Chapter 318 317. The answer is his opponent!

Anthony delayed for a while, and during the 10-second free throw interval, on TNT Sports, Barkley counted to 15, and Anthony returned to the free throw line. He shot the second free throw at the urging of the referee...but it didn't go in!

Barkley laughed at him: "Anthony lost all his face for this one point, but in the end he didn't get it..."

On the court, Millsap held off Kenyon Martin to grab the defensive rebound, turned around and passed the ball...

He has developed the habit of observing the positions of his teammates at all times and quickly passed the ball to Rondo, who counterattacked!

Anthony Carter retreated to the center line and tried to block Rondo, but Rondo dodged him with a diagonal change of direction and headed straight for the opposite basket.

Iverson, who immediately retreated to the backcourt after high-fiving Anthony, stepped out to delay the attack, but was also passed by Rondo.

Rondo ran straight to the basket, jumped on the arc of the reasonable collision zone, and made a layup!

16 to 18, the difference narrowed to two points!

Iverson looked at Rondo: The Bobcats are so lucky. They picked a random third point guard at the end of the first round and chose Kidd who has the same speed as Nash?
Rondo's counterattack this time felt to others to be fast.

In Iverson's eyes, Rondo is fast, but not as fast as him, and he is even less fast than he was 10 years ago when he was in his early twenties.

The main thing is Rondo's control of the ball during long-distance runs, and his speed remains almost unchanged after changing direction...even Iverson was amazed by this.

Iverson picked up the ball and passed it to Anthony Carter. He glanced at the opposite side. Zhang Yang followed to the center circle but did not follow up any further. Obviously, this was a trust in Rondo's ability to score on a fast break... Fako also looked down on his defensive ability.

But does this mean that bad boy Jack is really like him?

He, too, looked down on anyone's defensive abilities...and once again realized how much he was hated by his opponents.

He doesn’t care whether others like him or not, he just wants to beat Zhang San to the punch now!

We can’t launch a fast break, but we can’t slow down the speed.

Iverson ran quickly to the frontcourt, and just as he reached the top arc, Anthony Carter, who was following him, passed the ball to him.

He was having a blast tonight and is now thinking about attacking.

Looking at Rondo in front of him, Iverson was a little dissatisfied. Was the bad boy defending Anthony Carter to save energy? It didn't matter. This second-year boy with expressionless face was also quite interesting.

Iverson performed the butterfly step, and Rondo defended patiently, but he was still passed!

Iverson ran straight to the basket along the right sideline of the three-second zone, facing Millsap's defense. The action of stepping out with his right foot suddenly turned into grabbing the ball and jumping with his left foot. He bounced up quickly and pushed the ball towards the backboard... and made a layup!
Millsap reacted quickly, but when he jumped up and waved his hands, the ball had already hit the small rectangle on the backboard.

The Nuggets quickly retreated. Millsap was amazed at Iverson's terrifying jumping ability, but he did not stop. He picked up the ball and passed it to Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang advanced quickly, and Carlisle adjusted - the rhythm could no longer be controlled, so forget it.

Although both of them played at a fast pace, even fans who didn't know much about basketball could see the difference between Zhang Yang's push and Jarrett Jack's push.

When the offense and defense were in transition, Jarrett Jack just rushed forward without thinking, not caring whether Okafor, the inside player, or veteran Hill could keep up.

Zhang Yang pushed forward, but Millsap and Okafor, two inside players, entered the three-point line first. Zhang Yang reached the top arc and faced Iverson's defense and broke through directly!

With a weight difference of nearly 20 kilograms, even though Iverson has excellent strength for a person of the same height, the most he can do in defending Zhang Yang is to stick to his lower body and affect his jump, but he cannot stop Zhang Yang from advancing.

Zhang Yang broke through to the right side of the free throw line, and Anthony and Kenyon Martin both blocked him.

With his vision blocked, the right and front vision blocked, Zhang Yang passed the ball back to Millsap who went around the left side to the free throw line.

When he breaks through in a singles game, he will throw the ball when he has the chance, and if not, he will pass it to Rondo or Millsap... If he doesn't even have a chance to shoot, there must be a teammate who is open.

His teammates did not let him down. Millsap received the ball and passed it again. Mike Miller moved to the right corner and made a three-pointer!

19 to 20, the Bobcats narrowed the gap to 1 point.

In the transition from offense to defense, the Nuggets' strong counterattack failed this time. Rondo and Millsap came on the court, Okafor returned to the center position, and the Bobcats' speed increased. After scoring a goal, the probability of successfully retreating to defense increased significantly.

Anthony received the ball in the high position and played against Mike Miller, tap, tap, tap... stepped back and took a long two-point shot... which also went in!
Due to the impact of Zhang Yang's attack, Anthony recovered after running back and forth twice.

It was the Bobcats' turn to attack, and Zhang Yang continued to pass the ball in singles. This time he passed the ball early after passing Iverson.

Rondo was about to move up, but suddenly turned around and ran around the baseline, shaking off Anthony Carter. Rondo received the ball on the right sideline of the three-second zone, Kenyon Martin made a follow-up, Rondo passed the ball to the middle, Millsap cut in from the middle, received the ball and dunked to get two points.

21 to 22, the Bobcats continued to keep the score close, and George Karl called a timeout!
At 6 minutes and 12 seconds, the game entered the official timeout stage!

Carlisle applauded his players vigorously.

Talent! This is talent!
When facing strong teams, Rondo and Millsap, the two second-year core players, seemed to be very weak.

Rondo can only be used like he was in last season's playoffs. The three cores need to create opportunities so that Rondo can effectively organize the offense.

Millsap is similar. When he encounters a forward with fast defensive rotation or the ability to cut off the middle, he becomes a pure blue-collar player.

But when playing against a defensive team like the Nuggets, these two sophomores can fully showcase their talents!

While Carlisle was excited, he also felt a little regretful. It was only when facing such an opponent that the two of them were so outstanding...

Regardless of this for now, Carlisle called the players together and took the time to adjust the offense and emphasize the details of retreat and defense.

...

Pause back.

Carlisle did not make any substitutions, just over a minute later.

Zhang Yang looked across the field... George Karl was substituted, Iverson, Anthony, and Kenyon Martin continued to play, JR Smith and Linas Kleiza were substituted in. No center lineup!
Kreza, Zhang Yang remembered this player from the same class this season.

The 05th pick in the first round of 27, a 203 cm, 111 kg swingman, the draft template... Charles Barkley, this template vividly illustrates his playing style in college - he can attack the basket inside and shoot three-pointers outside.

However, Zhang Yang was not impressed with Kleiza before. Kleiza was not used much in his rookie year. He was only the fourth or fifth choice forward last season. This season he became the number one substitute and third forward for Anthony or Kenyon Martin.

At the end of last month, third-year player Kleiza had a big breakout, scoring 41 points to lead the Nuggets to a narrow 122-119 win over the Jazz, and hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer. He made 8 of 4 open three-pointers from the outside, dunked over Okur in the paint, and followed up with fast breaks. He really looked a bit like 'Little Barkley'.

Zhang Yang's gaze stayed on Kleiza for a moment, then returned to Iverson.

Kleiza has proven his worth this season, but he is only a substitute who averages 10+5 points per game. Zhang Yang can remember this opponent, with whom he played at most twice a year and had no private interactions, only because they were from the same class.

Iverson is his real opponent!

Iverson also looked at Zhang Yang, and their eyes met. Both of them saw the admiration... and disdain in each other's eyes.

The score was so close at the beginning, both players wanted to win!

The game continued and the Nuggets attacked from the frontcourt.

Iverson received the ball and came to the top arc. Facing Rondo's defense, he did not continue attacking and passed the ball to Anthony.

In this lineup, Iverson is responsible for fast breaks, while JR Smith and Anthony are responsible for singles in positional battles.

The one defending JR Smith was Zhang Yang. Iverson felt that his own high school students were not very good. High school students like that guy were not as good as his high school students.

Anthony plays one-on-one against Mike Miller in the high post. Mike Miller comes up to defend him. Anthony quickly passes the ball, changes direction, and breaks forward!
203 cm tall and 108 kg in weight, but with top starting speed... Mike Miller actually only lost half a body position, but was completely unstoppable and was directly pushed away by Anthony.

Anthony broke into the basket, carried Millsap to make a layup... Okafor shot it down, but Anthony grabbed the rebound himself and forced a layup despite the double-team of Millsap and Okafor!

Zhang Yang went inside to receive the serve, and exclaimed in his heart - Wow, really wow, 2 points and 1 rebound in one attack!
Zhang Yang continued to control the speed of advancement and handed the fast break to Rondo, the fastest player in the team. If the opponent scored a goal or retreated quickly, he would initiate the attack.

He has a good grasp of the rhythm of his advancement and can launch an attack directly when he reaches the frontcourt.

JR Smith's defense...is not as good as Iverson's. He couldn't even interfere with Zhang Yang's start and create double-team opportunities for his teammates.

Zhang Yang rushed to the three-point line and made a quick stop and hit a long two-pointer!
Anthony and Zhang Yang, the two players responsible for singles, scored goals one after another, and the battle between the two teams began again.

In fast break, the Nuggets have the advantage. Their field run-and-gun style is a systematic play. The Bobcats' fast play relies purely on Rondo and Zhang Yang's counterattack awareness and the tacit cooperation of their teammates.

When it comes to positional offense and defense, the Bobcats have the advantage.

Although Anthony already has the title of "singles king", Zhang Yang and Okafor have too great an advantage in singles.

The Nuggets' three-man perimeter defense of Zhang Yang was in vain.

Kenyon Martin was also terrible at defending Okafor one-on-one. Okafor must have watched Duncan's video of the finals at least fifty times, if not a hundred times, and knew how to deal with Kenyon Martin, and he was able to do it.

Okafor didn't play many one-on-ones in the first half of the quarter because there was Camby under the opposite basket.

Although Camby is now focusing on statistics and has become a big brush, when he stays under the basket, Okafor can only choose to shoot at close range or at the edge of the three-second zone when playing one-on-one, and Camby's ability to block shots under the basket is very strong.

But Camby is not here now, and Okafor has the upper hand against Kenyon Martin.

The scores of both teams rose rapidly, 30+, 35+...

At the end of the first quarter, JR Smith made a fast break dunk to help the Nuggets take a two-point lead. His graceful dunk amazed everyone.

But the Nuggets were immediately counterattacked. Zhang Yang pushed forward on the fast break, attracted the defense and passed the ball to Rondo, who passed it again... Mike Miller followed up from the wing, received the ball and made a three-pointer.

As JR Smith missed the three-pointer in the first half, the long whistle sounded and the first quarter ended.

艾弗森9分3助攻、安东尼12分、肯扬-马丁6分、JR-史密斯4分、坎比2分、安东尼-卡特4分、克雷扎4分……掘金队单节39分，火力恐怖。

But the Bobcats won by one point!
张杨13分2助攻、隆多4分2板4助攻、奥卡福8分、迈克-米勒8分、米尔萨普3分1板2助攻、贾莱特-杰克4分……40比39，山猫队领先掘金队1分进入节间休息！
Losing is a way to learn experience. With the precedent of competing against the Hornets, when Carlisle was thinking about how to adjust this time, he no longer stuck to the idea of ​​"offense and defense in one". He could think about that when conditions permit. Now that the conditions are not there, he would focus all his thinking energy on offense!

After the intermission, the two teams continued their offensive battle.

As the game progressed and physical strength was depleted, the Nuggets' wing shooting performance declined in the second quarter, but their scoring performance did not drop drastically and still maintained a fairly high efficiency.

During the intermission, George Karl made targeted adjustments, and the Nuggets' fast breaks and positional battles were better coordinated, which greatly compensated for the impact of the decline in their shooting touch.

However, the Bobcats also ensured good offensive continuity in the second quarter. Carlisle devoted himself to the offense unwaveringly this time and made the right choice!

He continued to subtract from Zhang Yang and Okafor's playing styles, leaving the passing work to Rondo, Mike Miller, Hill and Millsap, and withstood the Nuggets' offensive firepower.

In the second quarter, the Nuggets scored 36 points and the Bobcats scored 34 points. At the end of the half, the score was 75 to 74, with the Nuggets leading the Bobcats by 1 point.

After the halftime break, the score remained tense. At the end of the third quarter, both teams scored over 106 points, and the game was tied at 106-32. The Bobcats narrowly beat the Nuggets by 31 point with a score of 1- in the third quarter.

Time came to the final quarter, Iverson took advantage of Zhang Yang being substituted out for rest and took the lead in launching an offensive. The Nuggets scored 3 to 12 in more than 8 minutes and led the Bobcats by 118 points with 114 to 4!
Just when Carlisle was about to replace Zhang Yang in advance, Okafor broke into the basket for two consecutive shots, and scored the ball against Camby's defense. One of the shots was 2+1. He scored 5-0 alone and helped the Bobcats overtake by 119 point with 118 to 1!
Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he managed to keep his composure and did not call a timeout immediately. Okafor scored these two goals, allowing Zhang Yang to rest more.

In the next minute or so, Anthony made a three-pointer, Iverson made a counterattack layup, and Rondo of the Bobcats made a breakthrough layup and Hill also made a layup after cutting in and receiving the ball.

At 6 minutes and 37 seconds in the final quarter, the two teams were tied at 123-123! The Nuggets called a timeout and entered the official timeout stage!

Zhang Yang played the entire first quarter, 10 minutes in the second quarter, and the entire third quarter. He played 34 minutes in the first three quarters. With the help of his teammates, he got 4 minutes of rest in the last quarter. Now he stood up and would not sit down again until the end of the game.

Looking at Iverson who played the entire first 42 minutes and scored 36 points and 8 assists... Zhang Yang felt his blood boiling but was also shocked.

He's 32 years old! He can still play 42 minutes per game! He can play the entire game if there's a disagreement!

(End of this chapter)