't until the Thunder beat the Lakers in Game 1 of the first round and Bickerstaff was forced to make disruptive adjustments that fans saw the correct way to use the "Big Four".

Gasol played as the core, Zhang Yang's role was reduced to initiating offense and scoring, and Nash played as the sixth man... The three no longer hindered each other and put up an amazing offensive performance, scoring 130+ points when the Thunder were caught off guard.

The media, experts, and fans discussed it to the end - praising Bickerstaff, criticizing Mike Brown and D'Antoni...

At the Four Seasons Hotel in Oklahoma City, when Harden went to Durant to discuss each other's on-court positions, the Lakers coaching staff was holding a meeting before returning to the airport to analyze last night's game.

G2 won and grabbed the home advantage, but the situation was still unfavorable for them because the lineup gap was too big.

Just like people say, they changed their style of play and took advantage of the Thunder's defense, that's all.

But since there is a breakthrough, there is hope of winning!

At the end of the meeting, they also talked about the topic of "If Bickerstaff coached the regular season, the Lakers would be as strong as the 66-win Heat."

Bickerstaff himself denied this statement: "It's not that the two Mikes didn't know that the four of them were not suitable to play like that, but they had no choice. Howard didn't want to be a blue-collar player, and he didn't even want to cooperate with Steve in the pick-and-roll. If he was asked to play the pick-and-roll with Steve, he would cut in before Steve got around the pick-and-roll. Howard was even less likely to play a blue-collar role like Jordan (Hill).

The two Mikes didn't dare to make arrangements that would make Howard unhappy. The most important task for our team in the early stage is not to play a good record, but to let Howard renew his contract in advance. They don't want to be the person responsible for Howard not renewing his contract. "

Young Darwin Ham responded, "That's right. You are the only coach on our team who can control Howard. In the five games you coached, Howard listened to your arrangements."

Bickerstaff shook his head. "He can't be suppressed. He can't always give face to an old man. He will be unhappy after a while."

Ham sighed when he heard this, "Oh, if we had accepted the Pacers' offer and traded Bynum for George, we would have had an extra young, powerful forward... or accepted the rebuilding Bulls' offer in exchange for Deng and Noah, we would definitely be ranked more than eighth in the Western Conference now." Bickerstaff rolled his eyes at Ham. This young man really dared to say anything.

He responded, "In that case, how can we get Jack? Only if we give the same bargaining chip as Howard, the Spurs will be willing to give Jack to us. Otherwise, even if Jack wants to come to us after the season, we don't have the salary space to sign him... Jack will not turn 25 in two months. He has a brighter future than Howard, George and Noah."

Hamm finally realized that coaches like him should no longer miss the Big Four or regret the regular season...

Zhang Yang was watching the video clips of G1 and G2 over and over again.

He has already provided the methods he can offer, and he cannot provide better suggestions on the strategic level, so he should not interfere and let professionals do professional things. He just needs to study the opponent's videos and think about how to better shoot the ball into the basket.

...

The two rest days passed quickly, and on April 4, the Lakers returned to their home court to face the Thunder in Game 26 of the series.

Just as Zhang Yang expected, the opponent made targeted adjustments to their offensive and defensive tactics, which were quite effective.

Erha really took over the power!
Looking at Harden's experience in grabbing power over the past two years, Zhang Yang feels that his old friend is developing in the direction of becoming a ball hog.

Harden became the Thunder's main attacking point tonight!
Although the Thunder's offensive efficiency declined, this change directly broke the Lakers' defensive strategy of using Metta World Peace + wing point guard + twin towers to consume Durant.

Brooks was given time to make plans, and the Thunder made adjustments on the defensive end. The Lakers' offense was more restricted than in G2, and they could no longer score 2+ points in a single quarter as they did in G30.

However, that defensive strategy had a very short validity period. Zhang Yang had already anticipated this, and so had the coaching staff.

There is no possibility of further adjustment in their defense. Zhang Yang is desperate about the Lakers' defensive lineup. Gasol is 33 years old and cannot protect the rim alone. He needs support from the front line, but the best front line defenders are Metta World Peace and Jordan Hill. Facing Durant and Ibaka...

The backcourt is even worse. At the point guard position, there is Duhon, who is good at defense, but the offense has degenerated to the point where there is almost nothing except open shots. Nash and Blake, who are good at offense, their defense is simply unbearable to watch.

Being able to limit Durant and prevent him from performing as well as he did in G1 is already the limit of what they can do.

Fortunately, Bickerstaff readjusted the roles of the team's three superstars based on Eddie Jordan's triangle offense, and the three of them accepted and quickly adapted to the new roles. Their team offense was activated, and even if the Thunder made targeted defensive adjustments, it only imposed some restrictions on them.

They continued with the starting lineup from the previous game tonight, just trying their luck, what if the opponent didn't make adjustments? But since the opponent had made adjustments, let's go for it!

Gasol assists the offense, Zhang Yang's offense consumes less energy and can play more time on the court. Nash goes to the second lineup, not only does he play more efficiently, but Jamison is also revitalized...

首节比分28比26，湖人队小胜雷霆队两分，第二节雷霆队29比26小胜湖人队3分，半场打完，雷霆队以55比54反超湖人队1分。

In the third quarter, Zhang Yang + Nash fought Durant + Harden in a singles match, but they were defeated! Durant played leisurely in the first half, but attacked fiercely in the third quarter, showing a strong performance!

In the second half of the third quarter, Durant made two unreasonable three-pointers in a row. Even Earl Clark was close to his face, but Durant still made the shot. These two three-pointers extended the Thunder's original 3-point lead to 9 points!
尽管最后两分多钟张杨带队打出了9比5收尾，三节打完时，湖人队还是以80比85落后雷霆队5分。

In the third quarter, the Thunder scored 30 to 26!
In the final quarter, Zhang Yang and Gasol launched a counterattack, Harden and Durant led the team to hold on, and the two teams played 27 to 27 in the final quarter. The Thunder maintained a 5-point advantage until the end!
At 11:20 pm, the final whistle sounded.

张杨31分6板4助攻、加索尔15分9板6助攻、纳什14分5助攻、贾米森12分、乔丹-希尔11分、慈世平10分……湖人队6人得分上双，最终还是以107比112憾负雷霆队，丢掉了到手的主场优势。

哈登23投10中，其中三分球6中1，加上6中6的罚球，拿到27分4板8助攻、杜兰特19投12中，其中三分球6中4，加上6中6的罚球，拿到全场最高的34分，加上14分的伊巴卡和14分的赛弗罗莎……4人得分上双险胜湖人队！

On the 28th, the two teams faced off again at the Staples Center.

After G3, the two teams could no longer make any more changes in their overall playing style.

Bickerstaff is feeling bitter. When he was on the rise in the 80s and 90s, the team had a group of energetic and talented young players who could make any changes. But now on the Lakers, most of the main lineup is made up of players over 33 years old, and the few young players, except Zhang Yang, are only Earl Clark and Jordan Hill... It is already the limit for them to be able to play back and forth with the Thunder.

Brooks really had no other tricks. He couldn't think of a better way to respond to the opponent's triangle offense defensively. On the offensive end... Harden's command of his teammates' responses was better than his adjustments.

Tonight the two teams continued to compete head-on. The crucial time of this game came in the second half of the second quarter, when the Thunder's wing shooter missed shots continuously!
Fisher, Sefolosha, Lamb, Kevin Martin, and even Ibaka, their mid-range and long-range shooting suddenly hit freezing point.

Bickerstaff seized the opportunity to replace Nash and Jordan Hill to strengthen their rebounding and counterattack capabilities. The Lakers scored 22 to 9 in the second half of the second quarter, extending their 1-point lead to 14 points.

首节湖人队28比29落后雷霆队1分，第二节前半段16比14小胜雷霆队两分，后半节22比9将分差拉开，半场66比52领先！

In the second half, the Thunder kept chasing points and played very hard, taking the initiative, but the 14-point difference was still too big. After all, the Lakers were also attacking desperately. Bickerstaff never thought of any conservative play for this lineup, just attack! Every lineup adjustment and tactical adjustment was based on ensuring offense as the first premise.

第三节雷霆队30比26小胜湖人队、末节雷霆队以31比27小胜湖人队，半场雷霆队追了8分，但上半场落后太多。

最终，湖人队靠着张杨29分、纳什16分10助攻、加索尔17分8板5助攻2盖帽、厄尔-克拉克16分、乔丹-希尔14分、慈世平12分……以119比113主场击败雷霆队，再度将大比分扳平！

Two days later, on May 5, the Lakers came to the Ford Center in Oklahoma City to face the Thunder in a decisive away game.

The new offensive style has been used for 3 games, and it was a fierce playoff game. The game was tense for a long time. The new cooperation of the three cores of Zhang Yang, Gasol and Nash has greatly improved their tacit understanding.

Tonight, they had very strong confidence and wanted to win two games in a row to get the match point, or even win three games in a row to complete the black eight...but Nash and Gasol performed sluggishly tonight.

Although they both played very well in the past 3 games, they were also very tired!

When the pitchers at the receiving point were Artest, Blake, and Duhon, and the cutting points were Earl Clark and Jordan Hill, Gasol, as the core of the support, was really tired.

Jamison is the only one who can help in the bench lineup, and there are no young teammates who can be used smoothly, and Nash is also tired on offense.

Zhang Yang was forced to increase his output tonight. He threw the ball 31 times and made 31 of 14 shots, including 6 of 2 three-pointers, plus 6 of 5 free throws, scoring a game-high 35 points.

Apart from him, the best player of the Lakers was... Jamison, who made 12 of 6 shots, including 1 of 1 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 15 points.

This was the first time in the playoffs that the Lakers scored less than 100 points, losing to the Thunder 94-112 and losing the decisive battle!

A day later, on May 5, the Lakers returned to their home court to face the Thunder at match point.

The Lakers started well tonight, but as the game progressed, the age issue became more prominent again...

At 10 minutes and 08 seconds in the final quarter, Zhang Yang missed a shot in the elbow area facing a double-team of Durant and Ibaka. Perkins secured the defensive rebound. The Thunder called a timeout and replaced the ball with a pure defensive lineup. The Lakers also replaced Zhang Yang.

At this moment, the score was 95 to 112, a 17-point difference. With less than two minutes left, there was no hope.

When Zhang Yang's shot could go in, there was still hope, but Zhang Yang missed two shots in a row, which was already... on par with Kobe, so Bickerstaff had no choice but to give up.

Zhang Yang successfully took 36 shots tonight, with a hit rate of 44.4%, which is actually acceptable, but 36 out of 16... Welcome Jack to join the 'Kobe Club' and complete the 'achievement' of 20 misses in a single playoff game!
出场46分钟，36投16中，其中三分球5中1，加上5中4的罚球，张杨拿到37分7板3助攻2抢断。

To say how badly Zhang Yang played in this game... his teammates' overall shooting percentage was even lower than his, but to say how well he played, would be lying.

With the experience of G5, the Thunder focused their defense on Zhang Yang tonight. Although they were unable to limit Zhang Yang's ability to shoot the ball, they successfully limited his shooting percentage.

However, although Zhang Yang played his least efficient performance in 6 games, the Lakers fans at the scene actually accepted him!
When the team was in dire straits, Zhang Yang did not sink with everyone else, but swung the ball wildly! He was so much like the annoying man in a suit on the sidelines!

To say that he is an eyesore actually means that when fans see that man, they look forward to him playing, but he cannot play, otherwise there is a high possibility that a situation similar to Roy will occur... At this time, when fans see that man, they find it an eyesore.

At 11:24 pm, the final whistle sounded and the score was fixed at 100 to 114. The Lakers lost to the Thunder by 14 points and were eliminated 2 to 4!

Hearing the final whistle and recalling this series, an idea popped into Zhang Yang's mind - retribution!

Their Bobcats team relied on their age advantage to wear out Tianzun and Duncan. Now it's Gasol and Nash's turn to be worn out by the young and strong Thunder team?

Bookbag Du, Erha, Erba Ka, I've made note of this revenge, Zhang San, and I'll come back next time, hoping to meet you again... Eh? Why aren't you sleepy?
No! You, the broken door, when you win, you can just teleport away in a minute, but when you lose, you have to let me stay and take the blame and be scolded, right?
……

……

1.6 words, last day to ask for monthly votes!

(End of this chapter)