Chapter 308 307. Tyson, get out of the way. I want to fight Jack.
Paul drove to the New Orleans Arena parking lot, parked his car and got out. He saw a bus just stopped. His heart suddenly skipped a beat and he wanted to drive away... but it was too late.

The bus door opened and Felton pulled Zhang Yang towards Paul.

Xiao Pao: This little fat boy must have been bullied by Zhang San, and wants to drag me, Brother Pao, into the water with him!
As Paul expected, Zhang Yang's first words were: "Chris, I heard that you were robbed by three nightclub girls last night, and a ring worth tens of thousands of dollars was stolen?"

Paul got furious and said angrily, "You were robbed by the nightclub girls. It was a robbery gang that hired those nightclub girls as bait to lure us out and rob us!"

Zhang Yang: "Actually, what you said about a nightclub girl kidnapping your friend and threatening you to give her money doesn't sound that stupid... No, it sounds smarter."

Paul: "..."

Felton: “…”

A few seconds later, Felton hugged Paul who was rushing towards Zhang Yang: "Calm down, Chris, you can't beat Jack."

Paul: "I don't care. You heard me. He called me stupid! I'm going to fight him to the death!"

Felton: "No, no, you heard it wrong, he just let it slip."

Paul: "I'll fight you..."

After making a fuss for a while, the three of them walked towards the staff passage.

Paul complained about the security in New Orleans. The three of them called the police last night, but the police asked them to produce the shopping list for the rings and watches and the withdrawal receipt for 2000 US dollars in cash. The three could not produce them, so the police refused to file a case.

In this free land, all beings are equal. The police did not give any special treatment to the three of them just because they were NBA professional players. Everything was done according to procedures... It is not the first or second time that professional athletes have been robbed. It's not a big deal.

Zhang Yang listened to Paul's complaints and wondered, why did Paul request a trade after two years and had no attachment to his Hornets career? Was it because the Hornets moved back to New Orleans in a hurry from Oklahoma City?

The security situation in New Orleans is similar to that in Baltimore. Given the efficiency of the Eagle Sauce, New Orleans should remain the same in the next few years.

For those teams that come to play away games, the Eastern teams only come once a year, and most of the Western teams only come twice a year. Even if they have to play against each other in the playoffs, it will be at most 5 times.

Even if the Hornets players come back from training camp and leave after the season, they still have to stay here for at least three or four months a year...

...

After the morning pre-match training, Zhang Yang received good news and won another award!
上周山猫队3战全胜，张杨分别拿到41分、28分、34分，场均34.3分7.6板2.6助攻2抢断，拿下东部周最佳球员奖。

In the Western Conference, Kobe Bryant won the Player of the Week award. The Lakers won all four games last week, surpassing the Hornets with 4 wins and 24 losses to top the Western Conference. Kobe averaged 6 points, 4 rebounds, 25.5 assists and 4.5 steals in four games, with a shooting percentage of 3.5%.

Since Zhang Yang entered the NBA, it is rare to see Kobe Bryant achieve such stats in a single week. It is the first time to see such stats and 4 consecutive wins. Is this the legendary reasonable Kobe?
In the afternoon, Zhang Yang didn't have time to take a lunch break and accepted several interviews.

Tonight's game between the Bobcats and the Hornets is a key event scheduled before the start of the season - the Eagles' New Year's Eve game and the first domestic game of the new year.

But at that time, the only highlight of this game was the 'showdown between the three geniuses of the 05 class', Zhang Yang and Felton versus Paul.

When the media analyzed the schedule in September, their evaluation of this game was - using Zhang Yang's popularity to push Paul, the top talent of the new generation, to the fans.

No one could have imagined that Paul's strength would soar in his junior year and he would directly join the ranks of MVP-level players. He led the Hornets to dominate the Western Conference from the beginning of the season for as long as 8 weeks, until the Hornets lost to the Bulls at home after Christmas and suffered their seventh loss of the season, only to be overtaken by the Lakers.

Even though they were overtaken by the Lakers, the Hornets are currently ranked second in the Western Conference and fourth in the league with a record of 23 wins and 7 losses.

The Eastern Bobcats and the Western Hornets are the teams that have impressed people the most in the early stages of this season. The outstanding performances of the players of both teams have turned this game from a game to promote rookies at a popular time into a truly phenomenal popular game.

When it was evening, after warming up, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the stadium, only to be greeted by the boos from the away fans.

When he came to the court, Zhang Yang's discomfort brought by the city was swept away and he got into the game state.

When the home team players entered the field, Zhang Yang saw the opposing team's lineup and felt the pressure.

This Hornets team is even stronger than the Hornets team in the 07-08 season that he remembered.

Ainge failed to form a Big Three and has a lot of role players in his hands, so he would not spend chips to trade for James Posey to strengthen the forward and guard defense; Pat Riley has determined that they do not have the strength to continue to compete for the championship and began to clean up the high-paid players in the team. Anthony Walker with an annual salary of 800 million and James Posey with 2 years and 1400 million left are among the high-paid and high-quality role players in the cleanup. The Hornets used a second-round pick to trade for James Posey, a top defensive forward-guard swingman.

At that time, the Bobcats, Pistons, Magic, Raptors, and Cavaliers all made trade offers to the Heat, with much richer bargaining chips than the Hornets, such as the Bobcats were willing to offer a first-round pick, but all were rejected. The addition of James Posey has allowed the Hornets to jump from the 55-win level in Zhang Yang's impression to the 60-win level.

Zhang Yang thought about the current situation in the Western Conference... Damn, is it possible for Tristana to make it to the Western Conference Finals?

...

At 8 o'clock in the evening, Chandler defeated Okafor to win the jump ball, and the game between the Bobcats and the Hornets began, with the Hornets attacking first.

Bobcats starting lineup: Felton, Zhang Yang, Hill, Okafor, Perkins.

Hornets starting lineup: Paul, James Posey, Peja, David West, Chandler.

Zhang Yang retreated to the top arc, and he was responsible for defending Paul at the start of tonight's game.

Paul pushed through the center circle and saw that it was Zhang Yang guarding in front of him, his eyes lit up!
If Felton was defending him, he would also be very excited and play very hard. There were always people saying that he could not beat Little Fatty, Little Fatty, and Big Beard in a one-on-one match, and he was eager to prove himself.

But facing Zhang Yang, he was even more excited!
Zhang Yang, who won the FMVP, still has a gap in media resources and may never be the best in this aspect. After all, he is a foreigner, but he has replaced James and become the opponent that players who entered the NBA at the same time most want to defeat.

In the 05-06 season, Felton, Zhang Yang, Gerald Wallace, Okafor, etc. of the Bobcats were eager to defeat James when they saw him, which is similar to how Paul feels when he sees Zhang Yang now.

Chandler ran out to help Paul with the screen, but Paul waved his hand and said, "Tyson, get out of the way. I want to duel with Jack!"

Zhang Yang subconsciously glanced at Chandler, and only when he really moved away did he feel relieved and focus on defending Paul.

Paul leaned over and dribbled the ball quickly, then suddenly dribbled between his legs and changed direction!

Zhang Yang predicted the direction of Paul's breakthrough, but did not go forward, allowing Paul to break through and closely follow Paul's footsteps.

Perkins and Okafor moved inside, and Paul saw this, rushed to the right side of the free throw line, stopped suddenly, and jumped... Zhang Yangfei rushed forward to block the shot!
Paul quickly turned to the right, and used the powerful strength of his waist and abdomen to control his body. He successfully avoided Zhang Yang's block and shot the ball... The difficult jump shot with his body tilted missed!

Perkins blocked Chandler and Okafor secured the defensive rebound.

After Paul landed and stood firm, he quickly pressed towards Zhang Yang, went around to defend Zhang Yang, received the ball and counterattacked from a high position. After seeing Okafor pass the ball to Felton, he withdrew his defense.

Paul was surprised by Zhang Yang's defensive performance in this ball.

He has seen many news reports saying that Zhang Yang has made great progress in one-on-one defense this season, but since he has not played against him directly, he did not take it too seriously. He felt that at most he had gone from being a one-on-one defense black hole who could only defend pitchers to not being a drag, which was already a huge improvement.

But this time, he felt like he was facing James Posey's defense in an intra-team training game, and it was a version with enhanced mobility!
Posey defended him in the same way, letting him break through, blocking his close range and attacking the basket from the inside, and chasing his mid-range and long-range shots, but James Posey couldn't keep up with his speed of quick stop jump shots!

In the transition from offense to defense, Felton advanced to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Zhang Yang in the high position.

Paul: Where's Elvis?
After secretly criticizing the Bobcats' leader's status on the court, Paul followed Felton to the left corner, his brisk steps showing his joyful mood...

After Zhang Yang waited for Felton to pull away, he dribbled the ball and turned to take a step away. James Posey immediately pressed towards him with rough and fierce movements... Zhang Yang felt that he had no chance to shoot at all!

James Posey is 203 cm tall, has a wingspan of 219 cm and weighs 99 kg. Zhang Yang is at a disadvantage in all aspects of static physical conditions!

But Zhang Yang was not impatient. He protected the ball calmly and suddenly hit the ball hard. The ball bounced quickly and his right hand was raised high to catch the ball.

James Posey immediately moved forward to prevent Zhang Yang from shooting... The bouncing ball did not reach the height of his right hand. As Zhang Yang raised his right hand, his left hand covered the ball first, and he slapped the ball to the right, using his body to pull sideways to the right.

James Posey who pressed forward missed the shot. Zhang Yang moved sideways, grabbed the ball, jumped, and took a long two-point shot...but missed!
Chandler grabbed the defensive rebound, and Zhang Yang clapped his hands and quickly retreated.

Marbury's move of changing direction and shooting sideways in front of his body is still a little too difficult.

This move is useless when playing against ordinary opponents. But after using this move against opponents like James Posey, the starting force for a breakthrough will be insufficient, and it will be difficult to grasp the feel of the jump shot.

Zhang Yang recalled watching Marbury's video and it seemed that this move of Marbury could only bully weak opponents.

Still the basic shooting skills are not enough!
An 85+ mid-range shot, if played in a regular style, will not look much different from a 90+ mid-range shot, but when encountering top defensive players who can restrain him and he uses difficult shooting techniques, the difference becomes very obvious!
(End of this chapter)