Chapter 371 370. You are still far away
When the Kings attacked, Kevin Martin wanted to continue playing one-on-one. He had just been hit, so he wanted to fight back!
Rondo guessed what his teammates were thinking and planned to give the ball to Kevin Martin for a one-on-one.

Compared to his original experience of following Pierce, Garnett, and Ray Allen, three big guys with somewhat problematic personalities, he has now followed Felton, Zhang Yang, and Okafor through the important "social cognition stage" when he first entered the NBA. Although he is still aloof, he is better at handling things.

After experiencing the Bobcats' rise in the season, he wanted to be the boss after changing teams. The Bobcats' team style of not wanting to fall behind any opponent deeply influenced him.

But he has never been a boss. During high school, from grades 9 to 11, he did not have a good time playing at East Louisville High School. The regional league was too small, and his opponents and teammates were too weak, which limited his performance. He scored 30 points and more than ten rebounds in almost every game, and his teammates could not make the shots he passed to them. There was no such thing as a 'boss' in that high school. When he played, everyone in the court watched him play. People in that area who were willing to watch high school games went there for him.

In the 12th grade, he was invited to transfer to Oak Hill High School, a legendary basketball high school, and became teammates with Lawson in the 10th grade and Beasley in the 9th grade. Those two brothers were quite strong, the kind that could kill people when combined. Although he was ranked 12th among high school students in the United States at the end of the 20th grade, those two had been the big brothers when they entered the school during high school. In the end, one ranked fifth and the other ranked fourth in the United States. As a transfer student, he had no chance of becoming the boss.

When he was at the University of Kentucky, he was not considered the boss. Kelanna Azubuike and Chuck Hayes were the leaders of the University of Kentucky at that time.

He has no experience of being a boss, but he can learn, and the best person to learn is Felton.

He really didn't appreciate Felton's ability to lead the team. He felt that he could completely replace Felton as the starter. Of course, the tactics would have to be changed accordingly. There were many things that Felton could do that he couldn't do.

But he gave a thumbs up to Felton's ability to lead the team.

He knew that Felton was able to firmly establish himself as the leader of the Bobcats step by step, to the point where he could not be shaken. Zhang Yang’s help was great, but the key was that Felton himself was willing to lead the team, had a generous personality, cared about the thoughts and emotions of his teammates, and was willing to work hard to help his teammates solve some troubles...

Kevin Martin wanted to compete with Zhang Yang and had the ability to do so, so Rondo chose to support him. As a sophomore, he was able to become a team leader, and the support of Kevin Martin and Jason Richardson, two teammates with good personalities, was crucial.

If Zhang Yang can be aroused to play one-on-one and thus affect the Bobcats' team offense, it will be a good thing for the entire game.

But Rondo couldn't pass the ball after he stopped it!
The moment Rondo stopped the ball, Zhang Yang started a hand-to-hand fight with Kevin Martin and went around to defend!
Felton cooperated well, pressed towards Rondo who grabbed the ball, and tried to steal the ball.

Fortunately, Rondo reacted quickly. He turned around and stuck his butt against Felton, then swung it to the right and passed it to the dunk king who came up to receive the ball.

Jason Richardson received the ball and rushed forward, but Mike Miller failed to defend him. Jason Richardson broke through to close range, attracted the backup defense and then passed the ball to Hawes who was moving to the mid-range on the right baseline. Hawes received the ball and made a mid-range shot...and it hit!
Just like Brad Miller said, this 07 lottery pick has both great talent and combat effectiveness.

After becoming a main player, Hoyes averaged 30 points, 9.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists in the past 2.2 games. He has a wide shooting range and even shot 34% from three-point range in the past two months. His mid-range and long two-point shooting percentages are both over 40%.

He had a great talent for passing the ball. He played as a guard before grade 11. When he was 17, he grew 20 centimeters taller and became meters tall, so he had to play center.

However, his flaws are also obvious. His 216cm+111kg body is too thin. He poses almost no threat at close range, with a hit rate of only 55% at the basket, which is not as good as his outside teammate Kevin Martin who is not good at scoring inside. His defensive end is even worse. He is not good at confrontation, single defense is terrible, and he lacks self-awareness in team defense and can only execute tactics...

But in general, it is great to have such ability at the age of 19. If trained properly, he has the potential to become the tactical core of a strong team's inside line.

Coach Long, who was retreating to defense, was happy about the goal. His rookie teammates are talented, and his team will become stronger and stronger.

But he also secretly complained: Third brother, you have no moral principles! You only know how to use your strength to bully others!
Things didn't go as expected, but Rondo also admired Zhang Yang's defensive awareness.

In the last round, in order to avoid being fouled by the contemporary porcelain king Kevin Martin, Zhang Yang did not dare to confront him and conceded a goal easily.

This time, Zhang Yang started to fight with Kevin Martin before he received the ball. Regardless of whether Kevin Martin could eventually receive the ball, the confrontation took place first, which at least could consume one wave.

When it is known that defense is unstoppable, he can find the most effective defensive method in a short period of time... No wonder he is regarded as a future top defensive player at the age of 19.

It was the Bobcats' turn to attack. Seeing Zhang Yang go to the high post to ask for the ball again, Rondo was delighted. Although the process was slightly different, the plan to lure Zhang Yang into a singles game seemed to have worked!

Zhang Yang played against Kevin Martin in the high post. He took one step, turned around, took one step to the free throw line, jumped, and made a mid-range shot!
In the transition between offense and defense, Kevin Martin didn't receive the ball and Rondo almost made a mistake last time. They didn't expect Zhang Yang to defend like that.

It has been a long time since he was thin and weak. He was already very skilled in dealing with hand-to-hand combat. He made a circle and used his quick footsteps to turn back and temporarily get rid of Zhang Yang. Although Zhang Yang immediately came back, he had already successfully received the pass from Rondo.

Although Zhang Yang did not give any confrontation, his defensive distance was very close, mainly to prevent shots.

Kevin Martin took advantage of the mid-range threat, changed direction and broke through, successfully passed Zhang Yang, and rushed to close range to make a quick stop jump shot before Okafor could block him.

When the Bobcats attacked, Zhang Yang asked for the ball on the right side of the free throw line, turned right and broke through the middle.

When he was at close range, Hoyes moved into the reasonable collision zone. He jumped directly and forced a layup against the pressing Hoyes!
After a few rounds, Zhang Yang discovered that Hoyes had a good sense of offensive positioning, and defensively... he did a good job when executing Rondo's arrangements, but he did a very bad job on things outside of Rondo's arrangements, and he couldn't even do the basic rim protection well.

Kevin Martin has become accustomed to the fact that he cannot defend alone. When the Kings attacked, he continued to ask for the ball and played one-on-one, and he confronted Zhang Yang!

Rondo naturally had to pass the ball, which was to execute his on-the-spot strategy of "disrupting the opponent's teamwork."

In the next few rounds, both sides used singles as their offensive method. Not only Zhang Yang and Kevin Martin played singles, but Jason Richardson, Felton, and Okafor also mainly played singles. Rondo himself also took a sneak step to break through and attack the basket.

During this period, the two teams played back and forth. Kevin Martin and Jason Richardson were used to compete with Pierce and Joe Johnson, relying on their scoring ability.

The game seemed to be going in the direction Rondo wanted, but as the game went on, he gradually felt something was wrong.

The opponent doesn't seem to have any intention of launching a team attack?
After the official timeout in the first quarter, the Kings began to lose the upper hand.

Zhang Yang's defensive strategy of 'hand-to-hand combat before singles' gradually took effect. Kevin Martin's touch was gradually declining, but Kevin Martin's confrontation had basically no effect on him. Instead, it made his touch hotter and hotter.

The difference in the singles stability of the two teams' stars began to emerge as the game progressed. Jason Richardson's scoring ability is better than Felton and Okafor, but the Bobcats have more people. They take turns with three players, while the Kings usually take turns with two players. When Felton gets tired and goes down to rest, Jarrett Jack will take over.

Hill and Millsap came off the bench to play one-on-one, and the Kings' weak inside line couldn't defend against these two.

The Bobcats gradually gained an advantage in the score. The Kings went from actively luring the Bobcats into a one-on-one match at the beginning to having to compete with the Bobcats for stars and were afraid to stop.

One of the best tactics has always been for the team's strongest scoring player to score the ball alone, and conventional offensive tactics are usually built around this.

If Rondo leads the team in running tactics now, the offensive firepower he can generate may not be as strong as Jason Richardson and Kevin Martin's singles scoring!
By the end of the first quarter, the Kings were already 5 points behind. This season's three-point king Jason Richardson came on his own and took a three-pointer from the outside facing Alan Anderson who came off the bench... and missed!
Perkins, who came on as a substitute, blocked Hawes, and Zhang Yang grabbed the rebound and counterattacked!

The only one who retreated from the Kings was Rondo. After Rondo retreated to the free throw line, he suddenly thought of something and rushed back to the three-point line...

Zhang Yang faced the onrushing Rondo, stopped suddenly outside the arc, and shot a three-pointer...and it went in!
35 to 27, the Bobcats extended their 5-point lead to 8 points!
Rondo stopped in front of Zhang Yang. At this moment, he understood everything. His old club's game strategy tonight was not to play team offense at all, but to rely on the individual abilities of the stars to win the second game of a back-to-back game. And he foolishly took the initiative to help the opponent achieve the strategic goal!
After landing, looking at the annoyed Rondo, Zhang Yang lowered his head and said, "Rajon, you're still far away..."

(End of this chapter)