Chapter 291 290. The Little Emperor Begins to Work Hard Again

This was the 5th time he scored 40+ this season. His average points per game just dropped to 30.8 points when he played against the SuperSonics the day before yesterday, but it increased to 31.4 points today. Zhang Yang was very happy.

After returning to the locker room after the game, Shanghai Sports requested a post-match interview, and Zhang Yang only then learned that this game was actually broadcast extra in China, and he regretted it.

Although the ratings of Five Star Sports are not as high as those of Chaoting TV, BJ Sports which has good ratings in the northern region, and Guangdong Sports which has a huge audience in Guangdong and Guangxi, it is still a satellite channel after all... He, Zhang San, actually screamed and yelled at the live camera with his teammates after the game, and his image was completely ruined!
That BGM sounded in Zhang Yang's mind...

Fortunately, the ratings of Shanghai Sports are the lowest among several domestic satellite TV sports channels. Even the NBA doesn’t seem to take it seriously and no post-match interviews have been arranged. Zhang Yang felt a little better.

While doing physical therapy and ice compress after the interview in the locker room, Zhang Yang and Felton gathered in front of the computer to read the news as usual.

Just like the past two or three weeks, every game they play makes headlines.

This is how it started when they defeated the Suns and won 8 consecutive games, tying the longest winning streak in team history.

Although their winning streak ended at 13 games last month, their popularity has not decreased, the media still likes to hype them, and their record is good enough to receive the huge traffic.

今晚最热门的话题，又是皇家媒体搞出来的——山猫队超越02-03赛季开局15胜2负的小牛队，成为进入21世纪以来NBA开局战绩最好的球队。

This is another "limited record", with the number of losses limited to 1 and the time limited to after 2000.

Zhang Yang saw some scientific information in the comment section of the news. In the 02-03 season, the Mavericks started with 15 wins and 2 losses, and finally got a record of 60 wins and 22 losses, tying with the Spurs for the top spot in the regular season that season. Because their direct match record was not lower than that of the Spurs and they were not the top team in the division, they finally ranked third in the Western Conference.

不限定在21世纪，扩展到1976年之后的现代篮球时代，山猫队开局战绩排在第四，82-83赛季超音速队开局18胜2负，但最后只拿到48胜34负；96-97赛季公牛队开局18胜2负，最终战绩69胜13负；93-94赛季火箭队开局22胜2负，最终战绩58胜24负。

It is not clear before 1976. The early NBA statistics were not perfect. For example, the number of turnovers was not counted before 1976, and there were no detailed statistics on blocks and steals before 73. Before 69, only the number of wins was counted. For example, the Lakers' 33-game winning streak was not recorded by the NBA in the early years. It was newspapers and magazines that recorded the longest winning streak in history. It was not included in the records until the NBA began to record data in detail after 1976.

Felton wondered, "ESPN is praising us again. It's strange. Why are they staring at us every day recently? Even if we have... high traffic, yes, even if our traffic is high, shouldn't they try to help King James use our traffic like they did before? They are actually taking the lead in praising us now! Are they giving up on King James?"

Zhang Yang waved his keyboard to search for news: "I saw the news a few days ago that James hired Worthy as his personal coach... I found it."

Felton: "Is he ready to work hard again? I remember after we beat the Cavaliers in his rookie season, the media questioned his poor shooting, and he also went to find a top shooting coach to practice three-pointers. When he played against us at the beginning of last season, his three-pointers were pretty good, but his three-pointers were not good again in the second match. It felt like he was putting on a show to deal with the media's doubts... I don't know if he really wants to practice his skills this time, or he is just pretending to attract media attention."

Zhang Yang: "I hope he is not just pretending. It would be great if he can improve his shooting and technique."

Felton: "Ah? Jack, he is the strongest competitor of your generation! Do you want him to become stronger?"

Zhang Yang: "Isn't that good? He becomes stronger. Beating him again will give me a greater sense of accomplishment than beating him right now, right? There's no point in fighting him now."

Felton muttered: "It's not you who is guarding him..."

Zhang Yang: "What did you say, Boss?"

Felton: "Nothing, you're right, the stronger he is, the more interesting it is to defeat him!"

Zhang Yang nodded with satisfaction.

Felton: Oh, oh, oh, what should I do if my little brother becomes more and more powerful?
When Zhang Yang was about to close the webpage, he saw the comment section under the news "James invites big-time James to be his trainer" and took a closer look...James' small group of special fans are really interesting.

Before, they refused to admit that James had poor skills and posted statistics to refute the claim, saying that James was good at three-point shooting, mid-range shooting, and excellent footwork. They even went through all of James' games during his four-year rookie contract and found several back-to-the-basket scores to make highlights... After hiring Worthy as a trainer, they started praising James for his love of learning and his active development of skills to improve his technical deficiencies. Is this an indirect admission that James has poor skills?
...

The next day at noon, Zhang Yang followed the team to Salt Lake City, the third stop of the five-game away game. The coaching staff did not arrange training in the afternoon, so Tellem asked someone to find a private stadium for Zhang Yang to train.

The accumulation of 12 shooting points has reached two-thirds, and there is still more than 3 left. It is better to accumulate enough as soon as possible to improve your shooting talent.

He also wants to practice more mid-range shooting. His three-point shooting has improved from 85 to 86, but his mid-range shooting is still stuck at 88, so he needs to work harder.

However, the difference in the speed of improving three-pointers and mid-range shots also shows that the difficulty of developing mid-range shots is indeed greater than that of three-pointers, and it is only a matter of time before mid-range shots are surpassed by three-pointers.

Another day passed, and on December 12, Zhang Yang and the team came to the Energy Solutions Arena to challenge the Jazz away.

At 7:40 p.m., Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the stadium amid boos and curses from away fans.

After the players from both teams entered the court, Felton went to face Deron again.

Both of them are players who look fat but are actually not thin. They have disliked each other since their first match in college.

Zhang Yang looked at the big screen, which showed some data of the two teams.

The Jazz made it to the Western Conference Finals last season, although it was mostly due to luck...but during the offseason, many high-quality role players put them on the candidate list when looking for new teams. This was unimaginable in previous years. Salt Lake City is such a hellhole that not only black athletes, even white athletes don't want to play here if they have the choice.

After another year of growth, the Jazz's young talents have improved further this season and performed better than in the early stages of last season.

布泽尔截止目前场均22.6分11板3助攻1.2抢断，投篮命中率达到了55%。德隆最早的那3周，场均得分也一度在20分以上，11月下旬开始往下跌，目前场均19分10助攻，不过命中率高达51%。三分命中率也高达40%。

The performance of the new duo has improved a whole level compared to last season, and the Jazz's record is much better than the early part of last season. They have played 19 games so far, with 13 wins and 6 losses, and a winning rate of nearly 7%, aiming for 55 wins. The overall strength and competition intensity of the Western Conference this season have set a new historical high. Compared with the previous few years, the strength shown by the Jazz at the beginning of this season can improve their record by another level, and it is not impossible to hit 60 wins.

How strong is the overall strength of the Western Conference this season? How intense is the competition? With such performances from Deron and Boozer at the beginning, when the Western Conference All-Star players were predicted after the first month, neither of them was ranked as the first substitute by major media, and both were only placed on the two free position candidates.

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

Zhang Yang started the game with Felton, Mike Miller, Millsap and Okafor.

He looked across - Deron, Ronnie Brewer, Kirilenko, Boozer, and Okur.

Ronnie Brewer is not the NCAA Final Four MOP rookie, but a player from the 06 class, already in his sophomore year.

However, he is also a player who entered the NBA after graduating from college. He was already very mature when he entered the NBA in 06, but last season the Jazz had Fisher as the starting shooting guard. As for rookies, Sloan was still focusing on training CJ Miles, a high school player from the 05 class, and Ronnie Brewer did not get a chance to perform.

Fisher went back to Los Angeles during the offseason, and CJ Miles' performance in the summer league after his sophomore year was still not very good. Sloan tried to let Ronnie Brewer start, and he seized the opportunity. So far this season, he has averaged 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He can score, pass and defend.

Ronnie Brewer was among the candidates for the Most Improved Player Award at the end of the first month.

Okur averaged 17 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game, and his performance was firmly on the verge of an All-Star.

Zhang Yang found a bright spot when he read Okur's scouting report during the preparation stage - his shooting percentage was 46%, and his shooting percentage at the basket was 51.5%...

For a center, his shooting percentage at the basket is so low. Without a big score, it would be difficult to find a point guard with a lower shooting percentage at the basket than Okur.

However, Okur's three-point shooting percentage set a new career high of 45.1%. He averaged 1.4 shots at the basket and 1.8 shots from beyond the three-point line.

Kirilenko's defense this season is more mature than before. His block data is the lowest since he entered the NBA, averaging 1.6 blocks per game, but his assist and help defense efficiency, as shown in the scout report that Zhang Yang saw, is the most efficient year since he entered the NBA.

However, when Zhang Yang was checking the news, he saw that the media's evaluation of Kirilenko's defense had become lower...

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Bobcats' away game against the Jazz started.

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

Felton received the ball and advanced to the frontcourt to pass it to Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang made the first attack and singled out Ronnie Brewer.

Ronnie Brewer defended Zhang Yang very closely. Zhang Yang turned around and played with his back to the ball in the high post. He found an opportunity with a series of fake turns, turned right and broke through the middle. He made a quick stop jump shot within one step of the free throw line... and it went in!
The singles were relatively easy. The opponent was the same as Zhang Yang's judgment when he read the scout report and studied the video. The defense was very aggressive, the pressure was fierce, and he was very good at defending players who relied on physical fitness to break through. When playing against Wade and Baron Davis, his defensive performance was very good, and he even defended James well. Although James scored 35 points in the first match against the Jazz this season, he only made 28 of 11 shots, and the Cavaliers lost to the Jazz 83-91.

Ronnie Brewer became the main guard, which greatly reduced the defensive pressure on Deron. When the Jazz encountered players with strong breakthroughs, they no longer needed to let Deron defend.

But when defending against opponents who rely mainly on skills, Ronnie Brewer looks rather bad.

After graduating from college and entering the NBA, his defense became mature, but this also meant that his defensive habits from college were difficult to change. In the NCAA, he was able to defend against most opponents with fierce confrontation, but when he arrived in the NBA and encountered technical players, his defense was not good enough.

When the Jazz attacked, Deron faced Felton's close defense, but he did not put up a fight as he had done in the past. Instead, he started the attack with a pick-and-roll with Boozer.

After breaking away, Boozer moved to the three-second zone, received the pass from Deron with his back to the baseline, turned right towards the baseline, avoided Felton's close defense, and took a mid-range shot... and made it!
After being with the Jazz for several years, Boozer finally learned the essence of Malone's move.

In the offense-defense transition, after Zhang Yang demonstrated his singles strength in the first attack, he did not continue to play singles, but started tactical cooperation with his teammates.

The Bobcats ran into trouble in their first team attack. After Mike Miller received the ball on the right sideline, he couldn't pass it immediately!

Ronnie Brewer, who switched defense, stuck to Mike Miller. Kirilenko moved to the right side of the free throw line and cut off Mike Miller's pass to the other side of the three-second zone. Okur stood at the top of the arc in the legal collision zone.

When Zhang Yang went around the left side of the free throw line, Deron and Boozer both chased him out. Mike Miller couldn't pass the ball, couldn't shoot, and couldn't break through... Fortunately, Okafor pulled out at this time, and Mike Miller successfully passed the ball.

As soon as Okafor received the ball, Kirilenko got in front of him.

After protecting the ball and looking at the positions of his teammates, Okafor came by himself, took a step sideways to Kirilenko, turned around, jumped, and shot a mid-range shot... After Kirilenko was pushed away, he quickly pressed forward and successfully interfered.

Okafor missed the mid-range shot!
Okur blocked Millsap and protected the defensive rebound, and the Jazz successfully defended the Bobcats' team offense!

And this is just the beginning!
In the next three minutes or so, the Bobcats only scored one goal in several rounds of team offense. Felton received the ball from the left sideline and made a three-pointer. The other rounds of offense were not smooth and all failed!

The Jazz relied on Deron and Boozer's pick-and-roll to launch attacks and score goals one after another, giving the Bobcats a heavy blow.

At 4 minutes and 04 seconds into the first quarter, the Bobcats called a timeout with the score at 5 to 11. The Bobcats only scored 4 points in the first 5 minutes and were 6 points behind!
Carlisle was not panicked. Although the offense did not play well at the beginning, the players were not panicking either. They were very active and proactive in adjusting themselves. So he waited until the team was behind by more than 5 points before calling a timeout. He replaced Felton and Millsap with Rondo and Hill, and partnered with Zhang Yang, Mike Miller and Okafor to try a different offensive strategy.

However, after Carlisle's adjustment, the team's offensive performance was still poor. The Jazz's defense cut both sides of the three-second zone, which just restrained the Bobcats' team offense!
More than 8 minutes into the first quarter, the score difference reached double digits, with the Bobcats trailing the Jazz by 10 points at 22 to 12... Zhang Yang didn't care, he just asked for the ball and started shooting!
(End of this chapter)