Chapter 353 352. A wild start!

When the Bulls attacked, Yao Ming continued to move down to the low post. As soon as he received the ball, Okafor's double-team came.

He passed the ball to Luol Deng who came to the right baseline with the help of a screen. Felton moved back to the baseline to make the final move. Luol Deng passed the ball again, and Hinrich received the ball in the corner and made a three-pointer...and it went in!
5 to 4, the Bulls overtook by 1 point!
In the transition from offense to defense, the Bobcats continued to play as a team.

The Bulls players made independent adjustments on the defensive end, not giving Zhang Yang the opportunity to shoot directly after receiving the ball, and increased their efforts in assisting defense.

Zhang Yang ran back around the post, shook off the switched defense Luol Deng and came to the right side of the free throw line, but Hinrich immediately stuck to Zhang Yang.

However, Brad Miller, who was outside the top arc of the three-point line, passed the ball to Zhang Yang.

Mismatched singles! The Bobcats' tactical goal for this round has been achieved!
Zhang Yang backed up Hinrich in the high post and made a turnaround jump shot!
Hinrich's expression was as helpless as Luol Deng's.

Facing Zhang Yang, he was at a disadvantage in all aspects, including height, wingspan, weight, strength and jumping ability. Zhang Yang was trying to make a turnaround jump shot, and unless he pressed forward and cut the ball regardless of the consequences, there was nothing he could do. But he didn't dare to really press forward and cut the ball, as he would most likely be called for a foul.

When some people are worried, others are happy. After Zhang Yang retreated to the backcourt, he excitedly high-fived Brad Miller.

Before the training session started yesterday afternoon, Carlisle had a private chat with him and adjusted his tactical execution method. To put it simply, it can be summed up in four words - first in scoring!

With the coach's instructions, his first goal on offense tonight is to find scoring opportunities.

However, even though he was mentally prepared to let himself go, the scoring conditions at the start still surprised him.

There were good shooting opportunities in three consecutive rounds, at least they were good shooting opportunities for him!

He ran to receive the ball and shot in a wide open space, cut in unhindered and made a big shot, and made a back-to-the-basket shot in a mismatch, scoring 3 goals in a row!
The offense and defense changed, the Bulls attacked, and Yao Ming continued to go down to the low post to launch an attack.

The ball was passed well, but Sefolosha missed the three-pointer in an open position.

It was the Bobcats' turn to attack. Zhang Yang went around the high post and used the screen to run back down, then switched to defend Ben Wallace who was in an off-ball pick-and-roll, and Hinrich who was defending Felton in the corner. Hinrich blocked Zhang Yang's space to rush to the basket, and Ben Wallace blocked Zhang Yang's shot after receiving the ball.

But Brad Miller, who received the pass from Mike Miller on the wing at the top arc, did not pass it to Zhang Yang, but instead passed it to Okafor who was free after the off-ball screen, and Okafor passed the ball directly to the left side of the three-second zone.

After Hinrich moved up to block Zhang Yang, Felton cut in from the baseline, received the pass from Okafor, and made a close-range jump shot!
Zhang Yang scored three goals in a row, posing a threat that his teammates took advantage of!
The Bobcats started the game with great momentum after scoring 4 goals in a row!

Following the momentum at the start, the Bobcats pressed the Bulls in the next few rounds.

The Bulls' offense actually played pretty well, taking advantage of the Bobcats' lack of switching and backup defense. Yao Ming initiated the offense from this point, and after attracting a double-team, they had many good scoring opportunities from mid-range and long-range distances, and even by cutting in.

But the Bobcats have better offensive opportunities!

They restricted Zhang Yang from receiving the ball, or double-teamed him after he received the ball, and the Bobcats always had other players in a chance to score and complete the receiving. The key is that they also had to do their best to restrict Zhang Yang from receiving the ball.

Zhang Yang's accurate shooting at the beginning is secondary. No matter how bad Zhang Yang's shooting is, the Bulls will not let him shoot.

The main thing is that if they use regular switching and backup defense to deal with Zhang Yang's movement, Zhang Yang will always be able to find a chance to run. The Bobcats' offensive coordination creates more opportunities for Zhang Yang than the Bulls' previous two encounters with the Bobcats!
Moreover, Zhang Yang can also play one-on-one. The Bulls have many players who are good at one-on-one defense, but none of them can match him.

At 6 minutes and 37 seconds in the first quarter, Zhang Yang held the ball at the top of the arc and challenged Frosa. He made a strong breakthrough and a jump shot. The score came to 20 to 15. The Bobcats led by 5 points, and Skiles called a timeout!
Zhang Yang started off on a high, scoring 10 points in half a quarter!
After observing the opposing half, Skiles confirmed his thoughts.

The Bulls regard the defending champion Bobcats as their strongest opponent in the Eastern Conference, and Skiles has been keeping an eye on the Bobcats' offensive adjustments.

This is no secret. The media and fans have been discussing this issue over the past month.

The Bobcats' adjustment progress is different in the eyes of different people.

In the eyes of the media and fans, the Bobcats had already adjusted when they won eight games in a row. The Bobcats averaged 8 points per game during that period. Zhang Yang's efficiency increased sharply. During the eight-game winning streak, his shooting percentage reached 111% and his three-point shooting percentage reached 8%, which were 52 percentage points and 39 percentage points higher than in the previous games respectively.

When Skiles studied the Bobcats' game videos over the past period of time, although he felt that the Bobcats' tactical coordination was better in details and created more opportunities than before the All-Star Weekend, he always felt that something was strange, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Now he knew what had made him feel wrong.

In the past month or so, except for playing against specific opponents like the Jazz, the Bobcats played pure team offense with no focus.

Even when playing against the Cavaliers, the offensive efficiency dropped sharply in the second half of the second quarter, and no one took more shots. Instead, they insisted on playing as a team.

Obviously this does not conform to the logic of building a tactical system. No matter which system it is, there must be a player to revolve around it, and the Bobcats must revolve around Zhang Yang.

Now he understood that the Bobcats had been practicing tactics recklessly for more than a month and were able to win eight consecutive games because they had opponents like the Timberwolves, SuperSonics, Heat, and Knicks and an easy schedule.

That style of play almost failed against the Cavaliers. When playing against the Pistons, they relied on tactical changes in the first game to surprise the Pistons. In the second game, after the Pistons had some experience, they reduced the Bobcats' score to 104 points and defeated the Bobcats.

But tonight, the Bobcats' tactical execution was clearly different, with a real point to focus on!
Skiles: Is that a move because they're going to play us? It's an honor!

The change in the opponent's tactical execution made many of Skiles' defensive arrangements in vain, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. The sooner he could see the Bobcats' strength after adjustment, the better he would be in preparation, which was better than being caught off guard like the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Bulls players didn’t understand as much as the head coach, but in this half of the game they could intuitively feel that the opponent’s offensive firepower was stronger than they expected!
From the failure of the established defensive strategy, they also realized that the opponent's offensive tactics had changed compared to previous games.

But like Skiles, they are not afraid at all and firmly believe that no matter what changes the opponent makes, they can win!
The whole team has this mentality because of the confidence they get from being first in the league with 59 wins and 12 losses!
(End of this chapter)