Chapter 333 332. Beast Beast: My pain is greater than yours!

At 7:40 in the evening, after warming up, Zhang Yang and his teammates entered the court and saw the man who was the real one-on-one trader in the entire league - Dwight Howard.

Fox Sports recently ranked the 'NBA's Most Valuable Players', with Howard ranking first.

Howard's talent potential exceeds that of Olajuwon and Duncan.

Predicted career of Howard - Become a defensive player like Mutombo and Ben Wallace before the end of his rookie contract; Have face-to-face offensive skills like David Robinson before the age of 25; Have back-to-the-basket skills like Olajuwon before the age of 30; Still stand at the top of the center like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the age of 35...

Zhang Yang was stunned when he saw this list. The Eagle Sauce is really good at bragging!
However, Howard, who just turned 22 last month, has played in all 44 games so far this season, averaging 21 points, 14.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.1 blocks, 3.3 turnovers, 3.5 fouls, and a shooting percentage of 60%. He has led the team to a record of 27 wins and 17 losses, leading the Magic to the ranks of top-notch teams. His average of 104.5 points per game ranks seventh in the league, and his average of 99.3 points allowed per game ranks eleventh in the league, and is still on the rise...

Howard was praised so much at this stage that Zhang Yang was stunned for a while, but then he felt that there was nothing wrong with it.

Among the centers of the same age, in terms of personal performance and team performance, apart from Duncan, there is really no one else who can compare with Howard in the past 30 years... If you calculate by length of service, that's another story.

If you really want to find someone of the same age, you have to go back to the ancient days of basketball when there were only a dozen or so teams in the NBA.

At this time, except for Zhang San who knew the future, no one else could imagine that Howard's playing style would be basically the same when he retires in a dozen years. No matter how bad his skills are now, they will be just as bad then.

Now, if someone says that after Howard reached his athletic peak at the age of 30 or 33, he rapidly declined due to a decline in athletic ability and injuries, fell from the first team, failed to make the All-Star team and was not selected for the All-NBA Team at the age of , and was cut in the last year of his maximum salary contract at the age of , they would be considered a fool.

Zhang Yang doesn't care how quickly Howard collapses in the future. What he has to face is the Warcraft who is about to enter his heyday!
Starting from the 08-09 season, Howard was selected to the All-NBA First Team for four consecutive years and won the Defensive Player of the Year award for three consecutive years, making him one of his strongest competitors in the next two years.

However, Zhang Yang was puzzled when he saw Howard's gloomy face. What happened to Beast? Where did the cheerful Beast go?

Are you unhappy because you lost the All-Star vote to the Little Giants?

Wasn't this something that had already been decided? On the day the All-Star voting started, the Little Giant was considered to have secured an All-Star start. What was there to be unhappy about?

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Bobcats' home game against the Magic started.

Howard beat Okafor in a jump ball, and in the first attack, after Nelson missed a three-pointer against Felton, he pressed Perkins to complete a tip-in!
Howard got 2 points and 1 rebound right from the start, igniting the morale of his teammates.

He grabbed the offensive rebound from the double-team of Okafor and Perkins, and greatly boosted his teammates' shooting confidence.

On the defensive end, Howard also covered the entire close range by himself.

Led by Howard, the Magic led the Bobcats by 26 point, 25-1, in the first quarter.

第二节魔术队高歌猛进，单节打出30比26的比分，半场打完时以56比51领先山猫队5分。

By the third quarter, Zhang Yang and Felton saw that there was really no chance from the outside. Howard was guarding the basket alone, and the other Magic players were defending 4 with 3 on the outside, and their switching and helping defense were so good. The two of them could only head for the basket.

两人猛突篮下，还真打了魔术队一个措手不及，张杨单节12分2助攻、费尔顿单节8分3助攻，两人率队在第三节打出34比29的比分，三节打完时率领山猫队以85比85追平魔术队。

But facing Howard's fierce defensive attack on the basket, the two players were extremely exhausted. Their efficiency declined in the third quarter, and they started to miss shots continuously in the fourth quarter.

The Magic scored 18 to 10 in the first half of the fourth quarter!
Although the Bobcats scored 14 to 10 in the second half and had the advantage in the final moments, they were too far behind in the first half and the 8-point difference was eventually narrowed to only 4 points.

The game ended at 10:21 pm.

霍华德12投7中，外加12中8的罚球，拿到22分21板1助攻1抢断5盖帽，率领魔术队以113比109险胜山猫队！
Looking at Howard's performance of 20+20+5... 11 offensive rebounds in a single game, almost no goals in singles, but he scored more than 10 points by tip-ins and causing fouls, and his second-chance lethality was maximized!
Carlisle even tried to hack the shark, but Howard's free throw rate was as high as 70%, so he gave up after one round.

Zhang San: Did I cut off your financial resources or sleep with your girlfriend? Are you risking your life?
Beast: My pain is greater than yours!

Howard did not feel sad for too long after the All-Star starting lineup was announced. He just lamented his bad luck in being in the same Eastern Conference as Yao Ming.

But when he came to his senses and saw that his fellow No. 2 pick Okafor defeated Ben Wallace to take the starting spot as Eastern Conference forward, he felt terrible.

It is obvious that Okafor was selected as a starter because of Zhang Yang!
Chinese players snatched his All-Star starting spot away, and his competitors in the same class relied on Chinese players to be selected as All-Star starting spots. Howard focused his hatred on Okafor and the Bobcats, and had a crazy outburst, giving the Bobcats their 11th loss of the season!
As for why they focus on Okafor, it’s because no matter how much he runs wild, he can’t beat the other one…

...

After the game, in the Bobcats locker room, the three young players sat together and received physical therapy while being autistic.

The three of us looked at each other and didn't say anything for a long time, which made my teammates and physical therapists afraid to speak loudly.

Zhang Yang spoke first to break the silence: "Being beaten by a player, the last time you encountered such a situation, you should have beaten Chris, right?"

Felton: "Blame me. I shot the three-pointer so badly."

Felton scored 23 points and 6 assists in his first game after his comeback. The stats look okay, but his overall performance was actually very average. He made only 23 of 9 shots, only 6 of 1 three-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws, only to get 23 points.

The only really good performances were in the third quarter and the second half of the fourth quarter, with 23 of the 14 points coming in those ten minutes.

Zhang Yang: "I'm also bad at shooting three-pointers."

张杨28投12中，其中三分球5中1，加上7中7的罚球，拿到32分4板5助攻2抢断。

Felton: "You are different. You were double-teamed too hard. I missed an open three-pointer from the sideline. I couldn't make the shot, which made it more difficult for you to shoot from a high position."

Okafor finally spoke up: "I didn't pose enough of a threat in the paint, which made it more difficult for you to attack, Jack. You could only rush to the basket, which caused you to consume too much energy. Your performance on both offense and defense declined in the first half of the fourth quarter."

奥卡福今晚11投仅5中，加上5中3的罚球，只拿到13分11板，被霍华德吊打了。

Zhang Yang: "It's not your fault. If we can shoot better from outside, you will have more opportunities inside. The consumption in the third quarter was great, and it was also my own fault. Raymond should have been the main attacker in that quarter, and I should have played as a supporting role. We should have played in staggered positions, which would have provided better continuity than playing all at once. We must learn from this lesson.

But Howard's defense is really great! And it's very special, completely different from other defensive centers."

Talking about this, Okafor became excited and said: "The restrictions he put on me and on you and Raymond's breakthrough scoring are not that big. Our close-range and under-the-rim scoring performance is only slightly lower than usual, but the terrifying part of his defense is precisely because of this, he is protecting the rim alone!
He was dealing with our two inside players by himself, and he was also able to interfere with the shots of the players who broke through and cut in. He did the job that 2-3 people in the inside could do, so his teammates didn't have to worry about defending the basket, and they could focus on defending our mid-range and long-range shots, especially the double-teaming of you, Jack."

Little Duncan did not belittle Suo Suo just because they were competitors. Instead, he praised Suo Suo highly.

Zhang Yang did not study Howard's defense in depth, he just felt that the opponent was strong. After Okafor's analysis, he felt that Howard's defense was even stronger.

他们今晚全队三分球21投仅5中，他和费尔顿11中2，其他人也只有10中3。

It seems that the Magic's outside players are good at defense and are always able to fill in the gaps. From the perspective of Okafor's analysis, the Magic's outside defense is so good, and at least 80% of the credit belongs to Howard!

Zhang Yang recalled what Jackson said when he and Van Gaal were dissing each other in the 09 Finals: "Howard is the Magic's defensive system."

After talking about Howard's defensive characteristics, the third young player put the issue of winning or losing aside and began a detailed discussion and analysis.

Hill on the side said to Tyronn Lue: "Sir Lu, our core is very special, right? I have been here for half a year, and I have never seen them blame the loss on the role players who performed poorly, nor will they blame each other, always rushing to take responsibility."

Given Hill's status and years of experience as a player, he naturally didn't need to call Tyronn Lue "Mr.", but when he heard Zhang Yang's tone of voice calling Tyronn Lue so cheerful, he felt that this title had some special meaning. Although he didn't guess what it meant, he followed suit.

Tyronn Lue felt awkward at first, as he was rejected but the other party kept calling him no matter what. After hearing it a few times, he got used to it.

He responded: "Yes, players like them are rare. I have only seen two people like them before them."

Hill: "Oh? There are two more people. Who are they?"

Tyronn Lue: "Kobe and Michael, after losing, they also took the blame on themselves, thinking that they didn't make the shot and lost... No, not all of them, Kobe would blame Shaq for not coming out of the three-second zone when defending after losing in the regular season."

Hill: "Blame Shaq? Oh, yeah, Kobe and Shaq, that makes sense..."

...

A new month has arrived. On the morning of February 2st, Zhang Yang got up and did morning exercises, took a shower, ate breakfast brought by the nutritionist, and then read a book and rested, just like in the past when the team did not have training scheduled on rest days.

After a morning of rest and lunch, he checked the news before going to the gym for extra practice.

Beast is on the headlines...

霍华德1月份17场比赛场均21.7分15板2.3盖帽，率队取得11胜6负的战绩，将魔术队战绩由17胜11负提升到28胜17负，在与骑士队的竞争中占据上风，稳稳坐住了东部第四的位置，拿下1月东部月最佳球员奖。

The one who was defeated was none other than Zhang San.

Zhang Yang played 1 games in January, averaging 16 points, 36.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 3.7 steals and 1.6 blocks. His statistics are better than Biao Biao, but Biao Biao's average of 0.93+20 is also very impressive. Moreover, his team record as Zhang San is only 15 wins and 10 losses, and the record has dropped from 6 wins and 24 losses to 5 wins and 34 losses, and has also dropped from first to fourth in the league. Last night, they lost to the Magic in a direct match, and the Player of the Month award was also snatched away by Biao Biao.

He was a little upset, but Zhang Yang put the matter aside for the time being. In the next 13 days, the Bobcats still had seven games to play. They would deal with the grudge with Biao Biao the next time they played against each other. After the All-Star Weekend, they would have to play against the Magic three more times.

西部那边，科比1月份打了16场比赛，场均31.8分4板3.8助攻1.5抢断，投篮命中率达到了50.7%，还是在场均三分球5投1.5中只有30%命中率的情况下打出来的。

这个月科比率队取得14胜2负的战绩，帮助湖人队将战绩由22胜7负提升到36胜9负，与公牛队并列联盟第一，拿下西部月最佳球员奖。

In January, Zhang Yang and Howard each had their own advantages in personal performance and team performance, and were generally evenly matched. He was a little disappointed to see Howard win the Player of the Month award, but when he saw Kobe's performance, he felt the gap.

This season, Kobe's physical fitness is still at its peak, his skills are mature, and his playing style is reasonable. He has perfect control over the output rhythm in the first and middle stages of the season. He works as a team when it is time to work as a team and works alone when it is time to work alone... Kobe is at his peak!

Zhang San: I also want to become that strong!

His motivation suddenly surged, and he turned off his computer and went to the gym to practice more.

The main training point is... three-point shooting.

During the five consecutive away games, his three-point shooting improved from 5 to 87, just 88 point away from the mid-range shot.

Just like his previous analysis, after his mid-range shot reaches 89, he can only practice basic skills and polish supporting techniques through training and actual combat. Even if he has a historical talent of 95, his progress is still slow. After all, he is only 19 years old. No matter how hard he tries, the time he has spent practicing mid-range shots is still far less than those few people, and mid-range shots are the most difficult shooting area to practice.

The three-point shot is different. After passing the 80 line, it has been improving rapidly. If you only look at the accuracy of open shots, it is already better than mid-range shots.

He did not stubbornly try to improve his mid-range shot first, but adjusted his training program according to the actual situation.

And he also needs to practice three-pointers better - develop chase-down shots.

Since they are all going to shoot the ball, they would rather shoot a three-pointer with a more fixed position and an extra point than a long two-pointer.

As for chasing shots from medium or close range, there is no need for that. If there is still space to shoot at that distance, he can just rush in and do it.

After a day of rest, on February 2, the Bobcats faced the Knicks at home.

There was no suspense in the game. Zhang Yang played for 21 minutes, made 10 of 6 shots, including 2 of 2 three-pointers, and 7 of 7 free throws, scoring 21 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. He was substituted for rest after scoring over 20 points halfway through the third quarter.

Okafor and Randolph had a duel, with Okafor scoring 27 points and 8 rebounds and Randolph scoring 22 points and 14 rebounds.

靠着张杨的21分、奥卡福的27分、费尔顿15分5助攻、布拉德-米勒13分7板4助攻、迈克-米勒13分……山猫队5人得分上双，以115比98轻取尼克斯队，拿下新的一个月的首胜！
(End of this chapter)