Chapter 315 314. Nothing seems wrong

But now that Duncan admits that he is a center, there is no problem. O'Neal is old, Yao Ming has gone to the East and they may only play against each other twice a year. There is no center in the West who can match him.

Moreover, Duncan and Yao Ming have their own advantages when they compete against each other.

Before the Spurs' game against the Bulls last month, Zhang Yang looked at the predictive analysis. The two had faced each other 14 times before this season.

Duncan averaged 14 points in these 20.5 games, with a shooting percentage of 43%, which is a bit dismal. He was basically unable to make it to the basket, and Yao Ming averaged a shooting percentage of over 50% per game.

But he did a good job limiting Yao Ming's shots.

02-03赛季，姚明新秀年第一次与马刺队交手，把大卫-罗宾逊打得首节3犯，单场18投10中外加7中7的罚球拿到27分18板3助攻3盖帽，率领火箭队89比75爆锤马刺队。

When the two teams met for the second time, Duncan switched to the center position. As the No. 11 player in the league at the time, he defended Yao Ming like a blue-collar worker, limiting Yao Ming to only 87 shots and leading the Spurs to beat the Rockets 82-, avenging their defeat.

In that game, Duncan's defensive performance as a blue-collar player was compared with that of Mad Dog Jerome. The post-match report was that Duncan turned into an enhanced version of Mad Dog Jerome.

Another No. 21...Zhang Yang felt that Garnett and the Timberwolves were simply wasting each other's time.

In that damn place of Minneapolis, the team's record was mediocre, and they were eliminated in the first round for seven consecutive years, and only passed the first round once. However, Garnett was always selected as an All-Star starter. If he went to a big city or a strong team, Garnett's popularity in the United States would not have been suppressed by Duncan for so many years.

Garnett's big contract is too big for the Timberwolves, but just right for the Lakers.

However, the reason why Garnett received more votes than Kobe is that the competition for guards in the Western Conference is too fierce this year. Iverson, McGrady, Nash, Paul, Ginobili, Parker... and others have taken away a lot of votes, while the competition for forward positions in the Western Conference is much smaller this year. Duncan and Stoudemire are both placed at center. If these two are placed at forwards, the starting center for the Western Conference All-Stars this year will be either Hayes or Kwame Brown. These two blue-collar inside players will rank third and fourth.

It was 8:40 in the evening, and the Pistons were the first to enter the Turkish Airlines Arena.

As an All-Star player produced by North Carolina, Tianzun was cheered when he came here to play before. Even when the Bobcats were defeated by the Pistons in the second round of the 05-06 season, Charlotte fans still cheered for Tianzun last season.

But this time it didn't happen. When Tianzun entered the venue, there was overwhelming booing.

After the Bobcats fought back in the playoffs and won the championship last season, the mentality of Charlotte fans changed.

Previously, the opponents they had in mind were the Cavaliers, Raptors, Bulls, Wizards, etc. teams that were at the first and second round level.

Now, the only opponents they consider in the East are the Pistons and the Bulls!
Zhang Yang looked at the group of players on the opposite side and thought of a word - balance.

During the preparatory meeting yesterday, he saw some very interesting data in the Pistons' scouting report.

Hamilton averaged 31 minutes per game, scoring 17.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

Billups averaged 32 minutes per game, scoring 16.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists.

Rasheed Wallace averaged 30 minutes per game, scoring 13.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists.

Noah averaged 26 minutes per game, scoring 6.6 points, 7 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

Prince averaged 29 minutes per game, scoring 12.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3 assists.

McDyess averaged 25 minutes per game, scoring 6.8 points and 6.6 rebounds.

5个首发和第六人出场时间都在25到32分钟之间，贾森-马克希尔、胡安-迪克森、拉特利夫、贾尔维斯-海耶斯、林奇-亨特等主力轮换，出场时间都在10到15分钟之间。

There are two advantages to such a rotation. The first is that the starters and sixth man have played in all 35 games so far this season without missing a single one. The second is that the players are always in good shape when they are on the court, and those who play poorly are quickly replaced.

Philip Saunders and Popovich are both following this path... Zhang San: My fault?
Zhang Yang feels that Saunders is in a worse situation. The Pistons' salary this season is only 6500 million, which is lower than that of the Spurs.

Moreover, the Pistons' 6500 million is accounted for by five players. Richard Hamilton, Billups, and Rasheed Wallace all have annual salaries of tens of millions, accounting for 5 million. Prince has 3 million and McDyess has 3400 million. These five people are close to 860 million. The Pistons' 680-man roster is full, and the remaining 5 people's salaries add up to less than 5000 million.

But it is better than Van Gundy Jr. in previous years. At least the money was spent wisely. When signing the minimum salary contract, he also got Juan Dixon, Ratliff and other players who are capable of playing.

Balanced playing time allows the main players to play more easily and maintain good continuity of strength. When the game is tense, Billups, one of the top key players in the league, can step up to solve the problem.

This means that the Pistons' record has improved instead of declined compared to last season, even though their core inside player Rasheed Wallace has aged another year. They have played 35 games so far, with 26 wins and 9 losses, which is better than the same period last season. In the Pistons' history, this record is second only to the 05-06 season.

Zhang Yang feels that this opponent is more difficult to deal with than last year...

At 9 p.m., the Bobcats' home game against the Pistons began as Okafor beat Noah in a jump ball.

After Zhang Yang ran to the frontcourt, he directly stood in a tactical position. Having played against Prince so many times, he didn't need to test him, nor did he need to rely on attacking a few players to create a threat like he did when he played against the Pistons in the regular season last season. After he started running, the Pistons' defensive focus fell on him.

A major feature of the Pistons' defense is their ability to delay and block.

This is what makes the Pistons special compared to the other two of the top three defensive teams.

The Rockets and the Spurs have different defensive focuses, the former is good at switching defense and the latter is good at helping defense, but both are based on double-team defense.

The Pistons are good at disrupting the movement of players without the ball, using screens, etc. This season, the Pistons have added the young Noah in the starting lineup, and the delay effect is better than last season.

Zhang Yang's speed is among the best among the shooting guard and small forward positions, and he was barely able to cope with the interference from the Pistons. He finally made a circle and came to the left side of the three-second zone. As a result, Jarrett Jack was unable to pass the ball in the first time due to the interference from Billups!
When Zhang Yang received the pass from Jarrett Young, Prince had already come back close.

Zhang Yang used a fake move to turn around and turn again, but failed to fool Prince. He then used another step to force a turnaround jump shot... but it missed.

Zhang San's mood at this moment is the same as Bibby's at that time - I might as well just play one-on-one.

This cannot be blamed on Jarrett Jack, he is just a third-year substitute. If he were to match up with Darrell Armstrong of the Nets, who has one foot out of the NBA, he could have played very well. But if he were to match up with Billups, who is one of the top three defensive point guards in the league and has the best defensive lineup... Brother San, this question is beyond the scope of the question!
In the first three rounds, Zhang Yang directed his teammates to adjust their positions and tried all three tactics that Jarrett Young could theoretically play with the participation of the main point guard... After all these operations, the Bobcats started the game 3-3 behind by 2 points.

It was the Bobcats' turn to attack again. Zhang Yang and Okafor looked at each other as they ran to the frontcourt. After confirming their eyes, they started taking turns to play singles. Jarrett Jack and Mike Miller stood on the wings waiting to receive the ball and shoot, while Muhammad received the ball and ate it. The offense finally started.

After another four rounds, both teams scored 4 points, the Bobcats and Pistons were tied at 6 to 8, and it was the Pistons' turn to attack.

Billups broke through Zhang Yang in a singles game, but failed to shake Zhang Yang off, and passed the ball back to Noah who moved to the free throw line. Noah received the ball and passed it to Hamilton who was circling the wing... but was hit out of bounds by Okafor.

Taking advantage of a dead ball, Carlisle replaced Rondo early.

The effect of this substitution is... average.

After Rondo came on the court, he did a better job of chasing and defending Hamilton, but that was all. He could follow him for 10 seconds, while Hamilton could catch the ball and shoot after running for 15 seconds and still maintain stability!
On the offensive end, Rondo's passing is much better than Jarrett Jack, but the improvement to the overall offense is quite limited.

After two rounds, Zhang Yang and Okafor started the singles scoring mode again.

Under this style of play, there is not much difference between Rondo and Jarrett Young. Rondo's open shots are hit or miss, not as good as Jarrett Young, but he has better movement options and can help with transition balls. When Jarrett Young doesn't have the ball, he can only stand and wait for the ball to come and shoot.

Such a situation obviously could not satisfy Carlisle.

Carlisle sighed, "It still doesn't work. When playing against a strong defensive team, Rajon needs his teammates to open up the offense so that he can organize the offense. He doesn't have the ability to initiate an offense on his own."

Vincent on the side responded, "Rick, Rajon is still young, only in the second grade. You can't ask that much of him. He is already better than 95% of the players of his age."

Carlisle: "I know that if I give him another year or two, he will definitely become the kind of player I want, but I don't have time. I want to try to push him and see if he can grow as fast as Jack... Alas."

Vincent: "Jack is a rare talent in the entire history of the NBA... Wait, Rick, what do you mean?"

Carlisle nodded...

After trying for half a quarter, the Bobcats finally had to fight for their star player.

Carlisle had anticipated this situation before the game began. Sanders' "delay and block flow" defense was to force the opponent to play one-on-one.

With two best defensive-level perimeter players in Billups and Prince, they have the conditions to match up with any outside one-on-one scorer. Rasheed Wallace and McDyess are both very good at defense, and even rookie Noah's one-on-one defense is acceptable.

Zhang Yang and Muhammad or Millsap played pick-and-roll, and against the defense of Prince and Rasheed Wallace or McDyess, they could barely guarantee a hit rate of just over 40%.

Okafor has an even greater advantage when he plays one-on-one against Rasheed Wallace or Noah in the low post.

Under the leadership of the two, the Bobcats and the Pistons fought back and forth for a long time.

But as the game progressed, the impact of Felton's absence began to show.

Not only has the team changed from four cores to three cores in last season's Eastern Conference Finals, but the individual offensive capabilities of the remaining three cores have improved over the past six months. Coupled with Hill or Mike Miller's shooting, the offensive performance of the three-man team is stronger than that of the four-core team in last season's Eastern Conference Finals.

可现在三核变两核……面对联盟第五的活塞队，张杨和奥卡福没能扛得住。首节比分24比24、第二节比分18比19，山猫队半场42比43落后1分，第三节前半段山猫队20比16反超活塞队3分，但后半节只拿到6分，被活塞队拿到12分，三节打完，山猫队68比71落后活塞队3分。

In the fourth quarter, the Pistons continued their offensive and defensive performance in the second half of the third quarter, scoring 17 to 9, widening the gap to double digits and securing the victory.

Even though the Bobcats scored 19 to 14 in the second half, they were unable to turn the game around.

比卢普斯14分7助攻、汉密尔顿19分、拉希德-华莱士14分7板2助攻、诺阿5分8板3助攻、麦克戴斯8分8板、胡安-迪克森11分、罗纳德-穆雷10分……力压29分5板6助攻的张杨、24分12板3助攻2盖帽的奥卡福、15分的迈克-米勒。

96 to 102, the Bobcats lost to the Pistons by 6 points at home, suffering their eighth loss of the season.

After playing for 40 minutes, he had to defend Billups and throw the ball 27 times to get 29 points. Zhang Yang was almost sick tonight.

He has good physical talent, but he is only 19 and a half years old, and only 94 of his 90 physical potential has been developed. He really can't stand it.

Zhang San: It turns out that this family can’t do without a boss!
...

After losing to the Pistons, the Bobcats' record is 26 wins and 8 losses.

The team had 6 wins and 2 losses in the last 4 games. That night, when Zhang Yang returned home and checked the news, he saw discordant voices beginning to emerge on portals and forums.

He had guessed this would happen, and the "Pro-Royal Faction" had been waiting for this day.

Seeing this scene, Zhang San was not angry at all. Instead, he shouted "Come on, good timing" and waved his hand - come here!
Activate super transformation mode - schoolbag mode is online!
Waving the keyboard, in the name of quiresultan, he passionately confronted the haters online, using all kinds of responses that the Eagle Sauce could never imagine, making the haters on the other end of the network cable so angry that they jumped up and down.

During the online confrontation, Zhang Yang once again saw the familiar online name 'Your mother told you'. He had often seen this netizen fighting against black fans in the past two seasons, and his fighting power was even stronger than that of Zhang San. Although he did not know him, he would occasionally fight together with this netizen, and they had already developed an 'online comradeship'.

This season, due to the good results in the early stages, there haven't been large-scale black fans emerging for a long time. Zhang Yang hasn't seen this netizen for a long time, and his fighting spirit has soared.

Tonight, we two brothers will fight against the haters together!

Dancing keys is hard work, especially when it is one-on-many. It not only tests hand speed but also brainpower. Moreover, there is an online friend you have never met before competing with you to see who dances better, so you have to concentrate and devote yourself to it.

Tired of dancing, Zhang Yang fell asleep.

I woke up at around 8 o'clock the next morning, feeling refreshed.

Zhang San: So, the haters should have taken action a long time ago. If they had done so earlier, I wouldn’t have been unable to sleep because of the loss, right?

He sat up and looked at the calendar on his bedside table, on which he had marked the races.

The brutal schedule in early January is finally over. Although there is a back-to-back this week, the opponents are relatively easy to play against. They play the Celtics at home, the second game of the back-to-back against the Bucks, the Nuggets at home, and the Cavaliers at home... Oh, that's not right.

The fat guy can't play, and it's more difficult to play against the Cavaliers. Jarrett Jack dares to fight, but his awareness of blocking, pressing, and pushing down is much worse than Felton.

The first time we played the Cavaliers without Felton, the outcome was somewhat unclear.

The Nuggets are the strongest team among these four opponents, with 4 wins in the Western Conference, but the Nuggets' defense is at the bottom of the league. Zhang Yang doesn't feel any pressure, just go at it, and see who can outperform the opponent more fiercely.

At 9:10 in the morning, Zhang Yang came to the Turkish Airlines Arena for extra practice and tried the chase shot again... Give up, just practice shooting hard, shoot in games, accumulate shooting points to get the 'Chase Shooting Skills (Mastery)', which is much more reliable than practicing the chase shot for several months.

That guy will enter the NBA in another season and a half. By then, he will start a fast break and throw a three-pointer while being chased by that guy... Zhang San gets excited when he thinks of this scene.

Another day passed, and on January 1, the Bobcats faced the Celtics at home.

At 6:40 in the evening, the two teams entered the stadium. Zhang Yang saw the Celtics' forwards and complained to Hill: "The Hawks have taken over the Celtics!"

Hill responded: "I've seen a lot of news about Celtics trades recently. Many teams want to get the Celtics' forward talent, but the offers are like treating Ainge as a fool... Our team also made an offer."

Zhang Yang also knew that the Bobcats had made an offer to the Celtics. Using Herman to bid for Marvin Williams... they were really taking advantage of him. Ainge hung up the phone on Jordan, but Jordan laughed loudly after being hung up.

More than 20 years ago, Ainge was on the Celtics team that hammered Jordan in the playoffs, and he was the one responsible for matching up with Jordan.

If Ainge accepts such an offer, he will make a lot of money. If he refuses, it will also disgust Ainge. This is the typical mentality of a basketball god.

Zhang Yang responded: "Everyone knows that the Celtics will definitely send away most of their forwards, and they will be more eager than the Hawks. They all want to rob them and change Pierce's hundred-dollar bill into a few coins. In terms of transaction value, the Celtics have messed up this deal."

Hill: "They are not without gain. Ainge wants to play badly, but the Celtics were able to enter the playoffs before, with a record of 12 wins and 15 losses, seventh in the Eastern Conference. After Christmas, they had a record of 1 win and 8 losses. Now they have a record of 13 wins and 23 losses, th in the Eastern Conference. If they continue like this, they may catch up with the Heat, Knicks and Bucks."

Zhang Yang: "Well... don't mention it, Grant. There will be a lot of talented guards participating in the draft this year. If the Celtics get the top five picks, keep Josh Smith and Al Jefferson, choose a guard that suits them both, and lose money by replacing those forward talents with role players, there is still hope for them to rise."

Hill: "You and I have similar views..."

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the game between the Bobcats and the Celtics started.

The first match was a disappointing loss, the second match was a narrow win, and the third match tonight...

Pierce was sent away, and Rivers finally gave up and used the "Hawks killer move" to use Josh Smith as the point guard...

张杨22投14中，其中三分球6中4，加上4中3的罚球，三节拿到35分打卡下班。

Zhang Yang was not sent into the game in the fourth quarter and he missed his baldness a bit.

If Bi Tu was here, maybe, probably, it is possible that he would be allowed to score 30 points when the lead was over 5 points?

It's hard to say. No one thought they could win 56 games and win the championship last season. They themselves didn't expect it either. As a sophomore player, no one can say anything about him scoring points, and no one will criticize the bald guy who replaced him.

But now they are the defending champions and he is the FMVP...

Zhang Yang felt the "heaviness of honor". He lost a lot of fun and a lot of points...

最终，靠着张杨的35分4板1助攻3抢断1盖帽、迈克-米勒的31分4助攻、隆多8分5板7助攻、希尔12分5板3助攻、米尔萨普7分3板4助攻奥卡福11分7板6助攻……山猫队122比83狂屠凯尔特人队，将战绩提升到27胜8负。

Looking at Josh Smith, who played point guard tonight and scored 16 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 turnovers, Zhang Yang remembered that the scouting report said that this genius who could learn everything averaged 6.6 assists per game after joining the Celtics, but his turnovers were 4.6, which means that there was almost 1.5 turnover for every 1 assists. He was obviously not suitable to play point guard like Odom.

He suddenly began to doubt his speculation about the Celtics' team-building ideas. If Josh Smith was used in this way, even if the team succeeded in tanking, could it be turned around?

Or is Josh Smith not in Ainge's team building plan? Or is Ainge overestimating Josh Smith's talent?
If the Celtics really use Josh Smith in this way and regard him as one of the core members of the team, then they will have a lot of fun.

After easily winning the first game of the back-to-back game, Zhang Yang flew to Milwaukee with the team at noon the next day. After resting for an afternoon, he went directly to the Bradley Center to warm up for the game.

The core lineup of the Bucks is still good, and the Bobcats can't be too careless against this opponent, but Reed will be absent tonight!
106 to 93, the Bobcats defeated the Bucks by 13 points and won their 28th victory of the season.

Rondo finally got a double-double, with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists.

张杨也终于飙起来了，打了44分钟，28投15中，其中三分球5中2，加上11中10的发球，拿到42分5板2助攻1抢断1盖帽。

Without the tough defensive Reed, the Bucks' high-quality role players ran away from the outside again, and Zhang Yang went crazy shooting from the outside.

After playing back-to-back games alternating between home and away games, Zhang Yang returned to Charlotte with the team at noon on the 14th. The Bobcats got two days of rest. Carlisle did not arrange any work today to let the players have a good rest.

But Zhang Yang returned to the Turkish Airlines Arena with the team to practice shooting.

Carlisle advised: "Jack, you just played back-to-back, take a break."

Zhang Yang: "I feel fine. Both games were very easy. I will practice more today when I have time. I will not practice more tomorrow when I prepare for the game. I will just have a good rest."

Ka Tu: You don’t practice more when preparing for the game, and you don’t have to rest well. Do you think you are talking human language? But why do I like it so much?
Since he had a "rest plan", Carlisle didn't stop him. Indeed, for Zhang Yang, not training on the preparation day was equivalent to resting.

Although Zhang Yang's physical strength is still significantly behind those physical monsters and he cannot be compared with Hamilton, Kobe, Iverson and others, but among the new generation of players only James is better than him, and his recovery ability is not necessarily worse than Kobe, Iverson and others.

Among the players coached by Carlisle, only Hamilton's recovery ability can match Zhang Yang's.

I thought about it and realized that Hamilton would walk the dog until it lay down in the morning on training day before going to the gym to prepare for the game. Not training on the preparation day was equivalent to resting, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with that.

Carlisle returned to the office and discussed possible new tactical adjustments with the coaching staff. This time, if adjustments are needed, they must be better prepared!

(End of this chapter)