Chapter 93 92. This time he was still determined! (Additional chapters for 500 monthly tickets)

After watching the scene of Yao Ming drinking the "oral liquid" on the spot, Zhang Yang was very satisfied and participated in the next filming session with the program crew.

There were still shots for Yao Ming, and Jordan appeared on camera today. The imperial TV station wanted to take a picture of the two of them in the same frame, and neither of them refused. Faking your death is going to drive you to death.

When Zhang Yang met Yao Ming for the first time, he did not have too in-depth communication with him. They just got to know each other for a while. When he becomes famous in the future and Yao Ming no longer looks at him with the caring eyes of a Chinese kid playing in the NBA, it will not be too late to talk more.

That night, Zhang Yang saw a photo of him watching Yao Ming drinking "oral liquid" posted on the official website of Chaoting TV. In the photo, his mouth was shaped like an O with shock... The reporters of Chaoting TV are really stupid. They had already turned off the camera as promised?

I hope that netizens who love to make emoticons will not see this photo in the future. If they do see it, please ignore the background.

The training was interrupted for one day and resumed on the 29th. On October 10th, the Bobcats' first regular season game day of the new season arrived.

At 7:40 p.m., players from both teams entered the stadium.

It was the first time that Zhang Yang saw the stadium full of people. There were nearly 20,000 people around, which was exciting. However, not all the fans at the scene came for their Bobcats. Some of them came for Yao Ming and McGrady.

For small-market teams, the market will only explode when a popular superstar comes.

Before partnering with Yao Ming, McGrady was already a top player in the Eastern Conference, starting in the All-Star Game for two consecutive years and winning the Eastern Conference All-Star vote lead in the 02-03 season.

Yao Ming, last season's All-Star voting leader, even though most of his votes came from domestic sources, he earned the title with real results.

But unfortunately, the Rockets announced yesterday that McGrady will be absent for one to two weeks due to back spasms.

Not only the fans felt regretful, Zhang Yang felt it too. When he watched the live broadcast on TV that year, it was difficult for him to see Yao and McGrady play together.

He remembered that after Yao and McGrady formed a team, the only season in which both of them stayed healthy was the first season they formed the team, which was last season 04-05. Yao Ming played 80 games and McGrady played 78 games.

Afterwards, they both turned into glass men and suffered constant injuries.

Zhang Yang looked at the group of players on the opposite side. Except for McGrady in a suit and Yao Ming in his training suit, the other players... What on earth was wrong with him back then that made him believe the lies of the media and think that the Rockets would win the championship?

But half of what the domestic media boasted about was actually true.

Juwan Howard, an All-Star power forward... He only reached his peak in his sophomore year, and after that he had nothing to do with the All-Stars. He was just a first-rate scorer who averaged 15+ points per game and had a full range of scoring methods. He was poor at rebounding and was a defensive black hole. When he came to the Rockets after he was over 30, his only ability left was long-range shooting.

Derek Anderson, shooting guard with the 97th pick in the first round of the 13 draft, was called the Kobe Bryant who went to college… If his knee had not been seriously injured in his sophomore year and his athletic ability had not been destroyed, he would have finally changed his flying style to a technical style and stood up again in the 00-01 season. However, he had no vision in choosing a team and accepted a 6-year, $5000 million contract from the Trail Blazers. He got the money, but his health was ruined by the Trail Blazers' veterinary staff. This offseason, he had 2 years and $1883 million left on his contract when he was cut by Paul Allen and joined the Rockets at the minimum salary.

David Wesley, one of the best defensive point guards in the league... from the 90s, is now outdated. It can be said that there is no player that David Wesley can defend now.

Rafer Alston, the king of streetball... this is the real deal, the best streetball player, but the domestic media only praised how good he was at streetball, and didn't say that he was a typical black gangster, who committed domestic violence, beat up waiters, slashed people in the street when drunk, faked injuries, and after getting a 6-year, $2700 million contract, he took off his pants in the park and wiped his butt with the dollars, and laughed at his former 'brothers' for being poor... some of the future general's incredible operations were learned from him.

There was also the legendary center Mutombo who claimed to be only 40 years old, Jon Barry, son of legendary superstar Rick Barry, and the second overall pick Swift... When the media praised these people, they only said nice things, which made the young Zhang Yang really believe that the Rockets were competing for the championship.

At 8 pm, the regular season opener between the Bobcats and the Rockets kicks off.

Over in the Chaoting TV live broadcast room, the commentator was praising the Rockets' summer signings with his eyes closed, in an effort to build the Rockets into a 'championship contender' team.

But in the eyes of the Bobcats players, the Rockets have nothing to do with the championship. Except for Yao Ming and McGrady, the other players on the Rockets are not as good as them.

This opponent can be attacked!
However, after the game started, the Bobcats players felt the horror of Yao Ming, who had gained weight to 142 kilograms. It was really life-threatening!

Okafor, who gained weight to 127 kg, and Brezek, who is 218 cm tall, could not stop Yao Ming, who was at full strength at the beginning of the game.

Zhang Yang watched Yao Ming dominate the paint and thought of a word - dominance!

Gaining weight has greatly increased the burden on Yao Ming's lower limbs, but it has also made him feel similar to O'Neal.

The Bobcats couldn't defend Yao Ming and their offense wasn't good either.

Jeff Van Gundy, who inherited the true skills of the master strategist in the Iron-Blooded Era, built a very strong defense with Yao Ming as the core, centering around Alston, Luther Head, Ryan Bowen and Juwan Howard... It was even better than the defense when McGrady was there last season. Since 2002, McGrady's defense has gradually gone astray. When he joined the Rockets, he has become one of the representative players of the NBA with strong offense but weak defense. Except for the defensive flashes when encountering certain specific opponents, most of the time he is not as good as a role player in defense.

Yao Ming scored 6 points in a row at the start, leading the team to a 10-2 victory over the Bobcats and taking an 8-point lead at the start!
...

When the commentator of Chaoting TV was praising the Rockets for their good signings, strong lineup and chances of winning the championship, he was actually already preparing for how the Rockets would make up for the loss if they lost to the Bobcats.

I didn't expect the Rockets to be so considerate. They scored 10 points in three minutes and shut out the Bobcats in running games. In these three minutes, the Bobcats only got two points by making two free throws after Gerald Wallace made a tip-in and was fouled.

The commentator praised the Rockets' performance again and said that the Bobcats' weakness was a good thing for Zhang Yang, as he would have many opportunities to play and might be substituted in soon.

At the game, Bickerstaff felt somewhat resentful towards the new boss as he watched the double point guards who were unable to attack or defend after falling into the Rockets' positional warfare rhythm.

It was only when the game was about to start that I told him that he should fight hard for victory in the opening match, and winning would be the best. Fortunately, I also said that it didn’t matter if he lost, but he couldn’t lose too badly. At least he had to have the attitude of fighting hard for victory.

If Jordan had said this a few days earlier, he could have announced Felton's starting role a few days later.

But the job still had to be done well. Bickerstaff thought for a while and replaced Felton and Brezek with a combination of Brevin Knight, Zhang Yang, Matt Carroll, Gerald Wallace and Okafor.

The Rockets did not make any substitutions and continued to play with the starting lineup.

When the live camera cut to the players of the two teams coming on the field, the commentator of Chaoting TV smiled. They had predicted correctly again!
Zhang Yang and Yao Ming appeared in the same frame on the court, causing a frenzy among domestic fans who got up early to watch the game.

The domestic media's coverage of Zhang Yang is very different from that of the American media. The mainstream media has hardly ever disparaged him and has been praising his strengths, especially certain Lang and C, whose coverage of Zhang Yang can definitely be described as flattery.

But now domestic fans all believe this, and they are looking forward to the performance of Zhang Yang, the "youngest rookie in history."

As for the outcome of the game, domestic fans still hope that Yao Ming can win, but they want to see both players perform well.

However, the Bobcats failed to reverse the downward trend during this timeout.

After the timeout, Okafor was left alone to guard the inside. Yao Ming, who wanted to show his strength as the number one player in Chinese basketball in front of the talented domestic high school students, played more aggressively and scored another 3 points in 6 minutes!
6分钟时间，姚明5投5中，外加2中2的罚球，连砍12分！
The Bobcats' positional offense was still not good, especially Zhang Yang, who was highly regarded by domestic fans, played very badly.

Zhang Yang was blocked and couldn't catch the ball!
The Rockets' team defense was very good, and it was difficult for Zhang Yang to run out of position on his own. Bickerstaff arranged screens on the wing, but Gerald Wallace had never done this before, and his experience was lacking, and the coordination was poor. Matt Carroll had no awareness in this regard, and Zhang Yang still found it difficult to get rid of the defender after using the screen. The opponent did a good job of switching defense and cutting off the passing lines.

Zhang Yang once received a pass from Brevin Knight without being able to shake off the defender. He turned around and broke through Alston to get into the paint, but was blocked by Yao Ming...

Halfway through the first quarter, the score was 18 to 6, and the Rockets led by 12 points!
Back home, netizens have already started criticizing.

Zhang Yang enjoyed the same public opinion experience as the future Yi Jianlian from domestic basketball fans. The more exaggerated the praise from the Shock Department and a certain wave was, the more badly he was scolded when he played poorly.

However, Zhang Yang on the court did not lose heart in the face of such a difficult situation. He patiently moved around, waiting for a possible chance to catch the ball and shoot, as well as another opportunity...

There was no chance to catch the ball and shoot. As long as Yao Ming stood under the basket, the other Rockets players could defend freely without worrying about their backs.

But Zhang Yang waited for another opportunity!

Yao Ming continued to attack after 6 strong attacks in the interior in the first half of the quarter. This time he failed to cause a foul and failed to make the shot. His turn-around jump shot missed!
Seeing Okafor grab the defensive rebound, Zhang Yang turned and rushed to the frontcourt.

Gerald Wallace also reacted quickly and moved down quickly, attracting the defensive attention of Hyde and Ryan Bowen.

Brevin Knight received the ball and launched a counterattack. He passed the ball when passing the center circle and Zhang Yang who rushed to the opposite free throw line received the ball!

Alstom retreated to the three-second zone first. Zhang Yang received the ball and rushed directly towards Alstom. Alstom pressed forward to grab the ball, but Zhang Yang was not scared. He grabbed the ball calmly, changed direction drastically and took two consecutive steps to avoid Alstom!
Alston rushed forward and rushed out of the free throw line. He looked left and right but didn't see anyone. He turned around and saw Zhang Yang had already jumped up and put the ball into the basket...

Zhang Yang scored two points with a quick break and European step!
First goal in NBA career!
It was the Rockets' turn to attack again. Yao Ming continued to receive the ball in the low post. This time he chose to turn over and shoot from close range... Unfortunately, the ball hit the rim and went out.

Gerald Wallace overpowered Juwan Howard to grab the defensive rebound and passed it to Brevin Knight.

Zhang Yang has a keen sense of counterattack. He attacks again, rushing towards the opponent's basket like an arrow. He receives a long pass from Brevin Knight, jumps up, and gently dunks the ball into the basket with both hands.

10 to 18, the Bobcats narrowed the gap to 8 points! Jeff Van Gundy called a timeout!

Bickerstaff's defensive formation of one big and four small players finally worked!
Although Okafor was beaten badly by Yao Ming, Brevin Knight, Zhang Yang, Matt Carroll and Gerald Wallace were able to keep up with the other opposing players and not give them easy shooting opportunities. The Rockets had no other players who were good at singles except Yao Ming. When Yao Ming had an absolute advantage, the other Rockets players kept passing the ball to Yao Ming without thinking. Yao Ming played very fiercely, but his energy was also extremely consumed. Okafor is already one of the league's largest defensive centers.

The Bobcats have been waiting for Yao Ming's physical strength to decline before playing defense and counterattack!

...

Zhang Yang suddenly exploded and scored twice in a row, giving a surprise to the fans in front of the TV in China who had already given up hope... Sometimes Chinese people are too strong and too extreme, and often have a view that if they are not the best, they are rubbish. On the contrary, the fans at the scene were very open-minded about Zhang Yang's lack of points, shooting opportunities, and being blocked. What can you expect from a 17-year-old rookie? The American media gave a very low evaluation of Zhang Yang in the preseason. In the preseason, he only had a 40% hit rate when playing without the ball. It is normal for him to play poorly in the regular season.

The Bobcats formed a new team and selected a 17-year-old high school student, eyeing the future.

In addition, since he is a 'North Carolina player', local fans are still very tolerant, especially the female fans, who come here just to see the little brother's face and figure.

Zhang Yang scored 4 points in a row and the fans at the scene gave him enthusiastic encouragement.

The benefits of enrolling in North Carolina are reflected...

The Rockets called a timeout this time, but failed to stop the steep decline on the offensive end.

After Yao Ming, who scored 12 points in a row, could no longer continue his attack, Van Gundy made timely adjustments, with others taking the lead and Yao Ming moving to the mid-range to contain the defense. However, without McGrady, the Rockets did not have a second player with stable scoring ability.

However, the Rockets' defense is still strong. As long as Yao Ming stays under the basket, Van Gundy can command the team to play a defense that tortures the opponent. In this regard, he is comparable to Popovich and Larry Brown.

Van Gundy's arrangement during this timeout was not completely useless. He replaced Juwan Howard with Swift to strengthen the defense, greatly improving the defensive ability and effectively limiting the Bobcats' counterattack.

Swift has top-notch equipment in everything below the brain. His basketball IQ is shockingly low, but he still manages to rely on his physical fitness to perform decently, especially in defending fast breaks. He mindlessly competes on speed and jumping, and the effect is quite good. After the end of his rookie contract, he can get a full middle-class salary.

Zhang Yang played for more than two minutes after the official timeout. He missed the shot in the positional battle and failed to score on the counterattack. His shooting percentage dropped to 50% and he was substituted for rest.

The two teams started to play defensive mode.

As long as Yao Ming is on the court, the Rockets' defense will be good. As long as Gerald Wallace and Okafor are on the court for the Bobcats, and Bickerstaff makes targeted deployments, they will have no problem defending the Rockets.

The two teams played vigorously in the first half, but the score was so low in the second half that the fans felt like they were watching last season's finals.

半节比分18比10，首节打完比分25比18，两队后半节打出了7比8的比分。

The scoring situation of both teams did not improve in the second quarter, and Jeff Van Gundy continued to send Yao Ming to focus on defense.

He tried to replace Yao Ming after playing for three minutes in the second quarter and let him rest for three minutes. As a result, Gerald Wallace scored consecutively during this period. The Bobcats made an 3-8 run to narrow the gap to within 4 points. Jeff Van Gundy quickly called a timeout and replaced Yao Ming to stabilize the situation.

But although the situation was stabilized, the Bobcats were unable to gain momentum, and Yao Ming was unable to get an effective rest. Yao Ming was still in a state of fatigue and could only take care of the defense at best.

Jeff Van Gundy doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve.

Unlike Bickerstaff who said "It doesn't matter if we lose", Jeff Van Gundy has the pressure of winning from the team owner!

The trade for McGrady drained the talent that the Rockets had accumulated in previous years. Last season, both Yao and McGrady were very healthy, so Jeff Van Gundy was not under much pressure. This season, McGrady was injured at the start, and the offseason signings were so poor that he wanted to curse. Yao Ming can only suffer.

The score in the second quarter was 18 to 14. At the end of the first half, the Bobcats trailed the Rockets 36 to 39, narrowing the gap to 3 points!
The Rockets scored 6 points in the first 18 minutes of the first quarter, which means that the Rockets only scored 18 points in the next 21 minutes... The commentator of the court TV station began to praise the Bobcats' defense. They were glad that they had prepared all kinds of plans and that the work experience of the past three years was not wasted.

In the second half, the two teams continued to fight on defense, Yao Ming VS Okafor + Wallace, the two teams played a score of 20 to 19. After three quarters, the Rockets opened up a 1-point difference and led the Bobcats by 59 points 55 to 4.

Jeff Van Gundy has no good solution, and Bickerstaff is also unable to break the current situation. The opponent has no one, and he has no one either.

In the second and third quarters, Zhang Yang played for 4 minutes and 5 minutes respectively. He took 3 shots in positional battles and hit 0 of them. Fortunately, he scored two goals in the counterattack initiated by Brevin Knight and got 4 points.

In the final quarter, the situation was still tense, and the Rockets continued to grind hard. They also had a hard time playing such a game, but they were very experienced in this area! Winning by 1 point was also a win. They didn't seek to widen the gap, but only to keep the lead until the end!
Zhang Yang played for two minutes in the middle of the final quarter, but his strength had declined by then and he was not as fast as in the first three quarters. He missed a counterattack opportunity and Bickerstaff replaced him because he was afraid that he would get injured due to fatigue.

With 11 minutes and 16 seconds left in the final quarter, the score was 80 to 75. The Rockets maintained a 5-point lead and the Bobcats were on offense.

The commentator of the Royal Television Station had already announced the victory of the Rockets in advance, and the Bobcats fans at the scene no longer had much hope.

At this moment, Felton, who replaced Brevin Knight and stayed on the court at the last moment, took advantage of Okafor's pick-and-roll and shot a three-pointer...and it went in!
78 to 80, the Bobcats narrowed the gap to two points, and the game suddenly became suspenseful!

In the offense-defense transition, Yao Ming, who had been silent for a long time, stood up on the offensive end, received the ball and made a mid-range shot against Gerald Wallace's defense, 82 to 78, and the Rockets regained a 4-point lead.

Felton's three-pointer boosted the morale of his teammates. When the Bobcats attacked, Gerald Wallace cut in, received the ball and forced the ball past Yao Ming who was unable to jump. He also caused Yao Ming to commit a blocking foul and made the free throw!

81 to 82, the Bobcats narrowed the gap to 1 point!
With 7 seconds left, Jeff Van Gundy rushed to the sidelines, shouting "Catch the ball and run, waste time", and Bickerstaff also rushed to the sidelines, shouting "Foul".

After the Rockets served the ball, Felton rushed towards Alston who received the serve, wanting to foul him, but Gerald Wallace was obviously much smarter and hugged Swift first and fouled him first.

In such a game, the foul count in the final quarter arrived early. The referee made a penalty call. Gerald Wallace fouled Swift without the ball, and Swift got two free throws!
Felton looked shocked. It turned out that there was a way to play it. I learned something!

Swift walked to the free throw line and was booed by the crowd. The Bobcats players were also praying that Swift would miss the shot.

This time the prayer seemed to work, Swift missed both free throws!

Okafor blocked Yao Ming's rush, secured the defensive rebound, and immediately called a timeout!

There are 5 seconds left!
The Bobcats won the chance to come back!
However, after the timeout and the players returned to the bench, Bickerstaff was in trouble.

Who will shoot in the final attack? No, it should be said who dares to shoot?
Brevin Knight? This guy will definitely pass the ball to his teammates at the last moment. He doesn't even care who he passes it to. As long as there is no turnover, it's not his fault.

Felton dared to shoot, but he had just made a crucial three-pointer and would definitely be guarded, so it was not a good choice.

Gerald Wallace, Okafor...these two are limited to scoring in the interior.

Kareem Rush, Matt Carroll and Jumaine Jones could also shoot, but when Bickerstaff looked at them, the three of them turned their heads away and didn't dare to look at him.

At this moment, Bickerstaff felt a burning gaze... He was worthy of being the 13-year-old high school student selected 17th in the first round!

...

The Rockets sent out a lineup of Alston, Luther Head, Ryan Bowen, Chuck Hayes and Yao Ming.

The Bobcats sent out a lineup of Felton, Zhang Yang, Kareem Rush, Gerald Wallace and Okafor.

The Rockets' lineup did not surprise the commentator of the Imperial Television Station. This is currently the Rockets' best defensive lineup in positional warfare.

But the Bobcats actually replaced Zhang Yang in the last attack!
So far, Zhang Yang has scored 10 points with 4 of 8 shots, which is a very good performance considering tonight's defense.

But Zhang Yang got these 8 points by making 5 of 4 shots in counterattacks. He took 5 shots in positional battles, was blocked once and missed 1 times, none of them went in!

The commentator of Chaoting TV said that the Bobcats wanted to train Zhang Yang, but he also expressed doubts.

Not only the commentators, but also the fans in front of the TV and at the scene, as well as the players of the opposing Rockets, were puzzled by Bickerstaff's decision to replace Zhang Yang at this time.

When the whistle sounded to signal the end of the timeout, the fans put aside their confusion and focused on the final attack. The Rockets players also put aside their confusion and focused on defense.

Okafor moved to a close position on the left baseline, Kareem Rush, who made two three-pointers tonight, went to the left side at a 45-degree angle to create space, and Zhang Yang stayed at the right baseline.

Gerald Wallace passed the ball to Felton on the right sideline. Felton broke through immediately after receiving the ball, and Gerald Wallace also rushed inside immediately.

When rushing to the middle distance on the right side, Gerald Wallace blocked Alston who was following Zhang Yang, and Zhang Yang rushed to the free throw line around the pole.

After blocking the opponent, Gerald Wallace continued to cut inside. Chuck Hayes and Alston both chased after Gerald Wallace who had just made a 2+1.

Felton crushed Hyde and rushed straight to the inside. He and Gerald Wallace attracted three defenders and passed the ball back to the free throw line!
As soon as Zhang Yang reached the free throw line, the ball came. He received the ball, turned around, and jumped up and shot decisively without any hesitation!
Every time he missed a shot in a positional battle, he would still take a shot the next time he had a chance, and each time he was more determined than the last. A shot at least ensured that the team's tactics could be carried out smoothly.

This time he was still determined!

When Zhang Yang received the ball and shot, the fans at the scene held their breath.

Zhang Yang didn't make a single shot in the positional battle tonight. They didn't have much hope when they saw Zhang Yang catch the ball, but when Zhang Yang really shot the ball, they couldn't help but look forward to it.

When the ball reached its highest point and just began to fall, the final whistle sounded.

If he scores, the Bobcats will come back, if he doesn’t, Zhang Yang will be scolded to death…

The moment the ball fell into the box, the scene was boiling!

10 points + buzzer beater in a single game, Zhang San smiled slightly, he has won the trust of the head coach!
(End of this chapter)