Chapter 362 361. It’s soaring again!
Howard secured the defensive rebound and passed it to Turkoglu.

Turkoglu advanced to the frontcourt and felt tremendous pressure.

The game has just begun, but I already feel exhausted!

The opponent made 5 of 4 shots at the start, and the missed shot also had a chance. He felt that as long as they didn't score, the score difference would return to more than 5 points.

Not only him, but other members of the Magic team were also nervous.

It's not a good thing to be too nervous during a game. Nelson received the ball around the top arc and rushed forward, attracting Zhang Yang's double-teaming on the wing and then passing the ball to Maurice Evans. Maurice Evans, the most stable player in the team, made an open three-pointer with great force, and the three-pointer hit the opposite basket!
Okafor held off the opponent, and Brad Miller grabbed the defensive rebound. Without stopping, he turned around and passed the ball to Zhang Yang. He was always paying attention to the position of everyone on the court.

Zhang Yang received the ball and pushed forward with all his strength to launch a counterattack!

As soon as he reached the other side's three-point line, he was blocked by Lewis and Turkoglu, and his chance of a three-pointer was gone.

Before the two men got face to face, he dribbled the ball one step behind his right back and broke through!

Lewis on the right was passed.

Turkoglu on the left stepped back immediately, Zhang Yang passed Lewis and rushed forward, but was blocked by Turkoglu. Turkoglu and Lewis switched from double blocking to front and back attack.

After all, Turkoglu has been on the Kings and the 03 championship Spurs, and has excellent defensive awareness.

Zhang Yang jumped up to face the double attack... and went to the left!

Mike Miller received the ball on the left sideline, and Nelson came to defend and blocked Mike Miller's lower body.

Nelson's defensive ability is not good, but under the coaching of Van Gundy, he did a good job in some small details.

But Mike Miller didn't shoot after receiving the ball, but passed it directly to the right.

Felton received the ball at a 45-degree angle on the left side, adjusted himself, faced Nelson who was rushing over from Mike Miller, jumped, and shot a three-pointer... and made it again!
14 to 7, the Bobcats' lead reached 7 points!
2 minutes and 47 seconds into the first quarter, the Magic called a timeout!

The Bobcats made 4 of 4 three-pointers and stopped the Magic!
In fact, it was mainly because Zhang Yang made two three-pointers at the beginning of the game, which led to the success of Mike Miller and Felton.

Van Gundy called a timeout but did not make any substitutions. He just emphasized the importance of making good defensive choices when retreating.

They scored 7 points in less than three minutes, making 6 of 3 shots, which is not bad, it's just that the opponent's shooting was too accurate.

On the other side, the Bobcats head coach Carlisle, who had the advantage, made a substitution, replacing Brad Miller with Millsap.

After the timeout, the Magic attacked.

Nelson continued to attack with Turkoglu's pick-and-roll, and the ball was passed to Lewis on the right sideline.

After shrinking to the middle, Zhang Yang expanded and got in front of Lewis.

Although Lewis has no ability to organize offense, he is like most top shooters. He spends most of his time outside the three-point line on the wing. He has an excellent field of vision and can always pass the ball to his teammates who are open after receiving the ball on the wing and encountering help defense, usually towards the top arc and the basket.

But this time Lewis didn't pass the ball, and took a three-point shot facing Zhang Yang... but was blocked!
Okafor was in position, Millsap grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Felton. Felton received the ball and pushed forward, and the entire Bobcats team pressed forward.

The Magic quickly retreated and the Bobcats could not launch a counterattack, but this was a great opportunity for offense and defense transition.

The slow-footed Brad Miller was replaced by Millsap, and Okafor, who had excellent speed at the power forward position after losing weight, was played as center, and the Bobcats' overall speed suddenly increased.

Zhang Yang, Felton, and Mike Miller all stayed outside the three-point line to attract defense. Okafor cut in to receive the ball, and with Howard chasing him, he dunked with both hands to score two points!
16 to 7, the Bobcats' lead reached 9 points!
Van Gundy just called a timeout. If you want to know what effect it had... He is a very emotional person. When he plays well, he dances with joy, which can easily motivate the players and make them play more excitedly. The Magic always play better and better when they can shoot accurately and are in the lead, which is inseparable from his emotional reaction.

His anxious look during the timeout also conveyed his impatience and anxiety to the already nervous players.

When the Magic team attacked, Howard took the initiative to go to the low post and lean on Okafor to ask for the ball.

The No. 04 and No. picks of the draft were in a one-on-one match. The Bobcats did not double-team him. Howard suddenly knocked Okafor back half a step, turned around and jumped, and threw the ball towards the basket... and it went in!
Looking back, Howard desperately defended and blocked Zhang Yang's three-step layup.

In the critical moment, he showed the responsibility that a new superstar should have!

Zhang Yang hated himself for not being able to take two steps and then jump one step, otherwise the ball would definitely go in and it would be completely in line with the NBA's three-step layup rules.

But he didn't know the imperial footwork in his previous life, and he was very rigid when developing layups in this life. It's too late to develop them now. If he insists on developing them, he might mess up his original footwork. He won't be able to learn the difficult three-step layup, and he'll lose the basic style.

However, when the Magic team attacked, Howard fell to the low post again and failed to knock Okafor away. He fought hard on both offense and defense in the last round, and he continued to fight hard in this round. He has not recovered from the short-term consumption!

When Howard turned around and jumped, he was restricted by the confrontation and didn't jump high enough, so the ball hit the rim directly.

Mike Miller got the defensive rebound and passed it to Felton.

Howard shot, and the other Magic players retreated immediately.

Felton advanced to the frontcourt and fell into a positional battle. He continued to play pick-and-roll, and this time the pick-and-roll executor was Millsap.

Felton broke through and passed the ball back, Millsap passed it again from a high position, and Zhang Yang cut in to receive the ball.

After taking two steps to get to the close range, Zhang Yang continued to attack the basket guarded by Howard! The European step started!
Howard thought that his defense in the last round would intimidate Zhang Yang and force Zhang Yang to make a close-range jump shot, which is the most difficult shot. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yang came directly at his face. This time his defense was a little flustered.

Zhang Yang seized the opportunity, changed direction and stepped to the baseline. He jumped with the third step and made a layup!
Zhang Yang's shot was a bit of a show-off. In the last round, Howard was the only one under the basket, Okafor was on the right side of the three-second zone, and Millsap was at the free throw line. Howard defended the three of them alone, and he was holding back his strength.

There is also Millsap's passing ability. Although it has improved a lot, it is still a little bit lacking. The only opportunity Zhang Yang can find to receive the ball and shoot is to cut into the basket. Now that he has cut in, he must try again to see if he can shoot the ball in the face of Howard's defense.

This time he succeeded!

18 to 9, the score difference is back to 9 points!
As the game went on, the Magic players' thoughts changed from 'narrowing the score to within 5 points' to 'preventing the score difference from widening to more than 10 points', and their morale was obviously hit.

But the downward adjustment target was not achieved...

At 6 minutes and 23 seconds into the first quarter, Zhang Yang singled out Morris Evans in the high post and made a quick stop jump shot, bringing the score to 24 to 13! The Magic called a timeout and entered the official timeout phase!

Zhang Yang scored 6 points in 10 and a half minutes, leading the Bobcats to an 11-point lead in half a quarter!
(End of this chapter)