Chapter 283 282. First encounter with a truly strong defensive team

On November 11th, the last competition day of the first month arrived.

At around 8 o'clock in the morning, Zhang Yang arrived at the Turkish Airlines Arena. Many domestic reporters were already waiting there. When they saw him coming, they crowded around him. He let out a breath, smiled, and started his business.

He was happy to be interviewed by domestic reporters and has always been quite positive, conveying a positive and optimistic view of basketball to domestic fans and young people who love basketball.

But the media made such a big fuss about playing against the Rockets and Yi Jianlian, who is just an ordinary role player... Zhang Yang understood Yao Ming's mentality when he first played against him.

I'm so embarrassed, but I still have to pretend.

Yi Jianlian did play well, averaging 11.5 points per game and ranking third on the rookie list, but he is just a rookie who has been promoted based on shooting rights, averaging nearly 10 shots per game. The training he received was no worse than that of other top picks in their rookie year, such as Kenyon Martin, Yao Ming, Howard, Bogut and others.

However, face still needs to be given in front of the media. When asked questions about Yi Jianlian, Zhang Yang tried his best to say nice things and started praising the group.

When he, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian were interviewed by domestic media and asked about each other, they all boasted about each other, saying that the commercial value was created by themselves, and that this was what Zhang San learned from the future goat...

At 8:40 in the evening, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the stadium, and the game against the Rockets was about to begin.

After the entrance ceremony, the two teams' season statistics were posted on the big screen.

Felton saw Zhang Yang looking at the data and followed suit. After the first glance, he said with a sad face: "I remember that after the first two weeks, we won by an average of 20 points per game, but now it's only 13 points."

山猫队开局前7场场均111分，场均失分91分；现在场均113分，场均失分99.9分。

The reason is very simple. First, the opponents in the last two weeks are slightly stronger than those in the previous two weeks. Second, we have played against some opponents many times and we know them better. For example, the Pacers and 76ers had a score difference of 20 points in their first match, but the Bobcats only won by 4 and 6 points respectively in the second match.

张杨应道：“以后净胜分会越来越低的，72胜公牛队净胜分也才12分，67胜的小牛队和湖人队净胜分都只有8分，64胜的活塞队也才7分。”

Felton: "I know, but I'm a little unwilling..."

It is right to be unwilling. Zhang Yang did not say anything else. He looked at his data. Although he lost to the Celtics the day before yesterday, his average points per game increased from 30.4 points to 30.9 points... He only played more than 10 games, but his average points per game increased rapidly. In the past 5 games, his average points per game increased from 28 points to 30+.

After a surge last week, James' average points per game has increased to 34.

Zhang Yang feels that it is very difficult for him to maintain an average of 30+ points per game, but it is also impossible for James to maintain his current average points per game.

There is only one person in the league today who can guarantee 34 points in every game. That man, who wishes to remain anonymous, is now averaging only 27 points per game.

The Rockets have played 15 games so far, one more than the Bobcats. Their record is very impressive in the Eastern Conference, with 1 wins and 9 losses, but in the Western Conference, they were just overtaken by the Grizzlies and are ranked ninth.

After Yao Ming left, McGrady once again became the league's top scorer, averaging 26 points per game, plus 6.2 rebounds and 6 assists. Leading the team to such performance alone, the evaluation from domestic fans was... disappointing.

When Zhang Yang was browsing domestic forums, he saw some fans making a comment after Yao Ming left the Rockets - without Yao Ming holding them back and giving them shooting rights, McGrady was finally liberated.

In the eyes of those fans, McGrady will have an epic outbreak like Kobe and Iverson.

Not to mention, even Yao Ming's fans couldn't refute this statement at the time.

Because McGrady had a terrifying performance of averaging 02 points per game in the 03-32.1 season, which was the highest single-season average score in the Iron-Blooded Era. Super scorers such as Jordan, Iverson, and Kobe never got such a high score in the Iron-Blooded Era.

Although this does not mean that McGrady's scoring ability was better than Joaquin Phoenix's that year, the team environment and personal scoring environment were different.

But at least it represents McGrady's scoring ability at the time, and at the end of the regular season that season, McGrady was not yet 24 years old.

Now that McGrady has just turned 28, at his age, his fans have such expectations, and no one thinks it is wrong.

But McGrady's performance not only disappointed McGrady's fans, but also disappointed the fans of other superstars who had made arrogant remarks towards McGrady's fans at the time.

McGrady 'only' played an ordinary All-Star or All-NBA performance, which can't be said to be bad, and it shouldn't be a problem for him to be in the top 20 or even top 15 of the league, but it is far from what the fans expected, and it can be seen that this is the limit of what McGrady can do.

Kobe, who was the same age, played an epic performance of averaging 35 points per game; Iverson, at the age of 31, could average 30+ points per game as long as he wanted...

At the age of 28, the golden age for basketball players, McGrady's performance is not as good as his first season when he was 21 years old after joining the Magic. The main reason is injury.

When Zhang Yang was reading McGrady's scouting report before the game, he saw a statistic - McGrady's shots at the basket accounted for only 18% this season, with only 22 shots at the basket out of 4 shots per game, and close-range shots accounted for only 7%, which means that shots at close range only accounted for a quarter of all shots.

It's definitely not that McGrady doesn't want to score at the basket, but that he really can't score at the basket.

This season, McGrady's mid-range shooting percentage is 43%, his long two-point shooting percentage is 42.9%, and his three-point shooting percentage is 38.6%, which are almost all career highs, but his 54% shooting percentage at the basket and 36.4% shooting percentage at close range are both career lows.

As we all know, the closer you are to the basket, the easier it is to score. McGrady's close-range shots account for such a low percentage and his hit rate is also low. It is understandable that his efficiency has set a new record since he became a starter in the 00-01 season.

Shifting his attention away from McGrady, Zhang Yang looked at the Rockets' roster...they really started spending money without Yao Ming.

Originally, in 2010, after Yao Ming retired, the Rockets' salary hit a record high in team history in the 10-11 season.

It's the same here. Last season, when Yao Ming was there, the Rockets' salary was 6300 million. After Yao Ming left, the Rockets' total salary increased to 6800 million.

With Yao Ming around, the record doesn't matter. The Rockets didn't even make the playoffs in the 05-06 season, but their net profit that season ranked third in the league, only less than the Knicks and Heat; the team's market value increase ranked second in the league, only lower than the Bobcats; Alexander's net worth rose to first in the league among all team owners.

During the offseason, the Rockets signed a lot of players. Although their salaries were not high, most of them were paid one or two million per year, and few of them could be called high-quality role players, compared to the Yao Ming and McGrady era, the role player lineup has undergone a drastic change. After Yao Ming left, they began to focus on the results...

At 9 o'clock in the evening, the game between the Bobcats and the Rockets started.

The Bobcats sent out a starting lineup of Felton, Zhang Yang, Hill, Okafor and Muhammad. The Rockets' outside line consisted of David Wesley, McGrady and Battier, and the inside line consisted of Yi Jianlian and DeSagana Diop.

Okafor beat Diop to win the jump ball and the Bobcats took the first attack.

Zhang Yang received the ball in the frontcourt, Battier guarded in front of Zhang Yang, Hill on the wing moved to the top arc to block Battier on the left side, Zhang Yang broke through with the help of the screen, dribbled sideways from behind, accelerated and rushed past McGrady into the inside.

Yi Jianlian retreated to the wing very timely, Zhang Yang changed direction to the left and came to the front of the basket. Diop had already moved into position, and McGrady also retreated along the middle. Zhang Yang acted decisively, grabbed the ball and jumped facing Diop, and threw the ball into the basket before the double-team confrontation between Yi Jianlian and McGrady arrived... It didn't go in!
Diop can hardly jump immediately after moving, but his huge physique of 213 cm height + 230 cm wingspan can cause great interference to breaking players just by standing!
The ball hit the rim and bounced out. Yi Jianlian grabbed the ball and raised it up immediately to avoid Zhang Yang's interception.

I shouldn’t have taught Sister Lian these little details earlier… Zhang San retreated in disappointment.

However, the opponent is worthy of being one of the "three major tank fortresses" this season, and the defensive coordination is too good.

这赛季只有3支球队场均失分在95分以下，场均91分的活塞队、场均92.4分的火箭队、场均93分的马刺队，防守排名第4的湖人队，场均失分都有95.4分。

After losing Yao Ming, the Rockets' performance improved instead of declined. One of the reasons was that Alexander spent more money on recruiting players, but the most important reason was the new head coach, Tom Thibodeau.

Thibodeau was originally Jeff Van Gundy's defensive assistant coach. After Van Gundy Jr. was fired, the Rockets invited Adelman. Adelman wanted to accept the offer because of Yao Ming and McGrady, but Yao Ming left and Adelman finally rejected the Rockets.

Finally, the Rockets extended an invitation to Thibodeau. Thibodeau originally planned to become the head coach of the Kings. In order to stay in the city where he had worked for many years and bought a house, he naturally chose to renew his contract... The Celtics failed to form a Big Three, so Ainge naturally did not extend an assistant coach invitation to Thibodeau, who was suitable for Garnett.

After Thibodeau took office, his first suggestion was to dig DeSagana Diop from the Mavericks for 230 million a year.

Diop, a giant center with a height of 213 cm, a wingspan of 230 cm and a weight of 136 kg, is a product of the "meat shield era". He was selected as the 01th pick in the first round of the 8 high school student. He and Kwame Brown were known as the "double water" of the 01 class. Before this season, Diop's highest average score per game was 2.3 points... But his rim protection ability is excellent. Last season, he averaged 18 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5.4 blocks in 1.4 minutes per game, and was favored by Thibodeau.

Diop averaged 23 minutes per game this season, scoring 3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2 blocks, all three statistics are career highs. Although his offense is useless and even a drag, he can't even make the most of the ball.

But his defensive characteristics and rim protection efficiency made Rockets veteran players such as McGrady, Battier, and Hayes feel very accustomed to him. The iron-blooded defensive system created by Van Gundy Jr. and Thibodeau was also successfully continued, and the Rockets became the second-best defensive team this season.

But the Rockets' offense...

In the transition between offense and defense, McGrady received the ball from mid-range, and faced Hill's defense, he suddenly shot a mid-range shot... He was forced to lean back...

Hill's ability to judge his opponent's moves is no less sharp than Zhang Yang's!

McGrady's pull-up mid-range shot was forced to become a pull-up fadeaway jump shot, which missed!
When Zhang Yang saw McGrady leaning over and taking steps toward Hill, he was already prepared to retreat, grab the defensive rebound, and launch a counterattack... and fell into a positional battle.

Although there was a bulky center, David Wesley, Battier and Yi Jianlian did a very good job of delaying the defense, creating time for Diop and McGrady to retreat.

Not only that, after all the Rockets players retreated to the backcourt, they were in very good positions and the defensive formation was directly deployed... The second-best defense in the league is not given for nothing.

Zhang Yang passed the ball to Felton and went to the wing to contain the defense.

In the next few rounds, the Bobcats played several conventional tactics that they thought were appropriate before the game... At 4 minutes and 22 seconds in the first quarter, Carlisle called a timeout.

After nearly 4 and a half minutes of play, the score was 5 to 7. The fans in front of TVs in China were about to have their hearts broken watching the live broadcast. Even Kawhi Leonard was about to have his heart broken at the scene. They were the ones who got 5 points!

Moreover, the opponent only scored 7 points, not because their defense was particularly good, but purely because the Rockets' own offensive ability was not good enough.

While the Rockets are the second-best defensive team in the league, they are also the third-worst offensive team, averaging only 94.2 points per game.

The Bobcats players also had their scalps tingling.

Fortunately, they were mentally prepared. In the morning, Felton held a small meeting with the team members and emphasized in a serious manner that tonight's game would definitely be difficult, and explained the reason - the Rockets were the first truly strong defensive team they had encountered this season.

The last time they faced an opponent with a top-10 defense in the league was in the opener against the Cavaliers.

After the first month of the Cavaliers' play, their defensive efficiency ranked ninth in the league, which was pretty good. But in the opening game, the Cavaliers players lost their temper soon after the game started, and they had no enthusiasm on the defensive end...

In addition, the best defensive team they have faced is the Celtics, who are ranked 13th in defense.

The teammates didn’t remember anything else, but they remembered the opponent’s defensive rankings. Oh, and there was one more sentence - "We have to be prepared to play badly at the start of the game tonight. It’s not that our offensive ability is not good, but the opponents we faced before had poor defense. Now we are facing an opponent with the second-ranked defense. We may not be able to adapt to that intensity all of a sudden. If the start is really not going well, we must not panic..."

Returning to the bench, Zhang Yang saw that his teammates were just irritable but not too frustrated - well done, little fat boss!
While wiping his sweat, Zhang San looked at Lianmei opposite him.

Yi Jianlian's performance in positional defense and fast break defense was better than Zhang Yang expected.

Yi Jianlian has very good mobility, is 213 cm tall, has a wingspan of 222 cm, has an excellent physique, and his defensive awareness is also good in international competitions... but in the original time and space, he has never shown it after spending so many years in the NBA.

Although Thibodeau has the problem of being a die-hard core player, his defensive skills are indeed impeccable and he is good at utilizing the defensive advantages of his players.

……

……

I'm stuck today~ I'll be brief and concise~
(End of this chapter)