Chapter 329 328. My teammates can’t shoot anymore, so I’ll do it!
Ellis has always been crazy, as can be seen from the fact that he was only willing to accept tryouts from teams with the top three picks.

As a result, he, the second best high school student in the United States, was relegated to the second round, breaking the lower limit of the draft ranking for the top three high school students in the United States, while Webster, the third best high school student in the same grade, was ranked in the top ten.

Ellis himself is well aware that he is very arrogant, but in this regard, he considers himself second among the new generation of players, and he feels that he is not as good as Zhang Yang.

At the age of 17, he participated in the talent show before finishing high school because he felt that amateur competitions were meaningless.

The first time he faced Kobe, who had just scored 81 points, he shouted that he wanted to have a one-on-one duel with Kobe.

He was choked and attacked and beaten up Raja Bell in a way that no one expected, establishing his reputation as a vicious person in one battle.

His playing style is also outrageous. As long as he is needed to play one-on-one, no matter who the defender is, he will shoot the ball. And from his expression, he doesn't look like he is gambling, but rather believes that he can make the shot...

However, Ellis did not expect Zhang Yang to be so arrogant, because the person in front of him was Artest!
Standing next to him was Barnes, who had tattoos all over his body and looked like a bad guy, and on the bench was the martial arts master Jackson... After being fouled roughly, Zhang Yang still got close to Artest and attacked him!

It wasn't just Ellis who was frightened. The referee was also scared. Seeing Artest rushing up to Zhang Yang and almost face to face, the referee and other players on the court rushed over to separate them. The atmosphere was very tense.

As a result, Artest said "I didn't stop" with a fierce look on his face, turned around and stood on the side of the three-second zone, raising his hand to acknowledge the foul.

Ellis: “…”

Referees: "..."

Onlookers: “…”

Zhang Yang: That's it? No, even if you're a coward and don't dare to fight, you should at least say something!

Artest: Ask for help online. How should I respond to advanced trash talk?
Normally, Zhang Yang is rarely fouled so roughly by his opponents, and he rarely says such trash talk. He even forgets that a sentence like "your father doesn't love you" can break the defense of most black players.

Baldy Kaka and the mad scientist both stood on the court, and the assistant coaches were ready to hold down the players on the bench to prevent them from standing up. The current rules were that if there was a fight on the court, a player would be fined if he stood up from the bench, and would be suspended if he had one foot on the court... But the conflict ended suddenly, no, to be precise, there was no conflict at all.

Ka Tu found that he had underestimated Zhang San's deterrent power in fighting.

The referee was professional and reacted quickly, signaling Zhang Yang to execute the penalty.

After a short delay, the pain from Zhang Yang being knocked over faded away, his touch was not affected, and he made the free throw!

28 to 23, the Bobcats lead reaches 5 points!
The Warriors were on offense. When Zhang Yang was serving just now, Perkins and Jarrett Jack both retreated, leaving only Alan Anderson and Hill to grab rebounds. The Warriors had no conditions to launch a fast break and could only fall into a positional battle. Ellis continued to play one-on-one against Zhang Yang.

There was almost a conflict just now. Ellis came out of his anger and realized now that his and Zhang Yang's singles conditions were completely unequal!
The size difference between them is not important. He has advantages in speed and jumping ability, and he doesn't make excuses in this regard.

However, when Zhang Yang's mid-range and long-range shots were blocked, he rushed into the inside, and the people who protected the rim were Artest and Harrington; and after he was blocked during his mid-range and long-range shots, he rushed into the inside, and the people who protected the rim were Hill, Millsap, and Perkins!

Originally, Ellis rushed forward regardless of the consequences and still had a high probability of making the shot. His attacking performance this season is the best among all outside players in the league. So far this season, his shooting percentage at the basket is as high as 68%, and he averages 4.5 shots per game.

But this time he hesitated. After passing Zhang Yang and rushing into the inside, he did not make up his mind whether to force a shot from close range or rush to the basket and play pull-up. As a result, he was trapped by Zhang Yang, Hill and Perkins in the elbow area. He forced to throw the ball towards the basket. Although it was not blocked, it missed!
Millsap protected the defensive rebound, Ellis and Artest actively blocked Zhang Yang, Millsap passed the ball to Jarrett Jack, the defensive counterattack failed and fell into a positional battle.

Zhang Yang ran to the frontcourt, and Artest became the one guarding in front of him!

Zhang Yang waved excitedly for the ball. Artest tried to press forward to intercept, but Zhang Yang stepped back and received the pass.

Artest immediately retreated to the three-point line. He defended very attentively, trying to regain the face he lost in the previous round.

Zhang Yang felt very sorry that the opponent did not give him the opportunity to turn around and rush forward directly after receiving the ball.

Zhang Yang came one step outside the top arc, looked at Artest's position, and sighed that he was worthy of being the best defensive player ever.

The standard front and back foot stance, which allows you to press forward to prevent retreat when advancing and to prevent breakthroughs when retreating, and you can also start lateral movement immediately. The left hand is placed on the waist and the right hand is at shoulder height.

And he didn't act like he was trying hard to defend by taking small steps. His height and arm span advantages were there, so there was no need for him to do anything useless.

Zhang Yang did not call for a screen. The forward and guard line-up of this lineup performed extremely poorly in shooting, and calling for a pick-and-roll was tantamount to asking for a double-team.

Artest was also certain that the opponent would not call for a screen. He would be even happier if they did. His teammates who came out to defend would definitely block the opponent's shot, so he could just double-team him.

The offensive and defensive analysis of both sides took only a moment. Zhang Yang slapped the ball hard with his left hand, dribbled the ball between his legs, took a step to the right, and rushed forward!

Zhang Yang was half a speed faster. Artest reacted quickly and moved to the left rear at the first opportunity, but he was unable to completely block the space and was allowed to break through the three-point line by Zhang Yang.

But Artest did not lose his position. He did not rush forward to confront, but continued to interfere with the shot and maintain a distance where he could press forward to confront at any time, following Zhang Yang's footsteps closely.

Zhang Yang rushed all the way to the elbow area, but there was no chance for a quick stop jump shot. Harrington came up from the reasonable collision area to double-team him. Zhang Yang did not pass the ball, but grabbed the ball and took a step towards Harrington.

Harrington quickly stopped. Both of them were moving, and if they collided, it must be a blocking foul on his part.

Zhang Yang controlled the distance very well in this step, and the landing point was just in front of Harrington. He took the second step, changed direction with a big step, and jumped to the right sideline of the three-second zone close to the bottom corner, turned around, and jumped!
Harrington just braked and wanted to start again, but it was too late. However... Artest predicted the landing point of Zhang Yang's European step, jumped at the right time, and stretched out his hand to cover Zhang Yang's shooting line!
Zhang Yang jumped up and saw Artest's hand reaching out to him. He grabbed the ball in midair and tried to control the strength of his waist and abdomen. He leaned to the far side, with most of his body already out of the baseline. He pulled the ball with his hand to avoid Artest's block and tried his best to throw the ball out...

After throwing the ball, Zhang Yang lost his balance and fell out of the baseline.

Artest's defense this time was absolutely amazing!
but……

Just as Zhang Yang fell to the ground, the ball he threw hit the inner edge of the basket, bounced, and fell into the basket!

The fans at the scene cheered loudly!
He challenged Artest one-on-one, broke into the inside and fought two people, used the European step to create space for jumping, and made a pull-up shot before falling out of the baseline!
Zhang Yang quickly got up, made Artest's signature biceps-pumping celebration move, then turned around and trotted back to the backcourt to celebrate with his teammates.

The ball actually went in. It was such good luck. Zhang Yang was very excited, and so were his teammates.

It was different on the Warriors side. Even though Artest was defending so well, Zhang Yang still made the shot. It was definitely a magical shot!
Their morale was greatly affected as they had not scored a goal in open play for several minutes.

When morale is affected, people tend to get anxious. When the Warriors attacked, Baron Davis suddenly made a sneak attack and took a three-pointer against Jarrett Jack... and missed!
When the Bobcats attacked, with only a dozen seconds left, Zhang Yang continued to receive the ball at the top of the arc and play one-on-one. Artest had lost his composure and wanted to press forward to fight the defense, regardless of whether he would be broken through by the opponent's rhythm flow.

But Zhang Yang didn't even give Artest a chance to vent his emotions in a physical fight. After receiving the ball, he suddenly passed it to the left side of the basket.

Barnes and Harrington focused their defensive attention on Zhang Yang, ready to double-team Zhang Yang if he breaks through.

Hill cut in from the baseline and scored two points with an alley-oop dunk!
As Ellis missed a long three-pointer in the first half, the whistle sounded to end the first quarter.

最后两分多钟张杨3投3中，外加1中1的罚球，拿到7分1助攻，率队打了勇士队一波9比0，首节战罢，山猫队32比23领先勇士队9分！
...

After switching to offensive basketball, Kawhi Leonard faced off against the originator of run-and-gun basketball, the mad scientist, for the first time, and Kawhi Leonard had the upper hand!
In the last two minutes of the first quarter, the Warriors clearly fell into the rhythm of the Bobcats and engaged in a positional battle of offense and defense with the Bobcats, and were beaten by Zhang Yang.

Old Nelson had no good solution for this.

If the opponent's defense is too good and they do a good job of slowing down the pace and preventing fast breaks, he has a way to adjust.

But the current situation is that his physical strength has affected his touch, and he can't make long shots, and he can't make shots while running. After he entered the intermission, there was nothing he could do except urge the players to run.

This is the biggest pain point of the run-and-gun offense. Even the Suns, who have the best run-and-gun offense in NBA history, play badly when their touch is not good.

Last week, the Suns played against the Bucks. They couldn't make long shots and their speed slowed down as the game went on. Reed won the ball in the positional battle by making consecutive hits from mid-range and scored 43 points in a single game. He shot the Suns to death, and the Bucks won in a big upset, ending the Suns' winning streak.

What worries old Nelson the most is that Zhang Yang on the opposite side is a future physical monster with amazing recovery ability. He played the second game back to back as if nothing happened.

In the second quarter, the offensive performances of both teams continued to be sluggish. Relatively speaking, the Bobcats' offensive performance was slightly better.

Carlisle adjusted the offense and Zhang Yang initiated the attack with the ball.

If Ellis, Barnes, and Azubuike were on defense, Zhang Yang would go to the high post to take up position. If Artest was on defense, Zhang Yang would receive the ball outside the three-point line and attack, attracting double-teaming before passing the ball. With the threat of Zhang Yang beating Barnes and Artest for 7 points in a row at the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats created much better shooting opportunities than the Warriors' blind rush.

第二节比分24比21、第三节比分23比24，山猫队三节打完以79比68领先勇士队11分。

In the first half of the final quarter, Ellis went on a rampage for several rounds, made 4 of 3 shots and scored 7 points and 1 assist, leading the team to score 3 points in 10 minutes, and beat the Bobcats 10 to 6, narrowing the gap to 7 points.

But Zhang Yang responded quickly, passing the ball to Mike Miller, who made a three-pointer, bringing the difference back to 10 points.

With more than 7 minutes left, the two teams were fighting back and forth with a 10-point difference. The Bobcats couldn't pull away, and the Warriors couldn't effectively narrow the gap, and the stalemate lasted until the end...

At 11:21 pm, the final whistle sounded.

张杨首节15分、第二节7分、第三节6分、末节8分，25投13中，其中三分球5中3，加上9中7的罚球，拿到36分3板6助攻1抢断1盖帽。

加上迈克-米勒的25分、奥卡福的23分15板，力压埃利斯的24分4助攻、巴郎-戴维斯的18分6助攻、阿泰斯特的17分、斯蒂芬-杰克逊的11分、哈灵顿的8分6板3助攻……

末节比分25比26，山猫队以104比94击败勇士队，将战绩提升到32胜9负！
...

At noon on the second day after playing against the Warriors, after lunch, Zhang Yang left the Bay Area with the team and came to the City of Angels. Next up were back-to-back away games against the Clippers and the Suns.

In the past, every time they played away games in bustling cities like Los Angeles and New York, the teammates were very excited. But this time, on the plane and on the bus to the hotel, Zhang Yang saw many teammates dozing off and couldn't even organize a card game. Millsap even imitated Zhang Yang and Okafor in reading books. The difference was that Zhang Yang was reading literature, Okafor was reading books for postgraduate entrance examinations, and Millsap was reading Harry Potter...

Not to mention, it's already this late, having just finished a back-to-back game. When Zhang Yang woke up at around 10 o'clock this morning, he was not very energetic. He only recovered after lunch, not to mention his teammates.

休息了一晚，1月25号，山猫队5天4战的第2个背靠背即将拉开序幕。

After another good sleep, Zhang Yang finally felt that his body had returned to normal. However, during the morning's pre-match preparations, he felt that his teammates were still the same. Only a few young teammates in their second and third years seemed more energetic. Even Okafor, a fourth-year player, looked listless after scoring 4+20 in the second game of a back-to-back game.

The day's preparation time passed quickly, and in the evening, the Bobcats faced the Clippers at the Staples Center.

Looking at the Clippers' lineup, it's hard to understand why they played so badly, having made it to the second round two years ago. But looking at the players' attendance rate... this time, even if Baylor had the 'Los Angeles Team Recruitment Plan Manual', it would be difficult for him to keep his position as general manager.

It was so unlucky that Brand was out for the season after just two weeks of playing.

Cassell was affected by injuries and missed 41 of the first 20 games. Due to his age and injuries, Cassell had his worst performance in 10 years.

Kaman has performed very well this season and is known as the second best center in the Western Conference after Duncan. He has averaged 16 points, 13 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game so far this season, becoming a hot favorite for the Western Conference All-Star backup center. However, he missed 41 of 15 games. Although this attendance rate did not affect the coaches' votes for him, his every absence made things worse for the Clippers, who were already short of money in the interior.

Veteran Tim Thomas has become the mainstay of the Clippers' interior this season. He played in all 41 games in the first half of the regular season and averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds per game.

Maggette has become the pillar of the Clippers. He has played in 38 games so far this season, averaging 22.5 points, 6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, playing the best performance of his career, but this performance is far from enough for the Clippers, who are full of injuries.

The Clippers have averaged only 94 points per game so far this season, but have lost as many as 102 points.

With 15 wins and 26 losses, the Clippers are ranked third from the bottom in the Western Conference. Together with the Supersonics, Timberwolves and Kings, they are called the four worst teams in the Western Conference by fans.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, after the game started, Zhang Yang started to swing wildly from the first attack, shooting one-on-one. When he got tired, he ran and took the ball and shot with the help of screen.

Shooting, shooting, shooting, and more shooting. He tried his best to take as many shots as possible to reduce the pressure on his teammates. He didn't just swing the ball around. When conditions allowed, he participated in the team offense, helping Brad Miller further integrate into the team and also adapting to Brad Miller's better passing.

The game ended at 9:20 pm.

Zhang Yang played for 44 minutes in the whole game and only rested for a while in the first half of the third quarter. He was on the court the rest of the time. When his teammates couldn't shoot, he took the responsibility!

32投15中，其中三分球10中4，加上10中9的罚球，张杨狂飙43分，外加5板2助攻2抢断，力压20分的马盖蒂、20分14板的卡曼。

98比91，山猫队7分险胜快船队，将战绩提升到33胜9负！
(End of this chapter)