Chapter 289 288. Offensive basketball begins!

When it was the Bobcats' turn to attack, Roy was ready to be beaten by Zhang Yang.

But something unexpected happened to Roy: Zhang Yang played without the ball!
Zhang Yang used Okafor's screen on the wing, went around the free throw line, and cut into the middle.

Mike Miller received the ball outside the three-point line on the right and passed it straight to the middle. Zhang Yang received the ball and jumped towards Aldridge who was returning to the basket, and made a layup over Aldridge's head!
In the transition from offense to defense, Roy played against Zhang Yang alone, continuing the rhythm of fluid forward changes of direction + static force positioning and breakthrough.

Although Roy lacks explosive power, he has solid static strength, solid front-body change-of-direction technique, excellent sense of rhythm, comprehensive shooting skills and solid shooting basics... Before 09, even Kobe, Wade, Billups, Battier and other big names at the best defensive team level had a headache when facing him.

As his strength continues to improve, Zhang Yang's frequency of getting carried away on the offensive end becomes higher and higher, but on the defensive end, as his defensive ability gradually improves, he becomes calmer and calmer.

In the past, he sometimes lost his composure on defense because his brain knew how to defend but his body couldn’t keep up, and he got anxious. Now that his defensive abilities have gradually improved and he can do some things, he focuses on doing what he can do.

In defending Roy, Zhang Yang has two goals - use his wingspan and jumping speed to block mid-range and long-range shots, and use his speed advantage to try to limit the opponent's breakthrough speed.

This is telling my teammates on the wings and in the interior - I can only do this much, and the rest is up to you.

Having won championships together, the twin towers in the interior and Zhang Yang have perfect understanding with each other. This time, just as Roy seized the opportunity to move forward to gain positional advantage during a change of direction, Millsap moved from the left elbow area to the middle, and Okafor moved to the right side of the reasonable collision area, preparing to make dumplings with Zhang Yang.

But the 06 duo also have very good chemistry!

Aldridge and Millsap moved at the same time, came to the top right corner of the free throw line, and blocked Zhang Yang who was defending Roy!
Millsap quickly moved from a position more than one meter behind Aldridge to the right side of the three-second zone to switch defense on Roy.

Aldridge broke up the defense after blocking, and Zhang Yang had to switch defense to go around Aldridge.

Roy relied on his powerful static strength to stop his feet, took two steps back, and played against Millsap in the mid-range, faking a breakthrough and making a long step back to score two points!

4 to 4 draw!
When it was the Bobcats' turn to attack, Roy focused on one-on-one defense, but Zhang Yang did not receive the ball for one-on-one play. Felton suddenly passed the ball back to Millsap in the high position to initiate the attack, creating a chance for Mike Miller on the wing to receive the ball.

Zhang Yang continued to go around the middle with the help of the screen from the wing. After Okafor blocked Roy, Pulzybila chose to switch defense. After Zhang Yang went one step outside the free throw line and received the pass from Mike Miller, Pulzybila pressed outside the free throw line to block Zhang Yang's shooting space.

Roy retreated to the middle three-second zone, ready to defend after Przybila was passed.

But Zhang Yang jumped up to meet Pulzibila! Not shooting, but passing the ball!

Okafor moved to the left baseline and caught the ball at close range for a jump shot...hit!
Roy sighed when he saw this scene: He is indeed the youngest FMVP in history. He saw through our plan! Don't be fooled!
In the first two attacks, Roy played very independently, and it seemed that only the basket was in his eyes. It was not that he wanted to compete with Zhang Yang, but he just wanted to lead Zhang Yang to a one-on-one duel with him.

That’s right, the Trail Blazers’ opening strategy tonight is to use their stars to wage a war of attrition.

Very few teams dare to choose to fight a war of attrition with the Bobcats. This is a team that can wear down the Pistons and Spurs in the playoffs and win the championship. Nearly half of the players are on rookie contracts, and the lineup depth ranks among the top in the league.

The Trail Blazers dare, their lineup depth is even better than that of the Bobcats!
They chose the wrong style of play at the beginning of the season and lost three games in a row, which meant that most of their preparations in training camp and preseason were in vain. However, they were still able to adjust back quickly. McMillan's coaching ability was secondary. The key was that the Trail Blazers had a large salary investment and one of the best lineup depths in the league. Only the Mavericks and the Knicks could compare with them, so McMillan did not mess things up.

Roy was not annoyed by the two extremely aggressive attacks being ignored by the opponent. Instead, he thought that such a calm and rational offensive choice was worthy of the title of "the first man of the new generation".

In fact... Zhang Yang just chose to play without the ball based on the Trail Blazers' outside lineup.

Carlisle is a very strict coach. Even after he started to change, he is still very strict compared to most coaches. However, he is very flexible in matters outside of the game, giving players a high degree of freedom to choose tactics based on actual conditions.

The opposing players on the outside are Blake, Roy, and Webster. Among the three, the one with the best athletic ability is Webster, a high school player.

Even Webster is not known for his running and jumping abilities. His biggest advantage when participating in the draft was that although he was a high school student participating in the draft, he had a taller, stronger physique than many NBA forwards and guards, and was also flexible, which was very different from high school outside players participating in the draft... Perhaps it was precisely because of the difference between him and other high school outside players participating in the draft that he became the highest ranked high school outside rookie in the 05 class, focusing on differentiation.

Of course, the facts have proved that when drafting high school students, one still has to go to extremes. Either you choose players like Zhang Yang, Lewis, and Louis Williams who showed amazing technical talent in high school; or you choose players with perfect physical fitness like James, Howard, and Josh Smith. Players like Webster will have no advantage in the NBA.

Facing such an outside combination, off-ball offense is very advantageous to Zhang Yang, and the energy consumption is much less than playing one-on-one against Roy or Webster.

When the Blazers attacked, Roy also gave up holding the ball and handed the ball to Blake, who then started the attack with Aldridge's pick-and-roll. His singles consumed more energy than Zhang Yang's singles. He felt that the Bobcats' defense was too extreme. They only defended the perimeter, used the inside for double-teaming and defense, and surrounded the team at close range if they disagreed. Carlisle made defensive adjustments based on the team's actual situation, defending three-pointers and protecting the rim, and selectively gave up the inside-outside integrated defense that had been centered on Gerald Wallace for the past two years.

The Bobcats implemented the three-core tactics of Felton, Millsap and Mike Miller, creating opportunities for Zhang Yang to receive the ball and for Okafor to shoot from mid-range and close-range positions and cut in to score.

With Blake taking control, the Trail Blazers began the traditional pick-and-roll pass-and-cut combination.

The two teams launched an offensive war, and the battle quickly became fierce. The two teams played very fiercely and the offensive and defensive confrontation was also very entertaining. The enthusiasm of the fans at the scene was gradually mobilized and the atmosphere gradually became more and more popular.

The official timeout was called halfway through the first quarter, with the score at 18 to 16, with the Bobcats leading by two points!

The progress of the game surprised the fans at the scene - how could our team play against the Bobcats like this?

Yes, in tonight's game, Trail Blazers fans have no confidence in winning at all.

Players and fans have different judgments on a team's strength.

After seeing the Bobcats' performance in the last seven or eight games, the Trail Blazers players felt that the opponent was not as strong as the record made it look.

But in the eyes of the fans, the two teams are not at the same level at all. Before the game, most netizens predicted that the Bobcats would crush the Trail Blazers. Even the Trail Blazers fans did not think they had a high chance of winning. The difference in record between 15 wins and 1 loss and 10 wins and 7 losses was too big. This was also one of the reasons why the atmosphere on the scene was not very enthusiastic.

As a result, the Trail Blazers and the Bobcats, who are ranked first in the league, fought back and forth at the beginning!

The Bobcats' style of play is also very different from what Trail Blazers fans remember.

The previous Bobcats team - a war of attrition during regular time, with defense first, and Zhang Yang winning the game at critical moments. Zhang Yang's singles were the most prominent label of the Bobcats.

Tonight's Bobcats - except for the first attack, Zhang Yang almost became a pure off-ball finisher afterwards!
Trail Blazers fans were happy that they did not fall behind at the start, but some die-hard fans who continued to follow the team were also dissatisfied - they were completely undefended!

The Trail Blazers have allowed an average of 10 points per game in their last 96.4 games, and their defensive performance during this period is ranked 7th in the league, but tonight they were scored 18 points by the Bobcats in half a quarter.

After the official timeout, both teams made personnel adjustments.

Zhang Yang, Felton and Millsap went off the court to rest, while Rondo, Hill and Muhammad came on the court, launching the offense around Mike Miller's mid-range and long-range shots and Okafor's attacks on the basket.

This Trail Blazers team can’t be defended!

After McMillan realized his mistake and rebuilt his playing style, the Trail Blazers did a really good job on defense, but compared to the Rockets, there is still a big gap.

The intensity of the confrontation is much lower than that of the Rockets, and the consumption on pitchers and cutting players is much smaller.

And most importantly, the Trail Blazers' outside rotation defense speed is slow, while the Bobcats' offense revolves around mid-range and long-range shots, which just restrains the Trail Blazers' defense.

McMillan mainly emphasized defense during the official timeout, and the offensive end fell behind in adjustments, which resulted in the Trail Blazers failing to defend the Bobcats and play well on offense in the first few rounds after the official timeout.

山猫队在2分41秒钟时间里打出了一波9比4，将领先优势扩大到7分，27比20领先！

McMillan called a timeout again, and the young coach's advantage of correcting his mistakes was once again demonstrated. After determining that he could not defend the opponent, he reflected on himself and replaced the combination of Blake, Roy, James Jones, Aldridge and Frye, and the "Five Gunners" formation was launched!
At the beginning of the season, the Trail Blazers used the "five gunners" formation as the core rotation. They were beaten to death by their opponents every time they started. This lineup has strong firepower, but the defense is also very bad. The opponents can always play with more powerful firepower than them.

But putting this lineup into the rotation phase is different...

In the last three minutes of the first quarter, the Trail Blazers made three three-pointers, plus a cut-in attack, and at the end of the quarter, Travis Outlaw came on the court and made a counterattack slam dunk, giving the Bobcats a 3-3 lead!

After the first quarter, the Trail Blazers narrowed the gap to 3 points, with the score at 33 to 36!

(End of this chapter)